Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Don't be Overwhelmed

Do you ever feel like circumstances and people around you are creeping up and overtaking you? Do you feel bogged down and overwhelmed? In order to keep people and things from getting to you, first you have to get to God! Things and people will keep dogging you in your mind. In your subconscious thinking, they'll catch you and tag you and say, "Ha! You're it!" You will feel caught, obligated in your mind to those things, unless every day you start by running straight for the safe base and begin the day there.

Every day, run to home base and linger there until you're filled up with the Spirit of God and equipped, ready with the game plan for the coming day. Yesterday's manna is now stale -- it was for yesterday. We need new bread for each new day.

Jesus said, "I assure you. Moses didn't give them bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

"Sir," they said, "give us that bread every day of our lives."

Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst. But you haven't believed in me even though you have seen me. However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them." -- John 6:32-37 (NLT)


Never stop coming to Jesus.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Never be Shaken

Press into God -- Be resolute in this.
Get deeply rooted in Him.
Immerse yourself in His presence.
Soak in His Word.
Be filled with His Spirit.
Rest in His everlasting arms.
Be planted by His river of living water.
Resolve to be influenced only by His Holy Spirit.
Drink deep from the well of the Savior's living Word --
Refuse to be pushed off balance by worldly thinking or to let God's peace and joy be compromised by external satanic oppression.
Place your feet firmly on the Rock, so that you will never be moved, never shaken from that place.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instucts me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psalm 16:7,8)

My soul finds rest in God alone. My salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress; I will never be shaken. (Psalm 62:1)

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Draw Me Deeper

Draw me deeper, Lord --
You are my Deliverer.
Pour into me Your Presence --
You are my Peace.
Settle my spirit --
You are my Strength.
Hover over me, Holy One --
You hush my uncertain heart.
Dance and sing over Your servant --
You saturate me, a deluge of joy.
Wash me in the water of Your Word --
You bring steady waves of wholeness to my soul.
Blood of Jesus, flood my being --
You rescue, You cleanse, You preserve and heal me.
Shelter me, my Strong Tower --
You are my safe hiding place, my Stability.

Isaiah 33:6a - He will be the stability of your times.

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Thursday, April 27, 2006

Blessed or Cursed?

Have you read Deuteronomy 28 lately?

Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God.
After this Moses lists the tremendous blessings that will overtake us if we obey the Lord as he teaches us. Did you get that? The blessings will overtake us. We don’t seek the blessings. We seek to obey the Lord. The blessings will overtake us -- come upon us. Then he continues in verse 9:

...if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. [and in verse 13]...if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
The above verses outline my part in this process of walking in blessed relationship with the Lord. Read for yourself in Deuteronomy 28 the amazing things God does when we obey Him. Then read in verses 16 through 68 all of the curses that come upon us when we don’t obey Him in everything. Wow. 12 verses of incredible blessing, encompassing every area of life; 53 verses of cursing if we are disobedient to the Lord.

So here’s how to apply it. It starts in my morning prayer time with the Lord. It is established in my life during this time. By praying over it, God gives me the motivation and empowers me to obey. In the first two verses, Moses tells us what we need to do: Diligently obey the Lord, being careful to do all His commandments which you are commanded today.

First, I must review the two greatest commandments, which are the eternal foundation of God’s law: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all our soul, and all your strength. Then, love your neighbor as yourself. So first I ask the Lord to look over my relationship to Him, my relationship to myself, and my relationships to others, and I ask Him to reveal to me anything that needs to be mended. I let His Spirit hover and work in me to show me anything I need to do here. On any given day, if I am keeping very short accounts, this will take only a few seconds, and He will give me overwhelming assurance that I am walking in His Spirit and my relationships are healthy and Spirit-led. If there is something wrong, I will need to repent, ask forgiveness, and/or make restitution for something. The Lord will show me. It may take some time, and I must give Him that time.

If I follow the two greatest commandments, I won’t be worshiping anything other than God or taking Him too lightly, I won’t be lying, stealing, committing adultery, hurting other people. I will honor my parents and those in authority over me and I will be setting aside one day in seven exclusively for worshiping the Lord and fellowshipping with other believers, not involved in secular pursuits on that day. And I will not be going after anything in this world, for this world has nothing for me.

