Month: March 2024

If you have ever been in a battle, of any kind, physical battle with a health issue; relational battle with a spouse; emotional battle with your history; addiction battle with drugs, alcohol or sex; financial battle with your creditors; discipleship battle with your children; you name the battle, it is challenging, it is tiring, and it can be affecting you more than you realize. There is a phrase I have learned recently called “The Fog of War”. I did not realize how battles kick up so much dust it literally can cloud your ability to see, hear or even process clearly. Others can see it on you, but many times you can’t see it on yourself.

One of the weapons of recovery God uses for people who are battle weary is sleep. I have always felt like sleep is spiritual warfare, because when we literally rest, with sleep, our mind is able to reset; our body is able to recover; our mercy is renewed each morning; and our patience is replenished. But many struggle with sleep for the enemy is non stop against them. He keeps us so busy we can’t slow down, watch a movie, go for a walk, have coffee with a friend, or even just listen to the sound of running water. We were made to reset daily, and if we don’t it affects us in more ways than we realize. I was praying Psalm 138 this morning and this one line in this Psalm triggered all these thoughts. Listen to what the Psalmist says, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;”

Oh my friends, God sees the troubles we are walking in, He is not unaware of our frame, that we are limited in everything, but He is abundant in all things. He sees the battle you are in; He is not leaving you in it alone; look around at who is in the war with you. They are not going to leave you, for they see the bullets flying. And God, the LORD Himself is going to revive you and those with you. Fear not for the battle belongs to the Lord, He will revive you. The Psalmist ends by saying, “The LORD will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting;” If it’s not good, then He’s not done, He’s not finished yet. There will be joy in the morning and there will be those there with you rejoicing in what God did for you.

Songs are powerful. If they weren’t why would the enemy seek to steal the song from your mouth? Why would people not want to worship? Why when our feelings which are shaped by our circumstances demand we not sing for we are not in the mood? It is because songs are powerful. No matter the song, if it is directed to the Lord it has power to change your mood, your attitude and your altitude. Oh the power of songs.

I have certain songs that God gives me that are just between Him and I. I remember what He said the song was for and I sing it, play it, prophesy it. Songs lift our spirits, change our moods and determine our feelings, but we must lift up our voice and sing. Psalm 137 says, “By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our harps. For there our captors demanded of us songs, And our tormentors mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land?” No matter what land you are in, sing, sing, sing, for songs are powerful.

While praying this Psam this morning I heard the chorus to Tauren Wells song, so I began to sing, “There will be joy in the morning; There will be joy in the morning; If it’s not good, then He’s not done No, He’s not done with it yet; There will be joy in the morning!” If you know it you can’t help but sing it. I do not know what “night” season you have endured or are in, but I am here to sing over you “There will be joy in the morning!” We are not beginning a new night season, the night is over, the wilderness is past, we are entering into a breaking of the day, a new dawn arising. My friends, things are getting brighter and lighter not darker. Come on sing with me, How great is our God!

For over two weeks now whenever I take communion, which for me is daily, the Holy Spirit keeps saying, as I take the bread, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper…”. Then I take the cup and I hear the Holy Spirit say, “No tongue that rises against you in judgement shall prevail.” I take communion daily and the Lord has taught me a lot of things through the communion meal over the years, but this has been a persistent word that is spoken daily as I take communion.

This morning as my communion sat on my desk, I kept hearing the same words from the Holy Spirit, so I finally looked up the verse and it is in Isaiah 54:17 and says, “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me, declares the LORD.” My heart melted upon reading, for multiple reasons. One because I just turned 54 on Monday and sensed Isaiah 54 was my chapter for this year, so this verse being in that chapter was a kiss from heaven. But secondly because it says, this is our heritage and our vindication.

Heritage is possession, property, inheritance, occupancy, portion; and vindication is righteousness, justice, salvation. When I put it all together, I sensed the Holy Spirit saying, “Communion is the weapon and the word that declares you righteous and gives you the right to possess justice.” Communion my friends is an offensive weapon we wield against the enemy. Every time we take communion and we declare Isaiah 54:17, we are decreeing vindication and our heritage from the Lord. It’s time to possess what is rightfully ours. From my communion cup to yours, cheers!!!!

I am sitting at my desk this morning, birds singing outside, gentle breeze blowing through the open window on this beautiful spring morning in March and the Holy Spirit whispers to me the words “Setting free!” With these words wafting through my spirit, I immediately see a jeweler “Setting a stone” in a ring. The imagery was obvious, the connection between setting free and setting a stone was stunning. The Holy Spirit then said, “I am setting people free to set them as a precious stone in a setting prepared for them.”

Proverbs 25:11 is the verse that lept in my spirit as this imagery was lingering in my spirit. “Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right circumstances.” Setting in Hebrew is Maskith and it means: showpiece, imagination, apprearance, phenomenon. The Lord is setting us free for us to appear as His showpiece for all to see. He is pulling people out of the mud; He is chiseling others out of hard places; He is digging through the ashes to set His precious ones free. Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, His people are pearls of great value to Him and as He sets them free He is setting them up as showpieces for His glory.

