Believers?

On August 5, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 107: 6

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.

As the infamous Joan Rivers used to say, “Can we talk?” Between you and me, we are distressed from time to time, are we not? You can be honest with me. I know that you, like me, hurt and are troubled. We keep a brave face on but truly there are times we just have nothing left to give anyone. Those we have tried to help, those we have prayed for are the very authors of our distress. They take our obedience to our Lord and abuse us with it.

 
Do you think that our mothers and fathers of the faith did not also feel as we do; did not suffer the same severe doubt, sorrow and anguish that we do? Sure they did, so how did they become giants of faith and loyal to the Father?
Sooner or later we all have to make a decision. We have to choose whether or not we are going to believe God or not. Even more significantly, are we going to believe the Word? If I cannot believe the Word, if I have not made a solid decision to believe what it says then where shall I go for comfort? As for me, I have decided that God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23: 19). Has He said it and will He not do it?

Today’s verse says that they cried out to the Lord and He delivered them. So, do we believe this or do we not? Do we believe that if we cry out to the Lord He will deliver us? Are we believers or not?

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Prayer Time

On August 3, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Daniel 6: 10


And he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God.
This verse used to really impress me. I was, and still am, humbled by Daniel’s devotion to God and to prayer. However, I have a new revelation of prayer, and perhaps you do too. Last week we considered 1 Thessalonians 5: 17 which says, “Pray without ceasing.” Well, if praying three times a day is impressive, how much more is praying without ceasing?

While I still applaud Daniel, it is true that this is an Old Testament view of prayer. Prayer no longer need be a formalized, ritualistic event. Don’t misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with going into your prayer closet, kneeling or whatever you do, and praying. It’s all good and even to be encouraged but if you are going to move into new dispensation prayer and pray without ceasing then you are going to have to adopt some other methodologies. Consider Ephesians 6:18: “pray at all times”. What? How are we to do that?

The key is in the words I did not reveal to you from Ephesians 6: 18. The rest of the quote is, “in the Spirit.” There is our super-power. You see, in Daniel’s time the Spirit of God had not been poured out yet. We need to learn to walk in the Spirit, worship in the Spirit and pray in the Spirit. This is exactly what Jesus had in mind when he said, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16: 7). The apostles must have thought Jesus was crazy in saying that it was to their advantage that he leave but Jesus understood about life in the Spirit. He knew what it would mean to us and how the Spirit’s coming would change everything.

So there we are. Rather than praying three times a day, pray all day; pray without ceasing. Do you think this will change your life?

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Partner Meeting

On July 28, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Thessalonians 5: 17


Pray without ceasing.

Now what does this have to do with our partnership with Christ? In yesterday’s Word of the Day I shared how Father gave me insight and answers while I prayed. Now, what if I want that divine insight and wisdom all day long? Well, pray all the time, right?
I am increasingly impressed that our part of many situations is simply prayer. However, there are times when there is more for us to do. It is through prayer that Dad tells us what to do. He wants to lead us every minute of every day and the way He can do that is through our vigilance in prayer.
One of the cultural problems we encounter is that we have built prayer up to a formal event. Read what David wrote and you will appreciate that prayer was never meant to be ritualistic. It is the common communication between you and your father. It has to be familiar rather than formal if we are to pray without ceasing.   Prayer is simply talking with your Father, God.

Another element of prayer is making ourselves receptive to His voice. We also use the time in prayer to give Him the authority in every situation. This is when you can put the problem in His “inbox” (see the Word of the Day for June 4, 2014 and October 19, 2015). We need to invite God into our every part of our lives and day and then we need to let Him work out the problems and tasks for us. In prayer give Him your projects and then begin to thank Him and praise Him for the result. And do this all day long, without ceasing. This is your perpetual partner meeting.

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Shipping is Free

On July 26, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Samuel 22: 31                NLT

