The Promise, the Problem, the Provision

Isa 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: (KJV)

I was meditating on the Word one morning and this is the verse that God brought to me. Sometimes when God brings things He wants me to see He does it like a waitress, who after you sit down at your table as a guest of the restaurant, comes over and places your napkin down and a glass of water with the menu. It is just gently placed there to minister to you and it is a welcomed hospitality.  That is how this word came to me.

Here God speaks so fatherly-like to Israel.  He tells them the condition of His provision for them and how that provision is to be provided.  Remember, what was a means for provision for Israel is also a means for us today many centuries later. 

He gives Israel The Promise, “if you are willing,”...notice our father does not make the condition ‘if you are perfect.’ God’s condition for us to access His loving care is not how we walk that straight line in perfection.  His provision is not accessed by how we stay inside these perfect tolerances, not “if you be perfectly obedient.” No, it implies graciousness and hospitality “if you are willing.” Do you have “a willing mind,” and will you become voluntary in your obedience to my ways and my directions for your life. It takes the sense away from us that God is out there with all these resources and He is willing to dispose of those resources to us but only if we obey him to the letter. “You know, I would have given it to you but you were a termite today so go without.” That is not how it is. God’s provision is there for us all the time and all we have to be is willing to obey Him not be perfect in our walk or human life.

In conclusion of that verse He says, “you shall eat of the good of the land.”  In other words it will yield its abundance to you. 

The Problem, remember, church, satan is the god of this world and it is he that withholds, not our God (2 Cor 4:4).  For you and me as believers sometimes we need to remember to command those devils to take their hands off of our goods. 

The Provision, Hebrews 1:14 reminds us that while the devil has an army on this earth God does too and we can ask those ministering spirits to, “Go!” Yes “GO!!! Go now! Go on my behalf, Go according to your mission........ ‘Ministering spirits’ cause the good of the land to come to me according to Gods promise.

If You are willing

Isa 1:19
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: (KJV)

What a tremendous verse to get a hold of. In Isa he says that

An Imitator

Acts 8:9-10; "A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, claiming to be someone great. The Samaritan people, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as "the Great One-- the Power of God." (NLT)
This scripture really gets under my skin. This guy is a magician, he probably was a very good one, but have you ever thought of how good you would have to be to be considered a God or "the Great One"?  Did you ever wonder why a magician would be considered like a God? I mean what trick could a magician do that would compare you to God?
Can a magician do a trick that creates a sun or a moon, or turn water into wine?  Did he ever open up the earth and swallow a horde of rebels like God did with Dathan for Moses?  Did this sorcerer do a trick that split the Red Sea and had millions of people go across on dry ground and get it all done before rush hour traffic in the morning? God created almost everything there is out of nothing, nothing that existed already. The scientific and theological term is ex nilo, 'out of nothing.' Did this wizard make anything out of nothing? Did he just speak it and it became....?
Well that is what our God did.  He didn't take lessons to pull a quarter from behind some little kids ear...He created things out of nothing.  Did this sorcerer do that?
Church I have thought of this many times and it is a major reason why we need to evangelize and be a witness to the world.  These people thought that Simon was a god b/c they didn't know God. They knew idols and idols only. They had no living God. They had no loving God, no speaking God, no manifesting power of God...They simply had magicians or people standing in for their god. They had dead gods. There might have been a demon but there is only one God and Simon didn't know Him. There was no life or love in their idol gods and since they were dead and lifeless, the only life a god had was shown through the magician or priest that represented him.
These people were easily deceived because they were in darkness.  People in darkness have their minds captured by deception & evil. People who serve idols usually find themselves in a quick downward spiral of intelligence.  Darkness overwhelms them and they become captive to ignorance.  That is why you see so much difference when missionaries go into tribes. When the gospel comes and salvation begins to work, the heathen's mind begins to be set free because he is no longer in darkness, no longer captured by ignorance and immorality. That is why a ghetto takes on new life when an evangelist begins to teach in it.  The reason is that the gospel breaks the power of darkness, of ignorance from satanic stupors.
As more of America and the western world turns to heathen practices, you can see already that many people are being hindered  intellectually, morally and spiritually as their sin begins to control them and they go into bondage/darkness. Things that were evil and unseemly become normal practices to them. Then they start living in bondage and they are the last to find out that they are being intellectually, spiritually, and morally squelched.
When God moves and uses His power, let me tell you....it won't be confused with some man's work that can pull a fast one over your eyes.
So, go bring light to darkness and truth to those deceived. Tell them about the real Great One, the all-powerful G-O-D!