After I know this is all taken care of, then I can ask the Lord what specific commands He has for me today, just like Moses said. I can ask the Lord, “What word do you have for me to live by today? Is there any specific instruction you have for me? What issues and what people should I especially give my attention to today?” He may give instruction that I can write down at that moment, or He may not. He will order my steps according to His Word as I go through the day. By practicing this regularly, I will know when He has something to speak into my heart and I will know when it is time to get up and go. He will lead me in the rest of my prayer time and study of His Word, to intercede on behalf of all the saints everywhere and to receive instruction for daily living and for ministering to those I come in contact with in person or in prayer. He will guide me by the umpire of His peace that will rule in my heart.


By practicing these things in prayer, God will eliminate, day by day, every manifestation of residual curses that have been present in my life because of past disobedience. Read Deuteronomy 28. Identify some of the curses that may be hanging on in your life. Determine to diligently obey God in everything, and allow Him to replace every curse with His blessing. Your life will never be the same – every day!

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Tuesday, April 18, 2006

A Word from the Lord

By His Spirit the Lord says:

It’s my greatest pleasure to work in my children. They hardly ever let me do this. I am so powerful that you cannot even imagine how great the things are that I can do in you. It’s completely a matter of trust. Are you willing to trust me? I mean really trust me? No questions asked, just complete surrender. Not many of my people will do this. It’s the highest calling, to completely humble yourself and let go of everything – every thought, every idea, every dream, every desire, and let me in. You have to make room for me by releasing your grip on everything else. This takes constant vigilance, because it’s the nature of humanity to grip onto things. You must grip onto Me, and Me alone.

I want to bless you. I am a giving God. My nature is to give. My people don’t completely understand how to receive from me, but all I want to do is give Myself to them. If you receive Me, you will know Me, and you will become like Me. This is my desire for you. This is what Paul understood and strove for. The possibilities are endless. What you can do and what you can become when you are receiving from Me and abiding in Me is more than you have ever imagined. My Word is true. As you receive more and more of my Spirit, infusing through your entire being, you will understand more and more the depth and the fullness of the Truth of My Word. It is to transform you into my likeness. My Spirit and my Word, together, will do this in you.

Faith and obedience are the keys. It’s all about saying YES to me and everything I want to be in you, to do in you. Faith is how you receive from Me. Obedience is how you release what I have imparted to you into the world around you. Stay very, very close to me, and learn to let it flow. It’s a flowing: Me into you and Me out through you. This is how you become one with Me, by My Spirit and My Word.

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Thursday, April 13, 2006

Is It Worth My Effort?

Here’s more from A.W. Tozer:

A fairly accurate description of the human race might be furnished to one unacquainted with it by taking the Beatitudes, turning them wrong side out and saying, “Here is your human race.” For the exact opposite of the virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities which distinguish human life and conduct.

In the world of men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness, arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing”; instead of mercy we find cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of peacemakers we find men quarrelsome and resentful; instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon at their command.

Of this kind of moral stuff civilized society is composed. The atmosphere is charged with it . . . And this is the more to be wondered at seeing that these are the evils which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of us. All our heartaches and a great many of our physical ills spring directly out of our sins. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice, greed are the sources of more human pain than all the diseases that ever afflicted mortal flesh.
-- The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer, Chapter entitled, "Meekness and Rest."

And then he sums it up in one statement: “The esteem of the world is not worth the effort.”

Our true worth comes not from the approval of people, but of God. Without Him we are nothing. With Him, we can be everything He has created us to be.

Do you know what you are supposed to be? Do you know what purposes you were created for? The world is a cruel taskmaster, and its approval, though we chase after it all of our days, eludes us forever. But Jesus said, “Come to me.” Only when we turn our efforts to pleasing God alone will we ever find ourselves, our purpose, our worth. What does He require of us?

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God? – Micah 6:8

Have you found out from Him what this means for you today?

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Saturday, April 08, 2006

God's Word is Medicine

My son, give attention to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your sight;
keep them in the midst of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them
and health to all their body.
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
for from it flow the springs of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth
And put devious speech far from you (Proverbs 4:20-24).
Is there something in your life – your body, your emotions, your relationships, your understanding of God – that needs some healing work? Give attention to God’s Word. What does this mean? Spend time in prayer asking God exactly what it means for you. Cry out to Him and pray it through until you receive His word for your situation:

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them out of their distresses.
He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions (Psalm 107:19-20).

