“LEAD ME!”

 

Psalm 5:7-8                          (ESV)

    “[7] But I, through the abundance of YOUR steadfast love,

        will enter your house.

    I will bow down toward YOUR HOLY TEMPLE 

        in the fear of YOU. 

    [8] “LEAD ME”, O LORD, in YOUR righteousness

        because of my enemies;

        make YOUR way straight before me.”

My maternal grandmother’s parents lived on the banks of the Arkansas River near Conway , AR in the late 1920’s.  My my mother was born in the ferry operators dwelling where Toad Suck Dam was built.  Family reunions were held at Toad Suck Park for many years, so I am familiar with the location.  Both of my sons went to a college in Conway.  I still have relatives living in Conway, so the journey to Conway and the surrounding area is quite familiar.  

Not being overly simplistic, but KNOWING where I am going tends to allow me to be more “comfortable” with my journey.  Driving in a city with a lot of traffic always requires me to be more focused and determined making sure that I don’t make a wrong turn, or go the wrong way!  When I am in unfamiliar territory I often use a map to assist in my journey.  

King David was “a man after GODS own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), a man who was astute on battlefield, but he still needed assistance with his journey!  His prayer above was to “LEAD ME”, O LORD, in YOUR righteousness!  David knew his enemies were after him, but he also knew they were NO MATCH for his DELIVERER!  

There are writings of the BIBLE are a GIFT for us, a GIFT from GOD in HEAVEN!  When we find ourselves in “strange territories” that are SURE to arise in life, it will prove EXTREMELY beneficial to be VERY familiar with THE ONE WHO spoke these worlds into existence!  JESUS is in us (2 Corinthians 13:5!) so why do we fear?  We should yield to HIS HOLY SPIRIT to “LEAD ME”, regardless of where we find ourselves!  Having JESUS as our GPS is far better than trying to make it on my own!  JESUS, “LEAD ME” and “make YOUR way straight before me”!!!

“YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY!”

 

Matthew 6:24                    (ESV)

“[24] “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. “YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY””.

Briefly, the writings from yesterday were on Matthew 6:22-23 and quite lengthy.  Today I am unable to get past Matthew 6:24 without addressing an issue that a lot of people refuse to delve into, “YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY”!  

Looking at various other Bible translations of this verse, the word SERVE is also translated DEVOTED.  When my Brain Damaged mind thinks of DEVOTED, it quickly sees a faithful spouse who is willing to do anything possible to provide for the one GOD HAS GIVEN THEM!  They LOVE their spouse, so the desires of their spouse are paramount to them.  Loving another wouldn’t be something that would be allowed!!!

Although the one GOD chose for me is almost PERFECT according to some, we ALL have our imperfections that are magnified at times.  The CREATOR, on the other hand, is without flaws.  HE is NOT LACKING in HIS abilities.  But HE commands us to NOT be diluted with anything or anyone else!  “YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY” is saying that we shouldn’t be placing ANYONE or ANYTHING on the same level as our CREATOR!  What occupies the THRONE ROOM in your life?  “YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY”!!!

“THE EYE IS THE LAMP OF THE BODY!”

 

Matthew 6:22-23                   (ESV)

“[22] “THE EYE IS THE LAMP OF THE BODY”. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will BE FULL OF LIGHTT, [23] but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be FULL OF DARKNESS. If then the light in you is darkness, HOW GREAT IS THE DARKNESS!”

Sleep is a very good thing, something that before the Brain Hemorrhage I might have taken for granted?  Directly following my extended hospitalization, I required anywhere from 12-14 hours of sleep to properly restore my cognitive abilities.  My right eye pupil was enlarged by the hemorrhage, so much so that it was probably two or three times larger than my left pupil for a few years.  I didn’t realize how damaged the optic nerve in my right eye was damaged until several years later when I went to the optometrist to find out why my eyesight was getting BETTER, from 1.75 reading glasses to 1.25’s!  I was sent to an eye specialist in another city to examine the damage. He AMAZINGLY found that the apparent “severe damage” to the optic nerve was APPARENTLY superficial and even though the nerve appears to be damaged almost beyond belief, it was causing my eyesight to literally improve!!

