NOT YOURS

"NOT YOURS"

This morning I got up...thanked the Lord for the day....thanked HIM for the life in me to get up and then to rise for His purpose through me and mine! I did a number things, and went to the quiet place to pray and again give thanks for His goodness to us, the sacrifice of His son and the great opportunity to have a relationship with Him.
It was coming on the hour that I take out some bird feed and fill that which brings in the song birds and yes, some birds with attitude. As I walked the yard and was praying and relaxing in the warmth of the day, I saw a golf ball lying under this large pine tree not far from the corner of the house. As I got closer I saw black writing on it! I picked it up and it said " not yours"! And I thought your ball should be on the fairway of the golf course and not on the fairway of our backyard!
My thought was: "did this guy know he would lose it no matter how he played" which reflects badly on his hand and eye coordination. And he could not blame the loss of that ball due to an easterly wind this morning, for it is most certainly quiet....which the day revealed not an inkling of a breeze of any kind was around.  It was so quiet out, that you could hear the creaking of material objects expanding under the rays of the hot sun.

As I finished my duties outside I returned to the kitchen to wash my hands, & I kept looking at the found ball  that I had laid next to the sink.  I turned it around to see the words written " NOT YOURS" on it. I was still wondering why someone would get so angry about a ball in his possession, to mark it up enough that the person finding it in their yard...would no doubt see their attitude and hear them yelling out their complaints in advance for losing their ball!
My other thought was, "why would anyone play a sport that he has so much anger in". Maybe he rids his heart of anger by hitting the ball instead of his 'boss'. Maybe he expresses his restless heart within him to say " I am moaning noisily and if this gets into your hands, you will know it too! I am going to aggravate you today! And you know the 'enemy' tries to do that especially when you are getting close to that 'thing' God has for you to do for His glory!


The enemy is that way you know! He will try to stop you by reminding you where you came from and  that you cannot expect to walk out of that place because "it is not yours". Then when he tries to terrorize with throwing things at you like golf balls with written intents, sends email with no hope in it, sends a card for your birthday but no signature on it nor any kind of greeting other than what the card was imprinted with at the factory, or  when he the enemy yells to you that you are not exiting this place, because that out there, "it is not yours".

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. But we really must read this verse in context of Scripture given. Jesus the Good Shepherd spoke in John10: 7 "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves' and robbers' , but the sheep did not hear them. 9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. AND then verse 10: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

In Jesus, we that is you and me (we) go in and out and we find pasture! That pasture is food to eat, it is a place where the Shepherd keeps His watch over us. We find clear running water for thirst and can lie down in green pastures and enjoy the harvest of food the Lord gives to us. 
Psalm 23 reminds of that!

Let’s begin by remembering Psalm 22 has to do with Christ on the Cross, Psalm 23 deals with Him as the Father’s Shepherd in WHOSE care Jesus would live for God,  die for man-kind but still reside in the Father’s hands and Psalm 24 revealing His ascension. And from Hebrews we find that prayer is requested for this and so too, we as His follower’s would do well to pray: Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. 19 But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. 20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Seek to cooperate with leaders. That means any leaders you have over you including the President of the United States. We may not like ‘everything’ he does, but he was elected and if God is in it with him, it is best not touch God’s anointed. We should pray for all leadership whether in Washington D. C., Washington state, from the mayor of the city to the police chiefs, to fire chiefs, to the people who lead in the schools and universities. It is God that we desire to please. You and I are to love our neighbor and love God, but also please Him our Father, who is in heaven. (Hebrews 13:21….make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ)

So the Lord is our Shepherd and we shall not be in want of any good thing. Those who have repented and turned have Jesus as Lord! That pasture of His goodness supplies what we need bodily, soul and spirit in HIM!  He leads us by still waters not agitating waters! Those violent torrents of water coming from ragged rocks on high would terrify the sheep. YOU can hear those violent waters creating much commotion as it washes down as through the heights to the valley below.

David who wrote those words inspired by the Spirit of God had seen those waters of refreshment in the areas of the sandy and rocky country of where he grew up. He saw extended times where the hot sun dried up those streams and how ‘special’ the coolness and sweetness of that water was to a famished soul and when that refreshing was needed!

It is God who restores the believer into the spiritual history that was of the Jew and now Gentile. Those who are restored to the purposes God intended from the beginning. We are restored in righteousness for His name’s sake. His name is great and worthy to be praised.  His name is love, peace and forgiveness.

Ezekiel 34:14-24 NKJV “I will feed them in good pastures, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 “I will feed My flock and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God. 16 “I will seek  what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, & feed them in judgment.” 17 “And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God, “Behold I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. 18 “Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture----& to have drunk of the clear waters that you must foul the residue with your feet?”19 “And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet & they drink what you have fouled with your feet.” 20 “Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: “Behold, I myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. 21 “Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, & scattered them abroad. 22 “Therefore I will save my flock, & they shall no longer be a prey; & I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 I will establish one shepherd over them, & he shall feed them---MY servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 “And I, the LORD will be their God & My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD have spoken.  This was for the ‘church’. It is for the spiritual to bought back into the natural of man!

