Daily Devotions

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Putting The Pieces Together For Now

Melissa—Father God has been putting the pieces together all along, and you have a role in which to stand. Don’t give up now.  Don’t believe that you’ve missed it. Let me say this again, the long lasting, deep, most satisfying things take longer because we have to have the understanding and character to not only attain them but to sustain them. How do you know that you have not been trained all along for the role you are about to receive? Is He not that sovereign? Is He not the Redeemer of time?

Bringing in God’s Will

Kathy—Jesus lived out an example for the Ekklesia, or the Church, that He said He would build.  He showed us how to bring God’s will into earth’s conflicts and contradictions.  He demonstrated Kingdom authority every time He did something, whether it was turning water into wine or taking dominion over a fig tree.  Every time He healed a paralytic or raised the dead or delivered someone from demons, Kingdom order came into earth.  He was training His People that they could access Kingdom rule and power, and He didn’t take it lightly when His trainees did not pick up the keys that He gave them.  Remember when the disciples woke Him up in the boat because of the stormy sea one night, He addressed His disciples BEFORE He addressed the weather! He reprimanded them in Matt 8:26 saying, “Why are you so afraid? Why are you such cowards?”  Then in Matt 17:17, when the man brought his son with epilepsy and the disciples couldn’t cure him, again Jesus rebuked the disciples BEFORE He rebuked the demon.  (AMP) He said, “You unbelieving (warped, wayward, rebellious) and thoroughly perverse generation!  How long am I to remain with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring the boy here to Me.” That same verse, Matt 17:17, isn’t any milder in other versions.  One reads:  “You unbelieving, corrupt and perverted generation!” (MSG) “You have No sense of God! No focus to your lives!  How many times do I have to go over these things?” (CEV) “You people are too stubborn to have any faith! How much longer must I be with you?  Why do I have to put up with you?”  Jesus did not mollycoddle them when they didn’t pick up the keys and take authority and get Kingdom results.  

Going Through Without a Pause

When David spoke of the valley of the shadow of death he didn’t say, “I took two dozen of my best friends and two dozen of my best intercessors and we had a great time right down there in the middle of the bottom of that thing”. No, he didn’t say that because he was all by himself. But when he was walking through the valley of the shadow of death nothing changed with Yahweh, nothing changed with God Almighty sitting on the throne of heaven. Nothing changed, no plans changed. Nothing changed with God. David messed himself up for a while but nothing changed with God. God didn’t send for a scribing angel to come and bring extra ink and quill pens and scratch out a bunch of stuff on the record of David’s life. David didn’t mess up God, he didn’t mess up God‘s plan. Jehovah didn’t push back in some stops that he had already pulled out. God did not get messed up. God did not get discouraged nor did God get confused. God did not send back some angel armies that he had already called for, angels that were already on the line and ready to go. They were still on the line ready to go. David said, “Yea though I WALK THROUGH”. There is nothing in that passage that says he paused or that he stopped or that he missed a step or that he missed a beat but he kept walking through. There is nothing going on in this nation, there is nothing going on in Russia, there’s nothing going on in China, there’s nothing going on in any part of this world that says to you and I that Yahweh has throttled back and there’s a little bit of hesitation going on in the universe. There is no hesitation going on on the part of God. The only thing going on right now is people becoming fearful while they are dealing with that dark entity in the valley. BUT…. “I will fear NO evil for THOU art with me” (Ps.23:4).

What God has Intended

Melissa—What God has intended, been building, releasing, putting in place, and establishing is about to be revealed over the remainder of this decade.  It’s far, FAR greater than what we have been seeing unleashed over our nation.  It’s also far greater than the waves we’ve seen in the past! His Kingdom is going to be seen at a measure we have not seen to this point.  This. Is. Exciting.

Is God’s Intent Optional?

Kathy—If you were raised in a traditional church environment like I was, concepts like “binding” and “loosing” (Matt.16:19) can seem almost too radical and even border on blasphemy.  And we all know church-goers who never think about these keys to the Kingdom and never attempt to bind or lose or allow or disallow anything.  We also know church people who never think about sonship or dominion and very likely have never felt the least bit equipped to speak to a storm and say, “Peace be still.” So there is not an Ekklesia heart in every Christian that would cause them to rise up and confront contradictions to the will of God.  Nor does every Christian have confidence that they have the means to make a God difference in their own life, much less make a God difference in a business or a community or a court or a nation.  However, Jesus clearly told us that He is building a Church, a People, and He gives them the keys they need to deal with life matters and bring about God changes and God outcomes.  So we really need to unplug from the idea that using these keys is optional.  Being His Ekklesia is not like choosing new car options of whether you want heated seats or not!  In fact, you may find yourself in the hot seat if you consider these matters optional, since that is really considering God’s intent for His Church as optional.  Some things simply aren’t optional, they are obedience.

