Do you trust me?

When I think about the trust of the Lord, I am reminded of the story of Aladdin.

Aladdin reaches out to Jasmine, as the prince, and invites her on the magic carpet ride and says and they have a song that says “I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder, over sideways and under on a magic carpet ride.”  We know that the Christian life is not about magic, but Jasmine had to step out in faith and trust that Aladdin was not going to let anything happen to her.  He reached his hand to her and asked her “Do you trust me?”  And after she showed some doubt he said again, “Do you trust me?”  Then she took the step that she had to take.  She had to trust him and the scene was scary but it was also beautiful, romantic, and full of love.  We are supposed to be in love with Jesus, but would we be willing to to trust Him, even when things are hard.

Kari Jobe has a song, called Steady my heart that mentions to trust God “Even when it’s hard, even when it all just falls apart” [SPOILER ALERT FOR HINDS FEET IN HIGH PLACES] In Hinds Feet in High Places Hannah Hurnard mentions a point in the story, where Much-Afraid is asked will she trust the Shepherd even if it turns out He might be lying to her.  At that point, she had to make a decision, but she put her heart on the line with the risk knowing that her life is in His hands and even when her enemies Bitterness, Resentment, and Self-Pity were ganging up against her she had to turn her life over to Him.

David had tremendous trust in the Lord where he bravely went out and said to Goliath, “Who dare defy the armies of the living God!!!”

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

When people don’t trust people it  is because they have been mistreated in the past.  Sometimes in our lives we don’t understand what’s going on and all the things that go on around us seem to distract us and we can’t see the good that God has done in our lives.  When Joseph interpreted the dream for Pharoah he said there would be 7 plentious years and 7 years of famine following them.  He said that during the years of famine in the land no one would remember the years of plenty.  We may be going through times in our lives where we feel like we are in a spiritual famine and we find it very hard to trust the Lord or even ourselves.  We may be barely hanging on with our lives, so that we may see what good comes of it and during the hard, dark, times, we may feel alone, rejected and abandoned, but that’s where we learn how to trust God.  Sometimes we may think we trust God, but when trouble comes we find ourselves not trusting God as much as we thought.

Mark 4 says:

³ And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. ¹⁶ These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; ¹⁷ and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when trouble or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. ¹⁸ Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

As a Christian we can expect to go through times of trouble, but it is how much we are going to trust God enough to read His Word, even when our minds are wrecking havoc against us.  There will be times when you cannot seem to even read the Word of God as much as you want.  We’ve gotten so used to hearing other voices tell us the Word of God that we haven’t gone out and searched it ourselves, so in that time we must remain to trust God, and at least keep meditating on the beauty of the Lord and His goodness despite what’s going on.  Some of us blame ourselves for our problems and some of us blame God for our problems, and some of us blame the devil for our problems, when really instead of blaming we should just go and accept change.  Life is not easy, but we have been given a precious Holy Spirit which helps us even in the darkest hour to know that God is with us by our side.  Even when we cannot see, and that’s the faith part of it.  Trust and faith are like Conjoined twins.  You cannot seperate them, but usually faith is older than trust, but they grow together.

We may trust God when things are easy, but when things get hard, who are we going to run to.  Who are we going to run to when no one prays for us during the darkest time period in our lives. Or maybe people do pray, but it just doesn’t seem like God is answering.  Or maybe we’re struggling with so many things we have to juggle and juggle until we’re holding on to a cascading mountain of things to juggle, and that’s when the mustard seed of faith comes in says, cast the mountain into the sea and it will be done.  Jesus could have been talking about an actual mountain, but He could have also been talking about all the problems and obstacles and difficulties in life, do we have enough faith to take the mountains in our lives and cast them into the sea?  Do we trust God enough to say that even if it may seem like you are lying, that you are really not because whatever may appear to be a lie will turn out to be true.  Faith is calling things that are not as though they are and we all have different levels of faith to build upon.  When trust and faith are put into action they are like dynamite.  We get the word power which is represented by the Holy Spirit, by the Word,”dunamis” and it is where we get the word “dynamite”.

When George Bloomer was on Benny Hinn a few weeks ago, there was where he mentioned something about these subliminal messages that have been ingrained into our heads from television that we can say or sing without thinking about them, like the theme song for “Batman”, and it is also about how the world seems to advertise things into our minds, but most Christians cannot seem to even recall most of the Psalms.  Most of us know the theme song Oscar Mayer.  But how many of us know Psalm 98 or just a random Psalm by memory.  Something has been lost.

