I found this posted on the internet and had to share it with you. He doesn't scream at people, He doesn't blast the church like an angry watchman, He just simply talks to you and He doesn't merely speak about God, He speaks FOR God, and that is something very rare today. I pray God use these to draw us all to follow the Holy Spirit to the cross which is ultimately where we must go. Only He can take us there, and only He can live the life of Christ through and in us.
These are links to two 20 minute videos preached by Pastor BH Clendennen...I hope you will take time to visit the site. I also posted these 2 videos to my blog, because I believe the message of the School of Christ is so necessary to us who want to be found not having our own righteousness, which is filthy rags in His sight, but IN HIM.
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
This is life eternal, that they may know You, the eternal God (John 17:3)
http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=bf24f65dc1745be5185e
(Living the Life of Another from the School of Christ series, the Cross)
http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=3109e27fc0d7973ab279
(What the Cross Means to God from the School of Christ Series, the Cross)
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Trusting God's Word and Love
The Word of God is urging us to remember the Lord is our Refuge, we can be confident and sure of Him. The certainty that God will do what He said, that He meant what He said, that He had His Word written for our encouragement, education and defense, this is our confidence, and our hope. Trust-have confidence in, be sure of God at all times...no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the situation, trust in Him. No matter how bad it looks, no matter how dark it is, no matter how you feel, trust in HIM. Remember how He's delivered you in the past. Remember how He's delivered others in the past. Remember His deliverances and take comfort in what you know He has already done. He already knows your situation. He wants you to run to Him with it, and pour out your heart, tell Him everything that's plaguing your mind, the feelings you are struggling with, the pain that tears at your very being. Tell Him your fears and uncertainties, and offer them to Him to deal with. Lay them at the cross and cry for the blood to cover everything. Bring your pain and trade it for His comfort and peace. Just His presence in your life is your strength. Knowing He loves you so much He died for you and will never fail one who places their confidence in Him is your peace. Believe it.
He has given us access to come boldly into His presence and tell Him everything. He would not say come if He did not intend to hear. He would not say come, pray, if He did not want to talk to you. He doesn't only listen. He has much to say to you, too, if you can learn after you pour out your heart to wait and worship until He speaks. He truly is our shelter, our refuge, our hiding place from the adversity and pressure of this time. In His presence is fullness of joy and at His right hand is pleasure forevermore. He will show us the path of life. It's His Son-who is the way, the truth and the Life...(Psa_16:11, Joh_14:6)
Psa 91:3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
Psa 91:4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
The word deliver means to snatch away, to rescue, recover or take out. He's going to rescue His people from the traps of the one who hunts for their soul, to destroy their faith and their lives. This phrase "noisome pestilence" is one I want to pull apart and carefully examine. (H1942, H1698, ) This word noisome has an implication of a rushing calamity, iniquity, a perverse thing that attacks with the intent to destroy. It can be any kind of situation, mental, physical, family, marriage, financial, spiritual, etc. This attack is motivated by a deadly enemy who covets and desires to ruin. What is he after? First and foremost the life of Christ inside you and your faith in the Word of God. Your faith in the promises of God. He goes after your faith because if he can steal your faith, and cause you to fall into unbelief, he can destroy the life in you. (We are kept by the power of God THROUGH FAITH 1Pe_1:5). The enemy keeps coming, like a vicious predator that will pick and pick and pick until he is able to tear his victim to shreds. Like a vulture, he will circle and watch, waiting for the right time to strike. He wants to foul your mind, confuse your understanding, and destroy your faith. He wants to lead you into error, even religious error. His greatest successes are with those he leads into apostasy who think they still do God service but have strayed from the way, the truth and the life and are blind to it.
One of my heartfelt prayers is Lord, please don't let me be deceived, not even by myself..Amen?
God sees this attack coming in like a flood. He knows what is happening and why. He hears our thoughts when we see the flood of the enemy coming, He wants to hear His promises going through our mind, He wants to see us grab His Word as our life preserver and hold on to His Word. He wants to see us look up and cry out His truth, not like the disciples, "Oh, Lord do you not care that we perish?" No, He wants to hear "Lord, you are my Refuge, You are my Ever Present Help, Help Lord!" Oh, He will cover and protect His own, He will defend us, hedge us in by the power of His Spirit and His Word. Remember in Psa_34:7 He said the angel of the Lord encamps around them who fear Him and delivers them. Amen? Under His wings we can flee for protection, a place of hope and refuge, Someone whose presence we can run into and be safe and confide everything in. His truth, His stability, His faithfulness is our shield that surrounds us. He leaves no part of His own unprotected.
Psa 56:2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
Psa 56:3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
He knows all about our enemies. He knows we struggle with ourselves, with religion, with the world, the flesh, and the devil. There is a real opposition to His children that would devour us given opportunity. He knows any and everyone would swallow us alive like the earth opened and swallowed Korah and those in his rebellion. (Num 16) He knows sudden fear comes against us. When we struggle with fear, we can run to Him and remind Him He has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and of power and sound mind. We have the right to cry out for His Holy Spirit to make this Word real to our heart, and lay the fear before the cross and again, cry out for the blood of Jesus to drown it!
Psa 56:4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
We can boast in His Word, in His power, in His ability, in His faithfulness, because He is the great I AM. We can trust in HIM at all times, in every situation, including when we are struggling in our prayer life, and hungering for Him but battling feelings and thoughts of unworthiness, condemnation and guilt. It's His power and His faithfulness that is able is present us before the glory of His presence, faultless, where He can receive us with exceeding great joy. (Jud_1:24) He even had to give us the faith required to believe Him! It's all His work in us, and all we can do is surrender to His work, and His will, and rejoice in the fact that He loves us enough to do in us what is necessary so we are accepted when we stand before Him. For how can we really in our feeble little earthly minds understand what is required to stand before His Holiness? He knows, He will work in us that which pleases Him! But we must seek Him and listen and follow Him.
Pro 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
There is nothing unclean or impure hidden in His Word. There are no secret motives, no hidden darkness, no malice, just pure truth. Those who flee to Him for protection and who put their hope in Him are secure because He is invincible.
Jer 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jer 29:14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
Babylon means confusion. It's the confusing world system. It can be religious, it can be carnal, it can also be demonic. It's everything God is not. When His people end up there it's because of their own disobedience. For those who find themselves in this place, so confused and bound they don't know where to turn or what to do, cry out to Him. He still loves you, He still wants to save you, and work in you His will so you can have the inheritance in eternity He means for you to have. He wants you to search after Him with all your heart though, not half of your heart, not with unbelief, or carelessness. He wants us to be sincere, and never stop praying no matter how you feel or what you think or how hopeless it seems. He is the God of all hope and comfort. There is no other place to get the help we need and no one else loves us like He does. We must determine to not be satisfied with what we have or what we know. There is so much more because God is so vast. We can come before Him, like the little woman who came before the unjust judge in Luke 18, and settle it in our heart that we are not going to stop coming, regardless, because He is our desire, not what He has. Oh what treasure we will find. He said when we come with all our heart, not half hearted, not in unbelief, but hungry, and sincere, He will be found of us. He will deliver from captivity, and gather us close, like a tired child gathered up by mom or dad and held, safe and secure in their arms.
Monday, May 11, 2009
In Christ
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
What does it mean to be in Christ? A human is a living being. But to be in Christ, your life is in HIM-you begin to want His ways, not yours, His thoughts, not yours, His divine power, not human strength. To be in Christ is to recognize human wisdom and strength are not sufficient, the source is found only in HIM. All the old things, habits, ways of thinking, ways of living independently, begin to pass away. We begin to do things in a new way-one that requires total dependence on HIM. We exchange our insufficient human frailties for His divine life. We reject our independence and cling to Him in submission and total, absolute dependence. We begin to understand, under the leadership of the Holy Ghost that we can't do anything in our own strength that will please Him. Only what is done by the power of the Spirit of God working through us will be acceptable because what the Spirit does, the flesh (or self) can't take credit for.
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
It's only through Jesus Christ, through His work, His love, His holiness, His sinless sacrifice of Himself on the cross, that appeases God's demand for justice since humanity violated His divine law. Because He has made this knowledge available, and given us the faith required to believe this truth, that it is what JESUS did that satisfies God's requirement that a penalty be paid for sin. We are declared right by God-justified because we believed the Truth (Joh 14:6- Jesus said HE is the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by HIM). As we see this, we can rest in this. We have hope. As we travel on this journey of faith with the Lord, He teaches us. We experience things that are sometimes painful. The Holy Spirit will begin to show us things in our heart that are unlike Him and because we love Him, are learning to love Him and know Him, it grieves us. We didn't know that awful thing was in our heart. It was buried so deep we didn't see it. We were blissfully ignorant of the depravity of our human heart. And we can begin to despair. We hear a message preached on the coming of the Lord, and condemnation and fear can grip us. The Holy Ghost is faithful-being the Holy Spirit of God, having the mind of God, and our best interest at heart, to not abandon us because we are not perfect.
