Canaan pt. 1

I had a conversation with someone the other day and it stirred something up in me. I have read a book called Maximized Manhood by Ed Cole. This book really spoke to me about the 5 sins that kept the Israelites out of the land of Canaan. Canaan is where God wanted the Israelites to live after they were delivered out of their bondage. I sometimes wonder about my on Canaan
1 Corinthians 10:9
nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;NKJV
Page 27 When the crowds demanded that Christ come down from the cross, they tempted Him. Tempting Christ is demanding that God do what is contrary to His will or inconsistent with His character. Today, men still do the same by demanding that God provide some way of salvation other than the Cross. Lying and cheating in business and demanding that God bless and prosper the results is tempting Christ. Men and women pursuing promiscuity, though they know it is wrong; children rejecting the godly counsel of parents; congregations demanding the pastor build the church on social programs rather than the Word of God and prayer; believers wanting to enjoy the benefits of salvation and the pleasures of sin at the same time—all are tempting Christ.
It kept Israel from Canaan.
It keeps men from their Canaan today.
This one has always stuck out for me. My website for my business www.cchomeimprovements.com (this is not an advertisement) Says Honesty, Integrity, and Quality Workmanship this is how I treat my customers and it is how I treat my employees and subs. I have never put money in my pocket to avoid paying the taxes. If someone pays me cash. It goes in to my account. I could be audited by the IRS and everything is legitimate. The flip side to that is I never pay anyone without keeping a record. In other words, I never pay anyone under the table as some do. That is stealing. Seriously! Lord, would you bless my business, then turn around and pay an employee with cash so you don't have to pay the taxes or get paid cash for a big job and not report it. I love this one, you want the Lord to bless your marriage but, you go home and look at pornography. Lord please bless my finances, but you don't tithe. I think you get the point. Now before anyone thinks I am throwing stones I struggle in other areas of my life that are keeping me from my Canaan. The positive side is this, I believe the reason I never worry about my business. Even when I have down time is because I trust the Lord in this area of my life and I know He is going to provide. The problem is I need to carry this over into other areas of my life.
What is keeping you from your Canaan?
Lord I pray right now that you reveal yourself to those who are asking you this question right now. In Jesus name.

 

Rest

Hebrews 4:6-12
So God's rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:

"Today when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts."

Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God's rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.NLT

Are you resting? Holy Spirit says, if we don't rest we will fall! When was the last time you rested? When was the last time you got away by yourself for a couple of days and rested? I don't mean away with your spouse I mean by yourself! Go to someone's cottage or a hotel and have the TV removed and just get alone and rest no phone to computer just rest.

 

Rest today

If you will ask chpt II

Chapter II

The Secret of the Sacred Simplicity of Prayer

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41

These words were spoken in the supreme moment of our Lord's agony; we are immensely flippant if we forget that. No words our Lord ever spoke ought to weigh with us more than these words. We are dealing with the sacred simplicity of prayer. If prayer is not easy, we are wrong; if prayer is an effort, we are out of it. There is only one kind of person who can really pray, and that is the childlike saint, the simple, stupid, supernatural child of God; I do mean "stupid." Immediately you try to explain why God answers prayer on the ground of reason, it is nonsense; God answers prayer on the ground of Redemption and on no other ground. Let us never forget that our prayers are heard, not because we are in earnest, not because we suffer, but because Jesus suffered. It is because our Lord Jesus Christ went through the depths of agony to the last ebb in the Garden of Gethsemane, because He went through Calvary, that we have "boldness to enter into the holy place."

Let us take ourselves across Kedron to the Garden of Gethsemane. We can never fathom the agony in Gethsemane, but at least we need not mis-understand. This is not the agony of a man: this is the distress of God in Man, or rather the distress of God as Man. It is not human in any phase, it is fathomless to a human mind, but we have got several lines to go on so as not to mis-understand. Always beware of the tendency to think of our Lord as an extraordinary human being; He was not, He was God Incarnate.

The Line of the Undiscerned Word of Our Lord

Watch and pray . . .

"Tarry ye here, and watch with Me."Is my idea of prayer based on the keen watching that Jesus Christ asked of His disciples? He did not say, "pray for anything," or, "ask God for anything"; the whole of His attitude toward them was wrapped up in the words, "watch with Me." Our Lord did not say sentimental things or pious things about prayer He said practical and intensely real things, and this is one of them. This is a line of things that opens up nothing to us until it does, because we bring in our own ideas of prayer and do not take into account the Mastership of our Lord. Probably that is our biggest difficulty—that our Lord is not really Master. We use the phrase "Master," but we use it in a more or less pious way, we do not intend to make Him Master practically; we are much more familiar with the idea that Jesus is our Saviour, our Sanctifier, anything that puts Him in the relationship of a supernatural Comrade. We advocate anything that Jesus does, but we do not advocate Him.

(a) The Appropriate Place of Our Lord's Arranging

"Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray . . ."It is customary, and in one sense quite right, to take our Lord as an example of how to pray, but in the fundamental sense He is not. The relationship we have to God is not the same as Jesus Christ's relationship to His Father—especially on this occasion; His is not a relationship: it is a Redemption. So until you are sure about our Lord's Redemption—"sit here, wait." People say, "Why do you waste your time in a Bible Training College? Fancy spending all your time studying the Bible! Think of the people who need to be looked after; think of the thousand and one things there are to do!" Well, they have to be done, but that is not the point. The point is, are we prepared for our Lord to say to us, "Sit ye here, while I go yonder"? Are we prepared to give due weight to the fact that we are not our own masters? Are we devotees to a cause or disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ? He said to the disciples, "Sit ye here"; if they had been like some of us they would have said, "No, it is absurd, we must go and do something."

The more we get into the atmosphere of the New Testament the more we discover the unfathomable and unhasting leisure of our Lord's life, no matter what His agony. The difficulty is that when we do what God wants us to do, our friends say, "It is all very well, but suppose we all did that!" Our Lord did not tell all the disciples to sit there while He prayed; He told only three of them. The point is that we must take the discerning of the haphazard arrangements of our lives from God. If once we accept the Lord Jesus Christ and the domination of His Lordship, then nothing happens by chance, because we know that God is ordering and engineering circumstances; the fuss has gone, the amateur providence has gone, the amateur disposer has gone, and we know that "all things work together for good to them that love God." If Jesus says, "Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray," the only appropriate thing we can do is to sit there.

