What are We Embracing Today?

Embracing the dangerous might hold you by its thorns!

Proverbs 12:26 The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.
What does evil imply when applied to daily living? Scripture tells us to choose our friends carefully and many people choose to go with the "crowd". Some remain close to family for "a hand-out" while others look for various ways to get rich quick! Still the word of God, His very wisdom tells us to choose our friends carefully!

You can pick a crowd, any crowd, like the one at the coffee shop, the crowd at the Mall, the crowd at the workplace and within them you will find at least one person either male or female remarking of someone in the world won the lottery, someone bet on "something" with their last buck in hand and won some pile of money or else they are that someone "who"  was just given "a new car" when they "just" walked in the door of a store downtown.
And many times, yes, the "righteous" fellow will gravitate to follow the crowds roar of enthusiasm for those who made it rich overnight, became a new car owner or even of that person who instantly experienced loss of weight overnight.

Anyone knows that keeping healthy takes more than just healthy eating. It takes more than just reading on the latest health tips available to us.  It also takes exercise and good sleep at night to heal a body and give it strength.
Others know that the best foot forward is out the door to the job and out the door to make a difference for your family. But there remains the man or woman who choose to seek the easy way out. They seek to gravitate toward the couch, stay out of gyms or even the paths to exercise the "dog" and continue to the ever growing waistline. They seek to avoid the workplace by looking for a simple hand-out!

Ask anyone who has really lost weight and how they at the very beginning of the "want to" within them, they turned to a spouse for support, they turned toward applying some effort to getting back to being the size 10 or the size 12 by eating less foods, picking healthier foods like fresh vegetables and they prayed over their endeavor to lose weight. It takes the diligent person to find the rowing machine, the outerwear for the rainy season to hit the paths in the rain & where the joggers are found regularly, exercising their way to the more healthy body for long life.

So if one finds friends who travel the wine tasting avenue, then there could arise some potential hazards to the wine tasting adventure. One might turn out to be a real "taster" to never stop.
On the other hand, you might run with the crowd who loves to  stand in long lines for lottery tickets to win the next big bundle to just go buy more lottery tickets. Yikes!

Proverbs 12:24  The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor. Yes there are many who want to live in the mansion. There are many who want to drive that "exotic" looking car without the work behind the effort to gain such things. The slothful will not rule! Those lazy in attitude will remain slothful. They will devise their way from their sofa or couch.
To really work, is to put effort in that which we are hired to do and do it to the point of where we are learning to increase in productivity. My husband is one who wanted to learn as much as he could of the maintenance side of machines, the maintenance of anything that would produce energy to mankind. In that he learned skills, not found in books but with "all hands" on the job and in detail of the very work. In that today, he teaches many others how to apply those skills.
In recent weeks, I had noticed of the special reports of those in cities looking to put more emphasis on what people call the blue collar worker. In that is the person who has learn the trades: welders, electricians, mechanics, iron-workers, etc. For in this the 21st century there is a laborless force for what is called the "blue collar" worker. Many women are choosing that field many frown upon today as it pays too little for them to live. But when one really looks at the whole picture, many are choosing to have "no labor" a part of their lifestyle. They want: easy, free if possible, with no loss of that which they really like and entertain in their hearts to have.
Then one can also find those who say they are doing their work, but later find that while a specific problem reared its head, the person or persons involved or should have been involved were off like someone on Facebook! Surely if we are hired to do a specific job, then we should do it to the ability God has given us to do our work.

