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A Blank Check for You

August 7, 2017 8:51 am

When Your heavenly Father said that His name is “I am that I am” (Ex 3:14), He gave Moses and you a blank check.  You can fill in the blank check with “I am guidance!”, “I am bread!”, “I am victory!”, “I am revelation!”, “I am your need!”

Whatever life may bring to you,
“God” will ring true to you:

Star in your sky–
Food in your store–
Staff in your hand–
Friend by your side–
Light on your path–
Joy in your heart–
In your ears music–
In your mouth songs.

Yes, rapid as your race may run,
And scorching as may shine your sun,
And bitter as may blow your blast,
And lonely as your lot be cast–
Whatever life may bring to you,
“God”  will aye ring true to you.
(Charles Herbert) 

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.” (2 Pet 1:3 ESV).   “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19 ESV). If we have not received something we desperately want, we can assume that God does not want us to have it for now. Trust Him with your entire being because “Father knows best!”

Until next time…“May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

Corners

August 6, 2017 8:10 am

This morning, Lord, I pray
Safeguard us through the day,
Especially at corners of the way.

For when the way is straight,
We fear no sudden fate,
But see ahead the evening’s open gate.

But few and far between
Are days when all is seen
Of what will come, or yet of what has been.

For unexpected things
Swoop down on sudden wings
And overthrow us with their buffetings.

And so, dear Lord, we pray,
Control and guard this day
Thy children at the corners of their way.
“Corners” by M.G.L

Until next time…“May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

God Owes Me!

July 18, 2017 8:57 am

No, He doesn’t! You and I can never obligate God–not even by our obedience or service.  He is the sovereign ruler of the universe and, as such, He has every right to expect complete obedience and faithful service without obligating Himself to us in any way.  We owe Him that obedience and service.

We could compare it to our obedience of traffic laws.  We don’t receive any reward from the state because we obey all the traffic laws.  We owe the state that obedience because we have been given the privilege of having a drivers license.

In the same way, we should not expect a reward for obeying God’s laws.   God doesn’t owe us anything, but we owe Him everything!  However, in His infinite love, once we accept His invitation to be adopted into His family through Yeshua the Messiah, He does reward us as well as train us.  And He does this with His infinite love and grace even though we fail–and fail often.

Until next time…“May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

My Brethern?

July 13, 2017 4:50 pm

I felt this blog post by a friend was on target and worth sharing with my readers…

My Brethren?

by Frank Gruber, www,jerusalemintercessors.blogspot.com

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, ‘come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in or naked and clothed You? Or when did we see You sick or in prison and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'” Matthew 25:31-40.
The above section of God’s Word has been shared from pulpits repeatedly with the theme of, We as Christians are our brother’s keeper and we should help in any way we can the poor, the widow and the orphan. Certainly, this is one interpretation of Matthew 25:31-40 but there is another which is often overlooked.
The past couple of years I have studied the book of Revelation with commentary by four different authors. The two commentaries I valued the most were written by Messianic Rabbis from a Hebrew perspective and by Dr. Raymond Culpepper who was a Pastor for 25 years and then General Overseer of the Church of God.
What was different and extremely important about these commentaries? Chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew illustrate Jesus talking with His disciples after they asked Jesus in Chapter 24:3, “What will be the sign of Your second coming?” Matthew 25:35-38 shows Jesus telling His disciples that you fed Me when I was hungry, you gave Me drink when I was thirsty, you clothed Me and took care of Me when I was sick.
This confused the disciples and they wondered  and asked when did we see You in these conditions? Jesus answered in verse 40, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” The key question here is, who is Jesus calling My brethren? Jesus’ brethren is Israel! 
 
This whole section of God’s Word is titled, “Judgement of the Gentiles.” At the Great White Throne Judgement described in Revelation 20, seven judgements by Jesus will take place. One of these judgements will be for the nations and will raise the question of how have they treated the nation of Israel? The answer to this question given by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will determine whether that nation enters the Millennial Kingdom.
We have just received a very important message from our Lord and Savior. The question now is, “How Do We Respond?”
 
May The Lord Bless You And Keep You This Day And Every Day,
Frank

Shema (Hear)

July 9, 2017 9:43 am

I love the prayer called the Shema (hear) from Deut 6:4-5.  It is actually a commandment from Adonai; the Greatest Commandment, as Yeshua affirmed in  Matt 22:37.  In the Shema, Adonai directs us to love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul; to love Him with everything we have and are.   With Yeshua’s inclusion of “loving your neighbor as yourself” in Matt 22:39 (a quote of Leviticus 19:18), it includes the essence of Adonai’s teachings.

We can only love Adonai and our neighbor with our entire being if we live with a tenacious sense of His love for us in Messiah.  They are directly proportional.  The degree we sense our Father’s love for us in Messiah is the degree to which we will love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as well.

And, as John Owen, a Puritan theologian, once stated “The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you.”

Until next time…“May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

 

Be a Nonconformist

July 3, 2017 8:38 am

“Let your whole soul reach out to God; dare to breathe in heaven; dare to be awakened to all God’s mind; listen to the language of the Holy Spirit.” (Smith Wigglesworth)

“Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].” (Romans 12:2, Amp)

Pray Proverbs 8:8-9 “Father, may all the words of my mouth be righteous, may they be upright and in right standing with You. May there be nothing contrary to truth or crooked in them.  May the words of my mouth be plain to him who understands and opens his heart to them, and may they be right to those who find knowledge and live by it.” 

Lay your will on His altar:

Laid on Thine altar, O my Lord, Divine,
Accept this day my gift for Jesus’ sake.
I have no jewels to adorn Thy shrine,
Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make;
But here I bring within my trembling hand
This will of mine: a thing that seemeth small;
And only Thou dear Lord, canst understand
That when I yield Thee this, I yield Thee all.
It hath been wet with tears and dimmed with sighs,
Clenched in my clasp, ’till beauty it hath none.

Now from Thy footstool, where it vanquished lies,
The prayer ascendeth: “Let Thy will be done.“
Take it, O Father, ere my courage fail,
And blend it so with Thine own will, that e’en
If in some desperate hour my cry prevail,
And Thou giv’st back my gift, it may have been
So changed, so purified, so fair have grown,
So one with Thee, so filled with peace Divine,
I may not know nor feel it as my own,
But gaining back my will may find it Thine,

All I have I am bringing to Thee!
(L. B. Cowman, emphasis mine)

Until next time…“May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

Thought for June 23, 2017

June 23, 2017 8:57 am

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.” (Sherlock Holmes)

“For just as the sky is [heavens are] higher than the earth, so my deeds [ways] are superior to your deeds [ways] and my plans [thoughts] superior to your plans [thoughts].” (Isa 55:9 NET)

Life may seem strange, but Adonai is in control and we do not need to be concerned with understanding His ways.  His design and desire are for us trust Him, saying with the Psalmist:

“I constantly trust in the LORD; because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended [shaken]. So my heart rejoices and I am happy; My life is safe. You will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful follower [one who does what is right in GOD’s eyes] to see [experience] the Pit. You lead me on the path of life; I experience absolute joy in your presence; you always give me sheer delight.” (Ps 216:8-11 NET)

When our trust is in the LORD through Yeshua the Messiah and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we can have joy and peace no matter how crazy it gets around us.  We can confidently pray Rom 15:13: “Thank You, Father, that You are the GOD of hope.  Fill me with all joy and peace because I believe in You.  Give me boundless hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Bill’s paraphrase)

Until next time…“May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

Colored-In

June 7, 2017 12:52 pm

A young child asked “How does Jesus make us real? With the current fad of adult coloring books, her answer to her own question is apropos: “Does he draw us first and then color us in?”  I must admit that I am a participant in the coloring book fad.  I enjoy coloring the various designs.  Applying the coloring concept to Yeshua and His work in us creates a good analogy.  First, He draws us–He draws us in the sense of drawing us to Himself and in the sense of re-creating and re-configuring us into His image.  Then, He colors us in, making us more and more like Himself, even erasing some “colors” that we added but that do not fit His design.

He has two goals in coloring us in.  His first goal is for us personally.  It is to gradually color us, transform and infuse us, with the things of the Spirit so that His resurrected life becomes the whole of who we are.  His second goal is for the good of others.  As we become like Him, we are called to be a life-giver like He is, bearing and sharing His image wherever we go and spreading His light to others.

Until next time…”May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

Sincere Love

May 23, 2017 8:11 am

Peter speaks of showing “sincere brotherly love” in 1 Pet 2:22.  But what is “sincere brotherly love?”  I submit that having sincere love means that even when you are hurt or shamed, your love for that person is never altered.  Instead, it becomes more refined, making you more like Yeshua.  “Sincere love” is full of appreciation for those who do not agree with you.  Yeshua illustrated this on the cross when He said, “Father, forgive them.” (Lk 23:34).  Stephen illustrated it when he said, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60) as he was stoned.

Sincere love is the greatest thing God can give to my heart, to your heart.

Yesterday, we talked about digging channels for the Holy Spirit. (See Digging Ditches)  As we dig those channels, maybe we should ask God to fill them with sincere love — after all, isn’t that really what allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through us is all about?

Until next time…“May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

Digging Ditches

May 22, 2017 8:17 am / 1 Comment on Digging Ditches

“We get no deeper into [Messiah] than we allow Him to get into us.”  (Mrs. C.E. Cowman)

“Make this valley full of ditches.” (2 Kings 3:16 NIV) 

Do you want your life to be a channel through which the living water and power of the Holy Spirit can flow?  I do!  But, how is a channel, or ditch, created?  It is usually dug and digging can be hard work!

We recently had some drainage work done on our house.  The workers did a lot of digging around the foundation and then they dug a long ditch (channel) through our back yard to an existing open drainage ditch that runs across the back of our lot to a small stream.  The ditch they dug channels the water from our gutters and from around our foundation out of our yard.   Digging that ditch was not easy due to the hard clay soil, the rocks, and the tree roots.  I’m sure some the trees even said “ouch” as the shovel trimmed their roots that were in the way. After they dug the ditch, they laid drainage pipe and covered it up to preserve the channel.

Do you see the analogy here?  In order for the power of the Holy Spirit to efficiently flow through us, it must have a channel.   I was fortunate because I was able to hire men to dig the channel through our yard.  However, we can’t hire someone to “dig” a channel for the Holy Spirit. Although God does some of the work, in order for that channel to be dug we must allow the shovel of the Word to dig down into the depths of our heart; we must resolve to get rid of all the rubbish (the dirt, rocks, and roots), and to prepare the channel for the living water of the Holy Spirit to flow through.  Then, we must cover that channel with the protection of His Spirit and do our part to ensure that the channel remains open.

Will you say with me, “Lord, do not spare anything in me that hinders the flow of Your Holy Spirit through me?” Will you join me in praying the first few lines of a poem by  E. E. B. Rogers?

“Go deeper into me, Lord Jesus;
Yes, deeper every day,
Till thou hast conquered me, Lord Jesus;
Go deeper all the way.

Go deeper into me, Lord Jesus;
Search all the secret springs
Of thoughts and action, words and feelings,
Of great and little things.

Go deeper into me, Lord Jesus,
Cleanse all the hidden part,
Where pride, or touchiness, or temper,
May lurk within my heart.”

Until next time…“May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

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