Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Burden of the call is the weight of His glory

The burden of His call. The weight of His glory.
 "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.” Joshua 3:3,4
 God was leading His people out of the Land of Egypt. They were about to cross the Jordan river and enter into the new promised land. Egypt was a place of pain and misery. Slavery and torment. God had heard the cry of His people.
 His voice echoes through time and space and it reaches you. You feel a tugging, a longing to know Him more. He calls you by name you know. He has the hairs of your head numbered. He knows everything about you, your greatest need and your deepest fear. He’s calling you. For some, it’s as if a responsibility has been placed upon your shoulders . It’s a mantle of anointing like that of Elisha and Elijah the prophet’s of old. A deep longing comes from your spirit that says, “I must fulfill the call of God.”
  Many have heard his call and obeyed. For Abraham it was call away from the foreign gods of his fathers to serve the one true God. The call to know Him more. For Isaiah it was a commissioning, a sending forth to service. “ Whom shall I send and who will go for me?” , and he answered, “here I am Lord send me!” God has a great purpose for your life. Will you say?  “Here am I Lord.” Jeremiah the prophet too heard the calling voice of God and was reluctant, overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy. How can God use me? The weight of His call is heavy at times, but He promises, “My grace is sufficient for you, and my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Many are reluctant but those who choose to answer His call will experience His glory. What is it that God is calling you to do? To take a step in obedience? To lay down selfish pride? To pick up where you left off and follow Him once again? To trust Him more? His call is an invitation, and obedience will always lead to a closer walk with Him. “He has prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
 The Levites carried the ark of the covenant upon their shoulders. Symbolizing the presence of God. The burden of the call was the weight of His glory. Following after God can be difficult at times. “Surrender, surrender everything to me. Lay down your life as I have laid down mine and I will raise you up and you will share in my glory.” Some day we will dwell in His presence forever, and here and now we will experience the weight of His glory, if we accept His call. Some will and do, many won’t. Will you? Will you move out from your current position and follow God? He promises to go ahead of you and to always with you. He’s taking you to a place where you have not been yet.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

A Spoken Word

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
(Genesis 1:1-3)
 In the beginning, The world had no order to it, it was empty and void of shape, life, and purpose. God spoke light into existence and the process of life and structure began. The power of a spoken word. A word from God changes everything. A word spoken from the lips of the throne brings light to darkness, hope to a desolate situation . A word from God brings life again, and a sense of purpose where the light of such is dimming.  Oh, how we need to Hear from Him.
 A life without order has no peace, no sense of stability. Oh, but one word. You may be feeling that way right now. Things in your life may spinning out of control and you feel disillusioned and fragmented. But one word. Every human has a need for a sense of security in their life. Affirmation that God has a plan and a purpose, a word for us today, now, and for our situation. “I have come to bring order to chaos. I am the spoken Word, the living Word, Jesus. I have come to bring order to the chaos of the human condition called lost in sin. I make things right again and put them in their rightful place. I bring order where there is none.”
  It’s interesting to me that the first book of the Bible begins with the spoken word and the beginning of the New Testament does the same: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)
 God is still speaking today, He’s the still small voice; if you’re not careful you’ll miss Him. He’s the Word of God alive and powerful and when you do hear him you’ll know it is Him, and he’ll bring peace to your heart and order to your soul.

Friday, March 9, 2012

I am doing a new thing

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
( Matthew 1:19,20.)

The devil tried to stop or hinder Jesus’ birth through a spirit of fear. He wanted Mary to just, “go away, and do it quietly.” Has the devil every spoke that to your mind? "Don’t speak up for God, the people won’t receive you. Don’t step out for God, it may not be Him. Just be quiet and back away."
When God is birthing something new in your spirit there will always be a temptation to back away from it, but go ahead and move into the next trimester of your pregnancy for the thing that I have birthed in you is of the Holy Ghost, and when it comes forth it will be of Jesus and will change your world. People who wanted to abort your vision will suddenly want to marry it, and I will cause people who were once against you to come along your side. What you have doesn’t fit in to the religious system of your day, but that’s ok don’t fear what I’m doing for I am doing a new thing now it spring forth shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19)

Thursday, March 8, 2012

A "It Is finished Anointing"

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4.
 David was encouraging himself in the Lord. He calls God his Shepherd. David understood what it meant to walk through a dark valley, to face danger, he himself was a shepherd and faced the lion and the bear. The valley of Elah is where he met his giant “death“. You may be going through a dark valley, but you’re not going die in this valley. Your dreams are not going to die, your ministry will not die, your hope for a good future will not die. Yes, you have an appointment with your giant, but this is the last you’ll ever see of him. David cut off goliaths head. “I am giving you an “it is finished anointing.” Your giant is going to be cut off from you. No more battling the same battle, the same devil. No more reoccurring nightmares, no more lingering fear, no more resurfacing addictions. I am giving you the power to declare to your enemy, “IT IS FINISHED!” “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.” David later had a spirit of revelation, he understood why he had to face the lion and the bear, it was to prepare him for this moment. The greatest victory of his life. Your greatest battle will only lead to you greatest victory.

He Who Promised Is Faithful

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;” Hebrews 10:23. If you continually speak out empty words of doubt and negativity then there is no positive substance to those words. Negative words only fuel the emptiness of hopelessness; like an abandoned baby we are left to feel like helpless victims of our circumstances with no sense of security. The Bible declares that faith is the substance of things hoped and the evidence of things not yet seen. Hold on to God, hold on to confessing the hope you have in Him and the undeniable truth that He is the Faithful One Mighty and True. No weapon formed against you will prosper and every mountain set before you will be conquered. He makes my feet like the hinds feet and I will not waver.

Walk Softly, Carry a Big Stick.

God chose Moses, a runaway fugitive who once had authority to drive men to obey him, but who found himself with his royal status lost to become a sheep herder whose only symbol of authority was a wooden staff. God showed Moses that he was stronger and more enabling than what the world could ever offer. He told Moses to throw down the rod and it became a serpent, and then to pick it up again. He told him to lift up the rod and stretch it high and it parted the Red Sea. I may walk softly, but I carry a big stick, I may not be as eloquent as some, or have the social status of the mighty, but I know WHOSE I AM AND WHOM I SERVE. I may not have the authority of the princes and kings and rulers of this natural world, but GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN ME THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD!