Tag: perseverance

Posted in Hiding His Word

Remember Me, O My God, For Good

Posted on by Melissa Lynne

Nehemiah 12:27–13:31; 1 Corinthians 11:1-16; Psalm 35:1-16; Proverbs 21:17-18

Separated from Israel All the Mixed Multitude
On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. – Nehemiah 13:1-3

Tobiah Given a Great Chamber (in the Courts of the House of God)
And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah: and he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests. But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king: and I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense. – Nehemiah 13:4-9

Portions of the Levites Had Not Been Given Them
And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field. Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place. Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries. – Nehemiah 13:10-12

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof. – Nehemiah 13:14

Profaned the Sabbath Day
In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? – Nehemiah 13:15-17

Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy. – Nehemiah 13:22b

Marrying Strange Wives
In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives? And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. – Nehemiah 13:23-28

Nehemiah Cleansed Them
Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business; and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good. – Nehemiah 13:30-31

Remember me, O my God, for good. – Nehemiah 13:31b

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But I Would Have You Know
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. – 1 Corinthians 11:3

My Soul Shall Be Joyful in the LORD
And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: It shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him? – Psalm 35:9-10

A Ransom for the Righteous
The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, And the transgressor for the upright. – Proverbs 21:18

The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, And the treacherous in the place of the upright [for they fall into their own traps]. – Proverbs 21:18 AMP

 

Posted in Uncategorized

Hiding His Word in My Heart Today

Posted on by Melissa Lynne

I am a huge supporter of the One Year Bible plans and such as that. Without these many would just flip open the Bible and while God can and does speak that way, many like myself need more order. Although I am opting for the year long plan so that I can dig a little deeper this year, my favorite plan so far is actually the 90 day Bible Challenge. I really enjoyed reading from the first page of the Bible all the way to the last page, although I do prefer to read in a translation other than the one they suggest. The 90 day plan is less distracting than other plans when it comes to seeing how things tie together in the Bible…book to book, Old Testament to New Testament, Beginning to End. 2012 was a year that the Lord told me to put aside all other books and read only His Word. I did and I truly enjoyed spending extended periods of time reading straight through several times. Granted my plan was more of the 120 day plan.

Like weight loss, exercise, and other things we try to begin in the New Year, people often begin their year so enthusiastic and determined to read through the Bible again or for the first time. It goes pretty well for a while and then you hit end of February and March and challenging books like the books of Leviticus and Numbers and some of the others of the Old Testament stop many in their tracks. With the 90 day challenge plans you are through these in a couple of days but with the year long plans unless you determine in your heart ahead of time to persevere when it gets tough…you probably don’t.

There is a great saying regarding what is going on in the world and regarding the Word and that is that, “We have read the end of the Book.” I have heard people say that a lot recently. It is true. If we know the end of the story then we know that Jesus Christ is victorious! Sad truth is though that many have not actually read the end of the book. They didn’t make it that far. Some are going totally on what they have heard from others rather than a true revelation that they themselves have gleaned from the Word. For some if they did read the end, they have only really just read the beginning and the end. They don’t have a grasp of what is in between Genesis and Revelation, save the Bible stories told to us as children and the Gospels that all churches focus on during Christmas and Easter. If the only thing you hear is the Gospel surely that is more than enough… but so many are missing so much that the Lord Himself has provided us that could help them tremendously to understand and to walk out this earthly journey until we do get to the end.

I find myself praying for those seeking a closer walk with God that started a One Year Bible plan on 1/1/13. I pray that they would do what it takes to persevere through the tough chapters. I know I have spent many a morning reading it aloud, reading it standing up, or both. I say, do what it takes. Get an attitude of NEVERTHELESS!!! His Word will not come back void, that is His promise!!! It is also His promise that you will be changed from GLORY to GLORY. Whenever you come into the presence of God through prayer, or service, or worship or the Word…you are changed. PROMISED!!!

You are in my prayers and I ask for yours as we all press on…

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and today through His Word in Numbers, Mark, Psalms and Proverbs – He spoke directly to me regarding issues of my heart and issues of the hearts of those I allow to speak into my life. Some of what is spoken are words of darkness (things like complaining and criticism) going into my ears and/or coming out of my mouth instead of words of light and truth and praise. Words that kindle His anger and grieve His Spirit instead of words that make Him smile and rejoice.

My prayers and meditations from today’s Word is:

Psalm 51:8 “Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bone which thou has broken may rejoice.”

Psalm 51:15 “O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.”

Well, probably should just read all of Psalm 51. It says so much…like Psalm 51:6

Numbers 11:1 – and when the people complained it displeased the Lord: and the Lord hear it; and His anger was kindled. Number 11:10 – Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly: also Moses was displeased. (complaining, whining)

Mark 14:4 – and there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said why was this waste of the ointment used?  (Criticism)

Mark 14:4-9 my thoughts – Then Jesus rebukes the disciples for their criticism.

This also struck me although off topic. In Mark 14:16 it says, “and he sought how he might conveniently betray him.”  That word “conveniently” made me incredibly sad. To be betrayed is one thing but conveniently betrayed. I wonder how often we conveniently betray or disobey or sin in any way?!?

Conveniently: ease in use, easy, comfortable, at hand, easily acceptable, hand.

Proverbs 10-11 The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongues shall be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

Froward: willfully contrary; not easily managed; obstinate, wayward, difficult, fractious.

Only God could have prepared such a feast for me for this morning.

Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Help me oh Lord to apply this Word to my life today. In Jesus precious and holy and magnificent Name, I pray….AMEN!!

Posted in prayer

Don’t abandon ship; someone has to throw the life-preservers

Posted on by Melissa Lynne
Interesting things have been happening in prayer these days. God has spoken about revelation driven prayer and hearing His voice through the things that He brings to my mind during prayer time. I have been given confidence that some things I have for so long excused as just my imaginations are one of the ways He uses to speak to me. This was made very clear for me during our prayer meeting yesterday.

We came into prayer last night feeling very discouraged. Everyone. We were tired and everything seemed the same old, same old. Even our conversation was frankly boring. Someone asked God to help the people get into his Word (fairly common prayer, I guess) but just like that I heard God say, “You first.” It was so clear that it couldn’t be ignored so I immediately relayed what I heard. We opened our Bibles and began to pray the scriptures. During this time we asked God to show us what was on His heart. To have us pray His heart, His prayers. We have said this prayer many times before too but yesterday things just were different.

Immediately I saw the hill behind the church and from the very top of the very tallest tree on down all I could see was the blood of Jesus running down it like rivers. Maybe more rushing down it and the blood was covering absolutely everything in its path. Every corner, every crevice…everything. I began praying this scene and declaring this scene but admittedly I started feeling awkward because it was a different kind of prayer for me and I became aware of those around me and so I stopped, it ceased – the prayer and the flow of what I had been seeing. I knew that I had stopped what God was trying to do.

But toward the middle of our time I was asking God for salvations and He gave another “scene.” Don’t you just love second chances? I knew immediately that it was connected to the the Full Flame Evangelism course (Reinhard Bonnke). In that course we watched a short movie about a group of people on a ship that ran across some that were overboard. The message was that people are drowning and we have the ability to rescue them but we each must decide if we will risk our own lives to do so or not by jumping in. What God gave me was just a bit different though…

There was a ship with many, many people beside it in the water. People were floating around and drowning but it was as though they were very comfortable and didn’t know that they were drowning. There were a few that were fighting for their lives but they were for the most part ignored by those floating. Those floating had no idea they were getting ready to die. Some people were still on the ship and they each had a stock of life preservers. When they could get someone’s attention, they were throwing them out into the water and then dragging them into the boat to safety. Those aboard the ship faced two obstacles. They had to find a way to get the people to pay enough attention so they could warn them of their impending death and they had to avoid the lure of jumping into the water themselves. See no one fell off the ship. There were no problems with the ship. The problem was that the people were lured to jump. Some had jumped with good intentions of helping but for most something of the water had enticed them and I heard God say to me, “Don’t abandon ship. Someone has to throw the life preservers.”

Just like that discouragement was gone and I settled into what I had been asked to do in prayer and intercession…and definitely not feeling the same old, same old.