Because we don’t have the Word of God ingrained into our system, it makes it difficult to rely on trust in something we cannot experience with our senses (and I am not talking about the Presence of God), but about trusting God with things such as His Goodness even when things are hard.

Trusting and Believing Go together, and whenever you find yourself falling backward in a chair, then you find where you need to trust.  God won’t hurt you.  He will only do what’s for your good, but you have to rely on Him, and trust Him, and obey Him.  From the story of Aladdin and Jasmine we have learned that when you love someone that you have got to trust them even to the point where it feels uncomfortable or scary, and in all areas trust them.

Heavenly Father,

Renew the love that has been lost upon our lives, restore us and guard us and keep us steadfast in your love, and keep us guarded and protected, and just let your mercies abide upon us today.  Seal our hearts and minds with the blood of Jesus and cause the Word to come alive for us today, Help us this day.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

What the Christian can learn from the life of Michael Jackson

When I was growing up, Michael Jackson was my favorite singer.  I don’t know what happened, but I guess I just grew out of that phase when I found out my friends didn’t like his music.

We know Michael Jackson through what has been shared in the media as he was like a person who never grew up.  I don’t really know that much about him personally except for what has been shared through documentary about his life.  From what I know he was raised by someone who he considered to be abusing him or strict with him, whereas some of his brothers and sisters may say that he was not that bad.

That brings me to my point, sometimes the way we look at God, our Heavenly Father, and the Father of Jesus Christ, for those that don’t know, can establish the course of our lives.  If we look at God has abusive and strict and a harsh disciplinarian, instead of loving, forgiving, and gracious, then we find ourselves in a place where we are stressed out.  That’s why it is important to read the bible to see what it says, but you also have to read with understanding and with the leading of the Holy Spirit and to actively search out and look for the goodness of God and how He took your everyday person and worked through their lives doing for them amazing things.

There are different ways a disciplinarian can work through a person’s life, and when He disciplines us, He makes us His disciples so that we may follow Christ and share the good news with other people.    But to know that the Heavenly Father, is good and gives good gifts to His children, is something that is very important.

Luke 11 says:

⁹ “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ¹¹ If a son asks for bread^[d] from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

The role of fatherhood has changed quite a bit in this time, we have fathers who abandon their children, we have fathers who abuse their children, and we have fathers who are strict, and we have fathers that are loving.  But to get to the heart of the Heavenly Father, we must look again at the story of the prodigal son.

Luke 15 says:

¹¹ Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. ¹³ And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring^[b] out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; ²⁴ for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

²⁸ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

The prodigal son, even though he was prodigal, and what some Christians call “unholy”, he felt unworthy to be called the father’s son.  The father was so happy to see his son.

I think some people even Christians and even Michael Jackson’s life would have been drastically changed if they saw how much God loved them and cared for them.  I can relate to Michael Jackson because sometimes through the refining process you may have some sleepless nights or some nights where you just want to rest and make sure everything is going to be ok and that your life has future and has hope, but then you become worried.

Kari Jobe has a nice song -

It says something like – I”m not going to worry, I know that You’ve got me in the palm of your hand.

None of us knows which way our life is going to take and we really our not in control, but if we have faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have a good view of the Father, and not go to the extremes in thinking that He is going to chasten you to the point that you cannot handle it, then we can maintain the balance in our lives.  God meets you where you are and He works with you.  Some people have gotten so high level, that they in turn have become like the Elder brother.  Both the elder brother and the younger brother in the parable were wrong, but the father loved them both and they are both examples of the Jews being the Older brother and the Gentiles being the younger brother.  God loves outcasts and rejected people.  He loves them to death and in fact He through His Son Jesus died for them.  He longs to comfort them and love them.  One thing I admire about Michael Jackson is that his heart was like a little child, and he never grew up.  Sometimes in this world and even in the Kingdom of God we are forced to grow up so quickly and to mature, and that’s good, but the Bible also says that no one can enter the kingdom of Heaven unless they have faith like a little child.  I know the Bible says my people are destroyed for lack knowledge, and I know it is important to read the Bible to see what it means to us, but people have bombarded themselves with knowledge that they’ve lost the passion in their heart.

