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Pastor’s Bog 2.25.20

Pastor’s Blog 2.25.20

How was your prayer time today? You did pray didn’t you? Years ago I was in a conversation with Prophet Kevin Leal, and he said something I’ll never forget; “You have to remember David, you are preaching to people that don’t pray or read their Bibles”. In our Sunday series “Can you follow the directions” I have been reminding you of the necessity of a daily interaction with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Every week I stand amazed at how few “leaders” there are who do not have a healthy prayer life.

So why is it so difficult to consistently pray? When we are instructed over and over to “seek the face of God”, most seek what is in His hand, not what is in His heart. When I read the book of Revelation and I read the desire of the Lord is for us to put Him first, I am always compelled to “repent and do my first works, return to my first love, hate evil and love righteousness, hold fast that which is still with us”, and so much more. The truth of the matter is- religion is easier than relationship, why? Religion is on your terms, relationship is on His. Religion is at your convenience, but in relationship you, like Peter, must go where and when you don’t want to go…

John 21:18-19
18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old , you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”
19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” NKJV

When we serve the Lord in religion we still maintain control, but in relationship we lose control and give it uncompromisingly to Him. So are you still deciding when and how you love Him or have you fully yielded to His control?

Romans 8:12-14
12 Sonship Through the Spirit Therefore, brethren, we are debtors — not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. NKJV

Before Jesus demanded we live this way, He showed us how. Sometimes we forget the key commands in the instructions about following Jesus.

Luke 14:33
33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. NKJV

I have to forsake “things” to write like this, the nature of the prophetic is self -sacrifice. It is not easy always having to be the one telling others they are in need of repentance and renewal. Many a day my flesh just wants to say what people want to hear. I could be a lot more popular with the multitude that way. That might have a temptation for immediate gratification but I am constrained by the Spirit of God within me to continually warn of the coming judgment of the God who is a consuming fire. I have had many say to me they wish they could have the experiences I have shared having. There is an ideal to having experienced more of God that carries a responsibility of heartbreak beyond compare.

I have seen Hell and part of Heaven, and I stand and watch others, even believers, live daily as if neither exist. To be really aware of the evil in the unseen realm is a burden that weighs heavier than some can imagine. The rewards are going to be beyond imagination as well.

The truth of the matter is, religion is easier than relationship, why? Religion is on your terms, relationship is on His.

Luke 12:42-48
42 And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?
43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
44 Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.
45 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk,
46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given , from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. NKJV

Solomon said it best:

Ecclesiastes 1:18
18 For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. NKJV

I love this portion of God’s word in Job:

Job 28:12-29:1
12 “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me’; And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be purchased for gold, Nor can silver be weighed for its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, In precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Neither gold nor crystal can equal it, Nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or quartz, For the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living, And concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
23 God understands its way, And He knows its place.
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth, And sees under the whole heavens,
25 To establish a weight for the wind, And apportion the waters by measure.
26 When He made a law for the rain, And a path for the thunderbolt,
27 Then He saw wisdom and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
28 And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.'”
NKJV

Let’s make prayer and time with God a priority! Let’s shift our lives, our church and even our nation as we put Him first and on His terms!

Pastor Dave

Pastor’s Blog 2.18.20

Romans 12:17-21 TPT
Never hold a grudge or try to get even, but plan your life around the noblest way to benefit others. Do your best to live as everybody’s friend.
Beloved, don’t be obsessed with taking revenge, but leave that to God’s righteous justice. For the Scriptures say:
“If you don’t take justice in your own hands,
I will release justice for you,” says the Lord.
And:
If your enemy is hungry, buy him lunch!
Win him over with kindness.
For your surprising generosity will awaken his conscience,
and God will reward you with favor.
Never let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good.

The other day I was watching an older western movie and the hero was avenging those who had killed his family. He hunted them down and killed them one by one. As I was watching I had one of those “God moments”. I was caught up in a moment of contemplation. There was this part of me that took pleasure in seeing the bad guys get what was coming to them. I know it was just a movie created for entertainment, but the flesh took advantage of the scenario for sure. I began thinking how our humanity is so corrupted by sin. We truly need the life of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the desire of God. Paul said it best in Romans 7:20-23:

20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law , that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
NKJV

There are a lot of people who live a lifetime with vengeance in their hearts toward those who have done them wrong. It has been said that “unforgiveness in your heart is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” As believers, we need to keep our fleshly desire for vengeance in the movies and not in our own hearts. I love the rendering of Romans 7 and 8 in the Passion Translation Bible…

Romans 7:15-25 TPT
I’m a mystery to myself, for I want to do what is right, but end up doing what my moral instincts condemn. And if my behavior is not in line with my desire, my conscience still confirms the excellence of the law. And now I realize that it is no longer my true self doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin in my humanity. For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it. My lofty desires to do what is good are dashed when I do the things I want to avoid. So if my behavior contradicts my desires to do good, I must conclude that it’s not my true identity doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin hindering me from being who I really am.

