Peace like a River

Have you ever felt God’s peace rest on you? Think about it. Have you ever been stressed or anxious and cried out to God, even silently, and all of a sudden you felt the load lift? It’s almost tangible, like a cloak resting on your shoulders, warming and calming you. There’s nothing the world can manufacture or create that can come close to that feeling. As Philippians 4:7 says, it “surpasses all understanding.”  It’s powerful and real. Have you felt it?

The world often assumes that if you are a Christian, your life is perfect. Anyone that has lived long enough can testify how untrue that assumption is. I mean, John 16:33 even straight out says, “…In the world, you will have tribulation…” Unfortunately, that means that you will face stress, loss, pain, perhaps even sickness. But there is a response from God that gives you the strength to withstand whatever the world throws at you and that is His peace. As a matter of fact, the full verse of John 16:33 says, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (NLT) That was Christ speaking! He was sending a clear message that you can walk through this world with peace because He already claimed the victory. Today, I want to speak peace to your spirit man. I want you to know that there is no attack, no circumstance, and no battle that God’s peace cannot sustain you.

I am often amazed at how easy it is to let things go on for so long in your life that you don’t even realize that you’ve been overwhelmed. Perhaps just the simple thought of missing your child when he or she goes off to school turns into worry and then into anxiety and then high blood pressure. Maybe a minor car accident turns into discomfort riding in cars to a deep fear of driving on the highway. It could be something serious like a betrayal from a friend or spouse and that evolves into a severe distrust of people. All of a sudden what was once a simple issue has affected your life and how you conduct yourself. When stress and anxiety come over you, often some physical manifestation will follow. Think about it… ulcers, headaches, shortness of breath, and other symptoms are all things that can be brought on by stress. This is when you must actively ask God to give you His peace.  You cannot find that peace by looking at your circumstance. “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Rom. 8:6 ESV) Essentially, set your mind on God and find peace. As a matter of fact, Isaiah 26:3 says that God will keep those in PERFECT peace whose minds are stayed on Him because they trust in Him.

I don’t want anyone to be in a place where you are tormented in your mind or body. You were not put on this earth to suffer like that. God wants you to be at peace because He is a God of peace. Last night in bible study, I was reminded that Christ took specific wounds for specific things. Remember in Isaiah 53:5 when it says “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” Chastisement means discipline, correction, and rebuke. Imagine that! An innocent man took rebuke and discipline so that you could have peace. That’s how important your peace of mind is. That’s how important God believes it is that you be whole and well. I say that so that you will “seek peace and pursue it” as Psalm 34:14 says. I say that so you will ask God to take away those memories that are holding you in the past. I say that so that you will ask God to renew your belief in the good in people. I say that so that you will believe that you are worthy of His peace.

 If you are in a place where you are struggling to find peace in your life, I want to leave you with a word of peace from the Lord found in Isaiah 41:9 &10. He says, “I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, You are my servant. For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with My victorious right hand.” (NLT)

May the peace of God sustain and maintain you…AMEN

 

Do you know Him?

I need thee, oh, I need thee! Every hour yes, Lord, I need thee. Bless me now, my savior. I come to thee. I woke up this morning with that old hymn in my spirit. What do you need from God today? Think about it seriously before you answer. Beyond your daily needs and desires, is there something you are seeking Him for? I mean something that could have big impact on your life spiritually or physically. What is your request of the Father? Today is for those that really need God to move.  There’s no deep question or spiritual image. There’s just a statement of assurance and it’s very simple yet gets right to the point. He knows.

I want to talk to the people today that are in situations and have no clue how to get out. It’s like the hole dug itself and you don’t know how you ended up on the bottom. Or it could be that you know exactly how you got where you are but you don’t know where you lost control of the outcome. Sound familiar? I want to talk to the people whose nerves and emotions are in disarray because you put so much faith in a person and they have disappointed you to the point where you don’t know how to get back to the basic love you had for them. Is that you? I want to talk to the people that have received a diagnosis and you may or may not have made some decisions in your life that brought the sickness to you but you are so in shock that you don’t know how to ask for healing. I even want to talk to the people that are in a state of transition. You’re close to retirement, your child has left for college, or maybe God is shifting you to another level but you find yourself in that place of limbo. Sometimes you don’t know if you are coming or going. All you want is for life to slow down a bit so you can catch up and prepare but everything keeps moving. You see it doesn’t matter at what stage you find yourself today…God knows.

