Time Away

On April 15, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 5: 16

But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

This passage is speaking about Jesus. As you read the accounts of his life, you will discover that Jesus frequently went off by himself for time alone with his Father. Likewise, we need to learn to get away, alone with God regardless of how busy we are. We will never walk in the way of Jesus without doing the things he did. Surely if he needed time alone with God, then we do too.

I am encouraging you to find time to be alone with God because that is where your intimacy with him is found. No matter how much we go to church or how big our ministries are, the relationship with the Father is built in the quiet times together. Show him how precious he is to you by giving him a few minutes of your time. If you cannot give God some of your time, then how important to you is he really? I promise you that the rewards are well worth the time spent.

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Enemies Defeated

On April 14, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 81: 13-14

 13  Oh that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!
 14 I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries.

I well imagine the Lord is of the same mind today; that we would turn our ways to him so that he can subdue our enemies for us. He would squash our problems if only we would let him. We are often so busy trying to fight battles in our own might that we do not leave room for him. We forget to walk in love but rather walk in our own self-centered, self-serving ways. God cannot work in that environment. The bible says that faith works by love. If we would only listen to him, he would solve all of our problems for us. We lie, cheat … whatever we have to do to get our way. It really is too much work. If we would give away what we want, we would receive back many fold that which we desire. How frustrating it must be for God, sometimes, to want to do for us and yet not be allowed to because we refuse to create an environment in which his power can flow. His power flows through love and faith.

Do you want God to subdue your enemies? Do you want Him to turn His hand against your adversaries? Maybe your adversaries are sickness or injury, or poverty or bad relationships or disobedient children. Re-read verse 13 again and substitute your name in place of “Israel.” If you want God to overcome them for you so that you don’t even have to fight those battles for yourself, then listen to him and walk in his ways. It really can be that easy.

 

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Poverty like a Thief

On April 11, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 6: 9 – 11

How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and your poverty will come in like a vagabond, and your need like an armed man.

God has promised to bless the work of your hands. In fact, in Deuteronomy 30: 9 He promised to “prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand.” The point is, though, that you must set your hand to the plow, as it were. In Colossians 3: 23 Paul teaches that in “whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.” 

We were never meant to be idle beings. God created the sloth for that purpose. Even in the Garden of Eden humanity was expected to work and produce. The Garden of Eden was nothing more than a seed garden. Adam and Eve were supposed to take those seeds and create a planet of Eden but they failed miserably. Fortunately, despite our failures God always has an alternate blessing plan. If you read the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy you see that He filled the environment with blessing. About the only blessing you will not find is the couch potato blessing.

Have you heard the expression “work hard, play hard”? Is there a reason that work comes before play in that expression? We must first work and then we play with glee.

Your work is meant to be a source of blessing not just a source of income. As a matter of fact, you may be retired. That does not mean that your work has ended. God may have called you into something new. And work doesn’t have to be a bad word. It is meant to be part of our fulfillment. Meaningful work is a delight. Truth be known, when we dedicate it all to the Lord it is He who does the heavy lifting anyway and we get to walk around in the blessing.

No matter what you are called to do it with all your energy as if your boss is Jesus because in truth he is. Do your work with joy. Your joy comes through the Holy Spirit and the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8: 10). You see work doesn’t have to be drudgery. If the Lord has given you something to do, do it with all your might and with joy blessing the Lord that you have something to which to set your hand. There are thousands and millions of people who do not have the opportunities that we have. God is blessing us.

