Month: August 2022

Rest in the Lord and relax. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7  The verse tells us to wait patiently for the Lord and if we wait patiently in faith for the Lord. It gives His Spirit the freedom to work miracles and supernatural deliverances for us  Proverbs 3:5-6 teaches that Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. The Lord invites us not to lean on our own understanding but to trust Him and let Him direct our paths according to His wisdom and understanding and not our reason and understanding. Lead on Lord God lead on.

God always knows what is better for our lives than we will ever know. Try and make your way in God’s kingdom and you will find out how useless it is to try and control our paths as we walk deeper into the Kingdom of God. There is one example of a King of Israel who decided to do things his way and it cost him his life and his kingdom.

 Samuel 15 Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord.  This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah.  Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.  Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt.  Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel:  “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.  Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.” When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,  he has rejected you as king.” But Samuel said to  him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!” As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore.  Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.” 

The Lord gave Saul a specific set of instructions that the Lord would have given Saul the power to obey. He told him to kill all of the Amalekites including women, children, cattle and animals. And of course the king was to be put to death. 

Saul disobeyed God by allowing the king, cattle and sheep to live. He kept the best of the flocks to sacrifice to God. God doesn’t want sacrifice but obedience. He said He regretted making Saul king because he was rebellious to the commands of the Lord. 

Saul justified his disobedience but Samuel and the Lord would have none of his excuses. God tore the kingdom from Saul and rejected him as king over Israel. Eventually, Saul lost his life and his son was killed as well. Saul’s disobedience cost him his kingdom and his life. It’s of the utmost importance that we wait on the Lord and rest in him. Let’s wait patiently for the lord because His way is always better than ours.

God speaks, we need to listen because His words will change our lives. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me John 10:27 It has been said that one word from God can change your life. There are examples in the bible where God gave His saints a word that changed their lives.

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You call God answers. But He answers before we call as well. Look at this verse: Isaiah 65:24 “It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. So, see how easy it for God to answer our prayers. He answers before we call while we are still thinking about how to word our request.  Yet while we are praying He hears and answers but we can pray in tongues which is perfect communication between the Holy Spirit and God the Father. Let there be no doubt that God answers our prayers and we don’t have to cry and beg to get Him to answer. We just need to come to the throne of grace boldly.  Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 

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Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit are the only ones who remain the same in a world of constant flux and change. They are the pillars to all those who put their trust in them. Jesus Christ never changes! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 What a comfort knowing Jesus never changes because He has always been the same and He will always be the same.

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Jesus is the only name you need to know. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus Every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  Philippians 2:9-10

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For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. Psalm 33:9 He spoke and it was done as soon as He spoke it was done. He commanded and it stood fast forever and it will last forever. He spoke salvation into existence through Jesus. His love stood still through Jesus and it stands strong forever. He spoke and it stood still and we spoke and it stood still.

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God’s wisdom always encourages and brings life. It doesn’t discourage and bring death. Why would the God who gives life talk death to us? Exactly, He wouldn’t’ talk death to His children because He is life and death isn’t in His nature. He sent Jesus to die for us so that we may have life not death. God’s wisdom never contains words of death but only words of life.

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“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,  but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.  But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom [a]is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’  But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’  But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

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And do not hide Yourself from my supplication. Attend to me, and hear me; I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily, Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me, And in wrath they hate me. My heart is severely pained within me, And the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, And horror has overwhelmed me. So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off, And remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape From the windy storm and tempest.”Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, For I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go around it on its walls; Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it. Destruction is in its midst; Oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets. For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng. Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell, For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them. As for me, I will call upon God, And the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, For there were many against me. God will hear, and afflict them, Even He who abides from of old. Because they do not change, Therefore they do not fear God. He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him; He has broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, But war was in his heart; His words were softer than oil,Yet they were drawn swords. Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction; Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; But I will trust in You.

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There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized.  For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’  He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

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