So from the life story of someone who became a music icon we can learn that sometimes it’s not good to portray the Heavenly Father as strict, and harsh, and stern, even though He is the ultimate authority in Heaven and Earth, but He is much better than a father who just hurts His children all the time.  He loves for you, and He cares for you, which is why we shout Hallelujah!  The Jackson five have a song called, “Hallelujah, we’re going to see the King”.

Of course there are those people who are just plain evil, but those are not His children, and have not received the covenant promise.  He knows those which He’s called.

 

 

The difficult task of knowing when not to speak

In the Bible the book of James talks about how we are to bridle our tongues.  It says how can blessings and cursings come out of the same mouth and that the tongue is uncontrollable.  Jesus said to have our speech be seasoned with salt.

There was an experience that happened with my relative a while back.  I said something where I basically just stuck my foot in my mouth, which is just an expression for saying the wrong thing, and she gave me the silent treatment for a long time.  She was an unbeliever so she had not grasped the concepts of forgiveness, but in the process she taught me a very important lesson, which as of late I seemed to have forgotten.  In the process she taught me how to respect her and to be sensitive what I say to her.  I loved my relative and I did not want her to be mad at me and hoped that she would eventually forgive me and she did.  God is the same way and His anger can be kindled so much more, but sometimes we don’t realize that.  We kind of take Him for granted and not give Him the respect that He deserves.  Sometimes we don’t give God the same respect we give to other people, and even when we are mad at other people, we don’t give them the respect not to talk about them behind their back.  I know my relative can have a bad temper at times, but God can have a temper too.  I knew my relative loved me, but she was just angry with me for awhile.  God is the same way.

Isaiah 54 says,

“With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.

I know we should never do anything to make God mad at us, and we should never never never do that, but if in the current moment we may think that God is mad at us, it is ok, because He still loves us, and it says that He chastens those He loves.  If He loves you He chastens you.  He is not going to stay angry forever.  He may just distance Himself from you for awhile for one to see how much you will go after Him, and how much you will realize the way you hurt him, and how He feels about the situation.  We are so caught up in how we feel about what’s going on in our lives.  We are so concerned with all the circumstances, and our reactions to it, that we forget that God has a heart too, and we need to be sensitive to it, and not try to dishonor it.  I’m not saying we’ll be perfect all the time, but through life we’ll learn lessons, and learn how to trust Him, and how to depend on Him, so that we can learn how to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.  So even during these times if it seems like your walking through darkness, or that it may seem like there are no answers, God is still there, and He’s still waiting for you to turn around.  He’s waiting to pick up all the pieces of your broken life.  He’s there to restore the damage that’s been made out of your life and to give you beauty for ashes.

Sometimes when we speak out of anger or frustration or because we just don’t know how to handle the situation we are facing, and we haven’t exactly learned how to keep our tongue under control, there will be times when we’ll be reminded of what God feels like.  We don’t like it when people are frustrated and angry with us, so then when shouldn’t be angry or frustrated with God for all the things going on.  He’s in control, and so many times in our lives we’ve tried to take control and not to submit to authority, and not to discipline ourselves in various areas.  I am not even saying that I have mastered anything in application in my life, but it’s only through the grace of God that I am able to share with you all on this journey.  We need to stop beating ourselves up for our mistakes and even the things we may say out of our mouths, but before we do that we need to take time to think and make decisions on how we are going to try to work on improving our attitudes.  We get so caught up in religious activities that we don’t actually take time to think and see how we are going to apply all that we have learned in the Bible.  We have to pray, and read the Word of God, but on days when it may be even hard to get out of bed in the morning then we need to know what kind of power we have waiting inside of us to make life for us, and how we can take Biblical examples of guarding our mouth, and ask us to show us His heart.  How many days would you like to go without God speaking to you?  Not very long I’d suppose.  So in that time more than really praise or worship or any other thing that we’ve tried to seek God with, we need to ask God, and to think how we can change our mindset.  It’s one thing to read the Word of God as just words, stories, and narratives, but it’s another thing to make it an application.  Start with one thing and then see what else you can improve on.  Some people that have an issue with their mouth, like gossiping have an issue with forgiveness, which is an area where we ALL need to work on.  If you have mastered the area of forgiveness then you are miles high then most of us Christians.  Most Christians are biting each other’s heads off all the time, and it’s so sad in the Church.  There are times when we’ve had people we respected lie to us, and we forget that we’ve lied ourselves, so that needs forgiveness.  We’ve had people come and say the  wrong thing at the wrong time and not shown compassion towards us, but then we fail to see how we’ve not been compassionate toward them in their hour of need.  There was a song by Mariah Carey called, Love takes time, which I don’t usually condone of secular music, but there are songs out there that really speak to me.  It goes something like “Love takes time to heal when you’re hurting so much”  Depending on what has happened in your life and how you’ve gone through life, I’m sure you’ve had to learn how to forgive and may be still learning when not to speak.