If we do not arise and do what He has called us to do, He will take away what He has given us and give it to someone else to do. Then we will understand that our work was a gift and a blessing. Just a little folding of the hands, just a little laziness and all of a sudden you have moved yourself out of the blessing and into the curse. We have to understand that God has always, since the beginning of time, been trying to bless people. You see it all through the Old Testament. Then Jesus came to bring us abundant life (John 10: 10). You can see the parallel of God’s will in Deuteronomy 30: 9. It has always been about abundant blessing. But there is a thief among us so God began warning us early that Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). If we fold our hands and slumber the devil will take free rein with our blessing. Guard diligently what the Lord has given you. He has put all things in your hands for joy and blessing. Don’t let the devil steal your blessing. Instead work diligently with a joyful heart giving the Lord thanks for the multitude of blessings He has given you. Make your work a praise offering to the Lord. Go to work with Him, take Him with you. When you take Jesus with you, then all things are a joy.

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Today is the Day

On April 10, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 13: 10 – 17

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.  She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.  When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are free from your infirmity.”  Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.  Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work.  So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”  The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites!  Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?  Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”  When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Proverb 16: 25 reads, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” It is easy to get tied down to our way of doing things and our traditions and no longer serve the cause they were meant to address. Even in our religious service we can lose sight of what is meaningful. So was the case of the ruler of the synagogue. He was willing to do what was necessary to take care of his oxen or donkey and would not have criticized anyone else for doing the same yet he had no compassion for a child of God. He had lost sight of the love of God and even basic logic.

The most amazing thing to me in this passage is that the synagogue official said to the people that there were six days in a week for healing so for them to come be healed on one of those six days. If my math is correct that allows 5634 days for the woman’s healing because she had been bent over and persecuted by the evil spirit for eighteen years. Why didn’t the synagogue official or one of the priests heal the woman on any one of those 5634 days? What a hypocrite!

There was no love of God operating in that official. There was no ministry to the people of God’s heart. I can imagine that Jesus was enraged. It is surprising to me that he didn’t call fire down from heaven right then. What tolerance and patience he had!! 

The synagogue official served the Sabbath but not the people. God did not set up the Sabbath so that people could serve it but rather so that they would remember how much He loves them and how he led them out of Egypt and cared for them, finally leading them into the Promised Land. 

Ultimately the official probably was embarrassed because he realized that he should have healed the woman long ago. Many times criticism does come from guilt feelings and shame. So the message today is that we should be very careful about criticizing others, especially when they are serving the people and secondly, today is the day of healing. Receive your healing today or lay your hands on someone for their healing. There is no better day than today.

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Abundant Life

On April 9, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 10: 10

I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.

John 6: 63

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Jesus told the world, in his own words, that the reason for his coming into the earth was to bring us abundant life. He also told us that life comes through the Holy Spirit. So which is it, does life come from and by the Holy Spirit or through and by Jesus? In the last phrase of John 6: 63 Jesus said the words he spoke were both spirit and truth. So, abundant life and the Spirit are ours through Jesus and the words that he spoke.

Just before his crucifixion and death, Jesus told his disciples that it was to their advantage, and hence ours, that he go away so that he could send the helper, the Holy Spirit (John 16: 7). When we read these verses together we realize that this increased life, this life of abundance is a product of the Holy Spirit which is realized in us by Jesus and his words. No one comes to the Holy Spirit but by the son and no one comes to the son apart from his words. The words of Jesus lead us into his saving grace.

The Word of God is the seed that yields life. When we plant this seed in the fertile soil of our hearts it produces all good things in abundance including peace and joy. There is nothing of our carnal life that profits us. Only our investment in Jesus and his word lead us to the freedom in the Spirit which is the deep need of every human soul.

The desire of Jesus’ heart is for us to live in the abundance that his life, death and resurrection bought for us. He is passionate about us attaining to this high life. And it is for that reason that he has given us his words directing us to this fullness of life. Enfold Jesus and the revelation of his words into the tender folds of your heart. There let it nurture the life of plenty and fulfillment.

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God Reveals His Mysteries

On April 8, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 10: 21

At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes.  Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.”

Have you ever thought that perhaps you are not the sharpest knife in the drawer? Well, today is your day. All those folks who think they are so wise and intelligent are eating your dust because God has chosen to reveal His great and mighty wonders to those who are not so impressed with their great intellect.

