“A DESOLATE PLACE!”

 

Mark 1:35-39                          (ESV)

JESUS Preaches in Galilee

“[35] And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, HE departed and went out to “A DESOLATE PLACE”, and there HE PRAYED. [36] And Simon and those who were with HIM searched for HIM, [37] and they found HIM and said to HIM, “Everyone is looking for you.” [38] And HE said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” [39] And HE went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.”

JESUS IS GOD, according to John 10:30, so why did HE feel the NEED to go to “A DESOLATE PLACE” to be able to pray to the FATHER?  JESUS was also fully human, which I Believe necessitated HIM NEEDING to spend time ALONE with the FATHER to strengthen HIS relationship with HIM.   An excerpt from a Bible Scholar’s website puts it this way, “The healthy Christian life is neither wholly solitary nor wholly communal. We withdraw, like Jesus, to “a desolate place” to commune with God (Mark 1:35), and then return to the bustle of daily tasks and the needs of others.”

In the first chapter of Mark, JESUS had just experienced MANY people who needed healing!  Just on the previous day HE had healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and then healed “all who were sick or oppressed by demons” (Mark 1:32)!  The entire city was outside of the door where JESUS was!!!  Wasn’t this the perfect scenario to GROW HIS KINGDOM?  Why wouldn’t HE take advantage of the opportunity to grow HIS work???  

One thing that most of us have difficulty grasping is that GOD does HIS most awesome things when we “get out of HIS way”!  A popular Christian website offers this observation: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” —Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)!  This servant was only 39 years old when he died, but ALMIGHTY GOD had already OPENED his EYES to SEE what many never are able to observe!  We NEED to withdraw and stop trying to help GOD be GOD, for HE doesn’t require anything from us!!!

I’ve shared many times that the most AWESOME MIRACLE I have experienced in my physical life happened from July 09, 2007 to July 29, 2007.  Even my medical records indicate that my healing was a “miracle from GOD”!  Much of those 21 days were spent with me in a coma, unable to assist with ANYTHING!  One might UNDERSTAND that I would be able to SEE that GOD DOES NOT require me to do ANYTHING for HIM to accomplish HIS PLAN!  JESUS voluntarily went to “A DESOLATE PLACE” so HE could be ALONE with GOD!  What do I have to do to be able to SEE that GOD desires me to do the same???

“YOUR HAND!”

 “YOUR HAND!”

Isaiah 64:8                                 (ESV)

    [8] “But now, O LORD, YOU are our Father;

        we are the clay, and YOU are our POTTER;

        we are all the work of “YOUR HAND”.”

A largely forgotten hymn that was sung in church in my youth was HAVE THINE OWN WAY, LORD.  The hymn was reportedly written in 1906, but its words need to be heard by ALL people who are CALLED to live for HIM.  

1 Have thine own way, Lord! 

Have thine own way! 

Thou art the POTTER, 

I am the CLAY. 

Mold me and make me 

after thy will, 

while I am waiting, 

yielded and still. 

2 Have thine own way, Lord! 

Have thine own way! 

Search me and try me, 

Savior today! 

Wash me just now, Lord, 

wash me just now, 

as in thy presence 

humbly I bow. 

3 Have thine own way, Lord! 

Have thine own way! 

Wounded and weary, 

help me I pray! 

Power, all power, 

surely is thine! 

Touch me and heal me, 

Savior divine! 

4 Have thine own way, Lord! 

Have thine own way! 

Hold o'er my being 

absolute sway. 

Fill with thy Spirit 

till all shall see 

Christ only, always, 

living in me!

Isaiah 64:8 might be the verse Adelaide A. Pollard used when writing this hymn over 100 years ago, but its MESSAGE is very humbling to me.  Do I frequently succumb to “while I am waiting, yielded and still”?  Or do I more often than not beg GOD to work on the timeframe of my thoughts?  

I need to REMEMBER that I am the clay and HE IS THE POTTER!  “YOUR HAND” is where I desire to be, even when I am having to WAIT for YOUR deliverance!!!

“MY COVENANT!”

