Isaiah 61:1-2
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, NASB95
Thank you Lord for this word this morning
Bless You
kevin
Deuteronomy 4:31
"For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them. NASB95
Deuteronomy 4:39-40
Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time." NKJV
When you are not working, it is easy to get depressed and to stop focusing on what is true. That God is faithful. I got up this morning not wanting to spend time in the word or prayer, but I am and this is what I heard. Trust and obey his word. This has been the longest dry spell of work I have had in the six years I have lived here. I wonder if He is trying to show me something.
Be Blessed today
Kevin
Where the battle's lost and won
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord. . . . Jeremiah 4:1.
The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God[K] what are the secret places?, never first in the external world. [K] does this mean I am trying to do it alone? The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. [K] What does this look like? Until this is done, I lose every time. [K] to me I am not fighting out the battle before and that is why I am losing! The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must resolutely go through the hell of a renunciation before Him.[K] I don't understand this part.
Nothing has any power over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there[K] this is the key …. This is where the victory is … fighting the battle out before God. If I say—'I will wait till I get into the circumstances and then put God to the test,' I shall find I cannot. I must get the thing settled between myself and God in the secret places of my soul where no stranger intermeddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty that the battle is won. [K] If I don't make up my mind, my unmade mind will un make me. Lose it there, and calamity and disaster and upset are as sure as God's decree. The reason the battle is not won is because I try to win it in the external world first. [K] this means trying to do it on my own doesn't it (Pride) Get alone with God, fight it out before Him, settle the matter there once and for all.
In dealing with other people, the line to take is to push them to an issue of will. That is the way abandonment begins. Every now and again, not often, but sometimes, God brings us to a point of climax. That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go towards a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God—"My Utmost for His Highest."[K] I don't want to be a useless Christian, those words don't even go together. I want to be free. I know the moment I have walked free from this something else will raise its ugly head…. Something else to battle alone before God and that is okay.
As I have read over my responses in red I am thinking that these are the questions that I need to be asking the Lord, I have grown in so many areas of my life, but there is so much more potential there …. I feel it. This is the one thing that is keeping me from going where the Lord wants to take me. I understand that everyone has their stuff and even when I am free from this, I will have other stuff as well. This is my Mt Everest and I am ready to conquer it. Once a man climbs Mt Everest he has conquered the highest mountain there is not another mountain taller. I have climbed a lot of mountains in the Himalayas, It is time to climb Mt Everest I have all the tools!
It was men's group last night and God showed up. Without going into details, because what is said in group stays in group. God showed up and showed off. There is freedom coming for men in our group. Warriors would be better suited. One of the last things I wrote yesterday was "For me right now, I need to get to where I am in Awe of the Lord and His greatness and Holiness" That is what I and the other 16 men witnessed last night. Men trusting men with their hearts. Seeing his mighty hand work through evening and drawing men out. Thank You Jesus.
This morning as I am reading how mighty our Lord is in "The Fear of the Lord" about the universe. It has hard to fathom how big it really is and the Lord knows the name of every star.
I move into reading the Psalm 91 and it is good and I read Psalm 92 and it is good, but I am looking for something to leap off the page at me. Then I remember earlier when I read in my Men of Integrity and I felt I was suppose to read in 1 Timothy 4 and once again scripture comes alive to me "Rhema"
1 Timothy 4:7-16
But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Spiritual discipline that is what comes first. Doing things for the Lord because you Love Him not because you have to.
9 It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. 10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. 11 Prescribe and teach these things. 12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. 13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.NASB95
This is good; I think this goes hand in hand with what I have been writing about since the start of this journal. When I look back it is all intertwined.
