Pursuing Presence

Ephesians 3:13-21 

The Passion Translation. 

As I began to write about being consumed with the Fathers heart from Paul’s prayer, I found I couldn’t say it any better than the Passion Translation......

The Apostle Paul prays for hearts to overflow with our Fathers love ~ 

“So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on the earth. And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power.

Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.

Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!

Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.

Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen!”

May our hearts grow to overflow in His extravagant love for all.

Snake Bites

Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live.  Numbers 21.8

This past week, I had an interesting experience as I intently focused upon the majesty of Jesus. As my attention was fixed upon Him, I was totally unaware of anything else.    When my thoughts shifted, I become aware of a pain in my back that had been bothering me for some days, and immediately was prompted by the Holy Spirit of the above scripture.

Let’s consider the word “sees”  from verse eight .  This word speaks to revelatory seeing. We understand the serpent was a type and shadow of the sin Jesus became for us.  Anyone bitten was to be healed as he “sees”.  A personal revelation of Jesus offered as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, becoming sin, and His flesh being the bread that gives us life is the first step towards healing. 

Verse nine ~

So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would “look” at the bronze serpent and live.

The second word “look” from verse 9 means, to look upon, pay attention to, consider, to look intently at.  So this is so much more than a race to the pole see the snake and live, this is a focused determination, in the midst of chaos you have to stand to focus your attention on this snake.  I heard a preacher paint a picture of the chaos in this setting.  Snakes loosed in the camp, everyone running around, moms screaming, children crying, people dying, soldiers killing snakes: Pandemonium. In the midst of which one had to “hold” the revelation that this pole, with a snake on it, would heal you IF you looked on it intently.  

Can you imagine the pressure to stand and stare at a snake with that crazy scenario taking place?  Can you imagine the fear and panic that had to be overcome to do that? Yet it was required to focus, consider and look intently upon this serpent (sin).

One ‘seeing’ produces a hope for salvation and healing, the other works genuine repentance as sorrow fills the heart over the evil committed.  Both benefit healing and life. 

Today, we have the same offer for healing.  Jesus Christ crucified, has born our sicknesses and carried our diseases and by his stripes we were healed.   We are to live from this revelation and as we look at his cross, death and resurrection, understand all He has provided.

As we behold him, there is freedom and we live.    

The Last Hour

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.  1 John 2:18 ESV 

I don’t know where you stand about last days theology but I believe that not only are we living in the last days, Acts 2:17, but as the Apostle John writes he was living in the last hour, I am therefore confident that we are now closer to the return of the Lord than any other generation.   

We know from scripture no man knows the hour nor day of his coming but we are given signs and told to be found waiting and watching for his return.  

John’s gospel chapter nine verse 4 tells us that Jesus said:

“We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.”

And from John 4:34 we read:

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his works”. 

In Matthew 24 we read a sequence of events regarding the last days, which Jesus tells us, are the beginning of the end.  It’s not the end, just the beginning of birth pains.  As a woman who has given birth, I have an understanding of the process we go through in labour.  This knowledge gave me confidence, along the way, to know of a certainty that delivery was getting close. Just so, we as believers are able to look at these signs and determine the seasons we are in.  

And in this season of these last days Jesus said;

 “This will be your opportunity to bear witness”. Luke 21:3 

This season is our season filled with opportunities to bear witness.  In the book of Revelation, Jesus is called the “faithful witness”.  We know Jesus was faithful to reveal His Father in every dimension of his activity while on the earth up to and including His death on the cross. This too is our opportunity to be His faithful witness. 

Should we be less than His expression? Should we not be busy about our Fathers business, working while it is day?  Should we not have our lamps full, and be found watching with expectation?  

God is doing a mighty work in the world today as trust is being shaken from every conceivable place humanity could place it. Governments will fall, nations will fall, and the money will fail.  Jesus has declared it. The bible tells me so. When earthly systems fail, mankind seeks a saviour. 

And we are those who hold the words of life. Jesus lifted up, draws all men unto Himself.  

Lift up your eyes and look on the fields the fields for they are white unto harvest. John 4:34

We know this is the last hour and we must be about our Fathers business.    

Darkness is not dark to you.

