December 2, 2007
FAITH IS BELIEVING GOD
Faith is believing God - believing God has already done what you asked of Him. It is "seeing" as done by the
spirit before you can see it with your natural eyes. It is not continuing to beg for something. It is not continuing
to hope that it might happen - that maybe God will answer. It is believing.
When God speaks to your spirit and says "yes" and you say "amen" it becomes easy to believe. When you find
His promise in His word and know that it is for you and you say "yes! Let it be!" It becomes easier.
There have been countless times that I knew in my spirit that God's word is true and I can trust that word
regardless of what I see. You can know in your spirit by the Holy Spirit within, that you are safe and protected
by a true and righteous God.
When we truly commit our way to Him, when we pray according to His word and His will we can trust Him
completely and walk in peace, knowing that He will perform His Word. It is always a choice. I choose to believe
that I have what I asked for. I choose to believe God's word is true. I choose to believe that He is faithful
and just. I choose to believe what He speaks to me. And I trust Him for the answer. It is that place of rest
promised to us. We can rest completely in Him if we trust Him and choose to believe.
I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him
against that day. 2 Tim. 1:12
But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without
blemish and free from accusation If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope
held out in the gospel. Col. 1:22-23September 12, 2007
I was reminded today of a prophetic word I received in 1988. I’d like to share it with you because I believe God
is still speaking much the same to many of His children today. And because of what He has just revealed to me
about it.
Going to the Brook of Cherith
“Remember My prophets of old, remember Elijah, whom I led by the brook of Cherith, whom I fed by sending
ravens. I am He that did this. I provide for my prophets. Are you not My chosen one? Is there anything too
hard for Me, your Source? Remember from where I have brought you. This now is your Brook of Cherith,
where I have hidden you for a time of rest, refreshing and empowering. Know that this is My hand at work.
“And soon I will send you out to yet another place. And every place that I send you will be a place that will have
the imprint of My feet left here for you to follow. You will go again into a place where others – like the ravens –
will feed you, others will give you a place for rest and refreshing – but know that it is I Am who has sent you to
these places. It is I that provides the food and the brook of water. It is I who send those who will provide the
place, provide the meat that you need. It is I who feeds you and refreshes and restores you – regardless of
who I choose to use as a channel of provision. Be willing and obedient to go where I send you and accept the
provision that I provide. I will send the water of my Word and the meat of my word along with the natural food.
“And know that wherever I send you there will be a surge of supernatural power in each situation as lives are
touched by My power through your obedience to follow Me, and My plan. Lives will be restored and people will
see My mighty power at work in your life and through you to others.
“ I have chosen to keep you hidden for a time with me. I have chosen to protect your from an influx of crowds
that would seek to draw from you what they must come to me to receive. I have chosen to protect you from
those who would surround you and attempt to give you their wisdom and their guidance as well. I have hidden
you with those whom I trust to feed you only my Word and nothing else.
“ I will be with you, I am able to sustain you – your physical as well as your spiritual life, as you continue to
willingly serve me whatever the cost, as you continue to yield to Me and My ways. So continue to submit to My
Spirit. Look at Elijah. Study My word and follow Me. Obedience is the key”
It was not the first time the Lord had spoken to me concerning His call to me to follow Him wherever He led
me, to go willing without question, to obey Him and His requirement for me to live by faith in Him and His word,
not looking at my circumstances, or surroundings – not looking at my lack, not yielding to fear, not falling into
questioning “why, Lord?” – just walking in faith that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He
will do.
He has continued to call me to a close walk of faith and compete reliance on Him, trusting Him to uphold me,
sustain me through everything all through the intervening years. And He speaks to me often of calling His body
to this kind of faith and reliance upon Him. He is calling His people to Trust Him as never before, to rely on His
word, to believe with all their hearts that He is good and that His word is truth and that He will not fail His
children who walk in obedience reliance on Him.
For years I wondered that I could not find in any Bible concordance, or Bible dictionary, or other Bible helps any
mention of the Brook Cherith. I thought this was very strange. I wanted to know more about it but I found
nothing.
It seems as if it is hidden from everyone. As if there was no place with that name. And as I pondered this I
saw that God had spoken about hiding me in the prophecy He gave me. And He began to speak to me about
coming to the “hidden place” with Him.
He calls us all to come to Him to the secret place, the place of being hidden in Him. There are numerous
scriptures speaking of hiding in Him or being hidden in Him. It seems that we can choose to go and hide
ourselves in Him or when necessary He will bring us aside and hide us.
Then the Lord caused me to look at how Elijah was fed and cared for. Ravens are crows. They are omnivorous.
They are listed with the unclean birds in Leviticus. Even touching one would bring defilement. And yet… God
sent ravens to feed Elijah. I believe that Elijah was very aware of the law concerning these birds. He knew
they were unclean – they were not to be eaten, not to be touched. And yet - ravens fed him and he accepted
the food from them. They brought him meat and bread. The ravens had to touch his food before he did. It
didn’t look right. It didn’t feel right. It went against the accepted beliefs of the times.
Yet – it was God’s method. And Elijah was obedient. Elijah had to become willing to do something that was not
easy and just trust God. I think he also had to get really hungry before he became willing to receive food from
ravens.
Sometimes the one God sends to us with the morsels of life that we need to survive – spiritually or physically –
is not an accepted messenger to us. We don’t like them, we think they are unclean – we think their beliefs are
wrong, and we think we will be defiled if we touch them, if we listen to them, if we take what they have to
offer. Or they are affiliated with the wrong group and we are sure nothing good can come from them. And yet
God may choose the very one that we are the most uncomfortable with as the messenger with the answer we
have been asking for.
We can miss what we have been asking God for if we are closed to all the messengers we do not approve of,
those who don’t look like us, sound like us, believe as we do, etc., etc.
God’s ways are not our ways – His thoughts are higher than ours. And He is not concerned with what other
people think! He’s not even concerned with what we think about what He is doing or how He chooses to do it. He
does not wait for our approval before He plans a method of action, or a course of direction. He expects us to
come into agreement with Him to obey His word and His way.
The word of the Lord came to him [Elijah], saying, “Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the
Brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the raven to
feed you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the Brook Cherith,
which is east of the Jordan. The raven brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the
evening; and he drank from the brook. But after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the
land. Then the word of the Lord came to him saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live
there, for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 1 Kings 17:2-8 NRSVAugust 16, 2007
Thoughts, Words and Actions
Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:11 NKJV
The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him. Pr. 15:26 NIV
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…Pr. 23:7 NKJV
For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and
pursue those things which gratify the flesh; but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the
desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Spirit. ROMANS 8:5 AMP
Commit your works unto the Lord, and your thoughts shall be established. PROVERBS 16:3
Thoughts are vehicles, like a train, or a car, they take us someplace. Where we go is determined by our
thoughts and words. What I think about will eventually become a belief. What I believe I will begin to speak
and to do. What I think, believe and do and say changes my attitude. My attitude influences my expectations.
What I believe controls my life journey; it will determine the decisions I make. What I believe directs my
thoughts. What I focus on in my thoughts and my beliefs becomes my destination.
In order to have a life, a belief system, led by Holy Spirit, to have Godly attitudes and behavior I must start
with my thought life – my mind. I need to guard my thoughts. And I need to remember that whatever I feed
will grow and what I neglect will die. I want to feed my mind with the Word of God so that Godly ways of
thinking will grow and fill my mind. I want to ignore worldly, carnal thoughts so they will starve to death! I DO
NOT want to neglect the Word of God. I want to feed my mind with it daily.
If I fill my mind with faith-filled, Bible based thoughts my faith in God will grow and keep me on the right
track. If I fill my mind with the thoughts that Satan brings to me, or the gossip I hear, or the negative
thoughts others feed me, or movies or books that are filled with doubt and fear and worry and sin then that is
what will grow and take me down a path I do not want to go.
What I hear continually, what I think continually I will eventually believe. So I must guard my mind and spirit
by careful screening of what I hear, what I listen to and what I read.
What I believe will change my expectations and my hope. If I keep my mind and heart filled with God’s
truths I will be filled with good expectations and full of hope for seeing God’s will accomplished in my life.
Every decision I make will be made based on what I know. So it matters what I know, what I think, what I
believe and what I say. The decisions I make will either take me closer to God and His plan for my life, take me
into the abundant life Jesus promised or it will take me another direction away from Him and His promise for
me.
If I keep my mind on God’s Word, abiding in His Word then I will keep growing in His wisdom. My thought will
be filled with His ways and His words. Then my thoughts and my behavior will change accordingly.
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July 26,
It's All About Him
The song of Solomon is filled with the expressions of Shulamite woman’s love for her beloved – the King. She
speaks of her love and her longing for him.
She hears His praise of her. He tells her of His love for her and tells her how beautiful she is.
But she is full of herself.
In S of S 2:16 She says, “My beloved is mine and I am his.”
She is claiming her beloved and announcing that He is hers. She declares her love for him.
In chapter 5, v. 2 she says, “I sleep, but my heart is awake; It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying,
‘Open for me, my sister my love.
But in verse 3 she procrastinates. She hesitates. She argues with herself about whether or not she should put
her robe back on, and open the door. She’s worried about getting her feet dirty after she has already washed
for bed. She expresses her longing for her beloved. And yet… she waits so long to decide to open the door to
him that he had turned and gone away.
Then she seeks him and cannot find him. She calls him but hears no answer.
Doesn’t this sound familiar? We say how much we love the Lord. We talk about how we long for His presence.
And yet… We procrastinate. We hesitate. We concern ourselves with minor things and sometimes we miss out –
He has moved on while we delayed in our decision to open ourselves to His knock.
By the time we get to Chapter 6 v. 3, she has slightly altered her attitude - she has turned it around. She now
says, “ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” So at least now she has Him first.
He tells her again how much he loves her. He expresses his love and admiration of her.
And by Chapter 7 v. 10 she finally gets it. Now she says, “ I am my beloved’s.” That’s it. She has yielded
completely to Him. She belongs to Him. She is no longer looking to self.
She calls for him to come to her and offers him her love.
We do this too! We still think it is all about us. We say “He is mine”. But we too have to come to the place of
surrender and submission so that we can say, “ I am my beloved’s.” We belong to him. We must lay down our
“self” so that we can become one with him by recognizing that we are his.
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June 23, 2007
Buckle Up
Today I saw a commercial for a product that went without my notice, but the commercial utilized children saying what
they were going to do that day in the area of bad behavior. It did not sound good.
The narrator said, “If only we knew in advance what we will face…, we could be prepared”. Then, a young boy,
fastened in his car seat, said, “Buckle up! It’s going to be a rough ride.”
I thought of our “safety belt” – the protecting love of our Heavenly Father, who no matters how rough the journey is
right there with us taking us through every danger or threat.
Whether our journey takes us to mountain tops where we need the feet of hinds, through the valleys, hot and humid,
full of undergrowth, across deserts dry and arid, or sailing seas that can change from calm to stormy at a moments
notice, our Pilot, the Master, the Guide, our Father, is always with us.
Whether we need Him to calm storms, to be the lighthouse guiding our boat, the light on our path, the spring in the
desert or the arms that carry us on the shifting sands of life – He is there – giving us all that we need! Keeping us safe
in His arms. He is much more than a “safety belt”.
How great is His love for us.
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June 15, 2007
Falling
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened
beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that
we should not trust in ourselves but in god who raises the dead…. We trust that He will still deliver us, you also
helping together in prayer for us…. 2 Cor. 1:8 –11 NIV
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent
prayer of a righteous man avails much. Jas. 5:16 NIV
So put away all falsehood and tell your neighbor the truth because we belong to each other. Eph. 4:25 NLT
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we
ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Cor. 1:3-4 NIV
Have you ever found yourself in a situation that you could do absolutely nothing about? Have you found yourself in
a place where you had no power to get out of? It may be a place of illness or disability, a place of hopelessness, a
place of sin or a place of extreme difficulties and trials.
I’m reminded of the famous “Baby Jessica” who fell into an abandoned well a few years back. It took firemen and
rescue workers over 2 days to get her out and save her life; if I remember the time frame correctly.
If you fell into a hole and you could not get out – a deep hole, over your head by far with no way of escape – what
would you do? Would you call for help? Would you keep calling out until someone came to help? Would you work
at an impossible task even though you knew it was impossible? Or would you sit down and give up? Or worse, would
you keep quiet, suffer in silence because you didn’t want anyone to know you had fallen into a pit?
No matter how embarrassing it might be to let others know you’ve fallen into a hole that you cannot get out of – it
needs to be told. It doesn’t matter if you should have been aware of the pit and avoided it. It doesn’t matter if
carelessness caused your fall. Even if you were on your way someplace you should not be – none of that matters. You
need to cry out for help. If you don’t call out, call attention to your problem you will never get out. You can choose
to sit – or stand – in the hole or the pit and do nothing – and die there. You can try to climb out – hoping you can
somehow accomplish the impossible – and stay there until you are exhausted and spent – and you are still faced with
the choice of calling out for help or dying on your own with your reputation intact. Or, you can choose first to cry
out for help and be extricated quickly still in good shape.
Sometimes we are so concerned with what other people might think about us that we refuse to get the help we need.
That is a sad commentary on the body of Christ. But it is true. I cannot help but think of the leaders who have
recently fallen and lost their ministries – in part because they would not ask for help. Their pit happened to be sin of
one kind or another. If some of them had cried out for help, let someone know they were in a deep pit of sin they
could have saved themselves and their ministries. Your pit may not be sin at all. It might be anything that is keeping
you from being all that God has called you to be. I don’t want to try to name all the possibilities. If you are in a pit
or you have been a hole of sorts that you could not find a way out you will recognize your own pit.
As I began to ponder these things I remember the story that made the rounds on the internet in e-mails about 7 years
ago about the donkey that fell into an abandoned well. Of course he could not get out. The owner heard the donkey
braying loudly. He went to check it out and found the donkey in the bottom of a deep well. He considered the
problem and decided it was too costly to hire equipment to lift the donkey out. And the old well was a hazard that
needed to be filled in anyway. So the farmer decided to just fill in the well with the donkey in it.
So the farmer started throwing shovels full of dirt into the well on top of the donkey. The donkey became quiet after
a few shovels full had been thrown on him. All the braying stopped. Shortly the farmer looked in to find out why.
With each shovel full of dirt that was thrown at him, the donkey shook himself – shook the dirt off – and climbed up
on it. Eventually as the man continued to throw dirt in and the donkey continued to shake it off and step up, the
donkey just walked out of the hole.
What was meant to bury him he used as a way to climb up out of his pit. What the farmer meant to bury him with
became his way out. Why? Because the donkey chose to first cry out for help and then to take action and use what
was thrown at him. The donkey seems to have faced the truth of what was happening – he was in a hole he could not
get out of on his own. And then he was being buried alive! He could have given up and died. But instead, he chose to
use what was intended for harm and turn it all into stepping stones which can be used to climb out upon.
We face the same choices. We can choose to face our situation, look at our circumstances with clarity and cry out
for help to those who have the power to help, those who have the wisdom to help. And even if the wrong person
answers our cry for help we can choose to use what may have been meant for our harm and use it to climb out of our
pit – as God leads us and enlightens us.
The first choice after recognizing we are in a pit we cannot escape is to ask for help.
And if I can continue the first story – we, you and I - have fallen into a hole we couldn’t get out of. It seemed
impossible. Then – someone came along to make things worse. Someone came along and rather than offer aid and
assistance tried to bury us where we were – in the hole. And say we made the right decision as the donkey did. Let’s
say that we used what was intended for harm and found a way to use it to help ourselves climb out of the pit.
Now we are out. We are fine now. We have been restored. WE are healed from our pit experience. Do we pretend
we never fell into a hole? Do we pretend we were not half buried with the dirt of our situation? All, so that no will see
our flaws, our faults, our shortcomings. So that no one will see our humiliation. So that no one will know of our
mistake. Or do we share our story with everyone so that other who find themselves in a pit can climb their way out by
crying out and continually shaking off the dirt that the enemy is throwing at them. Or will we remain quiet to save
our reputation?
I pray that we will choose to be bold and be a blessing and a comfort to others.
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May 30, 2007
Lay It All Down – Surrender
God is calling us to holiness and purity as never before. I have been preaching and teaching this for over 25 years.
And it has never been accepted well. Most people do not want to hear anything about holiness. We don’t want to give
things up. We don’t want to lay things down. We want to do whatever we want and still have the presence of the Lord
at work in our lives.
But He has spoken and is speaking clearly. Things are changing and He will no longer tolerate unholiness, impurity,
lukewarm living, half-hearted serving. He wants us to surrender to Him and lay aside all that is not of Him and His
kingdom.
He is calling us to the cross. But we think we are going to the cross when we do nothing really. We think if we make
any sacrifice we are dying to self. When we are still pampering ourselves.
The scriptures repeatedly tell us to put our flesh to death, to die daily.
I have been to the cross. When the one you love betrays you and you forgive and pray for them and walk in love
toward them – that is going to the cross. When you want to hate them, maybe long to see them exposed for who they
are, when you want to prove you are right, when you want to be justified and vindicated - and yet you forgive and
serve, and then go beyond and ask them to forgive you when you know you did nothing wrong, that is going to the
cross.
When a close friend falsely accuses you, and instead of fighting back, instead of trying to “set the record straight” you
ask the one who betrayed you to forgive you because that what the Lord says you must do, that is going to the cross
and nailing your flesh there.
We are going to have to go to the cross even more. We are going to be required to humble ourselves more while we
prefer others above ourselves. Oh how hard it is! How our flesh screams out for relief. But only until it is dead!
Once we have put it to death it is quiet!
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May 21, 2007
SAYING YES TO GOD
We begin our journey with God – our new life in Jesus – by saying yes – a BIG resounding YES - to God and no to the
world and all its systems. No to our flesh and its desires. No to Satan. We give an eternal yes to God and an eternal
no to Satan, the world, and our flesh.
Then we continue all through life – choosing to say yes to God and no to everything and everyone else – to people and
situations that would draw us away from God. Anything that would take our focus away from God gets a no.
Say no to selfish desires. Learn to deny self day by day. Put fleshly desires and pursuits to death on the cross of
submission to God. Die daily to the world and the flesh. And allow the divine life of God to grow. The more we say
no to the world and the flesh and Satan, the easier it becomes to keep saying no. The more we say yes to God the
easier it becomes to say yes to all that He asks of us. The more we say yes to God and no to all else – the more we
grow in God.
Keep uppermost in your mind that we are children of God – the Most High God. We are to trust Him in all things
with the kind of trust of a baby, a child has toward its parents. The child trusts the parents to supply every need, to
take care of every problem, to give every necessity, to give instruction, and teaching with truth and honesty. That is
how we are to trust our heavenly Father.
Remember you are not your own. You are bought with a price. You belong to God and God alone.
Heb. 4 gives us the guidelines. Cease all your struggles and enter into the rest God has provided for us by trusting
Him implicitly in every way in every thing. Trust and Rest.