“God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
I want to look, this week, at how we walk in the blessings of God. If God has blessed us, if the Word is true then why don’t our lives look more blessed than they sometimes do? This question has plagued me personally and professionally for years but I believe I am beginning to have a revelation into the answer. I would like to use a couple of personal illustrations to demonstrate how we can live in the promises of God and even how a blessed person can miss them.
Last week I was fortunate to get to go bike riding several days. On Saturday I went for a fairly long ride over new territory. I was psyched to go to this new place and spent time Friday getting my water, food and clothes ready for a long day of cycling. I missed one preparation step though and I paid for it. I forgot to pray.
Now, how does a minister of the gospel forget to pray? I have my own theories on that but it is really bad. You see, God has made me many promises. In fact, every single promise that He ever made to anyone is mine if I choose because God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10: 34) which means that He does not show favoritism. What He has ever done for anyone else He will also do for me or for you. Therefore, every promise in the Bible is mine.
Now then, today’s verse, along with many others, tells us that God is a shield for all who look to Him for protection. His promise has been tested and proven true. How can it be, then, that I fell on my Saturday ride and scraped up my elbow? Where was my protection from God? Why did my bubble of protection not keep me unscathed? As I am sure you have discerned, the protection never settled on me because I never prayed. I never received that promise. Today’s verse says that, “God is a shield for all who look to him for protection.” Well duh, I never looked to Him for protection. I just jumped on my bike and took off in the power of my might. What an idiot! Don’t copy me. Cover yourself, clothe yourself every day in God’s protective power. 
 
God isn’t assumptive or controlling. He has given you and me authority and decision making power. He says, “Okay, here is a protective shield. Put it on if you choose.” We have autonomy. That autonomy has a price though. We have decision making power, and that is great, but it also means that His promises are not automatic. They are all activated by our choices. This is how a friend of mine explains it, “We wait for something to happen, or be handed to us, rather than working hard and reaching for things ourselves. It’s like lying on the sofa, asking for someone to bring us a drink. IT’S IN THE KITCHEN, GET UP AND GET IT!!!!! God’s blessing are there, within our power to have, we are just too lazy to get them.” I think this friend has a revelation. God has already stocked the refrigerator with all the drinks we could ever want or need. We have only to go open the door and take what we want.

All of God’s promises are yea and Amen (2 Corinthians 1: 20) which means that He has already said “Yes.” However, we have a role to play. We must appropriate these blessings for ourselves. The warehouse is stocked; it is full. Now just write out your requisition form and have what you need and want shipped to you. Shipping is free.

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Spiritual Revenge

On May 12, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Job 42: 8

Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.

If you read the book of Job you will see that Job’s “friends” spoke against him for the whole book. I mean they really gave him a time. As soon as bad things started happening to Job his friends descended upon him and accused him of some great sin as the cause of the tragedies which were occurring in his life.

Isn’t that just like folks? They probably had been jealous of Job all the while because he was very wealthy and blessed in all things. Then when the devil started stealing his blessing, his friends began to harshly criticize him. In the end God corrected and reproved them.

Now if I were Job, I might not want God to send those chaps to me for me to pray for them. I can imagine saying, “God, I don’t want to pray for those fools that have harangued me for months. Just let them reap the fruit of their seed.” Fortunately for them, Job was obedient to God. I do like that they had to take him a big offering though. And we know that Job did pray for them because the subsequent verses tell us that God did accept Job’s prayer.

You see, the Old Testament teachings are consistent with the New Testament. God had Job pray for his enemies and we are under the same command today. Pray for those who persecute you and despitefully use you (Matthew 5: 44).

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The Worst Offense?

On May 11, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 24: 17 – 18

Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles or is overthrown, lest the Lord see it and it be evil in His eyes and displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him [to expend it upon you, the worse offender].

It is so easy to judge other people’s faults. But God did not send you and me into the world to judge it. That is His job alone. He is so adamant in this point that this scripture shows that His wrath will turn from the bad actor to the worse offender, i.e. those of us who judge others. 

We even think we are doing justly when we judge others’ actions yet Jesus said, judge not lest you be judged (Matthew 7: 1). But when we speak to God about other people’s sins or sometimes even our perception of their wrong doings, God’s eyes turn away from their mistakes and onto our outright disobedience.

I know it is difficult but our part is to love and to pray for those whom we think are missing God’s best. And I do not mean those judgmental prayers. You know the ones where we condemn people and attempt to put them under bondage while in a conversation with our heavenly Father. No, our prayers are to be out of love and honest concern for their welfare. Do you want to please your Father? Pray earnestly and lovingly for those people that you think are falling short of God’s glory.

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The Architecture of Prayer

On May 9, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 13: 5

But I have trusted in Thy lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.
This is a psalm of David described as a prayer for help in trouble. This part of the psalm certainly does not sound like he is praying for help though. The structure of this prayer is so insightful. David begins with his woes but by verse three is makes his petition to the Lord. Then by verse 5 of this six verse psalm, he has shifted into trust, thanksgiving and praise. David knows that despite the appearance of some problems in his life, his God will rise up and save him. He confesses that his trust is in the Lord and that ends his troubles. He knows what the end of the story is going to be and he sings his praises to the Lord.

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