Revelation Song.m4v

Today is the Day/Promises.m4v

Kindness.m4v

Leading the Charge

In Joshua, I have learned how to lead or really how to be led. God was working in Joshua to be a man who was solely dependent upon hearing from God on what the next step. So many times in my own life, I have relied on “common sense”. Sometimes we get what we ask for a common life rather than a life that is lead supernaturally by a loving God who directs each step. One the deepest echo’s of my heart is a song by Glenn Packiam, It is called “my Hope“ the lyrics say:
”When my heart is overwhelmed
Lead me to the Rock that’s higher
When My feet are sinking down
Lift me up to walk on water
I will be still and know
You are my father
My eyes will be fixed on You alone
        I put my hope in You
        There’s nothing else to do
        Through every valley I know You’re by my side
        My life is in Your Hands.

Sometimes we get weighed down by all that life’s circumstances can throw at us. Whether it be a co-worker whose attitude is negative to a spouse telling you that they have had affair. Whatever the case, we were never called to understand but called to be obedient! True understanding comes only from obedience to what God calls you to do! Let us learn to be led and dependent upon our God and savior so much that we always seek Him first above all! Our lives are in your hands O God

Waiting in Silence

Waiting? humm, does anyone really enjoy waiting? I sure don't I know that I struggle not only with patience but also just assurance that the answer will reveal itself as well? I usually don't like posting what someone else says about issues but Oswald Chambers is one of my favorite devotional guys. He says:

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When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was —John 11:6

Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, "I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead" (see Matthew 7:9 ). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the "bread of life" ( John 6:35 ).
A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, "I know that God has heard me." His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.

searching, longing, clawing at your word,
the song in my heart screaming out without an audience,
my voice echoing in the dark that encompasses me,
this light, the marvelous light of your word in me.
Let it shine through the confusion of my mind.

Let your mercy rain down,
The gentle mist of your love fall down the face of who I am
My heart and soul drenched in who you are
My body consumed not by the fear of the unknown,
But rather held up by your strong arms.

Covered by the wings of your salvation
The refuge I run to in times of trouble
Your grace astounds my heart,
What am I, that you are mindful of me  O God?

You trust me with your silence O God!
your gentle whisper I lie in wait for.

Comfort and Enslaved?

When one thinks of comfort it is usually a good thing.  As we live our life of worship, being too comfortable or satisfied with where we are at in our walk is a dangerous place.  I think it boils down to who we are obedient to in our lives. We are either obedient to every whim or want that pops into our mind or we have a higher standard to live by. For  believers, this standard is already set for us. Our tendency is that we waffle back in forth between what we want to do and what God has called us to do.(Romans 7) We abuse and take for granted the grace extended to us from the blood of God's Son that covers usPaul address this in a powerful way in Romans 6.
In Chapter 6:15 Paul states

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves  as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? 

The question that I continually ask myself is, "What am I a slave to?" Am I slave to the "Sin that so easily entangles me?"(Hebrews 12:1) So often  I allow the sinful nature to enchain my heart.  This web of sin that entangles my heart chokes out my desire to be more of who God's wants me.

Sometimes one is blessed in life to have a person who can point out our deepest faults in love. They come in love to help one see just how entangled we can get in a short period of time due to laziness. In doing that, one can see the truth of what sin produces. Death! Paul says it like this is the last part of Chapter 6,
"So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit  leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

 But Now, that is an important phrase. We are FREED from sin, but we are enslaved to God! What a blessing! We are no longer under the bondage of death because of sin, so what does one continue to let sin rule in life? We  are not taking the time to "Throw off the sin"(Heb12:1) and set our eyes up on the one who can help us run the race marked out for us in victory over sin and our complacency. We must come to Him!  " Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden"(Matt 11:28)   A simple act, but so many times our pride or our business get in the way of experiencing his rest but also we miss out opportunity for God to mold us more into who we wants us to be.  All we need to do is come to Him, lay down our pre-conceived ideas on what He wants to do us and just say "Whatever you want O God, that is what I desire most!"

 Oswald chambers says this about coming to God. "Come to Me . . . ." "When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so." Don't get comfortable where you are in your spiritual walk because you will miss out on so much that God is just waiting to do in your life!

Slaves of Righteousness

In Romans 6: 15-18 it says "¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. ¹⁸You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."

What is the first things your mind pictures when you hear that word slave? I picture a person bound in chains at the mercy of  their master's command. In this verse Paul put forth an interesting idea about how one should live a life of obedience but not just any obedience, obedience to God!  My question to you simply is "what are you a slave to?"

Why do we allow sin to be our masters? What is it about sin that we think will satisfy our heart? Sin is defined as missing the mark. How does missing the mark seem attractive?  If we are honest with our selves it doesn't. In James 1:14, it says "That we are dragged away and enticed by our own fleshly desires."  Why do we allow ourselves to be ruled by what we "think" we want?  If you examine your desires today, what desires seem to constantly be in the forefront of your mind?  Lust? Greed? Success?  There is a common theme here isn't there?  A self-centered attitude plagues our society like cancer! Growing sometimes undetected, it spreads to every thought, every action, every fiber of who we are.  We unfortunately live in a very narcissistic society. It is all about what I want, when I want it, and I want it right now.  In this age of hurry up, we tend to loose sight of why we were created to begin with. We were created to bring God glory. To bring forth His glory by being his vessels of salt and light into the world.

So how does one truly live a life of glory to God? By sacrificing our own wants to what God desires for us to do.  You might say, that doesn't sound very satisfying? In your spiritual life you will find the most fulfillment, joy and pleasure in carrying out our Lord's commands!  Make sure that you live a life of obedience which leads to righteousness.

When you live a life of obedience you will put others before yourself. It is the simple command in Matthew 22:39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' We have no problem loving our selves bu sometimes loving others is often difficult. Oswald Chambers said it like this "The example our Lord gave us here is not that of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself. ". . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you. And God will give you plenty of real life opportunities to prove whether or not you are "perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" ( John 13:34-35 ).