Genesis 17:7-8                                         (ESV)

“[7] And I will establish “MY COVENANT” between ME and you (Abraham) and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be GOD to you and to your offspring after you. [8] And I WILL GIVE TO YOU AND TO YOUR OFFSPRING after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their GOD.”

ALL SCRIPTURE is GOD-BREATHED (2 Timothy 3:16-17), even though GOD has used several different human authors to place the WORDS onto parchment throughout history.  Moses is believed by many to be the recorder of the first five books of the BIBLE, thus the focal passage for today’s devotional is FROM GOD, but was put onto parchment by Moses, not because he was sinless, but because he was CHOSEN by GOD!

Moses is not the one that Genesis 17 is written about though.  In Genesis 17:1 it is recorded “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am GOD ALMIGHTY; walk before ME, and be blameless,”.   In Genesis 17:5 it is recorded “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.”  Abraham was CHOSEN by GOD as well, but he also wasn’t sinless (Genesis 20)!  

We need to be careful NOT to be too caught up with any servant of GOD, for even King David, a man after GODS OWN HEART (1 Samuel 13:14) was a sinner!  The ONLY blameless person ever born was GOD IN THE FLESH, JESUS CHRIST!  HE IS TRUTH (John 14:6), and we need to use HIM as our guide to live our lives!  In Genesis 15:6, Abram BELIEVED GOD and GOD “counted it to him as righteousness”!  Even though Abraham was human, ALMIGHTY GOD counted his BELIEF as RIGHTEOUSNESS when HE saw Abraham!

What does ALMIGHTY GOD SEE when HE looks at me?  I am so UNCLEAN when it comes to obedience to THE LORD, but according to Hebrews 9:11-29 HE SEES THE BLOOD OF JESUS when HE SEES me!  Because of the SACRIFICE OF JESUS, when HE looks at me, THE FATHER SEES THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB!  “MY COVENANT” that was made between GOD and Abraham was COMPLETED when JESUS said “IT IS FINISHED” on Calvary!!!

From Bishop Robert E Smith, Sr.

“There are those who are partly blind, others completely blind, and still others under strong delusion. The one shall be saved (Rom.11:25-28), the other can be saved (2 Cor.4:3,4); but still others are damned (2 Thess.2:11,12).  Jesus Christ is Lord (Rom.10:9; Phil.2:11).”

“TO KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST!”

 Ephesians 3:14-19                        (ESV)

Prayer for Spiritual Strength

“[14] For this reason I bow my knees before the FATHER, [15] from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, [16] that according to the riches of HIS glory HE may grant you to be strengthened with power through HIS SPIRIT in your inner being, [17] so that CHRIST may dwell in your hearts THROUGH FAITH—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [18] may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, [19] and “TO KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST” that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of GOD.”

The verses above are filled with requests for “Prayer for Spiritual Strength” and the attributes that GOD brings to a Believer.  To be “strengthened with power through HIS SPIRIT” is something that can only be attributed to ALMIGHTY GOD!!

Not only do we expect to be BLESSED with DIVINE characteristics, but we should also display “something different” to a lost and dying world………”TO KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST”!!!!

“LISTEN!”

 

John 6:59-65                             (ESV)

“[59] JESUS said these things in the synagogue, as HE taught at Capernaum.

[60] When many of HIS disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; “WHO CAN LISTEN TO IT”?” [61] But JESUS, knowing in HIMSELF that HIS disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “DO YOU TAKE OFFENSE AT THIS? [62] Then what if you were to see the SON of MAN ascending to where HE was before? [63] It is the SPIRIT WHO gives life; the flesh is NO HELP AT ALL. The words that I have spoken to you are SPIRIT and LIFE. [64] But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For JESUS KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING WHO THOSE WERE WHO DID NOT BELIEVE, and who it was who would betray HIM.) [65] And HE said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to ME unless it is granted him by the FATHER.”

JESUS spoke TRUTH!  It isn’t hard to imagine that “this world” found HIS talks to be hard to swallow!  But even HIS disciples said after hearing JESUS speak “WHO CAN LISTEN TO IT”?  Keep in mind, they were yet to have the HOLY SPIRIT indwelling them, so it should be understood that they didn’t have the same RUDDER that we do post Pentecost.  But HIS own disciples were unable to grasp HEAVENLY things UNTIL the HOLY SPIRIT “revealed” to them TRUTH!!!

