Month: May 2024

I realized this morning while in prayer that I have spent way too much time worrying about and wondering when God is going to do what He said He would do. Like a child in the backseat of the car, I have been nagging God with the words, “Are we there yet!” As the Holy Spirit revealed this to me this morning, my heart was convicted that I have wasted so much time trying to figure out when God is going to keep His promise. Maybe you can relate.

Praying Psalm 37 is how this conviction came forth as the Holy Spirit showed me what I am supposed to be doing, and what God has says He will do. My job is to trust in the Lord; do good; dwell in the land; cultivate faithfulness; delight myself in the Lord; commit my way to the Lord; rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him. These are my responsibilities in my relationship with God. He said He will, give me the desires of my heart; bring forth righteousness as light; and bring judgment as the noon day.

Friends, we have been so worried about the desires of our heart, we have actually said to the Lord we don’t believe you will do what you said you will do. The ache in us to fulfill the purpose for which He made us is so loud, we start to act like impatient kids in the backseat constantly praying, are we there yet? The Lord is inviting us to do what He has called us to do, as we do this we will find resting and waiting enjoyable. To really rest in the Lord is to have absolute confidence that He is going to do what He said He would do.

The more we try to figure out God’s timing on something, the more disappointed we get. So, today, we pivot to what we are called to do knowing with full confidence and absolute assurance that He will do what He said He will do. He is more faithful than we will ever be, so we honestly have nothing to worry about.

I was in prayer this morning and these words came out of my mouth… “You are not an absent Father!” When I said them, I knew they were inspired by the Holy Spirit and they were a declaration to a people, to a nation. We have not been left here to fend for ourselves, we have a Father in heaven, who is for us and not against us. He has not abandoned this planet, nor us His people. He is and ever present help in time for trouble.

It may sound at times like evil is triumphing, but evil is only a bully, which is full of hot air and carries no real substance. We have a Father, who is watching everything that is being done in secret, He knows the plans of the enemy and He will not be caught off guard. We are His children, bought with the highest price that can be paid, the blood of Jesus His son, our Savior.

Psalm 35 says, “O LORD, You preserve man and beast. How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.” Psalm 91 says, “A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked.”

These are not the words of a man who lies, but of our God who is the TRUTH, He not only speaks truth, He is the embodiment of truth. His nature is truth, so whatever He says we can believe. We are not fatherless, He is not an absent Father, rather He is an ever present help in time of trouble. Fear not my friends, we have a Father and He will not let evil triumph over us. Have a great day!!!!

Atmospheric attacks are on the rise in the spirit. Words, memories, thoughts are seeking a place to land in your mind, provoking your emotions, which release your words. Atmospheric attacks are loosed from the enemy to distract, destroy and detour the righteous from what God has spoken to them. The word seeds are seeking a nest to rest in so they can nag at you, torment you and treat you as though you have no worth, purpose or reason for existence.

Atmospheric attacks are reinforced by circumstances that seek to establish the truth the attack is launching against you or the attack that is being launched against someone you love. Do not partner with these attacks! Do not give them a landing strip in your mind, your heart or your emotions. I know they come suddenly and speak consistently and are reinforced by what you see, but that does not make them the truth. We all hear them, we all have experienced them and we have all agreed with them. The mess they create is obvious.

Atmospheric attacks hit everyone, no matter your age or gender and then when we partner with the attack we start to lash out at the ones we love. This is a spiritual war, not a battle with the ones you love and the ones who love you. Make a Psalm 35 decree with the psalmist and “Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.” God is your salvation, the Lord is your helper, Jesus is your savior, and if He be for you, who can be against you. James tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us. Resist those atmospheric attacks by not entertaining them. They may fly over, but do not let them land in the nest of your head, heart or emotions. Do not repeat them, do not empower them. Resist them my friends. They are on the increase so they must be exiting our atmosphere, if we will resist them rather than give them a place to land.