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May 4, 2007
The Journey
I’ve loved to travel most of my life. I always liked seeing new places and meeting mew people, making new friends. I’
ve enjoyed trying new food and learning new ways of the area I’m visiting or moving into.
I’ve traveled through America’s heartland and thought about what people say about traveling to the “heart” of
America or the heart of China or the interior of Russia or the heart of Africa. But the most important, most
meaningful journey of my life is my journey to the heart of God.
No matter where I’ve been or what new and different place I might go, or whom I may meet along the way there is no
place like the heart of God, and no one like Him. There is no place like His presence. It is a journey of my heart –to
His heart. My cry is, “Let’s go to the heartland! The heart of our Father God is the place I want to dwell.
I’m not looking for the greatest vacation spot, or a new frontier to conquer. Sometimes I’m looking for comfort.
Sometimes I’m longing for a resting-place, a place of refuge. I’m looking for, seeking home. I seek the place where I
belong, the place where I can relax and be myself, that safe place of knowing that I am not just known but where I am
loved and accepted. I seek a place in the heart of Father God. It’s not enough to occasionally bump into God on the
way to some other place. No, I’m not satisfied with a visit from time to time. I want to truly be dwelling in His
presence forever. I long to be intimately involved with the God of creation. And I’ve found that He longs for me to
come to Him so much that He sought me out, invited me to come and sent one who will guide me in my journey.
If you go the wrong way – to the right or to the left – you will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the right way.
You should go this way.” Isa. 30:21 NCV
Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. So how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I
am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.” John 14: 5,6 NCV
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April 7,
Life - not Death
We are at the eve of the resurrection of Jesus from the grave – His triumphant rising from death to eternal divine life. As I have
read the Scriptures about His death, burial and resurrection my thoughts are about what it means to us today - what He did for
us.
He died so that we might live – a full and abundant life of joy and peace in the Holy Ghost now – as well as life everlasting with
Him. He was bound and beaten so that we might be free and whole. He was beaten with cords, His flesh ripped open so that we
might be healed and walk in divine health. He broke down the barrier – tore down the curtain that separated us from God so that
we might enter in to the holy of Holies - enter in to the presence of a holy God and commune with Him – without fear.
He suffered rejection and sorrow to give us acceptance and joy. He fought and won the battle with Satan. He gained victory for
all of us over sin and its results – so that we might live in His righteousness and holiness.
We have access to all that He is, all that He has, wisdom, peace, grace, power, health, wholeness, liberty, love, kindness,
tenderness, temperance, joy, freedom for pain and sin and victory over all of life’s problems because He chose to obey the Father’s
plan. He chose to suffer, to die, and to rise up in new life so that we might be reconciled – restored to relationship with Almighty
God and live in that same newness of life that He now gives us. Choose life! Do not choose to walk any longer in death in any
form. Do not allow any form of death into your new life. Choose God’s divine plan of heath, wholeness, liberty, grace peace and
joy. Choose life!
Praise the holy name of Jesus the Anointed One!
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March 8, 2007
Grow Up! Going On To Maturity
Gal. 4: 19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.
Formed: to form; relates to internal reality – a change in character, becoming conformed to the character of Christ in actuality,
not merely resembling Him outwardly.
Let us allow Christ to become “incarnate” in us. See yourself as being made – created – built – formed – with Christ as the model
or design plan that you are to become!
Godliness – maturity – comes from Jesus Himself living within us and through us by Holy Spirit indwelling us, by the Word of God
becoming a part of the material, the tissue we are made from, by maintaining a continuous connection to Jesus – The Vine – as we
are grafted in as branches of the Vine. It is not won or earned through any external works or following a set of rules, or following
a dogma. That is fruitless. Maturity – which brings with it the bearing of fruit - comes forth from within. It is a natural result
of the life flowing from the Vine to the branches. It is worked out, developed through heart changes, through decisions and choices
we make that keep us connected to the Vine.
Eph. 4:1, 7-11, 17, 22 – 24 Walk (live) worthy of the calling with which you were called. To each one grace was given according
to the measure of Christ’s gift. He (Christ Jesus) gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors
and teachers, for the equipping of the saints – for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Tell we all
come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every word of doctrine….
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Feb. 20, 2007
From the heart….
God longs for us to trust Him and trust Him completely. He wants us, calls us to trust Him to speak to us, to trust Him to make
what He says clear to us. We are to trust Him to keep us. He wants us to believe with all our heart that the work He began in
us He will complete.
Phil. 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
So if we are not anxious and worrying and fretting over something (like whether or not to drink or eat something – or if we are
meeting someone’s expectations, or if we are doing enough, and so on and on). And we are to pray and thank God for everything,
asking Him for what ever we need and His peace will guard our heart and mind. The way to peace is - don’t worry, don’t fret – but
thank God for every thing and ask Him for whatever we need – including wisdom.
Ro. 14:4b To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
We need to live to please God and not be called off the wall where we are assigned to do our part because of the criticism of
others. There will always be those who feel that their job is to judge and criticize, give advice and correct even though they are
not willing to take their place on the wall to do the work of rebuilding the walls of the “house” of God. And the enemy is ever close
by to whisper words of condemnation and discouragement – to tell us what we are doing wrong.
Prov 2:5 My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply
your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver,
and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God. NKJV
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Feb. 8, 2007
IS THIS THE RIGHT WAY?
…mortals do not know the way, …God understands the way…Job 28:13,23 NRSV
There have been times in my life when after stepping out in obedience to God in a particular situation - everything around me looked
wrong. Then I would think that I had made a mistake or that I had not heard from God. Once, while going through this, I began to
cry out to God, “Father, what am I to do? Did I miss what I was supposed to do? Did I misunderstand what You said?” I was
impressed to read the 12th chapter of Genesis.
Now the Lord had said to Abram: get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will
show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. So Abram
departed as the Lord had spoken to him and Lot went with him. Gen. 12:1-2,4a NKJV
In this chapter, God told Abram to go to Canaan. He told Abram to leave his country, his relatives, and his father’s house and go
to another land- a far land. Then God promised Abram that he would prosper him, bless him and make him a blessing to others. Isn’
t that wonderful? And the directions seemed clear and specific. So Abram went. He traveled with his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot
and all his servants and animals. His journey was long.
When he arrived in Canaan God met with him there. He again promised Abram the land of Canaan for him and his heirs. Praise God!
Yet Abram could not stay there! There was a severe famine in the land. So Abram went to Egypt to live until the famine ended.
Had he made a mistake? I can imagine that Abram felt much as I have on occasion, maybe he began to question himself and his
ability to hear God’s voice.
Many times this happens to us. We hear from God. We step out to follow Him. Then things don’t appear to be going according to
plan. In Abram’s place I might have thought, “I blew it”. It looked like he had gone to the wrong place. It didn’t look like the place
God had promised. Did he question himself, wondering if he had misunderstood what God was saying? That’s what we do so much of
the time. And while they were traveling in Egypt, Abram’s doubts and fears caused him to lie and endanger his wife. He might have
been trying to “fix” things himself. Sometimes we think, “well I’ve missed God, I’ve messed up. Now I’ll have to get myself out of
this.” But our plans always fall short.
God rescued Sarai and Abram. God was still in control of the land, and the circumstances. He led them back to Bethel. To a place
He prepared for them. And eventually Abram saw God’s promises fulfilled in his life. God wanted Abram to trust Him to meet his
needs and lead him where he was to go. If we will trust God in every situation, in every circumstance, with all people we will find
the fulfillment of what God has promised us, just as Abram did.
And the wonderful, beautiful part of it is that even when we, like Abram, doubt, fear, question God and try to find our own way
out – God still leads, and keeps His promises to us. I need to keep going with God, following His lead even when it looks like I’m
going in the wrong direction; or that I’ve misunderstood and gone to the wrong place. If I put my trust in Him, He will keep me on
the right path and watch over me on my journey.
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January 26, 2007
Finding His Way
It is a wonderful thing to find the will of God the path He has chosen for you and then walk in it. It is a joyous thing to know the
will of God and adjust and rearrange your life to fit in His plan. We can spend so much time and energy doing what looks right,
what seems good and much of it is wasted – because it is not what God called us to do.
Some of us try to be a “scatter gun” for God. We do as much as we can, trying to do everything we see to do while hoping that
something hits the target. But when we find that perfect will of God, when we seek His presence, listen for His voice of
instruction, when we yield to His plan for us, when we focus our energy and time on pleasing Him, and obeying Him we will be like
the arrow of a skilled archer – we will hit the mark.
There is a spiritual force – a power that comes with the act of surrender to God. The more we surrender to Him the more power
and anointing we see operating in our lives. The more we yield to His ways the more we will see Him perform His word in our lives
and in the lives of our families.
God has given us a guidebook, filled with the details of how we are to follow His way rather than our own. If we will learn to
follow the path He has chosen for us with a heart of love that is set on pleasing God we will see wonderful things. And we will walk
in peace and grace. As we listen to His voice, hear His heart and then obediently walk in all we hear Him say, we will see purpose
in our lives. We will see promises fulfilled. We will see prayers answered and desires changed.
Yield yourself to Him and allow Him to work in and through you to impact your circumstances and touch and affect the lives of those
He connects with you.
