Your cross bigger than your joy?

“Name”   “There are certain things that exists in your heart that you may never discover unless you push yourself hard enough to find it”  from “Think Differently”  The Lord really spoke to me about this Quote.

He showed me that there are areas where I am afraid to go deep because I want to avoid the pain.   “NICE I thought”   I am not digging deep enough.  This does not necessary mean it is a bad thing in my heart it could be something good as well.  I have to dig though.  I just got back off of Quest that is where I found the quote.  It was in my quest journal from 2010.  I thought about this the whole time I was on the event.  The big thing happened when I got back.  The normal has been that I am so emotionally, spiritually and physically whipped that I will fall to porn in some form or fashion.  NOT THIS TIME!

This week I am free and walking as a son.  Something that impacted the biggest was the quote I heard.

“Is your joy bigger than your cross?” 

I cannot get that out of my mind.  The Lord has shown me that the battle that I have,   has been bigger than my Joy.  So right now I get it …… I get it.  I get it so much I am in tears.  Lord I repent from not trusting you.  I was supposed to go to the FTS Warrior breakfast this morning.  I just felt I was supposed to stay home and write and now I know why.

Hebrews 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  As a man Jesus walked with joy to the cross. 

I cannot tell you how many times I have read this scripture or for the matter all of Hebrews 12:1-4 …..  This just jacks me up right now.  In my mind I am just derailed about this…. The joy knowing where He is going….. The obedience that He is walking in. 

All this time my Cross … MY CROSS has been bigger than my joy.

I looked up Google images of Demons two days ago to get a visual of what I have been letting enter into my body.  It literally scared the crap out of me.  You think I am joking?  Google demons and just think about that the next time to try to manipulate someone or look at porn or choose to have an affair.  I think you get the point. 
So my question to you is this.  That one thing that you still struggle with.  Is your joy bigger than your cross? (the cross is anything … lying, lust, porn, adultery,  idolatry, pride to name a few.)

Hebrews 12:1   Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,   2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

 

 

In your presence Lord there is peace and joy

 

 

Trust the Lord

John 14.1 Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, and trust also in me.   NLT

John chapters 14-17 are so rich and full.  They are my favorites.  John 14.1 always comes at the right time.  I have to remind myself that when my heart is troubled,   I do not trust the Lord with that particular circumstance.  When my heart is troubled,  the majority of the time I want to control the situation and not give it to the Lord.  I am afraid that if I let God make the choice it will not be the choice I would make.  What do we call it when we think we can do a better job than the Lord? 

It is my opinion that if you are miserable right now about something then you are not giving it to the Lord and trusting Him.  Is this not what this life is about when you are a follower of Jesus?  Trusting? You are not going to ask if you do not trust.  If you trust then you will have Joy. 

So the questions today are,   do you trust Jesus in the situation that you are in?  Or do you want to be in control? If you want to be in control,

 How is that working for you so far?

John 16:23-24
“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.NKJV

Judgment and surrender

When you surrender your opinion it will give you the opportunity to see things in another way.  I am not speaking for everyone but a lot of us will hold on to our point of view.  I think we could call that pride, don’t you think.  We want to be RIGHT!  We have invested a lot emotionally and repenting means admitting that we were wrong.  Quote:  We say we want to see the truth, but we are not willing to suffer the risk of being wrong.  Now we have an irreconcilable difference.  At this point, a revelation from God will have no effect on us.    (I love this part)  A revelation from God is not necessarily Him showing us something new, a revelation is simply what we see when we are flexible enough to change our mental/ emotional position about an issue and look at it from a different point of view.  God doesn’t show us something He previously kept hidden; we see something He wanted to show us all along.   

Matthew 5:8
blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  NKJV    Keep your heart pure from Judgment and you will see the Lord……. That is an awesome thing

 

Let go of your predetermined ideas and you may see a lot of hurtful events differently. 

Remember, this is only how I see it, I must see it from another position to overcome this offense

Example:  Yesterday I had an appointment at 2:30.   I got to the street at 2:15 to be early.  I could not find the house with two GPS’s this street was four miles long.  I drove up and down this street several times and could not find the house.  I was getting very mad.  I had no phone number only email...  to make a long story short.  45 minutes I wasted.   She emailed me after I emailed her.  I was on my way back to FTW.  I was mad.  She gave me the wrong address.  During our phone conversation I told I could not find 721 Lantana.  She said we don’t live on lantana.  I was stunned.  I said you sent me the address in the email.  She said I did send you the address but it was 721 Browning.  I wrote down the wrong address.  IT WAS ALL MY FAULT.  I had to totally admit that it was all my mistake.  I was wound up tighter than Dick’s hat band.  So in essence the moment I surrendered I saw it in a different way.  All the PAIN I caused myself went away.