Doing a little research, I discovered these amazing facts:

• Your eyes are the most complex organs you possess except for your brain.
• Your eyes are composed of more than 2 million working parts.
• The average person blinks 12 times per minute – about 10,000 blinks in an average day.
• Your eyes can process 36,000 bits of information every hour.
• Only 1/6th of your eyeball is exposed to the outside world.
• The external muscles that move the eyes are the strongest in the human body for the job that they need to do.
• The eye is the only part of the human body that can function at 100% ability any time, day or night, without rest.
• Your eyes contribute to 85% of your total knowledge.
• Your eyes are always the same size from birth, but your nose and your ears never stop growing.
• The eyes are very complex and work very much like a camera.
• The human eye is remarkable.  It accommodates to changing lighting conditions and focuses light rays originating from various distances from the eye.  When all the components of the eye function properly, light is converted to impulses and conveyed to the brain, where an image is perceived.

What and how we SEE, however, is NOT COMPLETELY controlled by the optic nerve, IT IS WHAT BRAIN PERCEIVES!  When the eye has limited LIGHTING, the optic nerve isn’t able to make out what is being observed!  

For humans, sin is DARKNESS!  When we have unconfessed sin in our lives, we are permitting DARKNESS to control our VISION and limit our SPIRITUAL VISION!  It is IMPERATIVE to our SPIRITUAL HEALTH that we realize and protect that “THE EYE IS THE LAMP OF THE BODY”!  We MUST keep the SPIRITUAL DARKNESS cleaned off of our EYES and keep in mind that “THE EYE IS THE LAMP OF THE BODY”!!!

“DECLARES THE LORD!”

 

Ezekiel 37:14                           (ESV)

“[14] And I WILL put my Spirit within you, and YOU SHALL live, and I WILL place you in your own land. Then YOU SHALL know that I am the LORD; I HAVE spoken, and I WILL do it, “DECLARES THE LORD”.””

GOD is OMNIPRESENT, OMNISCIENT, and OMNIPOTENT and HE CHOOSES who HE wants to serve HIM!  But does ALMIGHTY GOD “choose” whoever HE places HIS SPIRIT into, or do we have the ability to REJECT HIM after an INFILLING by the HOLY SPIRIT?  There are many instances in THE WORD OF GOD where HE “puts HIS SPIRIT” into a person, but it seemingly ALWAYS “changes” that persons life for HIS GLORY!  Many are of the opinion that GOD is limited by the wishes of HIS CREATION, we servants, some whom declare their rejection of GOD almost with an arrogant, self-serving attitude?

According to Etymonline.com, the word DECLARE comes “directly from Latin declarare "MAKE CLEAR, reveal, disclose, announce”.  YAHWEH does MAKE CLEAR to those who HE CHOOSES to make known certain things, but usually only “the humble”, according to James 4:7!  When a person’s EYES are OPENED to SEE things of the SPIRIT OF GOD, it is extremely difficult to even imagine rejecting a thrice HOLY GOD.  Yet we BELIEVERS cannot even imagine ANYONE making a choice to REJECT a lifestyle of HOLINESS for the gains of “this world”, or can we???

In reality, we are nothing but “dead, dried bones”, until we are TRANSFORMED by the BLOOD of JESUS!  Some may “think” that they have everything together, but it only takes ONE tiny blood vessel in your brain to malfunction and your become a blithering idiot (from past experience!).  BEFORE we are FORMED in our mothers womb (Jeremiah 1:5), our CREATOR has a PURPOSE and a PLAN for our lives, NOTHING IS BY CHANCE!  ONLY GOD ALMIGHTY has the PLAN for each life, whether it be an extended life or it ceases in the womb!  When the time has come “DECLARES THE LORD” LIFE can either begin or end, flourish or wane, for HE IS LIFE (John 14:6)!!!

“ANOTHER HELPER!”

 

John 14:15-19                    (ESV)

JESUS Promises the Holy Spirit

“[15] “If you love ME, you will keep MY commandments. [16] And I will ask the FATHER, and HE will give you “ANOTHER HELPER”, to BE WITH YOU FOREVER, [17] even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, WHOM THE WORLD CANNOT RECEIVE, because IT NEITHER SEES HIM NOR KNOWS HIM. YOU KNOW HIM, FOR HE DWELLS WITH YOU AND WILL BE IN YOU.