Something for nothing seems to be the motto of many people and of those coming from other countries as well! It appears that some people choose welfare instead of actually living a life to the full that God planned for us to live. Even today we find those who would rather play games than work.  But this great land was built by the strength of arm and the sweat of the brow.
I think of my Savior who walked to many cities in His day to make sure others would know of the love that had come from the Father of lights and of whom there is no variableness. He never changes His mind. He does not change His word to fit us, we spend time in His word to find out what we truly look like and how we are to act. So that one day we will see the actual image God planned for us what it looks like and how to live that image.
Hopefully we are embracing truth and not lies. Hopefully our eyes are on Jesus and that we have strength and power through the Holy Spirit to move through this life in that which pleases God. In this hopefully we awoke today and rose to walk another day in the glory of the Lord, to hear Him speak and how we can be a blessing to others. This was never meant for hand-outs but a hand-up to see God's love, and bask in the beauty of Him. Today commit your works unto the Lord and your thoughts shall be established. (Proverbs 16:3) Be fixed in Him, and when you do, He leads and controls your thoughts toward life, to brand-new information that is from His treasury of wisdom. Really there is no alternative!

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The Tower of Babel

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Cloudy with a Chance of What?

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Now if you live in the Northwest region of the U.S. you will certainly have some cloudy days. Of late we had those fronts come that bring not only low clouds, heavy rain, but also some dampness with cold brisk winds. This is April and not January, please! Now I realize the "old saying" that April showers bring May flowers, but the flowers we already have in sight require some much need sun and not a soaking pot of soil with extra amounts of water!
In searching or seeking the Lord, we can sometimes find those cloudy days with a chance of something we did not expect.
Was reading a book given to me by a neighbor to read on prayer. It has been quite a delight to read and the endeavors the author walked through provided answers to him through seeking the Father in prayer times, reading of the word and fasting!
Was thinking of David encountering Goliath...you know the young man charging the giant in front of multitudes that were more equipped than he in their active role of military, still the young man poised with God and His plan solved the dilemma for King Saul!
Noah too, had much rejection as well.....as the pastor of only what was of few people being his family, he built an ark in the desert and with very little help. We know it took him a while to build it since the one hundred years marked the end of construction and the beginning of much rain.

Faith is needed to live a spiritual life! Faith is required for those not afraid to see the unseen appear when they believe, fast and pray for the thing they seek. Certainly those things should be for the glory to God and to His praise, and He certainly does not mind us having things as longs as "things" do not have us!
The initial faith to just make it across town is certainly safety we all seek. It is also the faith most walk with. It appears as: "Lord help me to cross over to the other side in safety" and then when there, we pray the same to return home. But when we are really strong in faith we are those who live by the spirit, to see in the Spirit as the Spirit leads us home and to God's glory! It is a bulldog faith that pulls the crippled out of wheel chairs, and sees the dead live to walk again!

John 4:24 "God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. Living in God is living in reality not what you see on those reality T.V. programs!  We are to reject those things that separate us from God. And we are to nurture an increasingly deepened relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is only that which comes from Him that brings life.

The Spirit of God the Holy Spirit came and Jesus spoke of His coming.
Jesus is the example of the cultivated life in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit came on Jesus at the Jordan in the water baptism and the Holy Spirit proved vital energy to His life of devotion to God the Father. In drawing from the well of salvation, we draw on the very promises of God that produces the life God intended us to have. In the light of these promises we have the light of life that came through Jesus. And in that light we see both spiritually and physically. So there should be no blindness in our lives.

David with spiritual eyes took 5 stones but he only needed the 1 stone to slay the giant. The other four stones was for the brothers of the giant! (1 Samuel 17:40)
Noah had spiritual energy and spiritual knowledge to see how to build an ark with his family. Have you worked with family? And the wise men saw the star.....being led by the ONE who CREATED the very stars in the sky to lead them to the Messiah, to upset King Herod and to make a statement to the wise men in a dream to depart another way home! ( Matthew 2:12)

Clouds appeared on these situations but not so much as a real cloud, because Noah had never known rain, and still it was a "word" given that rain was coming to flood what they knew as home. David was flanked by military "know it all's "  who had a the savvy but not God's favor.
Those captured by God, and His excellence will find truth carried out in justice. These two sought to bind themselves to God's presence and His promptings. Being sensitive to God's Spirit quiets our spirit into His peace. Responding to Him is answering in obedience that is of worship to Him and for Him.
 In these it was of what one could count as cloudy with a chance of something happening, but God intervenes when He gives His word. These two were delivered out of adversity!
For Noah, his family was preserved. The first covenant of promise was given. Noah built but God gathered. In obedience, Noah put something together for God and when the structure was sturdy and ready God gathered. God gathered with the love to usher and place in safety that which God Himself wanted to preserve as the godly family and God's creation of animals.
For David, a throne was established that would come from the very lineage of a shepherd boy. Told of the enduring house (1 Samuel 25:28) for Abigail ,married to a scoundrel, knew by the Holy Spirit when meeting him on the way told told him that  he was one who fought the battles of the LORD and evil was not found in David throughout his days.
 In 2 Samuel 7 God declares in verse 13 that He would establish a throne of the seed of David. Through Solomon the generations were set to deliver the manifested King. Verse 16 God declared "your house and your kingdom shall be established forever."
Jesus lived out His time in the Spirit. He moved from place to place to declare the Father's glory. He lived by the spirit to see the future and we too, are to declare our future by the words of spirit and truth.
Jesus operated by the Holy Spirit of truth. And Jesus wore a crown of thorns. Cloudy with a chance of what?
For many people of that day expected Jesus to take over the throne from the king, move Rome out and live free and happy. Awe, but this was not to be done in this manner. For the Messiah was seen by wise men, and was expected by none else but only Mary and her cousin Elizabeth knew. Time reveals all and just because it is cloudy and raining out of that which may sound like defeat, death causing disease or loneliness, yet God is on the scene. He has never left us. He did not leave Noah, David nor did He leave Mary, Elizabeth or Jesus. In relying by faith we see that which we believe.
Down on our knees we submit to His plan, and by praying we seek to know the truth for our lives. And in that we find comfort from the psalmists before us that spoke of despair but rose to see justice in their time!
You may be saturated in mire, but God delivered us in freedom of salvation and with our debt paid we are to rally in the goodness of God and be comforted that help is here and available when we truly look with spiritual eyes in faith to see the way in which we are to walk according to His plan and for His glory! Amen.

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The Corruption of the Faith Or The Agonizing Faith

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A Mother's Touch and the Father's Hand

Proverbs 23:24-25
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her who bore you rejoice.   NKJV

And let her who bore you rejoice..........yes let your father and your mother be glad, but do we pay attention to the first part of that scripture...........that "the father of the righteous will greatly rejoice and he who begets a wise child will delight in him?

In this "father"...is "alpha"........meaning 1. In New Testament 260 is close association. The "father" raising righteous children will greatly rejoice.

Are we confessing that for our children, and our grand-children? Are we in a close association with them?  Now when our daughter was growing up, we had no thought of that at all. In most cases our Bible looked more the dust collection "center"! Now come on, you know what I write about. I am certain there is a Bible in your house that has a little dust on it. Well if I checked out your technological device, what would be the main interest focus you have placed in it would be centered or keyed on that one "thing" for the beginning of your day?

I hear people talk about those with a smoking problem, but they never realize they have the same problem with that "cell phone" they cannot seem to put it down for even an hour!

But back to that "close association"  now! Do we consider or think about this scripture? 

Galatians 5:1-6

5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.    NKJV

In Christ, it is faith working through love we are to stand fast.

In the Amplified it reads this way: 5:1...In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].  2 Notice, it is I, Paul who tells you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no profit (advantage, avail ) to you [ for if you distrust Him, you can gain nothing from Him].  (Yikes!)

Notice if we start from the first verse, we are talking about the liberty we have in which Christ has given to us. In that liberty we are not bound to anything like the religious people were trying to force on other saved men. In this act, they were forcing men back into the bondage they had just left when receiving Jesus as Lord. And Paul was telling them it was by faith working through love, and not acts of cutting of the flesh. For God surely can cut from our hearts what does not need to be in our hearts. He is the faithful to finish what He was been committed to do.

Faith is what we live by and being justified we speak as He speaks.