The setting type, according to jewelers, refers to the metal base that holds a gemstone or diamond in place. Each setting style is created to enhance both the beauty of the stone and the brilliance of the jewelry piece. The prong setting is bent over the stone for maximum exposure to light from top to bottom. It ensures that the stone gets set at the right height, is completely straight, centered and secure. For very large stones that require extra security and support a double prong setting is used. (Diamondere dot com)

Friends, we are the stones that have been set free and God is setting us in place to be a showpiece for His glory. You are a precious stone of the Lord!

Have you ever drove with someone who is directionally challenged? When you know the way to go, it is hard to remain quiet, when someone you are with is going the wrong direction. In our culture of tolerance that has made us easily offended, we are afraid to share with people, that they are looking or going the wrong direction. There is a joke with spouses that a “man” won’t stop and ask for directions. Is it true, for some yes, for others no. But it is a stereotype in my culture. Thank God for technology, for phones, for Waze and Google Maps. Remember when we used to have an atlas in the backseat with all the roads we were to take? I wonder if that is where the phrase back seat driver came from? Anyway, just some fun memories about driving and needing direction.

I was praying Psalm 133 this morning and the Holy Spirit highlighted to me that the preachers have made people directionally challenged. Now preachers can be books we have read, movies we have seen, or sermons we have heard. The church is directionally challenged and we don’t want to stop and ask for directions, though in many ways we are lost. We have been told, taught, we are getting raptured out of here, that the darkness is getting darker and we keep looking up in order to leave this world that is so corrupt. But the Bible is very clear we are not going anywhere, rather God is sending something down to help us.

Psalm 133 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing—life forever.”

Friends, we are not going up, oil is coming down! God commanded the blessing, life forever, life came down in the form of Jesus Christ. Healing is coming down with the oil. Joy is coming down with the oil. Mercy is coming down with the oil. Strategy is coming down in the oil. It is coming down, we are not going up in a rapture. We need to stop or get out of here thinking and realize help is coming down so we can be a blessing, we can release life, we can distribute finances, we can speak healing. It is all coming down. It is time to stop and ask for directions, for we are not going up, it has and is coming down. Now that is some good news!!!!!

In the military they are taught to walk in unity with one another. They do this with what they call a cadence. A cadence is similar to a metronome, it keeps you in lock step with the rhythm being set by the commander. I heard the Holy Spirit this morning say, “March according to the cadence of your call.” The verse that accompanied this word is found in Ephesians 4:1-3 “I, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

We, as Westerners, tend to hear the word “you” as singular not plural, but biblically, Hebraically, the word “you” is more accurately translated “you all”. It is a we word or a group word. In Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul was not speaking to an individual but rather to a “you all”, the church at Ephesus. The invitation was to walk in a manner worthy of their call as a group of believers in Ephesus. Henceforth, the idea of a military learning to walk in unity. Which brings us back to the word the Holy Spirit spoke to me this morning, “March according to the cadence of your (all’s) call.”

When individualism is your cultural norm, the idea of marching according to the cadence of your all’s call is a foreign idea. However, if we are going to manifest the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, we have to learn to get in cadence of our call together. The “you all” is your family, your community, your city, your nation. The Lord is wanting us to “March according to the cadence of our call!” To do this we must all hear the same cadence; we must all be willing to lay down our lives as individuals to join the sound of the commanders cadence; and we must be willing to make sure we are in lock step with those on our right and on our left. Our fomation is going to be tight and our Commander is going to get glory if only we will march according to the cadence of our call!

I was with my bible study group yesterday morning and we had a discussion about “staying in your lane” and how you do not need to be all things to all people. It was a great discussion about being a specialist in one area, so people look to you in that area versus being a generalist in many areas and carrying little to no authority in any subject. We talked about how when we do this we need each other and what that person brings to the table.

Now this morning I am praying Psalm 131 and the psalmist says, “O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;” The Holy Spirit whispered me to me, “When people stay in their lane their soul quiets down.” Friends, we do not need to be experts in everything. We need to trust the Lord and lean on each other. We all only have 24 hours in a day, you can’t be an expert in everything, but you can be a specialist in something.

I believe God created us with passions to pursue certain things. I have friends who are great mechanics; prolific dancers; amazing story tellers; unbelievable curators; and amazing chefs. I don’t need to be them, but as they share what they are specialized in I can enjoy them and then I can share what I specialize in and they can enjoy me. It removes the competition and quiets their soul and my soul.

When we know who we are, what we bring to the table and who others are and what they bring to the table, there is a synergy of gifting; an enjoyment of diversity; and an dentification of passion; that makes the body of Christ a beautiful picture of unity in the midst of variety. We were made to be a blessing to others, not to try to be someone we are not. May we be a people who celebrate one another not try to be each other. In doing this we will find we trust the Lord, love our neighbor and live with a quiet soul.