As the people of God assemble today, may they be strengthened, encouraged, equipped and comforted by the gifts of Christ (Eph.4:11-12) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1Cor.14:3) for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Israel decided they were going back to Egypt because recollection of a physical past was all they had (Ex.16:3; Num.11:5). They couldn’t remember anything of a spiritual history because so many generations had wrestled through problems without spiritual wisdom or enablement. Start a spiritual history in your generation for the benefit of those to come. Ps.145:4, Amp — “One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty and remarkable acts.”
Kathy — We have to remember that we are not here to conform to the age we live in, nor to its rules of engagement, nor to its course and flow, nor to its fashion and norms, nor to its anxieties and fears, nor to any other toxic influence in it’s atmosphere. It is the will of our Father that we live and move and have our being in Him, not in the pollution of ungodly agendas, hellish propaganda or cycling stupidity. We were not born to be pawns of the “prince of power of the air.” So we must refuse to be conformed to this world, (Rom 12:2), and instead be transformed by the renewing of our mind, in order to prove what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God. Most of my years, I thought of that scripture as a personal challenge about my life. I knew I should not conform and just go with the flow around me, even in Bible College. I knew my thinking had to be like my Father’s, but the pivotal word in the KJV for me was prove. I thought that scripture was saying I needed to prove that I could muster up and measure up to God’s will. However, when I searched the definitions of the words in that verse, I discovered that being renewed in mind and being transformed is more about equipping than measuring up. The word prove there is a Greek word that means “to discern, to examine, to allow”. So, let me paraphrase Rom 12:2, We are transformed from the inside out when our thinking and feelings and reasoning and understanding are developed and no longer molded by the common or typical. We can then discern that which is beneficial to and that which is agreeable with and that which is acceptable in God’s design and original intent. So that scripture is not about us proving we can merit our Father’s approval. It is about being transformed by a renewing of our mind so that we think and live like a mature son or daughter that understands they are already approved by Father as well as equipped to discern and examine what’s going on in this age. Then a mature son or daughter allows and approves what aligns with as it is in heaven and participates with heaven coming to earth!
May the Lord turn situations completely around to your benefit. May the Lord shut the mouths of those who are attempting to hinder your progress and purpose and defeat their attempts. Awhile back we received a call about a man several of us have been agreeing with in prayer. For several years, several of his superiors had decided to prevent any promotions for him. They were hindering his being facilitated properly to get his job done, attempting to make him look bad. Some were jealous of his success in his projects. But, suddenly, the Lord turned the tables and they ended up apologizing to him and helping him! God is not finished with people or situations they create. Look for Him to turn it all around. “The upright shall see it and be glad, but all iniquity shall shut its mouth.” (Ps.107:42, Amp) “You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.” (Ps.97:10, NKJV)
Kathy — Let’s follow history beyond Goliath into the Middle Ages, (400AD to 1500AD). A guy with a complaint could start a fight and set the rules of engagement just by throwing a gauntlet (a heavy-duty glove) at someone’s feet. Under the sway of that age, you were then obligated to rules of engagement that required you to get a pole and a horse and risk your life in a joust! Supposedly that was all in the name of honor and dignity, though it sounds a bit more like pride and stupidity. For hundreds of years after jousting, there were duels from 1500-1900. This time, if a man slapped you in the face with a glove, you were obligated by the rules of engagement to risk dying or killing someone! Who made that Koolaid? Of course, the culture of that age made it the way of the world. When you consider the huge span of years in history, it begs the question: how does a foolish and destructive paradigm stay so consistent throughout different cultures over a span of centuries? The answer is not complex. We know who has been the consistent negative effect on cultures and we know who has mastered taking advantage of human nature, the prince of the power of the air. Eph. 2:2 says – you walked habitually following the course and fashion under the sway of the present age, following the prince of the power of the air. You were under the control of the demon spirit that is constantly at work. No matter what century, what culture, the same prince of the power of the air is constantly at work in every age and he uses the same methods.