We need to understand though, if the thought of the coming of the Lord causes us to fear and dread it's because deep down we are still trusting in our own righteousness, not His. We are still looking to ourselves, mourning over ourselves and our own inability to in ourselves please God, instead of looking to His perfect, spotless sacrifice, and His completion of the work. If we are striving in our own selves to live the Christian life, instead of showing up for prayer and digging in this Book depending on HIM to make it real in our lives, we can do nothing but fail. We will miss the mark everytime. That is sin.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Without faith it is impossible to please God and He that comes to God must believe He is there, and that He rewards them that diligently seek Him. He rewards them by revealing Himself and His mind, by opening their understanding to His Word. They diligently, frequently, always seek HIM (not looking to self) because they know only He can do this divine work in them.
2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
It's by His promises, and our faith in His promises that we are granted access to partake of His divine nature. How do we partake of His divine nature? We read His Word, we commune through prayer but we must be filled with His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit is His divine nature. Amen? What an awesome, glorious God!! In the times we live in, there has never been a greater need to draw closer to Him, to know Him for ourselves. I was on the Times Square Church website yesterday (http://www.tscnyc.org/index.php) and they have an emergency alert page up now, so if something happens and they cannot gather at the church in New York City, they can still stream the messages and get a word out to the people. They are making preparations, and they are following the instructions and leadership of the Holy Spirit. He knows something is coming, and we don't know what it is, but we have been warned.
If we are struggling with fear, depression over failing finances or failing health, the uncertainty of the economy, we can always find strength and help in time of need at the throne of God. He's given us access.
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
That spirit of fear is not from God. He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. (2 Tim 1:7) He has never failed one single person who put their trust in Him and not themselves. We can't keep ourselves. We can't secure ourselves in this dangerous world. We are kept by the power of God through faith..
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Oh, bless the Lord, Oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits, His love, His mercy, His provision, His grace and truth which are only found in Jesus Christ. Bless the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ who will not fail us or forsake us in the greatest hour of need the church has ever known. It always gets darkest at the end of the night before daylight. He's given us a wonderful hope of a life with Him forever. He alone can infuse His life in us and raise us as He raised Christ-by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
It's almost time, saints! He has something reserved for the faithful, something that is not corrupt, that can't be corrupted, or defiled and will never fade away, reserved just for those who endure to the end and refuse to let go of their faith in God no matter how hard circumstances conspire with the devil to tempt and try your faith. Think of that. He has something precious-an eternal inheritance reserved in Heaven for us who do not quit, who do not give up, and who will not allow anything to separate us from Him. We won't lay our Bibles and our prayer life down due to despair. No, we find comfort and strength in His Presence. We may have in the past let the devil and our own conscience shame us and hinder us but He's given us the victory and by faith we stand in that victorious work of HIS SON, not anything we have done, and that is our ticket into His Presence to find all the help and strength and grace we need. One day at a time, one prayer at a time, one breath at a time! Glory to GOD!!!!!!
1Pe 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Oh, yes, we can rejoice because just like He set a joy before His Son who endured the cross, despising the shame, but He endured because God set a glorious promise before Him and He has set one before us too!! Yes, there are many kinds of temptations, many kind of problems, and our faith is being tried and tested more than ever. But that's to purify our faith. Without these trials, we would never learn God delivers His children and how. When they are over, we will see it was Him all along in the fire with us. Watching carefully, guarding us just like He did Israel at the Red Sea when Pharaoh's army came over that hill, hell-bent on destroying God's people! When you see these things, look UP not down. Your help comes from above not beneath! Oh, Glory, I pray His Spirit minister His peace to your troubled heart. He said Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in ME! Just as My Father kept Me in the greatest trial I had on this earth, I will keep you! And that faith that is being purified will be a praise and honor to Him. He can testify of us to all of Heaven's angels, and to the Father, they trusted in Me as I trusted in You, Father. Welcome them home!
Oh, yes, Glory to God! Hold on to your confidence, do not let it go for anything!
For it has great rewards. Don't surrender to the enemy's buffeting that prize he so desperately seeks-your faith! Even if you are so weary and without strength all you can do is stand still. Then stand. Be still and know HE is God. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!
1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Isn't that what it's all about? Seeing Him! Being like Him. Hearing Him say well done, enter in to the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord....welcoming His own home. The end of your faith is the salvation of your soul. Only He can save you. He is faithful who has promised. AMEN!!!! Where else would we want to be but IN Christ? Oh, let us seek His strength to completely die to self and this world and let our life be founded and hid only in Christ!
