Euroclydon

Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. 

Psalm 92:13 KJV

Back in December, as I was praying about the coming year, I heard the Holy Spirit say one word to me, “Euroclydon”. For those who are familiar with the KJV you will recognize this from The book of Acts where the Apostle Paul was sailing to Rome as a prisoner.  Euroclydon was the King James word for a seriously bad storm, or hurricane.  

I read Acts 27 asking the Lord what was significant in this story.  I had two points highlighted to me.

• NO life lost (verse 22) 

• IF you stay in the boat (verse 31). 

While the Holy Spirit did not reveal anything else to me, I understood something would take place in the days ahead that would put pressure (test) our personal relationship with the Lord and salvation hinged on staying in the boat with the promise ~ NO lives lost.  

God always prepares his people and I’m thankful for that. Jesus said storms of life are inevitable, trouble will come, but if we have built our relationship firmly, deeply, intimately with the Father, our houses will stand while the winds blow, the rains fall and beat against it.  Whatever can be shaken is always shaken in a storm.  The house not built on the rock falls.  Jesus said when all these signs begin, men’s hearts will fail them for fear. 

People can be shaken but we have a kingdom that CANNOT be shaken.  The Kingdom we live in is one of light and abundant life.  We serve a King whose name is above every name, whose very life destroyed the power of the evil one and delivered those who dwell in this Kingdom from the fear of death.  

Staying in the boat is simply our word for remaining, dwelling, abiding in HIM. He who dwells in the secret place of the Lord shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  How many times have we been exhorted to let HIM be our dwelling place with the emphasis on the conditions of relationship, BECAUSE I have set my love on Him.

Whatever our need through these days, His promises remain steadfast for He is faithful. Those “planted” (literally transplanted, drawn out of darkness into the Kingdom) in the house of the Lord shall flourish in his courts.

May these be days where we all find ourselves, like Mary, sitting at his feet as our vital necessity, firmly planted in Him and abounding, flourishing, with His great love, peace and joy, knowing we have been created for such a time as this.  

Do not fear what they fear, nor be afraid.

For the lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.  But the lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy.  Let him be your fear and let him be your dread.

  Isaiah 8:11-13

It’s ALWAYS about our ability to trust and rest in God.  Faith is nothing more than our heart condition which moves us to God, knowing He is our rewarder.  The fact that we acknowledge our need for Him and seek him, pleases Him.

Do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread!

What times I am afraid, the remedy is to still trust in God.  Coming into the assurance of His love and care, “perfect love”, drives fear out. Not allowing his word to depart from my eyes and keeping them in the midst of my heart continually reminds me of God’s faithfulness to His promises.  What I look at, what I feed on, has my attention.  It gets inside of me and alters my thinking.  

If we acknowledge the fear, the Spirit of truth works to reveal truth that will set us free as we attend to it.  This truth, shall not depart from our mouths, but as we meditate on this word, day and night to observe to do what it says, then we have good success.  

Titus, chapter one has this wonderful instruction about how to be sound in faith.  We don’t give heed to myths and commandments of men that turn us away from the truth.  They defile us and turn us from believing and we ultimately prove that we do not know God by our very actions.   Titus 1:14-16.  

It’s helpful to remember that Jesus gave his disciples all power over all the power of the evil one and nothing shall by any means harm us.  The Apostle John wrote in his first epistle the greater one lives in us!  These words must be met with a resounding yes and amen from our hearts, or the equal awareness that we do not believe them and then remedy that by attending to the word He sends us to heal and deliver.  

Because the word is a living seed, it grows when planted into our hearts.  Faith comes as the word is sown into our hearts and then watered.  Ultimately it will come out of our own mouths creating abundant life.  

I am confident in declaring that no matter what my circumstances may be, God is good. He is faithful to keep us and does not want us fearing any activity that threatens our quality or quantity of life.  I choose to stand honouring and fearing only Him. 

There is a name above every other name and it is the name Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life.   Let us continually hold his praises in our mouth, believing and fearing not.  

Listen up!

There is a difference between what you are not capable of hearing  (2.21.2020 post) and from today’s scripture, what we CAN hear but refuse.

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.  For they could not endure the order that was given..... Hebrew 12:18-20

Hebrews goes on to say “ See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.”  Hebrews 12:22-25.

TPT reads- Make very sure that you never refuse to listen to God when he speaks! For the God who spoke on earth from Sinai is the same God who now speaks from heaven. Those who heard him speak his living Word on earth found nowhere to hide, so what chance is there for us to escape if we turn our backs on God and refuse to hear his warnings as he speaks....

Where our verse reads “see that you do not refuse him”. The Greek for refuse means to beg off, that is, deprecate, decline, shun: - avoid, (make) excuse, intreat, refuse, reject.  The word “reject” from “reject him” means; to turn away or back (literally or figuratively). Thayer’s adds. ~ 1b) to turn him away from allegiance to any one. 1c) tempt to defect.

Both words paint a strong picture of rejection and while we might think we never reject something God says I am confident we can all consider words he has spoken that, for our own personal reasons and excuses, have not found us perfectly aligned in agreement, obeying Him. Just like Israel, we want someone else to do our hearing for us because we can’t endure the word spoken. We don’t want to be responsible for it.   

Hebrews exhorts us, “ See to it you do not refuse Him...”. In other words, he makes this very personal.  You, Jeanne, make sure you are hearing to receive and hearing to obey. This is nobody else’s job to hear from God for me.  It is my responsibility to come to the mountain and position myself to hear what the Father is saying.   

Every word God speaks is our life. It holds instruction and correction, It’s our bread.  We live by every word that comes from the Mouth of God. This is how we experience the abundant life that Jesus came for each of us to live in.  To refuse to hear when he speaks is simply self-sabotage.  We cut off our life line.  He sent his word and offers salvation.  He sends his word and it heals and delivers us from all destruction.  We have no situation in life that positioning ourselves in the place of humility to receive the word He speaks, will not save our souls.  

These are days of alignment.  Hearing and agreeing with God, without arguing and resisting.  The exhortation “see to it that you do not refuse Him” concludes that our acceptable worship is seen in the receiving and obeying the word He has spoken.

Can you bear it?

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16:12-15

Thayer’s Greek Lexicon renders this word ‘bear’ as - to take up in order to carry or bear; to put upon oneself (something) to be carried; to bear what is burdensome:

Galatians 6:5 uses this word as well with the instruction Each will have to bear his own load.   

Jesus had a conversation in Matthew chapter twenty with his disciples, generated by a question the mother of James and John asked. He responded to them, “you don’t know what your are asking.  Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” 

Like James and John, most of us our confident we are able (ability) to bear the load we are asking for and while Jesus said, you will drink my cup, they had no understanding of the process they would go through to prepare them to carry the responsibility and bear the burdensome. 

The foundation we have built through our intimacy with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit must sustain the weight we are to carry.  In other words, is my foundation strong enough to sustain the responsibility and carry the burden?

We aren’t given what we cannot carry.  A thought here about operating outside of our personal graces; it will destroy us when we pursue what is not ours to have.  Jesus distributes the gifts according to the creation of God’s workmanship.  

Jesus said I have many things to say that you can’t bear now, but when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.  This is process. This is timing.  

This is revelation that comes in the timing of God.  Like Jesus, the Holy Spirit waits to hear.   he does not speak from His own authority, but hears, speaks and declares as we are able to hear.

Interesting to note the use of the words “speaks and declares”.  While the two words seem to be repeating a thought, they are actually two different words, one means to talk (Spirit of truth) while the other means disclose5297 hypophérō (from 5259 /hypó, "under" and 5342 /phérō, "bear, carry") – properly, carry-under (like an under-current of a river carrying someone away, LS); (figuratively) to endure because carried safely away from danger.  He will disclose the things which are to come.  We shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free. 

All truth is wisdom, revelation and knowledge. With truth, we also need counsel, understanding and might to carry it out.  This is the the help we are given in order to bear our individual loads.

The question, can you bear it, holds another close on it heals, will you bear it?

Psalm 105:19 tells us that until the word came to pass, it tried Joseph.   Our individual paths will be filled with tests to check our foundations.  Can we bear it?  Will we engage with the Holy Spirit and yield to His processes?  Will we receive the words that he brings, the truth he discloses,  in order to prepare us?  Will we allow our lives, hearts, minds; our very character to be so conformed to Christ that we are becoming perfectly one with Him?

Jesus told James and John they would drink his cup.  Not then, but in the days ahead, after they had been prepared and yielded, their lives would be poured out for the cause of Christ. 

“I have things to say that you can’t bear now” is an invitation to continue being with Him as He works, both to will and to do of His good pleasure, always strengthening and enlarging our foundations so that we can bear it!

Tending to the seed sown……

Phil 1.6. And I am confident that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.   Phil 1:6. ESV

TPT ~ I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this glorious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Recently at a time of prayer, the Spirit highlighted Matthew 7:7 as being an invitation to relationship, not simply seeking the reward.  As I’ve been reflecting on this, I realize there are simply things that I’ve stopped asking, seeking and knocking for having been resolved somewhere in my heart and mind that my request has been met with a NO.  Although I have never heard the NO, the circumstances had convinced me of NO as the answer so I stopped pressing to possess in those places.   

Our free will is one of the most precious gifts given to us by God.  Daily, our choices define the paths we walk.  While the Father continues to work in us by his word and spirit, we must be willing to engage and yield to that work.  

God has established our boundaries but we set our limitations as we face the issues of our hearts and do not yield. Our heart is our garden from which all things grow and we are the stewards of our gardens.   Grieving the Holy Spirit comes when I do wrong, quenching the Holy Spirit is when I know to do right and don’t do it.  In this, I’ve set my limitations.  They (The Father, Jesus the word, and Holy Spirit) are so willing to patiently work with us while we work out our own salvation, while we take another lap around mount Sinai.  We define our boundaries, we set our limitations.

These are days of realignment.  Days of returning to the places we disagreed with Him and get it right at all costs. Dealing with the issues of heart and mind that limit us.    Days that require facing the unanswered as we press into a greater intimacy with him in order to bring forth the ordained fruit that glorifies Him.

We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus ordained for good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:10.  God begins the process with the seed of His word.  He who has sown the seed has prepared us for these days.  He who has ordained the works for us to walk in and walk out SHALL faithfully continue the process of maturing us.  He doesn’t start and not finish.  The word that has gone forth from his mouth is like the rain that comes down and waters the earth and it brings forth fruit. It does not return void but accomplishes His purpose and it shall succeed in the thing for which he sent it.

Let’s tend to our gardens, dig around the soil of our heart and do some weeding of rocks and thorns giving plenty of room for His seed to grow.   Let’s nurture it, water it and wash it with His promises. Let’s ask the unanswered, let’s seek the unknown, let’s knock on the unopened and keep pressing until the yieldedness of our heart brings forth the fruit of our intimacy with Him.  

One, just as….

“….that they may all be one, just as you, Father are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us...”  John 17:21

(JFB Commentary notes from John. 17:21: Observe, that Christ never mixes Himself up with His disciples as He associates Himself with the Father, but says I in them and they in us).  

Jesus’ prayer from John 17 emphasis’s the glory of the oneness he held with the Father.  We see in verse five his request for the glory in Gods presence to be “the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”   Is it possible there was some kind of limitation to what he experienced on the earth compared to what he possessed in heaven with the Father?

This glory Jesus experienced is something that was of such a vital need and desire for him that he conducted the entire training of his disciples to this end as well.  He manifested the Fathers name, his power, his glory and the nature of God as Father.  He gave them the words the Father gave Him for them.  He prayed, guarded and kept them and then sent them into the world.  He did not try to isolate them or spare them from hardships and suffering but enabled them to be kept from the evil in the world.  He sanctified himself that they might be sanctified, all for a greater purpose to show the glory found in oneness with Himself and the Father.

Just as the Father was in Jesus, Jesus was in the Father, our invite is for us to be in them. Jesus never adapted to his disciples but always invited them into the union and the glory he shared with the Father. We aren’t called to adapt to circumstances or primarily other people.  We understand that this comes with certain caveats, submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord, but it is always for maintaining the place of absolute oneness with the Godhead.  We first and foremost align ourselves so that are obedience is to God and not to man where man conflicts with the purposes and ways of God.  

The glory He has given to us is so we may be one EVEN AS they are one.  Vitally united.  No division.  Perfect agreement and alignment.  

Moving into this next decade will put decided pressure upon all of us to have this position resolved, heart and mind fixed, with a purposed pursuit of being perfectly one with them and each other and thus enabled to manifest His glory on this earth.  

Gathering Daily

“Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a days portion every day,..”. Exodus 16:4

I recently posted a video @davidandjeannemcgrew on FB with an interview that was hosted by John Bevere giving findings on a study conducted by the Center for Bible Engagement on what happens when you read your bible 4X a week.  I was astounded, mainly because of the apparent lack of bible reading being done. I am also aware of various movements in 2020 to get people “back” to reading their bibles. 

David and I have been through what we would call 3 revivals in our Christian life.  We were born again in 1975 in the midst of what would have been a teaching revival highlighting the word of faith movement in Tulsa Oklahoma.  Around 1990’s there began another awakening by the Spirit that stirred and we participated in the impact it was having in the nation of Canada.  Now, whether it is a continuation of the ‘90’s or a new thrust occurring, there is indeed an awakening that is taking place among a new generation.  With an emphasis on prayer and worship, holding a foundation in the word, they are coming forth in the power and demonstration of the Spirit and bringing a fresh expression of the Kingdom of Heaven to this earth. 

So the dichotomy of Christians not reading their bibles is troubling to me. 

God sets a precedent in Exodus for the need to trust him daily for our provision.  We know Jesus was the bread that came down from heaven, John chapter six.  His words are Spirit and they are life and we are told that they must be fed on to live.  

In the wilderness, as Jesus is tempted to turn a stone into bread to feed himself, he responds, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Again, from John’s gospel we find that Jesus has bread to eat his disciples know not of.  Jesus is the word made flesh and the Father has designed this word to nourish us spiritually. Hebrews tells us the word is alive.  It has a supernatural quality to strengthen and align us with the very mind of God. 

I could go on, but I think we all know how important it is to feed DAILY on the word of God.  We all meet situations, face circumstances, requires wisdom and understanding, that is assured to us as the word is attended to. 

My prayer is for the impacting work of the Holy Spirit, in this current outpouring, to work such a deep hunger for Him, His presence, that feeding upon the word is daily our delight. Forget 4X’s a week - think daily!

PS - David’s started a blog that you can read on the Leadership Live page. You’ll enjoy!

Delighting in the fear of the Lord

Behold the eye of the lord is on those who fear him on those who hope in his steadfast love.  

Psalm 33:18

Keystone Victoria has just come out of a season of fasting and prayer and for many of us, we are purposed to continue with our press.  For myself personally, I believe the Lord is leading me into a delight in the fear of the Lord.  Isaiah 11:3 said of this shoot, Jesus, that the spirit of the fear of the Lord was upon him and the fear of the Lord was his delight.  

The fear of the lord, the love of God and humility are inseparable.  As we press into one, we find the others at work.  We love Him and humble ourselves before him and in the fear of the Lord we walk out obedience.  We learn that what we live before him, becomes our life before others.  We aren’t one way before him and something else to others.  We may stumble, we may fall down, but with this heart, we are quick to repent and make all wrongs right.  

As we look at Jesus, we find a couple of verses that show us exactly what the fear of the Lord looks like.  From John 5:30 I can do nothing in my own.  As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.  

From John 8: 28....I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me.  He has not left me alone for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

Jesus never separated his love for his Father from his obedience to Him.  Philippians chapter two shows us his humility.  As we study his humility, we learn “he humbled himself by becoming obedient” and lest we think differently, it wasn’t any easier for Jesus, the man, to willingly lay his life down than it is for us. We see this in his cry, “Father, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but yours”.  The bible says he was in an agony, dropping sweat as blood.  This is the place of surrender for us all. Jesus, as a man, filled with the Holy Spirit, in relationship with his Father, believing His word, did exactly what we have to do when our “want to” is at odds with Gods.      

As His church, his body, here and now, we are exhorted to ~

 "bring holiness to completion in the fear of  the Lord" (2 Cor. 7:1)

"work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12)

 "be subject to one another in the fear of Christ" (Eph. 5:21)

 "love the brotherhood of believers and fear God, .." (1 Pet. 2:17)

 and  "live our lives as strangers here in reverent fear" (1 Pet. 1:17).

