Can You Hear Him Now?

In class tonight we looked at Romans 8:16 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." The Greek word that is interpreted as 'beareth witness' is Summartureo, which is two words combined meaning 'together' and 'to witness'. Then the teacher gave an incredible illustration of how this works concerning the Holy Spirit within us. She sat at a piano and hit the strong 'C' key, and within the piano itself when that key is hit, the other octave C's will vibrate too, though not heard by the human ear. Also at the same time, the keys that are in harmony with that one key, in this case the 'c', will vibrate as well. She then put a mike in the piano, and had her praise and worship leader come up, and without music sing a song very slowly into the piano, and the keys that were in harmony with that song and the key she was singing in trembled. This phenomenon is called resonance, which means 'to oscillate with the same frequency as the source! As I was driving home, I told my wife when God speaks, that is the reason some people hear Him and some don't. Those in tune to Him, on the same frequency as Him will hear Him. Then it hit me, no wonder Jesus said in Rev 2:7 "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." I stood outside tonight and looked up at the stars and wondered at the vastness of our universe. I felt especially small and insignificant, yet realizing I had God's attention. I seen the lights of a plane far up there in the night sky and told the Lord how I wanted to go places in the Spirit, to make an impact in my generation so that when I stand before Him I will hear Him say to me, "Well done good and faithful servant, enter into your rest." You see its important more than ever that we hear Him, that we're in harmony with Him so that when He speaks we tremble. Over the next few months I need to hear from Him, I want to fulfill my destiny in God, do what I hear Him calling me to do, and step into it. So I ask you can you hear Him now? And that my friends is the reality of it!

His Treasure

Just a little something I got today from the Father while studying... Hope your blessed as I was...

True hunger for the Father will always result in yieldedness to His Spirit. That is the foundation to maturity and growth, to becoming Spiritual. Reading the Word opens His heart and thoughts towards me, to me. The resultant pursuit of Him brings within my grasp- His heartbeat. Just as John felt it physically when He laid His head on His chest, I feel it spiritually when I surrender to Him. It beats passionately for me, and I am His treasured possession!

Think about it, YOU are His treasured possession according to Deut. 7:6, "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession" (NIV). And that my friends is the reality of it!

Challenged To Come Up Higher

"It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom." (Galations 5:19-21, The Message) Some things don't need an explanation or any type of additional commentary. Like the above verse taken from the Message Bible, its straight forward and to the point. Be watching for a new breed of minister coming on the scene in these last days. Not the ear tickling, let me scratch your back, feed you a bunch of nonsense while I pick your wallet, kind of preacher. But ones that will hear from God and deliver a message from His throne that will make an impact. Their one purpose will be to challenge God's people to come up higher. I believe they exist now, laboring in obscurity while God prepares them. The past two weeks I've heard from two of these kind of ministers, unknown to the church in general, yet known in Heaven by the angels and in Hell by the demons! And when God releases them it will be said as it was of Jesus in Matt 7:28-29 "And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." And that my friends is the reality of it!

Getting Away From Performance Oriented Service

I'm tired of religion, actually I'm sick of religion. Not religion in the definition that James gave in James 1:27, but the religious rhetoric that fills our Church's, and sadly consumes our worship experience. I'm tired of going through the motions, of watching a good performance, but not feeling His touch behind all the high energy moves and lyrics. I'm tired of listening to the same 'Christianized pep rallies' that takes place in our churches. Basically I hate religion that robs God of His rightful place, because we're too good trying to sound like we're more spiritual than we are and hoping to get an 'amen' or a hand clap from the crowd. We're so caught up in trying to move the crowd so we can say we've had a great service, rather than just entertain Him and let Him do the moving and shaking, I think God is well capable of doing such a task without any help from us. We have too many pharisee minded ministers in the pulpit, you know them, the ones Jesus said in Matt 23:5-7 "But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi." Our church motto is 'Real, Relevant, and Refreshing'. We're not perfect by any means but I can see in leadership and within the congregation that we strive to live by that. And this year, the year of shifting, of digging the old wells as our Pastor has been teaching, I plan on getting away from performance oriented service, doing things to catch others attention, doing things because everyone else is doing it. I plan on dancing when no one else dances. I plan on raising my hands when nobody else does, I plan on swimming in the reservoir of His presence when everyone else would rather soak in the hot tub of spiritual laziness! I've got some old wells that I need to redig and when I do I'm going to soak up the refreshing water of His presence like a sun dried sponge on hot asphalt! Yes I'm getting away from performance oriented service and that my friends is the reality of it!