I will stand on my guard post
and station myself on the rampart;
And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me,
And how I may reply when I am reproved.
Then the Lord answered me and said,
"Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets,
That the one who reads it may run.
For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:1-3).
Keep on listening to God, searching His Word, and receiving from His Spirit what he would speak to your situation. Is there something you need to forgive? Is there something you need to be forgiven for? Is there something you need to stop doing? Is there something you need to start doing? Do you need to get busy? Do you need to be still? Do you need more love, more joy, more peace, more energy, more patience, more self-control? Do you need physical healing? God knows.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth
into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands (Isaiah 55:10-12).
Spend some time with the Lord. If you give Him enough time and enough room to work with you, He will speak the healing Word. Receive it, completely obey whatever He tells you to do, and allow Him to accomplish His work in you.

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Thursday, April 06, 2006

Where is God?

HE IS ABOVE THE EARTH, UNDER THE EARTH,
AND IN THE REMOTEST PLACE

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me (Psalm 139:7-10).

HE IS OVER ALL, THROUGH ALL, AND IN ALL
There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (Eph. 4:4-6).

HE FILLS ALL
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Eph. 1:22-23).

HE IS BEHIND YOU
But you will not go out in haste, nor will you go as fugitives;
For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard (Isaiah 52:12).

HE IS IN FRONT OF YOU
I have set the Lord continually before me (Psalm 16:8).

Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you (Deut. 9:3).

HE IS AT YOUR SIDE
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken (Psalm 16:8).

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand (Psalm 121:5).

HE IS ABOVE YOU
He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark (Psalm 91:4).

HE IS IN THE MIDST OF YOU
Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you (Deut. 23:14).

HE IS IN YOU
That is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:26, 27).

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

HE IS HOLDING YOU UP
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

HE SURROUNDS YOU
For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield (Psalm 5:12).

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:7).

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever (Psalm 125:2).

HE IS CARRYING YOU
You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself (Exodus 19:4).

Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you (Isaiah 46:4).

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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Count It All Joy


"Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials. Every stumbling block must become a stepping stone, and every opposition must become an opportunity.

"It does not matter where you are if God is with you. He who is for you is a million times more than all that can be against you. Oh, if we could, by the grace of God, see that the beatitudes of God’s divine power come to us with such divine sweetness, whispering to us, 'Be still, my child. All is well. Only be still and see the salvation of the Lord.'

"Oh, what would happen if we learned the secret to ask only once and believe? What an advantage it would be if we could just come to a place where we know that everything is within reach of us. God wants us to see that every obstacle can be moved away.

"God brings us into a place where the difficulties are, where the pressure is, where the hard corner is, where everything is so difficult that you know there are no possibilities on the human side–God must do it. All of these places are of God’s ordering. God allows trials, difficulties, temptations, and perplexities to come right along our path, but there is not a temptation or trial that can come to man for which God does not have a way out. You do not have the way out, but it is God who can bring you through."

– The words of Smith Wigglesworth, from The Wigglesworth Standard, by Peter J. Madden, Whitaker House, 1993.

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Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Stay Out of the Ditch!

I first learned from reading some books by a teacher named Rick Joyner this idea about ditches in the Christian walk. He explains, like the Scriptures tells us, that the way of Truth is narrow, and that on either side of the pathway of truth there is a ditch of error.

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:13-14).
This can be seen in the example of faith vs. law: Too much emphasis on the law of God without dependence on His grace leads to legalism; too much emphasis on grace without obedience to His law leads to taking license with His mercy and excusing sin and the flesh.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law (Galatians 5:16-18).
Staying on the narrow path of truth means walking by the Spirit. In so doing, through faith, we fulfill God’s law by His grace and the power of His Spirit who mightily works within us.

Another place we see a narrow pathway with a ditch on either side can be found in John 4:24 –

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.
There’s a quote that goes something like this: “Too much of the word and you dry up; too much of the Spirit and you blow up; the right amount of both and you grow up.” I’ve heard this from a couple of different teachers. It’s all about balance.

So how do I stay balanced? STAY CLOSE TO JESUS. He’s on the straight and narrow – in fact, He IS the straight and narrow.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14:6).
But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
Our pastor once said that if you're wondering about the balance in something, you can pray from the heart, “More light, Lord, more light!” And He will give it.

Oswald Chambers wrote,

“Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.”
My Utmost for His Highest, August 23rd, page 173

How do we keep out of the ditch? Stay very, very close to Jesus, with your hand tightly clasped in His!
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Friday, March 31, 2006

Granddaughter


Okay, I'm finally giving in to one of the desires of my heart: Sharing pictures of our precious little granddaughter. At the start of this blog, I told myself I would not use this as a forum to brag about the darling little one, but I can't stand it! I have to share some of the recent photos our daughter sent.



