Eternity Is Written In Our Hearts***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Matters of the heart are weighing heavy on my mind and the Holy Spirit knows the burdens.  He speaks from out of the early morning darkness and brings His light.

"I came to change the death sentence to a life sentence". 

There is nothing subtle about my indwelling Counselor He never minces words with me but cuts through all the chaff and goes to the heart of every matter. 

This season on my journey with Jesus have brought the extreme pendulum swing of emotions from the deep sorrow of saying our earthly "good-byes" to a precious son and brother, uncle and friend 'til we meet again, to the delightful news of a precious new life being added to our family.   I have had sweet visits and conversations that are way too short with my beloveds who live far away, and I know that each day will bring battles for all of us who still live on this planet in chaos.

This morning, the Holy One has painted a picture of the eternal.  It is a hard reality that we all have an expiration date on the calendar when we will exit our flesh bodies and our spirit and soul will be catapulted into another realm. 

While life on earth will continue to be lived sandwiched between the boundaries of birth and death until the King of Kings returns in glory, we live out our temporal lives in a temple made of dust. This temple will return to the elements from which it is formed.  In the eternal scheme of things God's purpose for our individual lives is being worked from birth to death here on earth.

Nine years ago, I had the privilege of walking with my husband of 31 years to the finish line of his temporal life.  It was not my first exposure to the death of a beloved, but it was the closest one in my earthly existence. Then in 2018, I walked my sweet momma through that same valley of the shadow of death.  And in 2019, my world was again turned upside down by the sudden death of one of my sons taken home way too soon. 

For me it has been a walk in God's grace, sometimes just minute to minute.  I came to understand that God's grace is truly seen in the rear-view mirror.  Our difficult days require putting just one foot in front of the other when life becomes like trying to walk through a swap with flip flops on your feet.  Somehow we make it through but only by the Grace of God.

I am thankful to have been given an eternal perspective of life, otherwise these times and experiences might have done me in.  Each was a huge mountain that would have been too hard for me to climb without a hope for life beyond the veil.

My husband lost his life here in a brutal battle with cancer, my momma was just tired at 95 years of age and quietly passed on and my son was suddenly whisked away due to a broken and diseased heart.  But I know that the real enemy of all humanity is death itself no matter how it comes or what situation spells the end of our physical existence here on earth.

In each situation that ends in temporal death, the fact that must be considered is that in life we all have an expiration date set by the Hand of our Creator God.  Our temporal lives have a purpose, and that purpose is fulfilled when we exit our physical body and not one second before. God's Word tells us to number our days and that means that we should make each one count for something.  

So, what is our life purpose?  Could it be the same for every person ever born?  I believe so! 

The greatest philosopher who was ever lived wrote these words: 

"The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright --Words of Truth.  The words of the wise are like goads and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by the One Shepherd.  And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of many books here is no end and much study is wearisome to the flesh.  Let us hear the conclusion of the matter:  Fear God and keep His commands. For this is man's all.  For God will bring every work into judgement-including every secret thing whether good or evil"   King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

The greater purpose God, our Creator, has given every human ever born is to seek for and find Him.  Then we must make a personal decision to live under His Lordship both here and on into Eternity.  He has been calling every man, woman and child into a love relationship with Himself since the beginning of time as we know it.

What we find to do on the journey with our hands, does not change what we are to do with our heart.  The evidence of His Sovereign and Divine Being is everywhere in creation.  No one is without a reason to seek Him or with an excuse to deny Him. 

As it has been said, all of us are born with a God shaped hole in our heart and our over-arching purpose in this life is to find that missing piece to our human existence and join Him in a forever love relationship.

Since the days when King Solomon wrote these words, we have entered a new paradigm.  Over countless generations, God was setting the stage for the day we look back to in history as the day the Savior Son of God, called by the name Jesus, came into the world.

The purpose for life did not change on that day but our ability to "see" the God we are supposed to be seeking was given.  Jesus' life, death and resurrection ushered in a new and privileged era for humanity we call the church age and Grace.  God wrapped Himself in flesh for flesh eyes to behold Him and to testify to the world of His character and love.

After His resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into the world, and it is He who calls us to a personal relationship with the One who died our death and opened up the way of eternity.  Once we have been given the opportunity to accept Jesus as Savior, the choice is ours. Whether we do or not determines where we will spend eternity: at home in paradise with our Creator or in the place of "gnashing of teeth" separated from His love.    

Each one of us having been born into a fallen world, is on a trajectory that leads to the pit of hell.  "Hell" is a place of permanent and eternal separation (relational death) from our Creator God unless we choose a different course.  God has provided a way for each one of us by way of a free will decision to change the course and trajectory of our life.   

Jesus conquered the great enemy of humanity called death (relational separation from our Creator God) and was resurrected in glory.  He came to change the death sentence to a life sentence.  Now we can experience the same eternal life that God Himself exists within. 

Our great purpose then, is to reach out and grasp the gift of eternal life that God the Creator and Father of humanity is offering through Jesus Christ His Son.  Once our eternal destination with Him is set, and we declare Jesus is our personal Savior and Lord, our purpose then becomes telling as many as will listen to us, what He has done to insure our eternal life with Him in Heaven.  Temporal death will merely send us into His welcoming arms.

Once saved here on earth, until our pre-set expiration date, we have a new occupation as a servant of the Most High God, but our job may be anything good and God-directed that we find to put our hands to accomplish.  The Lord will lead us into interesting opportunities to share our faith and His love.

Eternity is written in our hearts.  The Keeper of eternity wants to spend it with us.

If you do not know Jesus the Christ, is 2021 your year to find Him?

The Holy Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?

        

 



   





       

The Holy Spirit of Truth***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  "Tis the season" as they say.  And while we may repeat in our hearts, "Jesus is the reason for the season", we get into the frenzy of mall and even online shopping that indicates a basic conflict between our head and heart  "reason for the season".

The birth of Jesus changed the world.  God's gift to humanity came as a Babe in a manger, but traditions have been instituted that change the focus as the unsaved world participates in a strictly Christian celebration. 

Forced acceptance of our beliefs corrupts the purity of our faith.  We see this played out in the material, worldly take-over of  a day we celebrate as the pivot point in our  history when God sent His Son into the world to change hearts and minds and even our misunderstanding of the Creator Himself.

This morning, the Holy One speaks of anther gift from God that the Church alone can celebrate:  The gift of the Holy Spirit Himself. 

His gentle voice comes from out of the darkness of the night just before dawn.  "Do not be afraid of the truth.  The truth will set you free". 

My thoughts scatter almost like roaches when a light is turned on in the darkness. Fears begin to rise up and out from my carnal thoughts especially when He said "Do not be afraid".  It is interesting how the words "do not be afraid" inspire within us almost a compulsion to go there. 

What is it about truth that creates a fear?  I can tell our meeting this morning is about to get dicey for my flesh as the Holy Spirit leads me into all truth and truth is the subject of His lesson plan today.

He takes me to His word:  John 14:16, (NKJV) "If you love Me keep My commands.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may abide with you forever--The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows Him; but you will know Him for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you."

Then in John 15: 26 (NKJV) , again the Lord speaks of our indwelling Counselor, "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

The great gift that Jesus promised and the One our Heavenly Father has sent to all who believe in the Name and person of His Son, Jesus, is the Holy Spirit of truth.  When truth comes to dwell within the heart and life of a believer all the lies and deception that our carnal nature has accepted in the past must be (A) revealed and (B) rejected. 