(b) The Appointed Place of Our Lord's Associates

"And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee . . ."Our Lord opened His sorrow to these three, as far as human beings could appreciate it. Peter may stand well for the phase of the first temptation that betook our Lord—the sensible, material side of things, for help and assistance. James may stand for the second temptation that betook our Lord—the intensely ritualistic; and John may stand for the last temptation—the temptation to compromise with everything in order to win, a great loving monopoly. These three men were taken and appointed by our Lord for one purpose—to see His agony. "Tarry ye here, and watch with Me." He did not put them there to go to sleep; He put them there to wait and watch. Remember, the twelve disciples were all He had; He knew one had gone to betray Him, and that Peter would shortly deny Him with oaths and curses, and that all of them would forsake Him and flee; but He took these three with Him to see the unveiling of His heart—and they slept for their own sorrow.

(c) The Autobiographic Place of Our Lord's Agony

". . . and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled."Our Lord said to these disciples what He never said to the others; in John 12:27, He said in soliloquy something similar ("Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say?"), but here He really said to these three, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Have we for one second watched Jesus pray? Have we ever understood why the Holy Ghost and our Lord Himself were so exceptionally careful about the recording of the agony in Gethsemane? This is not the agony of a man or a martyr; this is the agony of God as Man. It is God, as Man, going through the last lap of the supreme, supernatural Redemption of the human race. We ought to give much more time than we do—a great deal more time than we do—to brooding on the fundamental truths on which the Spirit of God works the simplicity of our Christian experience. The fundamental truths are—Redemption and the personal presence of the Holy Ghost, and these two are focused in one mighty Personality, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for the emphasis laid by the Pentecostal League of Prayer on the efficacy of the Holy Ghost to make experimentally real the Redemption of Jesus Christ in individual lives.

Remember, what makes prayer easy is not our wits or our understanding, but the tremendous agony of God in Redemption. A thing is worth just what it costs. Prayer is not what it costs us, but what it cost God to enable us to pray. It cost God so much that a little child can pray. It cost God Almighty so much that anyone can pray. But it is time those of us who name His Name knew the secret of the cost, and the secret is here, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." These words open the door to the autobiography of our Lord's agony. We find the real key to Gethsemane in Matthew 4, which records the temptations of our Lord. Here they come again in a deeper and more appalling manner than ever before. We are not looking here (as we do when we deal with the temptations) at the type of temptation we have to go through; we are dealing here with the grappling of God as Man in the last reaches of historic Redemption.

"But these truths are so big." Why shouldn't they be? Have we to be fed with spooned meat all the time? Is it not time we paid more attention to what it cost God to make it possible for us to live a holy life? We talk about the difficulty of living a holy life; there is the absolute simple ease of Almighty God in living a holy life because it cost Him so much to make it possible. Beware of placing the emphasis on what prayer costs us; it cost God everything to make it possible for us to pray, Jesus did not say to these men, "agonise"; He said, "Watch with Me." Our Lord tried to lift the veil from before these disciples that they might see what He was going through. Think Who He was—the Son of God: "My soul"—the reasoning Mind of the Lord Jesus Christ—"is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me."

The Lure of Wrong Roads to the Kingdom

that ye enter not into temptation . . .

Whenever Jesus talked about His kingdom the disciples misinterpreted what He said to mean a material kingdom to be established on this earth; but Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews." And again He said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation . . . for lo! the kingdom of God is within you." The only way in which we can be saved from the lure of the wrong roads to the kingdom is by doing what our Master tells us, viz., "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." If we do not watch and pray we shall be led into temptation before we know where we are. "Howbeit when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" said Jesus. He will find faith in individual men and women, but the general organised form of the Christian Church has slipped almost wholesale on to wrong roads to the kingdom.

(a) The Material Road of Deliverance (Matthew 4:1-4)

"If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread" (Matthew 4:3). This temptation is profoundly human. If we could only find some means of curing everybody of disease, of feeding them and putting them on a good social basis what a marvellous thing it would be. That is the way we are being told that the kingdom of God is to be established on this earth. "We do not need any more of this talk about the Atonement, and the shedding of blood; what is needed to-day is to spend ourselves for others." That is the lure of the wrong road to the kingdom, and we cannot keep out of it if we forget to watch and pray. "Watch with Me," said Jesus; "mine is the only road to the kingdom." We have to continue with Him in His temptations. "Command that these stones become bread"—"satisfy Your own needs and the needs of men and You will get the kingship of men." Was Satan right? Read John 6:15, "When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force to make Him a king . . ." Why? He had just fed five thousand of them! yes, but we read that Jesus "departed again into a mountain Himself alone"; He would not be king at that price.

(b) The Mysterious Road of Devotion (Matthew 4:5-7)

Remember, we are dealing with our Lord's presentation of His own temptation; in the most sacred matters rely only on the Holy Ghost, trust no one else.

This temptation presents a wild reach of possibility—"You are the Son of God, do something supernatural that will stagger men, and the world will be at your feet." Was Satan right? Absolutely. Is there not a lure along that road springing up to-day more than ever? There are miraculous dealings which lure to destruction, the tongues movement, the seeking for signs and wonders. Almost without exception the people who are lured on this wrong road are those who have been told to fast and concentrate for something for themselves whereby the Lord may show how marvellous He is. It does look right to human reason when it is just touched on the first outer fringe by the Holy Ghost, but it contradicts emphatically what our Lord teaches, viz., that importunity in intercession is never for ourselves but for others.

"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation": it is at work now; the manifestation of the kingdom of God externally is another thing. The disciples had still got their own ideas of the kingdom, they were blind to what Jesus Christ's kingdom meant, and they were so totally depressed that they slept for their own sorrow. "Watch with Me." How could they? They had no idea what He was after.

(c) The Mental Road of Dominion (Matthew 4:8-10)

This is the temptation to compromise—"Evil is in the world, compromise with it, work with it judiciously." "All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." This temptation is the most subtle of all. "Don't be so strait-laced; we have passed the day when we believe in a personal devil." May God forgive us, I am afraid we are past that stage. Will the Church that bows down and compromises succeed? Of course it will. It is the very thing that the natural man wants, but it is the lure of a wrong road to the kingdom. Beware of putting anything sweet and winsome in front of the One Who suffered in Gethsemane.