If we do not get to promise because of our willingness to remain just this side of it, we end up accepting our present circumstances as an acceptable substitute. One of the defeating factors of living with that substitute long enough is that it can become preferred over the cost of actually getting to promise. But anything short of promise also falls short of glorifying God. 2Cor.1:20, TPT — “For all of God’s promises find their “yes” of fulfillment in him. And as his “yes” and our “amen” ascend to God, we bring him glory!”
Kathy — The whole scene between David and Goliath could have been on FOX news last week: “A false-god-worshiping foreigner intended to immigrate into the nation and rule the nation with his nation’s laws and gods. He fully intended to obligate another nation to serve him as an immigrant and make the immigrants’ dreams come true.” Sound familiar yet? We have to wonder why men keep allowing the enemy to set the rules of engagement. We have to question also why history keeps repeating itself and why the same influences keep showing up to sway history. Isa.54:13, TPT — “All your children will be taught by Yahweh, and great will be their peace and prosperity.”
As the people of God assemble today, may they be mindful of those who have suffered loss in shutdowns, business closures during the Covid crisis, the loss of loved ones, riots and recent hurricanes and for the effects of those crises upon America. May they pray for those who are hurting and those who have lost so much. And may they be thankful for the mercies of the Lord that are new every morning, for great is His faithfulness. ”For He has not despised nor detested the suffering of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He listened.” (Ps.22:24, Amp)
When we can look beyond today and see tomorrow, God will give us all we see and our children will benefit. “The Lord said to Abram…lift up your eyes from where you are…All the land you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” (Gen.13:14) We can break in our generation the things that have bound us so our children do not have to live under them.
Kathy — God’s plans for where we are going depend on our being who we need to be when we get there. That requires transformation, and transformation comes through trials. Let me say that more exactly: transformation comes through listening and learning His Ways in trials, which is the opposite of hardening the heart! Rom.12:2, Amp — “And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].”
Anticipation is inevitable. The coming generation will anticipate something whether positive or negative. But what will they anticipate? One of the biggest favors we can do the coming generation is to build anticipation into them: anticipation for the intervention of God in their lives and in our nation. We must see beyond and we must help them to see beyond that which has been the norm in our nation and in impotent religion. Let’s help them to anticipate the unconventional which no previous generation has seen, to be what no generation has been. Mic.7:7- “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” We are praying you discover daily that you are looking beyond the ordinary and you are helping the coming generation to anticipate new possibilities.
Kathy — Every time we decide not to see God’s purpose in trials and we just continue to resent them, we’re hardening our hearts. In addition, by refusing to learn God’s ways and do things His way, we are refusing to reflect His image in this earth. That is refusing to glorify Him. 1Chron.16:11, CEV — “Trust the Lord and his mighty power. Worship him always.“
We must see tomorrow. We must see it as God sees it. Don’t adopt this age’s sense of hopelessness. It does not take God’s love or miracles into account. Do not be held in the grip of present circumstances but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.(Rom12:2) Get into the Word of God and get a new picture. Get God’s picture of things. Prov.23:18, TPT — “Your future is bright and filled with a living hope that will never fade away.”
Kathy — I think we sometimes mistake tenacity for faith. Tenacious means extreme persistence; relentless or enduring. Tenacity is awesome for getting and keeping the Word in our thinking so it can be an overriding priority in our lives, but tenacity is not faith. Tenacity is not our goal but it is a powerful element of getting to the goal. Our goal is faith, a confident, unshakeable knowing. If faith becomes a matter of tenacity and strain, we’ve simply stopped short of the goal. The mark of reaching and standing in faith is rest.
As the people of God assemble today may they see clearly and be equipped effectively for what is expected of them in this pivotal hour of our nation. Sons/daughters of the Kingdom become the answer to the groaning of creation which we read about in Rom.8:19,22. In the original language, groaning creation is pictured in such a way that it is expectantly stretching the neck to glimpse that which is beyond itself and beyond its present plight. That which creation is stretching its neck to see, or THOSE whom it is stretching its neck to see, are their hope of lifting them out of their hopeless plight.