I had also judged her big time in another way.  It took her 30 minutes to call me from my first email.  In my mind I am thinking “what the crap is going on with this lady” well when I got there, I found out that she had been consumed with her 3 year old special needs child.  That is why she did not respond immediately to me second email.  Can you say passing judgment again?

Kevin

 

God of my World!

Control starts with judgment  Matthew 7:4
How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?NIV  I never thought of this before but 9 times out of 10 I bet the plank is judgment. 

 “judgment is the pathway to personal idolatry."  When we impose our judgments on people it causes them to bow to our will.  If you are the god of your world then most likely you are under a lot of stress.  If you are the person in your home that imposes change through control, then you are the one that has to keep the changes in place.  Have you ever had to say “I do everything?”  I can give an example for me.  I am not this way now but I used to be.  It would happen when I would ask a child in my home to do the dishes or take out the trash and they wouldn’t do it in my time frame so I would do it myself and then gripe about having to do it.   Here is the part that really spoke to me.  When we usurp the Lordship of Jesus in the life of another, It is impossible for that person to experience God’s grace, (because we are in the way) which empowers him to make the needed changes.  It is a cycle of failure.  We want our friends to change and family to change, but we end up getting in the way or better yet we are getting in the way of Holy Spirit. 

usurp \yu̇-ˈsərp also -ˈzərp\ vb to take the place of by or as if by force : supplant 〈must not let stock responses based on inherited prejudice usurp careful judgment〉 vi : to seize or exercise authority or possession wrongfully^[1] The definition of usurp is very strong and I never real knew what the word meant                                                                                                                   So what happens next after we get in the way of Holy Spirit? Eventually, people fail to change and when they don’t change then we create new judgments about why they are not changing.  Then those judgments bring more pain and disappointment to our own lives.  When we decide why they are not changing then we reach a verdict and begin our sentencing and then our judgment becomes reality. 

Whew!!!!

---

 

 

 

The Critical Eye

The Critical Eye………..  How I see you is a reflection of how I see me.

Proverbs 26:17

You grab a mad dog by the ears when you butt into a quarrel that’s none of your business. The Message

I was going back through some writings this morning when I came across this.  As I prepare to go on Quest next week I have to be conscious of this.  The Critical eye that sometimes surfaces with me.

I don’t find myself as critical as I used to be. What I am talking about is referring to our need to find fault in others or to point out their shortcomings.  You know ………. throwing stones. 

 

Nugget:  Just because we see the need in another person does not mean we have the right to invade the individual’s life.  Our first goal should be to love the person and make him or her feel safe while owning his problem.  If people do not feel safe with their problem, they will feel they have to cover it up.  They will not respond positively to our inquisition (on quest this is where we say you have to love them right where they are) we actually force people in to denial by our rejection and condemnation.  Quote from the book  “How to stop the Pain”

 

Nugget:  Just when I think I am getting better I read this.  When I am delivered from a critical eye, I will see people as God see them.  I will always know the Spirit of God can work in them to solve every problem and conquer every obstacle.  You see, our confidence in people is directly related to our confidence in God.  When we see the best in them, they will see, believe, and live the best God has to offer.  Quote from the book

 

Thanks Kevin

James 1:19

I am reading James this morning and this scripture gets me every time. 

 

James 1:19 …………………………………..Be quick to listen , slow to speak and slow to become angry 

 

 I have to think about this all the time.  So I am just sitting here contemplating ….. is this it ?   Then it all came together for me. 

 

When I judge ( I hate admitting this) It is because I don’t listen,  when I judge I speak quickly and when I judge I cause my own pain and become angry.  It is a vicious cycle that happens on occasion.  This was revelation for me this morning.  I have never put the two together until this morning.

 
Thank you Jesus

 Be Blessed today!

 

Kee

Repentance and surrender

Repentance does not cause a sense of sin— it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals. Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possibly trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.  Oswald chambers

 

As I am reading this it takes me back to surrendering.  I almost feel that repentance and surrendering go hand and hand.  I have an area in my life that I know I have not completely surrendered.  You may ask,  “how is that working for you?”   well …. It is not, but I am working on it.  I have to be honest there are times when I feel like I have completely surrendered and I do have peace.