Sometimes when we at our weakest moments, we just say things, and we can all learn a lesson from Jesus when He was on trial he just was silent, and they didn’t like it, because they wanted Him to say something to convict Himself.

There was a story of a television show where there was a man who was in jail and when he was in jail, they would question him, and all he did when they questioned him he kept silent.  I think there was a Biblical principle behind that somewhere.

There’s always wisdom in knowing when not to speak and to speak.  So we should learn the principle of when to keep silent.  There’s another secular song called “Enjoy the Silence”.  We must choose words carefully, and when we are not perfect, then we should keep things to ourselves.

 

Praying in the Spirit by Perry Stone

Praying in the Spirit by Perry Stone

Since many of the blogs that I’ve been following have debated over the issue of praying in the Spirit as an essential doctrine, I found this Perry Stone video which explains why praying in the Spirit is all about.  We need this outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives so I encourage you to look at this video and see what you can learn about praying in the Holy Spirit.  May 27, 2012  is Pentecost and wouldn’t it be great if we could spread this message out about praying in the Spirit on that day.

 

 

 

 

 

A little bit of the book of Jonah in all of us

I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been finding a little bit of Jonah in myself.  I think sometimes we Christians can behave a lot like Jonah given our circumstances.

Jonah’s Disobedience

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” ³ But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Interestingly enough, I found this passage title to be “Disobedience”.  That is the beginning of all of our problems.  When God initially tells us not to do something, and we don’t listen.  Unforgiveness is an area where we can be disobedient to the Lord.  Also doing all the little things He tells us not to do can be considered being disobedient to the Lord.  Some Christians know they are not supposed to do things like drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, go to nightclubs, watch soap operas, but they do it anyway because something inside our carnal nature just wants to rebel.  It’s in all of us.  The amazing thing about Jonah is that he had the Presence of the Lord with him, and then he decided to leave and turn away.  Some of us may be experiencing great things in the Presence of the Lord in our church and when times get tough we may be tempted to pull away.

⁴ The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to ^[a]break up. ⁵ Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the ^[b]cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it ^[c]for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. ⁶ So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”

Doesn’t this story sound familiar?  This is exactly what happened with Jesus on the boat.  The storm was raging and He was still asleep.  There must be something about security in the Lord that allows you to fall asleep during the worst of circumstances.  I remember when Hurricane Ike hit Houston.  It was pummeling the roofs, and it was one of the worst ones we’ve had that caused a lot of damage, but it wasn’t as bad as Katrina.  Well I was rattled by the storm, and my dad, who was and is an unbeliever slept through it.  If an unbeliever can do that, how much more can we who have faith sleep through the literal storms, and the symbolic storms in our life.  It’s easy when things are going well.  But when things are hard it’s hard to have that faith that everything is going to turn out for good.  Jonah was even out of the Presence of the Lord, which is why he was getting them into trouble.  Sometimes when we are disobedient, we can cause the ship of local church to be in turmoil.  It is also a reminder that if you’re considering switching churches, then, what can happen, when you do.

⁷ Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us cast lots so we may ^[d]learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “ Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” ⁹ He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰ Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “^[e]How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. ¹¹ So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm ^[f]for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm ^[g]for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” ¹³ However, the men ^[h]rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. ¹⁴ Then they called on the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.”

¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

So here Jonah makes his declaration that he is the reason that they are in the boat because he fled from the Presence of the Lord.  This is what Adam and Eve did as well.  When we have that Presence of the Lord upon our lives (which comes through living a repentant life and worship and the Truth of God’s Word) we shouldn’t leave it at any cost.  We shouldn’t let our unforgiveness be an issue and we should choose to let our anger, bitterness, resentment, and all the things in our heart that are keeping us away from God, not be an issue in our lives anymore.