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
What does it mean to be in Christ? A human is a living being. But to be in Christ, your life is in HIM-you begin to want His ways, not yours, His thoughts, not yours, His divine power, not human strength. To be in Christ is to recognize human wisdom and strength are not sufficient, the source is found only in HIM. All the old things, habits, ways of thinking, ways of living independently, begin to pass away. We begin to do things in a new way-one that requires total dependence on HIM. We exchange our insufficient human frailties for His divine life. We reject our independence and cling to Him in submission and total, absolute dependence. We begin to understand, under the leadership of the Holy Ghost that we can't do anything in our own strength that will please Him. Only what is done by the power of the Spirit of God working through us will be acceptable because what the Spirit does, the flesh (or self) can't take credit for.
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
It's only through Jesus Christ, through His work, His love, His holiness, His sinless sacrifice of Himself on the cross, that appeases God's demand for justice since humanity violated His divine law. Because He has made this knowledge available, and given us the faith required to believe this truth, that it is what JESUS did that satisfies God's requirement that a penalty be paid for sin. We are declared right by God-justified because we believed the Truth (Joh 14:6- Jesus said HE is the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by HIM). As we see this, we can rest in this. We have hope. As we travel on this journey of faith with the Lord, He teaches us. We experience things that are sometimes painful. The Holy Spirit will begin to show us things in our heart that are unlike Him and because we love Him, are learning to love Him and know Him, it grieves us. We didn't know that awful thing was in our heart. It was buried so deep we didn't see it. We were blissfully ignorant of the depravity of our human heart. And we can begin to despair. We hear a message preached on the coming of the Lord, and condemnation and fear can grip us. The Holy Ghost is faithful-being the Holy Spirit of God, having the mind of God, and our best interest at heart, to not abandon us because we are not perfect.
We need to understand though, if the thought of the coming of the Lord causes us to fear and dread it's because deep down we are still trusting in our own righteousness, not His. We are still looking to ourselves, mourning over ourselves and our own inability to in ourselves please God, instead of looking to His perfect, spotless sacrifice, and His completion of the work. If we are striving in our own selves to live the Christian life, instead of showing up for prayer and digging in this Book depending on HIM to make it real in our lives, we can do nothing but fail. We will miss the mark everytime. That is sin.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Without faith it is impossible to please God and He that comes to God must believe He is there, and that He rewards them that diligently seek Him. He rewards them by revealing Himself and His mind, by opening their understanding to His Word. They diligently, frequently, always seek HIM (not looking to self) because they know only He can do this divine work in them.
2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
It's by His promises, and our faith in His promises that we are granted access to partake of His divine nature. How do we partake of His divine nature? We read His Word, we commune through prayer but we must be filled with His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit is His divine nature. Amen? What an awesome, glorious God!! In the times we live in, there has never been a greater need to draw closer to Him, to know Him for ourselves. I was on the Times Square Church website yesterday (http://www.tscnyc.org/index.php) and they have an emergency alert page up now, so if something happens and they cannot gather at the church in New York City, they can still stream the messages and get a word out to the people. They are making preparations, and they are following the instructions and leadership of the Holy Spirit. He knows something is coming, and we don't know what it is, but we have been warned.
If we are struggling with fear, depression over failing finances or failing health, the uncertainty of the economy, we can always find strength and help in time of need at the throne of God. He's given us access.
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
That spirit of fear is not from God. He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. (2 Tim 1:7) He has never failed one single person who put their trust in Him and not themselves. We can't keep ourselves. We can't secure ourselves in this dangerous world. We are kept by the power of God through faith..
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Oh, bless the Lord, Oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits, His love, His mercy, His provision, His grace and truth which are only found in Jesus Christ. Bless the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ who will not fail us or forsake us in the greatest hour of need the church has ever known. It always gets darkest at the end of the night before daylight. He's given us a wonderful hope of a life with Him forever. He alone can infuse His life in us and raise us as He raised Christ-by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
It's almost time, saints! He has something reserved for the faithful, something that is not corrupt, that can't be corrupted, or defiled and will never fade away, reserved just for those who endure to the end and refuse to let go of their faith in God no matter how hard circumstances conspire with the devil to tempt and try your faith. Think of that. He has something precious-an eternal inheritance reserved in Heaven for us who do not quit, who do not give up, and who will not allow anything to separate us from Him. We won't lay our Bibles and our prayer life down due to despair. No, we find comfort and strength in His Presence. We may have in the past let the devil and our own conscience shame us and hinder us but He's given us the victory and by faith we stand in that victorious work of HIS SON, not anything we have done, and that is our ticket into His Presence to find all the help and strength and grace we need. One day at a time, one prayer at a time, one breath at a time! Glory to GOD!!!!!!
