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Friday, December 12, 2014

delay or deliverance?

“But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20) KJV


Are we living in the full anointing of God? Do we truly understand the power we can tap into because of Christ living in us? 

Are we living lives that merely delay our next pitfall into bondage or are we living our lives in search of deliverance?

My desire is for complete deliverance from those things that hold me captive. Deliverance from those things that I have created strongholds out of. I don’t seek to just delay them, but I seek to allow God to remove me from them and be delivered into His glorious light. 

We can live victorious lives in Christ. It’s about walking in His ways and walking in His light so we can possess the ability to step around those pits that are just waiting for us to fall into. If we want the full anointing of God in our lives, if we want to walk in victory, we must seek out the Light and walk according to His ways. We must allow the Light to shine in our darkness and illuminate our path.


So, are we walking in the Light? Do we even know what the Light is? Or who the Light is?

The first chapter of John tells us that the Light is Christ. A light that shines in the darkness and continues to shine so darkness can’t overcome it. 

“…God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

Our walk begins when we take a step of faith and trust Christ as our Savior. That is only the beginning. Our walk is a progression and it involves our communing with God and having fellowship with Him.  It’s about acknowledging that He is the Light of the world and that we must walk where He leads. We must follow His Word and His commands. God has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light! (1 Peter 2:9)

Where darkness abides, there is no light. The darkness of sin in our life rebels against the light of Christ. But the beautiful thing about the light is that it is revealing. It not only erases the darkness, but at the same time it shows us truth. We can try and hide ourselves and our sin in the dark, but when the light is made manifest, our hiding places are revealed. Even just a small amount of light will pierce through the blackness and illuminate. 

Have you every cleaned and dusted your house and it appears spotless to your eyes? Then you open up the curtains and in the startling brightness you can see those areas that are still filled with dirt and dust? The light revealed the truth. It exposed the things that we thought were hidden or clean. 

That is exactly what the light of Christ does in our lives. It reveals to us that which needs to be exposed. And once it is exposed it needs to be dealt with. If we just allow it to remain and turn off the light, we will be right back where we started. In the dark and out of fellowship with Christ. Darkness and light can’t co-exist. It’s either one of the other.  Living in the dark causes us to stumble, lose our way, and fall into pits of sin without warning. How do we know if we are indeed walking in the dark?

1. We lose the Word.

We stop “doing the truth’ as it tells us in 1 John 1:6. We stop reading the Word and so we lose the ability to hear the truth and abide in it. When we cling to the dark, we can’t see the Word in that absence of light. So, we quit reading our bibles and we begin to lose the Word or the Truth that abides in us and we begin our walk in the dark. As we progress, our way grows darker and it takes us farther and farther away from the true Light. 

2. We neglect our prayer life.

After we quit reading the Word, we no longer desire to commune with our God. Once we stop feeding our souls the Bread of Life, our appetites wane for the Truth and we will be pulled in the opposite direction. Truth is traded for lies and deception and we begin to forfeit our fellowship with Christ. 

3. We lose our desire for fellowship with Christ.

When we walk in the Light, we desire to obey God’s Word. We have a desire to do what His Word tells us to do and we also desire to nurture our prayer life. When we see both of those begin to disappear from our daily walks, we can know that we are beginning to fall out of fellowship with our Lord. Our spiritual eyes have become accustomed to the dark and we no longer see the dangerous place we have fallen into.

Obedience to His Word entails walking in the light, so when we move out of the light into the shadows, our obedience will suffer. We have then begun a downward spiral that will carry us deeper into the dark and down into a pit of bondage. 

Is there a way out? Is there hope for those of us who have slipped into darkness?

Oh, yes, there is hope! We only have to let the light of Christ begin shining once again in our lives! We need to open our eyes and seek out the Light once more. Allow Him to reach down and pull us out of the pit of darkness and back into the glorious light of our Savior! Once we begin to recognize the beauty and safety of living in the light and the eminent danger of the dark, we can be more determined and purposed to keep ourselves focused on Christ and the truth of His Word. 

