A Double Portion

"A couple of thoughts from the Word: 1 Chronicles 16:37 “as every day's work required.”

There is a required work for today. God has a prescribed way to do life. When we follow His plan we fulfill His purpose. There are requirements. We must carry them out and be careful to fulfill all that He desires the way He desires.

1 Chronicles 16:43 David returned to bless his own house.

David had just brought the ark to Jerusalem and erected a tent for it. There has been great celebration. It wasn't enough for him to bless Jerusalem or the people that he led as King. He now would take what he had home and bless his house. God would have us to bless our families, spouse, children, even the neighbors and strangers that come around. If they will receive it. David's wife despised her husband dancing and she ended up not having children. In other words David was on his way to bless and when she rejected David and his blessing she in turn received a curse."

Is it possible to get more than one revelation from the scripture in one day? Absolutely. Sometimes I think we (or I if this is old news to you) over complicate things. Let's take hearing from God. We (I) get the idea that in order to hear from God you have to be in deep prayer for hours, sweating and tired, maybe crying a bit too, and then when you have fulfilled your pious duty of praying to God He will respond. 

Foolish. And not so. 

God can speak whenever He wants. He can also use different means to get the message to us. 

That is not to say that sweating, crying, lengthy prayer is bad. I've had some good prayers like that. Not too often though. 

What I am really saying is that these lengthy arduous prayers are not the requirement of hearing from God. You do have to be listening. 

We can help the process by being in a constant state of listening. When you are ready to hear from God and have spiritual eyes and ears open then when God speaks you will hear him. Didn't Jesus say "My sheep know my voice...?" He sure did! If you are His sheep then you don't have to worry about missing out. He will speak to you. You have to be ready to hear. 

All throughout your day God will take moments and make them communication. I have heard God's voice in prayer, through His word in the scriptures, from pastors while the preach, in conversation with others and in every day activities. God will take an experience and make it a parable for your life. 

Just recently I was watching a movie and God used it to teach me about the power of His word and at the same time gave me a tool to teach others with the gospel. What a great God He is! 

In our life it should be normal and expected to hear from God multiple times every day. If you haven't heard his voice recently it may be that you aren't listening or aren't doing what He says. It is time to change that. Live in obedience, open your eyes and your ears and most of all your heart to hear from God. He wants to speak to you today...multiple times. 

Was there ever a unique way God spoke to you?

Getting it Right

"From the Word: For because you did not do it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order.” (‭I Chronicles‬ ‭15‬:‭13‬ NKJV) King David recognized that the outbreak of the Lord when Uzzah was driving the cart and put his hand out to steady the ark was because they were not doing what God wanted the way He wanted them to. There is a proper order in life and in our approach to God. Nature shows us proper order. There is a proper family, church and social order. When we try to do these things out of order and say we are doing what God wants we lack the wisdom of doing it the way He wants and displease the Lord."

God knows how life should work. He is the Author of life after all. Doesn't it make sense that we should listen to how He would have us to do life? 

We make two mistakes when it comes to getting directions. Either we don't get any direction or we get the wrong direction. 

Without getting any direction the auto pilot of our flesh will take over. The flesh will go where it pleases. I don't think I need to tell you where we end up when this happens. We could trade shameful stories about what happens when the flesh takes over. A quick study of the letters to the church will also show more of where the flesh wants to go. 

When we get fed up of going only where he flesh wants the natural place to turn is to people. Family and friends or coworkers are easily accessible and some are even happy to help. No matter how well meaning and knowledgeable they may be unless they are sending us to the Word of God they will often give bad or wrong directions. Some of what they say may be good or might even get you through to something better than the flesh. But just because it is better doesn't mean it is right. In the end a wrong direction will get you to the wrong place. So we wander. 

A lot of mistakes and pain in our wandering will send us to God for direction. Now we have what King David called the proper order. Life works when we have the proper order. We won't follow the flesh or wander in the opinions of well meaning people. Most importantly we will have God working for us and not against us. That is called blessing by the way. 

If you have been getting the wrong direction take some time to pray and seek God for direction. Read scriptures that deal with your situation and start putting things in the proper order. 

I would love be to hear any testimonies of how life worked out when you found out what God's directions were. Feel free to post in the comments. 