1Pe 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Oh, yes, we can rejoice because just like He set a joy before His Son who endured the cross, despising the shame, but He endured because God set a glorious promise before Him and He has set one before us too!! Yes, there are many kinds of temptations, many kind of problems, and our faith is being tried and tested more than ever. But that's to purify our faith. Without these trials, we would never learn God delivers His children and how. When they are over, we will see it was Him all along in the fire with us. Watching carefully, guarding us just like He did Israel at the Red Sea when Pharaoh's army came over that hill, hell-bent on destroying God's people! When you see these things, look UP not down. Your help comes from above not beneath! Oh, Glory, I pray His Spirit minister His peace to your troubled heart. He said Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in ME! Just as My Father kept Me in the greatest trial I had on this earth, I will keep you! And that faith that is being purified will be a praise and honor to Him. He can testify of us to all of Heaven's angels, and to the Father, they trusted in Me as I trusted in You, Father. Welcome them home!
Oh, yes, Glory to God! Hold on to your confidence, do not let it go for anything!
For it has great rewards. Don't surrender to the enemy's buffeting that prize he so desperately seeks-your faith! Even if you are so weary and without strength all you can do is stand still. Then stand. Be still and know HE is God. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!
1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Isn't that what it's all about? Seeing Him! Being like Him. Hearing Him say well done, enter in to the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord....welcoming His own home. The end of your faith is the salvation of your soul. Only He can save you. He is faithful who has promised. AMEN!!!! Where else would we want to be but IN Christ? Oh, let us seek His strength to completely die to self and this world and let our life be founded and hid only in Christ!
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Cry of Discontent- What kind of Cry is it?
Num 11:2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched.
I had been studying these Scriptures in Numbers 11, and meditating on why God reacted so angrily to one group of people who complained and murmured, but not to the second group of people who complained and murmured. One group got fiery judgment, one group got help. Both groups were complaining.
In Num 11 the people got in trouble for they complained, and it made God mad. Upon careful, prayerful examination of these Scriptures I began to see they were mourning, feeling sorry for themselves over the hardship of the journey, over the things left behind in Egypt. God was tiring of their murmuring. I looked carefully at the word "displeased" because it applies to the Lord. We need to understand how He feels and why. I want to know. In the Hebrew H7451, in your concordance, this word displeased means of course displeasure, but it also means a displeasure accompanied with pain, and sorrow. It hurt God! Let me tell you, the Lord hears your thoughts, and your words. He knows the feelings and attitudes in your heart that motivate what you say and do. He is always watching, always listening.
Oh, God forgive us for our thoughts and our complaining since you saved us. When trials have come hard and we in our ignorance have not reacted in a spiritual way but in a carnal way, oh God forgive us. I know You allow these things to bring that in us unlike You to the surface so we can see what you already know is there, so we can repent and You can cleanse. But, oh, please forgive us.
Imagine how He felt. He led them out of an awful situation in Egypt. He delivered them totally. He guarded their back when the Egyptians followed them and meant to destroy them and they were at the Red Sea with no way out. He led them every step of the way, feeding them, giving them water, and meat. He supernaturally kept their shoes and clothes from wearing out. They had no map, no Walmart, no McDonald's, no provision but Him and He was all they needed. He heard and He understood why they were complaining. He considered carefully their motives-He didn't just react in a blind rage and send the fire. No. His face looking on them wasn't shining with love at the time, no His face was angry. It was a hot, burning anger.
He sent His fire and consumed those who were complaining,--He sent judgment in the form of fire and consumed those who were on the outskirts of the camp. This is significant. God is just and will not destroy the righteous with the wicked.
That word 'uttermost' in verse 1 means at the end, the border, the outskirts of the camp. They weren't on the inner circle. They weren't close to God, which is why they did not fear to complain. When God's judgment fell, fire began to burn through the outskirts of the camp. Imagine being camped out in a wilderness, and hearing the murmuring of the people and all of a sudden fire falls from heaven and begins to consume them. The people shrieked in terror, and ran to Moses, who immediately began to intercede for them to the Lord and the fire was put out.
