Coup de tat

I realized that I have been very disappointed with myself.  I have failed in so many areas of my life, mostly I have failed myself.  I should have done better.  I should do better.  I watch TV instead of dealing with the junk mail.  I read the news instead of mopping the kitchen floor.  These aren't even the serious failings.  These are just little daily life things. Even these point out my failings.  I know they are wrong, yet I persist.  After all I know right from wrong.  Oh, Eve, dear, how I wish you had not picked that tree.  "You will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5. How quickly I become my own god; judging my god performance.  Do I measure up good or evil?

"I am the Vine; you are the branches." John 15:5  I have never in all my life seen a branch beat itself up.  I have never seen a branch run around in a hurry, worried about whether it was doing a good job or not.  I have never seen a branch take charge of the situation because the vine was _____ (insert: silent, slow, needing help, or any other excuse for a coup de tat.) I've, in fact, never seen a branch care.  It simply did what the vine told it to do.  It produced the fruit of the vine, not the fruit of the branch.
I'm so tired of my pride that says I'm a god and therefore must perform in a god-like fashion.  I'm so tired of looking at myself.  Jesus sits next to me saying, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:3 "If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5.


Lord help me to let go of my own judgement of myself.  Help to get my eyes off of myself and on to You.  I want Your yoke, not my own.  I want to be in You and not be in myself.  I want to rest in the Vine, bearing the fruit of the Vine.  Forgive me for getting caught up in myself instead of You.  This is impossible for me to do, but with God all things are possible.  So I appeal to the Author and Perfecter of my faith, to my Redeemer, to my Savior,  the One and only true God, the Lover of my soul; enable me to be the branch that remains in You.  In the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Gift

^" When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.  When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit,  because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit." Acts 8:14-17


There has at times been confusion about speaking in tongues. Certainly one can be saved and baptized just as the Samariatians where without speaking in tongues.  This is not about salvation.  This is about power. 


"I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”  Luke 24:49


I don't know about you, but I need all the power from the Lord I can get to live a victorious, righteous life.  If Daddy says we need it, then we need it.  It's as simple as that.


^"While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.  For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God."  Acts 10:44-46


Speaking in tongue is you allowing the Holy Spirit to pray and praise through your lips.  You don't know what you are saying and it almost sounds like gibberish.  But it is not!  It is the power of God Himself praying for you.  It builds your inner man up and intercedes as only the All Knowing One can.  It is the power of God released onto the earth.


"Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves"1 Corinthians 14:4


At first it is odd to be speaking and the language skipping your brain all together, but if you will believe the Word and ignore the ridicule of your flesh and the enemy; you will begin to feel things moving in the Spirit.  Remember what Peter said:


"Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off —for all whom the Lord our God will call.'" Acts 2:38-39


Don't let anyone steal the Gift your Father wants you to have.  Take the Gift with thanksgiving and enjoy the new dynamic in your relationship with the Father who loves you so much.  He knew this world would be difficult, so He gave you a Gift to help.  We all have been in situations where we simple don't know what to pray or worse yet we are convinced we do know what to pray and are way off in our understanding.  Praying in tongues empowers us to pray the will of God.  Remember He didn't send His Son to condemn us, but to rescue us.  He didn't send His Holy Spirit to rip us apart but to build us up.  He's for you not against you.  Trust Him.  Yield control of your tongue.  


James3:7-8 says: "All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind,  but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."  Untameable by man, yet tamed and made obedient by the power of God.  And not only obedient, but full of the praises of God.  Don't let the fear of looking foolish lord over you.  Submit to God; more than that, grab a hold of the God's gift!

What, Me a Saint?

When Paul calls us saints he’s referring to a blameless, clean, innocent, perfect, cherished one.  Previous experience with yourself would lead you to question how much wine he had at communion before he wrote these references.  Our attempts at being truly righteous have been dismal failures.  Yet continually Paul holds up these unattainable standards “..clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”(Colossians 3:12) How in the world are we able to be these saints Paul calls us?

