Don't be moved!

The Lord spoke to me this morning in my devotional and I believe it is a word you will find very encouraging. I read Proverbs every day, the chapter corresponding to the day of the month. Today being the 10th it is Proverbs 10. A chapter devoted to the wise sayings of Solomon contrasting the wise man with the foolish or evil man.

The blessing of the Lord- it makes [truly] rich, and He adds no sorrow with it [neither does toiling increase it]. God's blessing is there for us, we don't do anything [toil, strive] to receive it, it is there by virtue of our relationship with Christ. We are made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. Praise God!

Wise men store up knowledge [in mind and heart], but the mouth of the foolish is a present destruction. The lips of the [uncompromisingly] righteous feed and guide many, but fools die for want of understanding and heart.

These are wonderful passages of scripture filled with God's wisdom. Now hear is a key verse as we go into the Springtime and the season of tornado's and bad weather. Proverbs 10:25- When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the [uncompromisingly] righteous have an everlasting foundation.
Psalms 125:1- Those who trust in, lean on, and confidently hope in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides and stands fast forever. Praise God

Matt 7:24-25: So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it was founded on the rock.

These scriptures have application in many situations in our lives. They apply to our relationships, our finances, our health, our spiritual condition and also to our physical surroundings. Jesus was trying to teach the disciples this lesson when they were in the boat on the lake and a storm arose. He fully expected them to be able to take care of the situation and not be disturbed from His sleep. You remember that He was asleep when all the bad weather was going on around Him?

Jesus had to rebuke the storm by speaking to it and immediately the storm ceased. You've no doubt read this passage many times and maybe you've never grasped the significance of the power available to us through our relationship with Jesus. He intended for us to have power over the physical world around us. His plan for Adam was for him to rule over the earth.

We have been experimenting with this power for many years. Every time that a storm is forecast to come into our area, Jamie and I take the authority Jesus gave us and exercise it over our property. We usually will quote Psalms 91especially verse 10 which says: There shall no evil befall you, nor shall any plague or calamity come near your tent (your home, all your property, where ever you are, your children, etc.). We have never had any damage to our home or cars, our children or us.

We fully trust in and believe God's words to be true regarding our safety and we speak them out in faith trusting that He will protect us. Do this next time that storms come into your area. Instead of giving into fear, made a faith decision that His word is more powerful than any storm and trust that He will protect you. Just imagine that you're on that lake in the boat with Jesus sleeping. Instead of waking Him to do what He told you to do you take control and silence the storms in your life through the power of His words spoken through you. He'll wake up and say "Well done good and faithful servant".

Jamie and I bless you and ask God to richly bless and keep you according to His mighty word!

The Haunting Past

The more we mentor, the more we learn that there are still issues in our own lives that we are dealing with. Have you noticed how when you have overcome certain issues, the enemy tries to throw them back up in your face as if  they are still issues. We must always be wise to his schemes, not ever letting our guard down.

I was praying today and the Lord reminded me that those things of the past can be used by the devil as a "homing pigeon." I’ll explain... My husband is a mighty, faith man. Did you know that the opposite of faith is fear. Fear means flight or flee, being so scared “that which may cause flight.” Alan trusts God with his whole heart. He does! But there was a time early in our marriage where we were not in financial harmony. We have since, done Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace, we pray together seeking God’s financial council and we are in agreement when we do everything now. Now we are investing in the stock market together.

However, that homing pigeon of (financial) fear still tries to come back and land on Alan (to roost in his thoughts), even though Alan has already overcome that. So we must first, have the eyes to SEE as it is happening so that we can, REMIND the enemy that we have overcome that fear and THANK God that we are new creations in Christ Jesus. The old creature has passed away, behold we are made anew. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God” Luke 9:62. Fear cannot run roughshod over us anymore. It has no place. We now stand firm, in Jesus’ name.

Try that he may, the enemy cannot succeed in tormenting Alan in the area of financial investments. We bind our minds to the mind of Christ meaning that the enemy cannot come in the back door. Half of the battle is being aware that there is an accuser of the bretheren. Since we know that the opposite of faith is fear, the enemy longs to pervert Alan’s “faith mindset” to a “fear mentality”. So we take our authority because we are no longer in that place of fear anymore. We have spiritually matured! We are so far removed from that place we were years ago, there is no comparison to what we knew then to what we now know. And we aren’t going back, but are moving ahead in Christ Jesus. Empowered by the Holy Spirit! Praise God!

Distraction = Destruction

Our Young Marrieds small group is reading a book, His Needs Her Needs by Willard F. Harley. Its preface tells about Harley’s early encounter with a friend whose marriage was in trouble and came to him for advice. The friend’s marriage ended in divorce anyway so that sent him on a journey to discover what counsel could have made a difference in the outcome. His answer theorized that if you could associate “a feeling of love, to a person”, then that could be the difference.That is a great concept. Many have called it the best marraige book ever written with over one million copies printed internationally in over 15 years.