This is a process of purging and refinement and initiates a battle between our flesh man and the Spirit of Holiness within.  The new governor of our lives aka The Holy Spirit, as promised, will lead us into all truth and teach us all things.  It is a new education with a different purpose and perspective than we have been taught before.

Fears are a part of our carnal nature but there is also a demonic  "spirit" of fear that is an outside force attempting to manipulate our thoughts and thereby our actions.  Truth stands as a mighty internal force against both the flesh man and the devil.  Fear creates a form of bondage that holds us in a grip and keeps us from truth. 

As I ponder the "do not" of this morning's message, I must allow my Counselor to point out what He sees. A deeper consideration of what fears must be confessed and cast away reveals some of the toxic poison from the original  temptation of Eve.

Fear of God's good Sovereignty is an issue  Evil has portrayed our Loving Creator as anything but loving and ultimately good.   We fear His wrath, we fear His rejection, We fear His control that would withhold what we need or desire, but more to the point we fear what His ruling authority means to our own agenda which is flesh motivated.

The enemy causes us through provoking thoughts to question God's intentions toward us and fears of the worst of intentions can create a wall of mistrust that has us running away from truth rather than toward it.   Rather than ask God for truth we try to defend what we think even if it represents a delusion.  False religion and even legalism is a deception.  We become programmed to the familiar even if the familiar is not true.

I question the "why" of it and the Lord sheds His light to that dark confusion in my mind.  " Truth requires action.  A lie acknowledged demands a correction.  That is why the truth is often avoided but in the end will set you free".

Once we come to know the truth, and God IS truth, there is a requirement to re-calibrate our thoughts and actions to embrace what may be and usually is foreign to our flesh. Beyond that, we then must repent for what we have been shown and is at odds with truth.  Repentance opens the way for healing and deliverance from those evil habits and thoughts that grip our lives and hold us hostage.

Our first experience is to accept, in spite of all the evil we see, that God so loves the world that He gave His only Son so that all who come to believe in Jesus, (His life, His death and His resurrection)  as Savior, will not perish but have everlasting life.

The truth is stranger than fiction and the lies that promote self-deliverance must be dismissed in the truth that God NOT us brought salvation for His Beloved creation: humanity.

The truth runs counter to all "religion" because all religion is reversed.  God reaches out to us for relationship.  But religion places the burden on us and says we must reach out to Him and provide a reason for His acceptance and thereby save ourselves.  Knowing and accepting His offer through Jesus is different and in reverse of us initiating the relationship. 

As the Holy Spirit leads us into truth there come refinements all the time where we must surrender and not defend our best flesh thoughts or action when they are revealed to be contrary to Holy assessment. 

The fear that truth might be hard to accept becomes like a cloud of resistance and self-deception actually shackles us from being set free. Truth by its very nature reveals what stands in the way of our freedom.  If we persevere in seeking truth, the way out of the deception and even correction will be as gentle as the Lord Himself, who told us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

I accept and confess that many of my thoughts and actions have betrayed my Lord.  They are evidence of a faithless lack of trust in His good and all powerful Sovereignty, and Divine control.  I confess fear that if I let go of my inept "control", things will spiral even more out of control.

Pressing in I see the breakthrough of the truth is like the light and dawn of this new day.  I choose to release my fears and persevere in discovering the gracious bounty in my Father's benevolent gift of His Holy Spirit of truth.   I come in humble appreciation for Him and petition for even more truth He has to bring, that truly does sets me free.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?                             

  

Heavenly Truth***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Evil has struck again and this time on our own shores.  America is under attack and it seems to have come from within.  If ever there was a need for wisdom and discernment from Heaven, it is now.  The Lord has drawn me into His Presence with confidence that I have standing to petition for His intervention not because of who I am but because of who Jesus is.  

This morning He speaks soberly "Why have you not asked to be lead into ALL truth.  That is the reason I sent the Holy Spirit to indwell you."

I find it amazing how long it takes for me to appropriate things that were promised by my Lord so long ago.  Really, at the very beginning of the new covenant  between God and humanity,  Jesus promised that our Heavenly Father would send a Divine counselor, comforter, and friend to occupy a place in our hearts that had previously been empty.  The Holy Spirit comes to fill a void we are born with that only God can fill.

Knowing and growing in the wonderful relationship with the Holy Spirit, I delight in all the new information yet always regret how long it takes me to appropriate and apply His wisdom. 

I have for a long time asked for His wisdom and He has been gracious to deliver.  He has opened my eyes to the better ways of the Lord when I ask.  But today I realize how I have not asked Him to lead me into all truth.  There is a difference in my mind between situational wisdom and "All Truth". 

The Holy Spirit does as He always does and takes me back to the Word.

John 14: 26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you".

The Holy Spirit is our bridge to the Trinity. He will teach us all things...and that means He will teach us Heavenly things as well as earthly things. Through His wisdom, He teaches so we can handle all of life's sometimes confusing situations.  But in Truth He stands ready to open up Heavenly things and give us a Divine Godly perspective with an eternal view. 

Since the fall of humanity back in the garden of our origins, we have been infected with a virus known as sin and the symptom of that virus is great confusion when having to distinguish between good and evil, truth and lies. And furthermore there comes the impossible mandate to act in a holy way acceptable to a Holy God. We were created in innocence so we are not naturally wired to make such distinctions between good and evil, truth and lies, so any judgements we render according to our carnal minds are flawed. 

Thankfully the Holy Spirit within us provides a Godly discernment and gives us the ability to gain the Lord's determination as to what is good and what is evil, what is truth and what is a lie.  The question is whether or not we will rely upon His leading us into all truth and teaching us all things and then will we follow His lead?

Our first dose of Truth is the knowledge about our Savior, Jesus. We learn enough to trust Him initially but there is so much more to learn. As we grow into maturity I believe we grow in curiosity about our Lord and God so that we may discover more about the mystery and majesty of our Triune Godhead before we meet face to face.

The Holy Spirit is our truth teacher, our comforter, when truth may be hard to handle (especially about our own carnality or difficult life trials) and He is our advocate. As our advocate His presence assures us that we belong to the Lord and nothing the enemy conjures up can take us out of The Lord's hands.

The truth is that we have been redeemed out of the hands of the devil and through Jesus our original dominion over the earth has been reclaimed and reinstated to our control. The Holy Spirit is our source of Godly wisdom and through such wisdom we can know how to maintain our reclaimed dominion here on earth.  But Truth reveals the battle before we are given our part to play.

As I now petition to be led into all truth, the Holy One will provide the Heavenly perspective along with the wisdom to operate according to it.  Our nation needs Divine protection and Divine perspective of our original purpose on this earth:  To accurately represent the One True God and His Son Jesus to the lost, dying and deceived world around us, and to live in a peaceful land that is founded upon Biblical freedoms.

The enemy wants to silence our message and our example.   While we have in the past betrayed our mission and struggled with becoming one with the world, today we have the opportunity to return to our Lord and retake our dominion until we die here or are supernaturally taken out so that prophecy can be fulfilled.

Let us pray in the Truth that the Lord has NOT abandoned His people nor the Nation of people that have been called by His Name.  For the sake of His name let us cry out for His Divine intervention and protection so that we can once again be the light in the darkness and operate in unity as One Nation under God.   This is the responsibility and privilege of the Church of the Living God.         