[18] “I WILL NOT leave you as orphans; I WILL come to you. [19] Yet a little while and the world will see ME no more, but you will see ME. Because I live, you also will live.”

How can we be absolutely certain that ALMIGHTY GOD is speaking to us when we feel that HE is?  Wouldn’t confirmation of “ANOTHER HELPER” “assisting” us be nice to know we have, especially when we can’t do what we are CALLED to do?  

Most days I don’t even know what I am going to write about when I began to document my thoughts.  “ANOTHER HELPER” usually takes over and gives me the words to complete HIS MESSAGE, not for my edification, but for the GLORY OF GOD!  

From July 12, 2007 until July 29, 2007 I was NOT IN CONTROL of anything!  Being placed into a “drug induced coma” wasn’t a choice that I relished nor even imagined was on my horizon.  It DID allow my body the time it needed to heal and be used HIS GLORY…..however only in HIS TIMING! “ANOTHER HELPER” could have CHOSEN to “heal” me instantaneously, but 17 days was needed to SLOW MY LIFE DOWN, making me SEE that HE would BE WITH YOU FOREVER and I needed to REST in HIM!

To say that I am “more Holy” because I was selected to survive a Brain Hemorrhage is probably a mischaracterization of what transpired.  ALMIGHTY GOD had a PLAN and this lowly servant “endured” (although with NO INPUT of my own) going through “the valley of the shadow of death”, HIS “ANOTHER HELPER” alone shall receive ALL THE GLORY for my deliverance!  Quite literally, “ANOTHER HELPER” was written about in my medical records of September 25, 2007 as my physician wrote "However, he (me!) has had a remarkable recovery that could only be defined as a miracle from GOD!”  

Those who KNOW HIM “understands” that HE is the ONLY reason someone in my condition of late July 2007 can write about HIM WITH (almost) NO DEFICITS (deficiencies) almost 15 years later!  “ANOTHER HELPER” didn’t require my permission nor participation to bring me to this point!  “ANOTHER HELPER” was only fulfilling GODS PLAN so that HE WOULD BE GLORIFIED by my life!  There is NO DOUBT that “ANOTHER HELPER” has never left me, because “ANOTHER HELPER” did what doctors couldn’t do, especially when I wasn’t able to get in HIS WAY!!!

While perusing social media it is sad that there is so much discourse about “the things of this world” while souls are bound for hell, with seemingly NO INTEREST! FATHER FORGIVE ME and us!!!

“THE PEOPLE WILL DRINK!”

 Exodus 17:1-7                                                 (ESV)

Water from the Rock

“[1] All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. [2] Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” [3] But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” [4] So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” [5] And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. [6] Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and WATER SHALL COME OUT OF IT, and “THE PEOPLE WILL DRINK”.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. [7] And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?””

Our ABILITY to SEE the BLESSINGS of GOD can be clouded by circumstances in our surroundings that might be placed there simply to prove that HE IS GOD and WE ARE NOT?!?  The Children of Israel had been through some of the toughest times, but GOD was always there for them displaying HIS Sovereignty and Grace.  

Our plight isn’t always a reflection of our obedience and faithfulness.  It is more often a sign of GOD’S mercy and deliverance!  Sometimes we need to experience how poorly life can be without the PEACE OF GOD so we are able to PRAISE HIM adequately when HE guide us THROUGH “the valley of the shadow of death”!  Being able to recognize that HE IS GOD and WE ARE NOT is definitely one of the most difficult lessons I have experienced, but also the most rewarding!

The Children of Israel had been delivered from over 400 years of captivity in Egypt.  They “plundered” the Egyptians upon gaining their freedom.  The began “crying out to GOD” at the Red Sea.  Deliverance from their enemy meant they were free from the persecution of the past, but they STILL had no supply of water, something ALL HUMANS have NEED of!  

Moses, in his humanity, needed answers from GOD, answers that were infallible!  “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me” Moses asked GOD!  The response from GOD was EVERYTHING Moses could have dreamed of, “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and WATER SHALL COME OUT OF IT, and “THE PEOPLE WILL DRINK”!  