^17 [i]And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

This is the stomach of the fish that Jonah was in.  Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights.  Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights and then He was and is risen.  Sometimes we feel like we are dead and stuck, and we are in the same place.  We don’t think that we are going to get out of it, and then a miracle happens. But during those times we cry out in distress and in pain so that we can see a deliverance from our problems.

2 ^[a]Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, ² and he said,

“I called out of my distress to the Lord,

And He answered me.

I cried for help from the ^[b]depth of Sheol;

You heard my voice.

³ “For You had cast me into the deep,

Into the heart of the seas,

And the current ^[c]engulfed me.

All Your breakers and billows passed over me.

⁴ “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from ^[d]Your sight.

Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

⁵ “ Water encompassed me to the ^[e]point of death.

The great deep ^[f]engulfed me,

Weeds were wrapped around my head.

⁶ “I descended to the roots of the mountains.

The earth with its bars was around me forever,

But You have brought up my life from ^[g]the pit, O Lord my God.

⁷ “While ^[h]I was fainting away,

I remembered the Lord,

And my prayer came to You,

Into Your holy temple.

⁸ “Those who regard ^[i]vain idols

Forsake their faithfulness,

⁹ But I will sacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving.

That which I have vowed I will pay.

Salvation is from the Lord.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

Look at the prayer that Jonah made.  He said what misery that he was in and he knew the Lord’s power.  That’s a key to answered prayer.  To recognize and be truthful about your situation.  He also offered up thanksgiving, which some people say should be at the beginning but it actually takes place at the end. I am not sure if Nineveh or Tarshish is the place that Jonah is talking about in his prayers but I am assuming it is Nineveh.  This place that Jonah hated so much was full of idols according to him.  Sometimes we get caught up in a place that is full of idols.  We just want to see them leave and we get so bitter and angry even in our prayers, that we don’t see that God still loves them. Sometimes we ourselves get caught up in our own idols

Nineveh Repents

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was ^[a]an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. ⁴ Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

⁵ Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. ⁶ When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ^[b]ashes. ⁷ He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. ⁸ But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let ^[c]men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in ^[d]his hands. ⁹  Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would ^[e]bring upon them. And He did not do it.

Sometimes we are so on top of the world and that we have achieved to new levels and new heights and we think we are great and may have taken God for granted not realizing how much we need Him and how much we have drifted away and that is when we become overthrown.  Then we begin to believe in God, and we may go through periods where even food is not as important as God and we cry out.  If you’ve never lived a day where you are so hungry, then you really don’t know what it is like to be fasting.  The king said, “Do not let beast, herd, or flock taste a thing.  Do not let them eat or drink water.”    Can you imagine that – not being able to eat or drink water.  It’s almost like having the stomach flu, but this didn’t happen by chance, it was voluntary.  Can you imagine the suffering. They repented by fasting and turning from their wicked way, which God changed His mind about them.

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

4 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. ² He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this ^[a]what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore ^[b]in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please take my ^[c]life from me, for death is better to me than life.” ⁴ The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

So then Jonah, was like – “I had to go through all that for nothing – for no good reason.  I had known as much to begin with, and I had to go through all that.  It wasn’t worth it.  It’s better off if I died”  God was not pleased with Jonah’s attitude.  God was looking for a good reason to be angry.  In his mind he was thinking what he went through would have been better off if they hadn’t repented.  If they had just stayed the way they were.

⁵ Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of ^[d]it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ So the Lord God appointed a ^[e]plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was ^[f]extremely happy about the ^[g]plant. ⁷ But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. ⁸ When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “ Death is better to me than life.”

Sometimes we get so stressed out by different things and different things come our way and we just don’t know how to handle it.  Sometimes we find little satisfaction in temporal things for comfort but when they are not working we get discouraged.  Sometimes we like our car so much and it gives us joy and freedom and then it gets totalled then we get so discouraged.   Sometimes God provides shade, but then He removes it too.  Don’t you think Jonah would have gotten out of his predicament if He said a prayer like “Thank You Lord for the awesome sun who shines upon the heat during the day.  Great is the Lord who created the sun, and deliver me from this heat.”  We might tend to think that it is like the Amalekites, or the devil that attacks us at our weakest, but sometimes it could be God trying to teach us a lesson.  We don’t rely upon God and his goodness and what he has done for us.  Jonah had been rescued out of the fish.  That was a big deal!!!  Imagine just all no air and you can’t breathe, but then you get delivered and don’t you believe that the God who did before can do it again.  We too often become like Jonah.  God used this reminder to show Jonah to sympathize with what the Ninevites were going thorugh.

⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” ¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which ^[h]came up overnight and perished ^[i]overnight. ¹¹ Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

The lesson that God was trying to teach Jonah and all of us is compassion.  There are so many lessons in this book of Jonah.  When a city comes to repentance, God spares the city.  When we come into repentance God spares our lives.  This shows the mercy of God and His immense compassion.  We often see God in the Old Testament as wrathful and strict and showing Judgment, but in this example it shows us that He is still merciful and kind and loving.  That He loves us immensely, and He wants to show us compassion.  Sometimes when we are angry with someone and we can’t seem to see the big picture and the whole situation God uses circumstances and speaks to us regarding certain issues so that we can live out the characters He wants to see us develop.

 

 

New Seeds Are Available

Although this message was made in 2011, it is still applicable this year or any year.  When it seems like all your dreams are crushed and destroyed, and there is no hope for your dreams, God still has seeds for you.

Initial Error of Balaam

If you’ve never heard the story of Balak and Balaam which God talks about in Revelation and in Numbers, and it is a pretty interesting one and in many ways, some of us believers are acting like Balaam, without even realizing it.

Numbers 22:

22  Then the sons of Israel journeyed, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho.

² Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³  So Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel. ⁴ Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this ^[a]horde will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. ⁵ So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the ^[b]River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me. ⁶  Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too ^[c]mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to ^[d]defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

⁷ So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and ^[e]repeated Balak’s words to him. ⁸ He said to them, “Spend the night here, and I will bring word back to you as the Lord may speak to me.” And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam. ⁹ Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, ¹¹ ‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” ¹² God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” ¹³ So Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s leaders, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” ¹⁴ The leaders of Moab arose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

¹⁵ Then Balak again sent leaders, more numerous and more distinguished than ^[f]the former. ¹⁶ They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Let nothing, I beg you, hinder you from coming to me; ¹⁷ for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.’” ¹⁸ Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “ Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the ^[g]command of the Lord my God. ¹⁹ Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord will speak to me.” ²⁰ God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do.”

²¹  So Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab.²² But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him.

Notice how it says God first says to Balaam not to go, and then the implication says it is ok for him to go.  Then God gets angry with him.  Why is that?  That is because He is testing him if he will do the right thing.  But God knows that the heart of mankind is decietfully wicked so He knew He wasn’t going to do it.

Now I’ve had a sermon on this preached to me before in my Church and the sermon was called “Obedience Like A Donkey”.  I’ve only had one other time that the Lord reminded me of this verse and I quickly repented, but I don’t know if I changed what I did.

Here’s my story, using a personal example.  I was idolizing a television pastor, who was used to “ease my conscience” when I sinned, and I had the Lord tell me in an indirect way, several times, there was a conviction in the spirit, that maybe I shouldn’t be watching this preacher, and even though what they were teaching was Biblical, the theological doctrine was corrupted.  I had my spiritual mentor in the Church, tell me not to watch this person, because they will only bring me down, and because I was trying to pursue Jesus, this person became an idol for me, and I did not want to give up watching their television show because it made me feel better.  Instead of reading the Word of God for myself, which all teachers and preachers of the Word of God tell you to do, I decided to get spoon fed, and it was like a staircase model, where I was on the top of a staircase and this person who was at a lower level, and had less skill and training and personal experience, brought me down.  There were other issues going on for a while, and when I needed to have my conscience clear and my faith strengthened, everything around me began to fall, and I had literally been brainwashed into thinking what all these television preachers were saying and getting confused with corrupt teachings, until I finally came to repentance and said “enough is enough”  but by then it was too late, I had passed my three day limit of not reading the Word of God for myself, and my life began to spiral downward.  There was still growth, and I know God has a plan and purpose for everything and He can make good out of bad.  So I learned, “When God says ‘NO!!’ He means ‘NO!!”.  During this time I was still writing on my blog and doing things, but I realized, that my spiritual life had to get back on track because of my conscience.  At that point, I had difficulty receiving from the Holy Spirit.

