No Clothes

Luke 8:26-39
26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!" 29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. 30 Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. 32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. And they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. 33 Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. 34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned. 38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you." And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.    NKJV

I am always intrigued by the strategy of God. In coming from a meeting yesterday with leadership, I come away with that which has to be God or FAIL! Now in the human side of things, we can certainly fail and make those mistakes. But in looking out for others is paramount. It is loving your neighbor above your self. When finding some leaving from ministry, you look for that which helps them make the transition they need to make, in order that they keep their walk with the Lord.

And of course, it is always in the Word and seeing our faith built up by that prosperous word.

We can face some things at time, when opposition will come and it does. Believe me, it comes and we must be ready with the Word that prevails in our lives.  In praying for all attending this meeting yesterday, I remembered the passage above. Now reading in that which is right before Luke 8:26-39.......and please read for yourself, there was this great wind that blew up on them in the boat crossing from Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes. And in this storm, Jesus was asleep in the boat as they crossed over to the "other side". The windstorm came down on the lake and was causing waves so high that the boat was filling with water. Now Jesus was in the bottom of the boat and had to be awakened. The disciples spoke, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Jesus arose from His slumber, rebuked the wind and the raging water. AND THEY CEASED! Then a calm was upon them. And Jesus asked, "Where is your faith?" And the disciples were afraid and even marveled that the winds and the water obeyed Him.

Well after seeing the supernatural occur in my life............let's see now, "my faith" is.......!

Distraction  is a vehicle for how the devil likes to bring fear into people's lives. We must have the balance like my husband and kids say all the time. And it is true for that Word always. We must have discernment when something changes dramatically in our lives. Like the disciples above, the wind and waves became bothersome to cause a "fear".  Where was the balance?

But God did not give us a spirit of fear, He gave us power, love, and a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 

NKJV

He desires "balance" that comes from reading the Word, over and over. It comes by praying His Word back to Him to remind Him of what He has spoken. And it is being thankful for that Word that we can walk on as we had seen Jesus do in Matthew 14.

Matthew 14:26-27

26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." 

NKJV

In reading in verse 27 from Luke chapter 8, our scripture foundation, we find that they have gotten to the country, and the place they arrived was the "tombs". Hey, been to the cemetery to minister lately? NO! 

Jesus knew this man to have many demons for a long time. How? Well, he had on no clothes. He was dirty and when he spoke, it was not him speaking, but the demonic spirit. For the demonic spirits do not want to be tormented.......as he spoke about knowing Jesus as the Son of the Most High God! And this devil of demons had brought others with him to inhabit this man in that they were a legion and were called "Legion".

As they asked Jesus to permit them to go into the swine..........it scared the swine so greatly that they created a stampede and they fell off the edge of land and into the water to drown. Those who fed them and saw what had happened fled.......... to tell it in the city.

They fled.....away from a man being helped. They ran away!

And on their return, they find the man clothed, sitting at the feet of Jesus and in his right mind.

 And the people were afraid.........now there is two sets of people here who were the "afraid"..........yes, they had fear. Yet, Jesus came to set the captives free and how does that look? Disciples had "fear" in the boat with terrible winds and high waves. Now, it was the neighbors having fear of that which is helpful for another human.

Let's look more closely into this.

Well, first of all those leading have to be set free from that which holds them in a bondage, if there be one. Then as a group, worship God, praise the Lord, and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance each and every moment of our lives. Because there will be times the wind will be boisterous, and the waves high, and we must quiet the voices from the outside that represents the world and the five senses.
These who followed their senses were okay with the naked running around the tombs. (Yikes!) They were comfortable with the naked man living close to the pigs and vice versa.

But Jesus asked "where is your faith?" On the boat, it was the faith factor that was missing. For our lives to be the balanced, we like Jesus are to have the Word, and go out to the community. Faith is the courage to believe in Jesus and trust His Way, Truth and Life. As we do this day in and day out, our faith grows, and it takes hold of that for which Jesus died to give us. We are to be the "just who live by faith". (Romans 1:17) The supernatural should not scare us. Jesus lived a life that was of the "supernatural". He lived by the Spirit!
I think of the verse where the demons wanted to go into the pigs. Now pigs are very social. In truth they dwell together in most circumstances. They have been known to save humans from instances of tragedy and brought their owner out of harms way ........from drowning and another from a bog. And the other thing I think of is that they smell sometimes. But living with the pigs was not this man's destiny. He came to the feet of Jesus. But this was in Jesus' time and pigs were not lawful to have in that land. So people were ignoring God and His Word!
What have we gotten use to seeing and doing everyday that could be harmful to our walk with God?
James 1:21-27 tells us to lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. We are not to just hear the Word but do it. We have to keep looking into that which brings us liberty. It is spirit and truth.


We are to walk on the top of our circumstances, not be weighted down my them. To do that we must apply the Spirit of that Word to our lives...........to walk on the water.........to calm the boisterous winds and high waves.........any circumstances that appear out of control. The kingdom of God has come through Jesus Christ. We are not seated on earth but in heavenly places. We speak as they speak in heaven and we see the same as they see in heaven.