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January 6, 2007
“Follow Me”
Jesus called Peter and the other disciples to follow Him on more than one occasion. In Matthew 4 we find the account of Him
calling Peter the first time. And in John 21 we read the last times He called Peter to follow Him. According to Bible Scholars
there is three years between Jesus calling Peter to follow Him in Matthew 4 and His questioning Peter of his love for Him and
telling Peter to feed and shepherd His sheep, with the injunction, “Follow Me” twice more. A lot happened during those three
years. Peter discovered for himself how shallow His love was for Jesus. He found that He could not rely on himself. No matter
how he had sworn to never leave or disown Jesus, he did exactly that. No matter how loudly he declared His love for Jesus, He
failed Him more than once.
There was also a difference in the call to follow. In Matthew 4 Jesus is calling Peter to follow Him, as someone is invited to enroll
in a class or join a church. He is asked to allow Him to guide him and show him how to live His way. In Luke 9 and Matthew 16,
Jesus makes the depth of the call a little clearer. He now says to them that they must give up their own ambitions and desires
and die to themselves in order to fully follow Him. He shows Peter how little he understands of Kingdom ways and of the way he
must follow Jesus.
Peter learned even more at the crucifixion. He found that everything Jesus said was true, he was offended, he did stumble; he did
deny Jesus. He had relied on himself to make himself love Jesus, follow Jesus, to deny himself. And it just did not work. He
needed to rely on Jesus – completely and on Jesus alone.
Now, in John 21 Peter has learned all this. He now knows he is unable to trust himself; he cannot rely on his own ability to live as
Jesus calls us to live. He knows he must give up all self-reliance, give up all self-sufficiency, put aside all self-knowledge and put
all his trust in Jesus and His power and ability! This is a following of the heart, not an outward following of teachings and
guidelines; this is becoming one with the teacher in loving obedience and following out of a deep heart desire to serve the Master.
We can promise all we want to, we can make resolutions to do better, we can swear we have changed and we will follow the Lord.
But we lack the power within ourselves to do so. We will end in denial and failure – until we put all our trust in Him and His power,
His ability, and His character. He is fully trustworthy. He is fully capable to fulfill His promises.
Peter came to the end of himself. More than once he saw how frail he was. I have found over the years that I am very much
like Peter in many ways. And like Peter I have had to come to the end of myself so that I might trust in God and His ways fully.
It seems difficult to put aside your rights to self, self- sufficiency, self-reliance, self-esteem, etc., until- you really get to the
end of your strength, the end of your power, the end of your faithfulness, the end of your loyalty, the end of your ability to love,
the end of your ability to endure – then when you recognize fleshly efforts for what they are – weak, frail, unable to accomplish
what needs to be done – and a stench in the nostrils of God – then it becomes much easier to cry out to God for help and begin to
learn to rely, lean on and trust in Him. I found that things have gone much better after I reached the end of myself and yielded
my heart and my life completely to Jesus, not just to teach me and guide me but to take complete control of my life. I love it!
As He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He noticed two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, …. And He
said to them, Come after Me [as disciples – letting Me be your Guide], follow me, and I will make you fishers of men! At once they
left their nets and became His disciples [sided with His party and followed Him.] Matthew 4:18-20 AMP
And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his
own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to
My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]. Luke 9:23 AMP
From that time forth Jesus began [clearly] to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands
of the elders and the high priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised from death. Then Peter took Him
aside, to speak to Him privately and began to reprove and charge Him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to
You! But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and
a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men. Then Jesus said to His
disciples, If anyone desire to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own
interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in
dying, also]. Matt. 16:21-24 AMP
Then Jesus said to them, You will all be offended and stumble and fall away because of Me this night [distrusting and deserting
Me], for it is written, I will strike the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. [Zech 13:7] Peter declared to
Him, Though they all are offended and stumble and fall away because of You [and distrust and desert You], I will never do so.
Jesus said to him, Solemnly I declare to you, this very night before a single rooster crows, you will deny and disown me three
times. Peter said to Him, Even if I must die with You, I will not deny or disown You! And all the disciples said the same thing.
Matt. 26:31, 33-35 AMP
This was now the third time that Jesus reveled Himself (appeared, was manifest) to the disciples after He had risen from the
dead. When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do – with
reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I
have deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. He said to him, Feed My lambs. Again He said to him
the second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He
said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close
friend]. He said to him, Shepherd (tend) My sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a
deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]? Peter was grieved (was saddened and hurt) that He should ask
him the third time. Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [that I have a
deep instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep. … And after this, He said
to him, Follow Me! … You follow Me! John 21: 14-17, 19b, 22b AMP
FAITH IS BELIEVING GOD
Faith is believing God - believing God has already done what you asked of Him. It is "seeing" as done by the
spirit before you can see it with your natural eyes. It is not continuing to beg for something. It is not continuing
to hope that it might happen - that maybe God will answer. It is believing.
When God speaks to your spirit and says "yes" and you say "amen" it becomes easy to believe. When you find
His promise in His word and know that it is for you and you say "yes! Let it be!" It becomes easier.
There have been countless times that I knew in my spirit that God's word is true and I can trust that word
regardless of what I see. You can know in your spirit by the Holy Spirit within, that you are safe and protected
by a true and righteous God.
When we truly commit our way to Him, when we pray according to His word and His will we can trust Him
completely and walk in peace, knowing that He will perform His Word. It is always a choice. I choose to believe
that I have what I asked for. I choose to believe God's word is true. I choose to believe that He is faithful
and just. I choose to believe what He speaks to me. And I trust Him for the answer. It is that place of rest
promised to us. We can rest completely in Him if we trust Him and choose to believe.
I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him
against that day. 2 Tim. 1:12
But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without
blemish and free from accusation If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope
held out in the gospel. Col. 1:22-23September 12, 2007
I was reminded today of a prophetic word I received in 1988. I’d like to share it with you because I believe God
is still speaking much the same to many of His children today. And because of what He has just revealed to me
about it.
Going to the Brook of Cherith
“Remember My prophets of old, remember Elijah, whom I led by the brook of Cherith, whom I fed by sending
ravens. I am He that did this. I provide for my prophets. Are you not My chosen one? Is there anything too
hard for Me, your Source? Remember from where I have brought you. This now is your Brook of Cherith,
where I have hidden you for a time of rest, refreshing and empowering. Know that this is My hand at work.
“And soon I will send you out to yet another place. And every place that I send you will be a place that will have
the imprint of My feet left here for you to follow. You will go again into a place where others – like the ravens –
will feed you, others will give you a place for rest and refreshing – but know that it is I Am who has sent you to
these places. It is I that provides the food and the brook of water. It is I who send those who will provide the
place, provide the meat that you need. It is I who feeds you and refreshes and restores you – regardless of
who I choose to use as a channel of provision. Be willing and obedient to go where I send you and accept the
provision that I provide. I will send the water of my Word and the meat of my word along with the natural food.
“And know that wherever I send you there will be a surge of supernatural power in each situation as lives are
touched by My power through your obedience to follow Me, and My plan. Lives will be restored and people will
see My mighty power at work in your life and through you to others.
“ I have chosen to keep you hidden for a time with me. I have chosen to protect your from an influx of crowds
that would seek to draw from you what they must come to me to receive. I have chosen to protect you from
those who would surround you and attempt to give you their wisdom and their guidance as well. I have hidden
you with those whom I trust to feed you only my Word and nothing else.
“ I will be with you, I am able to sustain you – your physical as well as your spiritual life, as you continue to
willingly serve me whatever the cost, as you continue to yield to Me and My ways. So continue to submit to My
Spirit. Look at Elijah. Study My word and follow Me. Obedience is the key”
It was not the first time the Lord had spoken to me concerning His call to me to follow Him wherever He led
me, to go willing without question, to obey Him and His requirement for me to live by faith in Him and His word,
not looking at my circumstances, or surroundings – not looking at my lack, not yielding to fear, not falling into
questioning “why, Lord?” – just walking in faith that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He
will do.
He has continued to call me to a close walk of faith and compete reliance on Him, trusting Him to uphold me,
sustain me through everything all through the intervening years. And He speaks to me often of calling His body
to this kind of faith and reliance upon Him. He is calling His people to Trust Him as never before, to rely on His
word, to believe with all their hearts that He is good and that His word is truth and that He will not fail His
children who walk in obedience reliance on Him.
For years I wondered that I could not find in any Bible concordance, or Bible dictionary, or other Bible helps any
mention of the Brook Cherith. I thought this was very strange. I wanted to know more about it but I found
nothing.
It seems as if it is hidden from everyone. As if there was no place with that name. And as I pondered this I
saw that God had spoken about hiding me in the prophecy He gave me. And He began to speak to me about
coming to the “hidden place” with Him.
He calls us all to come to Him to the secret place, the place of being hidden in Him. There are numerous
scriptures speaking of hiding in Him or being hidden in Him. It seems that we can choose to go and hide
ourselves in Him or when necessary He will bring us aside and hide us.
Then the Lord caused me to look at how Elijah was fed and cared for. Ravens are crows. They are omnivorous.
They are listed with the unclean birds in Leviticus. Even touching one would bring defilement. And yet… God
sent ravens to feed Elijah. I believe that Elijah was very aware of the law concerning these birds. He knew
they were unclean – they were not to be eaten, not to be touched. And yet - ravens fed him and he accepted
the food from them. They brought him meat and bread. The ravens had to touch his food before he did. It
didn’t look right. It didn’t feel right. It went against the accepted beliefs of the times.
Yet – it was God’s method. And Elijah was obedient. Elijah had to become willing to do something that was not
easy and just trust God. I think he also had to get really hungry before he became willing to receive food from
ravens.