The Light of Undisciplined Vision

. . . the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

It is so easy when we see things in vision to start out and do them. We are caught up into the seventh heaven, far above all the grubby things of earth and it is magnificent for a time, but we have got to come down. After the Mount of Transfiguration comes the place where we have to live, viz., the demon-possessed valley. The test of reality is our life in the valley, not that we fly up among the golden peaks of the early morning.

(a) The Triumphant Minute

"Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona" (Matthew 16:17; cf. John 21:15-19). Peter had his triumphant minute, but he had to go through the mill after it; he went through a tremendous heart-break before he was fit to hear Jesus say, "Feed My sheep." Peter would have done anything for his Lord, the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. We make allowances for the flesh, but we have no business to; we have to make manifest in the flesh the visions of the spirit. Thank God we are going to Heaven when we die, but thank God we are not going before we die. We get glimpses of Heaven, then we are brought down instantly into actual circumstances. Do not go too long in the light of undisciplined vision. Thank God for the triumphant minute, but we have to walk on earth according to what we saw in vision.

(b) The Transfiguration Moment

"And He was transfigured before them" (Matthew 17:2). Put alongside that moment on the Mount, Jesus standing after the Resurrection on the sea-shore in the early morning with "a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread." Thank God for seeing Jesus transfigured, and for the almightiness of the visions He does give, but remember that the vision is to be made real in actual circumstances; the glory is to be manifested in earthen vessels. It has to be exhibited through finger-tips, through eyes and hands and feet; everywhere where Jesus exhibited it. We are so like Peter on the Mount and say, "O Lord, let me stay here."

(c) The Transcendent Moment

"Even if I must die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee" (Matthew 26:35). Peter meant it every bit, it was a transcendent moment to him, he would have done anything for Jesus Christ; and yet he denied with oaths and cursesthat he ever knew Him. Peter was no hypocrite, but he did not watch and pray. Peter based his declaration on the keen generosity of his own heart, but he did not understand that he needed to be on another basis altogether, the basis of Redemption.

Thank God for the heroic moments of life! It is comparatively easy to live in the heroic moments. We can all have haloes at times; if we stand in the right place, with stained-glass windows behind us, and have the right kind of dress on, it is not at all difficult to look remarkably fine; but there is nothing in it, not only is there nothing in it, but excessive dangers arise out of it. Beware of the transcendent moment that is a pose. A humorous sense of criticism is wholesome. Some people get to a transcendent moment and someone tells them they look remarkably fine, and everlastingly afterwards they try to live in that transcendent moment. We have to get down to the level where the reality works out, and the whole counsel comes back to this, "Watch and pray"—the secret of the sacred simplicity of prayer. Prayer imparts the power to walk and not faint, and the lasting remembrance of our lives is of the Lord, not of us.

O Lord, unto Thee do I come that I might find grace to praise and worship Thee aright. Lord lift up the light of Thy countenance upon us; send power and majestic grace. ♦ ♦ ♦ O Lord, how good it is for me to know Thee; how essentially necessary it is for me to draw nigh to Thee. How can I falter when Thou art my Life! ♦ ♦ ♦ Lord, our God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom Jesus is the very image, I look to Thee and make my prayer. Bless me this hour with the feeling of Thy presence and the glow of Thy nearness, for I do trust Thee and hope only in Thee.

Lecture: Bible Training College, May 7, 1915

 

What’s the good of prayer?

Chapter I

What's the Good of Prayer? Oswald Chambers

1 Timothy 2:1-8

Because We Need To (Luke 11:1)

For Human Wits Have an End (Psalm 108:13, 19, 28)

For Human Wills Have an End (Romans 8:26)

For Human Wisdom Has an End (James 1:5)

Prayer alters ME

Because We Must Do (James 5:16)

If We Would Know God (Matthew 6:8)

If We Would Help Men (John 14:12-13)

If We Would Do God's Will (1 John 5:14-16)

Prayer alters OTHERS

Because We Can Do (Luke 18:1)

By Asking

By Seeking (Luke 11:9-13; John 15:7)

By Knocking

Prayer alters CIRCUMSTANCES through me

It is only when a man flounders beyond any grip of himself and cannot understand things that he really prays. It is not part of the natural life of a man to pray. By "natural" I mean the ordinary, sensible, healthy, worldly-minded life. We hear it said that a man will suffer in his life if he does not pray; I question it. Prayer is an interruption to personal ambition, and no man who is busy has time to pray. What will suffer is the life of God in him, which is nourished not by food but by prayer. If we look on prayer as a means of developing ourselves, there is nothing in it at all, nor do we find that idea of prayer in the Bible. Prayer is other than meditation; it is that which develops the life of God in us. When a man is born from above (rv mg), the life of the Son of God begins in him, and he can either starve that life or nourish it. Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. Our Lord nourished the life of God in Him by prayer; He was continually in contact with His Father. We generally look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves, whereas the Bible idea of prayer is that God's holiness and God's purpose and God's wise order may be brought about, irrespective of who comes or who goes. Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament.

When a man is in real distress he prays without reasoning; he does not think things out, he simply spurts it out—"Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses." When we get into a tight place our logic goes to the winds, and we work from the implicit part of ourselves.

"Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him." Then why ask? Very evidently our ideas about prayer and Jesus Christ's are not the same. Prayer to Him is not a means of getting things from God, but in order that we may get to know God. Prayer, that is, is not to be used as the petted privilege of a spoiled child seeking for ideal conditions in which to indulge his spiritual propensities ad lib.; the purpose of prayer is to reveal the Presence of God, equally present at all times and in every condition.

A man may say, "Well, if the Almighty has decreed things, why need I pray? If He has made up His mind, what is the use of me thinking I can alter His mind by prayer?" We must remember that there is a difference between God's order and God's permissive will. God's order reveals His character; His permissive will applies to what He permits. For instance, it is God's order that there should be no sin, no suffering, no sickness, no limitation and no death; His permissive will is all these things. God has so arranged matters that we are born into His permissive will, and we have to get at His order by an effort of our own, viz., by prayer. To be children of God, according to the New Testament, does not mean that we are creatures of God only, but that we grow into a likeness to God by our own moral character.

