Monday, March 30, 2009

Ask and You Will Receive

Isn't it time you quit listening to the news and start to listen to God's view on things? Negative begets negative; there is simply no other formula that is as true. Negative flows from negative.

God is not a God of despair; nor is He a God of fear nor of panic. All around us today is news of "crises" and alarm. Either you buy into the message of the world or you, like a child, accept by faith what you cannot see!

Our God is a God of hope! He is a God of new tomorrows and of spring-times and wonder! Don't miss Him in the clamor of fear and dread!


Right now, there is so much I would like to tell you....

so much about what our gracious God has been saying to me...

Wait.......

I've got a much better idea....

Why not???????

Maybe you could ask Him for yourself?!

(then I couldn't mess it up so much!)

Take a few moments to ask God what He wishes to tell you and then, be quiet and listen.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Believe Without Seeing

Jesus said: Because you have seen Me, you have believed? Blessed are those who did not see, yet believed! John 20:29

What do you believe that you haven’t seen? Let’s take a look about what scripture has to say about us that we may fail to grasp:

Thanks be to God, who always lead us in His triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 2 Corin 2:14

And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the debt certificate consisting of decrees against us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14

He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him give us all things? Romans 8:31

…we overwhelming conquer through Him who loved us…I am convinced that neither death nor life or angles nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor power nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us form the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Roman 8:37-39

God, being rich I mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…made us alive together with Him and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… Ephesians 2:4-6

…His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:2

There are so many scriptures listed here that, if you're like me, you might skim over most of them. Please go back and read this scriptures again. Perhaps you might consider writing them down so that you can review them repeatedly to get these messages into your spirit.

Like no one else, we have reason to give thanks! Hold the vision of who you are in Jesus this week and share it with your family and friends.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Opened Eyes

Perhaps a quick memory, for others an introduction to a comics classic: Dennis the Menace found himself in a familiar spot. Once again he sat on a stool facing the corner of the kitchen.

“Time out” in the corner where he could be monitored was a common position. As he took his place this time, while facing the corner, he was heard to mumble: “I may be sitting down on the outside but I’m still running around on the inside”.

You know what he's saying? It's just like that whenever I sit down to spend some quiet moments with God and His word. I'm sitting down on the outside but things are running around on the inside. Things may start out peacefully each day but it doesn't take long, most days, for things to begin to unravel. I may be driving quietly on the outside but I'm jumping up and down on the inside.

I have made this statement before. Some of the most wonderful words in all of scripture are the words of a young man named Elihu as he addressed the wrong thinking of an acquaintance named Job. You can find these words in Job chapters 32 through 42.

The words of Job, upon coming to grips with the truth about God, are insightful: He said: (Until now) my ears have heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. I therefore despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. v. 5&6

We become so easily distracted that we fail to see Jesus. Our ears give us false comfort but it is only when we see God with our eyes that we truly believe.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the HOPE of His calling, what are the RICHES of His glory of His inheritance in the saints (you an me)and what is the surpassing POWER toward us who believe! Ephesians 1:18 (Emphasis added)

Agree with me on the Ephesians prayer. Personalize it and pray it for yourself. Write it down and pray it for yourself regularly. Life is available if we begin to see Him!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Trust is True Faith

By this, Jesus said, is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit. John 15:8

This statement puts many other things in perspective.

In Psalm 57 David prays: Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until the destruction passes by. I will cry to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for me.

In Psalm 138 he prays: Though I walk in the midst of trouble You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me. The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting…

The inter-connection between answered prayer and God’s glory is undeniable. His desire is that we exhibit our faith in prayer and He looks forward to giving us the answers we seek, particularly the ones that we need.

So much does God want us to “get” this that Jesus stated emphatically Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea', and does not doubt in his heart but believes what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they shall be granted you." Mark 11:22-24

So critical in our faith is the equation that Jesus tells us to stand on the answer so much that we can feel it, taste it and see it. It is then that it shall become reality. Faith is a heaven opening key!

His track record is good. Why not take the next step that He is calling you to take? Those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You." Psalm 9:10

Monday, March 2, 2009

Surrender of the Stagnant for the Exotic

From time to time I come across things that someone has said that seem to be so profound and so revealing about truth. In addition, my words, in all likelihood, become a little routine after a while.

One of my "heroes" in the Faith is Dr. Francis Schaeffer. His words below resonate so deeply in my mind and heart. I pray that you will be deeply blessed as well. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this or any other of the posts.

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"I do believe the Trinity can be experienced as the personality of God becomes real to us--as we know His person and not just doctrines about Him. And (perhaps most important) this can be experienced when we in some small measure begin to know the reality of His individual leading as we in moment by moment faith truly desire that He, the infinite person, might lead us, the finite persons.

The spiritual steps which meant so much to me...centered largely around the moment by moment realization of the blood of Christ. I realized then in theory, but now as something deeper than theory, that there is a further step which is more profound in the reality of the universe: this is the reality of taking our place as creatures, willingly and in love, in the presence of the infinite Creator. If we would only stop desiring to be God and, in reality and practice, take our place as creatures, then I think we could get on.

I am not thinking of this in some "mystical" area where God becomes an abstraction, but in strenuously practical areas of history in which we walk. If we would only allow the Agent of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to lead each individual instead of living in the areas of rules which are man-made and quite apart from the absolutes laid down in Scripture. If only we would be willing to have Christ be the true Head, and be willing for exotic leadership of the Holy Spirit in our individual and corporate lives--rather than stagnifing the Holy Spirit's leadership of yesterday, as seen in the lives of other men who lived in different historic circumstances, when the infinite eye of God would see today's history as requiring a slightly different or radically different approach; or even stagnifying how the Holy Spirit has led us individually in the past.

Why should the Holy Spirit's leading of us today be what it was a year ago, when our historic circumstance is always in flux? To me these things are not an abstraction. As one small practical application, why do we insist on continuing organizations just because they were useful last week, or last year?"


-Francis A. Schaeffer, Letters of Francis A. Schaeffer, Crossway Books, pp. 76- 77, copyright 1985

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I pray that our stagnant hearts will awake to the exotic leadership of the Holy Spirit.