As Believers, we are BLESSED to have the HOLY SPIRIT living inside of us.  However the typical Believer fails to acknowledge that ALMIGHTY GOD, through the HOLY SPIRIT, indwells a wretch such as me?  We COULD HAVE the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES guiding our lives, but some choose to “follow our own hearts” and do “what seems best” instead?  

Like the disciples in John 6:60, at times our actions display “WHO CAN LISTEN TO IT” without saying it!  Do our actions display a lack of FAITH that GOD lives within us?  Do the words we speak reveal the kind of FAITH that THE CREATOR likes within us?  Who do others SEE living inside of me???

“WHO CAN LISTEN TO IT” doesn’t need to be my question, but I need to be one who tells everyone I am led to what JESUS and the HOLY SPIRIT have done for me!  For me, the most effective way to HEAR from GOD is to BE STILL, then I can KNOW THAT HE IS GOD!!!!

“WHO CAN LISTEN TO IT?”

 John 6:59-65                             (ESV)

“[59] JESUS said these things in the synagogue, as HE taught at Capernaum.

[60] When many of HIS disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; “WHO CAN LISTEN TO IT”?” [61] But JESUS, knowing in HIMSELF that HIS disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “DO YOU TAKE OFFENSE AT THIS? [62] Then what if you were to see the SON of MAN ascending to where HE was before? [63] It is the SPIRIT WHO gives life; the flesh is NO HELP AT ALL. The words that I have spoken to you are SPIRIT and LIFE. [64] But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For JESUS KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING WHO THOSE WERE WHO DID NOT BELIEVE, and who it was who would betray HIM.) [65] And HE said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to ME unless it is granted him by the FATHER.”

JESUS spoke TRUTH!  It isn’t hard to imagine that “this world” found HIS talks to be hard to swallow!  But even HIS disciples said after hearing JESUS speak “WHO CAN LISTEN TO IT”?  Keep in mind, they were yet to have the HOLY SPIRIT indwelling them, so it should be understood that they didn’t have the same RUDDER that we do post Pentecost.  But HIS own disciples were unable to grasp HEAVENLY things UNTIL the HOLY SPIRIT “revealed” to them TRUTH!!!

As Believers, we are BLESSED to have the HOLY SPIRIT living inside of us.  However the typical Believer fails to acknowledge that ALMIGHTY GOD, through the HOLY SPIRIT, indwells a wretch such as me?  We COULD HAVE the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES guiding our lives, but some choose to “follow our own hearts” and do “what seems best” instead?  

Like the disciples in John 6:60, at times our actions display “WHO CAN LISTEN TO IT” without saying it!  Do our actions display a lack of FAITH that GOD lives within us?  Do the words we speak reveal the kind of FAITH that THE CREATOR likes within us?  Who do others SEE living inside of me???

“WHO CAN LISTEN TO IT” doesn’t need to be my question, but I need to be one who tells everyone I am led to what JESUS and the HOLY SPIRIT have done for me!  For me, the most effective way to HEAR from GOD is to BE STILL, then I can KNOW THAT HE IS GOD!!!!

“MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU!”

 2 Corinthians 12:7-10                    (ESV)

“[7] So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. [8] Three times I pleaded with the LORD about this, that it should leave me. [9] But HE said to me, “”MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU” is sufficient for you, for MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS”. Therefore I WILL BOAST ALL THE MORE GLADLY of my weaknesses, so that the POWER of CHRIST MAY REST UPON ME. [10] For the sake of CHRIST, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am WEAK, then I am STRONG.”

There are times when I am posting a devotional “online” and it SPEAKS to me differently than what I just posted!  Today is one of those times.   

In the Scripture verses above the WORDS were written on paper by the Apostle Paul, but they were inspired by the Holy Spirit!  The Apostle Paul says “Three times I pleaded with the LORD about this, that it should leave me” in verse eight.  Then IT IS WRITTEN in verse nine But HE said to me, “”MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU”, for MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS”.