I don’t know about you, but when I am in a tough situation, I always end up having these long conversations with God and I try to get him to understand where I’m coming from, what I’m experiencing, what I’m feeling. But it’s unnecessary because He already knows. He knows when you want to give up. He knows when you want to leave. He even knows when you are on your last leg. 1 John 3:20 says “For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.” (ESV) That tells me that no matter what the enemy has said to you or what you have said to yourself, God is greater. No matter what you face at home, at work, at church, God is greater and HE KNOWS!

You don’t have to stay in your situation believing that you are in it alone. Remember that God knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. He knows what you stand in need of. He knows your request before you make it. The key is do you know Him? Psalm 139 explains just how well God knows you and me. “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.  You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.  You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!” (Ps 139: 1-6 NLT) That’s deep, right?! Just as David says, it’s too great for our natural minds to understand. But if He knows us so well, to the point where He’s always with us, then we need to make sure that we know Him in return. Sure, there will be mysteries that we don’t understand because His thoughts are higher than ours but if we spend time with Him, we can get to know Him. We really don’t have a choice. We cannot ask Him to move on our behalf but treat Him like a Sugar Daddy. Pray when you want something and then go back to your regular ways. That is not how you get to know your real Father.

So it comes down to this.  The answer to your great need is found in Him and knowing Him in a real way. If you are in a hole, and you know the Master Builder, don’t you think He has the tools to bring you up and out? If you are sick, and you know the Master Physician, don’t you think He has the equipment to heal your body? If you are in transition and you know the Master Navigator, don’t you think He has the plan in place for your breakthrough. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer. 29:11 NLT) See? He knows and He has it all worked out for your good!

God bless…AMEN

Operation FAITH

Has your faith ever been tested? Have you ever looked at a situation or even your life and wondered internally or out loud how you were going to make it? These can be hard questions for a Christian because you are encouraged from the very beginning of your journey to believe and to trust. It can also be hard when you know all the right things to say, all the scriptures to quote but still find yourself wanting to doubt. I went through a season recently where I questioned my faith. I looked at my circumstances and looked at God and my circumstances seemed bigger. That’s a difficult admission but it’s the truth. Me with my Rhema writing, praying, church going self asked God if I had gotten it all wrong. What was I missing and why wasn’t He moving? The only word I can think of to describe this period is STRUGGLE. You see, there are times and situations that you may face in your life that you may have to put your faith on the operating table and ask God to go to work. So, today it’s time to activate your faith!

I love Romans 4. It’s one of those awesome chapters that has so many nuggets and shout worthy lines that someone could re-read the chapter over and over again. Paul uses Abraham to give New Testament Christians some real understanding about faith. Right away, he teaches us about what faith can do.  If his [Abraham] good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way.  For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” (Rom. 4:2-3 NLT) So, because of his faith, God counted Abraham as faithful. Wait…what?! Yes, that means that no matter what works we call ourselves doing to get rid of our issues, our faith is what will bring us to God’s attention. That is powerful because it’s saying that you can’t work yourself into deliverance and breakthrough. You have to have faith and have it prior to your answer. It’s easy to say you have faith when you’ve already come out of your situation. But when you have built a relationship with God and you can say “I believe you, God” before you see one change, that’s faith. Are you allowing your works to replace your faith? It’s operation time!

God promised Abraham in Genesis 17 that he would be the father of many nations and even said that he would be “exceedingly fruitful” (Gen. 17:6 NKJV).  If you remember, Abraham was 99 years old at the time of this covenant.  He was shocked and even laughed at the thought of this happening but he followed God’s instruction immediately. Okay… this is where many of us, me included can get stuck. We struggle to come out of the disbelief. We look at our situations and we see death. Our faith may be saying believe Him but our flesh is saying no. This is when we need God to take our faith and operate. Paul tells us that the promise of God is received by faith. It’s a free gift but we have to have faith like Abraham’s because he is the father of all who believe. (Rom. 4:16) “That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.” (Rom. 4:17 NLT) I don’t know about you but my operation started right there! Our faith has to be such that we believe that God can bring life where we only see death. It can be hard to get there but it happens when we build our relationship with God prior to our struggles.  It’s operation time!

“Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.  Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.  He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.” (Rom. 4:18-21 NLT) That’s good!! God did just what He promised. Life came out of Abraham and Sarah and many nations of believers count Abraham as the father of faith. Abraham did not give up. And you can’t either. It doesn’t matter how long the season, God is able to do whatever He promises. But the key is to believe. You see, the operation doesn’t take place on missing faith. You have to give God some faith to work with. Matthew 17:20 says if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, God can do something with it.

So if you are in a place today, where your faith is shaken or you are unsure if or when you will see manifestation to the promise God made you, I encourage you to lay your faith on God’s operating table. Allow Him to remind you of His promises. Allow Him to show you in His Word what He is capable of. Allow Him to do the miraculous. Let Abraham serve as an example of what unwavering faith looks like.  Believe in the God that can bring life into your dead situation. Nothing is impossible with Him!

May your faith be recharged today in Jesus’s name! AMEN…

 

Walking around Jericho...

As I walked this morning, I heard Donald Lawrence’s song Giants. There is one particular line in the song that jumped out at me – “just walk around the Jericho wall”. I continued to walk and I heard the Lord say “just keep walking around Jericho.” I just started thanking God because as I remembered the story of Jericho, I knew that was an encouraging word for me. You see if you’ve made it to Jericho, you are close to your victory! Today, I want to encourage you to keep on walking and following instruction because God’s promise is true.

When you think about some of the timelines God has given out in the bible, the weeklong Jericho experience seems pretty short. I wondered why something so important had such a short process but then the Lord reminded me of what led the people to Jericho. So when we find Joshua and the people of Israel in Joshua 5, they have completed their 40 years in the wilderness. All of those that had disobeyed God and been denied the right to enter the Promised Land had died. “So Joshua circumcised their sons—those who had grown up to take their fathers’ places—for they had not been circumcised on the way to the Promised Land. After all the males had been circumcised, they rested in the camp until they were healed.  Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day. While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land.  No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.” (Josh 5:7 – 12 NLT) Did this hit any of you like it did me?  If not, look deeper! God brought the people out of the wilderness, renewed covenant with them and redeemed them from the shame of their past! He allowed them to begin eating the fruit of a land that He promised long before that. He prepared them for victory. Sometimes you may wonder why you have to go through so much to get to your breakthrough. You wonder what purpose all of the hurts and trials could possibly serve. But there is a reason and a purpose for everything. Sometimes God has to cut some things out of you in order for newness to develop. He has to get rid of some people and some habits so that you can receive your freedom. Sometimes you cannot walk into victory, if you are still carrying the baggage of your past.

As chapter 5 of Joshua ends, the Lord has sent the Commander of His army to speak to Joshua outside of Jericho. He instructs Joshua to remove his shoes because He is standing on holy ground and Joshua obeys. (Josh 5:13-15) I found these three verses that tell this short story prior to the Jericho chapter very interesting. How many times have we gotten deep into a season of our lives and forgotten the power that we have and the power that goes with us. How can we walk into our promise if we don’t recognize that we have arrived? I saw this section as God’s welcome mat for the Promised Land. I believe God wanted to make sure that Joshua knew where he was and what he was getting ready to walk into. So often we get close to our breakthrough but don’t realize that God has brought us there and we walk in unprepared. In fact, sometimes, we are so unprepared that we miss it. Joshua was representative of the people of Israel. He HAD to recognize that He was on holy and promised ground so that he would proceed with obedience and order.  

So… we’ve seen that there is a process, a journey, if you will to victory. God doesn’t just catapult you past struggle but rather He walks with you through what can be some very hard experiences. The question becomes can you hold on until you get to Jericho, especially when it seems so far away.  Jericho is locked down because the people inside are terrified of the Israelites. They’ve heard the stories of what God has done for and through the Israelites. They even know that there have been spies looking for weaknesses. But the Lord has promised that this land would be Israel’s. “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns.  When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”(Josh. 6:2-5 NLT) They follow God’s instructions to the letter, marching in silence every day for 7 days with the exception of the priest blowing their horns. “When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.” (Josh 6:20 NLT)

God has told you to do some things during this season of your life. It may have been continue to pay your tithes even when you don’t know how you will pay anything else. It may have been to be silent. It may have been to fast. It could have been any number of things but the question is:  are you listening? You are so close to your last lap. I am here to encourage you to continue to press and move. Don’t stop now when your shout is right around the corner! Your victory is attainable and touchable but you cannot give up. There is a breakthrough in your obedience and a reward in your press. Listen to what the Lord has instructed you to do and carry it out. Keep walking around Jericho because if the Lord promised you something, the walls have to come down!