“Even the darkness is not dark to you the night is bright as the day for the darkness is as light with you”…. Psalm 139:12

We all have seasons of ‘darkness’; the uncertainty as we wait on God for instruction, direction, wisdom and our next steps clarified. The psalmist finds his comfort in the omniscience of God.  He is the one who 

Who has known the mind of Lord? The depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgements and unfathomable His ways! 

Even knowing that we have the mind of Christ and that the wisdom of God is formed within us, does not mean we hold absolute understanding and clarity in every moment of every season.   We wouldn’t need God the Father, Jesus the word or His Holy Spirit if we held all the fullness of Gods mind.  

Sometimes our pursuit to know can create frustration of soul leading us to discouragement and over much introspection.  This is never the purpose of God. Learning to quiet our soul as a weaned child is absolutely necessary for hearing the Lord. Jesus said, in John’s gospel, I have things to say that you can’t bear right now.  

While we wait, we are always to carry on living and operating from what we do know.  Much of our waiting is preparation for hearts and minds submitting and yielding; a shifting of wills and motivations for the doing.  Repentance may be required for disobedience. These all position us to receive, to hear and see to obey.  Such are these days.

 To break out of the darkness, I have to make choices.  Jesus said life comes to us as we know the Father and His son, so I choose to put Him first.  I choose to Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I choose to look unto Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith.  I choose to follow Him, the true light, who lights my candle and enlightens my darkness.  I choose Him. 

There is great comfort in knowing, that for our well being, He does reveal all we need to know to move forward in every circumstance.  The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  He leads in paths of righteousness for His names sake. He sends His word  healing and delivering us from all destruction.  He will show us things to come.  We can ask and He will answer.  These are all promises assured by a loving Father.     

There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.  Nothing covered that is not exposed.  Darkness is as light to our Father and the thing that I absolutely love is, His light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never, will never, overpower His light.   May His light illuminate every corner of our lives today bringing wisdom and peace to heart and soul. 

As iT is in heaven

Your kingdom come Your will be done On earth As it is in heaven 

Matthew 6: 10

We pray for the kingdom of God to come, for his will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  This can only occur as we find faithful, committed, believers willing and obedient to the purposes of God. 

The first and last rebellion that took place in heaven came about over one of Gods created beings, Lucifer, choosing to exalt himself in an attempt to be like God.  Leading this wilful revolt, he managed to influence and draw with him a third of the heavenly host.  We learn from the book of revelation that Lucifer, now called Satan, was cast down to the earth and now makes war with the saints.  Jesus told his disciples, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightening.” When Jude writes concerning “the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling.....” it gives me serious pause to consider the gift of choice, I.e. free will that has been given to Gods creation in heaven. 

......As it is in heaven....

As we consider the work “in heaven”, we see the will of God carried out by ministering spirits willingly serving at the pleasure of our Lord.  I wonder what would happen if the heavenly host decided not to say HOLY HOLY HOLY LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.  I wonder what would happen if the angels decided they didn’t want to go where they were being sent or do what they were assigned to do?  I wonder what would happen if the Holy Spirit didn’t want to teach, lead, or guide into truth?  What if Jesus didn’t want to be “the way”?   If Satan could lead a rebellion, they all apparently have a choice.  What is it they see in heaven that holds them in this place of willing obedience? May I suggest it is only as they behold the awesome majesty and glory of Almighty God, observe His love and His works that the purity and righteousness of heaven consumes their very being and holds them in unified oneness. 

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for Him and he is before all things and by him all things consist.  

 Col. 1:16-17

On earth as it is in Heaven.....

This fascinates me because here on earth we struggle with our will being submitted to His.  We murmur, we fuss, we drag our feet, or we just flat don’t do it.  We are moved by our thoughts, feelings, emotions and circumstances.  Our eyes looking at everything besides Almighty God, creator of Heaven and earth, our Father in Heaven, Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the word made flesh, and His Holy Spirit.

It is recorded in Hebrews 10 about Jesus on earth, “behold I have come to do your will O God”.   Psalm 40 adds the word “delight”... to do your will.

Jesus said of his own personal relationship with His Father “my food is to do the will of him who sent me”.  These statements are filled with heart and choice that show us how his Kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven..... heart, choice and obedience. 

When tempted in the wilderness, Jesus chose to live by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God.  “Present your bodies which is your spiritual service”  from Romans holds a strong choice and a profound standard.  We must be willing to make the same choice through any temptation, understanding, like Jesus that life is gained by choosing to obey every word that comes from the mouth of God. 