Num_11:4 reveals the problem: there was a mixed multitude among them. This is a common problem in the church. This "mixed multitude" means a casual, unrestrained, wanton group of people. They were not Hebrews, but were those who found themselves slaves in Egypt or in hard positions and saw the exodus of the Hebrews as a way out. They are plagued by covetousness, they desired dainty, easy things and places. They resented hardship, they resented Moses' authority, and God's. Their desires conflicted with God's. This mixed multitude was intent on having their own way-they were slaves to self. It couldn't have been long after God's fiery judgment fell, in verse 1, because by verse 4 the mixed multitude, resenting the hardships of the desert, the wilderness, and the traveling, were looking back to Egypt, to the food, and conveniences they had. This had to be those malcontents who slipped away from Egypt with Israel when they left. The Israelites were granted no such luxuries in Egypt. Their life was hard and full of grief. Nearly everything they had was taken from them. Their baby boys were slaughtered. They suffered terribly. I believe God sent the fire and consumed some of the complainers as a warning to His people, and as a purging out of the leaven in the camp. In verse 4, they are complaining again. "Who will give us flesh to eat?" they cry.
God does agree to give them the flesh they cried for until it made them sick. But here's the thing-He was already providing the quail. Back in Exo. 16:13 when He first began to provide the manna, He sent the manna in the morning (which represents the daily Bread of His Word we need from Heaven) and at evening He sent the quail. But here they are again complaining the meat He was sending wasn't enough. It didn't satisfy that deep inner longing, because what they longed for was back in Egypt-and it made them slow and sick. He was feeding them what they needed and many were not satisfied. Some of them were complaining about the manna...and this was angels' food, and they weren't satisfied.
The mixed multitude resented the provision of God, they were not satisfied with what He was feeding them. They had their desire set on things of the world-on Egyptian particular. They liked the things they fed on in Egypt. There are things you can feed on that will slow you down and make you sluggish and overweight. This can be a physical side effect of what you eat. But there are spiritual side effects, as well. If you over indulge in anything, it will slow you down, and make you sleepy. Spiritually sleepy. Physically sleepy. They coveted what they fed on in Egypt bad enough they began to weep and spread their discontent among the people of the camp. On the journey with God, to walk with Him, the things of Egypt are left behind. Stripped away. Some yield to the pruning of God, others don't.
Moses heard the cry of discontent spreading, and God heard and His anger was stirred up again. This time, Moses got mad, too. He cried to God. "Why did you do this to me? Why have you punished me and laid the burden of such an ungrateful and unruly people on me? I thought I'd found favor in Your eyes." More complaining. This time, God reacts differently and I have been puzzling over this, and meditating on this, and in church Saturday night, the Lord revealed to me what the difference was. We've already understood why the first group was complaining. But here, Moses is complaining. There were cries of discontent coming from these people-but for different reasons. The first group was dissatisfied with God's ways, and God's provision. That is key-it is terribly dangerous to despise the provision of God. That's almost reprobate, wouldn't you think? As some are despising His provision, others are gathering it. At night, the people are weeping in their tents, and God and Moses are both displeased. The second group, including Moses was complaining and there was weeping, because things were getting out of order, and there was a genuine desire among some of the people to do things God's way, to follow God not man and man's desires.
Moses was feeling the weight of the responsibility of these people, and he hated their murmuring, and complaining. Remember, Moses had seen God up close and personal, from the burning bush, to the time on the mountain, 80 days in His fiery presence on the mount. God descends in a cloud at the tabernacle and speaks to Moses. He says gather unto Me 70 of the elders of Israel who yu know to be elders of the people and officers over them. Bring them to meet Me at the tabernacle, that they stand with you there. I will come and take of the Spirit which is upon you and put it also on them that you will not bear the burden of this people alone." What does God do? He doesn't send judgment this time. He sees the situation, and He tells Moses to gather 70 elders, those who were spiritually mature, and bring them to the meeting place-the tabernacle where God met with Moses, and present them there. They had to get filled with the Spirit.
Those who complained and began to feed on flesh, He struck them with a very great plague. Those who lusted-who coveted and longed after the things of Egypt were destroyed. God could not allow that to continually remain among His people. It would defile many. These of the mixed multitude continually complained and met with judgment. They had no fear of God, they were determined to have their own way. Isn't that like self? This is a clear warning, when self determines to be in charge rather than God, when people refuse Spiritual leadership and demand flesh instead, it brings judgment to the house of God.
When He put the same spirit Moses had on the 70 elders, they had the same mind, same purpose, same desire to follow God, and they began to prophesy. They began to speak by divine inspiration as a prophet. They didn't stop-they didn't add or do more than God said. They were obedient like Moses. They became like Moses.
Consider what God said about the elders. Those He would put in leadership-notice they were chosen by Moses, who followed God's leadership. Before they could be in leadership, before they could minister to the people, they had to be full of the Spirit of God. In the first church after Pentecost, those who waited on tables and ministered to the widows had to be full of faith and the Holy Ghost. The Apostles said they would give themselves to the Word of God continually and prayer. Other church business is to be handled by those full of faith and the Holy Ghost. This is the pattern laid out by the Word of God. Sadly, you don't see this Biblical pattern in many churches today and that is why they are for the most part ineffective.
