Posted in Hiding His Word

It Is the Gift of God

Isaiah 41:17–43:13; Ephesians 2:1-22; Psalm 67:1-7; Proverbs 23:29-35

You Hath He Quickened
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. – Ephesians 2:1-3

Quickened Together with Christ
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. – Ephesians 2:4-7

It Is the Gift of God
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:8-13

Having Abolished in His Flesh the Enmity
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. – Ephesians 2:14-17

For Through Him We Both have Access by One Spirit Unto the Father
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. – Ephesians 2:18-22

______

Ye Are My Witnesses and My Servant Whom I Have Chosen
Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. – Isaiah 43:10-11

______

That Thy Way May Be Known Upon Earth
God be merciful unto us, and bless us; And cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations. – Psalm 67:1-2

______

They that Tarry Long at the Wine
Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it giveth his colour in the cup, When it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, And thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; They have beaten me, and I felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. – Proverbs 23:29-35

Posted in Hiding His Word

Depart Not from the Words of His Mouth

Today’s Scripture passages – Exodus 2:11 – 3:22; Matthew 17:12-27; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 5:7-14

God Remembered His Covenant
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. – Exodus2:23-24

God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has a covenant with them and with every one of His children. He remembers His covenant with me. Do I remember my covenant with Him?

Covenant
– an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified; the conditional promises made to humanity by God as revealed in Scripture; the agreement between God and the Israelites in which God promised to protect them if they kept His law and were faithful to Him.

I Am the God of Thy Father
And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
– Exodus 3:3-6

When God calls me, do I stop and say, Here am I? Do I take my shoes off in reverence? Do I take the time to hear Him?

I AM THAT I AM
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you
. – Exodus 3:13-14

Never be ashamed to go forth with the Word of God. I AM THAT I AM sent you too!!!

Faith as a grain of mustard seed
And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me” And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, “Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” –
Matthew 17:16-21

Jesus was trying to get the disciples to see that what He is asking them to do in faith was not a supernatural thing, but a normal thing.

It bothered me today that Matthew 17:21 was not read by the person I listen to for my devotions. It was a different translation than the KJV which I normally read. That being said, I can’t ignore any part of God’s Word and especially this one, as I have been changed by the power of both prayer and fasting (together) bringing deliverance!!! Because it is left out of so many versions, many don’t have the chance to receive the revelation of this passage and the manifestation of it in a personal way. It is KEY in my life, but even more – it was KEY here!!!

Our fathers trusted in Thee
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. –
Psalms 22:3-5

Depart not from the Words of His mouth
Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: – Proverbs 5:7, 9

My Father, I come before you this morning at the beginning of this day that you have given to me, and I thank You for the Words You have given to me. Help them not to depart from them but to ponder them all day long. You are a holy and wonderful God, and as all of the mothers and fathers of the faith living and that have gone before me to be with You, help me to trust in You, Help me to walk out and speak out the faith that You have given me to see those issues of life that loom like great and mighty mountains in people’s lives, depart at the declaration of Your Words. Help me to be a woman of prayer and fasting and help me never to depart from Your Words or forget their revelation and manifestation in my life. Help me remember my end of the covenant I have with You as I know You will never forget Your covenant with me. Oh God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob change me today so that my life lines up with Your perfect and holy will and plan. Please give me a great burden for the lost and help me to walk in Your Love! Touch our nation, Father. Give our leaders encounters with You that save, deliver, and set them on the course You alone have prepared that they would yield and lead our nation according to Your perfect will. I ask this all in the name of Your beautiful Son, Jesus! Amen! Amen!!!

Posted in Hiding His Word

Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart – Luke 17:5-6

And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. ~ Luke‬ ‭17:5-6‬

The apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith. Jesus answers them by giving an illustration of what the faith they already have is capable of doing.

The mustard seed is well known for its tiny size. One mustard seed is about the size of a pinhead, if that. It weighs about 2 milligrams. It would take over 225,000 seeds to make one pound. That is small.