Not Alone in the Valley

As the people of God assemble today may they receive from the Lord Most High assurances through Holy Spirit’s presence that they are not alone in the valley of the shadow of death or any other valley. May His people call upon His glorious name and find succor for their souls and clarity for victory and the way out. Ps.28:7,NASB—“The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart triumphs, And with my song I shall thank Him.”

Walking All the Way Through

David said, “Yea though I walk. He didn’t say, “Though I step in for a moment and then step back out. (Most folks don’t get that kind of brief experience.)That valley is not two or three feet long, it is a long enough experience for a man to write, “I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death”. He was in that thing long enough to experience what that entity could press against him with. That shadow, that pressing is evil. The thief has come to steal to kill and to destroy (Jn.10:10). The word just before destroy is “AND”. He has come to do all of it and that evil that is in the valley is set on attempting all three actions. That evil has come to take you out through whatever means are available to it. It will use anything we will agree with. David was facing unconventional threats with that shadow of death. It wasn’t simply a matter of a fever or throwing up. He was in a low place, under the shadow where there was little to no light getting down into that spot, a place of little to no revelation, little to no relief, little to no encouragement. But his response was, “I will fear NO evil for THOU art with me” (Ps.23:4).

The Point Where you see it

Melissa—We will increasingly become aware of that which God has been doing all along, coming to the point where we can see it. That divine unfolding is happening on a more and more steady basis. I believe we need to get ready for it to increase even more! I already know that next year is going to be something else.  It’s not going to be a stroll in the park, but hear me out.  What is opening up at the end of this year is going to be fuel for not only next year but the remainder of this decade! There’s no need to be afraid or worry about being ready. You are already ready. The sovereign plan of God is unfolding in our lives right now and His plan is far more powerful than any dark agenda in high places.

Keys to the Kingdom

Kathy—In the next verse (Matt.16:19) we find a special and specific link between The Ekklesia and the Kingdom:  Jesus said He’d give His Ekklesia the Keys to the Kingdom.  For the full impact of that, of course, we need a working understanding of this Kingdom for which we have keys. The first mention of “Kingdom” is in Matt. 3:2.  There, the Greek word for Kingdom is defined in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon as:  A) rule, power, kingship and dominion, B) the right or the authority to rule, C) the royal power of Jesus as the triumphant Messiah and D) royal power conferred on (or granted to) Christians in the Messiah’s kingdom.  So giving His Ekklesia, or Church, the keys to the Kingdom means that He gives His Called Out Ones access to His dominion and power. He gives us the right to act as agents of His authority in the earth.  Jesus went on to break that down for us that whatever the Ekklesia prohibits on earth will have been prohibited in heaven, and whatever they permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven.” (ISV) The Amplified version reads like this: “Whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (or declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.” (CEV)  Having the keys to the kingdom of heaven, means God in heaven will allow whatever you allow on earth.  But he will not allow anything that you don’t allow.  Again, I think you would agree that these things reach beyond typical or conventional church-goer thinking.  Nevertheless, these scriptures are in the Bible — in red letters even!

Just Walking Through

Did David say, “I walked into the valley of the shadow of death and I went down to the bottom and got stuck in the muck”? Not at all. David said, “Yea though I walk through” (Ps.23:4). He did not have a pup tent and a backpack and a canteen and ready himself to stay there and grab a root and grunt. Rather, he said, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And while I am walking through there I am dealing with the shadow of death”. David was talking about a demonic entity. If anybody walked through the valley of the shadow of death at least once or twice it was David. Part of what he dealt with while walking through was the fact that it was a low place. But the word we hold to, the word we confess is about going ahead and pressing on through because you have the power, you have the strength, you have the grace (the enablement) to press through and when you have pressed through you are pressing through unto… Unto that which Father has been wanting to get us to for our deliverance.