 

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.

 

 

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.    Full surrender is full peace.  If we are restless and concerned about things that are formally renounced, we have not genuinely surrendered.  Surrender is the source of true peace. If we are not at peace.  It is because our surrender is not complete.

 

This whole week with Oswald Chambers has really spoken to me about rest.

 

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

 

 

His grace will win you over

I thought this was really good so I wanted to share it.  It is from Joseph Prince.

Meditate On

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:14

 

His Grace Will Win You Over

I love the story of the woman caught in adultery for the way our Lord loved her. While others wanted her dead, Jesus didn’t. He defended her and gave her the gift of no condemnation so that she would have the power to “go and sin no more”.

He looked tenderly into her eyes and asked her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:10–11).

You see, the power to stop sin from destroying your life comes from receiving the gift of no condemnation from Jesus. This is the Lord’s grace, my friend. This is His unmerited favor! The legalist will say that God will not condemn you only if you stop sinning. However, Grace says, “I have taken your condemnation on the cross. Now, you can go and sin no more.”

God’s Word says that “sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace [unmerited favor].” So if you are still struggling with sin, it is time to stop depending on your self-efforts. Fall upon Jesus’ unmerited favor like this woman did. When you know that Christ has made you righteous apart from your works, and that He does not condemn you but loves you unconditionally, that will give you the ability to overcome every sinful temptation, habit and addiction in your life!

Have you Judged God lately?

 I have often thought this when something goes awry on a job.  Sometimes we think this when we are close to someone who has gone to be with the Lord.  I have often thought this in my own struggles.

Job 40:8
Will you also annul (set aside and render void) my judgment? Will you condemn Me [your God], that you may [appear] righteous and justified?  AMP

Job 40:8
“Do you presume to tell me what I’m doing wrong? Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint?   The Message

Do you create a concept of God that justifies your life experiences.  What I mean is so many times we recreate God in our own image instead of seeing Him the way scripture says who He is.  We want God to see the experiences in our lives the way we want him to see them. 

Quote:  When we begin to ask “why” in regard to God, we enter into judgment about Him.  God has told us all we need to know about Him in His word.  He sent Jesus, who modeled all that He is.  We should be able to look at the life of Jesus and understand God.  But we don’t – we look to our experiences and ask” Why did this happen to me?”  “why did God let that happen”

So here is the big question, are you judging God and asking him to bless your life in the same sentence?  The rest of the passage below. 
Job 40:9-14
Do you have an arm like my arm? Can you shout in thunder the way I can? Go ahead, show your stuff. Let’s see what you’re made of, what you can do. Unleash your outrage. Target the arrogant and lay them flat. Target the arrogant and bring them to their knees. Stop the wicked in their tracks—make mincemeat of them! Dig a mass grave and dump them in it— faceless corpses in an unmarked grave. I’ll gladly step aside and hand things over to you— you can surely save yourself with no help from me! The Message

Have a blessed day!

 

 

 

 

Vision or circumstance

 

 

I heard a comment in Church the other day about Vision.

Are you living in the Vision or are you living in the circumstance?

Proverbs 29:18

18 Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law. (NASB)
Hebrews 12:22 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NASB).

As I was driving to work this morning my stomach was in knots.  I had several issues that raised their ugly head Monday.  One was very major and it had to do with concrete.  Which affected the framing which affected the roof.   As I drove I would pray and talk and worry about what I was going to face with my customer.  I had myself so worked up I caused my own pain.   There was judgment as well.   I was deciding what the outcome was going to be and had made myself sick to the point I did not want to go to the job.  I kept thinking about that quote.  Am I living in the vision or am I living in the circumstance.  The way I was feeling I was most definitely not in the vision.  I was unrestrained.  I was walking that line of   ………   God this is your business and you got this …. But what if??????   Or what if they say this?????

Then I received the email from my concrete guy.  Problem solved.  Then I got the call from my framer, problem solved.  As I got closer to the job (which is an hour away) I started to get peace.  When I spoke with my customer they loved the garage door (that was another issue) the solution to the concrete was all good which made the framing all good.

So as I drove to the job this morning I went from living in the circumstance to living in the vision in a span of 1 hr.

So my question to you is this ….. Are you living in the vision of what Jesus did or are you living in the circumstance that you are in? 

Freedom is not in the absence of something but in the presence of someone.

Be Blessed

James 1 : 4

Anyone read James lately?

Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing —James 1:4

 I read todays devotion it really hit me and it brought me back to what I have been writing the last few days.  I am thinking we don’t need Jesus stickers or shirts.  You just need to be Jesus with skin on and stop grieving the Holy Spirit with your actions.  He is with us wherever we are.  In the truck, car or sitting at the computer. 

Be blessed today!

Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.

Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.

We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work . . . .” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.

Jesus bumper sticker

I remember once driving around with some type of Jesus sticker on my truck.  It was back in 2000.  I will never forget what happened.  I cut someone off (not meaning to) and he pulled up beside me and yelled Nice Jesus sticker and then he flipped me off.  I got home and took that sticker off because of the shame I brought Jesus.  I don't drive around with anything like that on my truck for that reason.  Isn't that the wrong thinking though?  Shouldn't I drive around with it on there and be proud of who I am?
Maybe I leave it off so I can be that jerk without bringing shame to Jesus in the public view.

I wonder how / we would act if we had to wear a shirt that said, "I love Jesus and walk with Him everyday?"

Thoughts?

I am crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me ...............

You who you say you are?

You are armed with the knowledge that you can be free and choose not to live it. DT

20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

So you can read this and interpret this any way you want.  Today I submit this.  If you are crucified with Christ and He lives in you then who are you?  You are nice to people at church, but an jerk to your spouse?  Let say you own a business, do you treat your employees’ the way you want to be treated? 

Do you choose where you want to be crucified with Christ?  Think about this for a moment.  If I asked your employees, your spouse or the people you do business with if you were different than whom you say you are,   what would they say?    I have to be on guard all the time.    We are constantly given opportunities to either be Jesus with skin on or to be the person who says he is Jesus with skin on but acts contrary to what he says.

One more example:  the easiest place to be the jerk is with people who don’t know who you are.  How many times have you been a jerk to someone because you knew they did not know you walk with Jesus? 

I have that hat and shirt…….. been there and I am embarrassed to say that,  but it is true.  Lord please forgive me

Be blessed today!

Lately I have spoken with men who don’t find it important to meet with other men.  The y find other things that are more important than sharpening or being sharpened.  I seem to remember a scripture.  Proverbs 27:17 as iron sharpens iron:  so one man sharpens another.  Are you getting sharpened or are you just too busy.  It has taken me a long time to realize I need men in my life.  Men to sharpen me!

I want to tell you a little story about a little dog that I had in 2006. She was a rat terrier that was very precious to me. When we moved to our house in Saginaw we had a wrought iron fence. The fence had a bad place that would allow my dog to get out. I kept hearing you better fix that fence before your dog gets eaten by coyotes, but I put it off.  One morning when I let her out she didn't come back and I had to leave. I told my wife to check on Duchess but she had to go to leave and she had not come back yet.   My wife called me around noon and said Duchess has still not come home.  I had a very bad feeling about this. When I was driving home and turned into my neighborhood. There were buzzards flying over my roof. Now I had a really bad feeling. So I went to my house and put on my pants and my boots and went out into the field to search for my dog that I feared was dead.   As I got out there into the field I asked the Lord where's my dog? I didn't hear anything and I just stood there and then I heard turn left. So I turned left took about five steps and there was the head of my dog with two buzzards eating  on her.   I was heartbroken and I was pissed.  I just stood there in disbelief at what I was seeing and then I hear the Lord say this, “your procrastination killed your dog" well..... That did not sit well with me in fact it wounded me. That was a direct word from the Lord.   I also heard, “do you still love me" of course I said,” Yes I do.”   So here is what I took from this incident.  My dog Duchess was under my protection in my backyard inside of the fence. That was where she was protected, Surrounded by family, but the moment she stepped out of the backyard,   she became alone all by herself in the vast wilderness of the field behind my house.  She was alone; she had nobody to watch her back.  She could only rely on herself.  She got out of the protection of the backyard and isolated herself.  Then the enemy was able to pick her off and kill her.  There are strength in numbers this was the day that I learned the importance of meeting with men on a regular basis and not isolating myself.  I stopped believing the lie that I am too busy to meet with men on a regular basis.  Meeting with men to get sharpened is as important as anything in my life.

Have a blessed day

So I have questions.   Are you meeting with people that sharpen you on a regular basis or are you isolating yourself.  I am not talking meeting at church or meeting once a month.  

Who are you doing life with?

Choose

. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . —Joshua 24:15

I didn’t have to read very far today to be impacted.  I just wonder what in your life is being impacted when you choose to serve something other than the Lord?  Serving the Lord is a choice.  Waking up in the morning and saying “YES” is a choice.  When the person pulls out in front of you today………. Who will you serve?  When something doesn’t go your way …….. who will you serve?  When everything is going right…… who will you serve?