I take great comfort in knowing that the Holy spirit is our teacher and as we come to Him,

(Psalm 33:11 Come, O children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord),  he will teach us to walk in the fear of the Lord and it will become our delight.  

Prepping for 2020

   ...easier for a camel to go thru the eye of a needle ...

Matthew 19:24

Commentaries tell us that the camel had to unload it’s baggage before it could go through this smaller gate built into the larger commercial gate.  Just like the camel, as we move forward, we must lay aside every weight that “so easily” slows us down.   We all carry mindsets allowing us to excuse, or validate, certain choices that are actually weights, as we run the race set before us. 

Jesus told his disciples that they had to become like little children to enter the Kingdom.  He said they had to turn, which meant the thoughts they were holding weren’t conducive to His.  

As we approach 2020, we enter into a place of introspection and hopefully realignment, to be more perfectly shaped by Him and for His purposes.  

Jesus teaches us in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Did you notice that nobody has to find the broad way?  It’s the narrow way that must be sought and discovered and it’s the only way to promised life. 

My prayer for each of us as we lean into 2020, is a year filled with greater purpose and pursuit of our Lord, Master and King, yielding a satisfaction, peace and joy that only comes from knowing Him.

Happy New Year 

Jeanne. 

We have seen His Star

We have seen his ⭐️ and are come to worship Him. Matthew 2:2 

The Apostle John wrote in his first letter, 1Jn 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. :2  the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—:3  that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. :4  And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

I think these four verses hold great revelation concerning intimacy with the Father and the Lord Jesus.  He must be heard and seen.  He desires to be touched and handled so that we may discover the life that flows from Him.  As ministers, the joy and crown we have is seeing others grow in their personal revelation and knowledge of God.  None of us have arrived and there remains so so much more to hear, see and experience with Him. 

My prayer for you this Christmas Season is that your fellowship with Jesus Christ, grows stronger and deeper as you Behold Him, the Morning star and worship Him. May He be your all consuming passion.  May He be the bread that feeds and sustains you. May He be the water that refreshes your soul’s longing.  May the light of His countenance not only shine upon you, but penetrate in and through you.  May your lives be the expression of His purity and holiness, bringing all glory to Him alone.

Merry Christmas with love, grace and peace to you.  Jeanne

Set in Order

“Thy kingdom come....”.  

Matthew 6.10

As Jesus taught his disciples to pray for the continued expression of His Kingdom to come, we understand, that for us to govern we must first be under government ourselves.

As we view Jesus earthly walk, we find this Kingdom we are praying for is not of this world. And while Jesus did have to contend with people, his battle was not with flesh and blood but with spiritual forces working behind the scenes.  We find Jesus’ word was with power and authority.  The natural worldly elements and all spiritual activity bowed to his commands. We find nothing that Jesus was not able to rule over and reign in.  

Keep in mind that any environment Jesus found Himself in, he was in by the will of God.  In adverse conditions Jesus stayed put, not because he was helpless, but rather by obedience, to establish the purposes of God.  Jesus himself said, “Satan is coming and has nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.“ 

As we pray, your Kingdom come, we are essentially asking and holding the expectation for our King to come and establish his government.  We are asking him first and foremost to rule and reign over us.  

Isaiah, in chapter nine, prophesies about this coming king and his kingdom, declaring that the government shall be upon His shoulder: of the increase of His government and the peace it carries that there shall be no end.  He comes to establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness which always produces peace.

Jesus is the head of his body, the church, with individual members working to uphold His government with justice and righteousness, meaning, every member’s WILLING submission (obedience) to Him is required. Divine order having been established in us is a pre-requisite to government being exercised through us.  

Justice and righteousness simply can not be dispensed apart from the King.  We are called ambassadors for a reason.  We are Citizens of Heaven. We are simply living here, now, to serve at the King’s pleasure.  Jesus was the express image of the Father.  

Jesus told Pilate during His trial that He had no authority over him except what had been given to him from above. Jesus was not submitted to Pilate but rather to His Father.   Jesus had to submit to the will of the Father in all things for the Fathers purposes to be achieved. 

I don’t think we fully understand the need for order being in us before order is established in our environments.  Just because we know what the word says, does not mean that His word has full and final authority in our hearts.  We are called to be fully submitted, love wholeheartedly, serve willingly and faithfully... you get the idea.   The disciples question, why couldn’t we... was met with ‘this kind doesn’t come out without prayer and fasting’.

We know prayer and fasting are tools that shape us.  They are as much times of realignment with God and His purposes as they are standing in the gap for others.  Can the two really be separated?  Isn’t all prayer for the purpose of coming into agreement with His will and then praying from the place of knowing?  We either seek to know or know and seek for that will to be done.  The prayers of a “righteous” man avail much.  Righteous simply speaks to right order before God ~ Right standing, right ways, right thoughts, right words, all enable us to express Him rightly. 

Thy Kingdom come, includes a cry for His works to be manifested through us. With 

 right order pursued and working in us, we can be trusted.  We can speak to mountains they are moved because we speak not our own words. Because the Father shows us what to do and how to do it, we cast out devils they go, blind eyes see, deaf ears hear and captives are set free. We are fruitful and multiply His kingdom.  

Being just like Jesus, requires us, to be just like Jesus, in all things. 

Your Kingdom come, is a cry for His order and rule.  First and foremost, it has to be set up in us so that we can extend order and rule in our environments.  Without His order and rule over us we are simply lawless and we all know, power without righteous rule is harmful and dangerous.  