So if we are looking at a "close association", as the father with the righteous children, then we look at what love is given and shared. For when we read verse 6 in the amplified it looks like this: 6 For [ if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.

It is taught all the time that those who do not love other people will not have a faith that works! BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS ACTUALLY MEANS. THE meaning is, that their faith cannot work if they do not know how much the Father God loves them. It is allowing God to love us that will give us the ability to love other people. It is in our allowing to trust Him and walk in faith toward what He has given us that we will truly know love intimately! Amen.
Then we can see that reaching out to Him by seeking our faith is activated, and energized by His Word to us and for us. And when we truly know that love of God, then it is expressed and working through in us and through us to others!

In 1 John we find this:

1 John 4:7-11

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

NKJV

How can a father and mother love their child with God's kind of love? They know it by their spending time to experience it from Him. They will not find it surfing the net, so to speak or finding what is the next "big" thing in the cloud.

A "mother" can carry her child and know that child intimately. She carries a baby in the womb. She is not carrying a mass of tissue and such, but an actual thumb sucking baby with life from God for him/her in the mother's womb.  And when that child comes out of the womb of the mother, that baby remembers all the secret time with the "mother".  That baby stretches forth to reach and touch that face. They struggle to open their eyes against all that bright light in their face to see the face who spoke love to them. They wiggle, they squirm, and in their young healthy bodies they reach for "love".

We find the love of God by being born again. It is by receiving Jesus as Lord. For it was in this love of God that was manifested toward us that God sent His only begotten Son into the world. and that we could live through Him. For when we truly experience His love in this manner, we can see a Father who truly cares for HIS child. (or children)

And as children we are to search forth with eyes that do not see well and reach with hands for Him and by doing that one thing, we are reaching to find a love that never fades out, never dies, but only grows stronger. ( Psalm 42:8..........8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me--

a prayer to the God of my life.)

1 John 4:12-19

12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us. NKJV

Having the Holy Spirit to reside in our hearts is confirmation we have love for others. If we do not pray, if we do not spend time in the Word in regards to John 15, John 16, 1 John, 2 John and 3 John, then I would doubt one would be acquainted with God and would never hear Him speak. Our God the Father, is love and those who abide in Him will rise in His love, and they will dwell in His peace which passeth all understanding. Our faith .........that trust is in Him, not in the world's economy, not in the latest and greatest leader on the scene of the world stage,  but in God alone.

I close with this:

Psalm 62:7-12  Amplified

7. With God rests my salvation and my glory; He is my Rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness, and my refuge is in God!  8  Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is a refuge for us ( a fortress and a high tower), Selah. [Pause, calmly think of that!]

9  Men of low degree [in social scale] are emptiness (futility, a breath) and men of high degree [ in the same scale ] are a lie and a delusion. In the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. 10 Trust not in  and rely confidently not on extortion and oppression, and do not vainly hope in robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them. 11 God has spoken once, twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God. 12 Also to You, O Lord, belong mercy  and loving kindness, for You render to every man according to his work.

Luke 18:6-8

6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"   NIV

Is there justice....?? .....those,  God's chosen ones who pray, those who read His Word and declares those truths............justice will come quickly............and that faith............"will he find faith on the earth?" The Son of Man is coming! And what will He find?

It is not in trying to love our kids, or our neighbors. This not trying to love those you attend church with on Sunday morning or on a Saturday night, but it is loving our God Who has the "PLAN". It is that love that will propel us into His greater love and into His plan for us and for those we pray and encourage in our daily walk. Let's go breathe some life into some folks today........and in that walk they will see and experience God's loves!


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A Happening in the Winepress

Are we hiding away like Gideon? Do we do the daily things we need to do, but do it in the dark, at night, when no one is around?
When the Angel of the LORD appears, Gideon speaks. He declares what is in his heart. "If YOU the Lord are with us, why has all this happened to us?
Ever wonder sometimes why some things continue to occur in our lives, and there are no miracles?