Sometimes the one God sends to us with the morsels of life that we need to survive – spiritually or physically –
is not an accepted messenger to us. We don’t like them, we think they are unclean – we think their beliefs are
wrong, and we think we will be defiled if we touch them, if we listen to them, if we take what they have to
offer. Or they are affiliated with the wrong group and we are sure nothing good can come from them. And yet
God may choose the very one that we are the most uncomfortable with as the messenger with the answer we
have been asking for.
We can miss what we have been asking God for if we are closed to all the messengers we do not approve of,
those who don’t look like us, sound like us, believe as we do, etc., etc.
God’s ways are not our ways – His thoughts are higher than ours. And He is not concerned with what other
people think! He’s not even concerned with what we think about what He is doing or how He chooses to do it. He
does not wait for our approval before He plans a method of action, or a course of direction. He expects us to
come into agreement with Him to obey His word and His way.
The word of the Lord came to him [Elijah], saying, “Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the
Brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the raven to
feed you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the Brook Cherith,
which is east of the Jordan. The raven brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the
evening; and he drank from the brook. But after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the
land. Then the word of the Lord came to him saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live
there, for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 1 Kings 17:2-8 NRSVAugust 16, 2007
Thoughts, Words and Actions
Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:11 NKJV
The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him. Pr. 15:26 NIV
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…Pr. 23:7 NKJV
For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and
pursue those things which gratify the flesh; but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the
desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Spirit. ROMANS 8:5 AMP
Commit your works unto the Lord, and your thoughts shall be established. PROVERBS 16:3
Thoughts are vehicles, like a train, or a car, they take us someplace. Where we go is determined by our
thoughts and words. What I think about will eventually become a belief. What I believe I will begin to speak
and to do. What I think, believe and do and say changes my attitude. My attitude influences my expectations.
What I believe controls my life journey; it will determine the decisions I make. What I believe directs my
thoughts. What I focus on in my thoughts and my beliefs becomes my destination.
In order to have a life, a belief system, led by Holy Spirit, to have Godly attitudes and behavior I must start
with my thought life – my mind. I need to guard my thoughts. And I need to remember that whatever I feed
will grow and what I neglect will die. I want to feed my mind with the Word of God so that Godly ways of
thinking will grow and fill my mind. I want to ignore worldly, carnal thoughts so they will starve to death! I DO
NOT want to neglect the Word of God. I want to feed my mind with it daily.
If I fill my mind with faith-filled, Bible based thoughts my faith in God will grow and keep me on the right
track. If I fill my mind with the thoughts that Satan brings to me, or the gossip I hear, or the negative
thoughts others feed me, or movies or books that are filled with doubt and fear and worry and sin then that is
what will grow and take me down a path I do not want to go.
What I hear continually, what I think continually I will eventually believe. So I must guard my mind and spirit
by careful screening of what I hear, what I listen to and what I read.
What I believe will change my expectations and my hope. If I keep my mind and heart filled with God’s
truths I will be filled with good expectations and full of hope for seeing God’s will accomplished in my life.
Every decision I make will be made based on what I know. So it matters what I know, what I think, what I
believe and what I say. The decisions I make will either take me closer to God and His plan for my life, take me
into the abundant life Jesus promised or it will take me another direction away from Him and His promise for
me.
If I keep my mind on God’s Word, abiding in His Word then I will keep growing in His wisdom. My thought will
be filled with His ways and His words. Then my thoughts and my behavior will change accordingly.
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July 26,
It's All About Him
The song of Solomon is filled with the expressions of Shulamite woman’s love for her beloved – the King. She
speaks of her love and her longing for him.
She hears His praise of her. He tells her of His love for her and tells her how beautiful she is.
But she is full of herself.
In S of S 2:16 She says, “My beloved is mine and I am his.”
She is claiming her beloved and announcing that He is hers. She declares her love for him.
In chapter 5, v. 2 she says, “I sleep, but my heart is awake; It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying,
‘Open for me, my sister my love.
But in verse 3 she procrastinates. She hesitates. She argues with herself about whether or not she should put
her robe back on, and open the door. She’s worried about getting her feet dirty after she has already washed
for bed. She expresses her longing for her beloved. And yet… she waits so long to decide to open the door to
him that he had turned and gone away.
Then she seeks him and cannot find him. She calls him but hears no answer.
Doesn’t this sound familiar? We say how much we love the Lord. We talk about how we long for His presence.
And yet… We procrastinate. We hesitate. We concern ourselves with minor things and sometimes we miss out –
He has moved on while we delayed in our decision to open ourselves to His knock.
By the time we get to Chapter 6 v. 3, she has slightly altered her attitude - she has turned it around. She now
says, “ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” So at least now she has Him first.
He tells her again how much he loves her. He expresses his love and admiration of her.
And by Chapter 7 v. 10 she finally gets it. Now she says, “ I am my beloved’s.” That’s it. She has yielded
completely to Him. She belongs to Him. She is no longer looking to self.
She calls for him to come to her and offers him her love.
We do this too! We still think it is all about us. We say “He is mine”. But we too have to come to the place of
surrender and submission so that we can say, “ I am my beloved’s.” We belong to him. We must lay down our
“self” so that we can become one with him by recognizing that we are his.
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June 23, 2007
Buckle Up
Today I saw a commercial for a product that went without my notice, but the commercial utilized children saying what
they were going to do that day in the area of bad behavior. It did not sound good.
The narrator said, “If only we knew in advance what we will face…, we could be prepared”. Then, a young boy,
fastened in his car seat, said, “Buckle up! It’s going to be a rough ride.”
I thought of our “safety belt” – the protecting love of our Heavenly Father, who no matters how rough the journey is
right there with us taking us through every danger or threat.
Whether our journey takes us to mountain tops where we need the feet of hinds, through the valleys, hot and humid,
full of undergrowth, across deserts dry and arid, or sailing seas that can change from calm to stormy at a moments
notice, our Pilot, the Master, the Guide, our Father, is always with us.
Whether we need Him to calm storms, to be the lighthouse guiding our boat, the light on our path, the spring in the
desert or the arms that carry us on the shifting sands of life – He is there – giving us all that we need! Keeping us safe
in His arms. He is much more than a “safety belt”.
How great is His love for us.
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June 15, 2007
Falling
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened
beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that
we should not trust in ourselves but in god who raises the dead…. We trust that He will still deliver us, you also
helping together in prayer for us…. 2 Cor. 1:8 –11 NIV
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent
prayer of a righteous man avails much. Jas. 5:16 NIV
So put away all falsehood and tell your neighbor the truth because we belong to each other. Eph. 4:25 NLT
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we
ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Cor. 1:3-4 NIV
Have you ever found yourself in a situation that you could do absolutely nothing about? Have you found yourself in
a place where you had no power to get out of? It may be a place of illness or disability, a place of hopelessness, a
place of sin or a place of extreme difficulties and trials.
I’m reminded of the famous “Baby Jessica” who fell into an abandoned well a few years back. It took firemen and
rescue workers over 2 days to get her out and save her life; if I remember the time frame correctly.
If you fell into a hole and you could not get out – a deep hole, over your head by far with no way of escape – what
would you do? Would you call for help? Would you keep calling out until someone came to help? Would you work
at an impossible task even though you knew it was impossible? Or would you sit down and give up? Or worse, would
you keep quiet, suffer in silence because you didn’t want anyone to know you had fallen into a pit?
No matter how embarrassing it might be to let others know you’ve fallen into a hole that you cannot get out of – it
needs to be told. It doesn’t matter if you should have been aware of the pit and avoided it. It doesn’t matter if
carelessness caused your fall. Even if you were on your way someplace you should not be – none of that matters. You
need to cry out for help. If you don’t call out, call attention to your problem you will never get out. You can choose
to sit – or stand – in the hole or the pit and do nothing – and die there. You can try to climb out – hoping you can
somehow accomplish the impossible – and stay there until you are exhausted and spent – and you are still faced with
the choice of calling out for help or dying on your own with your reputation intact. Or, you can choose first to cry
out for help and be extricated quickly still in good shape.
Sometimes we are so concerned with what other people might think about us that we refuse to get the help we need.
That is a sad commentary on the body of Christ. But it is true. I cannot help but think of the leaders who have
recently fallen and lost their ministries – in part because they would not ask for help. Their pit happened to be sin of
one kind or another. If some of them had cried out for help, let someone know they were in a deep pit of sin they
could have saved themselves and their ministries. Your pit may not be sin at all. It might be anything that is keeping
you from being all that God has called you to be. I don’t want to try to name all the possibilities. If you are in a pit
or you have been a hole of sorts that you could not find a way out you will recognize your own pit.
As I began to ponder these things I remember the story that made the rounds on the internet in e-mails about 7 years
ago about the donkey that fell into an abandoned well. Of course he could not get out. The owner heard the donkey
braying loudly. He went to check it out and found the donkey in the bottom of a deep well. He considered the
problem and decided it was too costly to hire equipment to lift the donkey out. And the old well was a hazard that
needed to be filled in anyway. So the farmer decided to just fill in the well with the donkey in it.
So the farmer started throwing shovels full of dirt into the well on top of the donkey. The donkey became quiet after
a few shovels full had been thrown on him. All the braying stopped. Shortly the farmer looked in to find out why.
With each shovel full of dirt that was thrown at him, the donkey shook himself – shook the dirt off – and climbed up
on it. Eventually as the man continued to throw dirt in and the donkey continued to shake it off and step up, the
donkey just walked out of the hole.
What was meant to bury him he used as a way to climb up out of his pit. What the farmer meant to bury him with
became his way out. Why? Because the donkey chose to first cry out for help and then to take action and use what
was thrown at him. The donkey seems to have faced the truth of what was happening – he was in a hole he could not
get out of on his own. And then he was being buried alive! He could have given up and died. But instead, he chose to
use what was intended for harm and turn it all into stepping stones which can be used to climb out upon.