On earth as it is in heaven looks like perfect oneness, total unity and harmony with heavens pursuits.  

These are days to choose wisely whom we “will” serve. 

The Prodigals

“......the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country and there he squandered his property in reckless living.”

Luke 15:13

KJV reads “wasted his substance”

This past week, David and I joined a national day of prayer hosted by Redleaf Prayer Ministries  focused on  the “Great Commission” from Matthew chapter 28.  We prayed for hearts to hold the desire of Jesus to seek and save the lost, to see opportunities before us, and boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.  One specific hour was dedicated to this week’s thought: the prodigals. 

The story Jesus relays in Lukes gospel about the prodigal son shows us a young man who had an inheritance, a blessed home life, well provided for, yet squandering his inheritance.  Interesting to note he is not a prodigal because he left home.  He is a prodigal because he squandered his inheritance.  Something I had never considered until David pointed it out.  The word prodigal is defined as “spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant”.

I began to think about the us as children of God, given this great inheritance through Jesus Christ and wondered how God viewed my stewardship of all the great blessings He has bestowed upon me. Have I taken the blessings of God only to consume them upon myself; doing my own thing?  Would He think I was wasteful?

I’m sure the Father hoped the son would take his inheritance and use it for good.  

God is a flow, a river of life giving water designed to be flowing into and out of us.  He works in us that He might work through us.  One of the hardest lessons I learned as a believer was how to be a resource God could use. “Yes Lord” was not a ready answer for me. Many opportunities given were rejected until I came to a place of understanding that I am Gods resource here, now, on this earth.

We might think we’re doing pretty good, but God’s view of our stewardship is the question we are considering as we move forward into these new days.  

Do we live in our Fathers house solely for the benefits He gives to us or have we learned to come and go, spend and be spent at His pleasure and purpose?

Coming out of this season, we’ve all had the opportunity for much introspection, never for the purpose of condemnation but evaluation.  What talents have been committed to us?  Are we using them as they’ve been intended or have we squandered them?  

For clarity’s sake the parable is about what the son squandered, which means “to waste (something, especially money or time) in a reckless and foolish manner”. Even the son who stayed in the house, was seemingly unaware of all that was his to use.  Is it any wonder the admonition to wake up, put off every weight, keep our lamps full, redeem the time, are all words, in one degree or another, being heard prophetically across our nation?  

We are all aware of living in a significant moment in the timing of God.  We are present in 2020 on purpose.  We are vessels that have been worked by the hand of God and fitted for the masters use, prepared for such a time as this.  

Each of us have been given an inheritance in Jesus. We have a place in our Fathers house and all that He has is ours, not to be consumed on our own lusts but resources that are to be freely given since they have been freely received.  

As we come forth from the places of isolation, may we, in wisdom and understanding, righteously dispense the inheritance we’ve been given and glorify our Father. 

Christ glorified not himself

Hebrews 5:5

“So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; But he that said unto him, you are my Son, today have I begotten you.  6: As he hath also said in another place, you are a priest forever.....”

While we can see here, and from other scriptures, Jesus did not seek man’s approval and never endeavoured to glorify himself in any way;  we do see in these two verses, that  Jesus did believe what the Father had spoken to him ~

“You are my Son.  You are a priest forever.”

Each of us learn to believe the realities of who we have been made In Christ Jesus while learning that it is only in Him that we have any place of significance.  

He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.  

We have nothing and are nothing outside of our position in Christ.  Jesus is the one who holds all blessings and as our lives are unified in him, with him, we have access to the blessings.   Ephesian’s chapter one highlights these truths ~

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing ....

.....He has blessed us in the beloved......

....in Him we have an inheritance 

Jesus said : All authority is given unto me.... any power we have access to is because it has been delegated to us.  The name of Jesus is not a signature on a blank check for us to use indiscriminately, but rather a position we operate from in His name.   In other words,  if Jesus we’re here this is exactly what He would do,  this is exactly what he would say.  Jesus said of himself, I only do what I hear, see, my Father saying, doing.  Jesus’ admonition to his disciples from John 15 was ......

“APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING” 

We are not designed to be independent of the Father,  Jesus or His Holy Spirit.