You have a people here who were more interested in flesh than spirit. Flesh growls and grumbles. The Spirit does not. Consider when you fast. When your belly is hungry, it growls. But when you neglect to feed that Christ life inside there is a cry...a humble cry, urging you back to prayer and the Word. The humility of God never ceases to astound me.
Oh, God, do it again. Give Your people pastors after Your heart, whose primary purpose in life is to seek Your face, more understanding of Your Word, and sacrificially love and care for Your sheep and Your lambs. Time after time you find the pattern in the Bible. If He is truly in charge of His church, the minister is a Spirit filled, Spirit governed minister then the church produces disciples, missionaries, ministers. It won't be dead, dry and mostly empty. Each will produce after its kind. People will be getting saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, and the Word of God will be taught in purity and holiness. Reverence will fill the Sanctuary. Needs will be met. Christ will be taught crucified and risen again. The Cross will be the message. The Holy Spirit desires to take each of His children to the cross so their self will can be crucified. Oh, God You heard the Macedonian cry, please hear the cry of this heart, do it again, Father. Rise up and scatter the enemies, as Moses prayed. They have made void Thy law for it is not taught as it should be in so many places. No wonder the world mocks and laughs. Rescue Your sheep, Father, and the lambs who have been scattered by ignorant pastors and teachers more hung up on tradition of men than anything else. The Lord is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we could ever think to ask. Look to Him not men. Look to His Word, and His Holy Spirit, for help, direction and leadership. He will not fail us. There is a cry of discontent among God's people. Some may be crying over the hardness of the journey. They have not seen Him yet. To see Him, like Paul-and by see I mean understand, begin to know personally, is to desire Him enough to be willing to endure hardness. Then some are crying in discontent because they know there is more than what they see around them. They have caught enough of a glimpse of Him, been taught by Him, enough to know things around them are out of order and they cry, grieved because He is misrepresented. God will hear the Macedonian cry again and help!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
The Secret of the Lord
The Secret of the Lord Full Notes
Psa 25:9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
The meek-this word means depressed, in mind or circumstance. Those who are needy, humble, poor. The meek He will lead in judgment. What does that mean? In the Hebrew, the word is Mishpat (H4941). God has a courtroom. His throne is where people and their cases appear. He has a divine law, He had it written for our good, so we can know Him, and His Truth. He has a manner of life He declares His children should live and walk in. There are laws and there are commandments. When we violate one, oh, praise God we have an advocate-or intercessor, who mediates this case that has to be brought before the Lord. The Son of God speaks on our behalf, having already borne the punishment for our sin. We ask for His forgiveness, the blood is applied to our sins, and they are cleansed. We need to understand this for when we do, we cannot take sin and disobedience lightly. He is a holy God and will not change or amend His law like man does. It is forever settled in heaven, and cannot be changed. Consider the drastic action He had to take in order to restore hope and the opportunity to fellowship with Him to us. He had to come into this dark, desperate world, wrap His Word in the womb of a virgin, and be born, and live a sinless life, and be rejected, and slaughtered. Consider the brutality of His death on the cross and you see a glimpse of the hatred of God for sin. Lord, grant us Your holy fear, for it is by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.
Remember He has the power and the right to cast us all into an eternal hell where the suffering never ends, where there is no light or love. It's His mercy and grace and His willingness to forgive our offenses, our sins, because of His SON. It is not because of anything good in us-there is nothing good in us but HIM. It's all because of HIS goodness, HIS SON, that we have hope. See how understanding the truth can make you feel so small, and insignificant, so unworthy? Yet we stand on the fact He made us accepted in His Beloved Son. He granted us an entrance-He did it because He loves us and wants to have a personal relationship with us. He wants to make us HIS, to share His wonders with us, His heart, His life. Oh, how blessed we are when we begin by the Holy Ghost to see such marvelous truth.
It's the meek, those who are poor and needy, depressed in their minds, in their situations, and are humble not arrogant, these are folks that are teachable. He will instruct expertly these people. He will show them the road they must travel. He will walk this road with them-they will never be alone for He is everywhere, and He knows all things. He never leaves His children alone for the enemy would destroy us without His divine protection. All the ways of the Lord are mercy, kindness, trustworthy. He's made promises, and His testimony or witness to us is His Word, and His Spirit to help us understand His Word and make it real to our heart and life. Oh, Lord, on account of Your Holy Name, Your great NAME, forgive, put away my iniquity. It is so great-everything in me wants to rebel against Your truth, and Your righteousness. That in me wants its own way and You have shown me that will lead to death. To walk after the desires and wishes of myself will lead nowhere but to hell.