Maybe I have to do this because we're in Michigan and they're in Colorado, and I need to take advantage of every opportunity to make some connection. I like to read people's blogs, but now that I'm putting these photos in, I realize pictures are much more fun to look at than articles are to read, unless they're really great articles -- and those are rare.


So please be blessed by the beauty and innocence of this little one we call our own, Elena Josephine, first child of our oldest, precious daughter Kate and her wonderful husband, Josh, who is certainly a gift from the Lord. His birthday is tomorrow --HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSH!



Take a minute to remember all the little ones in your life. Pray for them and believe with me that God is raising up a great end-time army to bring His glorious Kingdom in greater measure through young people and little ones such as these.



Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them (Psalm 127:3-5).



And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself'?" (Matthew 21:16).



Jesus said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all." And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them (Mark 10:14-16).




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Thursday, March 30, 2006

WYSIWYG

WYSIWYG (say “whizzywig”) is computer jargon for “What you see is what you get.” Due to differing capabilities of computers and computer software, what you see on your computer monitor is not always what you will get when you print out your final product. A program is characterized by WYSIWYG if what you print out is exactly like what you see on your screen. In the older days, most programs couldn’t provide WYSIWYG, but nowadays many do.

In spiritual terms, we could say that WYSIWYG usually holds true in life – What we spend our time looking at, or focusing on, is what we get and what we become in life. Did you ever stop and take inventory of what you spend your time thinking about during the waking hours? If your thoughts are consumed by something, your life will become motivated, controlled, by that thing.

Seems like a good reason to master our thought lives, doesn’t it?

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me (Psalm 101:3).

My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me (Psalm 101:6).

Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law (Psalm 119:18).

Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways (Psalm 119:37).

For my eyes are toward You, O God, the Lord; in You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless (Psalm 141:8).

Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; my eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security (Isaiah 38:14).

But at the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation (Daniel 4:34).

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth (Col. 3:1-2).

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13).

What are you looking at?

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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Transforming Habits

We talked in Sunday School class about the percentages of different kinds of content that is stored within our minds. Psychologists tell us that nine-tenths of human thought processes occur in the subconscious part of our minds. Also, everything we have experienced is stored somewhere in our subconscious minds – for the rest of our lives. Information and experience enters our beings through physical senses into the mind, by way of every kind of experience. By the time we are middle-aged, imagine how much stuff is stored away in our subconscious minds! If it were all written down, it probably couldn’t be contained in several dozen large filing cabinets.


But here’s the problem: How much of what is within our subconscious is negative, or anti-God in nature and origin? And how much of it is from God and like Him in its nature? I wouldn’t hesitate to guess that 90% or more of what has been stored in my mind since my birth is possibly NOT God-breathed and does NOT move me toward God. What do you think?

If you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, it doesn’t automatically follow that you will become a mature follower of Jesus (especially in view of all this negativity -- darkness that has filled our lives). God doesn’t just make us mature in Christ without our participation. There are things we must do. Becoming more like Christ and more filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit all happens in part by us purposely involving ourselves in what could be called spiritual disciplines. No doubt you already participate in any number of these on a daily basis.

My challenge to myself, and to you, should you choose to accept it, Mr. Phelps, is to increase the amount of these spiritual disciplines in your life. If you pray and read your Bible daily, and fellowship regularly at church, what else could you add to those habits that would increase the amount of God-related things that are filling you up? It’s clear from Scripture that there is great need for the things of this world system that have resided within us to be replaced with the things of God:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).
The following are some examples of habits that would help us renew our minds and be more full of the things of God:

Read one chapter of Proverbs every day.

Read 5 Psalms before bedtime each night, and Psalm 119 on the 31st of each month. You will be reading the entire book of Psalms once each month.

Instead of listening to the radio or music in the car, spend time praying and/or praising God.

If you use a treadmill or some other daily physical exercise, if possible, use that time to memorize Scripture.

Stick notes with Bible verses on your refrigerator, the mirror where you brush your teeth, in your car, etc., to work on memorizing more Scripture.

Fast one day a week – for 24 hours or until the evening meal.

Read one faith-building book every month.

Start a journal – a prayer journal, record meaningful insights from God’s Word, or observations of your own growth in the Spirit.