The danger of religion is the pride it breeds in thinking we are something  special outside of Jesus, and while He makes all things beautiful, and we are precious and valuable in His eyes, the reality of our new birth is an identity established “In Christ”.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; created for His purposes to continue His will and His works on this earth. 

Your Kingdom come,  your will be done, is a heart felt desire to be vitally unified with our Father, His Son, and His Spirit, so others seeing us simply see the express image of Him, through us.  

What do we have that we have not been given?  Our boasting is in Him.  

I am among you as one who serves

“A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.  And he said to them.  The kings of the gentiles exercise lordship over them and those in authority over them are called benefactors.  But not so with you.  Rather, let the greatest among you become as one who serves.  For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? But I am among you as the one who serves. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign you, as my Father assigned to me, a Kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my  table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Luke 22:24-30

Then Jesus told Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.

In the midst of this discourse, I note two interesting dynamics,   First, the eternal assignment given to the disciples and then Simon being sifted by Satan.

How can we escape the snare of the pride of life, the desire for self grandeur, seeking a name, a title, a position that elevates and glorifies us?  Jesus teaches it’s only by becoming a servant to all.  

This place of pride and self exaltation is probably the proverbial Achilles heal.  

From Matthews gospel we find a similar scenario.  James’ and John’s mother ask for her sons to have this exalted place at the side of Jesus when he comes into his Kingdom.  This creates indignation and offence among the others.   Jesus declares that those who desire to be first must first be servants.  Pointing to his own life he says, “the son of man has come to serve AND give his life as a ransom for many.”  

Putting others first always requires giving up your life in some fashion; whether it’s time or money, it costs us something to serve others.

Just as Jesus was tempted and tested when Satan offered him all the glory and power of the Kingdoms if he would bow and worship Him, we will find our lives tested to see if we are free from the pride of life or tempted to find another way to hold power, glory and honour by self exaltation instead of humbling ourselves to serve and worship only the Father. 

The proving and the testing comes and hopefully finds us yielding our lives in service for our Lord, fitted and useful for our eternal purposes.  I don’t think this is a one time deal.  Paul said in his letter to the church at Corinth, I die daily.   Humility is the only cure for pride.  I must decrease.  He must increase.  Serving is a very natural event that works to keep our hearts and minds checked.  

We must continually remind ourselves that anything we do possess has come into our lives by the goodness of God.  Jesus had nothing that had not come to Him except by the Father.  The works he did were simply the Father working through him.  He sought no glory from man but lived with a purpose to simply please His Father in all his doings and being.

Being seated with Him in heavenly places, is not only a profound privilege but a weighty responsibility, demanding our expression here on earth to be void of personal thoughts and agendas. 

My prayer as we live in these days of separation is for our hearts to hold humility and hunger to be servants.  May His Holy Spirit reveal to us any places of mind or heart that holds desire for mans glory or presses for promotion.  May every resource we have and use bring the glory to His name and work alone.

Amen. 

RIGHT WORSHIP

There are many right ways to worship God but right worship, Jesus said, must be done in spirit and in truth.

“God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

John 4:24

There is no pretence before the Father.  He searches and knows the hearts and minds of us all and desires whole hearted devotion.  The greatest Commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; which doesn’t leave a divided or distracted part of us doing something else.   

Worship is not a song, it is a position of heart, mind and strength separated to one who is worthy.  

Right worship, with many right methods, is from this right position first.  

The apostle Paul reminded us though the outward man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day.  Our prayer for daily bread must look to the invite to come and feed upon Jesus first.  

Paul emphasizes the need for us relationally to be “perfectly joined in the same mind and judgements ”.  This can’t even begin without us first being “united” with HIM.  

The Psalms speak of entering His gates with thanksgiving and coming into His courts with  praise.   Jesus is declared from the New Testament as the door and the way.  No man comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ.  

As we approach our Father we acknowledge every good and perfect gift that has come to us through Jesus and we give thanks.  We acknowledge that we have no rightful place before our God except by the offering of His son, the blood that sits on the mercy seat speaking a better word.  We give heartfelt thanks and are humbled by our remembrance that WITHOUT Jesus we have nothing, we are nothing and we can do nothing.   But in HIM and through HIM we have Access to this throne of grace.  As we approach our Father we are assured of the place and position Jesus has given us to be in His very presence.  We come with praise and adoration pouring out from our hearts and mouths.  Who is like our God!  There is no other God but our God.  Holy,  holy, holy, Lord God almighty.  He alone is worthy to receive all glory.  All honour, all praise,  all power,  all might, all dominion is His.  He is just. He is pure.  He is righteous.  He is Almighty. He is All Sufficient.  He is creator of all.  He is breathe.  He is life.  He is love, Abounding, overflowing and He alone is worthy of our ALL.

Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

1 John 5:21 NLT 

Willful obedience

“Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power...”

Psalm 110:3 KJV

NIV ~ Your troops will be willing on your day of battle......

NLT ~ When you go to war, your people will serve you willingly...

ESV ~ Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power.....

Freely and willingly are words that describe his church here and while willful simply means deliberate, full of will, or determination, somehow it gets a negative application in life.  

The legal section of the freedictionary.com gives this information concerning the word 

willful ~

“There is no precise definition of the term willful because its meaning largely depends on the context in which it appears. It generally signifies a sense of the intentional as opposed to the inadvertent, the deliberate as opposed  to the unplanned, and the voluntary as opposed to the                 compelled.

Our pursuits of God are to be intentional with planned deliberation that are always joyful and  voluntary, producing willful obedience to our Lord.  We don’t arrive at this place of planned deliberation, willful obedience, because we have to, but rather because we want to.  

Jesus is described from Isaiah chapter 11 with the seven spirits of God resting upon him., highlighting His fear of the Lord,  King James uses the phrase “quick understanding”.  ESV uses the word delight, “his delight was in the fear of the Lord.”  The fear of Lord flows from a heart that desires Him above all and this desire yields willful obedience because we desire to please Him.  

There is a pulling by the Holy Spirit, a steady reminder that we are not of this world.  Hearts being drawn to greater attachment to heavenly realities above earthly blessings.  A pruning, purging of the negative willfulness to yield to the necessary willful obedience needed for our next season. 

Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, But yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.  Romans 6:13

Our invitation is always one to come up higher, for heaven to fill our thoughts and affections, so we can join with Jesus and declare, “It is written of me, I have come to do your will.”  All wilfulness that hinders us from a place of deep commitment to the one whose we are must give place to willful obedience and this can only be birthed in and through intimacy. 

We are expecting and looking for a mighty move of God with demonstration of His power and glory in these days.  He’s looking for the faithful servant whose yielded heart has produced willful obedience that He can trust to use His power righteously and give the glory to Him.

                 “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power....”

OuCH!

“..Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?”

• Hebrews 12:9

Should it be a surprise, when we ask the Father to teach us His ways, to search our hearts, that he actually takes us up on the invite and the journey begins?

I wasn’t really disciplined as a child and what I did receive equated to punishment and rejection. Through the years I learned my “best” performance earned approval and acceptance.  

It wasn’t until, as a young wife, I was born again that God began to teach me from His word the value of discipline. It took a long time, much soul searching prayer, and many conversations with David to see and shift some very established mindsets and behavioural patterns.  

I had to learn first to value discipline.  Then I had to learn how to receive it without feeling horrible about myself. I had to learn the reality of love.  All discipline is for the purpose of training.  Painful realities revealed by the Spirit are working to conform us into the image of Jesus.  They must be received and endured, never rejected, to be conformed and this can never be fully achieved until we are confident He loves us. 

All correction, instruction, revealing, comes to us by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of LIFE and  because the Father loves us; and because He loves us, He never, never, never, rejects us in our weaknesses, failures, or our humanity. There is nothing that separates us from the love of God and we must be confident in this or our weaknesses and failings, our personal judgments, will keep us away from the very one who is trying to bring us into life.

The process of hearing and seeing your inadequacies, flaws, rebellion, sin, revealed by the Holy Spirit is a continual and painful process, one that must be endured.  All pruning, Jesus said, is for the benefit of greater fruit.

As we consider the following verses from chapter twelve of Hebrews, let us remember all Jesus endured for the joy that was set before Him. 

• It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom His Father does not discipline?

• If you are left without discipline, IN WHICH ALL HAVE PARTICIPATED, THEN YOU ARE Illegitimate children and not sons.  

• Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us for a short time and we respected them.  Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?”