This is the same thing I learned when I posted “Obedience is more important than Grace.”  God has been teaching me how to hear His voice, and after many sleepless and tearful nights, I decided to change my priorities, but now I have to climb back up to where I used to be and maybe that’s the toughest part of sanctification process is that if you don’t accept it, you can be thrown out of the purging process and out of God’s revealed will for your life and it can be very destructive.  But a new season is coming for all of us.  God has not changed, what has worked in the past will work again, and there is nothing new under the sun.  Let the reader understand.  I hope you guys learn from the mistake of Balaam and be obedient to the Lord the first time, especially when you  are debating in your mind, “I want to do this, but then I also don’t want to do this.  I don’t know what to do.”  As you become mature you will learn.  A good question to ask, is how is this going to benefit anyone other than me?  Does this appeal to my senses, or make me feel like I can get “away with it” if I do it.  Idols are very destructive, and they can lead you to a downward spiral, and especially when people seem to let you think that disobedience is ok, when it is not ok, then you should be warned not to repeat it. Television preachers sometimes make themselves a target for idolization, even if it is not their intention, but is usually the case with the media industry.  So message for today is “beware of idols”  – and “beware of disobedience” there is also a sermon on my Church’s website called, “Idols in Your Backseat”.  Although in this passage the first instruction that God has is usually the best, and if you put yourself in the middle God can answer you to your own desires even if it is not his will.

 

 

 

Sola Fide

This Video Examines the basic fundamentals of Christianity such as Sola Fide (Faith Alone)

 

 

 

 

God is passionate about purity

Today I was looking at a milk cartoon and it said “passionate about purity”.  Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God”.  The Bible also says,

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. – Phillipians 4:8

God is passionate about purity, but it is not the outward purity that matters the most, but it is the purity of the heart and the mind because Jesus said “first wash the inside of the bowl, then the outside”  But it is important that people don’t commit sins that are indicated in the Bible, because God is a holy God.  When the sewage system takes the local water source and it recycles the water that was once impure and it gets the toxins out of it.  Then to further the purification process it probably should go through a more purified process so that it may be drinkable.  The best tasting water is one that has been purified the most and it is probably the most expensive.

Jesus has made us pure through His blood, but we must be on guard with our minds and be alert to taking every thought Captive unto the Obedience of Christ.  I once heard someone say that if you have a negative thought, just ignore it, but that is not healthy.  Even a qualified psychologist will tell you that once you recognize a destructive thought, you recognize, remove, replace and repeat.  Some Christians say that is not good to include psychology into the Christian walk, but the Bible does teach on what you are to think about, and some psychological principles tell you the how to think upon them, and the Bible does as well, so there is no harm in using psychological principles to train your main to develop the seeds of God’s Word and let it be made available to you when you need.  These are the last days, and when the times are getting more and more difficult, and more and more wicked with each generation we must be careful to keep our minds undefiled from the world and we must know who we are in Christ, so when we are faced with lies we can replace them with what the Word of God says about our lives.

We know that “His thoughts are higher than our thoughts,” and “His ways are higher than our ways”.  So we must pursue having thoughts that glorify Christ, and live out our lives to glorify Christ.  Of course all of us each of one of us is imperfect, and must not be under the presumption that we are perfect people, and the we must measure up to a perfect standard, because none of us can become perfect, which is why we have been given the Holy Spirit, to make us perfect and to transform us more and more into the image of Christ.

I used to have a friend who was a bad influence on me in school, and I care for her and still do hoping that she’ll come into salvation, but she would tell me to “put my mind in the gutter”.  Putting your mind in the gutter is the last thing you want to do, because you are exposing yourself to darkness, but thank God through His salvation, He brought me out of darkness and into light.

So if you have thoughts like “I want to commit suicide”, then remove that thought and say “I will live and not die and declare the works of the Lord.”  Or if you are guilty then say, “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, for those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  Or if you are anxious, then say, “Do not let your heart be troubled.”  Blessed is the man whose mind is steadied upon God.  But we live in a fallen world with so many distractions, which are hard to avoid.  So we must discipline ourselves, to capture every thought, and imagination, and cast it out, before it becomes foothold and a stronghold, and then overtakes us.  So we cannot just accept these thoughts.  These thoughts are a sign that there is something not right within our soul, and  for our soul to operate properly it has to line up with the Spirit of God and to do God’s will and plan and purpose for our lives.