Living by faith, is living with a trust in the Lord that restores. He takes care of the sick sheep and brings them out of addictions and out of those ever-changing passions man seems to desire live by but have nothing to do with a passion for God. We are to be reconciled back to God. The kingdom has come and those who enter do so by repentance into that open door of the kingdom. God must live in our hearts.

As from that of Ezekiel, the church must not be the ‘virtue-less cesspool’. If that which stinks and gets on you, it is still going to stink because it is on you....yes it is with you!  Ever been close to a cesspool and noticed the stink it gives off and especially on a hot day?  We sometimes have to drive by this small community heading west toward the interstate and there are times especially in the summer when this communities sewer system must be malfunctioning, for it is exposed, and running over the rims of that which is to hold it inside the vat! What a stink!

For His Name’s sake, He leads us in paths of righteousness and the church pastor, apostle or teacher should do the same. We are to lead others in paths of righteousness for is His Name’s sake. He is the ONE who died for us all! But not all of us will go and repent and follow Him. It is by grace that we have been saved. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The architectural design is by God and in God and through God. The Redeemed believer is His new creation. And in HIM we have balance in our lives: we have His peace, His love and His power. And by His love we can love others . But His love brings conviction. Remember His love always tells truth. Anything outside of that is disloyal to God,  is disloyal to His love and brings conviction.  1John 4:1 says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 
I am not going to talk about false prophets today but I do want to talk about love. John continues in verse 16: “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

WHEN Jesus came from the Father we saw a love that is a manifestation of connection with God His father. It was by "relationship"! So we should not make love “a god” to give  it as it is a thing. NO, we  instead give the love by knowing the God of  love. That is, we are giving a God who is alive and knows their heartbreak and failures! Many people today try to initiate love to others by “a god of love” without standing by their convictions that caused them to repent in the first place. Missing the very AUTHOR OF LOVE IS  not loving others but only applying that which only man can give and has no help from the Holy Spirit. Yes, we must love others more than our convictions but we cannot and should not ever love others instead of our convictions. If you remember the woman caught in adultery. Jesus forgave the woman but he also exhorted her to “Go and sin no more”.
LOVE recognizes sin........forgives but exhorts as well! Don't sin again.

That which lies on the other side should no longer bring fear to us. We certainly walk through valleys, those low places but those dangers should not cause us to fear when we have  the God-saving care with us through every season and every dark night. In the dark, the stalker stalks their prey in looking for their food. You and I have been given the Holy Spirit, and in that comfort we experience the seasons to come and to go, and we still see trials and tribulations, but the Shepherd is watching, and by His Spirit He counts His own, He watches over His word to perform it in their lives. His word brings that support and we should be speaking that God is with us and He is for us as this too is His word!

The table was set and what a rich spiritual feast it is that God has provided. What great taste and benefit to us all who are willing to humble ourselves and receive Jesus as Lord. Yes we are secure at the table of the Lord. For though enemies will be present there, we are not to fear. OUR head is anointed with oil. We are refreshed with the wonderful oils and smells of the Lord. We receive His oil of gladness (Psalm 45:7) the joy which the holy Spirit imparts to us (1 John 2:20) and that which is the odor of brotherly love…that fragrant oil of spiritual relationship found in Psalm 133. The spiritual find the scents of being united to the purpose to worship, to praise, to sing, and pray together when one heart with God.

Yes, all our days are to be forever the pilgrim following Jesus. For when God dwells in our heart by faith, we dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You and I can go out and we find we are shepherd by the Shepherd of the sheep. We find satisfaction and peace. We find His love that is viable. It was a love that is manifested knowing the Father of LOVE. If we do anything for another, it is that we operate out of that which is love we know of the Father for ourselves. 

When we do anything for the Lord, may we know HIM, go and in out finding pasture, finding that knowledge of Him, and that is seen as "the passion" for Him. For in that our actions will rebuke the devil when he speaks, 'not yours', BUT we speak I and my Father are one and my passion reveals the love that is of the Father and is given to others in the same way it was given for me, for you and for all ……...but all will not receive it, indeed!

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Authority Is a Gift NOT Personal Rivalry

https://youtu.be/hvuTnkBXTz4

Also visit my You Tube channel Voice of Prayer for more teaching 

 http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV

New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

Fashioned for Purpose

https://youtu.be/WUCvtT39gnE

Also visit Life Giving Wells You Tube Channel for more teaching

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True Joy or Scattered by Grief

Voice of Prayer

Living in a fallen world, we can experience the harshness of the world. Though being born again to life we are still in this world but not of it! If we are not in joy, then we are in sadness and grief. And outside of God you will find no true joy of any kind!


Proverbs 14:13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
Proverbs 14:13 NKJV reads this way: Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, and the end of mirth may be grief.

As we know the outward appearance of a person does not always portray the true feelings of the heart. Within this verse given in the Amplified Bible, verse 13 gives the end of mirth is heaviness and grief. Yikes!

Now when someone gets to that place it is as foreign to them as being in another country speaking no English or like being on a planet where no one lives!

Psalm 137:2-6  NKJV  …..(2) We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it.(3) For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"   4 How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill!  6 If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—  If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Bitterness describes the complaints of those in exile. God forced Judah, not to harm but show their way was destructive to them.  These people had been scattered by their continuing to disobey God!

In this setting people desire to sit by the banks of the river under the many willows that grew along the banks, and in that coolness of the day, they desired rest from toil, but their thoughts turned to the home far away and the loneliness of being on foreign soil. They thought of the lost time in their homeland, their loss of years and heartache due to their own "desires". And while in all this, they are bullied by the nation that took them captive, to scoff and make fun of their instrument the harps and because of their God. The captors desired the captives to play them "the fun song".  This period of time they, the captives, mingled their tears with the waters that ran so freely through the region. Their grief overwhelmed them, and the present worship was only in laments of the sorrowful.

In this moment of time, they were far from life that they knew and their instruments was the bitter reminder of  life that what once was held with festive songs, delight and food in the land they called home. But in this moment ,grief challenged their hearts. No songs would serve them but the songs of Zion. What honored God would be truly noted.

Psalm 39:1-6 reminds us about pain and injustices of life often arousing an amount of indignation. It states: I said, “I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me.” 2 I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; and my sorrow was stirred up. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing (meditating) the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue. 4 “LORD, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. 5 Indeed, You have made my days as hand-breadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best is vapor. 6 Surely every man walks about like shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.

Repressed grief, and pent up emotions over man’s broken plans produced a flame that had long been smothered. Anything causing heat can be built up to produce a “hot” flame. In the place of the hidden heart, the many rooms contain plans, dreams, and most likely brokenness from previous relationships or with current ones. People need to talk about things but not to the extent of hammering others to the ground. We each are responsible to ourselves. We are to be responsible at the age we are and not hammer others or badmouth another when our own mouths and actions got us into that place of “trouble” and possible exile!  Being out of God’s will is like being in the “wrong” land at the "wrong" time! 

 It is willfully doing our own things when God has directed us to a certain path and to safety. And when we do not listen or obey, we find ourselves in a heap of a mess. Surely we must come to our senses and quickly not to lose the foundation of that which was placed by God in our youth or in the learning stages of His grace.

 There is something to exile, to that scattering, that God finds very good. For it certainly is not all grief, but stages the Father will take to see us kept safe and to know that we have done “wrong” will be readily before us. And we choose to see repentance is the needed answer, then we are to respond to Him so our relationship with Him continues.

Proverbs 19:21  There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the LORD’S counsel---that will stand.

Jesus told us of the heart! In Matthew 15:19 we are told that out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, and all of these kinds of things. The heart, yes, is your driving force. And some people have them “souped- up, and turbo charged. They have a hidden danger of heat burning within the heart and without allowing God to lead them through, they thrash others with verbal sword strikes that can kill.

When they "text' their friend, it appears has the hate message. In posting something, they attack someone, and list their very bad issues of character.

Still others will take a trip to fantasy land. They will make the required reservations, check their finances for the availability of  the quick purchase, fun-fare, rides of amusement, fancy dining and the quick snack on-the run thinking they are having a great time, the "great family vacation or family time together,  till they arrive home, and their old “friend bitterness” is there spilling over into grief of lost ones, lost family dinners with the crowd of loved ones, grief over what might have been and ending up on foreign soil. 

Finding their solitude painful they try silence only for the patient few days and then the flame of grief  is fanned into flame by the tongue of anger for the lost.  Their money spent, their tired from long drives, tired from long days and short nights with little or no sleep and pretending all the while that the party is still going and growing.

God does not want us to stop making plans, but He always wants us to understand that those plans are subject to His will and His purpose. God is judging the thoughts of our hearts and the plans that we make, and if they are not in harmony with His plan, then His judgment may result in something that might be emotionally or physically painful to us in order that we are put back on track.

The word of God is to be our "plumb line". Anger can appear and frustrations can be revealed, but we cannot be led by what we "feel". We must know the Word of God, regard it as the standard and not move off it . Party time is not the answer when a heart is about to blow with frustrations and many questions. And if you or I lust after other things as to what people do, what people wear and  to what people have, then we have the wrong thought process. For lust only brings the loss of most likely our good health and life.

Living godly, will bring life that is long and far from the land of exile. The next time something tries to send you into exile, remember God has a plan of good and not evil for a hope in our final outcome. Do not lose focus of His word of truth to lead you out into the light. Turn toward your Father in heaven ask in Jesus name for the expulsion to begin of the grief and pain. Be reminded He lost His Son for our benefit. He lost His first son Adam and His second Son Jesus, but gained life back for us through Jesus. What may be before you should not dictate your life for bitterness as it is harmful and grief can be devastating. It can devastate your life, your home and family.
Remember Jesus came as a human not as God to walk here. He came born into suffering and pain but it was His empathy that made the perfect sacrifice. He is for you and He will help!

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Living by the Testimony of Christ

https://youtu.be/X8KHLzFhVa4

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

Salvation is a Place

https://youtu.be/WbBaih_UUcs

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

http://bit.ly/2wgu1kw