Pray in the Spirit 15-30 minutes a day, in addition to your regular prayer time.

Pick up Bible study workbooks from the local Christian bookstore and engage regularly in personal Bible study.

Find a private place or, if possible, go to your church, and pray on your lunch hour once a week.

Get together with a few close friends on a scheduled basis for informal prayer meetings.
A complete list of good spiritual habits would be endless! Let the Holy Spirit get creative with you. Ask Him what new habits you could introduce into your life that will help you to be transformed. Ideally, we could reduce or eliminate some worldly activities that are not building us up spiritually. For instance, if you watch 8 hours of television every week, pick one of those hours and replace it with one of these God-related activities.

Write a comment and share something that has helped you, or that you have heard from someone else. Happy habit-forming – and be transformed!
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Sunday, March 26, 2006

All I Need

All I Need Is You


Left my fear by the side of the road
Hear You speak
Won't let go
Fall to my knees as I lift my hands to pray
Got every reason to be here again
Father's love that draws me in
And all my eyes wanna see is a glimpse of You

All I need is You...
All I need is You Lord...
Is You Lord

One more day and it's not the same
Your Spirit calls my heart to sing
Drawn to the voice of my Savior once again
Where would my soul be without your Son
Gave his life to save the earth
Rest in the thought that You're watching over me

All I need is You...
All I need is You Lord...
Is You Lord

You hold the universe
You hold everyone on earth
You hold the universe
You hold...You hold...

by Marty Sampson, Hillsong Publishing
from Hillsong United, "Look to You"

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Saturday, March 25, 2006

Rest In You

REST IN YOU

Your faithfulness endures always,
Where mountains fall and reason fails...
And You calm the raging seas,
And You calm the storms in me -- again.

All I know is - I find rest in You.

My heart will praise throughout the night,
Where singing seems a sacrifice...
And You calm the raging seas,
And You calm the storms in me -- again.

All I know is - I find rest in You.

Your grace is all I need.
Your grace is all I need.

by Mia Fieldes, Hillsong Publishing, 2004
from Hillsong United CD, "Look to You"

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Friday, March 24, 2006

Holy Hover

Our pastor taught us one day about the hovering of the Holy Spirit. This is one of the coolest pictures of God I have ever seen. It’s illustrated in the very first chapter of the Bible:
The earth was formless and void [a waste and emptiness], and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving upon [hovering over] the surface of the waters (Genesis 1:2).




Pastor Curt explained that the Presence of God, by His Spirit, hovers over things to prepare them for the creative works of God. This word "hover" has the meaning of "brooding," which means to hover over or carefully watch over something so as to "hatch" or produce offspring.

God’s Spirit was hovering over the face of waste and emptiness – a chaotic mess – so as to produce or create something. And He did it:
Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light (Genesis 1:3).
By His word, He created light. This whole picture is a beautiful concept. Where it really gets good is when it happens in my life. God’s power happens, and it makes a difference. It can be the difference between life and death.

A sure way to build your faith, or to be more Spirit-controlled, to grow more fruit of the Spirit in your life, to become stronger in every area of your walk with God, is to put yourself under the hovering of the Holy Spirit. This should be happening in the prayer closet of every believer, every day.



Do you have an area or a circumstance in your life that smacks of chaos, formlessness, void, emptiness, or waste? You need the brooding, the hovering of the Holy Spirit, because He is willing and waiting to speak His creative Word into your life.
Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.' By this he meant the Spirit..." (John 7:37-39a).
See what 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says:
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him – but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
I would like to challenge you to try an experiment in prayer. Shut yourself in your "prayer closet" for 30 minutes, and set yourself under the hovering, brooding presence of the Spirit of God. Just ask Him, "Lord, hover over me, and do your work in me. You alone know exactly what I need. Thank you." Then fix your eyes on Jesus and allow him to move over your life by His Spirit. Try it. You may not get a tangible result right away, but if you give God room to work, He will be able to do amazing things in your life and in every situation you find yourself in.

Notice what Jesus said to the Pharisees, who were challenging him:
"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. . . .Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word" (John 8:37).
Do you have room for God’s creative word in your life? Give Him some room.
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Wednesday, March 22, 2006

More on Faith (Part 5)


Faith and the Holy Spirit


Faith is fed by our interaction with the Word of God. This must include the written Word (the Bible) and the living Word – Jesus, in the Person of the Holy Spirit. It occurred to me that the Devil has the entire Bible memorized – forward and backward – in every known language – and probably some unknown languages! He can fire Scripture at people faster than they can think. But having that “knowledge” hasn’t caused Satan to change. That is because Satan has no faith in God, and he is opposed to the Spirit of God.

