Don’t Let The Mountain Block The View
Don’t Let The Mountain Block The View (by Kathy Gabler)
As he prayed “Search me, O God, and know my heart,” (Ps 139:23) David wasn’t just praying for an examination and a test score. He was positioned to repent. He submitted to God knowing God’s answer or instructions would bring change in his thinking and his opinions, perhaps in his relationships and daily lifestyle. David knew he must release fear or grief or offense as God pointed them out so that those things would not block his view of God.
Revealing Mountains
Revealing Mountains (by Kathy Gabler)
May we be like David as he prayed for the mountains within himself to be revealed in Psalms 139:23,24. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (NKJ) A paraphrased word study reveals this in his prayer: “O God, examine me and reveal my mind, my knowledge, my thinking, my memories, my inclinations, my determinations, my conscience, my moral character, my appetites, my emotions and my passions. Scrutinize me and reveal my disturbing thoughts and opinions.” When David asked God to search him for wicked ways he was NOT on a guilt-driven search for evil and moral decay in himself. The word translated “wicked” here is used only two other times in the Old Testament and both times it was translated “sorrow.” So David was asking God to see if there were any high places of idolatry in him that had been built on wounds or offense or sorrow or hardship or bitter memories. He was asking God to see if there was any experience or threat bigger or more important to him than God. David knew those things could distort God’s counsel and instructions and even block him from God’s presence. Every soulish mountain-stronghold becomes a blind spot that blocks us from seeing God’s truth and purpose, thereby keeping us from God’s presence and plans in some part of our life.
Liberty, Adversaries and Cost
Liberty, Adversaries and Cost
In 1776 the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. There was much sacrifice in reaching that momentous date forever etched in history. The colonists came dangerously close to losing on more than one occasion. There was a lack of weapons, training and basic supplies. The soldiers were up against disease as well as the well-trained British army and their desperate generals. George Washington not only had to be on alert against British tactics but also on alert for self-seeking traitors in his own army.
In spite of the seeming unbalance in the two opposing forces, what could only be called “the hand of God,” not only brought the scales back into balance but took them over in favor of the colonials. Just one example among others is that when Washington marched against Boston, the soldiers dug trenches with the help of a clear night. The next morning a British engineering officer reported that the progress of the colonials must have required 15,000 to 20,000 men, more than double the size of the present colonial army. Just as the battle was beginning the weather suddenly changed and a storm set in by noon with hail, sleet and a wind that “blew almost a hurricane.” General Howe decided not to attack and retreated from Boston. Washington and others gave the glory to God’s hand at work.
Although it has been noted that Washington was not a brilliant strategist and had shown indecisiveness at crucial moments, one writer said, “Washington never forgot what was at stake and never gave up.” George Washington credited the blessing of God as the reason he was able to endure. “He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defense; I shall not be moved” (Ps 62:6)
Many Americans sense the threat against the liberties those Founding Fathers faithfully fought for. But we will not continue to realize them simply through political efforts. Without the intervening Hand of Almighty God and our desperate seeking of His precepts, those liberties remain eminently threatened. “I will walk at liberty and at ease, for I have sought and inquired for and desperately required Your precepts.” (Ps 119:45) I pray the Lord God will give us determination, not only to guard our civil liberties, but to seek His precepts so that we have a value system that will prompt us to, at least, basic stewardship (such as voting) in the preserving of what He gave us in this great nation. (Ref.: americanvision.org)
Bulldozing Mountains
Bulldozing Mountains (by Kathy Gabler)
The Word of God is our antidote. The Word is our bulldozer. The Word has the power to displace the emotional residue pushed ashore by the tide or even by a tidal wave of circumstances. So our part of the process is to clear out the blockages within self by agreeing with the Word and by speaking the Word and telling every contrary force to be removed! (Mt 17:20) And the truth is that if stress, anxiety, fear, anger, frustration, guilt and confusion are removed and God’s Peace is in the house, what’s going on outside does not hold the same threat.
