Leading Us Home

Voice of Prayer

Was working on a teaching this week and was captivated by the meanings of some of the words of Psalm 46.

Psalm 46:1-11  NKJV God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;  3 though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. 

4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High,  5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. 6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. 7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the LORD. Who has made desolations in the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariot in the fire. 10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.

I read over the Psalm 46 a number of times and went to look at the Hebrew meaning of the words. Of course the meaning of some words are evident while you read over it. Like God is our refuge and He is our strength and He is to be our resent help in trouble. That trouble has the meaning of a "tight place". 

Is there a time when it seems you are down to a certain amount of money in the budget and something goes awry, something goes terribly wrong and you must buy an appliance like the stove or refrigerator or did one of the kids get the measles that was eradicated from this country, but a someone from a third world country has introduced it again here in the U.S. and toward those never have been inoculated for the terrible disease!  We should know that measles, if not treated right will cause blindness!

Then moving on to verse 2, the earth being removed, and though mountains being carried into the sea you might remember the movie 2012 where California went into the sea by a strong earthquake. And then verse 3 here mentions of the waters that roar and are troubled and the mountains shake with its swelling....and I thought of the volcanic eruptions where the mountains swell with the magma hot and rising to the top to spill over in the man-made communities built so close to the explosive mountain. I then read on about that water that is troubled within the meanings and found it looks a lot like RED TIDE....yeah, the meaning of troubled is "chamar" ( which pronounced Khaw-mar) and means to glow red! It ferments with scum...like dead things! Wow and this was written how many thousands of years ago?


But in all this commotion, there is a living place of prosperity of peace and safety. That is found in the city of God, the holy place of His very presence. Although things may appear as trouble, desolation, and chaos, still God is here. He is help to us and He is for us. He is the very God who knows all things and created the heavens and earth in Genesis 1.
We should be meditating on the beauty of the Lord and how He went to the Cross for us that we might be set be free, yes to be free...... no longer held as the captives to sin but free to be the person God planned for us to be.

Our focus should be upon not the Red Tide or the explosive volcanoes set for destruction but on the God Who is more than enough for us. He is our victory, not someday but right now. Because there will be commotions, and rumors of war, but we are to hold that focus on Him who gave His all to see us become the sons of God.

If you are encountering a "tight place" understand God already knew and He has a plan. For we all have people around us daily making not so good choices, but we have the mighty One and He is standing by to deliver us out of harm. Delight in Him today and know His ways for His word is truth and His Holy Spirit is ready to lead you not only out of trouble and harm but to lead you home!

Psalm 121 I will lift up my eyes to the hills----from whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is your keeper (protector); the LORD is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD shall preserve you

from all evil; 8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Humility and Prayer

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Holy Spirit

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Godly Sorrow

I enjoy the Old Testament and find wonderful testimonies of those who followed God and those who chose not to follow Him. In one is this of King Saul.

1 Samuel 15: 10-35 NKJV 10 Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11 “ I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.

12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went t Carmel and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by and gone down to Gilgal.” 13 Then Samuel went to Saul, & Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, & the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” 15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and th rest we have utterly destroyed.”

16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet!” And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.” 17 so Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? 18”Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites & fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 ‘Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did yo swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me & brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.”  21 “But the people took of the plunder, sheep & oxen , the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”

Yes, Saul has his answers ready. He accuses the people he was to serve as the ones who chose to take the plunder when Saul was told differently!

22 So Samuel said: ‘Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, & to heed better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.”

Yes, rebellion is not a good thing. Now Saul is in witchcraft. He was choosing his own way.

24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD & your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, & return with me, that I may worship the LORD.“  26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected  you from being king over Israel.”

From verse 24, Saul is revealing he had sinned and on top of that he did it because he feared the people! Many leaders end up in that destructive place when they rather follow man than God. In verse 25 he asking Samuel to pardon his sin and return with him so that he Saul may worship the LORD. Would that be collusion? Terrible!

Then Samuel spoke that he would not return with Saul for he Saul had rejected the word of the LORD and the LORD had rejected Saul from being king over Israel. 