ALMIGHTY GOD DELIGHTS IN IMPOSSIBILITIES, not to make us suffer, but to gain PRAISE for deliverance from our perceived difficulties!  The Children of Israel were “needing” water to survive, but they REALLY only “wanted” GOD in times of trouble.  When will I be able to SEE that I NEED GOD on my side and HE will make SURE “THE PEOPLE WILL DRINK”???

“DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING!”

 Proverbs 3:5-6                                  (ESV)

    “[5] Trust in the LORD with ALL YOUR HEART,

        and “DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING”. 

    [6] In all your ways acknowledge HIM,

        and HE WILL MAKE STRAIGHT YOUR PATHS.”

There are many times I find myself searching for an answer to problems that are presented to me from seemingly “out of the blue”!  Scripture tells us that GOD is in control of EVERYTHING (Ecclesiastes 3:11; Philippians 4:6-7), but until our EYES are OPENED and our hearts are receptive, we don’t possess the ability to SEE what GOD is trying to teach us!  

As humans, we have a “built-in” mechanism to try and seek out the best way to do things.  According to Scripture (1 Kings 4:30-34) King Solomon was “wiser than all other men”!  He is considered the human author of The Proverbs, but GOD “inspired” the BIBLE in its entirety!  King Solomon, in all his Wisdom, understood that SEARCHING for earthly answers was useless when we had GOD to rely on!  “DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING” was/is not just a suggestion for us, it should be A WAY OF LIFE!

A well known pastor recently wrote “Don’t look at God in the light of your problem. Look at your problem in the light of God”!  “DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING” might have been used to send the same message???  If ALMIGHTY GOD “inspired” the wisest man HE created to write “DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING”, shouldn’t we listen to HIM???

“FAITH!”

 Exuding “FAITH”, not only in HIS PROVIDENCE, but in HIS TIMING, can he a lesson that is difficult to experience!!!

HEAVENLY FATHER, cause me to so strongly desire to HEAR from YOU that I will DO WHATEVER IT TAKES, including SLOWING DOWN, to HEAR from YOU!!!

From May, 2016

Romans 14:23                    (ESV)

"But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. FOR WHATEVER DOES NOT PROCEED FROM "FAITH" IS SIN."

Until mid-May 2012 my life was lived at a frenetic pace that hardly left time for any quality family time, and for CERTAIN not enough time with GOD or HIS WORD!  That is when I began to develop my WORD RECALL through writing about 2 Chronicles 7:14 over the period of a week or so.  GOD had already placed Psalms 46:10 on my heart during my recovery from the Brain Hemorrhage a few years earlier, but BE STILL didn't become REAL to me until December 2012, when GOD really began SPEAKING PLAINLY to me.  Or was it that I was finally willing to SLOW MY LIFE down enough to listen to HIM???

My wife and I went to see the movie WAR ROOM on Labor Day 2015 in Hattiesburg Mississippi .  We had been to the Gulf of Mexico for a few days for some R&R.  In the movie, Miss Clara had her "prayer list" on her WAR ROOM wall.  I began keeping my own on my iPad, adding to it on an as needed basis.  The FIRST item on my prayer list is from a devotional I saw months ago.  The text is below:

Obedience to the Spirit of GOD----Only by choosing NOT TO BE SLAVES to our own reasonings and emotions can we win the battle for our minds and begin hearing the voice of GOD within us. 

We have to CHOOSE each day to not be SLAVES to our emotions and common sense and CHOOSE to begin hearing the voice of GOD!  Common sense may tell you what a smart man would do, but GOD will lead you on a "FAITH" walk where only HE can receive glory for a journey!  Doing what makes SENSE usually entails anything but walking by FAITH!  If we are walking by "FAITH", then we are trusting in GOD ALMIGHTY!  And trusting in GOD ALMIGHTY is what we are called to do!

The enemy always wants to make us CHOOSE to follow common sense.  GOD always wants us to have "FAITH" in HIS guidance and abilities.  Joshua 24:15 contains the following phrase "...CHOOSE  you this day whom ye will serve...!  Will we CHOOSE common sense?  Or will we CHOOSE to live by "FAITH"?  