I question whether the people who continually ask for prayer meetings know the first element of prayer. It is often an abortion of religious hysterics, a disease of the nerves taking a spiritual twist. Jesus says we are to pray in His name, i.e., in His nature, and His nature is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost when we are born from above (rv mg; see Luke 11:13; Romans 5:5). Again, Jesus did not promise to be at every prayer meeting, but only at those "where two or three are gathered together in My name," i.e., in His nature (Matthew 18:20). Jesus Christ does not pay any attention to the gift of "religious gab," and His words—"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking," refer not to the mere repetition and form of words, but to the fact that it is never our earnestness that brings us into touch with God, but our Lord Jesus Christ's vitalising death. (See Hebrews 10:19)

Our Lord in His teaching regarding prayer never once referred to unanswered prayer; He said God always answers prayer. If our prayers are in the name of Jesus, i.e., in accordance with His nature, the answers will not be in accordance with our nature, but with His. We are apt to forget this, and to say without thinking that God does not always answer prayer. He does every time, and when we are in close communion with Him, we realise that we have not been misled.

"Ask, and it shall be given you." We grouse before God, and are apologetic or apathetic, but we ask very few things; yet what a splendid audacity a child-like child has! and our Lord says, "Except ye . . . become as little children. . . ." Jesus says, "Ask, and God will do." Give Jesus Christ a chance, give Him elbow-room, and no man ever does it until he is at his wits' end. During the war many a man prayed for the first time in his life. When a man is at his wits' end, it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way to get in touch with Reality. As long as we are self-sufficient and complacent, we don't need to ask God for anything, we don't want Him; it is only when we know we are powerless that we are prepared to listen to Jesus Christ and to do what He says.

Then again our Lord says, "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will," i.e., what your will is in. There is very little our wills are in, consequently it is easy to work up false emotions. We intercede in a mechanical way, our minds are not in it. When we see a man going wrong, it is a false way to "buttonhole" him and tell him about it; Jesus Christ says, Come and tell Me, and I will give you life for him that sins not "unto death" (see 1 John 5:16).

Be yourself exactly before God, and present your problems, the things you know you have come to your wits' end about. Ask what you will, and Jesus Christ says your prayers will be answered. We can always tell whether our will is in what we ask by the way we live when we are not praying.

The New Testament view of a Christian is that he is one in whom the Son of God has been revealed, and prayer deals with the nourishment of that life. One way it is nourished is by refusing to worry over anything, for worry means there is something over which we cannot have our own way, and is in reality personal irritation with God. Jesus Christ says, "Don't worry about your life, don't fear them which kill the body; be afraid only of not doing what the Spirit of God indicates to you."

"In every thing give thanks." Never let anything push you to your wits' end, because you will get worried, and worry makes you self-interested and disturbs the nourishment of the life of God. Give thanks to God that He is there, no matter what is happening. Many a man has found God in the belly of hell in the trenches during the days of war, i.e., they came to their wits' end and discovered God. The secret of Christian quietness is not indifference, but the knowledge that God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, and worry becomes an impossibility.

It is not so true that "Prayer changes things" as that prayer changes me, and then I change things; consequently we must not ask God to do what He has created us to do. For instance, Jesus Christ is not a social reformer; He came to alter us first, and if there is any social reform to be done on earth, we must do it. God has so constituted things that prayer on the basis of Redemption alters the way a man looks at things. Prayer is not a question of altering things externally, but of working wonders in a man's disposition. When you pray, things remain the same, but you begin to be different. The same thing when a man falls in love, his circumstances and conditions are the same, but he has a sovereign preference in his heart for another person which transfigures everything. If we have been born from above (rv mg) and Christ is formed in us, instantly we begin to see things differently—"If any man is in Christ, there is a new creation" (rv mg).

Heaven above is brighter blue, Earth around is sweeter green! Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen. Birds with gladder songs o'erflow, Flowers with deeper beauties shine, Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.

The good of praying is that it gets us to know God and enables God to perform His order through us, no matter what His permissive will may be. A man is never what he is in spite of his circumstances, but because of them. Circumstances, as Reader Harris once said, are like feather beds—very comfortable to he on top of, but immensely smothering if they get on top of you. Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of God, always keeps us on top of our circumstances.

How beautiful this undisturbed morning hour is with God! ♦ ♦ ♦ O Lord, this day my soul would stay upon Thee as Creator of the world, and upon our Lord Jesus Christ as Creator of His life in me. Oh for the power of Thy Spirit to adore Thee in fuller measure! ♦ ♦ ♦ "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation. . . ." Can I think of anything so gracious and complete in surrender and devotion and gratitude as to take from Thee? O Lord, I would that I had a livelier sense of Thee and of Thy bounties continually with me. ♦ ♦ ♦ O Lord, this day may Thy beauty and grace and soothing peace be in and upon me, and may no wind or weather or anxiety ever touch Thy beauty and Thy peace in my life or in this place.

Lecture: Bible Training College, April 6, 1915

 

What is impossible?

My devotion this morning took me to Luke 18. I have read these stories many times and we have all heard them many times. The passage below seems to tag on what I wrote Sunday. It is almost like He is driving a point home. It feels like if I just let some people go and give them to the Lord. There is a reward if I just let go. It also means to pick up your cross and to follow Him. Just follow Him and let Him take care of it. Oswald's devo this morning touched on verse 17 the short version means if there is something in your life that you feel would be ridiculous to ask the Lord, then that is the very thing you need to be asking about!

 

Luke 18:27-30
He replied, "What is impossible for people is possible with God." Peter said, "We've left our homes to follow you." "Yes," Jesus replied, "and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God,
will be repaid many times over in this life, and will have eternal life in the world to come." NLT

Jeremiah 17:9

Jeremiah 17:8
"For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.NASB95

Jeremiah 17:9-10
"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be." The Message

This morning I went from Idols in Isaiah 44 and 45 to Jeremiah 17 midstream. What I mean is during the middle of reading chpt 45 I hear read Jeremiah 17 :9 One thing I realized after reading both of these chapters is this, it is very hard to have your roots deeply planted by the stream and have an idol in your heart at the same time. It is very hard to have good tasting fruit in your life if you have idols. So my question would be ……… several questions actually

1. Can your family eat your fruit or is your fruit poison to your family and friends
   
2. Is your fruit poison to your family but edible to your friends?
   
3. Are you letting the Lord search your heart? Or have you closed that door?
   
4. Has the heat been turned up in your life/heart and your leaves are wilting?
   
5. Do you know all of the right things to say but not living by what you say?
   
6. Last but not least, do you have an IDOL?
   

Peace today and my comments are only to stir not condemn

 

John 6

I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever."

⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

⁶⁰ Many of his disciples said, "This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?"

⁶¹ Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, "Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? ⁶³ The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴ But some of you do not believe me." (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn't believe, and he knew who would betray him.) ⁶⁵ Then he said, "That is why I said that people can't come to me unless the Father gives them to me."

As I am reading this for the umpteenth time … the last verse really struck me. This is what I got from it. We all have people in our lives that we look at … maybe even judge. We think …….. They just don't get it. Do you know someone like that? That person may be lost or they may be saved but living the lost life (that kind of doesn't sound right does it?) Just because you are saved does not mean you are free. Anyway we wonder... Lord when are you going to do something? When really it should be, Lord let me get out of your way while you do your job. Picture this … you are doing your job and someone comes over and tries to push you out of the way because they think they can do it better. While you're giving a speech they interrupt and try to give a better one or they take the saw from you and cut the boards there way, only it is wrong. Now what happens is the job takes longer. Get the picture. We are responsible for planting the seeds … let someone else do the watering. Let the Lord does His job, we cannot do it better. That person will get there on the Lord's time not yours.

Remember God's kindness will lead them to repentance. Romans 2:4

Have a blessed day!

Another 10 second rule

Another 10 second rule.

I went to the bank today and as always they give me my money in an envelope, but this time put the money on my dash board instead of in my wallet like I always do. I went to Kohl's to buy a couple of shirts. When I was leaving I noticed the hair cut place so I decided to get my hair cut because that makes my wife happy. So I go in and get it cut. Somehow we got on the subject about being yelled at. She said she does not like it (I thought who does?) Anyway, I asked to her if she had asked the Lord why that bothers her so much. She just looked at me like I was crazy. I did not press it. So we got finished and I paid and I went to my truck. I was sitting there and I saw the envelope with the money in it so I decided to put the money in my wallet. I do that and start to back up and I hear "go back and give her $50.00" I just set there in the middle of the parking lot just kinda dazed at what I heard. I didn't want to. I knew the 10 second rule. So I pulled back into my parking spot and went back in and got her. I explained the story about going to the bank and then I just looked at her and pulled out the $50.00 and handed it to her. It messed her up and just looked at me and said "she couldn't take it". I said "yes you can" So she received the blessing and then asked me why I would do that. I looked at her and said "the Lord told me to give you this money" She came over and gave me a hug and said "she was going to cry" I said "it is okay to cry." I then said "have a nice day and left" I don't know why He had me give her the money and it doesn't really mater. What matters is I obeyed. My devotion this morning took me to 1 Kings 19 but it took all the way to 1 Kings 22:14 It really stuck out to me this morning but didn't have a clue about what to write about until this afternoon.

1 Kings 22:14 But Micaiah replied, "As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what the Lord tells me to say."NLT Which means do what your Father in Heaven says do and say what your Father Heaven says.

John 12.49
For I do not speak of myself, but from the Father who sent me and commanded me what I should say and what I should speak.

1 Peter 4:11
If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles [words] of God; if any man ministers, let him do it with the ability that God gives,³ so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The big question for you today is this……. Did the Lord speak to you and tell you to do something and you paused and talked yourself out of it or did you do it? Believe me I don't this all the time.

This is the link to the other post about the 10 second rule http://www.thevisionseeker.blogspot.com/2011/10/proverbs-2121_5839.html

The Help

I watched a movie last night called "The Help" The movie was set in Mississippi during early 60's When the President was assassinated. It was all about how the white man treated the black man. It was very painful to watch. In the end the main character went up to her accuser and said "You are godless women, (she was a christian) ………….. (long pause) Aren't you tired? …… Aren't you tired? What she meant was …….. aren't you tired of being a racist, a liar, a hypocrite? Hateful all of the time, bitter? A plethora of things I am not and don't want to be. The movie broke my heart. Mainly because there are still people out there today that act the same way. This morning when I open my devotion it took me to the passage below in the Message. I think if I really searched my heart I would find some of that ugly stuff in there.

So here is the big question for today. How are you at loving the unlovable?

Matthew 5:43-47
"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. The Message

Katherine Anne Porter writes, "Love must be learned, and learned again and again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked."

Love is not a natural response that gushes out of us unbidden. But hate is always ready to naturally spring forth, like the "Old Faithful" geyser at Yellowstone National Park. Christian love, on the other hand, must be chased after, aspired to, and practiced.

The popular culture completely misunderstands this principle. One of the cruelest and most self-condemning remarks I've ever heard is the one men often use when they leave their wives for another woman: "The truth is, I've never loved you." This is meant to be an attack on the wife—saying in effect, "The truth is, I've never found you lovable." But put it in a Christian context, it's a confession of the man's utter failure to be a Christian. If he hasn't loved his wife, it is not his wife's fault, but his. Jesus calls us to love even the unlovable—even our enemies!—so a man who says "I've never loved you" is a man who is saying essentially this: "I've never acted like a Christian."

—Gary Thomas in Sacred Marriage: Gift Edition

Galatians 4:5-7

I was spending a little time in Galatians this morning, when I came across a passage that we are all familiar with.

I thought that we may need a little reminder of who we are.

No questions today, unless you are not sure or believe what it says below.