“He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.’” (Ezekiel 2:1)  Ezekiel could not even stand up when the Lord commanded him to.  If he could not do such a simple thing how am I going to be patient? The next verse has the key. “As He spoke, the Sprit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard Him speak to me.” (Ezekiel 2:2).  The Lord Himself enables us to do the impossible; He empowers us to obey Him.

  Oh, Lord, give us revelation about the truth.  Let us see how impossible it is for us to obey You in our flesh. After we have been convinced that we can do no good for Jesus said, “No one is good—except God alone”(Luke 18:19), let us also see the Good News.  That You then enable us to live the impossible by the power of the Holy Spirit.  May You truly be glorified in me! Thank you Lord Jesus for Your “..great and precious promises, so that through them (I) may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”(2 Peter 1:4). What an awesome and loving Father You are! How wonderfully You provide for Your children! Amen.

Heart's Desire

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:4

You are the desire of your Creator.  He created you as He desired.  You are not a mistake, nor an accident of genetics and natural order.  Now all these things may influence your shell; your physical body.  But your physical body does not define you.  You can be separated from your physical body.  We call that death.  What God desires is your inner man. He desires an intimate loving relationship with you; not to berate and judge you. No, what you fear in judgement and has already been dealt with on the Cross.   If you will delight yourself in Him; if you will pursue the loving God that staged a daring rescue to free you from sin's captivity, then He will give you the petitions of your inner man.  You will experience your heart's desires.  He will fill you with vitality, and not just some vitality, but exceedingly abundant vitality.

"I (Jesus) have come that they (that means you) may have life, and have it to the full."  John 10:10.

By the way that "...to the full" means super abundantly, more than enough.  You know, the cup's running over kind of full.

Dear Lord, enable us to trust Your Love.  Help us to lay hold of that which You have laid hold of us for.  Let us delight ourselves in You and let go of our own understanding and lordship over our lives.  We want to relish our relationship with you.  Open our eyes to see the truth of Your superabundant love for us.  Thank you  Sweet Savior!

Suffering

“He who scorns instruction will pay for it.” Proverbs 13:13.

            “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s disciple, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.” Hebrews 12:5-6.

" Son though He (Jesus) was, He learned obedience from what He suffered  and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him  and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek."  Hebrews 5:8-10.

            In heaven, where the will of God is done, there is no death, sickness, poverty, or hunger—every tear is wiped from our eyes; but, in case you haven’t noticed, we are not home yet.  We all know that that devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but suffering cannot only be dismissed as evil. Our flesh has not yet died and the Lord of Lords has not been allowed to have His will totally done in our lives.  Not accepting the discipline that comes through suffering can come from the old common hackneyed sin of pride—you don’t need the Lord’s correction, because you can’t see how this suffering could benefit you.  Since you don’t understand, it must be evil. Our answer to suffering is not a formula we can execute without submersion in the Spirit of God in order to know how to respond.   We cannot wave the “Christian” version of the pagan dead chicken over suffering and proclaim “If you just had enough faith, this wouldn’t have happened.”  Love alone abhors such dictates.

            If suffering has entered your life, our loving Father has the power and wisdom to turn the pain into joy.  I know through experience that He is trustworthy with our pain and shame.  By submitting these things to His loving care, He is able to turn them into gold.  These stormy days can draw us into a depth in Jesus that sunny days can never comprehend.  If you remember, the blind beggar the Jesus healed in John 9 had no fear of the Pharisees and even openly rebuked them for their spiritual blindness.  He is remembered throughout history, not as a bum, but for his unabashed refusal to fear men.  If you submit this suffering to your loving Father, what great thing will you be remembered for?

Death or Life?

“’You will not surely die, ‘ the serpent said to the woman.  ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”—Genesis 3:4-5.

Natural death is a separation of the soul from the body.  Natural death began in the Garden but that day we surely died to God.  We separated ourselves from the presence of the Living God.  We chose death instead of Life.  We chose separation, independence from God.  Surely we died to Life and Life abundantly.