We face the same choices. We can choose to face our situation, look at our circumstances with clarity and cry out
for help to those who have the power to help, those who have the wisdom to help. And even if the wrong person
answers our cry for help we can choose to use what may have been meant for our harm and use it to climb out of our
pit – as God leads us and enlightens us.
The first choice after recognizing we are in a pit we cannot escape is to ask for help.
And if I can continue the first story – we, you and I - have fallen into a hole we couldn’t get out of. It seemed
impossible. Then – someone came along to make things worse. Someone came along and rather than offer aid and
assistance tried to bury us where we were – in the hole. And say we made the right decision as the donkey did. Let’s
say that we used what was intended for harm and found a way to use it to help ourselves climb out of the pit.
Now we are out. We are fine now. We have been restored. WE are healed from our pit experience. Do we pretend
we never fell into a hole? Do we pretend we were not half buried with the dirt of our situation? All, so that no will see
our flaws, our faults, our shortcomings. So that no one will see our humiliation. So that no one will know of our
mistake. Or do we share our story with everyone so that other who find themselves in a pit can climb their way out by
crying out and continually shaking off the dirt that the enemy is throwing at them. Or will we remain quiet to save
our reputation?
I pray that we will choose to be bold and be a blessing and a comfort to others.
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May 30, 2007
Lay It All Down – Surrender
God is calling us to holiness and purity as never before. I have been preaching and teaching this for over 25 years.
And it has never been accepted well. Most people do not want to hear anything about holiness. We don’t want to give
things up. We don’t want to lay things down. We want to do whatever we want and still have the presence of the Lord
at work in our lives.
But He has spoken and is speaking clearly. Things are changing and He will no longer tolerate unholiness, impurity,
lukewarm living, half-hearted serving. He wants us to surrender to Him and lay aside all that is not of Him and His
kingdom.
He is calling us to the cross. But we think we are going to the cross when we do nothing really. We think if we make
any sacrifice we are dying to self. When we are still pampering ourselves.
The scriptures repeatedly tell us to put our flesh to death, to die daily.
I have been to the cross. When the one you love betrays you and you forgive and pray for them and walk in love
toward them – that is going to the cross. When you want to hate them, maybe long to see them exposed for who they
are, when you want to prove you are right, when you want to be justified and vindicated - and yet you forgive and
serve, and then go beyond and ask them to forgive you when you know you did nothing wrong, that is going to the
cross.
When a close friend falsely accuses you, and instead of fighting back, instead of trying to “set the record straight” you
ask the one who betrayed you to forgive you because that what the Lord says you must do, that is going to the cross
and nailing your flesh there.
We are going to have to go to the cross even more. We are going to be required to humble ourselves more while we
prefer others above ourselves. Oh how hard it is! How our flesh screams out for relief. But only until it is dead!
Once we have put it to death it is quiet!
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May 21, 2007
SAYING YES TO GOD
We begin our journey with God – our new life in Jesus – by saying yes – a BIG resounding YES - to God and no to the
world and all its systems. No to our flesh and its desires. No to Satan. We give an eternal yes to God and an eternal
no to Satan, the world, and our flesh.
Then we continue all through life – choosing to say yes to God and no to everything and everyone else – to people and
situations that would draw us away from God. Anything that would take our focus away from God gets a no.
Say no to selfish desires. Learn to deny self day by day. Put fleshly desires and pursuits to death on the cross of
submission to God. Die daily to the world and the flesh. And allow the divine life of God to grow. The more we say
no to the world and the flesh and Satan, the easier it becomes to keep saying no. The more we say yes to God the
easier it becomes to say yes to all that He asks of us. The more we say yes to God and no to all else – the more we
grow in God.
Keep uppermost in your mind that we are children of God – the Most High God. We are to trust Him in all things
with the kind of trust of a baby, a child has toward its parents. The child trusts the parents to supply every need, to
take care of every problem, to give every necessity, to give instruction, and teaching with truth and honesty. That is
how we are to trust our heavenly Father.
Remember you are not your own. You are bought with a price. You belong to God and God alone.
Heb. 4 gives us the guidelines. Cease all your struggles and enter into the rest God has provided for us by trusting
Him implicitly in every way in every thing. Trust and Rest.
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May 4, 2007
The Journey
I’ve loved to travel most of my life. I always liked seeing new places and meeting mew people, making new friends. I’
ve enjoyed trying new food and learning new ways of the area I’m visiting or moving into.
I’ve traveled through America’s heartland and thought about what people say about traveling to the “heart” of
America or the heart of China or the interior of Russia or the heart of Africa. But the most important, most
meaningful journey of my life is my journey to the heart of God.
No matter where I’ve been or what new and different place I might go, or whom I may meet along the way there is no
place like the heart of God, and no one like Him. There is no place like His presence. It is a journey of my heart –to
His heart. My cry is, “Let’s go to the heartland! The heart of our Father God is the place I want to dwell.
I’m not looking for the greatest vacation spot, or a new frontier to conquer. Sometimes I’m looking for comfort.
Sometimes I’m longing for a resting-place, a place of refuge. I’m looking for, seeking home. I seek the place where I
belong, the place where I can relax and be myself, that safe place of knowing that I am not just known but where I am
loved and accepted. I seek a place in the heart of Father God. It’s not enough to occasionally bump into God on the
way to some other place. No, I’m not satisfied with a visit from time to time. I want to truly be dwelling in His
presence forever. I long to be intimately involved with the God of creation. And I’ve found that He longs for me to
come to Him so much that He sought me out, invited me to come and sent one who will guide me in my journey.
If you go the wrong way – to the right or to the left – you will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the right way.
You should go this way.” Isa. 30:21 NCV
Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. So how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I
am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.” John 14: 5,6 NCV
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April 7,
Life - not Death
We are at the eve of the resurrection of Jesus from the grave – His triumphant rising from death to eternal divine life. As I have
read the Scriptures about His death, burial and resurrection my thoughts are about what it means to us today - what He did for
us.
He died so that we might live – a full and abundant life of joy and peace in the Holy Ghost now – as well as life everlasting with
Him. He was bound and beaten so that we might be free and whole. He was beaten with cords, His flesh ripped open so that we
might be healed and walk in divine health. He broke down the barrier – tore down the curtain that separated us from God so that
we might enter in to the holy of Holies - enter in to the presence of a holy God and commune with Him – without fear.
He suffered rejection and sorrow to give us acceptance and joy. He fought and won the battle with Satan. He gained victory for
all of us over sin and its results – so that we might live in His righteousness and holiness.
We have access to all that He is, all that He has, wisdom, peace, grace, power, health, wholeness, liberty, love, kindness,
tenderness, temperance, joy, freedom for pain and sin and victory over all of life’s problems because He chose to obey the Father’s
plan. He chose to suffer, to die, and to rise up in new life so that we might be reconciled – restored to relationship with Almighty
God and live in that same newness of life that He now gives us. Choose life! Do not choose to walk any longer in death in any
form. Do not allow any form of death into your new life. Choose God’s divine plan of heath, wholeness, liberty, grace peace and
joy. Choose life!
Praise the holy name of Jesus the Anointed One!
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March 8, 2007
Grow Up! Going On To Maturity
Gal. 4: 19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.
Formed: to form; relates to internal reality – a change in character, becoming conformed to the character of Christ in actuality,
not merely resembling Him outwardly.
Let us allow Christ to become “incarnate” in us. See yourself as being made – created – built – formed – with Christ as the model
or design plan that you are to become!
Godliness – maturity – comes from Jesus Himself living within us and through us by Holy Spirit indwelling us, by the Word of God
becoming a part of the material, the tissue we are made from, by maintaining a continuous connection to Jesus – The Vine – as we
are grafted in as branches of the Vine. It is not won or earned through any external works or following a set of rules, or following
a dogma. That is fruitless. Maturity – which brings with it the bearing of fruit - comes forth from within. It is a natural result
of the life flowing from the Vine to the branches. It is worked out, developed through heart changes, through decisions and choices
we make that keep us connected to the Vine.
Eph. 4:1, 7-11, 17, 22 – 24 Walk (live) worthy of the calling with which you were called. To each one grace was given according
to the measure of Christ’s gift. He (Christ Jesus) gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors
and teachers, for the equipping of the saints – for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Tell we all
come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every word of doctrine….
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Feb. 20, 2007
From the heart….
God longs for us to trust Him and trust Him completely. He wants us, calls us to trust Him to speak to us, to trust Him to make
what He says clear to us. We are to trust Him to keep us. He wants us to believe with all our heart that the work He began in
us He will complete.
Phil. 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
So if we are not anxious and worrying and fretting over something (like whether or not to drink or eat something – or if we are
meeting someone’s expectations, or if we are doing enough, and so on and on). And we are to pray and thank God for everything,
asking Him for what ever we need and His peace will guard our heart and mind. The way to peace is - don’t worry, don’t fret – but
thank God for every thing and ask Him for whatever we need – including wisdom.
Ro. 14:4b To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
We need to live to please God and not be called off the wall where we are assigned to do our part because of the criticism of
others. There will always be those who feel that their job is to judge and criticize, give advice and correct even though they are
not willing to take their place on the wall to do the work of rebuilding the walls of the “house” of God. And the enemy is ever close
by to whisper words of condemnation and discouragement – to tell us what we are doing wrong.
Prov 2:5 My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply
your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver,
and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God. NKJV
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Feb. 8, 2007
IS THIS THE RIGHT WAY?