Worship the Great “I am” today!

Psalm 37.8

Do not fret— it only causes harm —Psalm 37:8

It has been a while for my writing.  I have been very busy….. Crazy busy.  I ask every morning to write, this morning I did not ask and then I get this.   I have caught myself at times worrying or fretting about “can I get all this done?”  There are a lot of what ifs.  I have great people around me that help to get things done.  I have mentors in the business that speak truth into me.  That does not change the fact that I worry and fret.  I was thinking yesterday that if this is the Lord’s business then why do I worry?  After reading this morning’s devo from Oswald I realized that even though it is God’s business there are parts that I want to control.  Parts that I feel I could do a better job than Him.  (What do we call that?)

I pray for favor every morning for the business that He has trusted me to run.  I pray for favor that He would bring the customer to me that want me to work for them.  I pray that His decisions are better than mine(I know his decisions are better than mine)  and that I would listen to his voice and not my own.  Below is today’s devotion.  Sometime it just takes one line of scripture to give you peace about something in your life.  That is why we spend time in the word.  Sometimes that time could be less than 30 seconds. 

Fretting means getting ourselves “out of joint” mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say, “Do not fret,” but something very different to have such a nature that you find yourself unable to fret. It’s easy to say, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7) until our own little world is turned upside down and we are forced to live in confusion and agony like so many other people. Is it possible to “rest in the Lord” then? If this “Do not” doesn’t work there, then it will not work anywhere. This “Do not” must work during our days of difficulty and uncertainty, as well as our peaceful days, or it will never work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work for anyone else. Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances at all, but on your relationship with God Himself.

Worrying always results in sin. We tend to think that a little anxiety and worry are simply an indication of how wise we really are, yet it is actually a much better indication of just how wicked we are. Fretting rises from our determination to have our own way. Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans. Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.

Have you been propping up that foolish soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God to handle? Set all your opinions and speculations aside and “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about whatever concerns you. All our fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God.

What land is in front of you?

Deuteronomy 1:21 Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’   22 “But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let’s send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.’  23 “This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes. 24 They headed for the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it. 25 They picked some of its fruit and brought it back to us. And they reported, ‘The land the Lord our God has given us is indeed a good land.’ 26 “But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go in. 27 you complained in your tents and said, ‘The Lord must hate us. That’s why he has brought us here from Egypt—to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have demoralized us with their report. They tell us, “The people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are, and their towns are large, with walls rising high into the sky! We even saw giants there—the descendants of Anak!” ’ 29 “But I said to you, ‘Don’t be shocked or afraid of them! 30 The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt.  31 And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.’   32 “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God, 33 who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

Verse 21 and 22 -                                                                                                                          God has place something before you, you know it is God, you heard God and he says don’t be afraid or discouraged.  So what do you do?  You decide you need to pray about it.  Really?????   God spoke you obey, why do you need to pray about what the Lord has already spoken or shown you? It is just like going on Quest, why do you need to pray about spending 5 ½ days with the Lord?  This goes for serving on quest as well.  Do you have to pray about serving the Lord?  If the door is opened to you then walk through it and don’t throw out excuses.  It is like this; if you are being called to go to serve in the mission field, then GO!  The Lord will direct your path and he will protect you while you are away!                                                                                                                                                       Exodus 34.23 Three times each year every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign, the Lord, and the God of Israel. 24 I will drive out the other nations ahead of you and expand your territory, so no one will covet and conquer your land while you appear before the Lord your God three times each year.  This passage is about getting away and the Lord not letting your enemies get the upper hand while you are a way.  It is also referring to taking a sabbatical three times a year I feel.  That is for another day of writing

23 – 25 so what did Moses do, he listened to man.  God had already spoken, but he listened to man and sent out the scouts.  The scouts reported good things, but it wasn’t good enough and so they made up more excuses for why they didn’t want to do what the Lord said.  THEY REBELLED! 

Jeremiah 17.5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, (or one man) who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.   6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,   with no hope for the future.  They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.  7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.  They wanted to do it there way and in their timing and even though the Lord had brought them through the wilderness and out bondage they walked back into bondage because they would not trust the Lord.                                                                                    Deuteronomy 1:32 “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God, 33 who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day

I will finish with this, trust the Lord and do not operate out of fear.  If or when you hear the Lord then do what He says.  If He opens a door then walk through it. 