For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard (Hebrews 4:2).
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:4-6).

The written word by itself – apart from the Spirit of God – can bring death, not life! An imbalanced emphasis on the written word of God leads to legalism. This is mainly what the book of Galatians is about. This is why Paul told Timothy:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).

God doesn’t want us beating people – or ourselves – over the head with the Bible. That kind of thing is portrayed in Hollywood’s maligning parodies of Christians.

Don’t misunderstand – Scripture memory is one of the best habits we can develop. But in order for the word to have power in our lives, it has to be quickened, or made alive, by the Spirit of God working within our spirits. God does this work, but it requires cooperation on our part.

Jesus told the woman at the well that God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth. We need great infusions into our lives of both the truth of God’s word and the life of the Holy Spirit. This reminds me of something else the Bible teaches us: We are to speak the truth in love.

Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ (Ephesians. 4:15).

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2).

God is Love. God is Spirit. God is Truth. They can’t be separated. So I need to spend time with the Lord cultivating ALL of these things in my life so that my faith will grow.
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Tuesday, March 21, 2006

What Am I Doing About It? (Part 4)

More on Faith


If the big deal is the One in Whom I put my faith, and faith involves looking upon that One, the logical response is for me to get a really, really good look at God! Thus the title of Tozer’s chapter on faith, “The Gaze of the Soul.”

Notice that when the Israelites looked at the bronze serpent that was lifted up on a pole, in order to receive healing they didn’t have to beat up any snakes. They had to LOOK at what was lifted up. There are times when we have to stand in the face of the enemy, but that’s another subject for another blog discussion.

We already know that we need faith in order to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and we all want more faith. Now here’s a puzzle: If faith comes by hearing the word of God, it would seem that the more of the word I have memorized, the more faith I will have. But I see that this is not necessarily true. I’ve been a disciple of Jesus since I was 12. But it wasn’t until just a few months ago that I discovered this truth about faith:

It’s not enough to believe that the word of God is true. I must give my attention to it. This is the gazing of the soul. Here is where the discipline of building good habits with God’s word begins. It’s about renewing our minds. And it doesn’t mean just putting verses into my head.

Last fall our 18-year-old son suddenly became very ill and was hospitalized. It took them five days to figure out what was wrong with him. He had temperature spikes to 104 and an infected liver, among other things. I knew I needed faith to help me deal with this situation. So I brought a CD with Scriptures about healing to play while I waited with our son in the hospital room.

The Scriptures were being spoken in the background. Several of these Scriptures I know by heart. In my mind were these thoughts: I wonder what his temperature is? When is the doctor going to come in? Is he still dehydrated? Where is the nurse with some fresh water? The hepatitis A antigen came back negative. I wonder when the B and C are going to come back? I wonder what the infectious disease specialist will have to say? etc., etc., etc. I was giving my attention to the illness – to the problem.

Then the voice on the CD said, “It’s not enough to believe the word of God is true; you must give your attention to it.” The locomotive of my thoughts suddenly crashed into a cement wall. I immediately began to intently listen to every word of God that was being spoken, and I deliberately meditated on what it said, turning over in my mind what each statement meant. Because these truths in God’s word are so wonderful, I started to thank Him for Who He is and what He promises in His word. When a particular word especially gripped my heart, I prayed in the Spirit and became more deeply focused on the Savior. By the end of the CD, I could literally feel the faith that had grown within me.

Our son has a call of God on his life to full-time ministry, and he’s pursuing that. As I’ve prayed for him over the years, the Lord has assured me that this will be fulfilled in his life. After this focusing my attention on God’s word, I was reminded of that truth, and I knew, with no hint of doubting, that if the doctors came in and told me our son had a terminal illness, I would not believe it. I didn’t just know this because it’s something I heard. I knew it deep within my spirit, the same way that I know deep within my spirit that I am a child of God – nothing can ever shake that knowledge from me. That is faith -- the ASSURANCE of things hoped for


So I discovered that, to have faith about something, I need to find the particular word that God has to say about that thing, and I need to meditate on it for periods of time. The word has to get deeply imbedded enough in my spirit so that it becomes faith. It’s simple – but it’s not necessarily easy. It’s only easy when we actually do it. By the way, our son had an Epstein-Barr viral infection which attacked his liver. He is now fully recovered.