Today may we cry out to Our Heavenly Father that He send the Holy Spirit to teach us all truth, repent for our corporate sin and wait with excited anticipation on Him to deliver those priceless lessons.  Our God reigns! 

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

The End of The Enemy's Reign***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  The deepest issues of life with my Lord cannot be discussed in the hallway and in passing.  Some issues require days to navigate the deeps for understanding to shine a light in the dark catacombs of my mind.

The temptation is to stay busy.  So much to do and so little time in the bigger spectrum of what the world deems as "urgent".   But I know in my heart that I must forsake the urgent to focus on the important and I must determine "important" as defined by my Lord.

I want to understand life and to know my God to the greatest of my ability given the carnal mind I was born with.  To gain the mind of Christ is not just an instant thing and thoughts must be tested and checked against the Truth of His written word and that takes time. 

Evil is running rampant and much of my struggle is in the need to refuse to take the bait and surrender to the lies that the devil whispers in my ear.  Yes, I do hear voices other than the Voice of the Holy Spirit.  The Word tells us that Satan, our enemy, is a liar.  A liar speaks lies.  Therein is how we come to be deceived.  He speaks.  We listen.  And we fail to discern and refute his lies, which then gives him the power over us.

The Holy One speaks into that struggle this morning,  "Satan was created to be a servant of the Most High.  He was created to serve the Will of the Creator." 

With that statement the Light shines in the darkness of my room and wrestle.

Drawing down has taken some time.  But in the sweet place of His Presence, the random thoughts of late are like dots on a board about to be connected. 

One of my favorite all time chapters of scripture is Isaiah 54 and for years I considered Isaiah 54: 16-17 NKJV to be like a life verse that when I found that truth, it was a game changer:

"Behold I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work.  And I have created the spoiler to destroy".

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from Me says the Lord."

Being of a warrior mentality, these are victory words and a promise I have claimed for all my battles here on earth.  Understanding that our battle is not against flesh and blood was another piece to the picture as was given in Ephesians 6.  These verses together helped me get a perspective that God is in control of the spoiler and the amount of chaos he can inflict.  I grew to understand, that what the enemy brings to harm us, the Lord merely uses to strengthen and not defeat us. 

But lately as the world is inching toward the final battle here on earth, there was a question in my mind and a deeper wrestle about what that verse might mean in these more desperate days of persecution. 

Since the wake up call, by the Holy Spirit, thoughts keep streaming into my brain. Thoughts about Satan and his created status as a servant.   Only man was created in the image of God Himself and only "saved" man can claim the position and relationship as sons and daughters.  If pride caused the evil insurrection and rebellion of his role to serve the Creator, imagine the rage at knowing that for all of time he would be in servitude to the sons and daughters of the Creator as well.

So, the epic journal reveals that Satan went off the reservation, rebelled against God and left his role as servant.  Angels have free will, since we read and understand that 1/3 of the angelic host chose to follow Satan in that mutiny. But they have no remedy for rebellion and no opportunity for salvation.

Lucifer wanted to be god and in that drive for power and control he set about to deceive the rightful heirs (humanity) of all that the Creator created.  Having lost his place in Heaven, he was catapulted to earth.  He set up camp here and brought the same temptation that drove him to rebellion and placed it before Adam and Eve.  The desire for independence from our Creator. 

Satan took our dominion and enslaved humanity to do his evil bidding. Thus came the fall and how we ended up here with evil dominating and humans being in servitude to the enemy of our Heavenly Creator.

The roles got switched and evil took up the reins of power over the Lord's Beloved.

But GOD.....who so loves the world (of people) that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ into the world not to judge but to save us.  His love affair with us has been in operation since the beginning of our world and time.   

Satan and his hordes hate their designated role as servants and seek to rule over God's Beloved during this "age" on fallen earth.  To do so they have to divide us from our ordained inheritance and destroy the Truth about ourselves and our Abba Father.  Jesus came and set the record straight as well as fulfilled the Holy requirement of death for sin.  Jesus redeemed us out of the hands of the evil one. 

Today I have a greater understanding of the verses so dear to my heart. Today I see the magnitude and power of these verses.  These verses come alive in the Truth of the Lord's death and resurrection.   Knowing in advance everything the players in the Garden of Eden would do before they were ever placed there, the plan for our rescue and deliverance was already in place before the fall.

Knowing that humanity would fall in free will and not be able to save themselves, and since the Holy terms of a Holy God for reconciliation could not be met by sinful human flesh alone,  God wrapped Himself in flesh to pay the price that no man in and of himself could pay.  One act, one Man, one remedy for all humanity.

The destroyer had a purpose in God's design and that was to deliver up the Son of God/ Son of man to be crucified. In the death that the evil one arranged, was brought to fulfillment the penalty for man's sin and the God provided reconciliation with the Creator which ended the enemy's ruling authority over the Lord's beloved.  God's purpose has been fulfilled.  Our purpose is now to enforce the victory that Jesus provided His Kingdom Kids. (that's us)

By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony, we overcome the devil in our lives. (Rev 12).  Therefore, "no weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord".

The lies of the enemy have been silenced by the truth.  But an action on my part must follow  It is not good enough to know the truth and not declare it.  A testimony is a declaration and a verbalizing of a personal experience. 

Taking the graphic of the Blood of the Lamb during the Passover and Exodus of the Nation of Israel out of Egypt,  the blood  had to be applied out of a basin and onto the door. Left in the basin, the blood of the lamb did not protect the household.  It was a applied to the doorway of the house by a bunch of hyssop.  This hyssop is symbolic of our testimony and our statement of faith.   

We must speak about our belief in what the Blood of Jesus has done for us, not from a podium unless you are called to speak to an audience,  but to the liar and the multitude of witnesses in the unseen realm.   Our declaration activates the power of the Blood over our lives like placing it on the doorpost provided protection when the angel of death passed over Egypt.  Faith speaks...and Satan leaves.

The ultimate end of the enemy will take place at some future time, but the end of his reign over us was accomplished by the Blood of the Lamb shed on that Cross over 2000 years ago.  And now by our testimony of that Holy Blood we have the power to conquer, prevail, get the victory (aka) overcome Satan. 

It's time for all of us to realize the power in the Blood of Jesus and by the word of our testimony make our declaration of victory and thereby end the enemy's reign over our lives.    

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him? 











 

         




 

The Power of the Blood of Jesus: God's Antidote for Guilt ***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  "Be still and know that I am God"  has been the message from Holiness to me for several weeks.  Lessons have come from various studies and sources.  Even the weather has been a situational hindrance from any outside busyness.

The quiet down time has allowed more opportunity to see the outside world turning while my inside world seems to be standing still.  The Holy One speaks with the soft insistent rain falling on my window.  "The rain is cleansing the atmosphere just like the Blood of Jesus cleanses your mind.  Remember and declare that truth"

True to form, the Holy One speaks into my deepest wrestles.  I know that since Salvation I have been forgiven for all sin in my life and through repentance for any misconduct since that day keeps my chart of accountability free and clear.  The nagging question is, "if I have been forgiven and I believe that, why do I still feel guilty?"

This has created many wrestles over the years and most end with the cloud still hanging over and no real relief.  I know that I have an enemy who is the accuser and he drags out things that I  have been forgiven for just to torment my righteous soul.  Understanding his MO explained some things but the question changed to "am I the only one who feels this way?"