Let's not delay our next pit, but let's be delivered from it! Let’s reach up and grab the hand of our God and let Him guide our path with the light of His Son, Jesus Christ.

“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”(Psalm 119:105)



Wednesday, December 3, 2014

the Glory of God!

The well of the Word of God is so deep that we could study 24 hours a day every day of our lives and never draw out the last drop. My desire is to daily drink deeply from the fountain of His Word and allow the sweet Holy Spirit to teach me and reveal to me treasures abounding! 

What is the glory of God? That may be one of the hardest things to define, yet it is also one of the most important things for us, as Christians, to grab hold of. God’s glory is the manifest presence of Himself. It is God showing us who He is in a tangible way.  It is the beauty of who He is. It is all of His attributes, all of His character and all of His divine nature.

The word glory in Hebrew is kabowd. It means ‘the weight of something in a figurative sense’. It denotes splendor, abundance and honor.

In Exodus 33:18, we see Moses make a request of God. He desired for God to show him His glory. Basically, what Moses said was, “Show me the weight of who You are. Show me Your splendor and honor and abundance.”

Why don’t we ask the same of God today? Is it because we don’t desire to see His glory or is it because we don’t think that He will show us? God wants to show us who He is! He desires to show us His glory! In all the scriptures, only one man had the blessing of seeing His glory but that is because he is the only man that ever asked that of God. We don’t receive because we don’t ask!

I love that Moses had seen God’s glory along with the Jews in the pillar of a cloud and the fire, but Moses desired a deeper revelation. He wanted a personal glimpse of God’s glory. He wanted the intimacy of relationship with God.  He wanted a new vision. That’s what we need to be seeking today. A new vision of God and His glory. A new revelation of who He is and who He desires us to be. We need to be desperate for intimacy with our God and with our Savior. So desperate that we will ask God to show us His glory!

As we look at verse 19, we see God’s gorgeous response. God says, “I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the Name of the LORD before thee.”

The word goodness in the Hebrew is tuwb. It means ‘good in the widest sense; pleasant; beautiful; delightful; lovely; righteous; precious; the best things. Basically it is meaning ‘nothing withheld’. 

So, God is telling Moses, “You want to see My glory? I’ll show you My glory. I’ll show you everything good about Me. I will withhold nothing from you.”

The next part of that verse is so beautiful. God says, “I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee”. Now, that doesn't sound so amazing until you stop and dwell on it. An earthly king has his name announced by proclamation before he enters into the throne room in all his splendor. It is announced so that there is no mistake who the king is. It is the greatness of the earthly king revealed to those around him. 

And now we see our God doing this very thing to Moses. He is telling Moses that He will hide him in the cleft of the rock and cover him with His holy hand. Then before He passes by in all His glory and all His goodness, withholding nothing from him, God will proclaim His Name before him. Let there be no mistake who the King is. Let there be no mistake of His splendor and His majesty and His honor.

The glory of God in our lives today is everything that makes God, God. It encompasses all His Authority. All of His Power. All of His Wisdom. It is the immeasurable weight of God wrapped up in the splendor of His manifest presence. He withholds nothing from us when we truly desire to see His face. To behold His glory. To worship Him in spirit and in truth. 

Our prayer today should be nothing less than, “Oh, God, show me your glory!”  Let us fall on our faces in sheer desperation of just a glimpse of this in our lives. May He cover us with His loving hand and reveal His goodness to us, withholding nothing. And may we receive it and give Him praise and honor forever.



Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Create in me...


"Create in me a clean heart, O God;
And renew a right spirit within me"
(Psalm 51:10)

What an amazing prayer that Kind David uttered to God when pleading for forgiveness, cleansing and restoration of fellowship with Him. What an amazing and pertinent prayer this should be on the lips of every Christian! 

The word create in this passage is the Hebrew word 'bara' which means 'to create or to make'. But the beautiful thing about the word is that this verb is of profound theological significance. Truly the word 'bara' is a verb that only has God as its subject. It expresses creation out of nothing as we see first in Genesis 1:1. 