Acts three tells Jesus was a man attested to by God with mighty works and wonders and signs, that God did through him in their midst.  

Shall we be anything less?

Learning 101

Although he was a son, he learned obedience though what he suffered, and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.  

    Hebrews 5:8-9

JT Hudsons translation reads, “he learnt, by what he suffered, how to obey.” 

Phil 2:12/13 ~

As you’ve always obeyed ... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.  

The Amplified translation adds; effectually at work in you energizing and creating in you the power and desire both to will and work for his good pleasure, satisfaction and delight.

And finally, Hebrews 12: 7;11.....

“It is for discipline that we have to endure God is treating you as sons...... For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

My thought today is, there are things that God has prepared for us to walk in, that until we are “prepared”, we will not walk in them.  There is an alternate school of hard knocks and its teachers are pride and disobedience. We want to avoid that costly education. 

Since Jesus, as a son, learned how to obey, the course of our life will follow the same pattern with the same opportunities for suffering.  Jesus was never sick, broke or in any way unable to live victoriously in his circumstances, yet, he suffered many things at the hands of others that he submitted himself to in order to be “tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin”.  He was able to do so as He “committed himself to him who judges righteously.”

Would it, could it, possibly be easier for us to endure our temptations, tests and trials if we really believed that IN them there was something greater being worked IN us for the purpose of being worked THROUGH us?  Paul wrote to the Corinthians that there is no temptation that comes to us that God is not faithful to make a way of escape so we CAN bear it.  When Paul asked God, three different times, to deliver him from the persecution of the Jewish leaders, Gods response was, my grace is sufficient. Paul learned to call these temptations and trials momentary light afflictions, because he understood it was working a far greater weight of glory IN him.  

No temptation comes that is beyond our ability to endure it because grace abounds. In my moments of struggle, grace doesn’t seem to be the first thing I lean into. Yet in these verses today we can find strength to help, knowing that obedience is the first step to help our escape, whatever we are facing.  This obedience requires a submission on my part to the will and purposes of God - “humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.”  

It is during these times of pressure that we have the opportunity to conform to the character of Christ. Whatever or whenever the outcome of our battles, if our character is made more Christlike we are winners indeed, having been more conformed to the image of the perfect son.  

How encouraging is it to know that God is the one at work in the midst of this. We are reminded that He works all things together for God to those who are called according to His purpose.  The purpose is conformity to the image of His son. 

So, as sons and daughters, the next time we hit trouble, let’s hold the thought that something good is working in us and lean into perfect obedience.  His perfect obedience created the source of eternal salvation for us and our obedience to Him is the indicator we are learning. 

Though he was a son, he learned obedience by the things he suffered.  

The Reluctant Giver

Each one must give as he has decided in his own heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for GOD loves a cheerful giver. 

2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV

KJV~ Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Williams translation~.   Each must give what he has purposed in his heart to give, not sorrowfully or under compulsion, for it is the happy giver that God loves. 

Most of us know that when Paul wrote this to the Corinthians, he was specifically talking to them about money. I want to enlarge the thought today by considering how we respond to any place that any kind of giving is asked of us. 

All three translations paint a little different picture for us, depending on how we personally understand the various words. 

• Reluctant is shown to mean unwilling and hesitant; disinclined.

• Grudgingly indicates a reluctant or resentful manner.

• Sorrowful is feeling or showing grief:

From Vines Expository Dictionary of Old and NT words we learn these words are all renderings from the GR. LUPĒ (3077) which signifies pain, of body or mind; it is used in the plural in 1 Pet. 2:19 only, R.V., “griefs” (A.V., “grief”); here, however, it stands, by metonymy, for ‘things that cause sorrow,’ 

Recently we saw this word (LUPE) used in John 16:6 where Jesus has said “because I have said these things to you, sorrow (LUPE) has filled your heart. From 2 Cor  7:10 we find godly “LUPE” produces repentance.  From Luke 24.45 we see the word LUPE used once again where Jesus, in the garden, finds his disciples sleeping for “sorrow”.

This condition affects my readiness of mind, willingness of heart and prompt to do it giving. Proverbs speaks about the one withholding more than is right but it only tends to poverty.  God desires for us to prosper, spirit, soul and body. Could our LUPE (sorrowful) giving from our spirit, soul or body be creating the poverty in our life?

Paul wrote, God loves a cheerful giver and of course this wouldn’t be right without adding the amplified translation ~

2 Corinthians 9:7 (AMP):..... (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, “prompt to do it”) giver [whose heart is in his giving]. 

Cheerful ("won over, already inclined") is only used in 2 Cor. 9:7, where it describes spontaneously, non-reluctant giving, someone who is cheerfully ready to act because they are already approving, already persuaded.  

If God loves a cheerful giver I wonder how he feels about the reluctant or sorrowful one?Do we excuse our heart condition thinking we can sort it later and it will be ok?  I don’t know about you but I find the longer I leave unbelief the harder it is to sort it.  Somehow, all my thoughts and perceptions begin to seem right.

2 Corinthians 8:12–13 (ESV): For if the readiness  [eager disposition which is pre-inclined, already "ready and willing"] is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

Acceptable according to what a person has simply means God never asks us to do something we are not capable of doing.   We either have the means or the grace to do it.  The ready and willing heart is up to us because this is the place where we own what we believe God is requiring of us.  

Each one must give as he has decided in his own heart, not reluctantly!

Alignment

WAIT and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing].”

Isaiah 55:1 (AMP):

My “Good Word’ from Psalm twenty-three, talked about an invite to come and dine, and here from Isaiah, we find another invitation to come.  I like the amplified version here; it notes the only thing required to have His provision is the self surrender that accepts the blessing. 