Honest friends have confessed they wonder about that too.  Today I am so ready to hear what the Holy One has to say about the cleansing of my mind.  He draws me to His Word.

Hebrews 10:19-22, "Therefore Brethren, having boldness to enter Holiest (The very presence of God) by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil that is His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart sprinkled (with the Blood) from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." 
  
I have been doing a study on the Blood of Jesus and its Power to cleanse my carnal mind because I came to realize that the catacombs of my mind hide the flesh mis-information that evil uses to defeat me. That probably runs counter to the argument that I have the mind of Christ (which I do), however diving deeper into the Power of the Blood of the Lamb...it is the word of our testimony often so neglected that is the true power over the enemy.   Rev 12 confirms that truth, "And they (true believers) overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."  The word of my testimony is a verbalization of my belief and faith in what the Blood of Jesus has done for me.
 
To take from the symbolism of Passover and the Blood of the Lamb applied to the doorpost with a bunch of hyssop, I see that the Blood of the Passover  Lamb was drained into a basin....but in faith it was applied to the doorpost to activate it's powerful protection from the angel of death sent out over the entire land of Egypt. If the blood remained in the basin, not applied to the doorpost, the children of Israel would have died within just like the Egyptians. They would have suffered in a sense like the unsaved...

As Christians we have lost our understanding or never been deeply taught of the power that is available through the Blood of Jesus applied consciously and by faith to our lives. It has been left in the basin so to speak. We understand that it is important to our eternal destination but fail to grasp how it is to be applied to our lives here today. 

Consequently we suffer like those around us, who are going through life without a clue and without the personal knowledge of so great a rescue and protection from out of the grip of the evil one. That is after all what we have been redeemed from. Death is Satan’s signature of possession and bondage to his evil control can continue after our Salvation unless we enforce our freedom in redemption.

The Blood of Jesus has a Power that is undefeatable. That power is ours to apply but as scripture says, “my people die from lack of knowledge”, so here is the Truth about the Blood of Jesus in case you have forgotten or have never been taught.

Through the Holy Blood of Jesus:

We are forgiven of all sin.
We are redeemed (bought back, delivered from sin) and out of the hands of the Devil.
We walk in the light and we are cleansed now and continually being cleansed from all unrighteousness and a guilty conscience.
We are justified and can know that God sees me just-as-if-I’d never sinned
We are sanctified…made Holy and set apart for God.
The enemy has no place in me, no power over me and no unsettled claims against me (even as he tries to use accusation and guilt to hold me in emotional bondage, there is no legitimate claim he can use)
All claims against us have been settled by the Blood of Jesus. There is no condemnation (adverse sentence) against us in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came to set the captives free. It is the shed Blood of the Holy One that sets us free. Many of the “captives” are among the Lord’s very own people inside the Church of the living God.  The enemy is called the "accuser"   He accuses us of all sorts of things and mental guilt holds us in chains. 

I think it is the time to “resurrect” all the reminders and lessons of what the Power of the Blood is and provides as we take it out of the basin and apply it to our lives.
 
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

If My People***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  With all the chaos in the world we call home, the Lord's promise in II Chronicles 7:14 is always somewhere in my thoughts:

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways  then I will come and heal their land". 

This morning He draws me to His Word and that promise:  "Humble yourself, pray, seek Me and turn from YOUR wicked ways".

Now it is getting personal.  I find that this is a promise where I have blame shifted and I need to talk this over with my Holy Counselor to see what He sees.  I know that this is a word addressed to only one group of people:  those who are called by His Name, (that name is Christ) and who are Christian by title and claim.

In this world of evil it is not the unsaved, non believers that this Word and promise applies to.  This is clearly a call to God's people.

As I ponder His personal words to me I have to stop and see where I have been acting in any wicked ways.  Since I have the vestiges of a carnal mind and the pride that goes with it,  I sense I need to let Him reveal such things to my heart and then listen to His strategy to fix me. 

Always thinking I am better in my own estimation than  I find myself to be in His, meetings like this are indeed lessons in humility.  Recently He has shown me the truth about rebellion and that it can be in the form of bitterness toward Him or others for my life situations.  These are the situations that He has ordained for my life.  The bitterness can be hidden in a bad attitude especially if we come to feel justified in self-pity. But that is only one side of the problem as I am about to find out. 

God's ways and perspective is higher than ours and we need to be careful about what we see as an inconsequential stubborn mood that might be a huge betrayal to our Lord and even a denial of His Lordship if we go too far in self-comfort and self-will.

Today, the Holy One takes me to the book of Acts chapter 7 to make His point.  This is the account of a man called Stephen who became the first person martyred for his faith in Christ Jesus.  He was seized and brought to a council of Jewish scribes and elders by those who wanted to stop the spread of the Gospel.

He began to testify to them of their own history that pointed to the Son of God and that Son being Jesus but then in his final remarks, he said, "You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you". Acts 7:51 NKJV

What could this possibly mean to me?   Then The Holy Spirit began to connect the dots:   "When you entered into the Salvation agreement you willingly made the great exchange.  You gave your life to Me, but then proceeded to live it your own way. You have asked Me to bless your way and rarely ask to know MY way."

Grief floods my heart with that truth.  Conviction becomes repentance. How many times have I resisted the Holy Spirit?  How many times has this servant said "No Lord, I will not go there", "No Lord I will not testify to them" "No Lord, my plate is too full, I am too busy with my life and my plans".  "I know I gave my life to you but it is really mine to live".  "I am more comfortable serving you in this church rather than in that mission field".

I know that I cannot turn from my wicked ways without His Spirit.  I cannot lay down my life for Him the way He laid down is life for me without The Holy Spirit. I know I have His Holy Spirit.   The question He has for me today is  "Will you listen and then obey Me?" 

I know that we are all in a process so I do not lose hope even in the rebuke.  I am thankful that My Lord cares enough to correct me when I am wrong and is patient in the process.  His best for me is what we both desire.  His best for all of us is what He desires.  I long for Him to come and heal our land.  "If ...Then....."   Since there is a condition to that promise, I must press in to meet it. 

If My people.........

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?               

         

                

The Truth That Sets Us Free***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  The world is in such chaos and it is apparent that evil is on the march.  We, as Christians, know that in the last days we are to keep our eyes on the Middle East for the last great battle on earth will take place there.

To see it all start to play out in real time speaks to how man's technology has developed in God's great plan as to how every eye will be able to "see" the return of our King, Jesus and even witness the lead up to that great battle in a land far away.

I confess that I struggle with God's Sovereignty knowing it is nothing for Him to intervene in our days and yet there is a time table for man's days upon the earth that is not altered even by the evil that I see.  There is Divine purpose for each and every one of us in the time we have been given to spend on this planet.

The Holy One speaks into the early morning darkness and calls me to conference.  "Sometimes you have to feel the lie in order to know the truth".

It is understood that we must walk by faith and not by sight.  The "sights" we see generated by the evil one triggers our deepest emotions and that is where our faith can fall to unbelief as we begin to "feel" our way through the assault.

The Lord takes me back to His Word in Rev 12:7-12 (NKJV), "And war broke out in Heaven;  Michael and His angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in Heaven any longer.  So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast with him."