WHO is the “HE” that Paul wrote about in verse nine?  HE is undoubtedly writing about THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES (Colossians 1:16), JESUS, the SON OF GOD, WHO also said “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU”!!  Since JESUS “SPOKE” these worlds into existence with NO HELP from we humans, it should go without saying that HE has the POWER to do ANYTHING without assistance.  

But in Matthew 17:20 JESUS HIMSELF was speaking to HIS disciples and told them “BECAUSE OF YOUR LITTLE FAITH (you could not heal a certain person). For truly, I say to you, IF YOU HAVE FAITH LIKE A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU”!!!

In Roman’s 8:10-11 we are EXPLICITLY told that the SPIRIT WHO raised JESUS from the dead lives in us!  “Therefore I WILL BOAST ALL THE MORE GLADLY of my weaknesses, so that the POWER of CHRIST MAY REST UPON ME. For the sake of CHRIST, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am WEAK, then I AM STRONG” through JESUS CHRIST and the HOLY SPIRIT, because “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU”!!!

“MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS!”

 2 Corinthians 12:7-10                    (ESV)

“[7] So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. [8] Three times I pleaded with the LORD about this, that it should leave me. [9] But HE said to me, “MY GRACE is sufficient for you, for “MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS”.” Therefore I WILL BOAST ALL THE MORE GLADLY of my weaknesses, so that the POWER of CHRIST MAY REST UPON ME. [10] For the sake of CHRST, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am WEAK, then I am STRONG.”

There are times when we have a WEAKNESS that GOD uses for HIS GLORY.  But WHY does GOD use WEAKNESS in HIS CHOSEN when it might be thought that we should be STRONGER than our enemy? When we rely on JESUS, the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES, we can achieve ANYTHING!  

When we SUBMIT to JESUS and HIS PLAN for our lives, we basically are yielding to HIS direction and PLAN for our future.  From personal experience, HE doesn’t need our input or advice to advance HIS CAUSE (refer to July 12-29, 2007)!!  During this particular time in my life, I was TOTALLY incapable of even breathing on my own!  How did I make it through “the valley of the shadow of death”?  Maybe when I was WEAK, HE WAS STRONG???

One might assume that through this MONUMENTAL process that I would become extremely ready and willing to surrender my CHOICES to HIS WILL?  But just like Moses and the Children of Israel in Exodus 14, I had no other option than TO WAIT ON THE LORD to provide my needs!  

Psalms 27:14 (KJV) says “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and HE shall strengthen thine heart: WAIT, I SAY, ON THE LORD.”   JESUS said to the Apostle Paul “MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS”.  But we MUST WAIT ON HIM and submit to HIS AUTHORITY!!!

“WISDOM FROM THE SPIRIT!”

 1 Corinthians 2:6-11

“WISDOM FROM THE SPIRIT”                  (ESV)

“[6] Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. [7] But we impart a SECRET and HIDDEN WISDOM OF GOD, which GOD DECREES BEFORE THE AGES for our glory. [8] NOME of the RULERS OF THIS AGE UNDERSTOOD this, for if they had, THEY WOULD NOT have crucified the LORD of glory. [9] But, as it is written, 

    “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

        nor the heart of man imagined,

    what GOD has prepared for those who love HIM”—

    [10] these things GOD has revealed to us through the SPIRIT. For the SPIRIT searches everything, even the depths of GOD. [11] For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also NO ONE comprehends the thoughts of GOD except the SPIRIT of GOD.”

What REALLY happened a few years following the Brain Hemorrhage was a therapist who worked with me during my recovery suggested that I began to write a daily journal to improve my “word selection”, or my ability to use the language I had years before.  Little did I know that the MAIN thing that was needed was to SLOW DOWN and listen to “WISDOM FROM THE SPIRIT”!!!