I wish I could tell you what made me decide to SLOW DOWN my life and listen to the Spirit of GOD ALMIGHTY?  Was it that the Brain Hemorrhage I experienced in 2007 took five years to affect me?  Was it that after 52 years of figuratively running a sprint was wearing me out?  Was it that I was not satisfied with the results my life was seemingly producing?  

The bottom line is that there is NOTHING that can replace hearing from THE CREATOR.  Getting my marching orders on a daily, sometimes multiple times daily, basis is hard to describe.  To know the PEACE, JOY, and COMFORT that only comes from a relationship with JESUS CHRIST is something only Believers can experience (1 Corinthians 2:14).   Have you experienced the THINGS OF THE SPIRIT by "FAITH"???  We MUST realize and recognize that WHATEVER DOES NOT PROCEED FROM "FAITH" IS SIN."

“NO ONE!”

 John 6:41-44                        (ESV)

“[41] So THE JEWS GRUMBLED ABOUT HIM, because HE said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” [42] They said, “Is not this JESUS, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” [43] JESUS answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. [44] “NO ONE” CAN COME TO ME UNLESS THE FATHER WHO SENT ME DRAWS HIM. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

Having a grandchild with us for a few days requires me to follow a different schedule than usual.  Today’s writings will be abbreviated, but prayerfully will CHANGE others as HIS WORD has changed me???

“NO ONE” isn’t very cryptic or difficult to understand!  “NO ONE” means “NO ONE”, not a few, not those who live right, or do what THEY THINK is the best way of getting to Heaven!  1 Peter 2:9 says “But you are a CHOSEN race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for HIS own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of HIM WHO called you out of darkness into HIS marvelous light.”  Ephesians 1:4 tells us “Even as HE CHOSE us in HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and blameless before HIM.”

We that Believe are only Believers because we are CHOSEN by HIM!  “NO ONE” else has the ability to dream up entrance into HIS PRESENCE!  “NO ONE” doesn’t mean anything besides “NO ONE”!  Because HE CHOSE us in HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD we are permitted to SERVE HIM eternally!!!  “NO ONE” else is permitted, “NO ONE”!!!

Proverbs 8:17 (ESV) “[17] I love those who love ME, and those who seek ME DILIGENTLY diligently find ME!”

“YOU WERE DEAD!”

 

Ephesians 2:1-10                       (ESV)

By Grace Through Faith

[1] And “YOU WERE DEAD” in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—[3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, LIKE THE REST OF MANKIND. [4] But GOD, being RICH IN MERCY, because of the GREAT LOVE with which HE LOVED US, [5] even when WE WERE DEAD in our trespasses, MADE US ALIVE together with CHRIST—by grace you have been saved—[6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in CHRIST JESUS. [8] For BY GRACE by grace you have been saved THROUGH FAITH. And this is NOT YOUR OWN DOING; it is the GIFT OF GOD, [9] NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST. [10] For we are HIS workmanship, created in CHRIST JESUS for good works, which GOD prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Recently at the fellowship I attend we were watching a video of Dr. R.C. Sproul, a man who has since graduated to Glory!  Dr. Sproul was commenting about how GOD saves us, ALL BY HIMSELF, SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST about his so that NO ONE might be able to brag about his conversion.  This caused me to recall fifteen years ago this July when I experienced the Brain Hemorrhage.  Although I imagine that every “medically induced coma” can have differing characteristics, seventeen days of being “out-of-it” didn’t cause me to desire to be brought back to normalcy.  Quite the opposite, my initial recollection was similar to what I imagine a person awaking in a drunken stupor, kind of “out-of-control” of ANYTHING!  I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!!  

Similarly, we DO NOT have ANYTHING to do with our salvation.  We were CHOSEN “in HIM before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4) by JESUS to serve HIS PURPOSE for our lives!  The world was “founded” so long before I was physically born that there is NO WAY that I could say that I had ANYTHING to do with my salvation!  GOD CHOSE ME is the ONLY THING that I can profess regarding my “worthiness” of salvation!  