Assurance In Facing The Mountain
Assurance In Facing The Mountain (by Kathy Gabler)
As we position our hearts to receive the joy of the Lord, may we have the wisdom not to equate JOY with EASE. If we think JOY means EASE then the least bit of opposition can add discouragement, oppression and depression to the mountains we face. JOY does not pivot around EASE. Joy comes on the heels of conflict: Isaiah 29:19 tells us, The “afflicted” shall increase their joy in the Lord. That statement is both an assurance and a challenge: the temptation and trial process shall not win, nor shall the accuser of the brethren or failure prevail; so we must forge ahead, confident the Joy of the Lord is rooted in overcoming. Joy confronts the depleting foes of grief, vexation, disappointment, hurt and worry to defy and defeat them. Joy is a by-product of relationship with God. Joy is not an emotional state. It is an attitude of the heart that does not bow at the throne of EASE.
Joy In The Mountain
Joy In The Mountain (by Kathy Gabler)
Ps 121:1-2: “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” (NAS) It was not the mountains that provided strength and help, rather the God who created them and who sat enthroned in Zion. We will not find the strength and refuge we seek by isolating ourselves in a mountain-stronghold. Neh 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” In Hebrew, the word “strength” literally means: a place or means of safety, a protection, a refuge, a stronghold. We must allow the joy of the Lord to rise up in us to remove our mountains and provide true protection and refuge.
King Of The Hill?
King Of The Hill?
(by Kathy Gabler)
The problem with strongholds in the soul is that Self takes the lead, surrounding itself in a defensive determination, demanding a right to survive. As king of the hill, the banners of NO SUBMISSION and SELF-SUFFICIENCY defy all comers – even God. Soulish determinations, demands, self-justifications and self-sufficiency are the opposite of humbling self; and it is those who humble themselves to God that receive God’s enabling grace, His ability to overcome. (1 Pe 5:5b) “…for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Tides And Mountain Strongholds
Tides And Mountain Strongholds (Kathy)
Like tides coming and going, there will always be problems. Ps34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” (NKJ) 1Pet 4:12 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” (NIV) It is not life that builds blockages in our hearts and understanding. It is our reaction to life that causes us to build isolated forts atop high mountains of the soul every time we try to protect ourselves rather than trusting God, or when we try to justify our offenses rather than forgive or repent, or when we try to avoid pain rather than obey God. So God’s goal is to change me to the point that the tides cannot stir the same reactions within me. He desires to equip us so that troubles, afflictions and offenses are confronted with the Word and displaced by the Truth instead of a reactionary blockage or the false strength of a mountain-stronghold I erect in my soul. seecministries.org
Commissioned To Go Into The Future
Commissioned To Go Into The Future
Jesus first said, “Go” (Mt 28:19), then in v.20 He announced: I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. We have a future that is guaranteed by our commissioning. We are commissioned to continue going until the very close and consummation of the age. There is, therefore, no let up and no decrease. Our Lord said “Go” but has not said, “Come back.” We will speak the language of commissioned ones. We will continue to go into the geographical spheres and to people groups where He gives us power of influence, and we will continue to go into the future with preparation and expectancy.
…He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] 6 So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me? (Heb 13:5-6)
Soaring To Purpose
Soaring To Purpose
The theme song of the United States Air Force is “Into The Wild Blue Yonder” written by Robert Crawford in 1939. Some of the lyrics to that inspirational tune are: Off we go into the wild blue yonder, Climbing high into the sun… Souls of men dreaming of skies to conquer Gave us wings ever to soar! Off we go into the wild sky yonder, Keep the wings level and true… The young men who first learned that song could not wait to get airborne so they could soar into the atmosphere at heights they had never been and at speeds they had never experienced to see what they had never seen, to conquer an enemy that threatened the freedom of nations. With equal zeal, we can soar into the future with prepared hearts and prepared with the language of the future. We are called to soar above the language of distress and hopelessness so that we may proclaim life and purpose. (Isa 60:1-2) (seecministries.org)
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