…mortals do not know the way, …God understands the way…Job 28:13,23 NRSV
There have been times in my life when after stepping out in obedience to God in a particular situation - everything around me looked
wrong. Then I would think that I had made a mistake or that I had not heard from God. Once, while going through this, I began to
cry out to God, “Father, what am I to do? Did I miss what I was supposed to do? Did I misunderstand what You said?” I was
impressed to read the 12th chapter of Genesis.
Now the Lord had said to Abram: get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will
show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. So Abram
departed as the Lord had spoken to him and Lot went with him. Gen. 12:1-2,4a NKJV
In this chapter, God told Abram to go to Canaan. He told Abram to leave his country, his relatives, and his father’s house and go
to another land- a far land. Then God promised Abram that he would prosper him, bless him and make him a blessing to others. Isn’
t that wonderful? And the directions seemed clear and specific. So Abram went. He traveled with his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot
and all his servants and animals. His journey was long.
When he arrived in Canaan God met with him there. He again promised Abram the land of Canaan for him and his heirs. Praise God!
Yet Abram could not stay there! There was a severe famine in the land. So Abram went to Egypt to live until the famine ended.
Had he made a mistake? I can imagine that Abram felt much as I have on occasion, maybe he began to question himself and his
ability to hear God’s voice.
Many times this happens to us. We hear from God. We step out to follow Him. Then things don’t appear to be going according to
plan. In Abram’s place I might have thought, “I blew it”. It looked like he had gone to the wrong place. It didn’t look like the place
God had promised. Did he question himself, wondering if he had misunderstood what God was saying? That’s what we do so much of
the time. And while they were traveling in Egypt, Abram’s doubts and fears caused him to lie and endanger his wife. He might have
been trying to “fix” things himself. Sometimes we think, “well I’ve missed God, I’ve messed up. Now I’ll have to get myself out of
this.” But our plans always fall short.
God rescued Sarai and Abram. God was still in control of the land, and the circumstances. He led them back to Bethel. To a place
He prepared for them. And eventually Abram saw God’s promises fulfilled in his life. God wanted Abram to trust Him to meet his
needs and lead him where he was to go. If we will trust God in every situation, in every circumstance, with all people we will find
the fulfillment of what God has promised us, just as Abram did.
And the wonderful, beautiful part of it is that even when we, like Abram, doubt, fear, question God and try to find our own way
out – God still leads, and keeps His promises to us. I need to keep going with God, following His lead even when it looks like I’m
going in the wrong direction; or that I’ve misunderstood and gone to the wrong place. If I put my trust in Him, He will keep me on
the right path and watch over me on my journey.
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January 26, 2007
Finding His Way
It is a wonderful thing to find the will of God the path He has chosen for you and then walk in it. It is a joyous thing to know the
will of God and adjust and rearrange your life to fit in His plan. We can spend so much time and energy doing what looks right,
what seems good and much of it is wasted – because it is not what God called us to do.
Some of us try to be a “scatter gun” for God. We do as much as we can, trying to do everything we see to do while hoping that
something hits the target. But when we find that perfect will of God, when we seek His presence, listen for His voice of
instruction, when we yield to His plan for us, when we focus our energy and time on pleasing Him, and obeying Him we will be like
the arrow of a skilled archer – we will hit the mark.
There is a spiritual force – a power that comes with the act of surrender to God. The more we surrender to Him the more power
and anointing we see operating in our lives. The more we yield to His ways the more we will see Him perform His word in our lives
and in the lives of our families.
God has given us a guidebook, filled with the details of how we are to follow His way rather than our own. If we will learn to
follow the path He has chosen for us with a heart of love that is set on pleasing God we will see wonderful things. And we will walk
in peace and grace. As we listen to His voice, hear His heart and then obediently walk in all we hear Him say, we will see purpose
in our lives. We will see promises fulfilled. We will see prayers answered and desires changed.
Yield yourself to Him and allow Him to work in and through you to impact your circumstances and touch and affect the lives of those
He connects with you.
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January 6, 2007
“Follow Me”
Jesus called Peter and the other disciples to follow Him on more than one occasion. In Matthew 4 we find the account of Him
calling Peter the first time. And in John 21 we read the last times He called Peter to follow Him. According to Bible Scholars
there is three years between Jesus calling Peter to follow Him in Matthew 4 and His questioning Peter of his love for Him and
telling Peter to feed and shepherd His sheep, with the injunction, “Follow Me” twice more. A lot happened during those three
years. Peter discovered for himself how shallow His love was for Jesus. He found that He could not rely on himself. No matter
how he had sworn to never leave or disown Jesus, he did exactly that. No matter how loudly he declared His love for Jesus, He
failed Him more than once.
There was also a difference in the call to follow. In Matthew 4 Jesus is calling Peter to follow Him, as someone is invited to enroll
in a class or join a church. He is asked to allow Him to guide him and show him how to live His way. In Luke 9 and Matthew 16,
Jesus makes the depth of the call a little clearer. He now says to them that they must give up their own ambitions and desires
and die to themselves in order to fully follow Him. He shows Peter how little he understands of Kingdom ways and of the way he
must follow Jesus.
Peter learned even more at the crucifixion. He found that everything Jesus said was true, he was offended, he did stumble; he did
deny Jesus. He had relied on himself to make himself love Jesus, follow Jesus, to deny himself. And it just did not work. He
needed to rely on Jesus – completely and on Jesus alone.
Now, in John 21 Peter has learned all this. He now knows he is unable to trust himself; he cannot rely on his own ability to live as
Jesus calls us to live. He knows he must give up all self-reliance, give up all self-sufficiency, put aside all self-knowledge and put
all his trust in Jesus and His power and ability! This is a following of the heart, not an outward following of teachings and
guidelines; this is becoming one with the teacher in loving obedience and following out of a deep heart desire to serve the Master.
We can promise all we want to, we can make resolutions to do better, we can swear we have changed and we will follow the Lord.
But we lack the power within ourselves to do so. We will end in denial and failure – until we put all our trust in Him and His power,
His ability, and His character. He is fully trustworthy. He is fully capable to fulfill His promises.
Peter came to the end of himself. More than once he saw how frail he was. I have found over the years that I am very much
like Peter in many ways. And like Peter I have had to come to the end of myself so that I might trust in God and His ways fully.
It seems difficult to put aside your rights to self, self- sufficiency, self-reliance, self-esteem, etc., until- you really get to the
end of your strength, the end of your power, the end of your faithfulness, the end of your loyalty, the end of your ability to love,
the end of your ability to endure – then when you recognize fleshly efforts for what they are – weak, frail, unable to accomplish
what needs to be done – and a stench in the nostrils of God – then it becomes much easier to cry out to God for help and begin to
learn to rely, lean on and trust in Him. I found that things have gone much better after I reached the end of myself and yielded
my heart and my life completely to Jesus, not just to teach me and guide me but to take complete control of my life. I love it!
As He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He noticed two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, …. And He
said to them, Come after Me [as disciples – letting Me be your Guide], follow me, and I will make you fishers of men! At once they
left their nets and became His disciples [sided with His party and followed Him.] Matthew 4:18-20 AMP
And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his
own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to
My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]. Luke 9:23 AMP
From that time forth Jesus began [clearly] to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands
of the elders and the high priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised from death. Then Peter took Him
aside, to speak to Him privately and began to reprove and charge Him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to
You! But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and
a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men. Then Jesus said to His
disciples, If anyone desire to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own
interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in
dying, also]. Matt. 16:21-24 AMP
Then Jesus said to them, You will all be offended and stumble and fall away because of Me this night [distrusting and deserting
Me], for it is written, I will strike the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. [Zech 13:7] Peter declared to
Him, Though they all are offended and stumble and fall away because of You [and distrust and desert You], I will never do so.
Jesus said to him, Solemnly I declare to you, this very night before a single rooster crows, you will deny and disown me three
times. Peter said to Him, Even if I must die with You, I will not deny or disown You! And all the disciples said the same thing.
Matt. 26:31, 33-35 AMP
This was now the third time that Jesus reveled Himself (appeared, was manifest) to the disciples after He had risen from the
dead. When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do – with
reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I
have deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. He said to him, Feed My lambs. Again He said to him
the second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He
said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close
friend]. He said to him, Shepherd (tend) My sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a
deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]? Peter was grieved (was saddened and hurt) that He should ask
him the third time. Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [that I have a
deep instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep. … And after this, He said
to him, Follow Me! … You follow Me! John 21: 14-17, 19b, 22b AMP
Heart Renderings
Inspirational thoughts written from a heart hungry for God
From the heart...
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September 11, 2008
Treasures of the Darkness and Hidden Riches of Secret Places
Isaiah 45:2-3: “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces
the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and
hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who calls you by your
name, Am the God of Israel.” NKJV
As many of you know I have been through a rough time dealing with health issues among
other things. Some of the time I have felt as though I was shrouded in darkness – not the
pitch black darkness when you cannot see your hand in front of your face – but murky
darkness – not enough light to really see what lay ahead. The kind of darkness that makes you
very cautious, very careful of each step taken – not knowing where your foot may land. But
also feeling hidden from view, hidden from others. So besides being very cautious, feeling
alone – separated. And I must confess that during some of this time I did not recognize God’s
hand in the situation. Many times thinking, “No one knows where I am, no one understands,
no one can see what is happening.” How wrong I was! I have found that many of you precious
friends, brothers and sisters - subscribers, were all praying for me without knowing why –
and without me knowing you were praying.