As Christians, we automatically associate those same feelings of love with our heavenly Father. “A feeling of love with Abba Daddy.” The Bible is the number one most printed (over any other publication) in the entire world. The Bible is revered as the inspired Word of God. Yet, why is the world currently in a downward spiral? That is the question that has me troubled. Morals, values, character, leadership, government, marriage, the family unit, etc.

What is the first commandment? (Jesus)“Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with your whole soul (your life) and out of and with your whole mind (your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment.” -Mark 12: 29-30 AMP. 

He is a jealous God because he wants you to have THE best and your obedience of Him is what avails Gods best for you. A practical application of this, is to respect God and those in authority over you. The other gods have become the distraction of the one true God. There is a reason that this is the first commandment. It is because God knows any other god (lower case) will side track us (ie: power, money,  people, objects, hobbies, ablity, etc.). The enemy uses them as distractions. Distraction will take us down a path of destruction. There are scriptural references that attest to that. And that is no theory. It is Truth.

Jer. 25:6; 35:15, Luke 4:8.

Navigator

We have been asking the Lord to show us how to relay the person of the Holy Spirit to individuals in terms so that they can understand. One day He simply replied, “Navigator.” Upon thinking on this, I kept coming back to the GPS (navigation) system in cars and on cell phones. The “nav” system works as a compass based on a map. The Holy Spirit works as a guide (navigator), based on God’s Word (The Bible), hence the expression, “the Bible is a guidebook for life.” 

Alan and I were in New York over the holidays. When Alan returned our car into the rental office, he had to walk back to the hotel. He used the “nav” system, on his new phone for the first time, following the map to get back to the hotel. A few days later we were getting in our last few hours before catching a cab back to the airport. Bags already awaiting our return in the lobby office, a cab had been pre-arranged to pick us up at the hotel at 3:30 pm to take us to the airport. Getting maximum enjoyment while in Brooklyn, we cut it a bit close in returning to the hotel. 

Upon realizing our dilemma of possibly not making it back in time, we kept asking people on the street how to get back to our hotel. We were frantic. I’d had a muscle injury in my leg before going on the trip, so I was nervous about re-injuring it by walking faster than my leg was ready to go. I was being pressed to hurry. We did get back in time. 

Later, however, we realized we’d had the capability to find our way back, all along. We had not yet gotten accustomed to using this new feature available to us. The map had been right there in Alan’s pocket. The “nav” system. All we needed do was USE IT! How many times have you, in a moment of panic, reacted without realizing what you needed (or something comparable), was available to you all along? If you’d just had the pressence of mind and taken a moment to recognize it.

The Holy Spirit is like that too. He is already there (within us), poised and ready to help. All we have to do, is Power up. He is the POWER; our Empowerment, our Compass, our Guide, our Helper, even our Navigator. Just as you tap onto the screen to summon the “nav” feature on your cell phone, so do you tap into the power of the Holy Spirit by simply asking Him for His help. When we get accustomed to using this supernatural empowerment available, it becomes second nature to us.

That empowerment can’t be much use or help to us if we don’t not use it. As Christians, we need to use this precious, God-given gift of the Holy Spirit. He is there as Navigator to get us through the stormy waters of life; marriage, work situations, financial decisions, parenting, and other relational issues, etc.  “But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Holy Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all truth (the whole, full Truth). For he will not speak His own message; but He will tell whatever He hears from the Father and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come.” -John 16:13 AMP

After the Storm

It's Winter in Alabama or at least the calendar says it is so. However the temperature seems more like Spring and with that warmth have come the storms. Last Monday morning early there were a bought of tornados here in Birmingham. Areas north of us were hit extremely hard with whole neighborhoods being heavily damaged.

One of the couples in our church whose home was damaged live in that area of town. On Saturday I went to help them do whatever was needed to begin the process of recovery. Arriving there was like traveling through a war zone. What were houses now looked like huge piles of sticks with trees scattered all around pushed over by the high winds. The tornado had mostly spared their home but had removed most of the trees in their wooded yard.

Awaking at 4am Monday morning to the sounds, they had made it into the hallway from their bedroom before the tornado struck blowing out windows. In a few seconds the storm had passed leaving them unharmed but traumatized emotionally. Looking at all the damage around their home, it was a blessing to learn that no one had received serious injuries just scratches, bruises and terrifying memories of the storm.

As we began to work clearing debris there was a group of people helping. I asked them how they knew our friends. Interestingly they told me they didn't know them at all. Just a group of people helping someone else who was in need. As I looked around the same thing was going on at other homes. People helping to cut down damaged trees while others brought food and water to those volunteering.

There were officials of course but mostly volunteers. It was so encouraging to see church groups and neighbors, people helping others through a difficult time. It's something we need more of in these trying times. People helping others without asking anything in return. It's a spirit of mercy and compassion, something God given from the Father of all mercy. Zechariah 7:9