If someone is a slave to something for a long time, it is difficult for them to see a picture in their mind of what being free is like. If we can’t see ourselves as anything but a slave to that thing that has mastery over us then we will maintain that slave mentality. “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are…” (Gen.13:14)
Kathy — In Heb.3:9-10, it goes on to tell us that when the Israelites were in the wilderness, they saw God do awesome works and miracles for them; yet they hardened their hearts and REFUSED to learn His ways. I’ve thought many times, ‘What was wrong with those people?’ But when I read it recently, I suddenly realized how simply we can harden our hearts. We just refuse to LISTEN to God during a trial! Ps.85:8, TPT — “Now I’ll listen carefully for your voice and wait to hear whatever you say. Let me hear your promise of peace—the message every one of your godly lovers longs to hear. Don’t let us in our ignorance turn back from following you.”
In October we are going up and out of dark places hand over hand on the three-cord rope of hope and promise and God’s faithfulness (Eccl.4:12—“a threefold cord is not quickly broken”). The joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh.8:10—“the joy of the Lord is your strength”) to reach and grasp and pull. His light and salvation (Ps.27:1—“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life”) are the bright glow of expectancy that we climb toward as we lift up our heads to where our help comes from (Ps.121:1).
Kathy — Don’t be stubborn when you are in a time of adversity, affliction or trouble, and you are feeling solitary, lonely, desolate and deserted, and you are feeling deprived of the aid and protection of others, or when you are feeling bereft. Bereft: “like a flock deserted by the shepherd or a woman neglected by her husband.” When you are in difficulties like these, don’t be stubborn. Don’t turn a deaf ear to God. Heb.3:7 —This is why the Holy Spirit says, “If only you would listen to his voice this day!”
Rather than trust God for courage to walk out one day at a time relying on Him for daily supply, the Israelites resigned themselves to sliding back into the old faithless rut (Ex.3:7). A lot of folks find it difficult to trust that God’s mercies are, indeed, “new every morning.” (Lam.3:22-23) We want a guarantee of comfort by having it all before we step out of the boat. Jesus said pray, “give us our daily bread.” (Matt.6:11)
Kathy — Continue to ask, seek and knock. With every knock there is progress. If our agenda becomes more important than obeying God and learning His ways, we get out of sync with God, with spiritual Leadership and with the Body of Christ. When we get out of sync, we are likely to usurp spiritual authority and get out of God’s blessing thereby giving the enemy a foothold in the Body of Christ. Rest in God’s TIMING. 1Sam.15:22 — “Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed [is better] than the fat of rams.”
The disciples confronted the storm on the lake but Jesus contradicted it with peace. When Jesus said to His disciples that He had been given all authority in heaven and on earth and then commissioned them to disciple nations, that was the announcement that believers had now become the embodiment of the Kingdom like He was. We have the same authority and power to contradict darkness. Deut.28:7 –“The Lord will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way, but flee before you seven ways.”
Some hyper-zealous folks would have us believe that the reason we don’t have more “thanks” to give is because we just don’t have enough faith… like… they do. Let us remember that though we don’t get everything we think we should when we pray, God is too wise to act irrationally and too compassionate to be cruel. Great is His faithfulness Lam.3:22-24 — “It is because of the Lord’s lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, Because His [tender] compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness. 24 ‘The Lord is my portion and my inheritance,’ says my soul; ‘Therefore I have hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.’”
Melissa — Look at this, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) The first half of this verse is substandard and the second half is premium. I am always drawn to that word “might” in this passage. That tells me abundant life is not a guarantee. It’s not a guarantee to those that are asleep because their life is ruled by substandard, unclean fear. If we don’t wake up we can’t operate in the abundance.
martygabler 