Trust Him!  This was as much for me as it is for you!

Encouragement

 “Father, give me wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus.” For to know Jesus is to have grace and peace multiplied to me. To know Jesus is to receive all things pertaining to life and godliness!

Psalm 91-22  That I would  dwell in the shelter of the Most High

   That I will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

    my God, in whom I trust.”

Eph. 17 so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith—that I, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that I may be filled with all the fullness of God.  20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within me,

Amen

Abide in me

John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

 …………………………………………………….Think of the things that take you out of the position of abiding in Christ. You say, “Yes, Lord, just a minute— I still have this to do. Yes, I will abide as soon as this is finished, or as soon as this week is over. It will be all right, Lord. I will abide then.” Get moving— begin to abide now. In the initial stages it will be a continual effort to abide, but as you continue, it will become so much a part of your life that you will abide in Him without any conscious effort. Make the determination to abide in Jesus wherever you are now or wherever you may be placed in the future. O.C.

Can you relate?  I have been hear so many times.  I remember almost thinking those exact same thoughts.  It is a very dangerous place to be in I think.  One way of looking at this could be pride.  I got this Lord my way will be better than yours.  Besides I don’t agree with you.   I will listen next week.  (what if there is not a next week?)

If you are not abiding in Him,   then just how well do you think your fruit will taste?  Will anyone want any of your fruit?  I want abiding in Him to be as much of my life as sleeping, eating or speaking.

Getting up in the morning and saying “YES LORD”  I am yours.

Be Blessed today

Ephesians 5:31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

So I have a question.  If you believe in you heart that you are hearing the lord about a situation in your life.  A situation that directly affects your spouse.  Do you immediately go to your spouse and say “This is what I am hearing from the Lord about what we are supposed to do, what you think?”  or maybe it goes like this,  you hear from the lord about something and you don’t  say anything and you wait to see if the Lord puts it on your spouse’s heart and then they come to you.  What if you wait and your spouse never says anything?   Do you still proceed?  Here is my point; if you feel like you are supposed to do something then you should be in agreement with your spouse.  Don’t be a Lone Ranger. Being a Lone Ranger will get you shot.  You must have Tonto.

Here is another question, If you feel like you are hearing from the Lord about a job and your wife says “I don’t feel good about that job I don’t trust them.”  Do you still take the job?  If your spouse says, I feel like the Lord is telling us to move, what do you do?  I think the first thing you do is pray about it.  Pray together and separately but pray.  So what happens if you are hearing stay and your wife is hearing move.  Who is hearing the Lord?  Maybe you both are.

One more scenario:  If you feel like you are hearing the Lord and you speak with your spouse about it and she does not agree with you and you go ahead and do it anyway ........... what is that?   If the decision you made without your spouses approval is going south  .........   why do you suppose that is?

Here is what I know for me.  My wife and I must be in agreement.  I talk to her all the time about my clients.  If she gets a bad feeling about an estimate that I am doing then we talk about it and if I need to  then we cut them loose.  We always collaborate on everything.  We do our best to be in agreement or to live as one flesh.

So hear is another view  (I have written about this before)  Widows and orphans.  If you don’t listen to your spouse,   could you be making him or her a widow in your home?  It is my opinion that if you are in agreement with your spouse then you are ministering to her.

 How many times as men, especially those of us who are married are so quick to minister outside of our home before we minister inside our home.  Holy Spirit showed me through a man that I was making my wife and my children widows and orphans in my own home.  I said that is ridiculous I am alive!    He said “I understand that”  “here is what I mean; you are always doing outside of your home …. Church, men’s group, Serving on Quest, Helping other people, but when it comes to your family, they get the crumbs or they do not get anything from you.  Well that did not sit well with me …… again.  As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.  A couple of nights went by and I was sitting at the table and my wife was helping me with memorizing this passage.  I told her what I just shared with you and said “are you a widow in this home?”  She looked at me and said without blinking an eye.  Yes I am pretty much a widow.  Then she said, “I never get the minister voice that I hear you speak to other men on the phone,   I want you to talk to me that way and you never do.  It was a sad day for me but a good day.  Now I look for opportunities to minister to my wife.  

So basically to me what verse 26 means is if you don’t minister in side of your home then what you do outside of your home is worthless  ( doesn’t taste good)

Verse 27 means minister to your family then you will be pure and unblemished in the sight of God and there will be not a widow or any orphans in your home (taste really good)

James 1:26 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).

27 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.