Let's not be distracted by the familiarity that breeds contempt. I heard this person speaking the other day and she told how the word "compel" from the Bible and in case of the scripture......from Luke 14 and verses 23-24.......is a violence.........it is one that is not the meek, but that which was not translated rightly as was intended.

Luke 14:23-24
 23 Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.' " NKJV

And when we consider Jesus...the PROPHET, we know ....Him as the "passionate", He was "fire", He was the "vigilant" and those who 'ABIDE' in Him are those who become the passionate, the fire, the vigilant, and do the word of God. For if we move outside of that ring of fire....move out of the abiding.....then we become the..........bored, then, the disgusted and then the loathing. Our sights are to be set on the Lord and remain vigilant of how He lived and was social with others. It was about touching their hearts.

In the above passage, we saw the pigs who are a social creature, who constantly communicate with one another, and have much different sounds when communicating with another. The pigs are suppose to be a friendly animal and that the female is only mean when provoked when she has young offspring.

In the social environment we are not meant to abide in contempt for another, or in disapproval, or in anger or even  in rage.  Social is not about being satisfied with seeing "man" running around as the naked as the Gadarenes had grown accustomed to seeing. In social environments it is about being healed with the touch of Jesus, that Word of power being brought by those who have sound minds to speak that into another. It is about bringing fire to LIGHT THE DARKNESS, and see that power become new in others. I am certain Jesus did not go up to the tombs in meekness, but in power of the Holy Spirit. He went in power ...........and we are to go out in power.........to compel them..........to tell them with fire, that Jesus lives today, that He died for them 2000 years ago and speak to them in prayer to God that God is love and He is for them. If we are the stagnate, if we are the dry, it is because we have no word in us. It is a zeal, a passion and it is how we are to act and speak.

Let''s abide in the Word to have the same zeal Jesus did when He met the demoniac in the tombs of  Gadara. Maybe if we touch someone with that fingerprint upon their hearts that is of the true, the fire, then we will see Revival Burn for the nation to bring others to the feet of Jesus. 

You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV

Changing Seasons: Embrace the Transition

Don't you love the changing seasons? My favorite is Fall. I am always delighted with the leaves of color falling to the ground as they leave the season of warmth in glorious color and display marking the time for mankind to make time for rest during the cold, wet season that follows so briskly behind.
Those leaves of color surely are majestic on the mountainside or along a roadway that leads out of town and into the country where there is an explosion of color on both sides of the road, in every driveway marking a pathway to someone's home and even around those lakes and along the depths of ditches. I can look out my backdoor and see the golds, yellows, cranberry reds and blazing orange that adds color on a golf course of velvet green. Yes, those leaves are falling and man attempts to clean them up, sweep them away from that velvet green, but I like the gentle fall of those leaves and how they cover the ground so quickly when the wind announces it is in town to stay!
As those men try to sweep away the past, do we reflect on that which God brought us through, what God did when we needed Him the most, and if we touched lives in His name?
Our yard has been decorated with some unwanted broken limbs from the swaying of the willow trees. Yes that wind has announced loudly that winter will be here much too soon.  But seriously, Fall is the best time of year to me.
Fall is transition time!

Fall is the time to reflect on the months gone by for 2015. It is the time to settle once and for all that God is with us. We are to know that without doubt He is our safety and security. But we must also take account of what lies before, in the cold of winter, the wind of change in the air, and time to either relax or remain in what we have seen year after year or acclaim loudly, that we are the awakened and ready to be partnered with God for the end time harvest.

When we look for that "change" to appear on the horizon, we either embrace it or run from it. We will find those who choose to stay behind while the few, those chosen will move even in the cold of winter to find God's plan for them. They will look to make plans and see about outreaches to their community. They look for any doors that will be opened to them. They look for any class time, Bible study time, and lots of prayer time with those who will assist them in moving forward for AND WITH God and in those valued things God has prepared for those who love Him and are the called.

I think of Moses, and how he must have wrestled with God through those lies that came to taunt Moses at every turn as the time grew closer for God's people to be led out of captivity.
In Hosea 2:14-15 we find about some "trouble" that becomes a door of hope!
Hosea 2:14-15
14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak comfort to her.
15 I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.   NKJV

If you have come through "trouble" understand you are not alone in this. Others have come the same way and probably in a different manner. As God comforts His family, they find a place to sing and rejoice in what He is doing. I have seen it this year, have you?


Isaiah 65:8-10
"As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes
and men say, 'Don't destroy it,
there is yet some good in it,'
so will I do in behalf of my servants;
I will not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;
my chosen people will inherit them,
and there will my servants live.
10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
for my people who seek me.              NIV

Yes, for God's people who really seek Him will find that resting place. Even when the cold winds blow reminding us that winter is not too far off, yet, we keep our eyes on the horizon and our future which God knows so well.