I don’t have to “work up” faith or be “educated” in how to have faith. I need to fix my eyes on God, the object of my faith, and intently listen to and meditate on the word He gives me for my situation. Faith is built. If I’m a believer in Jesus Christ, I’m on the firm foundation. For the rest of my life, I want to focus on Him, and my faith will be built. Two things help me do this: The Word of God and the Spirit of God.
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Monday, March 20, 2006

What Am I Doing About It? (Part 3)

Faith


There are two questions about faith I'd like to tackle: What is faith, and how do I get more of it? I found in Vine’s Expository Dictionary that the word for “faith” used in the New Testament has three components:

1. Being fully persuaded of God’s revelation of truth
2. Complete surrender to t hat truth
3. Behavior that is inspired by such surrender


2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” The Amplified version puts it this way: “We regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by a conviction or belief in Who God is.”

Having faith starts with believing that something is true, but it’s much more than that. Faith of some kind is always at work in a person’s life. Every person lives by what he or she believes. I may say that I believe something, but do I really live like I believe it?

Many volumes have been written about faith. Every believer I know would like to have more of it. The Bible tells us how we get faith: Romans 12:3 says that God has allotted to each person a measure of faith. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

So we get faith from God. He gives us faith to begin with, and we can add to it, or make it grow, by taking in more and more of His word. How does this happen?

In The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer has one of the best explanations of faith I have seen, in his chapter called, “The Gaze of the Soul.” He reminds us of the story of the Israelites in Numbers 21, when they had disobeyed God and fiery serpents were sent among them. They were being bitten and they were dying. God had Moses make a serpent of brass and lift it up high on a pole. And the Lord said to Moses, "And it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." In the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

Tozer points out that from the comparison of these two Scriptures, Jesus showed us that believing and looking are interchangeable terms. So believing on God, or having faith in God, would be the same thing as looking on God. See how this relates to Hebrews 12:1, which instructs us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.”

The following is a quote from the chapter I mentioned in Tozer's book:

Faith is not in itself a meritorious act; the merit is in the One toward Whom it is directed. Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding. Unbelief has put self where God should be, and is perilously close to the sin of Lucifer who said, “I will set my throne above the throne of God.” Faith looks out instead of in and the whole life falls into line.


So the big deal is not MY FAITH; the big deal is THE ONE in Whom I put my faith. It’s about getting my focus right. The Word of God and His Holy Spirit working in me help me to increase in faith. Next time let’s look a bit at how this happens.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

So What Am I Doing About It? (Part 2)

Diligence

From the Scriptures it is clear that God has done everything necessary for His part so that I can know Him. The ball is in my court. I must start where I am. If I know that I should want to know Him, but I’m not sure if I really want to, then I should ask Him for the “want-to” and He will give it to me. He takes me just as I am. When I take a step toward Him, He will meet me.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8a).

Another word for diligence is endurance:

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised (Hebrews 10:35-36).

Recently I was reading in Hebrews, and this Scripture passage became a revelation word to me. I said, “Okay, Lord, I need endurance. How do I get it?”

The answer is that endurance is not something I get. It’s something I do! The way I approach goals: Step by step, one foot in front of the other, one day at a time. If I take one step toward God, I’m one step closer.

I must discipline myself to seek Him. That’s where I start. It’s communion with my heavenly Father that will cultivate my desire to know Him more. Following through with a simple discipline will give birth to more desire, inspiring me to add to my discipline, which in turn will increase my desire for Him again.

Seek the Lord continually in prayer, especially praying in the Spirit. Constantly search His Word to get understanding about Who He is and how He operates, and what He expects of us. Meditate on His Word. Praise and worship Him by listening to His music, making songs in your heart, and giving thanks to Him all day long. It is my goal to set these things in my heart, step by step, line upon line, precept upon precept, until they become life-controlling habits.

Now if I make a commitment to the Lord, in regard to Bible reading or prayer time, and I fall short of it, is He angry with me? Think of a child or a grandchild learning to walk.



Do I get angry with that little one when she falls? I don’t think so! I encourage her, clapping my hands, with all kinds of happy noises, saying, “Come on, come on, sweetheart, you can do it!!”