• But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 

• For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 

In this season of realignment, this setting in order that is preparing us for our days ahead, the Holy Spirit is revealing truth, refining attitudes and pruning character and if we do not see this process as LIFE, we will not willingly hear, see, or be transformed by the renewing (changing) of our minds.    

The bottom line is not to forget the exhortation that addresses us as sons and daughters, loved by our Father. 

Do not be weary when you are reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines (instruction that trains one to reach full development) the one he loves...

May His grace and comfort be to each one of us in these days as we submit to the Father of our Spirits, endure the discipline and enjoy the fruit that flows from it. 

Redeeming the time

Redeeming the time for the days are evil 

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:17 ESV

 KJV uses the word “redeeming” and it means “to take full advantage of a buying opportunity, i.e. making the most of the present opportunity.”

I’m viewing our current life circumstances as a divine opportunity to make the most of the present opportunity we find ourselves in.  Wisdom dictates, make the most of this time!  Let’s remember that For those who love the Lord, he works all things together for our good.  Even in momentary light afflictions we know He is working a greater weight of glory in us.  

Unprecedented events have demanded isolation with immediate households contained.  More time than ever to devote to marriages and family. With the ability to work from home we are finding creative ways to do it all!  May I call to remembrance, God gives grace, and the grace He gives is abounding and abundant! There is a grace for every God moment.  

We have no idea how long the quarantine will last BUT while it is in place can we view it as a divine moment of preparation?  A time where out of order gets in order.  Where hearts have been lured into comfort and even complacency, we are hearing and responding to the pull of the Holy Spirit to feed upon His presence and word.  Coming up, drawing near, going deeper into our own personal and private times with our Heavenly Father. 

We are trusting as we come out of our homes, we find great days of harvest for the church.  IF, we are living in evil days and times are changing, whatever that looks like, we must have our hearts fixed, firmly trusting in the Lord so that we are not moved in the shaking, blowing storms of life!  Some trust in chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.  Mans systems will fail, but our God and his love will NEVER FAIL.  

So in these times, let us make the most of the present opportunity, full advantage...” before us, and find ourselves living in Him, moving in Him and having our being in Him.  Then our lamp is full, we are ready and waiting, fit for the masters use, poured out for humanity, with all glory given to God. 

FATHERHOOD

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named...” Ephesians 3:14-15

Amplified adds ~ [that Father from whom all Fatherhood takes its title and derives its name]

The word family is taken from the word for Father.  In the Greek, there is only one letter difference between family “patria” and “pater” father.  Our Father in heaven has become the source and origin for the name Father being expressed in family. 

Family has its origin in God as the standard for all Fatherhood. He created family.

Complete Jewish Bible reads: “From whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its character”

On the National day of prayer held for Canada online yesterday, one of the things that caught my heart was the recurring prayer over families.

An unexpected impact of this virus, where we can see God working for good, is the knitting of families.  We have been reading scores of tweets about people forced to stay home and as expected, there have been a wide range of comments, from downright sad to the wonderful.  Where homes have been fractured through family eroding activities, this imposed quarantine is bringing marriages and families into a press.  Many need not only a saviour but a healer.  They need to know that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.  

Our Father is good, always good, and does not change.  His Family not only holds his name but his very nature!  Songs and messages have “reset” and “realigned” the church to the goodness and love of our Father in heaven.  Truly we can say His church has been prepared for such a time as this. 

We, the body of Christ, must carry the Spirit of Fatherhood. It must be seen flourishing in our hearts and homes.  The standard of Jesus is the expression of our Father. 

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.   

Mankind seeks love, value and acceptance and we are the world’s hope for seeing the goodness of God manifested.  God, the Father desires to make himself known. This can be the greatest moment for us as believers.  

He is a good Father who is unwilling for any to perish!

One of the prayer panelists yesterday said from Acts two,the fruit of an enforced quarantine that found the disciples waiting on the Father to fill their lives with his presence, moved them out of a house and profoundly altered the course of the church.  It was new and never the same again.

With increased harvest comes an increased need to care for others.  This can be the greatest moment for the church.  We step into lives and bring the love (initial entrance) and discipline (the process of growth) of a Father.  

Our days of isolation will be deeply impacting for all.  Our Father gave his best to create family. For our families sake, may we continue to give our best too.  

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!