Beyond the natural, tangible, good things God wants to add to our lives, He considers His word the greatest blessing we could ever receive.  Therefore, the invitation to come and eat is primary.  Did you notice His offer costs you nothing, yet the provision it gives is priceless?

Heavenly Provision begins with our agreement with God.  Amos 3.3 asks how can two walk together unless they be agreed.  Jesus said a house divided can not stand.   This place of provision requires our position of oneness with the father.  Alignment with his thoughts are required to be one with the Father and where we don’t agree with him WE must realign.  

The wrong thinking, wrong walking, which are discussed further in this chapter, are consider unrighteous in the sight of God.  Righteousness is more than a legal standing we have with God, it is fundamentally agreement with what he has decreed. In the place of my agreement with Him, I stand right before him. Since God is always right, Isaiah calls the people to return because their wrong thinking has led them into wrong paths.  The realignment begins with the invitation to come and eat.  

What has God said?  What is the word God has declared to you that you may hold doubt and the reasoning is diluting your confidence to declare God’s truth is right.  I think of the times that I’ve held my own doubts about something God has said.  Doubts left unchallenged, always lead to unbelief and unbelief stops you from moving forward in the God ordained path.  You might look good on the outside but God knows you’ve pulled over and parked. 

Jeremiah prophesied asking ”What fault did your fathers find in me, that you’ve strayed so far from me?”  They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.  Jeremiah goes on to say that they had forsaken the fountain of living waters and gone after other things. God asks “what injustice have you found in me?” Jeremiah continues, “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”   

This dynamic occurs when we stop feeding on the God’s provision. We give ourselves to other things.  An evil heart of unbelief will cause us all to depart from the living God.  

As God sends forth his word, Isaiah likened it unto rain and snow that water (refresh) and bring forth seed to sow and bread to eat (provision).  The sower sows the word and man is satisfied by the fruit of his mouth.  “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  The one aligned with God goes out in joy and is led forth in peace.

Come and Dine

He sets a table before me in the presence of my enemy. 

Psalm 23:5

Psalm twenty three shows how a good shepherd cares for his sheep.  His pasture is always green and green speaks to life giving nourishment. The still waters not only refresh but rest and restore our souls.  

Jesus is the door for us to come in and out and find pasture.

Out of his own mouth he says, “if any thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”  The invite stands:

Come and feed. Come and drink,

I am impacted by this thought today:

This table sits prepared.

This table is before me. 

This table is before me IN the presence of my enemies. 

And My enemies are not invited to come and dine.

Since God sits in the heavens and laughs, think how unconcerned He is by the enemies strategies.  He declares “we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”  Colossians 3:1, NLT says “let heaven fill your thoughts.”  

As we are seated at this table that he fills with his fullness, the only thing that can possibly be lacking would be our unshakeable trust and confidence in our place and provision found in Christ.  

By feeding on what the Father has prepared, we put ourselves in remembrance of every good thing we have been given.  Feeding challenges our weak places, strengthening us as we are renewed in Him.  Jesus tells us to feed on Him and live.  He is the bread of life the Father has given.  He is the all sufficient one.  

Isaiah asked why do you spend money on things that do not satisfy when you have an invitation to come eat and drink?

This table has been set with what the Father judges necessary for my well being. 

As a mom, I know what it’s like to prepare a meal and have my children pick and choose around the meal. I shouldn’t see the table he sets before us

as a buffet; I don’t think he’s asking, “Jeanne what do you want to eat?”  

I think one of the grievous things to the Holy Spirit is the way we often reject what he is trying to feed us.   The Table is always set with exactly what we need to eat.  Could it be, that delayed promises are simply a result of our stubborn refusal to eat what is set before us?

We have this wonderful invitation to come.  Not only does he provide the meal but He promises to come in and sup with us when we respond to his invitation.  He comes with his wisdom and understanding, his mercy and loving kindness, to help.  When my heart is overwhelmed and I cry out for help, He leads me to His provision

The invite stands. 

How will we respond?

Displaced Hope

“But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.” 

Luke 24:21 ESV

This scripture tells the story of the two disciples on the Emmaus road, following Jesus’ crucifixion.  It relays that they are sad and when they meet this “stranger” they tell him about the the hope and expectation they had placed in Jesus.  

We had hoped..... we thought.... but we watched our hope die and it’s been three days.  

Displaced hope: We have all faced this, to one degree or another, and our response is often the same; one of confusion and ultimately left, sorrow.  The pictures we paint of reality for ourselves may or may not include the reality of God’s plans and purposes for us.  It is in those moments, where our picture isn’t lining up with our expectations, that we all stumble and bring sorrow to ourselves.  The question we must then face isn’t why has ‘this’ happened as we imagined, rather how do I deal with my disappointment.

Proverbs reminds us that hope deferred makes the heart sick and anxiety in the heart causes depression. Since hope is a heart issue, we must then be careful to attend to the issues taking place in our hearts. Expectation and hope carry the same meaning. Hope, from the Greek New Testament, means favourable and confident expectation. Hope has to do  the future. We don’t hope for what we see.  The most frequent use of the word Hope in the New Testament describes the happy anticipation of good.  

Must of us live with some defined expectations for our life in God. We believe in abundant life, health, prosperity and all around goodness abounding towards us. We know that in this world we shall have tribulation. We know we have an enemy that comes to steal kill and destroy but we believe that we have absolute authority over these things and somehow live with an expectation that our faith is given us to avoid adversity. Yet, we have to continually ask ourself if the pictures we’ve painted are God’s or simply our own interpretations.