That’s how God is with me. And because of His great love for me, His attitude toward me that always says, “Come,” I will set my face like flint, and I will keep pursuing Him, until my discipline becomes the sheer delight of walking in the Spirit, abiding in Christ.

Jesus said,
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

He was repeating what His Father had said to Moses and the children of Israel:

"My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest" (Exodus 33:14).

Do I want His rest? Do I want His presence to go with me? You betcha! I’m on my way. How about you? On Monday we’ll talk a little bit about faith.

So What Am I Doing About It?

Now let me answer the question: What am I doing about wanting to know God more?

The one thing I need is hunger – thirst – desire – for God. Jesus said:
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6.
Righteousness is right standing, or being in right position, with God. As we know from God’s Word, this was already accomplished for me through Jesus’ vicarious atonement on the cross. I can’t get it by myself. By freely receiving forgiveness from God, because my debt of sin was paid in full by the awful price of Jesus’ death, I am now positionally right with God. But that’s only the beginning of an incredible journey in a fulfilling relationship that God has always wanted to have with me.

Once I’m in right standing – rightly related – to God, as I get to know Him more personally, there will be hungering and thirsting on my part to enter into deeper levels of relationship with Him.

God has commanded me to seek Him, because He knows that when I find Him I will discover the answers to all my questions and real fulfillment of all the deepest longings of my heart.

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, "Seek Me that you may live" (Amos 5:4).
And Jesus said,
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).
God promises that I will find Him:
You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).
But notice that it requires diligence (seeking with all my heart) and faith:
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).



So how do I get diligence? How do I get faith? These are two of the mountaintops I need to scale on this journey. Next time we’ll talk about getting diligence.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Do I Really Want to Know God?

In our Sunday School class we've been talking about the possibilities of God's healing power working in our lives. In a broader sense, we're on a quest to expand our personal relationships with God so that His life and power can flow through us, like channels, filling us up and making us whole, then pouring through us to spark life-change in people we interact with.

This morning I read a chapter from A. W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God. He poses a question that I have asked the Lord for quite some time:
Why do some persons "find" God in a way that others do not? Why does God manifest His presence to some and let multitudes of others struggle along in the half-light of imperfect Christian experience?
Then he answers the question:

Of course, the will of God is the same for all. He has no favorites within His household. All He has ever done for any of His children He will do for all of His children. The difference lies not with God but with us.

I venture to suggest that the one vital quality which [those who experience His manifest presence possess is] spiritual receptivity. Something in them is open to heaven, something which urges them Godward. Without attempting anything like a profound analysis, I shall say simply that they have spiritual awareness and that they go on to cultivate it until it becomes the biggest thing in their lives. They differ from the average person in that when they feel the inward longing they do something about it. They acquire the lifelong habit of spiritual response. They are not disobedient to the heavenly vision. As David put it neatly, "When you said, 'Seek my face,' my heart said to you, 'Your face, Lord, I will seek'"(Psalm 27:8).
I do want to know the Lord. At this point in my life, I can truly say that I want to know Him more than I want to know anything else. Now I have a new question: "What am I doing about it?"

Friday, March 10, 2006

First Post

In the Press -- What does that mean? It's from my favorite account of a healing work by Jesus, in the Gospel of Mark.

And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said unto him, "Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, 'Who touched me?'" And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague." (Mark 5:25-34)


I love the wording of the King James version in this account. I can identify with this woman. She had an issue! Boy, do I have issues! But then she heard about a Man. This woman was "in the press." She knew that she had to press her way through to touch Jesus, and her issue would be resolved. It most certainly was. I know this Man. He's been transforming my life, resolving my issues, since the day I met Him.

The Apostle Paul was in the press:

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12)

Jesus was pressed to death -- pressed by all kinds of people with all kinds of motives, by Satan himself, but most resolutely by the deliberate and complete submission of his own will in obedience to the will of the Father. Interestingly, the word "Gethsemane" means "olive press." In Jesus' day, the olive press contained a huge disk-shaped stone, weighing thousands of pounds, that was used to crush olives to produce oil. Jesus was crushed for us. First His blood, then the oil of His Spirit, were poured out for us. And now He presses on, victorious, our overwhelming conqueror. Praise Him for His peseverance and for His incredible love for us!

Pressing on. That's what I want to do. The purpose of this blog site is to be a window of encouragement for believers to keep pressing on, and never give up. If you have any questions about God, any testimonies of His moves in your life, or any encouraging words, please share them with us. We're in this together -- In the Press!