Galatians 4:5-7
To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God's sons]. And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father! Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant) but a son; and if a son, then [it follows that you are] an heir by the aid of God, through Christ.AMP

Galatians 4:5-7
Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance. The Message

The little dog pt. 3

Could this be the rest of the story? Since I have written on 6/26/2011 part 1, 12 18, 2012 part 2, a lot has changed in that time with MY dog Penny. She is my dog now. We are keeping her and she is not going with Rebekah. She travels with me she lays on the couch with me. She barks at people she does not know. She is almost completely normal. She has her moments, but I am very careful on how I react, I don't! Here is what I see…. I have changed …. ME …. Not the dog …. ME. So many times we want the other person to change instead of looking at ourselves. Why won't God change my wife or husband? Why should I have to change? Why would God change the dog so I could stay the same. Me trying to make that dog change or making her conform to my ways obviously was not working. So now I chose all my battles. I changed my tone, I changed my body language, I changed the way I looked at her and I changed the way I talked to her. The biggest thing was I loved her in spite of her. (Sound familiar?) I loved her into a relationship with me. At one point I wanted to boot this dog into the next county. It was my actions and tone that were causing her to do what she did, I made her worse ….. ... yet I wanted her to change. The proof is in the dog! In my Logos bible software I did a word search for the word "Tone" below is what I got. Very interesting what they say in the amplified version.

Now that I have changed, the dog has changed.

Bless you today. Question, is there someone in your life that you feel they need to change? Maybe it is you.

James 5:16
Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].AMP

Jeremiah 15:19
Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece. [But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you—not you to [the people].AMP

Manna

Hello everyone,

The little post I did Saturday seemed to stir some things up with a few of you. I just wanted to add some clarification so we are on the same page. I had been going through a rough patch which is something that I tend to do just like you do. I mad some bad choices which allowed me to get there. Do I like getting in those places … no. I found over the years that a lot of times it is in those bad places where the Lord speaks to me and pulls me out of the "bad places" I don't want anyone to think I was beating myself with a stick. I am actually grateful for what happed last Saturday morning. I was reading in the word and He spoke and I repented. It was Awesome! His word pierced my heart it was wounding!

 

It is just like eating dinner. When you eat your body absorbs the nutrients and then gets rid of the waste. When you digest God's word you absorb the fresh manna and get rid of the waste. Which could be anything. Unforgiveness, pain from the past, something you did a few days ago, something you said to someone or in my case the way I was living (personal conviction you might say) etc. I say this …. It is very important to stay in the Word of the Lord. The Lord speaks to me more when I am in the word that through any other way.

 

Rev. 2-17 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. …………………………………..

 

Awesome, I overcame Saturday morning and I got hidden manna in the word of the Lord.

 

Kevin

Our Goal is………

How do I start? My devo took me to 2 Corinthians 5. I said a short prayer, which was all I could muster this morning. 30 seconds I think. I was not feeling very worthy this morning. I have just not been living life very well the last week. The way I think "I" should be living. At least ESPN has not pasted me all over the news for my lack of judgment. You can be rest assured that my sin is not any worse than Josh Hamilton's. Any way back to this morning. I found some old blogs I had printed up in my desk. One of them spoke of me not having a repentive heart and I had asked the Lord to show me what that looked like. At the time I wrote that, I asked that question …. I heard nothing. Today I open up Oswald C. and the front page I had wrote a note that said "the words of the Lord hurt and offend sometimes" That made me wonder. Then I get to 2 Cor. 5:9
so whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. .When I read this passage I just felt an overwhelming hurt in my spirit. What I heard ……….what I felt, I am not pleasing Him by the bad choices I have been making. When I realized the ramifications of what I had just heard it just broke me to tears … sobbing is more of the term I am looking for. I had a repentive heart and I prayed and repented. Thank you Jesus. I can remember over the last seven days I have chosen not to be in the word. This morning as I was driven to the store to get my sugar/caffeine fix I remember thinking "draw near to Him and He will draw near to you" So I purposed myself this morning and it was good. My Father loves me in spite of me

Teachable Spirit

Proverbs 17:10 (NLT)
10 A single rebuke does more for a person of understanding than a hundred lashes on the back of a fool.

Teachable Spirit … Teachable people, however you want to say it, is that you? I went to see Marylin yesterday (Our marriage counselor, we see her occasionally for tune-ups, we have been seeing her for eight years) you always hate to hear "how many times do I have to tell you this before you get it?" The sad thing is …… I do get it. What does it say in James?
4.17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
There are men in my life who speak into me, that have said certain things to me concerning my children and I agree with them. I say things like "I know I know" "your right I need to do that" Here lies the rub. I still think that what I know is better than what is being told to me. Do you ever agree with someone about your life or actions and then not do it? You agree just so they will shut up? I was reading this morning about Teachable people. Here is what it says.

You can tell him the same thing over and over again, but you will get the sane response every time."

How do you know you're teachable? Below are five good clues.

1. You know you are teachable when people give you input.
   When you are not teachable, people don't generally risk telling you stuff. Why should they? If you react abrasively any time someone instructs you or corrects you. Don't expect to get any input from others.
   
2. You know you are teachable when you see measurable growth and character development in your life.
   When good things start to happen in your life, you know you are doing something valuable with the info that you are getting. You know you are teachable when others advice produces tangible results in you.
   
3. You know you are teachable when you don't have to answer back to your critic with a defense. Example: finding yourself in a situation where you are speaking into someone, giving people input about a specific situation in their life. Something difficult that they have been struggling with and they receive it with an open heart. They just listen. The problem is when you do this and the person says "Now, hold it right there, you just hang on for a second. You don't understand ……….' I really dread those conversations, People who are receptive to God's transforming truth are the ones who flourish in life
   
4. You know you are teachable when you don't have to return the favor.
   The classic symptom of an unteachable spirit is after listening to someone's honest, loving counsel, you say, "Fine now let me tell you something." You got an unteachable spirit on your hands when he can't humbly receive your words and say "Thank you for telling me."
   
5. You know you're teachable when over time you hear something different for a change.
   If people have been telling you the same stuff for years but still see the need to remind you about it again, you're not teachable. You should be over that by now and on to the next lesson.
   

 

Wisdom is not something we know; it is something we do. Only when we allow God to give us teachable hearts will he show us what we need to know in order to change what we need to do. The biggest fool of all is the person who knows from God what to do and who won't do it. That person is not teachable.

 

Kevin says, "Maybe you are just flat walking in rebellion and what is rebellion? Disobedience and what is disobedience? Sin!" nasty stuff here.

