Day 5 - exciting time to draw near to our Father!
Meditating on Isaiah 42:6, 7. It reads, "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, And will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the Gentiles. To open blind eyes, To bring out prsoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house."
How awesome to walk with Him as He holds our hands with the promise to always keep us!
Yet, it doesn't stop there. He's called us also to be out there representing Him on the earth. There are blind eyes that need to be opened. There are prisoners that need to be set free. May the Lord anoint us this year to walk closely with Him while at the same time being radically available to be used by Him to change the lives of people around us!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Third word
In addition to the verses in Ezekiel that the Lord highlighted yesterday, I was already focusing a bit on Isaiah 58 - the well know "fasting" teaching from the Lord.
Two particular parts of that chapter really came into sharp focus for me:
1 “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and he house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness.....“ In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers. 4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high......
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard
Then this morning I received the "verse of the day" from Biblegateway.com and this is what it said:
Philippians 2:14-16 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the skyas you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
In these versus, twice we read, "that you may become blameless and pure" or in Isaiah, "then your righteousness shall go before you."
There is this small yet very troublesome word that sort of pops out when you would rather not hear it.
"THEN"
So often in the kingdom of God the plans of God for our lives, our homes, our churches, is conditional. It's not that God's plan is going to fail if we fail. The word of God and the plan of God will always succeed. BUT we are invited to be active partners with. God invites us to put our hand into his and walk next to Him in what He is doing. We can choose through these little annoying words like "then" to be a light, a source of strength, a blessing to all those around us because of the righteousness shinging out of us. We can't "hold out the word of life" if people have not been able to deduce our Christianity before we opened our mouths. Or rather, in the well known quote, "preach the gospel everywhere....and if necessary, use words."
We are promised in these verses that our righteousness will go before us. The glory of the Lord will be our rear guard (so that we can focus solely on what's in front, not worry about what's coming from behind).
What would happen if we, the church, listened to "THEN" and became a people that did what comes before that little word and thereby received the promise of God and appropriated what comes after. What would it be like if the media had great trouble finding enough scandals and negative issues to report on in the church and they could only find righteousness instead?
Two particular parts of that chapter really came into sharp focus for me:
1 “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and he house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness.....“ In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers. 4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high......
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard
Then this morning I received the "verse of the day" from Biblegateway.com and this is what it said:
Philippians 2:14-16 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the skyas you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
In these versus, twice we read, "that you may become blameless and pure" or in Isaiah, "then your righteousness shall go before you."
There is this small yet very troublesome word that sort of pops out when you would rather not hear it.
"THEN"
So often in the kingdom of God the plans of God for our lives, our homes, our churches, is conditional. It's not that God's plan is going to fail if we fail. The word of God and the plan of God will always succeed. BUT we are invited to be active partners with. God invites us to put our hand into his and walk next to Him in what He is doing. We can choose through these little annoying words like "then" to be a light, a source of strength, a blessing to all those around us because of the righteousness shinging out of us. We can't "hold out the word of life" if people have not been able to deduce our Christianity before we opened our mouths. Or rather, in the well known quote, "preach the gospel everywhere....and if necessary, use words."
We are promised in these verses that our righteousness will go before us. The glory of the Lord will be our rear guard (so that we can focus solely on what's in front, not worry about what's coming from behind).
What would happen if we, the church, listened to "THEN" and became a people that did what comes before that little word and thereby received the promise of God and appropriated what comes after. What would it be like if the media had great trouble finding enough scandals and negative issues to report on in the church and they could only find righteousness instead?
Monday, January 16, 2012
Second post
Ezekiel 37:
3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.”
4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.”’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’”
3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.”
4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.”’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.
9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’”
First word
Fasting often times opens a prophetic channel for me and it almost always happens in the first few hours or it doesn't happen at all. Even as we sat in the Restoring the Foundations Seminar this past Friday and Saturday I could alreay feel the connection gaining strength. The following is a word the Lord gave me during the Sunday morning sermon coming directly off what Chris was preaching. I'm going to cut and paste of out of MSWord in the hopes of keeping the emphasis through the formatting.
Break up your fallow ground. The plow that breaks up the fallow ground is named WORSHIP! Worship proceeds from the mouth and it goes to the Father on the throne. But it also goes into the heart of man. There where there is hardness, where there is resistance, there worship like a knife cuts through. It digs deep and destroys the fallow ground that life may come.
Let breath come from heaven.
Let what’s dead ………..
let what is dead………………………
WHAT IS DEAD …………………………LIVE!!!!!
DEATH GO,
DEATH BE RELEASED!
GO! IN JESUS NAME!
LIFE COME!
LIFE COME!!
LIVE!!! IN JESUS NAME!!!
Break up your fallow ground. The plow that breaks up the fallow ground is named WORSHIP! Worship proceeds from the mouth and it goes to the Father on the throne. But it also goes into the heart of man. There where there is hardness, where there is resistance, there worship like a knife cuts through. It digs deep and destroys the fallow ground that life may come.
Let breath come from heaven.
Let what’s dead ………..
let what is dead………………………
WHAT IS DEAD …………………………LIVE!!!!!
DEATH GO,
DEATH BE RELEASED!
GO! IN JESUS NAME!
LIFE COME!
LIFE COME!!
LIVE!!! IN JESUS NAME!!!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Looking forward to this 10 fast that begins on Friday, January 13th. I believe the Lord is going to meet with each one us as we draw near to Him through prayer and fasting. Jeremiah wrote, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13) Fasting is definitely a way to demonstrate our heart's desire to search for God. He will meet with us. He will speak to us. I am believing for a release from heaven of wisdom, power, faith, vision and direction to come to us as we commit our hearts and lives afresh to Him.
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