That's Encouraging

We live in a world where encouragement can be hard to find.  We know the feeling of no encouraging words...and yet,also the sometimes startling results of an uplifting word given.  I have found that there are three sources of encouragement. One can come internally, from our own selves. You know the kinda "picking ourselves up and thinking positive" kind of thing.  The second type is from external influences. Some one blows you a kiss or blesses you with a nice word. Both of these, generally speaking, can be a fleeting thing.  But the third source is just divine. It is a God thing. He provides it as we need it with an unexhaustable flow from His heavenly fountain. God has it set up so that we can overcome discouragement through an unending source of care and provision from the Holy Spirit. When we get baptized in the Holy Spirit and use our prayer language we actually have the resources to overcome most any emotional trouble that ails us. We just have to use it!
In Jude 20 the scripture says, 'But ye, beloved, building up yourselves in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,'....you're praying in the Holy Ghost 'builds you up.' What you put out in prayer comes back to you in the form of spirit-enhancing energy.  You are 'built up' and made stronger.  Why or How?  When you pray in tongues, or in the spirit, it is done through God and He knows just what you need and what your requirements are at every point of your life. When you pray in the spirit you are connecting directly to God's spirit and He outsources what you need to keep you on track in His work.
Isaiah prophesied not only about the coming Messiah and the great plan of redemption which Jesus would consummate, but also about the Holy Ghost and speaking in other tongues.  In Isa 28:11-12 it says,  'for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 12 to whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear, (KJV)
There is a very real spiritual rest and refreshing from the Holy Ghost.  Being refreshed and getting rest or quieting down are two powerful tools you can use to destroy disappointment, discouragement and other things that ail you.  The Holy Ghost has everything we need to stay emotionally and spiritually fit to walk a powerful, God-led journey and to fulfill the life He has purposed us to do.  You can't get your assignments done and fight the mind games, and attacks that come with that purpose if you don't have the right tools. So today be encouraged, trust in God, work your prayer language and let the Holy Spirit build you up, rest and refresh you.  Now 'That's Encouraging'.

The Heart God Revives

Ps 51:17;  The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise. (NLT)

In this writing I would like to focus a little attention on those within the Body of Christ that have a humble heart or as Ps 51:17 says, “a broken spirit.”  Now the broken spirit means your spirit is broken like a toy gets broken.  Actually that word for broken used twice in this scripture is ‘shabar’ and it means, to break, to break in pieces, to break down, to rend violently, to wreck, to crush, to quench ....gosh that is ugly! God wants people who are not in their flesh, they are willing to be broken, crushed, wrecked, quenched, and rent violently.... to remove sin. In other words when they see themselves in their sin, it matters to them.  They are so truly hungry for God that they want that stuff out of them to make room for greater holiness and the power that comes with it. So what would I look like if I had a broken spirit? Let’s look:

·       You are grieved over the cause, the root, of your sin.

·       Once broken, you don’t give a hoot who knows or who finds out, ‘they’ve found the pearl of great price’.

·       Are truly, genuinely repentant over their sin, evidenced in the fact that they forsake that sin.....Hmmmmmm, they what?  Forsake that sin!

·       They realize that they need to have a continual heart attitude of repentance and they ask for the grace of God to give them the repentant power. They want the sin away, removed and done with....not pretending God’s goodness doesn’t mind them having it.

·       Don’t play sincere by making some general ‘I’ am sorry for my sin statement,’...These people  are specific and want that specific sin gone...they know it’s name and they abandon it b/c they know it is taking the place of something better, some greater gift, some greater anointing, some greater Holy Ghost virtue, etc...they want that power, that gift, that walk...God’s all over them and they want to wear Him till they get their new glory robe in heaven.

·       They continually sense the need for a fresh encounter w/ God and the Holy Ghost.

·       They yield their rights and have a meek spirit.