 

 

How have you experienced one (or more) of these test statements in the last few weeks? If you read this and didn't once ask yourself, "Am I like that?" You may be in trouble. Take these questions before the Lord and say "Lord, show me--- teach me." Teachabilty means you are open to changing what the Lord reveals to you.

That was a lot of typing

Thanks for reading

Kevin

The Light

1
John 2:7-8
………………………………………………………………………………………This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
NLT As I read this last Wednesday morning on Quest I was instantly moved. I can't tell you how many times I have read this, but this day I was impacted to my core. This passage was very freeing for me for the simple fact that I/we are a work in progress. Sometimes I just have to be reminded of that for myself. Holy Spirit does not say the darkness is gone but that it is disappearing. Even though I have darkness in my Life, The Lord is an overpowering light. I am grateful for being able to enter into His rest even though I have darkness. We sang a song on Quest from Lifehouse called "Everything"

Find me here, and speak to me
I want to feel you, I need to hear you
You are the light that's leading me to the place
Where I find peace again
You are the strength that keeps me walking
You are the hope that keeps me trusting
You are the life to my soul
You are my purpose
You're everything
And how can I stand here with you
And not be moved by you
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
So here is my question ….. How is your light?

Are you moved by the Lord?

Have a blessed day!

I did it again

A few weeks ago I sent out an email saying something along the lines that I felt I should not blind copy anyone anymore so they can respond to each other if they want to. I also said that if any of you do not want to be on the list just let me know and I would remove you from the list. Well I had a wife who wanted off who used to tell me she loved it. I emailed her and asked why? Then her husband emailed me and said she doesn't read it anymore and that he does not either and to take him off as well "nothing personal he said" He used to like reading it too. So I had to ask why does this bother me so much. Well I didn't hear anything yet. So I called a friend of mind this morning who will tell me like it is but also will let me listen to see if the answer will come to me and it did. I write the blog because it is my way of journaling and some people like to read what I write and there always seems to be a question at the end. During my conversation with my friend this is what I figured out and heard. I was rejected and because I was rejected I then became judgmental. I soooooo hate that crap. So once again the judgment and rejection reared its ugly head in my life. Here is the good part. I am healed and I am free. Several things happened here. My friend knew what was wrong but kept quiet and stayed out of the Lords way, so the Lord could reveal to me what the problem was. You can't ask someone to do something and then get bothered when they do it. When you judge you will cause your own pain. Last thing that is very important is "you must have a teachable spirit" You must be able to receive correction if you can't receive correction that is a major problem

I judged which caused my rejection to be worse which sent me into a tailspin, but by confessing and getting prayed over I am healed.

James 5.16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.NIV Matthew 7:1-2 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.NIV

The reason I got so bothered is because I attached a "why" to the reason they wanted off the list. I decided in my own mind the real reason they wanted off. Even though they told me, I decided there was more to it. I caused my own pain and suffering. It was short lived but never the less I caused it. I could have read the email and said no problem and moved on. That simple.

So as a follower of Jesus, have you decided why someone did something without talking to them and in turn it made you mad?

Getting Alone

Have you ever been alone with God? Oswald Chambers

When He was alone, the twelve . . . asked of Him . . .
Mark 4:10

Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples and with the others who were gathered around, they asked him what the parables meant.NLT

His Solitude with us. When God gets us alone by affliction, heartbreak, or temptation, by disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted affection, by a broken friendship, or by a new friendship—when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are dumbfounded and cannot ask one question, then He begins to expound. Watch Jesus Christ's training of the twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were perplexed. They constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly expounded things to them; but they only understood after they had received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).
But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.NLT

If you are going on with God, the only thing that is clear to you, and the only thing God intends to be clear, is the way He deals with your own soul. Your brother's sorrows and perplexities are an absolute confusion to you. We imagine we understand where the other person is, until God gives us a dose of the plague of our own hearts. There are whole tracts of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each one of us, and it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now, or are we taken up with little fussy notions, fussy comradeships in God's service, fussy ideas about our bodies? Jesus can expound nothing until we get through all the noisy questions of the head and are alone with Him.

 

So as I read this devotion from Oswald it takes me back to Matthew 6:6

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. NKJV My interpretation of this means, when you go to your secret place, leave all of your crap outside and then come in and close the door. The crawl up into your Daddy's lap to listen to the soft whisper and be comforted.
So I ask "What do you mean by all of this?" I hear "you don't get alone with me like this anymore you don't stop and just listen, yes you pray and yes you read, but you don't get quiet and just listen. I need you to focus on me." So now I am thinking I am hearing him right? So I feel this is Him drawing me into a deeper relationship than what I feel I have and to do that I am going to have to slow down and listen. Go to the secret place. I wonder if I am afraid of going there ….. Afraid of what He might show me. Now isn't that just pathetic. If you don't change ……. Then you won't change.

 

Trust Me

Trust Me

 

Have you thought about the sacrifice?

That was made back in the day.

It was his death on the timber.

An act we will always remember.

 

His death changed us forever.

What He did was inconceivable.

God's care for us . . . . . . Unbelievable.

We will not forget . . . . . never.

 

Could you die?

So some one else could live.

Such a tall order to fill

You could do this if it is God's will.

 

His love is unconditional

It matters not who you are.

Learn to trust Him,

And away goes your sin.

 

Nothing matches the glory of our Father.

Or the sacrifice He made.

So we could come to know Him,

Even as we live in sin.

 

Jesus says, "Come to me

And I will give you rest."

Only Jesus knows what is best.

He is the truth, and the way, that's easy to see.

 

So come to me with your shame,

Come to me with your pain.

I am the one, who comforts,

As your tears fall like the rain.

 

Your heart is broken and torn from the inside.

You look to me with no more pride.

You have nothing left but your broken heart.

You think all is lost and everything has fallen apart.

 

Behold I heal all wounds.

And I start with the heart.

With that we will never be apart.

My healing will give you a new start.

 

It is time to die to yourself.

Make the sacrifice to live the new life.

I will listen and answer when you pray.

Trust me; I will not lead you astray.

 

 

By Kevin Gwyn ©copyrighted 3/21/2003

Have you surrendered?