Psa 25:12 What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
Psa 25:13 His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.
Psa 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
Psa 25:15 Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
Those who have a reverence for the Lord, who fear to break His commands, who walk lightly and humbly before Him, those He will teach however He sees fit. He is the Teacher, we, the students. We know nor can have nothing except we receive it from above. We can rest in His promises, hold to them, for ourselves and our children.
I want to deal a moment here on this secret of the Lord mentioned in verse 14. I have so much to learn, but I saw something in this Scripture that thrilled my heart. That word 'secret' (H5475) means intimacy, and inward secret counsel the Lord gives His own. It's an intimate friendship, Those who fear Him will not take lightly His Word. They might struggle and make mistakes, but they are broken when He convicts them, they sorrow over their failures and seek to HIM and HIS strength to live this life He requires-it's HIS life. We can't fake it. We can't even accurately imitate it. We must yield to it and allow HIS life to flow through us, to be lived in us by His Spirit. Amen? When it is HIM, it is genuine.
The Amplified Bible puts it this way:
Psa 25:14 The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning. [John 7:17; 15:15.]
Hallelujah!
Another translation, the Concordant Literal Version, very close to the original Hebrew puts it this way:
Psa 25:14 The intimacy of Yahweh is for those fearing Him, And His covenant, to give them knowledge.
Think about what this is saying very carefully. Turn it over in your mind. Those who reverence the Lord, He will commune or talk with on a personal, inward level. It's secret communication between God and man or woman. I have experienced this and there is nothing like it on earth. There is no voice like His. You could be having the worst day ever and one word from Him can melt the hurt, or the anger and renew hope and strength. His Word creates life, it creates understanding, and peace, and courage to continue. It's not our strength and merit we stand in, it's HIS. Those who fear Him, He will commune with, and He will make them to understand and know the reality of His covenant. What is a covenant? It's an agreement between two people. God is so much superior to us, and He has made promises to us. He has granted us certain privileges and promises. These are contingent, or dependent, on our trusting and obeying Him. He will help those who fear Him to understand these deep truths. We can't know them any other way, except He make it known to us.
Because of this promise, this secret, personal relationship we can have with God, our focus, our eyes must be always toward HIM and away from self. To look at self is to despair and feel sick because we are so far beneath what He is. He is perfectly lovely, perfectly Holy, perfectly righteous, and we are not. Yet, in His gracious, loving compassion, those who repent, He imputes, or grants His righteousness to their account. Then they stand on His finished work at Calvary, not their own efforts to be right. Praise the Lord! What a glorious truth! Oh, yes, look away from yourself and your failures, and look to HIM. Look to His perfection! Look to His promises that cannot fail! Look away from yourself for that is all you can do is fail! Oh, He will bring me out of the trap of the enemy. That net that he spreads to snare God's children, the net of being caught up in our own selves, only He can bring us out!
Oh, He says in this Scripture, Turn to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. I am lonely, I'm in a very lonely, hard place. I'm needy, I'm nothing, I'm under such pressure from mental battles, from physical or financial, or spiritual circumstances. My heart is full of anguish, there is so much distress and tribulation in my mind, and it keeps growing. Bring me out of this distress and trouble oh, Lord!
Psa 25:18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
Psa 25:19 Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.
Psa 25:20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.
Psa 25:21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
Look and see Lord, what I'm going through, and the sorrow and misery that grieves my heart. I hurt, Lord. I see my sin, I see the results of my sin, and it grieves me. I made so many mistakes and I don't know how to fix them, Father. I want to live for You, and You know that I've been fighting not only myself but the enemy of my soul and he's smarter than me, Lord but not You. I fell into his net. Only You can get me out and I'm looking to You to bring me out of here-I can get out no other way. I trust in You and Your promises Lord that You'd never leave me or forsake me. Rescue me, and let me no longer be ashamed over these failures and mistakes and sins, Lord. My trust is in you, I can't trust anyone or anything else, especially myself. I trust Your complete righteousness to keep me, Lord. I expect and wait for Your promised deliverance. You said many are the afflictions of the righteous, but You, Oh, Lord, rescue us out of them all. You didn't say the afflictions were all caused by the enemy. Our self life is one of our worst enemies and that is so personal, but You are God and You never lose. You can't be defeated and You are able to subdue our iniquities, and make us what You wish us to be! Glory to Your Holy Name, my Precious Savior, Lord of Glory! Hallelujah!
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