Why did HE CHOOSE me?  Outside of HIS PLAN, I have NO WORTH whatsoever!  “YOU WERE DEAD” is what should have been said about me, that is until HOLY SPIRIT regenerated my SPIRIT and made me a NEW MAN!  

While I do not remember much about the the time following the Brain Hemorrhage, I DO KNOW that I HAVE BEEN RESTORED tremendously!  It is NOT coincidence that my medical records from September 2007 say "However, he has had a remarkable recovery that could only be described as a MIRACLE FROM GOD"!  Needless to say, I did not die from the Brain Hemorrhage in 2007, but for almost three weeks I was in a “precarious situation”!  Before GOD transformed me in January 1977, I was however SPIRITUALLY DEAD.  “YOU WERE DEAD” was my Spiritual status, but JESUS gave me a NEW LIFE, a second BIRTH!  FATHER IN HEAVEN, cause me to never lose sight of being a part of the “YOU WERE DEAD” crowd…….until I was TRANSFORMED BY JESUS!!!

“FROM THE VERY PLACE!”

 

Joshua 4:1-3                                    (ESV)

Twelve Memorial Stones from the Jordan

“[1] When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, [2] “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, [3] and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, “FROM THE VERY PLACE” where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’””

The Children of Israel were about to enter THE PROMISED LAND, a land that GOD had PROMISED to give to the descendants (Genesis 15:18-21) of Abraham hundreds of years prior.  The WORD OF GOD “IS” TRUTH (John 14:6) and it NEVER FAILS, regardless of the timing of the deliverance.  Taking twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan River wasn’t just symbolic, it was to prove to the descendants of those being DELIVERED that it took DIVINE INTERVENTION and PROVIDENCE “interceding” on their behalf for their deliverance to occur!  “GOD HAD TO DO IT” might have been put on a banner preceding the Israelites???

Getting the Children of Israel into the Promised Land could have been considered an end of the journey for some, but ALMIGHTY GOD didn’t want HIS “followers” to FORGET HIS HAND in their deliverance.  TWELVE STONES were taken from the Jordan River so “that this may be a sign among you. When YOUR CHILDREN ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a MEMORIAL FOREVER.”

YAHWEH had no intentions of allowing HIS DELIVERANCE to be forgotten, nor under appreciated!  HE explicitly instructed Joshua to tell the twelve people CHOSEN to remove the stones from the Jordan to remove the stones “FROM THE VERY PLACE” where the priests’ feet stood firmly!  ALMIGHTY GOD apparently KNEW that the offspring might become so busy with the cares of “this world” that they would allow themselves to become callous to THEIR DELIVERER!  PERHAPS if they had STONES “FROM THE VERY PLACE”, they would be able to SEE what HE had performed ON THEIR BEHALF?

While it is TRUTH that the Promised Land was given to Israel by the CREATOR, they haven’t always remembered the stones taken “FROM THE VERY PLACE”!  But do I need STONES to remind me of how GOD DELIVERED me through some VERY DIFFICULT times?  How could ANYONES EYES not SEE that ESPECIALLY me is BLESSED beyond measure because of what ONLY GOD has done in my life?  Perhaps I might remember where I have been from time to time, but permitting others to SEE that ALMIGHTY GOD DELIVERED me “FROM THE VERY PLACE” shall be FOREVER on a monument, not because I deserve it, but because HE DOES!!!

“WILL BE PERSECUTED!”

 

2 Timothy 3:12-17                      (ESV)

“[12] Indeed, ALL WHO DESIRE TO LIVE A GODLY LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS “WILL BE PERSECUTED”, [13] while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [14] But as for you, continue in what you have LEARNED and have firmly BELIEVED, knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in CHRIST JESUS. [16] All Scripture is breathed out by GOD and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of GOD may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Briefly today, the first verse of the focal passages could be written about BY THEMSELVES, ALL WHO DESIRE TO LIVE A GODLY LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS “WILL BE PERSECUTED”!  Sometimes it FEELS like the HARD ROAD is reserved solely for me, with no one else to assist me.  “The enemy”, the master deceiver, was spoken about in Genesis 3:1a saying “Now the serpent was MORE CRAFTY than any other beast of the field that the LORD GOD had made…”.  It seems that FOR ME, he magnifies himself and minimizes the WORDS OF CHRIST in the final verse of the Gospel of Matthew when HE PROMISES “…I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, to the end of the age.”