Prepared For The Times

Everywhere I turn I find another prophet proclaiming that 2007 is going to be a year of change and shifting to the body of Christ and the world in general. This year in the Hebrew calendar which isn't the same as our '2007' means the 'year of the sword' which lines up with what many men and women in the body of Christ are feeling. Though I don't always follow one specific person, I do have some that I feel does hear from the Lord. One particular person though that I sometimes listen too and take to heart what He says caught my attention. He was more specific than the other known prophets and he said some things that I've mentioned in my blog a few months ago, and that was that another attack is coming to America. But he went further, he stated it was coming in 2007. He said and I quote, "Well, the other thing I felt was that evil men, evil people, are going to try to do evil things to us and to others during the last part of this year. I don’t know whether it’ll be in the fall or September or later on, but it’ll be the second half, somehow, of 2007. There will be some very serious terrorist attacks. The evil people will come after this country. And there’s a possibility that—not a possibly, a definite certainty that chaos is going to rule, and the Lord said that the politicians will not have any solutions for it. There’s just going to be chaos. It’s going to happen. And I’m not saying necessarily nuclear. The Lord didn’t say “nuclear,” but I do believe it’ll be something like that that’ll be a mass killing, possibly millions of people, major cities injured. I hope I’m wrong, and I hope people will pray and that won’t happen. But nevertheless, that seems to be what’s coming up. And then the Lord said He will restrain the evil people, but He will not restrain them necessarily initially". Whether he is wrong or right I'm looking forward to what the Lord is going to do this year. I will say in light of what men and women of God are saying about a coming judgement to this nation and to the body of Christ. The church always has and always will thrive during times of great turmoil and judgement. So should the Lord choose to wake us up from our lethargic state by bringing judgement or whatever, then so be it, I plan on drawing close to Him! And that my friends is the reality of it!

I'm Pointing Fingers.......At Myself!

Its so easy today to blame others for the messes we get ourselves into. Just watch court television and every defendant has an excuse for their actions, "It was how my momma raised me", "My dad didn't love me", "I grew up alone", blah blah blah blah blah. Not that those issues might not have had a very positive effect on a person's life, but the issue still comes down to our own actions and our own choices. If we're not blaming someone else we're definitely making excuses for our actions, "the reason I pulled the trigger was because I grew up in a violent neighborhood". If we're not making excuses for our actions then the doctor's are coming up with a new pill to fix something else for us. We are becoming a society that blames everyone else for our actions and/or pops a pill to fix it. I read something last night though that made me think, Paul wrote in 1 Cor 11:31 "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged". The word used for 'judge' in that verse simple means 'to separate, to oppose, to contend with'. It gives the impression that if we would just stop and look at our actions, take the initiative and contend with ourselves, rather than blame somebody else, we would not be judged later. The message Bible brings out this point very clearly, stating, "If we get this straight now, we won't have to be straightened out later on" In other words, stop pointing fingers at everyone else, and point them at yourself first! When I'm honest with myself over my actions and choices, and with that honestly comes true confession and repentance, then by judging myself now, I won't suffer judgement later. So I'm going to start pointing fingers.... at myself! And that my friends is the reality of it!

The Necessity Of The Chiropractor

I read something in the Bible last night that caught my attention and caused me to pause and think. It was what Paul wrote in 1 Cor 9:27 "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." He then went on to give an example from the Old Testament of the people of Israel saying they all experienced passing through the Red Sea, they all ate the same Spiritual meat, they all seen the Fire of God and stood under the Cloud of His presence, yet God was not pleased with all of them for many were overthrown in the wilderness. The Lord showed me that like Israel coming out of Egypt and heading to the promised land, we're all on a journey and its not the wilderness that overthrows us, but the choices we make while going through the wilderness that determine whether we are overthrown or victorious. It takes more than recognizing the devil and standing against him, but also choosing to keep our flesh under control. Paul meant just that when he wrote the above scripture, we must keep our body, our flesh under control, bringing it into subjection less we should become a castaway, meaning not standing the test, not approved. I really believe this will be a year that God repositions His body back into right alignment. Like a person who goes to the chiropractor to get an adjustment, God is sending His bride to the chiropractor to get adjusted! He may use the media, He may allow the enemy to chasten us, He may do it in His own gentle way, but one thing is certain, His bride will be realigned and shifted back into sync with His plans and purposes! And that my friends is the reality of it!

L.L.B.D.S.T It's My Battle Cry!

No more Low Living, Bottom Dwelling, or Stinking Thinking, Its my Battle Cry! Yesterday as I was getting ready for church thinking about the past year and the year ahead, I told the Lord, I just plan on going swimming in 2007, going deep into the reservoir of His presence and staying there for longer periods of time. 2006 from a spiritual standpoint and a relationship standpoint was probably my worst year ever, having to deal with physical issues within the family and relationship troubles as a result, whats sad though is how I allowed those things to affect my relationship with the Lord. With a new year comes renewed opportunities to set the order for the rest of the year. My family has begun this year with prayer and fasting, following the mandate in Matt. 6:33 "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." Yesterday while I pondered these things in church during communion service I realized the importance of forcefully standing for what is right in our walk with God. Jesus made it clear in Matt. 11:12 "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."

When you study this out it speaks of forcefully entering in, grasping with determined power and force the things of the Kingdom. We don't hear enough messages today of Satan's attempts to resist our every move and his determined purpose to derail us. We have an enemy who outside of God knows us better than we know ourselves. He has studied mankind since the garden, and Christ and the Apostles made it clear that our enemy isn't just determined, but very cunning as well, only a fool would take an enemy such as him lightly. That's why my Battle Cry this year is L.L.B.D.S.T, no more Low Living, Bottom Dwelling, or Stinking Thinking! Won't you join me this year in standing forcefully even violently? And that my friends is the reality of it!