When you become closer to God, He starts revealing to you all the things and issues in your heart that you need to deal with, and let Him purify you of.  You must be willing to let go of these things in your life.  These can be things like jealousy, unforgiveness, anger, worry, and you must allow the Word of God, letting the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  This is repentance.  During this time it is important, that you remove all the idols from your life and anything that is keeping you from seeking Him in your life.  That may mean that we may have to stop watching television preachers, and listening to other people who can only bring us down.  The dangerous part about listening to certain television preachers, while they may be highly anointed men and women of God, and have a successful ministry, but they may not help you at the level that you are at, and help take you to the level you will want to be.  This time you have to learn how to depend on God more, and to trust God more. Sometimes we get so discouraged that we listen to people that are “ear pleasers”, when sometimes what the Word of God says is harsh, even though Jesus Himself is not harsh, but His Word is stronger than a two edged Sword, even dividing to the soul and Spirit.   With patience, and in His timing He will make all things known to you, through the Holy Spirit.  Pray that the Holy Spirit reveal things to you in the Holy Spirit.

We all have toxins in our heart and our minds from before we were saved, and we must continue to guard our hearts and our minds, and to continue to walk in love and continue to keep our minds focused on Jesus and to preach the Gospel.  During the refining process I encourage you to read the Word of God as much as you are able and to fully trust the Word of God, and what it says without reading to much into it, and trust it above your own heart sometimes, because your own heart (the one before you got saved) was deceitfully wicked, but now your heart is pure as long as you continue to pursue God and have your mind stayed on Him and remove all kinds of distractions away from your life.  Believe me if you have not gone through some time of extreme difficulty, you will as a Christian, it is inevitable, but during those times, He gives us the grace that we need to handle life day by day. Remember to keep your hearts pure.

The word pure in the Greek is “Katharos”

It has signficant meanings:

2) in a similitude, like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit

1) free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt

2) free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine

3) blameless, innocent

4) unstained with the guilt of anything

Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for katharos (Strong’s 2513)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 18 May 2012. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=G2513&t=KJV >

- When the vine becomes pure it has to go through a pruning process, and it can hurt sometimes.

Purity and the vine which becomes pure:

It is free corrupt desire, from sin and guilt – there is real guilt, when you know what you have done goes against God’s Word, and then there’s false guilt which results in condemnaiton.

It is free from any admixture, or mingling, or twisting Scripture, and also from any lies, or deceit, or anything that is not genuine.

It is blameless, and innocent – You know when you are innocent of something.  Some things you know you just did not do.  Anything you do not know, Jesus, the High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek, has paid the price for.

It is also unstained with sin and guilt.  Notice it didn’t just say, “guilt”, it said “sin” and “guilt” so if the only sin was not believing, then most Christians would have nothing to feel guilty about because we all believe, but if we turn away from sin, by realizing that we are not condemned from that sin, but that we no longer identify with that sin, and that we are now new people, and we don’t need to hold on to that sin any longer.  It’s ok when we fall sometimes because God will help us get right back up, but we have to choose not to get stuck in this destructive path for our souls, and choose to live a righteous life, even though we know that we are already righteous people, and in the same manner we need to choose to live pure lives, even though we have a blood bought right to purity.

God is Passionate about purity of our hearts and minds which when renewed can live out the purity in the flesh and cause you not to sin.

One Year Anniversary of blog!!!! Praise God!!

This is to all the people that have been with me and following my blog throughout the year, and I am thankful for your encouragement and support and knowing that life has its twists and turns and knowing that there is a purpose to this blog, that is beyond my comprehension, and as I follow the Holy Spirit and His promptings, and even when I fail I am thankful to all the people who follow and I appreciate your encouragement and support.  The Body of Christ bloggers is a community of believers that fulfills the requirements of being ligaments and sinews building up the Church, where the Church lacks.  It crosses denominational and cultural bounds, but what it lacks in tangible human connections it makes up for in heart, so I am thankful for you guys that have been with me throughout this journey.

 

I want to make a special mention to dedicated blog followers and/or supporters -

mtsweat.wordpress.com

Freedomborn

W.I.S.E. Junction

Saved by Grace

And all the other ones who have been there with me, we are all one Body of Christ, and we are all there to help each other out and you are not forgotten in your efforts, but for the sake of time and lack of being able to find the names, which have been there to help me on a regular basis I have limited to just a few.  I know there are many many people that have come across my way, which I am truly thankful and encouraged to know that I have been a blessing and changed lives.

Good News, even if you don’t have the ability to read the Bible, the Holy Spirit, will bring into remembrance, the things, which you need to know and share and post of the Bible, even if He has to keep you up until 1 AM to share it!!!:):):)