            There is only one way back.  That is to choose Life.  The Hebrew word translated life is (ית) chay.  The first letter of life is (י) yod, which means a child’s hand extended to grasp.  The second letter of life is (ת) tau, which is actually a combination of two other letters:  (נ) nun and (ך) daleth.  (ך) Daleth is a broken man and (נ) nun is a crushed man, the Messiah.  So (ת) tau means a broken man embraced by the Messiah; it is the letter representing salvation. So in the Garden the word for Life pictorially represents a child’s hand grasping the salvation wrought by the Messiah.   Why a child’s hand?  Only as a child are we dependent without shame.  Only as a child can we run naked without fear.  Only as a child are we clothed and provided for by our Father.  Our only job as a child is to obey.  We don’t need to figure things out; that’s His job.  We just smother Him in hugs and kisses when he walks through the door.  And He sits down, pulls us on His lap, and tells us stories.  Go sit on your Father’s lap grasping the salvation He offers and choose life!

Father, how I love You!  Forgive me for choosing independence, for exalting myself.  Grant me the gift of repentance.  I choose Life.  I choose being a child of God.  Fill me with Your love so that I won’t hide in fear from Your Presence any more.  But instead I would trust in Your Salvation.  Thank you Jesus, for giving me the victory over death!  Oh Father, be my God and I will be Your child.  Amen.

Deliverance

Demonic entities…scary…let’s not go there.  If I stick my fingers in my ears and repeat over and over “they do not exist or at least they’re not in this country” they won’t bother me, right?  Great idea, if you were never even tempted to sin.  But since that has nothing to do with reality, let’s get on with the facts of living in a fallen world whose dominion has temporally been given over to the evil one.

“They scare me.  They seem more powerful than me.”  Yes, they are more powerful than you.  But your Hope is not in you.  You are not your redeemer, God is.  You know, the Guy who holds the universe in His hands.  “Well I’ve never been an ax murder, nor has my head turned green and spun around, so I don’t need deal with this.”  Well, that’s wonderful, but I bet you can’t say the same thing about lying, fear, despair, and haughtiness (1 Kings 22:22, Romans 8:15, Isaiah 61:3, Proverbs 16:18).  Have you ever been intimidated?  Check out 2 Timothy1: 7  “ For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”  Considering the plethora of spirits referred to as unclean or evil that Jesus cast out in the Gospels, it would not be logical to assume that we don’t have to face similar problems.  And if you think that redeemed people don’t have “those kinds of problems” remember that Paul was writing to Pastor Timothy when he was warning Timothy not to abide by the spirit of timidity.

            Are all our problems with sin related to demonic activity?  Of course, not.  Our flesh is often much more in control that we admit to ourselves.  The flesh must be denied.  And forced to die.  But we, at times, have had to face sinful behavior that cannot be denied.  We are no longer in control.  They must be cast out.  Let’s say you’ve had a chronic problem with lying, even lying for trivial things.  First, you apply the blood of Jesus over yourself, because it was by the blood of Jesus that you were redeemed.  Then since Jesus has redeemed you, you know that no unclean spirit should have dominion over you.  “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7.  Say out loud something like the following: “I command and require you unclean lying spirit (and any cohorts) to leave me and my household in the Name of Jesus, for the Blood speaks more powerfully than any sin or curse.  The Lord rebuke you!” Then humble yourself before the Lord and open your heart. Ask for the healing power of the cross to be released and allow Him to heal your heart from any wounding related to or causing you to give yourself over to that lying spirit. When you ask Him, memories often will come to mind from your past.  The most common response is, "that's really no big deal."  Don't rely on your own understanding!  You prayed and now that God is answering you, accept that He knows more than you.  It is a big deal or He wouldn't have brought it up. Confess that you are hurt and need to be healed.  Repent for unforgiveness towards the offender and usually yourself, as well.

 Seek His leading to see if there is anyone you wronged that you need to repent or make retribution to. Once again, let the Lord be in charge of any actions with others. Then as you submit to His leading you will be released into the freedom of Holiness.

 “’But you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.  And you will go out and leap like calves released form the stall.  Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Emphasis is mine) Malachi 4:2-3.

For those of you that the idea of the demonic is a new or frightful consideration, ponder what the name Lord Almighty means.  For those offended by the suggestion that one as “holy” as you could possibly have demonic associations, remember that were there is manure (sin) sooner or later there is bound to be flies (demons).