So, as we encounter this word in this Psalm of David, we must understand that David knew that the work on his heart which was needed and desired could only be accomplished by His God. Our hearts need a touch by our heavenly Father. God and only God can create in us that clean heart with forgiveness and cleansing and restoration. May this prayer be on our lips and in our hearts every day of our lives. 

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

early morning

"Before the ear perceives the countless voices of the day, it must listen in the early morning to the voice of the Creator and Redeemer. God has prepared the stillness of the earliest morning for Himself. It must belong to Him" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
~~~~~~~~~


My eyes open in the early hours of the morning and deep in my spirit these words are heard,

"Rise, my sweet child"

I hear His whisper down deep in my spirit and at first my flesh rebels. But the yearning inside for obedience to the bidding of my Father wins out. I throw back the covers and immediately feel the chill in the air and briefly contemplate crawling back in my bed. My flesh craves the warmth of the cocoon I had just emerged from but a fierce longing arises deep in my soul for the intimate moments with my God that I know is coming.

These quiet times in the dark when all around me is still are the times that I can hear His voice clearly. These sweet moments when it feels like God and I are the only ones awake. It's just me and my LORD. Communing together. Growing in relationship. Sharing the earliest hours of the day with my Creator and my God.

As I sit and open the Word, I get a slight chill in my body as the power of what lies before me overtakes my spirit.  

The Word of God. 

Holy-Spirit inspired.
               God-breathed.
                             Infallible.
                                            Inerrant.

The WORD.... etched by God's finger through the obedience of men.

Did those men rise, too, in the early morning darkness? Did God's Holy whisper descend to their hearts with an unmistakable sound? Did they hear His Voice and respond without delay?

Oh, how I desire to be obedient in all things. How I desire to be still before Christ and anticipate His Presence!

Acknowledging His Sovereignty,

Praising His Majesty,

Reveling in the sheer wonder of who He is and the power of His whisper.

Surrendered.... submitted.... unhindered....

Discerning and available and ready to be used. Purposed and passionate about serving my God wherever He leads. Give me ears to hear, Oh God!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"But now, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, 
and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand" (Isaiah 64:8)



Thursday, October 23, 2014

He wakes me up

My God awakens me in the early hours of the morning. Sleep alludes me and I know that He is beckoning me to rise and get still before Him. 

My heart is so hungry for a Word from His Holy lips. I seek and I desire a revelation deep in my spirit. Open my eyes, LORD. I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to hear.

You are Jehovah! You are the mighty God! I look unto you, Oh LORD, for my strength. I depend upon you for my every breath. You are my sustenance. You are my everything.

My heart begins to grieve over the rebellion in my spirit. God, circumcise it from my heart. Help me to deny 'self' and desire only to walk in your ways. I want to please you! I want to submit to you and your will for my life. I desire to surrender all!

Lead me into the ways of holiness. Stir up my spirit to walk in godliness at all times. Empower me to push aside those fleshly desires and wants that threaten to seek victory in my life.

Teach me your ways. Help me walk in truth. Make the desires of my heart match the desires of your heart. I want a heart like yours, Oh God!

Hear my cry in the night. Anoint those in need. Bestow healing and restoration to my loved ones in body and spirit.

Obedience. Trust. A heart of Faith. Grant me these things from your Holy Hill. Help me to keep my eyes on you. Help me to see that it's all about you, God. I worship. I exalt your name above all others. Oh, how I love You! You fill me with joy unspeakable. Peace unfathomable settles in and praise flows from my lips to Your Throne.

Thank you for sweet mercy and grace. Thank you for the gift of eternal life that cost You the life of Your Son at  Calvary.

May I never trample on that grace but may I be ever mindful of the saving faith I possess because of the price Christ paid to redeem me from the pits of hell.

I'm overwhelmed. I'm overjoyed. I awaken to spend time at the feet of my Savior and now He gives me rest.

~~~~~~~~

"...He wakes me up in the morning. Wakes me up, opens my ears to listen as one ready to take orders. The Master, GOD, opened my ears..."
(Isaiah 50:4b) The Message