Scripture is VERY UNAMBIGUOUS that GOD has a Plan that we fulfill, even when we do things that are contrary to HIS WORD.  King David was “a man after GOD’s OWN HEART” (1 Samuel 13:14), but David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had Uriah (her husband) killed in battle!  GOD then “used” the evil that King David committed to GLORIFY HIMSELF, for in the lineage of JESUS it is written in Matthew 1:6 “and Jesse the father of David the king. And David WAS THE FATHER OF Solomon BY THE WIFE OF URIAH,”!  The mother of King Solomon was Bathsheba and Matthew 1:6 says she was THE WIFE OF URIAH!  

Most people try to avoid being USED by others because we think we are “above” that.  But ALMIGHTY GOD uses us to accomplish HIS PLAN to GLORIFY HIMSELF!  What could be better than to have THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES CHOOSE “little ole you” to be a CHOSEN VESSEL and EDIFY and GLORIFY HIS KINGDOM!  

Being a Brain Hemorrhage Survivor is a humbling and rewarding thing!  I had NO part of the healing process.  As a matter of fact, being in a coma may have been GOD’s WAY of removing my interfering actions?  Slowing my “word recall” down has caused me to PONDER things more thoroughly and to SEEK “WISDOM FROM THE SPIRIT”!!!  GOD USES the most “unbelievable” things to GLORIFY HIMSELF!!!

“HE IS!”

 Colossians 1:15-20                       (ESV)

The Preeminence of CHRIST

“[15] “HE IS” the image of the invisible GOD, the firstborn of all creation. [16] For BY HIM ALL THINGS WERE CREATED, in HEAVEN and on EARTH, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—ALL THINGS were created THROUGH HIM and FOR HIM. [17] And HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, and IN HIM ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER. [18] And HE is the head of the body, the church. HE is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. [19] For IN HIM all the fullness of GOD was pleased to dwell, [20] and THROUGH HIM to reconcile to HIMSELF ALL THINGS, whether on EARTH or in HEAVEN, making peace by the blood of HIS cross”.

'DEO NON FORTUNA’

by GOD, not fortune/luck

I recently watched a video about ‘DEO NON FORTUNA’, which is Latin for “by GOD, not fortune/luck”!  If you look ‘DEO NON FORTUNA’ up on an internet search engine, one engine gives “by GOD, not fortune/luck”!  

Could the Holy Spirit have “enlightened” the Apostle Paul and Timothy in writing this letter to the Church at Colossae that humanity would become SO full of itself that the common understanding was that the heavens and earth were simply a result of a “Big Bang” that was formed by inertia?  But where did inertia come from?  And where did the “Big Bang” come from???

There simply isn’t/wasn’t/will be ANY physical evidence that Creation exists without THE CREATOR!  Colossians 1:16 in part says “ALL THINGS were created THROUGH HIM and FOR HIM”!!  

There are A LOT of things that I have to “accept BY FAITH”!  If I am going to “accept BY FAITH” anything, it will be that GOD/JESUS CREATED everything, because “HE IS”!!!!

“PRIDE!”

 Proverbs 16:18                   (ESV)

    “PRIDE” goes before destruction,

        and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Being someone who has lived “in the south” my entire life may influence my decisions, but let me HUMBLY say that I am NOT a “proud southerner”!  GOD USES many different things to accomplish HIS PURPOSE in our lives.  The experiences of my life PREVENT me from being too caught up in “my” accomplishments.  When I SEE that I am nothing outside of JESUS, I am HUMBLED beyond description.  

Proverbs 16:18 doesn’t say “PRIDE” might get you into trouble, or “PRIDE” might turn you into something you won’t like!  Scripture actually says “PRIDE” goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall”!!!  The word DESTRUCTION has several synonyms including end, demolition , devastation and finally DEATH!

The differences between “PRIDE” and DESTRUCTION aren’t necessarily that far apart.  You can be PROUD of your family, but when the family comes before GOD ALMIGHTY, it will be DESTRUCTIVE!  Bottom line is, anything that comes BEFORE where GOD is in our lives is ALREADY bringing DESTRUCTION!  We have to have our EYES opened to SEE that “PRIDE” is a cancer that WILL destroy us!

My prayer is that I will never let “PRIDE” grow in my life again.  GOD has the ability to humble us rather easily, and having this TRUTH revealed to us can be VERY uncomfortable!!!