Truth be told, our esteem for our brain power is a huge road block in hearing the voice of God. We can easily get so caught up in our minds and in our thoughts that the voice of God is hard to hear. We hear too much of ourselves to hear Him. The truly wise are those who have not enthroned their intellect on the shrine of their hearts and have instead learned how to have a sensitive, open heart because it is really with our hearts that we hear God. God has come and made His abode in our hearts so it is right there in our hearts that the secrets of God are going to be revealed.

The learned of Jesus’ time had a hard time receiving the truth of Messiah. Even the Apostle Paul who had the right education and was scholarly almost missed the boat entirely. God had to arrest him with an extreme encounter to open his eyes. Paul was endeavoring to serve God with all his might as he persecuted and tortured Christians. He was zealous in his service to God even though he was so far off base. As long as he served God in his mind and his intellect, he fell far from the mark. Once God showed him that his mind needed to be renewed he came to understand that we serve God out of love overflowing from our hearts rather than our minds, our intellect or our education.

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for education. Paul told Timothy to study to show himself approved (2 Timothy 2: 15). But we need to understand how minimal our intellect is in the grand scheme and realize that our hearts have much greater capacity than our brains. Look at Sister Teresa. I don’t know if she was ever acclaimed for her IQ but her heart and her devotion sure made an impression on the world. It was when the Apostle Paul fell in love with Jesus that he yielded his service and changed the course of human history.

So, don’t be too impressed with your intellect. Rather let it serve you as you study God’s Word. God is all too happy to reveal His great mysteries to you as you yield yourself to Him. You don’t have to reason out the great mysteries of life. You don’t have to figure out everything. God will just show you if you will let Him.

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Jesus and the Pharisees

On April 7, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 11: 42

But woe to you Pharisees!  For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

Jesus exclaimed to the Pharisees that they should tithe but in so doing they should not neglect justice and the love of God. They had one part down, at least they were tithing, but they were not showing the kindness, love and mercy that God requires.

Some people say that tithing is an Old Testament idea. Apparently, they forgot to tell Jesus. He says that the Pharisees were correct in their giving of ten percent of their income but that they erred in what they withheld. Jesus told them that the love of God extends beyond the tithe. It must be expressed to our fellows through tenderness, grace, kindness and a gentle heart.

We know that Jesus had real issues with the Pharisees and I find it easy sometimes to look down my nose at them. I like to think that if I had lived in those days I would not have erred the way the Pharisees did. We are more sophisticated in our faith and in revelation knowledge, aren’t we? But then I look around and I wonder . . . are we bountiful in justice and mercy? Do we express the love of God that He has so abundantly given to us? 

And what of the tithe? Statistics tell us that an extremely small percentage of American Christians tithe? This makes me wonder. If Jesus were to tarry, how will future generations perceive us? Will they say that we were much more savvy and dedicated in our faith than our predecessors? Or will they think we were the generation that served God with our lips but our hearts were far away (Matthew 15:8). Is Jesus’ blood calling us hypocrites? Do we serve him only with our mouths but not with our hearts or even our pocketbooks? Tithing should be the easy part, even the Pharisees did that. And if we have withheld our hearts and the gifts of our bounty, how can we change a generation of people?

Judgment has not been given into our hands but intercession has. We do not need a move of the Holy Spirit in order to pray for our church, land and generation. We are living in a better dispensation that the nation of Israel. We have a better covenant based on better promises and with a better mediator (Hebrews 8: 6). It seems that we ought, therefore, to be able to live a life beyond that of the Pharisees; a life of greater enlightenment and grace and of more impactful prayers since we can pray in the name of Jesus. Individually and then collectively we can become the people of God’s hand, a people after His own heart. As we allow the love of God which has been shed abroad in our hearts to bloom and swell it overflows with love for all people and generosity is a by-product of the grace that our Father has shown us. You and I can change our nation, our town and our church. When we clasp hands and faith in the name above all names, mountains must move. Let us be known as the mighty church.

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