This entire chapter speaks to the birth of Christ Jesus and the battle Satan is waging against those of us who "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" on our lips and in our hearts. (Rev 12:17 NKJV) .

Jesus came in flesh form.  He came as the Creator in flesh form to identify with us, His created.  He was born in our same flesh form with a human brain, nerves, emotions and all that we are born with.  The only exception and due to His virgin conception and birth, He was born without a sin nature that dictates our human vulnerability and failure in flesh temptation.

I know my Savior "feels" and because He suffered emotional pain, He validates my feelings.  But then He asks me to get past those feelings and walk on the higher ground of Holiness. In some cases that means forgiveness and in the bigger picture that means trust.

The Holy One knows me well  He knows all of us well.  He has taken me today to the very place in His Word that draws me out of my funk.   Satan is the accuser.  He has been cast down and no longer has a place of authority in the Kingdom of our God or over me.

Satan uses a 3 pronged fork of accusation in his war for our hearts, minds and our souls: First and foremost,  He accuses God to us.  That makes for unbelief.  Then he accuses us to ourselves.  That makes for self-defeat.  Then he accuses others to us and us to others.  That makes for division and therefore corporate weakness and dis-unity.  But before we throw in the towel and head for the hills to hide, let us remember:  We have the power to overcome him by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

Heaven rejoices because this nasty accuser has been silenced by the only means whereby God could save man and maintain His Holiness in judgement.  God became like man in flesh to take our place.   Satan thought he had God over a barrel seeing how humanity could be tempted to rebel as he did, whereby God would have to send all His beloved humanity into the lake of fire for their rebellion too.

But the Creator had a plan from the very beginning that the devil knew nothing about.

The Cross was that plan.  Jesus came to earth as the Son of Man AND as the Son of God and was sacrificed to preserve humanity AND God's Holiness in judgment.   Satan's nefarious plot to hurt the Creator by seducing His created, making us liable for Divine Judgment was foiled when Jesus died in our place.      

Heaven rejoiced on the day of his eviction but then grief came to earth's inhabitants because of the wrath of this celestial being (AKA Satan) who makes war with those of us who keep the commandments of our God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Satan threatens death, but the Cross promises life.  The power of the Cross is the Truth that through the sacrifice Jesus made in His flesh body and the life blood He shed, the death sentence for all humanity was paid in full.  And His resurrection is the proof of that final verdict:  God is still Holy and humanity is now saved.  That is the testimony we are to give to the world that God so loves.

The message of this morning calls me out of the "feeling" that evil is winning, and encourages me to beef up and shout out my testimony of his defeat.  I am reminded that the devil is a defeated foe.  His outrage is temporary and by the Blood of Jesus who died in my place and by my testimony of faith in His death and resurrection, the enemy's power over me is neutralized.

The message of the Cross is that all humanity has been saved, but not all people know or believe that as Truth and this is the challenge and task for all of us who know we have been saved:  To share our testimony of the power and purpose of the Cross.  The Cross is where God's ultimate judgment for sin was poured out.  Jesus died the death penalty required for all who have sinned and fallen short of the Holiness of our Holy God.  His resurrection is the fact and evidence that the penalty has been paid and accepted by the One who gave the law: death for sin.

Today at first light, I did "feel" the lie but that despair drove me to know and remember the truth and it is the truth that did ultimately set me free.  Now to share it!

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?









  

         

Get God's Eternal Perspective***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Lately I have been overwhelmed by all the evil that is being brought to bear here at home and around the world. From the earthly perspective, things relative to our persecution as devoted followers of Christ, are not looking so good for the home team. 

It is a time when many are in deepest despair and yet for others, it is a time of great anticipation as we await the return of our King.  What makes the difference seems to be whether or not we possess an eternal perspective over the events unfolding in our lives.

I have been asking my Lord for help since He has told me that to focus on the evil robs me of my peace.  I need His help to understand how to look at the evil and not allow the despair to take over.  Today He speaks of a perspective:  "The eternal perspective of temporal circumstances is crucial during these end times of the enemy's rage". 

With that He takes me back to a familiar passage in Isaiah 54:16-17, "Behold I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the spoiler to destroy.
 
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper.  And every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord."NKJV

This was for many years my "life verse".  It is a battle hymn in my heart.  I found it years ago when trying to grasp the evil, that was coming against me at that time, much like it is coming against all of the Lord's Beloved today.  I was trying to grasp the lessons tucked within the circumstances of my life.  For to understand the Lord's ways is to have a greater understanding of  Him.

When I found and pondered Isaiah 54, much came in to focus and vs 16-17 provided a picture of the "spoiler" aka Satan, as under the ultimate control of the Creator Himself.  We get a more detailed picture of this ancient foe in the first two chapters of Job.

If I believe and accept the Majestic and absolute Sovereignty of my Creator God Who is beyond our temporal universe and all circumstances on earth, then I must acknowledge that He knows exactly what this "spoiler" will do and has Divine purpose for me in what He permits, just like He did in the life of Job and I must pray to find it.

Once this becomes my faith reality then I can move on to live in the promise that; "No weapon formed against me will prosper and I will condemn every tongue accusing me.  Why?  Because my righteousness comes from the Lord.  The accuser is made silent and I am free from wrath or penalty executed by a Righteous and Holy God.  Jesus took my penalty and God's wrath. 

Now I am being prepared for an outrageous eternity.  I have been bought and paid for as a servant of the Most High, but then, even better,  I have been adopted into His family and with the inheritance rights of a child of the King.

The spoiler has but one purpose and that is to keep us from our Sacred relationship in knowing and loving our Creator Who, by the way, is his Creator God too. 

The "why" of it all is very simple:  Angels in creation were provided free will by design just as humanity has been given.  But for them, there is no savior for their kind.  Lucifer used his free will to rebel against the Creator and was evicted from Heaven with an irrevocable ultimate death sentence. 

One who was the most beautiful of his kind became proud and chose to make war against God in Heaven and was cast out and down to earth where he now and for a little while longer makes war with God's beloved.  (See Rev 12)

Having been catapulted to the earth realm,  yet being in essence more powerful than man, Satan has made it his ambition to tempt God's beloved humanity to follow him in rebellion of the Most High.  We were created in innocence to co-govern with the Creator over this earth realm,  but the spoiler's presence here is the very thing that provides a choice for our free will to make:  accept or reject God and His one and only way of reconciliation in relationship.

Satan uses the very same deception today as back in the Garden of Eden and that is to challenge God's rule and question His love.  His attack and attempted assassination of God's Character is relentless because he has nothing to lose, his fate is set.  Humanity on the other hand has eternity to lose if we miss and refuse the rescue that God provided through His Son Jesus.

The truly amazing part of our reconciliation is the priceless unity we now have with our Creator and that brings a whole new perspective to life on earth. Now I can process what I see and experience in light of eternity and there I can see the Lord's better purpose even in temporal suffering.  I can be like Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame. 

If the eternal purpose of my life is to testify about my eternal Lord and Savior to enlarge the citizenship of my eternal home,  then I must look to the people whose lives my circumstances put me in contact with and then testify to the goodness and salvation of my Lord.

The mercy of God may call me into untoward places.  But His mercy at that moment is not so much for me but for those who oppose me, even the unsaved.  His mercy for me is that I am already rescued and His promise is that "He will prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies".