The sycamine tree is  known today as a mulberry tree. Jesus uses this as his illustration not because of its huge size but because the roots of a mulberry tree were thought to be extraordinarily strong and deep. It was thought that this tree could stay rooted for six hundred years. Jesus’ word picture is that of commanding a deeply anchored tree to pull itself out of the ground, roots and all ( not merely cut itself off above the ground), and replant itself in the sea.

How many of us have faith as big as a tiny mustard seed? It took more faith than that to pray the prayer of salvation, didn’t it? If we have enough faith to believe in Jesus, and trust Him with our hearts, we have enough faith. Period.

So, if we can uproot a strong, deep rooted mulberry tree, with just a pinhead amount of faith, we can surely uproot our doubts enough to use our faith, can’t we? Well, actually we can’t – by ourselves – but with Jesus we can. His words to his disciples here are that the one having even a tiny amount of faith that is unblemished by doubt can do mighty things for the Kingdom of God.

Father, I thank You for the faith You have given me. Help me to use it Lord for Your Kingdom and Your glory. Help me not to doubt Your Word and Your will. In Jesus Name I pray tonight. Amen.

Posted in Hiding His Word

How God?

I believe we are coming into a season where we will not only be very aware of but we will embrace that specific anointing that God has put on us individually but also corporately. I believe with His anointing, God is preparing each of us to do our part in helping usher in what is being birthed on this earth.  I believe His anointing will bring us into a place of unity and intimacy with HIMSELF and with others in the body. I also believe that with His anointing we will see the fullness and blessing of the promises of God for our own lives.  We will bring them forth!

Sometimes God gives us a promise or calls us to do something that seems bigger than us and we have no idea how He’s going to do it or how we can even co-labor with Him to bring it about.  Bringing forth the promises of God is like giving birth and birth in the spiritual is very much like the natural.

The best example we have in Scripture is where I have been planted this last week – in Luke 1:26-45.

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. 39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; 40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. 41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. 

In this passage Mary gets this incredible promise through the angel Gabriel – the Word of the Lord. He tells her she is going to give birth to JESUS – Immanuel. This happened in the natural but this also had great impact in the spiritual and we can learn much from Mary’s responses and how Mary brought forth that Word – Jesus.

First, let’s look at verse 28, And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

In this verse one word stood out to me – the word “IS.” The Lord IS with you. That was the promise of the Lord through the angel Gabriel. The Lord said, “I am with you.” And that is the Word of the Lord for you and for me as well – God is with you. You are one with the Lord. If you have said “YES” to Jesus Christ and He is Lord and Savior of your life, then you are one with God. It’s all about restored relationship thru the finished work of the cross and HE IS WITH YOU.

Don’t go by your feelings. Go by faith. I can hear some thinking, “well, I know that is the Word of the Lord but it so often doesn’t FEEL like God is with me.” Sometimes we do feel all alone, but we know the righteous don’t live by their feelings… they live by faith. Don’t let your feelings talk you out of the truth of the Word of God which is the very fact that GOD IS WITH YOU.

Second, look at Luke 1:34. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 

In other words, Mary has gotten this great promise from God; this amazing, mind blowing promise from God and the first thing she thinks of is, “HOW am I going to do this? How is it going to work? I don’t get it.”

But look at Gabriel’s response in Luke 1:35. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 

Mary had questions. She had a promise that did not make sense. I like that because sometimes I have questions. For Mary, God’s answer isn’t to explain exactly all the step by step details of how it is going to work.  God’s answer to her was to say through the Angel Gabriel, “The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.” The Holy Ghost; the power, the anointing of the Holy Ghost – that is how God’s going to do it. And God is saying the same things to us today. Don’t try to figure out all of how God is going to birth your promises – those callings, favor, miracles, and the salvations. Don’t try to figure out how he is going to heal you. Just trust that He is going to and start being grateful.

Mary was available and we know that even though Mary made herself available, as we all must do, she came into times of fear and confusion. There was one point where the Angel has to actually say to her, “be not afraid.”  We, like Mary must say “no” to fear and confusion. “No” to that lying voice of the enemy that says it’s never going to happen; hasn’t happened yet and never will. Imagine if Mary had believed a lie anywhere along the way. But instead she believed.