Yeah, not a good place to be when it was God who placed Saul in the position!

27 And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, & it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today & has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 “and also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent. 

The kingdom in an instant was torn from Saul!

30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please before the elders of my people and before Israel, & return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, & Saul worshiped the LORD. 32 Then Samuel said, “ Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33 But Samuel said, “As our sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel went up to Ramah & Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul & for the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

Still within his whining Saul is desiring to keep this good standard with the people not fearing God. Saul wanted to look good among his peers. Samuel goes with Saul only to do the thing that Saul was to do. He was to kill Agag so that he would not bring disasters on the Jewish people.

Samuel did not see Saul again till Saul had died.

This gives details of the mournful heart Samuel held for Saul. Every true believer in God will carry his heart for the lost. Those failing to see or hear God's heed for safety through salvation brings them at the end of their days in utter ruin and death.

If Saul had had a godly sorrow and not wanting to move from following God, his life might have been different. Still God desires a man after His own heart. And that is one who will worship Him in the darkest hour, will pray when no words come, and continue to seek when He seems not to be present. Still God is with us. He will never leave us nor abandon us. Ours is to seek with a whole heart to fervently see with the light of His word truths that set us free and keep us free never to be entangled in the snares of wrong words.

For Saul was snared by his words and it was those to please man and he thought he could use them on Samuel. No, that did not work for him and it will not work for us!

May we truly hold a godly sorrow that we will not want to hurt our Father's heart by continuing to seek our plans instead of obeying His plans.

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

For that wall that was built to keep God out is to come down when we truly have a godly sorrow of repentance. It is turning away from bad behavior that keeps the wall up between us. God desires us to come to Him and tell the sorrows of our heart and repent for the mistakes we have made that has separated us from Him.

Receiving Jesus as Lord turns us away from our past not to do the past again. OUR lives are new in God with the heart conversion. Those who desire to dwell in their past,  desire to live in those past  sins , and to revisit those "old haunts" will find the wrong road to travel. If you or I sorrow for lost goods, lost friends, the death of relatives, then our heart is in that place. Choosing to have friends over God is sad. I would rather have God for He is my life. But I am certain He has godly friends for me just like He has them for you.

Reveling in that past thing can cause disease and increases the risk of more complaints in that thing. We are to put away evil thinking and evil speaking! Saul blamed the people but truly Saul's heart was to please the people of his kingdom and not God!

A true godly sorrow will produce reform in our thinking and our action. 

Pleasing God is looking toward tomorrow and relishing the pain of yesterday. We have all lost someone but I would hope that the best that Jesus gave is not forgotten or hidden of all the past hurts, the past losses, or the past homes we might have had. Our best day is to live in today, be thankful and expect tomorrow to be better by the hand of a great God who is for us and not against us!

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Done In God

https://youtu.be/336mNFa4AGA

You can also visit my You Tube channel Voice of Prayer 

for more teaching at:  http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV

New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

The Full Counsel of God

https://youtu.be/_R1NXVrd6MI

Also visit Life Giving Wells You Tube Channel for more teaching:

http://bit.ly/2wgu1kw

When Wounds are Many

Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He counts the number of stars; He calls them all by name. 5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Brokenness happens! It happens to rich people and poor people! It will happen to those in the city and to those in the country! It will happen everywhere to men and women alike. When wounds are many, it is only the Lord who can cure their pain and the sorrows of the wounds.

People are human. They make mistakes! Just look back at the Garden of Eden! Wow, what a mess, yet we each can say we have created such messes at some point in our lives. Although ours did not cause mankind to fall to sin, yet, our family is affected by such messes and sometimes for many generations since we ultimately all came from that same garden. Right?
You can see that today in the number of adults who have no regard for father figures. They do not regard them for they neither had one nor knew of one. But if it is never talked about, the problem will continue to grow to cover a nation will ill-regard for men in leadership.

I was recently hearing a teaching on Proverbs 27:5-6. In this the teacher told that rebukes can hurt and yet rebuke will come to the one experiencing that world of hurt. And if we truly have a really good friend, a rebuke given with love is more apt to bring change to our lives.