A healthy individual will process the fall, shake it off and carry on without losing his “hope in God”.  A righteous man may fall seven times but rises again.  One who sits too long in the  reflection of “why” begins to shift his opinion about himself or God. Either one has disastrous potential. 

Our story today shows us how the crucifixion began to shift their mindset until they concluded Jesus was just “a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people....but we had hoped he was the one to redeem in Israel”. 

As I study this, I find that Jesus had spent days preparing these men and women for his death.  He had told them everything they needed to know.  He had given them the opportunity to be established in prayer so they would not succumb to the temptation to deny him and yet, even with all this, they still stumbled.   

Peter in his own disappointment returns, with most of the other disciples, to his previous career.  We all are in danger of removing ourselves from the plans and purposes of God when we don’t work through our own confusion and sorrow over our adversities.  

I love the conclusion of every event where Jesus finds his disciples in this place of sorrow and confusion.  He comes!  He opens the blind eyes to see. He comes as a loving reproof for slow and unbelieving hearts.  He comes with instruction that brings illumination and because he is the God of hope he fills every heart with all joy and peace in believing that we are able to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our future and our hope is once again placed in the proper source - we hope in God and we are not ashamed.  

Abiding

Abiding simply stated means to remain or to continue to be present.  How do I continue to be present when my time and attention is required for someone or something else?  The same way that I would pray without ceasing.  By carrying the awareness of our Fathers heart, His thoughts and His ways, we continue to be present with him. To ask ourselves, what does the Father want me to see and learn about Him in this moment is a powerful way to learn his nature and his thoughts as we continue to feed upon his words.  

So much of our lives are lived on remote, doing without thinking, speaking without considering, yet this place of abiding holds the condition for our place of asking.  

  Who and what determines our desires?

Jesus’ instruction for prayer in Matthew 6 began with the exaltation of our Father.  His name glorified, a desire, a hunger for His kingdom and His will (seeking first) before we every get to the place of asking.   

What I am endeavouring to communicate today is abiding is a huge responsibility BEFORE asking.  If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done. 

We know that James and 1John admonish us, knowing His will gives us confidence in our asking.  We can’t know without attending to the word and abiding in Him for wisdom and revelation.  The letter kills but the spirit gives life. There must be daily communion with both word and spirit.

Abiding, we are enabled to live in John 14:13  “whatever you ask in my name, this I will do…..14: If you ask anything in my name I will do it.”

Jesus sets the standard for our asking to not only be done from this place of abiding, but requiring it to be done in his name.

The amplified translation of John 14:26 “the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf],….. “

shows us how the Holy Spirit conducts himself on behalf of Jesus. We can glean an insight into “in the name of Jesus” being more than casual use or religious terminology.  Do you see what is required to be IN the name of Jesus? In His place, representing HIM and then acting on His behalf are essential to using His name.   

This means, if Jesus were physically present this is exactly what He would do or say. That’s a huge responsibility.  No more off the cuff praying, but a sincere seeking to accurately represent Jesus is the moment. 

Our union with Him is to be so vitally abiding that we are confident we only do and say what we hear Him decree. We act from knowing. Jesus’ greatest desire was for us to be perfectly one with the Father, doing the greater works that glorify him.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you - you shall ask what you will and it shall be done. 

He's Always Right!

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes …… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith…. Romans 1:16-17

“For in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith”.  Literally the Greek reads from faith “into” faith.  In other words, Gods righteousness is revealed to those who have an eye to see and a heart to believe the gospel declared. 

How can you believe unless you hear and hearing leads us “into” faith or a place of believing God.  Our verse tells us today that this gospel reveals the righteousness of God to us and then tells us, “the righteous shall live by faith”.  From now on, because we have been made right in God’s sight, we do right, by faith.  We do what is right because we accept it is right by faith. I like the way the Amplified translation adds to the word righteousness; His way of doing and being right. 

All this is done by faith or believing what God has said.  Romans 3:22 reads “…the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…”.  

It is the way of life to continually find ourselves choosing to believe Gods word above all other things (thoughts, feelings, natural realities) that present contrary evidence. I like this phrase from the book of Hebrews, “we understand by faith”.  Some things our head just doesn’t get, but our hearts receive and believe, and that’s okay, because Romans says it is with the heart one believes, not the head. 

We start with the heart, renew the mind and agree with God to live out His way of doing and being right.  How can two walk together unless they be agreed? 

Paul preached the gospel because it reveals God’s heart and mind. It is only by knowing the heart and mind of God and agreeing with Him that we are right in His sight with our words, actions and deeds.  Agreeing with Him will always leads us into salvation. 

Isaiah 55 shows us a people who are hungry and thirsty spending time, money and energy on things that cannot satisfy.  The prophet, by the word of the Lord, calls them back to a place of listening BECAUSE the way they were hearing, thinking and walking was are not in line with Gods thoughts or ways.  In returning and aligning with God they find Heaven’s rain bringing refreshment to their souls.  

As our minds our renewed to who He is and how he thinks, we are conformed and transformed into His image.   Just like Jesus was the exact duplicate of His Father in Heaven (“if you have seen me you have seen the Father”) we too are predestined to conform into the same image.  

Every moment, of every day, there is a word from these holy scriptures that will lead us and keep us established as the righteousness of God, (His way of doing and being right).   As we fill our hearts and minds with His word and presence, it becomes easier for the Holy Spirit to steer our lives into paths that are right in His sight.

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation revealing Gods way of doing and being right for all who believe, living with assurance that His way is the better way. 