Interesting to note in the passage below, Gideon ventures to ask if God is with them, then why has this all happened to us, but clearly God is with them. He came to give correction and to find Gideon hiding away in the "winepress" threshing wheat! What?
Are we actively doing our job, doing ministry, and not in the right place to be effective and a producer of what God desires for our part in His kingdom?
Was Gideon meditating on the fact that he was following a course set by the nation itself?

Judges 6:11-33,.............11 Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!" 13 Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."

14 Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" 15 So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." 16 And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man." 17 Then he said to Him, "If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. 18 Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You." And He said, "I will wait until you come back."

In verse 14, the LORD tells Gideon, that he is sent to do something. "Have I not sent you?" Gideon responds, "how can I save Israel?" That would be like us responding today, "how can I save the United States of America?" The LORD tells him that Gideon will defeat the enemy, the Midianites as one man. UNITY! And then it is Gideon who wants a sign that it is God who speaks! Gideon makes the plans to worship the LORD with his offering and  to set it before HIM! The LORD said He would wait for his return with the offering. In reading this passage I am prompted to think of how many times the Lord comes, and He says "I will wait here for your offering" and how times do we not bring it to Him? For preparation takes some time, right, and it must be done to bring honor to God Himself, so how long does the LORD wait on us to make a move when He first speaks?
I believe that the LORD heard Gideon's heart while he worked at threshing wheat in the "winepress".

19 So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. 20 The Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so.

Gideon made ready the offering of meat and the unleavened bread. When consumed, the LORD had departed. Gideon was now sanctified to do what the LORD asked him to do.

21 Then the Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. 22 Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face." 23 Then the LORD said to him, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die." 24 So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 

Now in verse 25, we still find the LORD speaking to Gideon. Even though Gideon saw Him depart out of his sight in verse 21, Gideon is made aware  by His speaking to him about what was next in the instructions to him!

25 Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, "Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down." 27 So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the LORD had said to him. But because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. 

Following instructions: "OH no, take the father's young bull. SECOND bull of seven years old. Take down the altar of Baal, cut down the wooden image that is beside the altar. BUILD: an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this rock in proper arrangement. TAKE SECOND BULL AND OFFER IT AS BURNT SACRIFICE WITH THE WOODEN IMAGE YOU SHALL CUT DOWN.
Taking ten men with him, the work was done as to the LORD'S command, but done at night!
Instruction was clear: cut down those idols in your life!

28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. 29 So they said to one another, "Who has done this thing?" And when they had inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing." 30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it." 31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!" 32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar."


The city men rose early and saw what had been done to the altar to Baal. Seems like many had the character of following the Baal god. They had the bent toward worshiping idols of such. The right spirit did not exist in Israel at the time. These men were leading their families down the path of being carnal and bent toward the things to be worshiped as in false gods, and not in God Himself. When Gideon obeyed, he moved out of the river of deception into the river that produces life and that is by God and in Him as well. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being.
Acts 17:28.................28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' NKJV

In this instance, we certainly see man choosing as Adam and Eve had chosen. In the garden we saw two people who chose to serve the false gods and the false idols of that day.  Gideon's obedience brought to him and those who wanted change, to a new day, and a new way, that God was wanting that "open door" to do His thing in a "miracle".  God desired for the Israelites to be enslaved no more by the Midianites.  A seven year.curse is a long one dealing with worshiping idols. It certainly sent Gideon into the winepress for threshing wheat! For whatever surplus of any crop, the Midianites would soon take it from the Israelites, so threshing wheat at the winepress kept it a secret.

In verse 31, we see Joash being inspired by his son Gideon, to act in way representing courage. He told the men of the city, if Baal had a problem with it, for Baal to take care of the matter. For if Baal were God, then he would be expected to avenge that which had been done to him. Simple and direct that if Baal had a problem with his altar being destroyed, now was the time to speak for himself!

33 Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

Being instructed and moving, Gideon blew the trumpet......when the Spirit of the LORD is there, as He is within us, He will clothe you where you are going. He anoints You to do the SPECIFIC THING HE DESIRES FOR YOU IN HIS PLAN!