In the world today you are to love all people everywhere in everything. It has something about being politically correct. But rebuke is to make some uncomfortable. Like knowing that killing is wrong, and same sex marriages are also wrong according to words God set forth and delivered, not only through the prophets but also through that of the Son of His love!

There are those times one may need to be told that they are of the foolish nature and wrong! But we must remember we cannot make people choose right over wrong. People will do with that correction the way they desire and if they choose the other, then so be it. But reality is, that is if we do not warn them with a rebuke, then we are accomplices to the very problem these people hold especially if they are family. Even close friends seem to repeat the same from the last few years. They hold on to the fact they are alone and need somebody, so they choose the same person they chose a year ago. And most likely they will fall to the other's lies and be hurt resembling last years hurts!

Ah yes, when wounds are many, and they continue to become many more when changes are not made. WE certainly are to love others and are to love them in their mistake making progress, yet if they continue in the same muddy mess, something must change.

Of course, we start with us first!  Each of us must find the word of God and apply it to our own lives. We are to walk accordingly to the path set by God for us. In this we have protection. But if we choose to go our own way in making decisions of choosing that spouse, that new job or even a change of living from city to country, from the farm to the beach, many decisions may be made haphazardly causing more destruction to one's own life. We must make our decisicions based on the truth of God's Word.

Proverbs 27:5-6 Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. If we never speak up, then we are loving others into more sin. Even as a physician has to bring some formula to the table of a person's care if they are truly sick. If the physician only caters to bringing what is pleasing rather than bringing what is really needed the sick patient may become more ill to the point of death!
Tough love is better than flattering hypocrisy!

In Matthew 26:49-50 we find Judas kissing Jesus. 49 Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed Him. 50 But Jesus said to him, "Friend, why have you come?" Then they laid hands on Jesus and took Him.
Judas in his hypocrisy kissed Jesus with the "kiss " of the intimate friend. Betrayal can cause many wounds like in this situation. But Jesus was revealing His true nature. And Judas revealed his true nature. In this Judas had received coins from those he gave Jesus up to. Within those coins was not the coins that the nation of Israel produced but was of the coinage that represented Caesar. What a terrible place for Judas to be. He had taken of that which was precious, and Jesus allowed Judas his day in the arena of pain. And within that Judas suffered a lot to the point of death.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend for they are not just the "yes man" but they will speak truth. According to Ephesians 4:15 in the Amplified Bible: 15 rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly.] Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ ( the Messiah, the Anointed One).
 If we are the true friend, we will act according to the word of God: no more and no less, it will be about our being submitted to the authority of Jesus Christ in our lives, showing allegiance to him and where there is disharmony God's way will always take precedence.
Acts 4 :19-20 But Peter answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard..'

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Land of the Living
https://youtu.be/iIzb7AFaYno

You can also visit my You Tube channel Voice of Prayer 

for more teaching at:  http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV

New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

The Full Counsel of God

https://youtu.be/_R1NXVrd6MI

Also visit Life Giving Wells You Tube Channel for more teaching:

http://bit.ly/2wgu1kw

No Hand Me Down Religion

Voice of Prayer

There is no hand-me-down religion in Jesus Christ!
Born again, we are born into life, the new in Him who acquired that life by shedding His own blood on the Cross. In salvation, we have all we need. By grace we live by faith in His sacrifice and we should expect heaven on earth!
On the day He went into Jerusalem, He was about doing the Father's will and not about man's will. Those who were expecting the conquering Messiah had hoped it was in Him. Yet He did not go to the throne when all the palm branches were laid before Him. No He went into the temple and drove out the money-changers.

God's way was to be known through Jesus. It is the path that is narrow indeed and it is not putting man on pedestals or of man by firm suggestions that you follow man. For there is heaven on earth, when we call forth His words given to us to speak in the very promises set forth for our freedom.
John 3:5 NKJV Jesus answered, " Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
In the new birth, one repents of sins. The new order of life is begun in Jesus. At that moment faith is alive. In this we re-qualify to the possibilities God has for us. Aside from Him and His will, we never see them. I always wonder how many people that fill the cemeteries today who never received Him as Lord, to have that place in heaven & be where He might be....as He is Lord over all?

