Thursday, June 27, 2013

Signs on the Path

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see;..." Matthew 13:16 NASB

God sometimes speaks by dropping a piece of driftwood onto a beach. Unless you know the beach and know that it's not usually there, then you won't know that something unusual has happened.

When you rush through life without paying much attention, you might miss God's doings. But when you're observant, alert and paying attention, you will notice the little love notes He drops into your life--the unexpected surprises. Others might not understand what those things mean, but you know.

I think God prefers it that way--A secret between He and you. He smiles, you smile and no one else gets it like you both do. Of course He has secrets with others too and that's o.k. But the ones He has with you are tailor made for you and make them extra special.

So when walking on the familiar path of your daily life, look for the driftwood--the unexpected surprise from God that only you recognize as being special--and remember that He is right there waiting to talk with you as you walk together.

Hebrews 13:5, Revelation 2:17

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Nothing but the Truth

"...how many times must I charge you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord." 1 Kings 22:16 The Amplified Bible

Ahab, king of Israel, wanted to go fight Syria at Ramoth-gileod. 400 prophets told him that he would win if he went. At King Jehoshaphat's request, he asked the prophet Micaiah what he thought. At first Micaiah gave him a sarcastic answer because he knew Ahab really didn't want to hear from the Lord, he just wanted the prophets to tell him that what he wanted to do was right. After Ahab said to tell him, "nothing but the truth" then Micaiah told him he would die if he went to battle. Ahab's response was to put Micaiah in prison and he went and fought in the battle anyway. He died In the battle.

The truth isn't what the majority believes. The truth is what God says. Micaiah told one of the other prophets how to find what the Spirit of God is saying--by hiding himself in an inner chamber. When we go into our prayer closet and seek the Lord--shutting out the thoughts of the crowd, public and popular opinions--then we will find the truth. Once we find it then we need to live by it.  We need to take heed to it and not just do what we were going to do anyway. The price of rejecting the truth is much greater than whatever it costs us to accept it. And like Jesus said, when we know the truth it will make us free!

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12, Proverbs 23:23, John 8:32

Monday, June 3, 2013

Strings Attached

 "I am the vine, you are the branches..."  Jesus-John 15:5

God is not looking for you to grow spiritually to a point where you become independent from Him.  Spiritual growth and maturity does not mean you become self-sufficient.  He wants you to become and remain close to Him--closer and closer every day, not more independent and distant.  He wants to have a very close relationship with you.  He loves you!

Oh how it must hurt Him when we only go to Him for stuff--even good stuff like healing anointings or inspiring sermons.  It seems we try to untangle ourselves from the strings of dependency on Him so we can preach and pray without having had to spend time with Him.  We mistakenly think that is maturity.  We want to figure it all out so we can say, "O.K. God, I got it now, I know how to pray, to preach, to worship, to live my life, I'll take it from here."  

We try and cut the strings, but the strings are the vines connecting us to our life source.  He is the vine, we are the branches.  We need to stay tangled up in Him.  We need to stay attached, dependent and in love with Him!  Fall in love with Jesus all over again.  Get tangled up in Him so much so that you can never get free, nor would ever want to!

June 3, 2013