Thank You Jesus
Kevin
I have started reading the book "The Fear of the Lord" by John Bevere. One of the things that really struck me this morning was what he said about our unspoken words. "There is a black and white for others, but it is gray for me. It's wrong for others because it doesn't affect me, but I'm exempt if obeying makes my life uncomfortable. Another slap in the face to me. The black and white is me being Judgmental of people. Me seeing things that other people need to do to better their lives but I am not willing to do it myself. Telling someone "This is what you need to do to Honor your Wife, but I am not willing to do that myself. Pathetic …. That is what that is. I have been so guilty of Ministering to Men and in the same breath, knowing I am not doing what I am telling them to. I guess that would be Pride as well …… SUCK! My way is good enough for you but not good enough for me. It is very HARD to serve a God in the image that I have made Him into.
Isaiah 29:13-14
The Master said: "These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their hearts aren't in it. Because they act like they're worshiping me but don't mean it, I'm going to step in and shock them awake, astonish them, stand them on their ears. The wise ones who had it all figured out will be exposed as fools. The smart people who thought they knew everything will turn out to know nothing." The Message
Romans 1:20-23
By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand. The Message
The Golden Café is a good example. They made an Idol and still referred to it as God, which in turn reduced the greatness of Him to an image they were familiar with.
I wonder ……. What is my golden café ……. Could I be putting more emphasis on the ministry of men than focusing on the Lord Himself? What I mean is …….. Could I be losing site of the big picture. Which is the Lord. Here is what I know …….. Right now I am very conscious of ministry to men and what the Lord wants. It is so easy though to lose that focus and then my wife suffers. I try to stay focused on hearing the Lord when it comes to Kelly and what her needs are and when to pray for her and not come across as a butt. Which is something I do so well ….. Sometimes
For me right now, I need to get to where I am in Awe of the Lord and His greatness and Holiness
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty; the whole Earth is filled with His glory
I broke my fast last night, the Lord never gave me a set time to fast, but I got peace last night when I realized what was going on … a redirection. Here is what I know; the fast has reset my direction and my priorities. No diet …. Just eat right and exercise. No fast food that is the killer. Walk or ride a bike every day and lose 50 pounds. The lord has shown me that as the leader of my home that my wife will not follow suit until I get disciplined myself. My body is a temple and I am not doing a very good job at taking care of it. If I was a car I have not changed the oil in a year and have been filling up my tank with regular instead of premium.
Now to my time with the Lord this morning. I read in Oswald who took me to Romans 1, nothing jumped out at me so I continued to read on into chpt 2 Romans 2:5 but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, NASB95
What is stubbornness? I would think that it is rebellion. 1 Samuel 15:23
for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king."NKJV Personally I do not want to walk in this. This was a major thumping for me as far as my eating goes, my lack of exercise, and my judgment of people that are overweight. The whole morning was a major eye opener. The biggest thing by far is how I lead my wife spiritually and physically. Praying with her when the Lord says, instead of not doing it. Ministering to her the way I minister to men. Giving her the voice that I give men who are in need of ministry. That was what the Lord showed me two years ago when I when on Bushido. My life scripture was and still is James 1:26-27
if anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart; this person's religious service is worthless (futile, barren). External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world. AMP
To sum this up in the words of Richard Henderson and I quote "If you minister to men and women and not your family then what you are doing is making your wife and children the widow and orphan's in your own home" when I asked my wife is that was me she looked at me and said "Yep, that is pretty much you most of the time" I will never forget that. I still struggle in that area but not near as much. I am trying to find a balance. Now to the rest of the story. The passage below nailed me as well and to sum it up. I need to practice what I preach and now that I am a co – leader of a men's group at church this is more important than ever.
Romans 2:17-24
You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God's law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law. You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness. You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God's law gives you complete knowledge and truth. Well then, if you teach others, why don't you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. No wonder the Scriptures say, "The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you." NLT
James 3:1
NOT MANY [of you] should become teachers (self-constituted censors and reprovers of others), my brethren, for you know that we [teachers] will be judged by a higher standard and with greater severity [than other people; thus we assume the greater accountability and the more condemnation].AMP
Thanks for reading
Kevin