Through my experience of this principle, I discover that even when I want to do good, evil is ready to sabotage me. Truly, deep within my true identity, I love to do what pleases God. But I discern another power operating in my humanity, waging a war against the moral principles of my conscience and bringing me into captivity as a prisoner to the “law” of sin—this unwelcome intruder in my humanity. What an agonizing situation I am in! So who has the power to rescue this miserable man from the unwelcome intruder of sin and death? I give all my thanks to God, for his mighty power has finally provided a way out through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One! So if left to myself, the flesh is aligned with the law of sin, but now my renewed mind is fixed on and submitted to God’s righteous principles.

I want to live life daily with the present mind of the Holy Spirit and never forget what a wonderful thing the Lord has done for me! Thank God for His mercy and unmeasurable kindness in giving us His Holy Spirit and Word of truth!

Be Blessed!

Three Day Victory???

Exodus 14:19-20 “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. 20 So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.”

This is the time where God steps in on the scene, and your enemies start getting uneasy and even confused. I like to see my enemies this way. I like to see the enemies of God running around in circles killing each other instead of killing me.

Historians believe that about 3.5 million Israelites came out of Egypt. In order for them to cross the Red Sea in one day, they would have to walk in rows of 5,000 across. The path across the sea would have been about three miles wide. When God parts a sea, he really parts a sea.

Once God has delivered you, take time to stop and to praise. What happened when the children of Israel came across the sea? Miriam got up and grabbed her tambourine, and they began to rejoice.

Exodus 15:19-21 “For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. 21 And Miriam answered them: “Sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!”

The children of Israel are worshipping God, being led by the prophetess Miriam. You know they were thinking, “What can stop us now?” They watched their pursuers get washed away in the Red Sea. The Israelites were riding high that day, but then in a few days, things start to change.

Exodus 15:22 “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.”

According to the U.S. Army Quartermaster General, to feed 3.5 million people in the wilderness would require 1500 tons of food per day. That would fill two freight trains, each a mile long. It would also require 11 million gallons of water—including drinking water, bathing, and washing a few dishes and clothes. That is scary for Moses. He had a big job ahead of him.

Exodus 15: 23-24 “Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

How could the same people that were singing and praising God three days earlier start grumbling and complaining so soon? You can be on fire for God, and three days later, you can lose it all. It just takes the right circumstances. You can lose your victory in three days, three hours, three minutes, or three seconds. You can get up in the morning feeling good, and then your spouse walks by and says something. In just a matter of seconds, you lost your victory.

Once God has delivered you, take time to stop and to praise.

Exodus 15:25 “So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them.”

There is a lot in this scripture. Did you ever stop and think that when adversity hits you, perhaps God is just waiting to see what your reaction will be? Maybe He has a promotion in line for you, but He wants to make sure you are ready for it. When you fail the test and fail the test again, so He sends you back to repeat the grade.

What was their test? There was bitterness in the water. I think there was prophetic revelation here that they were not getting. There was bitterness in the water. When you serve Pharaoh for four hundred years, I can see how some bitterness might seep into your heart. It is easy to get bitter when something bad happens to you. Even when you are free from the problem, you can still become bitter over it.

Medical science has been revealing to us that many sicknesses and diseases that we fight are caused by bitterness. In the book of Proverbs, it says that bitterness will dry up your bones. That sounds like osteoporosis. There are numerous diseases caused by stress, fear, bitterness, and anxiety. These things get in our bodies and destroy us from the inside. These issues can cause arthritis, ulcers, and various other diseases. In my experiences, I have seen that nearly eight out of ten people that I have prayed for with arthritis have held unforgiveness against someone. God is saying that if we take the tree He shows us and cast it into the water, the bitter waters will be made sweet. If you look at the next verse, this gets very interesting.

Exodus 15:26 “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statues, / will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”

Why did God choose to reveal Himself at the pool of bitterness as the Healer? Why would He choose that pool? This was not about sickness and disease; this was about bitter waters. God knows that until you deal with bitterness in your heart, you will have a runway in your life for the devil to land with sickness and disease. The only way to deal with bitterness is when the tree, or the cross, comes into your water, or your heart. When you choose the cross, you can look down on those who afflict you and say, “God forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” (Luke 23:34) When you are on the cross, you can look down and release love instead of bitterness and unforgiveness and resentment. It is an awesome thing when the tree comes into your waters. A bitter soul is made sweet, and there you can meet Jesus the healer.

Three days. It only took three days from living through the mighty miracle of the parting of the Red Sea, from being delivered from the hand of Pharaoh, and all the plagues that had come upon the Egyptians….three days or 72 hours for the Israelites to come upon an inconvenience that caused them to revert back to complaining and grumbling. This is why it is so important to study the Word of God and apply it to our lives. As we glean these important truths from the Word of God, we can understand the importance of trusting God in every inconvenient situation and know that He will come through! If He can part the Red Sea and dry up the water, surely He can provide water to drink!

*excerpt from the book #FOLLOW

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