When God does this, it is He who qualifies you to do that thing to where He is sending you.
I knew the day that He was clothing me, qualifying me to do something in Outreach Ministry. I knew the hour it all changed and that He was lining things up for me to move into position to minister at the jail and the Women's shelter. God certainly knows what He has planned and will see it done for your life. Another thing I noticed, was I had this confidence that God was with me no matter what,and that He was directing me as an orchestra and making the most beautiful music to display His glory at the jail and the women's shelter. Truly God is good, and He gives His children courage to move out in faith and see His will accomplished on earth!

When Gideon blew the trumpet, too many men came to help. Awesome that so many showed up and had a vote for change from serving the Midianites, but God wanted those who "would qualify". Read below!


Judges 7:4-18......................4 But the LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' the same shall not go." 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink." 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. 7 Then the LORD said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place." 8 So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. 

9 It happened on the same night that the LORD said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. 10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, 11 and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. 12 Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude. 13 And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, "I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed." 14 Then his companion answered and said, "This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp." 

15 And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand." 16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. 17 And he said to them, "Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!' " NKJV

Now there is much more to the story, but the point here today, is that the Lord will direct us out of hiding when He desires to clothe us and anoint for the ministry where we are going. There is a time for such study in the Word of God and prayer. And there is time where qualifying is now and you move to the place God has planned. God does not make mistakes.
Though the people of  Midian could be numbered as locust, all God needed was three hundred men with the same "heart". One heart with God is important to us! All God needed was those saying "yes" and compassionate to move out of idol worship and give God what He asks... for one........to be "willing and obedient to eat the good of the land".
Isaiah 1:19-20................19 If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land; 20 But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword";.For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. NKJV

Father, today, we pray for the willing heart to move when YOU speak to our hearts. We desire to be those who have set life before us. That is our desire Lord to Keep YOUR ways and Keep Your commands for You say that You will bless and multiply us in the land which we go to possess. According to Deuteronomy 30 and verses 15-20....we pray to not have hearts to turn from YOU But to TURN to YOU that we may live with life that came through Jesus and His shed Blood at Calvary. We know that YOU told us to choose life and not death. Choosing YOUR life, our descendants have life. We desire to be directed by YOUR Holy Spirit and to hear YOUR voice speak and show us the way to walk.
Father, today we pray in Jesus' name to be those who will continually wash in YOUR word and choose to put evil away from us. Help us Lord to see what needs to be changed in our lives. We require Your wisdom, and today we submit to Your leading for good that leads us to justice in our land. Father, we desire to not put anything in Your place, to worship it as if it can give life, but only takes us further away from You and Your plan for our lives. We understand the idol to be anything that takes up more time away from YOU our treasure, our life. We ask You to show us those things that take up quality time that we could be having with You!

 Father, our yard does not bring us life, we ask only to do it in timely manner each time the lawn mower comes out of the garage. We pray for friends, but those who will encourage in the way we are walking with YOU and not distract us to do things out of Your will for our lives. We pray if there is a hobby taking too much of our time, we pray it to be removed from our heart and only have a hobby which will add to someone else's life for good. If we devote all our time to music and the band, then are we  missing the call You have for set for our lives? This we know, that in just singing one song for two hours will certainly bring the glory in and see the Holy Spirit move over the WHOLE OF THE CROWD FOR MIRACLES because our hearts can see what YOU have done in just one "praise" song to YOU!  We know it is not about the lawn, the hobby, or friends but IT is seeing our hearts kneel before YOU in worship! YOU are more interested in what holds "a place" our "hearts'! In 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10......our faith is toward God and turned from any idols to serve the living and true God. We are those who wait for His Son (Jesus) from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.  Father, in   Revelation 3:11-13....We are told to.....Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." ' ( NKJV )  Father thank YOU for hearing and we believe we receive the answer of our expectancy to hold on through Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

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