The Lord was with Him

"From the Word: “The Lord was with Him”. What a statement! Write it on my grave for it is written on my heart. How can I have this said of me? I must be with the Lord. If I draw near to Him He will draw near to me. If I am for Him then I am not against Him. If I open the door He knocks on in my heart He will come in and eat with me. If I call on His name as Abraham His friend, if I walk with Him as Enoch did who pleased Him so much that He took Him, if I will be obedient and follow Jesus commands then the Lord will be with me. Amen."

Plain and simple. We have access to God. He is not far away. We may have felt far away but He has always been there. We may have felt distant but He was close. He has opened the way to be with Him. 

Jesus is our access. We can go to God through Him. Our prayers are heard because of Him. We can be with God anytime and anyplace. He is already there and wherever and whenever we desire we can access His presence. 

With God's presence also comes His power. We have the power of God available to us. It is called grace. It is God's sovereign divine ability to get the job done on our behalf when we couldn't do it. Whatever it is you are endeavoring to do, know that you have the power of God available to you to do it. 

Too often we try to go at it alone. And yet the greatest power is present and available to us. Call on God, be with Him, give him your situation and ask for His grace. As you do God will empower you and walk you through the process. If God starts something then He will also finish it. God doesn't do anything substandard. He does all things well. You can trust Him with your life. 

God is with you! 

How have you seen this principle at work? 

A Foolish Thought

"I laid it out for them and brought it to three main points; don't make any provision for the flesh, neither give place to the devil and don't even give the appearance of evil."

There are a lot of people who call themselves Christians that are living no different than the world. It is for this reason that our witness is not as strong as it should be as a whole. I would imagine the confusion in some one's mind who is not a Christian when someone tells them they should get saved but their lifestyle doesn't show any contrast to the rest of the world. Why get saved if you are no different in lifestyle or priorities or anything else for that matter?

Some have tried to justify this. "I am a Christian but I...[insert vice here]". What a foolish thought. Excusing the action won't justify it by any means. It just shows that there is no repentance from dead works. 

It seems to me that Jesus died so we could be made alive. We are raised up with Him. So that means we no longer act like a dead man with dead works. Our lives should reflect the life of Christ. The Bible calls us a peculiar people. We should be weird to the world. We are also told in the word that when we don't jump in to the flood of dissipation with the people of this world that they will wonder at us. 

In my quote from last year's journal it outlines how we do this. Make no provision for the flesh, give no place to the devil and don't even give the appearance of evil. 

To make no provision for the flesh means if you know something will cause you to stumble stay away from it. If social media turns into a gossip fest every time you are on it you should delete your account. It sounds so harsh but Jesus said if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out. Imagine doing that for a second. Pretty tough to think about right. But if you had the choice of pulling out your eye with your own hands or deleting an account I think I know what you would choose. 

Giving no place to the devil takes being on guard. We should have our armor on, swords up and shields out. When the thoughts start to come we speak the word and let our faith extinguish the flaming arrows the devil is shooting at us. The Bible says to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. You have the authority of Jesus to cast the devil out. Don't give him an inch because he will take a mile. 

Finally we are not to give even the appearance of evil. One translation of the verse I got this from says don't give any hint of evil. I know it is counter culture and I will be criticized for being legalistic or religious but I don't care. There are things that we, speaking of Christians as a whole in America and maybe in some other places in the world, that hint at evil. We need to wake up and realize that there are places that are known for being centers of evil things taking place. Not only that but our freedom in Christ could cause someone to turn away from the gospel, How would we feel if we knew someone went to hell because we wouldn't give up a non-essential thing in our life? 

I know this post may seem like an Internet rant if you don't know me but really it is a passionate cry for all of us Christians to be who we say we are. I love the Body of Christ and it is my passion and purpose to equip believers for life and service. If you look over your life and there are some areas that you are defending while reading this post you may want to take a fresh look at them. Ask someone you can trust to shoot straight with you how they view what it is you are thinking about. Ask a believer and then ask a non-believer. You may be surprised what you hear. 

When we get this down I believe we will have a greater and more effective witness for Jesus. It is so important that much of what is written to the church in the Bible centers around topics like this. You will find that in doing these things you will experience a greater blessing from God as well. The reason I know that is because God blesses obedience. You can't go wrong following the will of God. It isn't always easy but it is good!

What other scriptures help us in these areas? Have you experiences a greater witness or blessing when you decided to break from the world and live according to what God says?