As I pray for fulfillment of God's eternal purpose in my temporal circumstances my perspective changes.   Hard times will fade into a distant memory as I press on into eternity.  To be able to understand how my "hard things" are actually a sacred trust place here by my Lord to further His will, in the salvation of humanity, gives me the determination to look for and find the better and greater purpose He has than the personal pain I feel at the moment. 

His message this morning reminded me that while the enemy is attacking our temporal circumstances, the victory will be experienced as we look for and find God's eternal perspective.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?    

    

      

       



                       

God's Sovereignty In Light of Eternity***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Many deep wrestles have come in the hours just before dawn: Things that indicate the depravity of humanity and the evidence as to how evil has blinded some from the very identification with humanity.  The sanctity of life has been over ruled by monetary gain and babies are being butchered with none to stop the carnage.

Despair got a foothold and the Lord watched and waited for me to stop wringing my hands and start folding them.  The Holy Spirit is my faithful Counselor and does lead me into all Truth.   The truth is sometimes so hard to accept that we go into the denial of it.

I am learning that in seeing human depravity, the enemy of my soul tempts me to question the goodness of God's Sovereignty.

Today the Holy One draws me back into right alignment with Himself.  "As hard as it is for you to see right now, My Sovereignty is best understood in light of eternity". 

Rather than withdraw from my Lord, as the evil one wants me  do,  I know that I must press in and ask Him for greater understanding as my Holy Counselor and friend.

From past conversations, and the sign of the times, I believe the day of our redemption draws near.   Patience is required as we get closer to that prophetic day on the calendar and yet live amid the escalating treachery in each temporal day on earth.

In light of eternity I am able to see how patient the Lord is in His dealings with humanity.   Long before I was ever born His Word has been in operation.  My impatience is galling and in need of repentance.  The Lord is about His business calling countless souls to be with Him for all eternity.  Many of them have not yet been born and would I, in my impatience deprive Him and them of such a wondrous eternal community and fellowship?

As hard as the subject of abortion is to my heart, in pressing deep, I find hope in the Heavenly wisdom and thought that these precious souls, while never permitted by depraved humans to see the light of day,  are welcomed into the loving arms of their Creator and have life eternal.

Abortion is an indictment of human depravity not God's good Sovereignty.

Heaven's citizenship is growing in each earth day that passes and for that I do rejoice....and find comfort from the heartache.  Truth softens some hearts and hardens others. Time is given for us to process and yield (soften) or analyze and reject (harden).  

Warnings abound in God's Word as well as promises for the faithful. Today the Holy One takes me to His word and what was spoken through the prophet Joel to reveal His plan that stretches throughout earth life and into eternity. .
     
Joel 2:28 "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;  your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions  and also I will pour out My Spirit in those days and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth;  blood and fire and pillars of smoke."

In order to grasp fully where we are spiritually, we need to see what is spoken before,  that,  the "afterward" comes. The Prophet spoke of the "word of the Lord" that was given to him.  It speaks of "The day of the Lord" and yet without a date on the calendar or clock of earth time.  It can be said that to  every generation these prophetic words can and do apply.

Our nation is reeling from situations coast to coast and in between that are "acts of nature" turned deadly and destructive.  If one does not believe in the God of all creation (and nature)  then these are merely due to global warming or bad luck, or cycles of weather patterns and human expansion into places of risk.

The threats of war are being heard loud and clear.  Any ability to control our own lives and protect our personal comfort zones is not to be found in and of ourselves and especially not in the governments of men.

For those of us who believe: in the Word of God as absolute truth, the Savior Son of God who came to rescue humanity and the day of judgment of our Holy God, then these signs and wonders are significant.  (wonders are things in the sense of conspicuousness)

We would do well to appreciate that the Lord may be trying to get our attention as the verses  speak that "In earth" we will see blood (as in blood that when shed causes death aka "bloodshed") and perhaps through the "fires" and pillars of smoke in Calif (and other places).  Without a doubt, He is after our attention. Not just the attention of citizens of any particular state but the attention of all of us who refuse to come to Him in times of our prosperity or while living a relatively comfortable life.

We know by the Word of God that the Holy Spirit was poured out after Jesus was resurrected and after He ascended to His place of origin AKA Heaven.  The day of the Lord can be interpreted as today...and every day since Pentecost.

These difficulties both here and around the world seem to be getting harder and harder and closer and closer together.

Our circumstances are like birthing pains....getting closer and closer from generation to generation to the return of the King and the birthing of His Kingdom on earth.  .  All the threats of war and rumors of war just help us to understand and long for peace, the peace that only King Jesus as the absolute Sovereign can bring to our hearts, minds, lives and world.

God is reaching out to us.  He has sent His Son and then His Holy Spirit to call us back to Himself before it is too late. The message is repentance and for us to turn from our own rebellious and wicked ways....rejecting God's authority over our lives.

I would add that all the prophets of old, who were told of things to come, walked with the Lord and listened to His voice.  They only spoke what they heard and were given by God with the directive to share.

That precious gift (He, The Holy Spirit) is available to all who believe and many will "prophesy" as in to "speak or sing by inspiration".

The rest of us can hear and know by the same Holy Spirit what is to come. I am reminded today that my eternal life began on the day of my rescue/salvation and with that knowledge comes patience and peace while waiting for the return of my King.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?   

The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Not A Democracy

The Holy One calls to me this morning. Wrestles can seem so dark to my mind like the watches of the night just before dawn. But when the Holy Spirit speaks the darkness gives way to light and that Light is Truth.

Today His word to me corrects any misconception I might have about His ruling authority.  "The Kingdom of Heaven is not a democracy!"

Oddly enough, this brings a smile to my face and a joy to my soul. I have been caught up with all that is going on in the world of politics and feel a great frustration in my "righteous" spirit as the people and so called majority have voted for the principles of darkness to govern this nation. 

I have been arrogant in past thinking that our democratically operating Republic could handle all the challenges coming against it.  While I believe that this (our form of )government based on the wisdom of our founders according to their guiding principles of faith in the One True God, is the best government ever established on earth, I am brought to the truth that no external government of men is sustainable given the degree of evil that lies within the human heart. 

Sin is a reality of humanity and evil has a grip on every man or woman ever born.  Eventually depravity will take over and external government will fail.  Today the Lord has taken me deep into the subject matter of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Living my temporal life in a place governed by the rule of the majority, even with its good founding principles locked into a constitution, I find that evil can conquer and over-rule through deception so that we, as a people, can actually be led by consent to surrender all that makes us free.  Literally speaking, we can vote our way into bondage and become slaves to a system that thrives on wickedness.   

Religion is no different in concept than our "democracy".  Its the rules and our observation of them that make us feel secure.  What a shock it is to our entire sense of well-being when we realize the government is our enemy and our observation of rules is not enough to keep us safe.  

It took the 1st coming of Christ to straighten out our thinking and reveal the Kingdom of Heaven to our darkened minds.  At the time of His 2nd coming He will execute judgment on all that stands in opposition to the Kingdom of Heaven and His ruling authority as King.

At the time of His 1st coming, Rome was the governing authority in the world and the Scribes and Pharisees were the technical ruling authorities over the Jewish people.  Unwilling to surrender their power, they rejected the One who gave them the law of God that they were misusing to maintain their sphere of influence and ruling authority over the nation of Israel. 
  
Jesus came to bring the good news of  His Kingdom AKA The Kingdom of Heaven and to invite all to become its citizens.   His Kingdom is an eternal Kingdom but operational in the world of that time and is still operational in our world today.

The Kingdom of Heaven is an upside down Kingdom in the realm of human thought.  We must give to get, serve to rule and die to live, all exceeding backward and upside down to the ruling authority of our flesh.  Yet the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven brings love, forgiveness, healing and peace to everyone who accepts the truth and believes that Jesus is the King.

Jesus taught people everyday about the Kingdom of Heaven and God whom He called, Father.  Then one day He said to the Pharisees, "The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observations, nor will people say "here it is" or "there it is" because the Kingdom of God is within you."  Luke 17:20. 

His words reveal that something transformational needed to happen in their thinking.  In their careful observation of the external law they had failed to deal with the Godly conviction set by the internal one.  The internal spirit of the law which should bring about goodness and mercy had been over-ruled by the external letter of the law that brought hypocritical adherence and legalistic judgment. 

The Kingdom of Heaven is first established in the heart and the Kingdom of Heaven is a place of choice. 

The good news of the Kingdom of Heaven is all about the Creator's unconditional love for the individuals He created to be in a personal relationship with Himself.  The good news of the Kingdom is that all are welcome and can become a citizen by recognizing and pledging personal allegiance to the King of the Kingdom of Heaven.  That King is Jesus. 

Man by nature is a rebel of God's kingdom authority and presses for independence from it. The good news of the Kingdom is that God is willing on His end to bring humanity back under the safety of His governmental ruling authority after we come to deal with our rebellion  of it.  

The Kingdom of Heaven is a government that operates under God's Sovereign authority.  Jesus brought to humanity the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven, not the good news of "the church" or the good news of the "USA".  It was not the good news of Rome or the good news of the Pharisees that He brought us. 

The good news of the Kingdom is that God is willing to take over the government of humanity in a personal way, one life at a time. The Kingdom of Heaven is a perfect place that operates in perfect order and that brings perfect peace.  For us to be ready to enter we must be ready to live in surrender to the ruling authority of the Kingdom's King: Jesus.

Jesus said, "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. "  Matt 4:17.  What was He telling us to repent about?  Was it last night's binge?  Or lying about your last sick day to the boss? Actually It is neither and both for each is merely a reflection of the evil sin nature that rules our flesh in opposition to the rule of God. 

It is not the individual sin acts that Jesus came to die for, it is the wholesale sin nature that lives in rebellion of God's Sovereign authority that He was crucified to end once and for all.  Accepting His death as a substitute for our own, we agree that the rebellious nature must die in order for us to receive the blessing of eternal life.  We agree to give him our pathetic rebellious nature in exchange for His Holy One.   

Since His death on the cross, those of us who have surrendered our lives to Him, now come under the ruling authority of His Spirit from within.  Sin is no longer our Master and we have the ability to reject all the temptations to live in independence of God. 

Why is that such good news?  Because the Kingdom of Heaven is the ultimate place where man, created in God's image belongs and can find peace and security for all eternity. People back in the day of the first coming of Jesus misunderstood his words and his mission.  They thought He came to set up an earthly kingdom as an alternative to Rome.  However in reality He came to reveal the Kingdom of Heaven in earth which is first internal and initially established in the heart.

The Kingdom of Heaven is just that: A Kingdom.  It is a form of government that is under the ruling authority of a king.  It is a monarchy.  We do not get to vote and the opinion or rule of the majority holds no power.  When we speak of Jesus as the "King of Kings" that describes Him as the ultimate of all authorities.  But this is where the rubber meets the road in our lives as Christians. Is Jesus Christ our ultimate authority?  And do we yield to His authority in all aspects of our life?

We are constantly being tempted and are contiguously barraged with the challenges to act apart from our Kingdom's Heavenly Authority here on earth. All of us fail and that is why repentance is so huge an issue  Repentance re-establishes the chain of command and Kingdom authority when we rebel or fail to seek the Lord's directives and act independently in our lives.

Today, the world does not acknowledge the Kingdom of Heaven nor will it yield to our King yet.....the day is coming when every knee with bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

I am thankful for the wonderful privilege to be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven and to bow before my King Jesus here in the earth realm.  Today, the Holy Spirit brings me the sweet reminder that unlike with the government in the USA, the goodness and mercy and peace of the Kingdom of Heaven can never be voted away.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?

       
        
          

The Power Of Our Words***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  He has an urgent message that He wants to convey and one that I need to hear:

"The power of life and death is in the tongue, so speak life".

The Holy Spirit brings this message with a deep caution and a reminder to me of how all things came to be.  Our mysterious Creator God brought all things originally into existence through the power of His spoken word.  Even if we choose not to believe in that truth, our unbelief does not change it. 

However our unbelief in the raw power of the spoken word can impact our lives.  As I look around I see all the evidence that confirms the truth. His message to me continues:

"Beware of what your spoken discouragement sets into motion and guard your words."

It is a shock to realize how easily the enemy of our souls can manipulate life and circumstances through all of us human "vessels".  One of the primary manipulation tools the evil one uses is emotional manipulation.  The devil understands how our emotions can rule our lives and provides ample emotional challenges that send us into fits of discouragement, hopelessness and  despair.

The "hook" is not in the emotion itself but rather the words we speak when we are in that hard emotional place.  Words of discouragement spoken in times of despair can become a form of a curse since we begin to agree with the evil and destructive agenda of the devil whose goal is to separate us from the love and goodness of our Creator God.

In John 10:10, Jesus tell us that the "thief" comes not but to rob, kill and destroy, but He (Jesus) comes that we may have life and have it to the full. 

The enemy of our souls understands the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven even better than we do since he was once a "guardian Cherub" full of wisdom.  Ezekiel 28:14   He is an ancient being turned foe who became an antagonist against God and His created and all that God has said is "good".

The enemy's ultimate goal is to keep humanity separated from our Creator.  He knows first hand the spoken word of God and our legacy.  He knows how men and women are made in God's image, and how the redeemed have been given authority and power to destroy the works of darkness, which is his evil agenda. 

The devil has limited power so he schemes to get us humans to speak (with the power of our own words) in agreement with what he has plotted and planned and thereby work to destroy ourselves and the good things the Lord has planned for us.

If we do not guard our words, we can inadvertently, unconsciously, but ever so powerfully orchestrate our own dreadful circumstances by merely agreeing with the negative things we see and feel as a final and inescapable reality.

James 3:9 says of the tongue, "with the tongue we praise our God and Father and with it we curse human beings (including ourselves) who are made in His image".

I take that word "curse" to mean not just derogatory statements we make about each other but also to set up a contradictory image of our Divine purpose that is good, though an oppression of darkness that is not good nor according to our Godly image in creation.

Fortunately there is a "limit" to the power of the tongue when we make rash comments, speak harsh commands,  or pass ungodly judgments against people in our lives.  I wonder how careful we would be if every word we speak brought a visible and immediate result.  Would we tell others to "drop dead" when they annoy us?  Would we tell those who garner our temporary anger to "go to hell"?

Even if the careless words we speak do not appear to impose a life curse, what if they create a dark atmosphere over the lives of the ones we see fit to "curse" and what if we will be accountable one day for such brutal and oppressive words?  The Bible says we will.