There is a God and its not US!

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.   Romans 1:21

Over the past few weeks I’ve been writing about the dangers of pride. The ultimate act of pride is to remove God from your world view replacing Him with yourself.  Today we focus on two thoughts found here in Roman’s one “…did not Honor Him as God “ and “…(not) give thanks to Him.”  I want you to note that proper order is not just acknowledging God’s existence but rather it’s in Honoring Him as God.  

We find, in previous verses from Romans chapter one, man’s lack of honor to God is absolutely without excuse. We learn ~ “what can be known of God is plain BECAUSE God HAS shown them.”  We are all able to see His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature since they are clearly perceived in things that have been made - nature - animal kingdom - human life, etc.  The Bible tells us all are without excuse. Without excuse from what?  Without excuse to honor God as God and then give Him thanks.  From Jeremiah 2:5 we find the Lord asking “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?”  We all know that we eventually become what we follow. 

Worship is our agreement with who God is.  “Holy. Holy. Holy. Lord, God, Almighty, who was, and is and is to come.” To Honor God, as God, is to magnify, praise and acknowledge His attributes.   There is something very humbling about being able to acknowledge there is a God and it’s not us.  We do not have the ability to save ourselves.  We might like to think we are in control and have all power might and ability, but let us not be deceived, whose power is it that we are graciously allowed to use? Whose name is it that every knee bows to?  Holding this awareness keeps all pride at bay.  When we try to take the glory and honor to ourselves we begin a slippery slope.   It is His power, His might, and His dominion, forever and ever, Amen. 

Ecclesiastes instructs us that God has set eternity in the heart of man.  There is, in us all, a God given grace to intuitively know the Creator and His ways.   Paul, taking advantage of a people serving an unknown God, preached in Acts 17,… “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man nor is he served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives to all mankind, life and breath and everything. He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth determining period and boundaries for them that they should seek after him and find him; for it is in Him that we live and move and have our being.”

We are exhorted from Psalm 100 to enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.  We give thanks to Him and bless His name.  Paul wrote to the Thessalonians  “…in everything give thanks for this is the will of God…”.  Our ability to honor and thank God MUST be totally independent of any thoughts, feelings, emotions or immediate circumstances, good or bad. James wrote that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Light.  God is good and we have no good apart from Him.  It is the fruit of our lips giving thanks that is the sacrifice of praise God looks for in His children.  

We ascribe honor and give thanks to Him to remind our selves how great is our God.   Honor and thanks recalibrate the human soul and heart of man.  Because the people mentioned in Roman’s chapter one didn’t do these things “…their foolish hearts were darkened and they became (due process) futile in their thinking.” 

Without honor and thanks being given to God, man begins a progression into this place where he calls evil good and good evil.  This lack of honor and thanksgiving is the entrance into all the other unrighteous thoughts and acts, desires and pursuits listed in Romans 1:22-32.

Daily our worship begins with acknowledging who He is, that every good thing we have is BECAUSE of what HE has done. DAILY!   We honor HIM. DAILY!  In this place of honor we show a reverential fear  and understanding of Him.  We submit all that we are in this place of worship to the one whose mercy and lovingkindness provides us life and breath.  

Pay attention to who gets the glory and the thanks in your life.  Live aware that every good and perfect gift that comes to us, comes by the hand of God.  Let us remember all life and breath, all blessing, all goodness, all mercy, all help and deliverance, all love and care come ONLY because He is good and this daily remembrance keeps us calibrated to the heart and mind of God and absolutely free from the snare of any pride that would try to exalt itself above the knowledge God.   

The pride of Belshazzar

Now I Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven for all His works are true and His ways just and He is able to humble those who walk in pride. 

Daniel 4:37 

I want to show you another example of God resisting the proud.  God will always humble those who walk in pride until we acknowledge He alone is worthy of all praise, honor and glory.

 In the book of Daniel, chapter five, we read the story of Belshazzar ~

4They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.5Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. 6Then the king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together.  NASB

Belshazzar learns of Daniel who is then summoned to interpret the writing on the wall.  From verses eighteen through twenty of chapter five, Daniel rehearses the story of Nebuchadnezzars’ humiliation to Belshazzar. Verse twenty-two says something that always strikes my heart when it comes to family matters,

 “and you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart though you knew all this” but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven… …but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.”  

The Handwriting decreed the judgment of God and on that very night Belshazzar, the Chaldean King, was killed because he did not honor God. 

God always reveals himself for the purposes of life.  First Corinthian’s chapter ten and verse eleven exhorts us “…these things are written down for our instruction…” that we might not fall into the same temptations. Paul continued in verse twelve with “…let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” 

For us all, the pride of life is ever present and is insidious. Insidious is a word we don’t often hear but it pictures a force proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects. Insidious is a mid sixtenth century word meaning ‘cunning’, from insidiae ‘an ambush or trick’, from insidere ‘lie in wait for’, from in- ‘on’ + sedere ‘sit’.  Pride of life is only found in this world and is not from the Father. It is a strategy of Satan and it is insidious. Could it possibly be the ultimate lie because it exalts the knowledge of self sufficiency?

As we experience success, notoriety, and our influence in other’s lives increase, we should be keenly aware, at all times, that any entrance we have is only by the favour of God.  

I am continually reminded these days of 1 Cor. 4:7 For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 

Living daily with the acknowledgement that we are nothing by ourselves and can do nothing apart from Him is humility and the only guard against pride taking root in our hearts.   

Let’s make sure, in all things and for all things, all glory, honor and praise goes to our Father.