But God has been walking with me each step of the way. And He has continued speaking
to me through all these months - teaching me, showing me things I had not seen before even
when walking in the light and the brightness of His glory. He has shown me truths from a new
perspective. He has been revealing to me His treasures in the darkness and the secrets of the
hidden place. It is so good to know that I have been hidden with Him, in Him all the time.
One of the treasures the Lord spoke to me in the dark place is simple. It is that walking in
darkness is the Christian way of life. We are to follow the Lord on the path He has set before
us without knowing exactly where it will lead, without being able to see where we are going,
without seeing beyond the next step. And without knowing how to get where we need to be
nor what we will find when we arrive – not sure where we should be going!
But just as a small child feel safe and secure in his father’s arms, walking in darkness or
light because He trusts his father. He knows his father loves him and will care for him. That is
exactly what we must remember. That is what kept me going all these months – being so
aware of the Father’s love for me – knowing He is caring for me daily no matter how I feel or
what I see! He is so good. He has a plan for me and His plan is good for me!
There is no need to fear when we are yoked to Jesus. We are able to go on, moving
forward because He carries the weight of the load, He knows the direction and is leading every
step. It’s only when we try to pull away, to walk another way that we begin to feel the pain
and the weight of the load.
When our hand is firmly in the grasp of God, we can walk with full assurance that He will
go before us and level out the way, to bring us safely to our destination – or the rest stop
along the way.
I pray that no matter how dark your situation that you will trust our Heavenly Father to
see what you cannot see, to carry you where you cannot go on your own, to lead you by the
hand take you where you need to go. Even if you think you may be only inches away from a
brick wall, or steps before a cliff - know that the Father is watching over you and all that
concerns you. He is able and willing to do whatever is needed to see you get where you long to
go. He is leaving His footprints for you to step in as you follow closely after Him.
And there is a great new place, in this new day - right around the next turn. Keep
following Him. Keep holding to His hand.
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Feb. 20, 2008
JOINED TOGETHER
We are part of the Body, part of each other. And we only work well - serving God
and fulfilling His will as we assemble together, as we are joined together –
according to God’s purpose and plan.
As the Lord declared in Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three have gathered
together in My name, there I am in their midst."
The word translated "gathered" here means much more than just getting together
for meetings; it means to be assembled – as materials are put together as timber –
milled and planed lumber, nails, bricks, mortar and all that is necessary for a
building or as the mechanical parts of a car are assembled to make a vehicle.
Separated, the parts may not be very useful nor would the individual automobile
parts be able to carry anyone anywhere, but assembled together – as a unit – each
part in its proper place as an automobile - those same parts can travel a long way,
carry many passengers along with heavy loads.
This is the same connotation that is found in Hebrews 10:23-25: Let us hold fast
the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and
let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking
our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another;
and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
The "assembling together" that we must not forsake is more than just getting
together for meetings; it is the assembling together like the parts of the car, or
being fitted together as the stones and mortar for a building. Individual parts
may be valuable, but until they are properly put together, they will not accomplish
the goal of their existence or fulfill their purpose We must be fitted together by the
Master Builder’s hand. We must be where God has purposed us to be fitting into
our proper place and doing our designed function. We each have a purpose by God’
s design. And when we are in our proper place doing what God has gifted us to do
we will accomplish His will.
It is God’s way for the Body of Christ. We are to gather together – assemble
ourselves – being fitted together by Christ so that we each fulfill our purpose and
supply our part so that the whole may be that Christ upon the earth fulfilling the
commission He has given to us.
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See below for earlier postings.
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Inspirational thoughts written from a heart hungry for God
From the heart...
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September 11, 2008
Treasures of the Darkness and Hidden Riches of Secret Places
Isaiah 45:2-3: “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces
the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and
hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who calls you by your
name, Am the God of Israel.” NKJV
As many of you know I have been through a rough time dealing with health issues among
other things. Some of the time I have felt as though I was shrouded in darkness – not the
pitch black darkness when you cannot see your hand in front of your face – but murky
darkness – not enough light to really see what lay ahead. The kind of darkness that makes you
very cautious, very careful of each step taken – not knowing where your foot may land. But
also feeling hidden from view, hidden from others. So besides being very cautious, feeling
alone – separated. And I must confess that during some of this time I did not recognize God’s
hand in the situation. Many times thinking, “No one knows where I am, no one understands,
no one can see what is happening.” How wrong I was! I have found that many of you precious
friends, brothers and sisters - subscribers, were all praying for me without knowing why –
and without me knowing you were praying.
But God has been walking with me each step of the way. And He has continued speaking
to me through all these months - teaching me, showing me things I had not seen before even
when walking in the light and the brightness of His glory. He has shown me truths from a new
perspective. He has been revealing to me His treasures in the darkness and the secrets of the
hidden place. It is so good to know that I have been hidden with Him, in Him all the time.
One of the treasures the Lord spoke to me in the dark place is simple. It is that walking in
darkness is the Christian way of life. We are to follow the Lord on the path He has set before
us without knowing exactly where it will lead, without being able to see where we are going,
without seeing beyond the next step. And without knowing how to get where we need to be
nor what we will find when we arrive – not sure where we should be going!
But just as a small child feel safe and secure in his father’s arms, walking in darkness or
light because He trusts his father. He knows his father loves him and will care for him. That is
exactly what we must remember. That is what kept me going all these months – being so
aware of the Father’s love for me – knowing He is caring for me daily no matter how I feel or
what I see! He is so good. He has a plan for me and His plan is good for me!
There is no need to fear when we are yoked to Jesus. We are able to go on, moving
forward because He carries the weight of the load, He knows the direction and is leading every
step. It’s only when we try to pull away, to walk another way that we begin to feel the pain
and the weight of the load.
When our hand is firmly in the grasp of God, we can walk with full assurance that He will
go before us and level out the way, to bring us safely to our destination – or the rest stop
along the way.
I pray that no matter how dark your situation that you will trust our Heavenly Father to
see what you cannot see, to carry you where you cannot go on your own, to lead you by the
hand take you where you need to go. Even if you think you may be only inches away from a
brick wall, or steps before a cliff - know that the Father is watching over you and all that
concerns you. He is able and willing to do whatever is needed to see you get where you long to
go. He is leaving His footprints for you to step in as you follow closely after Him.
And there is a great new place, in this new day - right around the next turn. Keep
following Him. Keep holding to His hand.
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Feb. 20, 2008
JOINED TOGETHER
We are part of the Body, part of each other. And we only work well - serving God
and fulfilling His will as we assemble together, as we are joined together –
according to God’s purpose and plan.
As the Lord declared in Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three have gathered
together in My name, there I am in their midst."
The word translated "gathered" here means much more than just getting together
for meetings; it means to be assembled – as materials are put together as timber –
milled and planed lumber, nails, bricks, mortar and all that is necessary for a
building or as the mechanical parts of a car are assembled to make a vehicle.
Separated, the parts may not be very useful nor would the individual automobile
parts be able to carry anyone anywhere, but assembled together – as a unit – each
part in its proper place as an automobile - those same parts can travel a long way,
carry many passengers along with heavy loads.
This is the same connotation that is found in Hebrews 10:23-25: Let us hold fast
the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and
let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking
our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another;
and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
The "assembling together" that we must not forsake is more than just getting
together for meetings; it is the assembling together like the parts of the car, or
being fitted together as the stones and mortar for a building. Individual parts
may be valuable, but until they are properly put together, they will not accomplish
the goal of their existence or fulfill their purpose We must be fitted together by the
Master Builder’s hand. We must be where God has purposed us to be fitting into
our proper place and doing our designed function. We each have a purpose by God’
s design. And when we are in our proper place doing what God has gifted us to do
we will accomplish His will.
It is God’s way for the Body of Christ. We are to gather together – assemble
ourselves – being fitted together by Christ so that we each fulfill our purpose and
supply our part so that the whole may be that Christ upon the earth fulfilling the
commission He has given to us.
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See below for earlier postings.
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| Heart Renderings Inspiration written from the heart |
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| About the origin of Heart Renderings... In November OF 2006 the Lord spoke to me about doing a new thing. He asked me to begin to write “from the heart” and send it out as HEART RENDERINGS. I don't know yet how this will evolve. But I am – in obedience to His call writing Rendering's From the Heart. I hope you are blessed in a way that has potential for changing you, changing the way you think about the ways of God, the character of God, the way you relate to Him as well as to other people – that you will experience a change of heart as I write to you from the heart of the things that God has spoken to me, or done in my life, or has taught me from His word. When the Lord gave me the name, Heart Renderings, I was so surprised by it that I got out the dictionary to look up rendering. This is what I found: render, rendered, rendering v.t. To give back, yield, to dare to give. 1 a: to melt down: extract by melting. 2 a. To transmit to another: Deliver. b: to give up: yield. c: to furnish for consideration, approval, or information. 3. a. To give back: Restore. b. Reflect. Echo. c. To give in acknowledgment of dependence or obligation: Pay. d. To do (a service) for another. 4. To cause to be or become: Make. b. Impart. c. Depict. I offer to you – give to you, that which has come into my life through a process of melting times. I trust God will guide me in choosing that which has been extracted through this process of melting – both in His arms as well as in His furnace of purification, to be of some service to you and to transmit or deliver that which may bring to you restoration, a reflection of Him and His love and grace and an echo of His voice. I give it in acknowledgment of my complete dependence upon Him, my total obligation to Him and in obedience to His direction. I pray that it will truly cause you to become more like Him. |
| And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their hearts of stone and give them tender hearts instead, so they will obey my laws and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 11:19-20 NLT |