Strange how my devo came about this morning. I am leaving to go on a Quest next week and was looking at some old emails and was feeling like I needed to send something out, but realized that it wasn't for the questers but for me. I have an email called surrender that I sometimes send out. When I read it this morning, I looked up surrender on my software and this is where I landed Jeremiah 38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: 'If you surely surrender 
to the king of Babylon's princes, (or whatever is going on in your life right now)then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. Here is what I know for me. My life is so much calmer when I surrender.

Surrender is always a tough one for me, what is the worst thing that could happen if you surrender?

Here is what François Fenelon the Archbishop of Cambria said in the 17th century. He was the spiritual advisor to Louie the 14th. He said this in a letter to the King about surrender. There is more in the letter but this is the main point.

Let me tell you what real surrender is. It is simply resting in the love of the Lord, as a little baby rests in his mother arms. A perfect surrender must even be willing to quit surrendering, if that is what the Lord wants. We renounce ourselves, and yet, God never lets us know when it is complete. If we knew, it would no longer BE complete, for there is nothing that bolsters the ego quiet so much as knowing that it is fully surrendered.

Surrender consist, not in doing great, heroic deeds about which self can brag, but simply in accepting whatever God sends, and not seeking to change it. Surrender is the source of true peace.

I have noticed for myself that when I have completely surrendered. (At least when I think I have) I feel at peace. When I think I have surrendered something but I am restless about it and I don't have peace, then I am still holding on to it. I don't like that.

The more you look at what you are not; the less you become who you are!

So here is my question or questions for you. Ask Holy Spirit right now. Stop what you are doing and get quiet. Lord, please show me what I am trying to control or change instead of surrendering and giving it to you. Lord what am I trying to change in thier life that is not my job to change?

Be blessed today. Almost forgot.

This is what I heard for me. Choose your battles wisely with Rebekah (my step daughter) she is a very picky eater and it drives me up the wall. When I pick at her it makes my wife irritated and makes me mad. So once again the Lord says "Be Quiet" He also said to quit bantering with her. I like to argue with her, but I when I do she feels she knows everything so I am never right. I could even prove that what she is saying is wrong and she way still argue. The Lord says "Be Quiet no matter how hard you try YOU CANNOT CHANGE HER! The sad thing is that I know that but I keep pounding my head against the wall. My friend would say …. So, how is that working for you? I hate that saying!

So this is what I heard, what did you hear?

Is God in Control

Is God in control? We all know the story of Joseph being sold to Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh. Can you imagine what joseph thought as he set in prison being accused of raping Potiphar's wife. I have done everything asked of you Lord and this is what I get? I am sure it never crossed his mind that the Lord was preparing him to be able to rule later in life. Today, we go through the same thing. Something hard is happening in our lives something we do not understand, something not going our way. We like to place blame, why? Because it is easier to place blame on someone else than to look at yourself in the mirror.

So here is my question for you? Who are you blaming for the circumstances that you are in?

We focus on the impossibility of the circumstances instead of the greatness of our Lord. As a result we are discouraged and need to blame someone, so we look for the one we feel responsible for our despair. When we face the fact that God could have prevented our whole mess – and didn't –we often blame him excerpt from the "Bait of Satan".

The whole point of this story is to show that Joseph never took up an offense…. He stayed in the will of God. He had many opportunities to pick up an offense, but he chose not to.

Nothing can come against us without the Lord's knowledge.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man, and God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bare, but if you are tempted He will always provide a way out so that you can stand against it

1 Cor. 10:13

The cup

Every day this week I wake to John 17. I have read it every day but yesterday, but I am not sure what I am seeing 14-15-16-17 are some of my favorite books of the bible. The one thing I feel I am getting from this is in verse 26 I have made your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. Do I love people as much as He loves me? Can I tell you that right now there are people that I know I don't love as much as He loves me? There is the rub. I don't want to pose in this area. I want to be real and genuine. So after I read chapter 17 I went on to 18 and stopped right here
So Jesus said to Peter, "Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?" So now as I ponder I wonder if the cup I don't want to drink from is loving others as much as He loves me. Keep in mind that cup could be anything.

Has the Lord given me/you something do and you have chosen not to drink?

 

Kee

 

 

 

 

    

Get out of the way

My devotion this morning took me to 2 Thessalonians 1, but it was verses 11 and 12 that got my attention. Then when I read it in the Message it spoke even more. I believe that once again it centers on trust. Will I trust myself to get out of His way to do what He needs to do so that my life will honor Jesus? I want to be honored. I want Jesus to be glorified in me. I want to be the person that when he walks in the room the spirit in the room changes for the better not worse.

Have a Blessed day!

Kevin

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time—pray that our God will make you fit for what he's called you to be, pray that he'll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something. If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you. Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely.The Message

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.NASB95

Trust

I woke this morning asking …. What do you want me to read? I hear John 17. So I get up and pray for the Lord to reveal himself to me in His word. Sometimes I just have to be reminded of what Jesus did. It is so easy to take for granted if you are not careful. I decided this morning that I would give the Lord my first time and not the leftovers. I got up and read and did not check my email or read the news. I spent time with Him. That is been my biggest problem as of late…. Finding time too fir Jesus in my day. You make time for what is important in your life. IF JESUS IS IMORTANT THEN YOU WILL MAKE TIME FOR HIM. So I read John 17 and then I read one of my devos and it took me to Psalm 37. Now let's back up for a moment to Church Sunday. During the worship I asked the Lord what is 2012 about and before I could finish the thought I heard the word "Trust" I immediately told Kelly that, and she said isn't that kind of generic? I thought for a moment and then I said "is it generic when the Lord speaks? She said no and then the Lord gave her a word and she begins to write. Now fast forward to today. As I am reading, several scriptures jump out at me Psalm 37:3 Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.NASB95 Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.NASB95 Psalm 37:9 For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.NASB95 Psalm 37:34 Wait for the Lord and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.NASB95. The whole Psalms 37 was a huge read this morning but theses scriptures really stuck out to me.

Trust and wait for 2012

The message Sunday was basically about how hard it is to fall when you are doing battle. David did not fall until he went home and stopped fighting. He sent Uriah the Hittite to fight for him. That is when he saw Bathsheba and then he made a decision and the rest is history. How many times do you think he saw Bathsheba before he made the decision that he did? We have to take the fight to the enemy. We can't sit around and send someone to fight for us.

So the question is this. Are you fighting? Are you Trusting and are you waiting?