·       Have a sense of their own unworthiness; and are thrilled that God would use them to begin with.

·       Are totally wiped out by how much they know they need to learn.

·       Not big on self or self seekers.

·       They desire to promote others. They understand one is an eye the other a toe and another is an ear and they make room for them.

·       Are self denying.

Wow is that awesome!  On Friday I will give you some proud people stuff and you can compare them together and see where you stand.

For some more great scripture hopping on this subject read Mt 23:12; Ps 25:9; Ps 51:10; Ps 119:11; Obadiah 3; Jer 17:9; John 17:4;

The Great Event

How many people do you know who search the planets for new life.  What scientific club have you seen or read in the paper who is searching the heavenlies for extra-terristrials, also know as aliens. They are continually watched by the millions-but there is one great event in the worlds history that commands far more spectators than watching the moon, searching the planets or observing the heavenlies.  There is one great event, which every day attracts more admiration than do the sun, moon, stars or the planets that faithfully keep their course. That event is the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To that event the eyes of every saint is directed and commands their fullest attention.  Upon Christ the angels in heaven perpetually gaze.  Upon Christ, if we look backwards through the centuries every saint that has ever lived have their eyes fixed upon Christ. The resurrection commands that much attention.  It is upon that singular event that God himself was so pleased  that he could receive his created  but separated worshippers. Millions of the redeemed pilgrims, whose tear path we can only imagine have no higher object for their faith, and no better desire for their vision, than to see Jesus as He is in heaven sitting at the right hand of God.
Reader you are not a solitary spectator of that horrible Calvary and its bloody crucifixtion.  All the universe turns its eyes to that place which is the focus of heaven's joy and delight, the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This Easter week take some time to visit Calvary.  Let's hope to have the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit while we look upon Him who died upon that tree. Think, today of the cause of Christ's death.  Reflect for a time this week on the reason for Christ's death. Lastly, think of the wonderful benefits of our redeemer's death. Happy Easter!  He is Risen....He is risen indeed!

Otherness

It is, I'll grant you, an odd title.  But that being said, if you will read this little work you will find out (odd or not) that it has extensive potential. In the first chapter of the book of the great Apostle John you will find that he describes within that initial writing, three things that failed to recognize Jesus Christ our Savior, what His purpose was and who He was.
 Those three things are 1) darkness which to me represents Satans' powers and plans, 2) the world, where he actively employes those powers and plans, and 3) the Jewish nation, in which everything he does, he works to destroy.  That Jewish nation includes the Hebrew's themselves, the big brother of the Gentile church, which is now grafted into Gods family tree.
Why did so many not see Christ?  I believe those three systems saw Christ the same way as the disciples did (but didn't recognize it).  Let me explain.
When Jesus brought the disciples into His "school of the Holy Spirit", one of the first things they had to learn was how 'other' Jesus was from themselves. I'm sure it didn't come to them at first, and that is why darkness, the world and the Jewish nation didn't get it either. But as the Lord's disciples continued on with Him, they found themselves again and again clashing with His thoughts, His mind, His ways. They would urge Him to take a certain course of action, to do certain things, to go to certain places; they would seek to bring upon Him "their own" judgements, feelings and ideas.  But He would have none of it. All the time He was putting them back on their heels as He would show them how altogether "other" His ways were from their own.
  I believe the disciples probably got really frustrated and Jesus Himself would have gotten frustrated as well but He knew exactly what He was trying to accomplish in them. It's a lesson we will have to learn as well.  That "otherness" which was in Christ, that the disciples had to learn, is also what we have to study and learn ourselves in this school of the Spirit. When we have throughly learned that lesson - the lesson of  "altogether other" or 'otherness' then we can begin constructive work. But at present it is necessary for you to come to the place where you recognize you are 'altogether other' than Christ.  The difference is that we, you and me, move in two, totally altogether opposite worlds than our ordinary mind. This will of man, at its best, is another will. We cannot produce from this nature anything acceptable to God. All that can ever come to God is through Christ alone - it's not in us.
 What I am trying to get into you is this - we need to know that we are one thing and the "otherness of Christ" is another. We must pray that our way of thinking would be transformed and become "other" than what the natural man thinks.

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