Now in the case of this "trouble" Achan was a son of Carmi of the tribe of Judah. His sin was that in his covetousness, he took a chance  of taking a mantle from Shinar which is Babylon and he also took for himself two hundred shekels of silver and a gold bar about fifty shekels' in weight. (all the metals were to be given in consecration to God)

They were told "NOT TO TAKE ANYTHING" FROM the fallen city of Jericho. A ban was in effect to not remove anything from the city but that all that could be burned would be burned. As of the metals, they were to be consecrated to God. Read in Joshua 6:15-21.....

Joshua 6:15-21

15 But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. 16 And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city! 17 Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18 And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19 But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD." 20 So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.    NKJV

Really strong punishment for not obeying God. Achan and his crew of family, and all property was brought to the area to be stoned and then burned with fire. See Joshua 7:25. High price to pay for not being loyal to God!

Our lives are certainly touched by many other lives. But we choose whom we will serve. Do we want to serve ourselves, and get our way all the time OR will we serve God faithfully and expect His good for us? ARE WE COVETOUS ABOUT SOMETHING WE SHOULD LEAVE BEHIND?

In agreeing with someone, is it right in the eyes of God? Like Achan, his sons and daughters were at some degree responsible as he was. As their leader of the household, he should have been bent toward following the instructions given to all by God. And as that leader, leading his family to do the same. But alas, it was not to be for Achan and his own!
It is to our advantage to be disciplined in the Word of God and in His wisdom.  Achan certainly chose his covetousness above God. He had to be stopped because any further venture in that direction by any others as Achan, would change the end of what Canaan was representing to Israel. And what was promised was this land of 'promise'. It was to be inhabited by the Jewish people and to be divided among the 12 tribes of Israel. It was a future and a hope that God desired for His people!

Jeremiah 42:5-6

 5 So they said to Jeremiah, "Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you. 6 Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."   NKJV

Whatever "trouble" we may have passed through in 2015, let it be known this day that "what the Lord speaks, pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God.

"Church" as we know it as been done in most cases as a religious thing. Of course we know "church " to be the body of Christ. It is to have no walls around it. What is on the horizon, is that which is ministry to those outside the walls of a building. Ministry will be done in new ways, new plans, and through much prayer time with God. What is on the horizon looks like dramatic change. Those who have spent time with God know this is happening. They are the excited, they have "boots on the ground" ready for action.  This transition is happening. We move into our future today. We use those cold, wet days to pray, seek God in ways we never have before and lean not to our own understanding but in all our ways trust Him and know His way is the "right way" and we will move into Spring with victory for those who are faithful to the call!

That which is God belongs to God and that which is of the world should be left behind. You choose!

Let's make a faithful commitment to serve God with all our hearts, move out of the building with walls and touch people's hearts with the love of God!

An except from my blog: A Zealous Warrior at Dawn or In the Dark of Night:
It takes more than the prowess of a strengthened body and muscles twice the size of a weight lifter to prove the worth in battle. But ultimately, we face an enemy who works in the spirit world. We have to be trained in the Word that is "spirit and truth". David said, "I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it." NOW THAT IS A WARRIOR IN ACTION THAT IS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL!

Ephesians 6:12-19......12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;  18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints------19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Our strength to walk everyday is in knowing God and His ways and thoughts. We are to be clothed with that which looks like "the Christian soldier". We are to contend with faith that our trust is in God and His plan. We look expectantly to victory for He is our courage, and all the promises He has for us, are in Him and Him alone! As we know, the devil does not show up in a red suit and tail to dance around us, but he certainly works in darkness and to practice the ambush he wants to set to destroy man. He came to Jesus in the "wilderness" after the water baptism, and he too, can come and tempt with the eye gate and ear gate. He always comes to people, not in a repulsive form but with some enticing temptation to allure to his way of sin and deceit. He comes with an invitation to entice one to the pleasures of the world. Any darkness can represent sin and ignorance. We are to be those Christian solderers, who as warriors, wage the war on the enemy. We are to light the way with God's Word and declare what he has done through His Son Jesus. We are those to stand against pride, ambition and of course, against any revenge against another person. Jesus taught what His Kingdom was and we are to operate within that kingdom. We are to stand against anything that speaks crosswise to the Word of God.

Reading the Word of God is paramount and when we put on our righteousness, we are standing ready with the Word for battle. We are the warriors, who have put on truth in our hearts, and being sincere to speak knowing it is what our Father God speaks as well.

Change is here, like it or not! Being ready is important..........to move when God says "MOVE"...........not out of town, or hide in a cave, but be ready to move to the frontline to face and speak to the enemy with truth. Surely we need to rest, but it is in His peace we are to reside. And if you do not know that peace or are far from it...........then find out why you are not at peace! God has the answer.  Truly God is for us..........AND HE IS IN US! Rise and take your place. Find that door........God is our hope for all our tomorrow's............It is not over yet!  Embrace the transition and be loyal to God! Amen!

You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV