Seasons

Voice of Prayer

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6  BUT concerning the times and the seasons brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us no sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.

Seasons come and go. We watch with anticipation for the flowers first bloom, even when the temps are barely able to climb into the fifties. Then we watch for the rays to cast longer shadows for the lengthening days and by the fourth of July we expect to see the days grow shorter and the warmth to turn to a shiver that travels from the face and down our spine. It is most certainly the right time to reach for that jacket or even a hooded jacket to keep the moist off the glasses to see clearly while taking that "short" walk around the yard or the neighborhood!

In 1 Thessalonians 5, we are reminded to keep watch as the one who believes the Gospel, the one who belongs to Christ Jesus and not to give way to a careless attitude where one is unconcerned about the seasons. Keeping in mind to keep God's word and foremost for that instruction leads us through God's grace and to the light and truth.  Our security is to be in the Lord and not in money or things or even in other people! It is not be centered in what we do but that the Lord is in what we do!
Was thinking about people who prepared for their children to go back to school. For in this new year, the parent or parents make certain the child or children have new clothes that fit, new shoes to start the year off right and to have a good outlook on their school learning. Had seen these teenagers interviewed this morning on their way back to school within the Portland, Oregon school district today and one teen said he thought he should be back at school for he was bored at home!

A friend we have known only a few years has a little one going to kindergarten, and we do not see them really anymore for they live in another community some miles away. BUT she had posted the child's look for school and her smile on Facebook and the little one's face spoke volumes about her starting school. Am thinking that the child will do well in her new surroundings indeed!

Preparation is always important. The Lord will come as we see in verse 3. There will be people who will be destroyed. Now no one likes that talk, right? Yet the Bible is firm on it. For we are told those who put their trust into things will not have opportunity to repent. For truly today is the day of salvation, to repent and turn toward the Lord God. If we keep putting off God, then why should we expect Him to answer when the "destruction" comes?


The Lord will come and many will see His coming manifested. He will come when they are not expecting Him to appear.
In the flood, Noah spent some hundred years to build and then the drops fell from the sky. Rain came down of which no one had seen before ever. And people did not repent! They did not stop what they were doing to heed God and the warning!

Jesus will return. And the warning is given to us that we make the changes needed to heed His plan and not ours.
Suddenly, yes destruction is suddenly, and will happen.  As a pregnant woman, that woman in travail (those labor pains) will grown consistently till the child appears. So too, the Lord Jesus has spoken of His coming.  And for any event, large or small people like to prepare. As for going back to school, preparation is key to having order and provide the needed supplies your child may need to be instructed in that which will aid them as adults.
For the Christian, the believer, we too must be equipped and watchful.
To be sober-minded, we keep awake and alert to the devices of the enemy. There was an event of a hurricane that was forecasted to hit the Texas coast last week and people were gathering their plywood on Friday and the storm hit Saturday. (seriously if you can trust the news on TV anymore) I wondered why many took it so lightly and not get out while the getting out would have been good to do! We should maintain vigilance to watch and understand what the Lord would speak to us for safety and keeping close to His heart when alarms are being sounded!

I know not how people live on the coastlines like they do. And many certainly continue to build in the pathways of destructive storms. If you look at the maps of all the former hurricanes they surely made their marks to be read about decades later. Still people will build in that same pathway!
If I am the Christian, and am told to live in that expectancy, am I doing that?

As the parent prepared for the child or children to return to school, should not we hold that place of action and be active in character to keep the Lord our priority? Do we leave church, and go somewhere to indulge in a meal? Do we leave a prayer service and go indulge in something hidden with the dark of night?  (Well, I took care of God's thing, now I am doing my thing?)

Seasons most certainly appear. They come and they go. And being ready should be important to each of us. Observation to keep watch, is the action in full view of others, that Jesus is our Lord. He is Lord, morning, noon and night. He is Lord when we eat at a restaurant. He is Lord when we buy groceries or when we drop by to get those special cinnamon rolls our kids like to eat. Jesus is Lord when we retire at night.  The seasons, well they last some three months....and with that we experience the height and depth of a cold and icy season, the extreme of a hot dog day summer or the extreme of a wind of 75 miles an hour in the dark of night.
Whatever our lives, they should reflect the life which when looked upon could be seen in a 24-hour period in the full blaze of a well-lighted day!

Just like knowing preparation is important for your children to return to school in good form, so too, we should be well prepared with an expectancy that the Lord is coming for His church, the believer's. What we do in any 24 -hour period should be for full display that we belong to Christ Jesus, with no if's, and's or but's about it. Belonging to the Lord is speaking His language, knowing His heart always and being prepared when He says "move"!
And then do it!

I pray today for those living in Texas and the children going back to school. I pray people would know in Jesus' name that power of destruction and that we should know God who keeps us in safety when we chase after Him, seeking Him while He may found and knowing there is a day coming when the Lord will come suddenly. Will people be prepared to know His coming? Today Lord is the day of salvation and may people heed the call to repentance. We pray today for children returning to school and may they be in safety and protection. May they be far from gun violence and far from the angry man. May people come to know the Lord Jesus and move in the places He has purpose for them. May they truly know His love and be bound to His plan of good. Lord we are thankful for those who are the lines in Texas in search, in rescue, in clean-up and and restoration. We pray today for hearts to be encouraged and show us who we might help and send money that would be the most useful. WE BELIEVE FOR THE GOOD TO COME TO TEXAS AND MAY THEY RISE OUT OF THE DESTRUCTION WATERS KNOWING BETTER IS AHEAD! LORD THANK YOU FOR LOVE AND SAFETY IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING. AMEN!

Notice: 

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Anxious Thoughts or Offensive Ways: Swearing By God's Authority

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnhWXUACel4

New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

Behold the Beauty of The Lord : Psalm 27 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH-2RpzYReg

You can also visit my You Tube channel Voice of Prayer 

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

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

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Whispers!

In a previous blog I had written how our grand-child loves to whisper. The telling of a secret is fun for a small child, but those who are grown up and do not keep them become the teller or the gossiper of said story or tale! But remembering we are to come before God as children, and have that relationship with Him, what does a whisper look like? When coming to God as a child and speaking, what voice does one use?  Again, I think of our grand-child and how she speaks. There are times she is serious, especially about the "artwork" and she speaks seriously about how many pictures to color. As for me, I love to color pictures with her. It relaxes me to hear better and to watch her more intently as she works her way through a day of life living as a child. Her more humorous times comes in the "sun" while out of doors. You have probably read that story as well. She can get loud and can be heard around the whole neighborhood. Yes, she can voice what she is experiencing. And did God not give us a voice to be heard?

In thinking on this writing this morning, I thought of how I always thought of Hannah when praying before the Lord. It was that "whisper" I thought of and how she prayed with moving her lips but so silently speaking in whisper tones of the pain she was experiencing.

She had wanted a son and she had no children at all. In referencing Hannah for this, I am reminded of the "extreme" life she had lived. In her painful existence as a wife, she had no children with her husband. In reading about Hannah, we see that she never stopped sharing her heart with the Lord. In 1 Samuel 1:10, we find her praying out in pain of all that she was dealing with in her life!


1 Samuel 1:9-18.....9 So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the LORD. 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish. 11 Then she made a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head." 

12 And it happened, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, "How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!" 15 And Hannah answered and said, "No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. 16 Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now." 17 Then Eli answered and said, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him." 18 And she said, "Let your maidservant find favor in your sight." So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. NKJV

Out of the abundance of our heart, we will speak. (verse 16) Matthew 12:34-37...........
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."   NKJV

The priest Eli saw Hannah. He evidently had moved closer by verse 13 and he saw her lips moving, but her voice he could not hear. A WHISPER!
Eli in his haste to speak called her a woman who was drunk. He was scolding her to put her wine away. But Hannah responded, "NO, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now."
She had spoken in the past, but the pain was such that she now had only a WHISPER!
AT THAT MOMENT, all she had left within her was that WHISPER OF PAIN. 

Proverbs 13:12......12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when dreams come true at last, there is life and joy.  TLB

Psalm 143:7-10........7 Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens; don't turn away from me or I shall die. 8 Let me see your kindness to me in the morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for my prayer is sincere. 9 Save me from my enemies. O Lord, I run to you to hide me. 10 Help me to do your will, for you are my God. Lead me in good paths, for your Spirit is good.  TLB

Hannah had shared her home with another woman who had given Hannah's husband, Elkanah children. Peninah was mean to Hannah and flaunted the truth that she could give Elkanah children, and we see in 1 Samuel 1:4-8....that Hannah was provoked in a way that irritated Hannah. Hannah was in such an unrest that she could not eat but cried instead.
1 Samuel 1:4-8........ 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. 6 And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" NIV

Hannah was so loved by her husband, yet her womb was closed up. She had not given her loving husband a child! She probably suffered much anguish. I am certain that when Peninah challenged her about the children, Hannah had to confront her anguish by seeking God. Hannah held her ground. 

She demonstrated a prayer life that only ONE God could answer with what she asked. When it came to WHISPERS, she kept her eyes on God for the answer to come. We certainly do not have to experience that which Hannah did, for today there is a law against having more than one wife at a time. But we should still see that in whatever Hannah's problems, she gained a much needed strength in prayer!

Is our prayer life one that truly exists? Is our day set and scheduled around God and His purpose for us that day? I remember a friend stating once that her life-line to God was much like a rope. She considered her prayer time, a time where she would keep one end and throw God the other and wait on Him to answer. She always considered God to keep what she had given to Him in prayer and that answers would come. She prayed to receive them in the form to which He desired to answer her! 

2 Corinthians 4:13-15...........13 We boldly say what we believe [trusting God to care for us], just as the psalm writer did when he said, "I believe and therefore I speak." 14 We know that the same God who brought the Lord Jesus back from death will also bring us back to life again with Jesus and present us to him along with you. 15 These sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the more of you who are won to Christ, the more there are to thank him for his great kindness, and the more the Lord is glorified. TLB  

         

1 Samuel 1:18-23............18 And she said, "Let your maidservant find favor in your sight." So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. 

19 Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. 20 So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked for him from the LORD." 21 Now the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "Not until the child is weaned; then I will take him, that he may appear before the LORD and remain there forever." 23 And Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him. Only let the LORD establish His word." So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. NKJV

1 Samuel 2:18-21............18 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod. 19 Moreover his mother used to make him a little robe, and bring it to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "The LORD give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was lent to the LORD." Then they would go to their own home. 21 And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the LORD.   NKJV

From chapters 1 and 2 of 1 Samuel, we find the Lord blessing Hannah. In verse 20 of 1 Samuel 1, we find she conceived, and called him Samuel. He was to minister before the LORD God. And in 1 Samuel 2:21, we find Hannah conceived and gave birth to three more sons and two daughters. Hannah received her desire and gave him to the Lord without hesitation. What a faith we see in Hannah! A woman who experienced derision and tribulation when another woman shared her husband. But a true beauty came through that her trust was to be in God the Lord and He would see her through those demanding experiences of pain. Because of a thankful heart, she received more children in her union with Elkanah!  We do not reside in a "rose garden" where there are no trials or tribulations. But we do live life that in whatever comes, our expectancy is to be in the Lord. For He will do valiantly, and the more we trust in Him, the more ease and peace, we will experience in knowing He has our back.
I believe Hannah always had a forgiving heart toward Peninah.

I close this by writing to those who may be men reading this. In regards to Hannah and what she believed for in her union with her husband, men can also experience such in the workplace.
I believe this to be a prophetic word to any men who work in the business arena. What God has placed in you to do for His kingdom can still come forward and be given life. For with Hannah, we saw a woman who was so provoked by another, only a whisper remained to pray. If that is where you are today, remember God still hears, and when we truly believe that He can bring to life that which we may have thought was dead or would never happen, God is on your side and He will do what He has promised! Whatever Peninah's surround you in the workplace and whatever "children" the other person has, whatever great idea or concept the other person may hold at this moment, God still hears and answers prayers. He is forever leaning forward, and reaching out to us. All we have to do is speak, even in a WHISPER, "Lord, help me"............and reach out whether it be in anguish, despair and heartache, He will HEAR AND HE WILL ANSWER!  HE WILL BRING FORTH THAT WHICH HE DESIRES TO BIRTH THROUGH YOU IN THE WORKPLACE THAT WILL BRING PRAISE AND GLORY TO HIS HOLY NAME!
Lord, what the righteous desire will be granted (Prov 10:24), When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever. (Prov 10:25), the prospect of the righteous is joy (Prov 10:28), and (my )  mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,(Prov 10:31)!

 Father, thank You for those times we must WHISPER! We pray that You will stir us. As we read and spend time with YOU, we use that time in worshipful praise through our prayer time. We choose to continue to give YOU praise and honor for all that happens in this place of worship to YOU.  Father, we pray to be those men and women who will pray and co-operate with YOU and the instruction YOU give us. We pray that You bring illumination to things we may not understand at this moment. Today, we give thanks that YOUR Word comes into places we need to see and to make decisions based on the truth of YOUR Word. We seek to be those who will give birth to the new concepts, the new inventions, the world-changing ideas that will no longer be hindered by our own thinking, but we will prevail, because we hold onto to YOUR ways and thoughts and operate in the wisdom of God that will see the kingdom come in our workplace, homes and ministries.

We believe those decisions we must make, will be made in truth and integrity without pain and any difficulty. Thank Your for showing us things that are hidden to us that we must know. We give thanks in advance of any warnings we may need to know and need to respond to. We desire to keep step with YOU and YOUR ways today. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen and Amen.

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