Apparently satan doesn’t want me to focus on JESUS being IN ME because it might remind him that he is DEFEATED???  As humans, we need to be FOCUSED on the REALITY that OUR HOPE is in JESUS and NOT in the things of this world (1 John 2:15-17)!  “The enemy” WILL attempt to “muddy the waters” with anything and everything to circumvent THE WORD OF GOD being lives by we who BELIEVE!  

ALL WHO DESIRE TO LIVE A GODLY LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS “WILL BE PERSECUTED”!  This is something that we MUST CONSTANTLY remind ourselves, and the enemy about!  Just because we “WILL BE PERSECUTED” doesn’t mean that we are defeated!  When we UNDERSTAND that WE BELONG TO JESUS, knowing that we “WILL BE PERSECUTED” should confirm to us that WE ARE CHOSEN, NOT DEFEATED!!!

“IN THE SPIRIT!”

 

Revelation 1:9-16                          (ESV)

Vision of the Son of Man

“[9] I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in JESUS, was on the island called Patmos ON ACCOUNT OF THE WORD OF GOD and the testimony of JESUS.   [10] I was “IN THE SPIRIT” on the LORD’s day, and I heard behind me a LOUD VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET [11] saying, “WRITE WHAT YOU SEE in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

[12] Then I turned to see the VOICE that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, [13] and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. [14] The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. HIS eyes were like a flame of fire, [15] HIS feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and HIS voice was like the roar of many waters. [16] In HIS right hand HE held seven stars, from HIS mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and HIS face was like the sun shining in full strength.”

There are a plethora of estimates of the length of time of the “expulsion” of John to the Isle of Patmos.  Most agree that John was exiled from around 75 CE to 90 CE, or 14 to 15 years.  Regardless, John wrote that he was “a partner in the tribulation” that the early BELIEVERS experienced.  Reportedly, John was immersed in a vat of boiling oil and was removed from it when he showed no effects from the torment!  Expulsion to Patmos, a smaller island in the Aegean Sea west of modern day Turkey, was meant to be a penalty for John, but ultimately GOD placed him where he could WRITE WHAT HE SAW while secluded and he was “IN THE SPIRIT”!

It is probably inconceivable that John might have imagined in his feeble mind ANYTHING like the events he wrote about in the book of Revelation.  How could the writings of a presumed “heretic” have gotten published more than any other text known to mankind?  Would he “been available” to be spoken to by JESUS were he not on the Isle of Patmos, alone to hear?  Might his “job” have been more important had he had the boundaries of societal pressures to navigate?  ALL of the imagined distractions were REMOVED from consideration as THE PLAN for John was being fulfilled.  He was precisely where GOD was going to SPEAK to him at EXACTLY the time GOD’s PLAN called for him to be spoken to so boldly!  

To my limited knowledge, being put in boiling oil is probably one of the most painful experiences to which a mortal human could be subjected.  But my Brain Damaged mind cannot fathom how GLORIOUS being able to SEE what John wrote about in the book of Revelation!  To SEE JESUS, in ALL of HIS GLORY, and then be charged with writing about the experience so that mankind would have HOPE, has to be THE MOST glorious task a servant could ever HOPE to experience!  KING JESUS, our CREATOR and REDEEMER, WHO is and forever more will be, selected John escape the boiling oil then to write a book in HIS TESTAMENT that us that few can understand, because our EYES have yet to be OPENED!!

Very few of humanity have the desire to be “IN THE SPIRIT”!  We actually “prefer” to be “in control” of our surroundings and happenings.  While I have never been in boing oil, I have been a few places where I prefer to never return!  “IN THE SPIRIT” isn’t one of those places!  Relinquishing “control” of my life is not something that most would choose, but living “IN THE SPIRIT” requires us to follow……NOT LEAD!!!

“TO FORGIVE AND COMFORT!”