AMEN!

Walk through the Fire!

Dictionary.com defines fire as a state, process, or instance of combustion in which fuel or other material is ignited and combined with oxygen, giving off light, heat, and flame. One of your very first lessons as a child was most likely to stay away from fire so you wouldn’t get burned.  It’s a common sense thing, right? Of course! But let’s see what happens when you go back and read that definition through your spiritual eye. Now look at your life right now. Are you in the midst of a fire?  Are you at a point in your life where some things in you need to or are being burned away? You are in the fire. Has your worship been stale and you’ve lost your zeal but now God is pressing you to give more? You are in the fire. Are you struggling in key aspects of your life…family, finances, your mind but yet people continue to come to you for help? You are in the fire. This morning, God said to me, “Walk through the fire.” My first thought in response to that was the difficulty of that instruction. Fire burns and it destroys. How do you walk through that and survive? God immediately responded and reminded me that it also purifies. So here goes, folks! We are going to walk through the fire!

There are certain materials that are perfected and made stronger through fire…silver, gold, even glass in some instances.  So that leads me to believe that if we are using the right weapons and living the right way while we are in the midst of our fire that we can survive the heat, right?  1 Corinthians 3: 11 -15 says, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.  Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.” (NLT) How we survive is based on how we live in relationship with Christ. He is the foundation of everything so if you are using things of value in your life then even if it’s just barely, you will survive. In the end, what is not like God will be burned away and what is will survive. Is your life producing the kind of fruit that will survive the burning? To show the love of Christ, to worship, to obey, and to live according to His will allows you to walk through even the hottest fire and survive. Walk on through that fire!

Imagine you are asleep in your bed and you hear a big crash. You wake up and see flames shooting under your bedroom door. You begin to panic and jump up looking for a way out. Your windows seem to be stuck and even so your room is on the 2nd floor. You start to worry about your family but remember that you are alone in the house. Then you start to worry that no one will come to rescue you. You call for help and are told that they are on the way but to cover your mouth and try to get out. The flames just keep coming and it’s getting hotter and hotter. You keep working on the windows but you are growing tired and overwhelmed by smoke and there are moments that you want to give up. You start to really struggle to breathe and the flames are blocking all of your ways out. Just as the smoke overtakes you and you start to pass out, you hear someone calling out for you. The voice says to crawl towards his voice because there’s something blocking him from getting to you. You crawl towards the voice with what little strength you have and reach the firefighter. He lifts you up and carries you to safety. As you look back at your house, it burns completely until finally only the foundation remains. You rejoice that even though you have lost some physical things and are tired, bruised, and smoky, you survived.

Sometimes you are placed in the midst of situations that only you and God have to work through. Hebrews 12:29 says “For our God is a consuming fire.” (NKJV) This description comes at the end of a chapter that talks about being disciplined by God and listening to His instruction. In order to receive that unshakeable Kingdom that Hebrews 12:28 talks about, we have to go through the fire. It’s a consuming and refining fire. Just like in the image I gave earlier, you may be at a place where some things have to burn in your life in order for your true light to shine. When the situation gets hard, you may want to give up. Often times the tests gets harder and harder before it gets better but if you walk towards the voice of Christ, He will rescue you just in time. So here’s the question.  Are you willing to follow His instruction for rescue? Walk on through that fire!

The definition reminds us that fire is a process or a state of combustion where oxygen and fuel or materials combine to produce heat, flame and light. Remind yourself that it’s a process. But once you finish with the process, there will be production. There will be a new level. There will be a brighter light. There will be stronger zeal for God. Don’t sit in the middle of your fire, waiting on it to destroy you. Instead, walk through this fiery season towards your victory. Remember that even in the fire, Christ is there monitoring and working. Malachi 3:3 says “And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”  You will survive. Just keep walking…

AMEN