Then there is that personal issue:  what if our spoken discouragement in a moment of frustration actually impacts what can become a life struggle for someone else?  How much will our worthless words spoken over our children set them up for difficulty in their lives?  How much does our derogatory self-talk initiated by the enemy's accusation of our character,  hold us bound to a life of defeat?

What if we look at our circumstances then declare and confess that "nothing will ever change", or "the situation is hopeless", or "I cannot believe that any good thing can come of this'"?   What if we, by our very own words, in contradiction to God's words about us, have executed what translates to  curse and even worse, a death warrant over what might have been a very powerful witness of God's true and Divine intervention?

The sorrow of that possibility breaks my heart for myself and others struggling in bondage to our own declared fears and discouragement.  So today I will take a look at the things I have spoken.  I will ask the Holy Spirit for the reminder of those negative, careless, worthless words I have released over myself and others.  I will take responsibility for the negative words and revoke them all in Jesus Name.

As I think about what may be “true”, according to what I see, the Lord puts up a caution and a place for discernment.  I must not focus on the weaknesses and faults or failures of others or myself even as the brutal truth, but rather use the knowledge of such “truth” as a call to prayer and to petition the Lord to be our strength in weakness.  Then I can speak the good will of Heaven over all that I see or fear.   

Today I will appeal to my Lord for discernment to know what needs to be corrected and I will also ask for Divine discretion in the words I choose to use from here on out.

I purpose to think on whatsoever is true, noble, lovely, praiseworthy, admirable and according to the list of good things that goes on and on, and then I purpose to speak the very life of my Savior and the power of His good Name over all I see.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?                           

     

Thy Kingdom Come***

The Holy One calls to me this morning. There is an assault on my peace that has for a while choked out my hope.  Today hope has been revived as the Holy Spirit teaches me more about His Kingdom. His voice fills my spirit ears:

"The Kingdom of Heaven is material as well as ethereal."

This is a message of hope since the evil one floats the deception that the Kingdom of Heaven is only a future place of the sweet by-and-by and not a present place for the situational day-to-day.

To make His point, The Holy One reminds me of His word that reveals a kingdom where streets are paved with gold and has dimensions.(Rev 21)  Even if the graphic picture is not one we can wrap our finite minds around, the description of it is provided in material terms. 

But then the King who came to earth to show us the way and the only point of entry into the Kingdom said, "The Kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, "here it is" or "there it is" because the Kingdom of God is within you".   
Luke 17:20-21

As I ponder the words spoken and written, I realize how I can be out of balance in my thinking and not operate in the total truth about the Kingdom of Heaven AKA God's Kingdom. 

Jesus, in teaching the disciples how to pray, said to pray in this manner: Our Father Who is in Heaven, Hollowed ( Holy) be Your name.  Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven".  Then follows the prayer petition of provision, forgiveness, protection from temptation and deliverance from evil. (Matt 6:9-13).

I always wondered why there was the word "in" earth and not "on" earth in the KJV. Some translations have transcribed that word as "on" earth which makes more sense to our human minds.  Unless, that is, we come to grasp and understand that the "ethereal" earth kingdom is the place where the invisible enemy resides and does his best to corrupt the physical/material earth with his depraved agenda.
 

Sickness and disease, lust and murder (all death spirits) are on the list of the evidences of a dark kingdom that festers in our material/physical world but really originates in the ethereal realm.  These are the works of the devil that Jesus came to destroy and then to teach us how to do the same.

This has caused me some faith issues and exposed some underlying unbelief that needs to be resolved with regard to miracles and Divine intervention. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit leads me into all Truth and is patient for the time it takes me to grasp what He is trying to teach me.

The importance of today's message has to do with following Truth that leads to the structure of Divine authority and that opens the way for Divine intervention in our material/physical world.
 

Jesus came to show us the Father as well as the Kingdom of Heaven and how it operates.  Jesus was in total submission to the Father's Will and that put Him in perfect balance in both the Heavenly Kingdom and the earthly one.

Jesus said that He only did what He saw His Father in Heaven do and only spoke what He heard His Father in Heaven speak.  This defines the structure of Kingdom  authority that Jesus came to demonstrate and then teach.

All that Jesus did in over-ruling the conditions associated with life in our earthly realm, were according to what the Kingdom of heaven offers all its citizens.  This visual picture of the Kingdom of Heaven was given because we as individuals must choose where we will spend eternity:   Will we choose to ultimately live with the Creator God in His kingdom or reject Him and choose to live somewhere else apart from Him.  Jesus came to offer the better choice by the demonstration here on earth of what life is like there, in the Kingdom of Heaven.

By and through miraculous intervention (the evidence of the miracles here on earth) Jesus calls us to believe:

In the existence of the Kingdom of Heaven!

In the One True Holy God of all Creation whose Kingdom it is!

In the fact that His death through crucifixion and His life through resurrection is the only way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

Those of us who believe and are, by choice, already citizens of the Kingdom of our God,  are now in a position to be a witness to:  His Divinity (as our God), His life (as our King) and under His authority (as our Lord).

We are to live our lives here on earth as servants of our King,  as a beloved child of our Heavenly Father and in the structure of Divine authority that comes from honoring the Lordship of Christ and His Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

When we are in right alignment with those factors in our mortal existence we can see and experience the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, and then, through our lives, others can see it as well.  The importance of our coming into right alignment can never be underestimated since our life is to serve as the "evidence" of His love and care that can cause others to come to believe and receive Jesus as their own personal Savior, Lord and King.

As I let the Truth saturate my mind, heart, soul and spirit, I am reminded of a visual that describes the Body of Christ in ways that are similar to how a human body moves and operates.  We are all members of the Body of Christ and like our body parts.   In our physical body the head is where all information is received and stored and where all our outward actions are first initiated.  Christ is the Head of the Body and all our actions must be initiated by Him.

As a part of the body I must report to Him what is going on from any and all threats I am aware of to any and all needs that might require an action to be taken for the good of the entire Body of which I am a part. I am to convey all the challenges and respond to His directives for His Godly, Kingly, Headship directive and reaction.

Taking this visual helps me to grasp the bigger picture of my role and ultimate accountability with the Lord's authority to act.  I cannot move on my own for that is like a spasm in the body and the representation of a body part taking independent action that is not fully connected to the Head.  The Church can be a well functioning body in a graceful motion and purpose given by the Head or it can be a spastic disconnected set of body parts.

The Kingdom of Heaven truly begins in the heart of the individual.  As we each give Jesus the Lordship over our personal lives then we can become a well functioning part of the bigger Body of Christ moving in concert with all the other parts reporting to and taking directions from the Head whereby the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven can then flow to and through us.
 

As we report to the head and receive His directives for our function, the Body of Christ will no doubt experience and manifest more of the earth shaking delightful things Jesus brought to earth as evidence of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Things like Divine healing and deliverance, the bind given sight, the deaf given hearing, the lame given mobility and even the dead restored to earthly life.

Today, I am thankful that my hope has been revived with the truth about the Kingdom of Heaven. To acknowledge with thanksgiving the Lordship of my Jesus and take all things needed to my Head, is the plan and prayer for this day.   But I know I must first yield to His authority and directives in my personal life and then I can wield His delegated authority as He tells me what to do.  This is the challenge. 

So I pray:

Abba Father

Holy is your Name

Your Kingdom come

Your Will be done

In earth (through me)

As it is done in Heaven

All for You and in Jesus Name!

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?