Blessed

"(Most) blessed is the man who believes in, trust in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and hear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit."
Jeremiah 17:7-8

I think it is difficult for those of us in American society to really comprehend these verses. With all of the amenities and services so readily available we really don't need to trust and rely completely on God. Even as Christians we have so much there are Christian books, music cds, movies, TV, games, Church programs and much more. It is easy to rely on these things instead of God.

The verse says, "(Most) blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is."

His complete trust and confidence is in God and God alone. I think it is easy to loose sight of the fact that God is still God and He is still in control. Many times it's easier to rely on the hand of man than it is to have complete trust in the Lord.
Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

If it was easy to completely trust in God everyone would be doing it, but it requires a life of faith and most do not want to pay that price.

The blessing from living this lifestyle are clear:

1. Like a tree planted by the waters.

2. Spreads out its roots.

Life will be deeply rooted and planted, you will have a strong base. Roots will go deep.

3. Not see and fear when heat comes.

You will be oblivious to the distresses in the earth and there will be no fear.

4. Leaf shall be green.

Your life will be full.

5. Not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought.

You will not suffer with anxiety or care in the times of testing and judgment on the earth.

6. Not cease to yield fruit.

Fruitful life.

prayer:

Dear Jesus thank You for Your wonderful Word. I pray that we will all desire to be planted in You and You will teach us to Trust completely and to rely entirely on You and Your Word. That we will not lean on our own understanding but we will put our confidence entirely on God and Him alone. Thank You Father. In Jesus name, amen.

One man sat alone...

"...The blind man said, 'Rabbi, I want to see.' 'Go,' said Jesus, 'your faith has healed you.' Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road."

Mark 10:51-52

Recently I've been meditating on this portion of Scripture. Its the story of blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). As Jesus passed through Jericho a blind man kept calling out His name, Jesus stopped and said to call him. Bartimaeus threw off his cloak, jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" and Bartimaeus said, "Rabbi, I want to see." Immediately he received his sight and Jesus replied, "your faith has healed you."

What has stood out to me is that Bartimaeus was specific in his request. All throughout the Scriptures when Jesus healed people, they were specific with their requests. The Centurion said, "Lord my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." (Matthew 8:6) The man with Leprosy came and begged the Lord that He would make him clean of his leprosy. (Mark 1:40-42)

The Lord desires that we are specific in our asking, we cannot just haphazardly pray with no direction. Even as earthly fathers we desire for our children to be specific in their asking (even though I'm not a father yet). If I say, "Son, what would you like for lunch?" and he replies, "whatever." I'm sure that drives a parent crazy. The Lord wants us to be specific in our asking, He gets all the glory when we know that only He could have answered our prayer.

prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus I praise You, I thank You that You have given us Your Word that leads and guides us daily. I pray that You will help us to understand that You are a God who desires to bless His children and answer their prayers, help us to be specific with You because You certainly were specific when You gave Yourself for us on the Cross. I praise You, amen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=756KQx3qbKY

His power within

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Ephesians 3:20-21

What is His power that is at work within us? It is the power of the Holy Spirit to understand and grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Eph. 3:18). We cannot grasp the love of Christ with our minds, it is too wide and long and high and deep. That is why Unbelievers can't understand why we love Christ and would give our lives to serve Him. They think we are crazy, but once you understand the incredible love of Christ, not with your mind but your heart then you would be willing to do anything for Him.

The apostle Paul says that we are rooted and established in love. In Christ's love for us. His love is unmeasurable, there is no end to it! The more we comprehend His love in our inner man the more we become strengthened in Him and filled with Him. "And to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (vs 19)

I remember the first time I experienced the love of Christ. I was 19 years old, I was sitting in a small church in eastern Pennsylvania. There was a visiting preacher from Ghana, Africa. After he shared the message he gave an altar call for those who wanted to come and dedicate their lives to Jesus. I went forward and he prayed for me, a few moments later I went and sat down in a chair, as I sat there, I began to cry. It was as if Jesus was sitting in the chair in front of me, I remember feeling sorry for my sins and I cried because of the way I had treated Jesus. His love was so great as I wept in repentance for my lifestyle. For the first time I understood His love, not from my head but from my heart. - Lord Jesus I love You

prayer:

Jesus thank You for Your immeasurable love, that is so wide and long and high and deep. Your love that no one can comprehend unless You reveal it to them through Your Holy Spirit. Lord take my life once again and make all Yours, that I will serve You and honor You with everything. I love You Jesus, Amen.

PS. I pray for you that if you have struggled to understand or maybe have never truly understood the love of Christ, I pray that you will be strengthened in your inner man to know His love for you.

Where is your Faith?

"Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat... A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?' He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' then the wind died down and it was completely calm. he said to his disciples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?'"

Mark 4:39-40

It's interesting to note that Jesus was surprised at His disciples reaction. He says to them why are you so afraid? Don't you have faith? I think many times when we are in trials and the storms of life are raging that we look at God and say, "Lord don't you care? Don't you care that I'm going through this?" And God simply says, "Where is your faith." He is not panicking or walking around ringing His hands saying, "What are we going to do, My Son, what are we going to do, Sally has lost her job and now she won't be able to pay her bills and feed her kids." No, God is looking for us to excersize our faith and trust Him. He is looking for us to take control of the storms that are coming against us and stand on His Word.

- Its in the storms of life that our faith grows. Jesus was surprised that they did not have faith to overcome this storm. In our lives we will have storms and God is looking for us to grow up (spiritually) and be strong in our faith. James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

God wants our faith in Him to be strong, so every time we are in a trial its just another opportunity to trust Him and say, "Ok, Lord here's another opportunity for You to show Yourself strong."

Let's be strong in our faith trusting in Him!

prayer:

Father, I thank you that You are in control. You are enthroned in heaven and You are at peace. I pray that You would strengthen my faith to know that You are in control and that all is well, and I speak to the winds and waves of troubles in my life and say peace be still, all is well, in Jesus name. Amen

Perfect Love

"Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love."

1John 4:18 NLT

Many times as Believers we come to God with a performance based mentality. Which says, that if I do good God will love me, if I say the right things, act the right way and never "mess up" God will love me and be able to use me. It is true that as Believers we are to keep ours selves from idols (any thing that takes the place of God, 1John 5:21) and obey His Commandments. In 1John 2:15-16 the Apostle John exhorts Believers not to love the world nor anything it offers, and we are to walk in the light as God is in the light (1John 1:7).

There are times though, when we can become unbalanced and feel that if I'm not doing the right things or if I have failed God, he doesn't love me anymore. That is called imperfect love, which is performance based and it produces fear in our lives. In verse 15-16 of 1John 4 it says, "All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love."

Imperfect love does not rely on the work of the cross, but on ones own performance. When we understand that God's love is not based on our performance, but His mercy through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, there should not be any "unbalanced" fear of judgment.

Our heavenly Father loves us with out conditions, His Son paid the price for our sins and He accepts into His family with no conditions attached, pimples and smelly feet and and all!

Rest in His wonderful love.

prayer:

Father, I thank You for Your divine love, which is so much greater than any love here on earth. It is greater than any earthly mother or fathers love and it is not dependent on my performance but on Your grace and abounding mercy. Thank You for giving Your Son, Jesus, for me and redeeming me from my sin and shame. I bless Your wonderful and matchless Name, the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Fire of God

"...after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Matthew 3:11-12

- John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. What is the purpose of fire? Fire consumes anything in its path, it purges and cleanses uncleanness. Precious metals are melted down by fire so that the impurities can be skimmed away. Fields are purposely burned to cleanse the old and make way for the new.

As Christians we also need the fire of God to cleanse us and purge us of our old life. That is why Jesus came baptizing with fire to purge His followers of the old ways and to bring new life. It says that He will burn up the chaff, that is all the unwanted and useless material from the wheat. We need the fire of God to burn up the chaff in our lives.

If we want the manifest Presence of God to dwell in our lives we first need the purging and cleansing of the fire of God.

When Solomon dedicated the Temple in the Old Testament it says that fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple (2Chronicles 7:1). The glory of God did not fill the temple until the burnt offerings and sacrifices were consumed by the fire from heaven first. The fire purged then the glory filled the temple.

We need a fresh baptism, immersion in the fire of the Lord to cleanse us and purge the dross and sin away, then His Presence can abide with us. In Romans 12: 1 it says present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God. As we present ourselves and our lives to God He will consume us and it will allow His Presence to be manifested in our lives.

prayer:

Jesus consume me with your fire, baptize me and purge me from all sin and uncleanness even hidden sins that I am not aware of, cleanse me and fill me with your Presence. I praise Your Name, I glorify Your holy Name. Amen

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I was going through some papers on my desk today and found a hand out that was given to me at a church service. It is quite encouraging and I hope it blesses you and inspires you to say, "yes Lord, I want to be in the Fellowship of the Unashamed"

I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I'm a disciple of His.

I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.

I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap living and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.

I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.

Written by a young pastor in Zimbabwe, Africa, later martyred for his faith in Christ.

prayer:

Lord Jesus may I not be ashamed of You nor Your Word, I pray for strength and courage to stand and be counted as one who has overcome this world and its temptations. I thank You for Your love and grace. Amen.