I pray that encourages you today. Any promise that you’ve gotten from God and anything that He is stirring in you that seems WAY too big for you to do and almost too big to even believe in. Any of those promises that make you question, HOW GOD? Or if you’ve been believing for awhile and haven’t seen it come forth and now you have gone from great faith to fear and doubt and you’re questioning God because you don’t see it or understand it. Remember, even Mary had those questions and God’s answer to her was,” I’m going to do it. I’m going to overshadow you. It’s in my strength that it is going to come forth. “

Maybe you think if an angel would come tell you to believe then you would believe…but you have someone so much better than an angel because you have the Holy Ghost with you and He is your counselor, your mentor, your guide, your comfort and He is saying to you today – Believe!

Last, I want to look at Mary’s prayer in Luke 1:38. It is wonderful. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. 

I think in the really big promises; the “HOW IS THIS EVER GOING TO HAPPEN GOD” type of promises, this should be our prayer and the posture of our heart. Like Mary we should say, “Lord, I’m your servant and I’m open, I’m willing, I’m available for you to do whatever you want. Let it be unto me according to thy will.”

—-

Blessed is SheIt is no accident that as we continue reading that Luke 2 begins ”and it came to pass.” The time of Mary’s promise had come. Very soon those Words will ring true for you… “and it came to pass.” All that you have been promised, you will see.  All we have been promised as a Body, we will see. It is also no accident that Luke 2:7 we see the fulfillment in the Word… “and she brought forth her firstborn Son.”

Mary brought forth her firstborn son.  I think it is important to note here that Mary co-labored with God to bring forth Jesus. God will do it in His strength but He uses us, just like He used Mary.  In His strength Mary believed and in His strength she walked in obedience just as we are to believe and walk in obedience.  God gave Mary the promise of Jesus and He helped her, strengthened her, led her along the way…but Mary brought forth her firstborn Son. To co-labor with God means just that – we have to do our part. It is an active part, not just sitting around waiting on it to happen. It may be painful at times but oh my, my, my… just like birth!

Today I would encourage you to take an extra measure of time with the Lord. Time worshiping, in His Word, prayer. Listen to Him and make Him your source. Be mindful about carving out time with God because as you say “YES” to that time together, as you welcome the Holy Ghost, as He comes down and the most High overshadows you, He is going to stir you up. He is going to stir up the promise within you. He is going to stir the memory of all He’s done and truth of Words that have been spoken over you and your life.

Birthing anything begins with unity and intimacy and it ends with unity and intimacy and the in between time is that time of preparation that is in the natural and spiritual the time where we tend to get impatient. It is hard to wait. During the in-between time at first no one else can really see the promise. It is a time when because they cannot see many will not even believe it to be so.  But you know because you know the promise. As a mom with child, before anyone else can see the fruit, you KNOW it, can feel it….and in that time you also KNOW – the most unified and intimate you will ever be with another human. That child becomes precious to you.

It is the same with the Lord. As you spend the time with God you will see and know unity and intimacy with Jesus come forth and along with that unity and intimacy you will see the anointing on your life. You will see His promises, the miracles, the favor.

But not only will you see your promises brought forth but you WILL help usher in the great things that are getting ready to be birthed on this earth. During the time of waiting on the promise; when you have only a promise to go on but you have the promise -don’t forsake this time or despise it. In this time your promise will become precious to you.

TRUST and BE OBEDIENT and remember the bigger the promises, the more impossible they seem, the bigger the HOW…the more glorious it’s going to be because God is not only going to have to do it but He will do it.

It says in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God in Him are “yea”; and in Him “amen” unto the glory of God by us.”

Make yourself available to the Lord, start declaring that you are His and He can do whatever He wants in your life and come into agreement with Him and say, “Lord – this promise – may the fullness of it come forth according to Your will, according to Your Word and ALL to YOUR GLORY!”

And like it was said of Mary in Luke 1:45, it will be said of you, “Blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”