 

2 Corinthians 2:5-11                     (ESV)

Forgive the Sinner

“[5] Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. [6] For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, [7] so you should rather turn “TO FORGIVE AND COMFORT” him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. [8] So I beg you to REAFFIRM YOUR LOVE for him. [9] For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. [10] Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of CHRIST, [11] so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; FOR WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF HIS DESIGNS.”

“The enemy”, Satan, is often referred to in Scripture as the great deceiver, one who “tricks” or “fools” others with lies that greatly resembles TRUTH!  Being “deceived” by an enemy should come as no surprise to us as he desires to take as many of us into judgement with him as he can.  However, being “deceived” by someone we trust and admire tends to disappoint, sometimes even hurting people, who are not “aware” of the tactics of “the enemy”!

Although I am not able to recall specific details, sharing things that are not TRUTH has undoubtedly been manifested in my life, probably without me knowing about it?  FORGIVENESS for this act can be painful, even debilitating, but we are instructed by Scripture “TO FORGIVE AND COMFORT”!  There are times when a person, even a friend, isn’t properly focused on THE TRUTH and we are moved into sharing something “less than truth” with others.  When that occurs, we are instructed “TO FORGIVE AND COMFORT” our offender, NOT to alienate them!

“TO FORGIVE AND COMFORT” isn’t for the weak and immature!  Being a MATURE Believer isn’t something that is easy to understand.  Arrogance and conceit have a tendency to creep into a HOLY LIFE, exposing a degree of IMMATURITY.  We must constantly guard against being deceived by the “great deceiver” and being used by him.  When we are wronged, remembering “TO FORGIVE AND COMFORT” can be one of the most difficult things to remember???  But it can also be used to MINISTER by our CREATOR, as only HE can do???

“WAIT PATIENTLY!”

 Psalm 37:7                     (ESV)

       “BE STILL before the LORD and WAIT PATIENTLY for HIM;

        fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

        over the man who carries out evil devices!”

“HANDFUL OF QUIETNESS!”

 

Ecclesiastes 4:4-8                    (ESV)

“[4] Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

[5] The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

[6] BETTER IS A “HANDFUL OF QUIETNESS” THAN TWO HANDS FULL OF TOIL AND A STRIVING AFTER THE WIND.

[7] Again, I saw vanity under the sun: [8] one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet THERE IS NO END TO ALL HIS TOIL, and his eyes are NEVER SATISFIED with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.”

There are MANY answers to the questions and concerns facing many in “this world” today that mainly go undiscovered.  Many were left fretting when we were mandated to “socially distance” recently, hoping to avoid some “virus”. Because of the turmoil and uncertainty created by said virus, people weren’t able to SEE past the turmoil and HEAR from GOD, THE CREATOR!  The PEACE of a “HANDFUL OF QUIETNESS” has become largely unrecognized and, for the most part, NEVER SOUGHT!

In the “hurriedness” of “this world” it can be almost a default to look for a worldly EXPLANATION for TURMOIL?  YAHWEH is telling us that we can find a “HANDFUL OF QUIETNESS” when we allow HIM to be GOD and cease trying to run things on our own!  Accepting that we are VASTLY inferior to the DIVINE, OMNISCIENT CREATOR and DO NOT have the capabilities to get myself through one hour of a one day, much less to “direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:6)!  Humanity is NOT able to even BREATHE without the breath being granted by GOD (Isaiah 42:5), so what makes us think we can guide and direct our lives?

If we are being all consumed with the cares of everything that “the enemy” uses to convolute our lives, it is precisely what he is working to accomplish!  If “the enemy” keeps us involved with everything in “this world” we will not have time to “set your minds on things that are above” (Colossians 3:2)!  The “HANDFUL OF QUIETNESS” that comes from GOD is worth more PEACE that anything in “this world” can bring.  

A word of warning, this PEACE is EXTREMELY addictive!  Allowing a “HANDFUL OF QUIETNESS” to transform our lives into what we were CREATED to be is exactly what our enemy does NOT desire to happen!  Don’t allow yourself to be caught up in “the things in the world” (1 John 2:15), for HIS PLAN for me won’t be fulfilled in that.  Seeking a “HANDFUL OF QUIETNESS” is the way to AVOID two handfuls of TOIL and the grief that will surely accompany the busyness!!!