In Jesus' time, the Pharisees and Sadducee's handed down a religion that was equipped with all the terms and issues that man himself instituted beyond what God had set up for them in the Wilderness. That Law was to get the wilderness, and the idol worship out of those who came out of Egypt, but Jesus came to set man free forever!
Ephesians 1:11-14 NKJV 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trust in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
God, the Creator and the Possessor of Heaven and Earth, put down a deposit for us. And that deposit required the blood of Christ. The great "I Am" brought a way for us when there was no way. In this salvation we have gained power of the Holy Spirit that demonstrates both in us and through us who believe.

I was thinking of this yesterday, as we went to pick up our dog at the Vet. She required some grooming and had some hot spots on her face and neck. I never knew a dog could have an allergy to protein. Yikes!
Anyway, on the way I saw this store front Maurice's, and I saw people going in to shop which looked like for teens. I remembered the hand-me-downs I sometimes got as a small child. Yet when I went to school, my sister and I had new clothes and shoes to wear. But one time, as a young teen, I had gotten a really nice white sweater with a few roses on it........and I really liked it. It was given by this girl's mother who I went to school with in the junior high years. So I wore it to school and the girl whose mother had given it to me rode rough shod all day on me for wearing her sweater. I am not certain that she really wanted it, but she certainly did not want me wearing it!
I never wore that sweater again, even though I loved the beautiful white with the sprinkle of tiny red roses and green leaves on it. No, never wore that thing again for I was caught in that which is a "hurtful" situation. For the young lady had been my friend for two years and after that we were no longer friends.
But see in this relationship with Jesus, we each have something with Him that is different and the purpose God placed in you is of importance. It is important to find what God placed in you for His glory and to His praise. He is always here and always available. And when someone may not like that which you carry for Him, well, that is sad to say for them.
He did not give you a ready-made religion for a one-size fits all. We each have a part to participate in the greatest time on earth and that is of these years before His return for us. We each have a role in His kingdom and reading through His word and prayer will reveal what that is in each of us and through us. We require His wisdom that is for the practical, and workable principles so the revelation knowledge flows through our lives and toward others.

Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that we are His workmanship! For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Grace was bestowed to us. It is the "undeserved kindness "by which salvation is given. Christ Jesus died for us before we were even born. By the Holy Spirit we see power released in our lives just like Jesus did! Grace is that force as well as favor toward us and it is living for today and a future we look toward that it is our God Who makes all things possible.

No hand-me-down religion, and no hand-me-down clothes please. What God has for you and for me is better, is of quality and will last forever. In this relationship, you and I choose if we want time with Him or not. I choose to know Him more every day. I choose to see His beauty and declare His goodness for in this my faith is released to receive more from Him. Within this relationship too, we come together in unity not in strife fighting one another, not jealous of another, but we come together in the unity of faith & purpose among God's family members for God's gospel to be the most effective.
We are to initially be Christ's mouthpiece, His feet and His hands. If we choose the hand-me down from man you get religion, must submit an allegiance to the man and his regime, but to God we receive that pastor or said church we attend to receive our daily feeding of the word and prayer.

The past is gone and we are new in Jesus! Receive His words deep into your heart and pray for the Holy Spirit to be loosed in every moment of your daily lives and may you see the fruit that comes from obeying the Son to the Father. May you know He will never leave you nor forsake you. Now is the time to rise up, take off those old garments of sin, and lust and receive the garments of the royal Son. May you be found with Him always!

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Land of the Living
https://youtu.be/iIzb7AFaYno

You can also visit my You Tube channel Voice of Prayer 

for more teaching at:  http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV

New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

Wheat & Tares-Truth & Compromise

https://youtu.be/KgJ_i4Uzgxs

Also visit Life Giving Wells You Tube Channel for more teaching:

http://bit.ly/2wgu1kw