Look at Exodus 33:15 a verse I return to often because I so believe that this MUST be the cry of the church in this hour. Moses was in a time of crisis. God was fed up with the people and had told him in verse 3 to go on ahead to the Promised Land and that He would give them what He had promised, but He Himself was not going to go up with them. God knew if they persisted in sin His righteous anger would destroy them, and so He told them to go up without His immediate presence. Tell me how many churches and pastors today would have taken that promise and run? You mean the benefits of God without the hassle of holiness; the milk and the honey but without having to worry about His glory, His honor, His jealousy? How many of us today would jump and the chance?
Not Moses. His first response to God’s statement rattles me. God says, “I can’t hang around with you people anymore or I will kill you” and Moses answer was “show me your ways! So I may know you” what? Moses are you even listening to God? It was then that God promises to go with them but does Mo stop there? No way! He goes further! He says boldly “if you will not go with us do not send us up from here!” In other words – “Lord unless we have you all of your promises are worthless!”. God responds again, “I will go with you because you have found favor in my sight” Moses still isn’t done, he hasn’t gotten what he asked for and he is NOT satisfied he says, “I pray you Show ME YOUR GLORY!!!!” Then God reveals Himself, His Goodness, His mercy, His character to Moses in a greater way than He ever had before. God’s revelation was released by Moses hunger. Even when God offers His gifts but without relationship Moses just wanted God Himself, and that is what He was given.
I believe this whole incident was a time of testing for Moses. God wanted to reveal Moses heart. What was Moses really after? We all find out what He was after. He was after the presence of Jehovah! So we MUST BE! In this country of prosperity where SO much of the teaching of the church is about prosperity and happiness and the self – help version of Christianity we must be the ones on our face saying, “God that’s nice but show me your ways! I pray you SHOW ME YOUR GLORY!” Even when we feel like God is angry with us. We have to run hard after Him.
OH Bankrupt Bride when will you wake up to the hunger of your soul? When will you realize how little of your groom you know? Jesus stir us from our lethargy! Open us to our need and the barren reality of our weak broken hearts!
Jesus you are our only hope.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
The Lover of my soul
What a faithful and thoughtful lover Jesus is. On Thursday morning I woke up at 5 AM (normal wake up time on Thursdays) and as I got ready the Lord very gently and very firmly began to talk to me about my own heart. He went through several issues I had left unchecked and unsubmitted to His Spirit. One of them was a feeling of stress that I didn't even realize was there.
At Christmas we all get to be around family and that is a mixed blessing for just about everybody. Around certain members of my family I feel a real inadequacy. I am insecure and aprehensive around them. The Lord pointed out my stress to me over the fact that I would be spending time with those people in the next few days. I could do nothing about it so I asked for His help. I asked Him to touch that place and heal me. Almost immediately I felt my heart relax. throughout the next few hours He was singing over me Psalm 23. Specifically this - "I am your shepherd you will not be in want." I felt Him saying to me "Josh I have led you and provided for you and you come up short in no good thing! There is no reason to feel inadequate!!! I love you and I love what I am doing in you!" I cannot tell you how that makes me feel. All of a sudden I knew that I could for once enjoy my family and not hide from them!
I feel so free!
Let me encourage any who may read this:
Open your heart to the lover of your soul! Let Him touch every place you feel less than beautiful! Let Him convince you that He is in love with you! So you may be free to love those who make you feel small! Especially family! What a testimony! To be yourself in the place you feel the least like yourself! I pray Freedom to you in Jesus name!
I love you in the Lord!
Joshy
At Christmas we all get to be around family and that is a mixed blessing for just about everybody. Around certain members of my family I feel a real inadequacy. I am insecure and aprehensive around them. The Lord pointed out my stress to me over the fact that I would be spending time with those people in the next few days. I could do nothing about it so I asked for His help. I asked Him to touch that place and heal me. Almost immediately I felt my heart relax. throughout the next few hours He was singing over me Psalm 23. Specifically this - "I am your shepherd you will not be in want." I felt Him saying to me "Josh I have led you and provided for you and you come up short in no good thing! There is no reason to feel inadequate!!! I love you and I love what I am doing in you!" I cannot tell you how that makes me feel. All of a sudden I knew that I could for once enjoy my family and not hide from them!
I feel so free!
Let me encourage any who may read this:
Open your heart to the lover of your soul! Let Him touch every place you feel less than beautiful! Let Him convince you that He is in love with you! So you may be free to love those who make you feel small! Especially family! What a testimony! To be yourself in the place you feel the least like yourself! I pray Freedom to you in Jesus name!
I love you in the Lord!
Joshy
Monday, December 18, 2006
Saturday, December 16, 2006
There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays
As Christmas approaches at light speed, I cannot get away from the desire to be at home constantly. I don't think there is anything wrong with that really but I just noticed today how much I just feel like hanging out with my family and maybe some close friends. I don't want to go anywhere or do anything, I just want to hang out at home and relax! Maybe it is because I get so little oppurtunity to do that on a weekly basis. I like feeling this way though. No restless bordom it's nice.
One Time when I was singing with the band and just flowing no songs we were singing about Heaven and going home and this phrase came into my head that made me cry. I sang - "Do I really get to stay forever?" When we get home to Heaven and are lost in the beauty of His eyes I can imagine one of the greatest joys of the whole thing is the understanding that we will NEVER have to leave. What will that be like? Endless fascination, Endless Desire, Endless satisfaction. Oh Lord That is what I was created for!!!!
I can't wait to stay forever
One Time when I was singing with the band and just flowing no songs we were singing about Heaven and going home and this phrase came into my head that made me cry. I sang - "Do I really get to stay forever?" When we get home to Heaven and are lost in the beauty of His eyes I can imagine one of the greatest joys of the whole thing is the understanding that we will NEVER have to leave. What will that be like? Endless fascination, Endless Desire, Endless satisfaction. Oh Lord That is what I was created for!!!!
I can't wait to stay forever
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Revival - what will it cost? What is it worth?!?!?!
Oh I am hungry for Revival right now. I have spent some time on the web lately reading about current revivals going on across the world. In India schools have been inundated by the power of God. Whole days of classes have been canceled as the Holy Spirit drops in on their morning assemblies. Angels are showing up in the skies over their prayer and worship meetings. Children are having visions and dreams all with the same message. "Jesus is coming soon be ready". In Columbia whole cities and communities have been and are being revolutionized by the power of God. Murder and other crimes are being replaced with worship and prayer.
I hear these stories and I am provoked. - Why are we not seeing these things here? I believe there can only be one answer.
We aren't hungry or desperate enough!!!
If we were hungry we would pray no not that wimpy stuff we CALL prayer we would actually pray! If we were hungry we would sacrifice and give and groan and weep!!! If we were hungry enough we would be flying to these places and begging for prayer for revival!!!!!!!
In both of the afore mentioned instances there had been a general consensus among the people of God that without revival they would be completely lost. A hunger and a desperation arose among the people which DROVE them to prayer. Until this happens in America we will never see revival. The problem is that we think we are OK. We think it is all going to be alright and that if we live as nice people then life is good. Why worry?
We are so wrong! Evil is filling this land to the brim. The Blood of millions of unborn children is crying out from the ground while the church in this country sleeps the ignorant sleep of the apathetic. The truth is that if we don't wake up and look around us now we will be awakened by God in His mercy through trial and tribulation. Great harvest is coming the question is, "what will God have to do to get us to pray?"
Oh God let the intercessors arise but let them arise with trembling before the coming age!
Come Lord Jesus - have your way in your church - whatever it takes.
Oh God teach us to pray!!!!!
I hear these stories and I am provoked. - Why are we not seeing these things here? I believe there can only be one answer.
We aren't hungry or desperate enough!!!
If we were hungry we would pray no not that wimpy stuff we CALL prayer we would actually pray! If we were hungry we would sacrifice and give and groan and weep!!! If we were hungry enough we would be flying to these places and begging for prayer for revival!!!!!!!
In both of the afore mentioned instances there had been a general consensus among the people of God that without revival they would be completely lost. A hunger and a desperation arose among the people which DROVE them to prayer. Until this happens in America we will never see revival. The problem is that we think we are OK. We think it is all going to be alright and that if we live as nice people then life is good. Why worry?
We are so wrong! Evil is filling this land to the brim. The Blood of millions of unborn children is crying out from the ground while the church in this country sleeps the ignorant sleep of the apathetic. The truth is that if we don't wake up and look around us now we will be awakened by God in His mercy through trial and tribulation. Great harvest is coming the question is, "what will God have to do to get us to pray?"
Oh God let the intercessors arise but let them arise with trembling before the coming age!
Come Lord Jesus - have your way in your church - whatever it takes.
Oh God teach us to pray!!!!!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The "Amen" to His "Yes"
The "Amen" to His "Yes"
We are the amen to His yes! Check out 2 Cor 1:20 – 22
“20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” Emphasis mine
I was reading this the other day and, as always, I am looking to understand this mystery of intercession; partnering with Father to see His will and His kingdom unfold on the earth. I know that God often will NOT move until we pray. Even though He knows the needs and has the power to meet them He chooses to hold back His revelation of Himself and His meeting of those needs waiting for our prayers and agreement with Him. Why does He do this? How does this work? It really is a mysterious thing. Here, I think, is a clue! The promises God makes are ALL “Yes” in Jesus and because of what Jesus did. God’s promise of salvation and indeed every other promise including the ones He made to His people Israel are all wrapped up in Jesus. Is that the end of this story? I think the answer is NO! God proclaims something from His heart and through the work of Jesus on the cross it is made possible, but then the release of His promise is activated by the agreement of His people on the earth! This is an earth shattering reality! We are the, “so be it” the, echo of God’s will in the Earth that sets the thing in motion! No wonder He is shocked an dismayed when no one is found to stand in the gap! No wonder Jesus implores us to continue praying and not lose heart. No wonder Samuel considered it a sin to NOT pray for the people of Israel. If I think about this long enough I begin to tremble at the responsibility laid upon us but also the unimaginable privilege of the friends of God. Oh how He loves us! The reality of WHY God wants to do this is incredible. Why did He save us in the first place? Because He loves us, yes, but there is MORE. He saved us to reveal His Glory to the universe and to us. "The Chief end of Man is to Glorify God and to enjoy Him forever!" In other words, once this salvation is done and the work of the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit is completed, not only will we live forever, but we will live forever in awe of God both reveling in His glory and, even better, DISPLAYING His glory! This function of the Bride in the Earth of echoing His promises and releasing them into reality is just the beginning of our display of His Glory! He gave us the Holy Spirit as the earnest that shows that He WILL bring us to the fullness of this as His bride standing by His side and causing the authorities and powers to worship HIM! Why? because we are so wonderful? No Because He is SOOO beautiful and it will shine through us! All to the Glory of God!!!
“20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” Emphasis mine
I was reading this the other day and, as always, I am looking to understand this mystery of intercession; partnering with Father to see His will and His kingdom unfold on the earth. I know that God often will NOT move until we pray. Even though He knows the needs and has the power to meet them He chooses to hold back His revelation of Himself and His meeting of those needs waiting for our prayers and agreement with Him. Why does He do this? How does this work? It really is a mysterious thing. Here, I think, is a clue! The promises God makes are ALL “Yes” in Jesus and because of what Jesus did. God’s promise of salvation and indeed every other promise including the ones He made to His people Israel are all wrapped up in Jesus. Is that the end of this story? I think the answer is NO! God proclaims something from His heart and through the work of Jesus on the cross it is made possible, but then the release of His promise is activated by the agreement of His people on the earth! This is an earth shattering reality! We are the, “so be it” the, echo of God’s will in the Earth that sets the thing in motion! No wonder He is shocked an dismayed when no one is found to stand in the gap! No wonder Jesus implores us to continue praying and not lose heart. No wonder Samuel considered it a sin to NOT pray for the people of Israel. If I think about this long enough I begin to tremble at the responsibility laid upon us but also the unimaginable privilege of the friends of God. Oh how He loves us! The reality of WHY God wants to do this is incredible. Why did He save us in the first place? Because He loves us, yes, but there is MORE. He saved us to reveal His Glory to the universe and to us. "The Chief end of Man is to Glorify God and to enjoy Him forever!" In other words, once this salvation is done and the work of the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit is completed, not only will we live forever, but we will live forever in awe of God both reveling in His glory and, even better, DISPLAYING His glory! This function of the Bride in the Earth of echoing His promises and releasing them into reality is just the beginning of our display of His Glory! He gave us the Holy Spirit as the earnest that shows that He WILL bring us to the fullness of this as His bride standing by His side and causing the authorities and powers to worship HIM! Why? because we are so wonderful? No Because He is SOOO beautiful and it will shine through us! All to the Glory of God!!!
The Value Of God
The Value of God
I am going to take a crack at this, but I still don't have very good language for what I want to share so forgive me if this is....vague. The human heart is said by the scriptures to be deceitfully wicked. We cannot understand why we do what we do. Ask any child when they do something wrong why they did what they did and you will invariably get the same answer, “I don’t know”. They aren’t just being stubborn they really don’t! I am convinced that no one knows why they do what they do. We don’t know because we don’t know our own hearts.
Proverbs says, “as a man thinks in his heart so is he” and Jesus said “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
The issue here is our hearts! What about our hearts? What makes our hearts think the way they do? Jesus said it very simply. “Where your TREASURE is there your heart will be also”
The treasure of our hearts is what controls our hearts and our hearts come everything we say and do. So it is simple control the treasure of your heart and you control yourself.
That is why the first commandment is what it is. Love the Lord with all of your heart is a statement pointed directly at the seat of our being. It is the first and greatest command of God to man that ALL that we are be given over in love for God. Now we get to the title of this little post. “The Value of God”. Our lives will speak of how much we value God. Is He the treasure of our hearts? The Bible reveals God to be worth more than all the things, and people in the universe. It is His value that upholds the universe in existence. He is infinitely valuable and we MUST see Him as such! Until we do we will ever be idolaters. I heard from a very wise man recently that “Christian maturity is the measure of how much we have come out of idolatry.”
This is simple, basic Christianity but I think it goes way deeper than I ever understood it to go. We will only obey and live to honor God to the extent that God is our treasure. As Jesus said, “if you love me you will obey my commands”. This must then become the central driving force of my life. To make the Lord my highest treasure. I don’t have a how to on this, but my guess is that if we come to see Him as He is we will have no trouble treasuring Him as we ought!
Oh God show me yourself that I might make you my highest treasure. That you and you alone would be the desire of my wicked heart all the minutes of the days of my life!
Amen
Blog blog blog...
This is the first of many heart wanderings that no one will read but will do my own heart good just to have it up somewhere for no one to read!
Life is Good
God is Better!
Life is Good
God is Better!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)