Have you ever heard it said by the Lord, “I am going to create a new heaven and a new earth?” Did you know because it is said in the book of Revelation chapter 21 we have been taught it is for the “Millenial Reign of Christ” or it is after the end of the world as we know it? We teach things or say things like this because we believe the beginning of the world is Genesis and the end of the world is Revelation. To the Hebrew people it is cyclical, like a clock that goes from noon to midnight, but to Gentile people it is linear, like start and finish. How you view the word of God, whether cyclical or linear, determines how you see things playing out.

If the Bible is cyclical like Sunday through Saturday, then a new week begins on Sunday, and you will see Genesis through Revelation as cyclical like a clock. But if you see the Bible as linear then Genesis is the beginning and Revelation is the end of the book, and that viewpoint is critical to understanding the word of God. God removed Israel from their land and sent them to Babylon for 70 years, but gave them a prophetic promise that Babylon was not the end of their world, but the end of their cycle of idolatry and the beginning of something new when they returned. No wonder Jeremiah said, “For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you, to give you a future and a hope.” He said this before they went into Babylonian captivity. Therefore, God was speaking the end, a future and a hope, from the beginning of Babylonian captivity.

This is a theme in the word of God, when it got dark because of the iniquity of the people, then they would go into captivity, but God always promised a return, a restoration, a bright future. Cyclical, night and day, day and night. Friends, the darkness is the end of one season, one day, one captivity, and the the day is the beginning of a new day, a new season, a new opportunity to serve the Lord in faithfulness. Ezekiel 11 says, when God restores Israel to their land, He is giving them a new heart and a new spirit so they can follow after Him. It was a new beginning He was giving them, just like 2 Corinithans 5:17 says He makes us a new creation. Sin is darkness, but we are now light, it is a new day, everything is cyclical, if it is biblical. Welcome to all things becoming new. This is not the end we are entering, but a new beginning as a nation.

I am reading Ezekiel 7 this morning and it says, “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land. Now the end is upon you…” We know Israel is here today on the earth as a viable nation with many people living there, so it was not the end of a nation, but what was it the end of and what is the Lord saying is ending right now, for the word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12)?

Ezekiel goes on to say, “Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their people, none of their wealth, nor anything eminent among them. The time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude.” If you read Ezekiel 7 it is sounding strikingly similar to Revelation 18 when the Babylonian system came to an end. As I am reading today, the Holy Spirit is making it clear the Babylonian system of financial oppression upon people is coming to an end, not long from now, we will see an end to this system of oppression.

I know I have been saying it for a long time and I will keep saying it as long as this is what the Lord is saying. I did not go looking for these verses, I am reading the book of Ezekiel and the Holy Spirit is saying, “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘A disaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming! An end is coming; the end has come! It has awakened against you; behold, it has come! Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come, the day is near—tumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains.” (Ezekiel 7) Friends, brace for impact, the day of the Babylonian system is coming to an end!!!!

Have you ever walked into a store and as you are shopping, minding your own business, all of the sudden you recognize the song that is being played over the loud speaker? If it is a song you know it tends to cause you to pause in the middle of your shopping or even begin to sing along.

Hearing that music in a store is the closest thing I can relate to the scriptures in Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy” and Psalm 32:7 “You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.” Can you hear the songs being sung over you in your home, in your car, in your workplace, in your neighborhood?

In a noisy world where the news is not always good, there is a song being sung over you and it is a song of deliverance. We so often think deliverance is some church service; or tent revival; or demon coming out; but the Lord does not need a stage performance to deliver us, He just releases a song over us. Can you hear the song of deliverance being sung over you?

Some of us need a love song of deliverance sung over them for they are hurting; others need a song of victory sung over them for they are in a battle; still others need a song of celebration sung over them for they are coming out of a long wilderness season. I don’t know what song God is singing over you, but I want to invite you to ask the Lord to turn up the volume so you can hear the song He is singing over you today.

Life is such an adventure. We have never lived on earth before. We have never been this age before. We have never been in this situation as a planet before. There are so many unknowns, it is either nerve racking or adventure filled. No wonder people try to predict, prophesy, interpret or declare what they believe is happening or going to happen. Our need to be in the know about things we know very little about is palpable.

So, why do I call life an adventure? Because it is less about what we know and more about who we know. When we know the God who created the earth and said when it was dark, let there be light and light was, we know He is all knowing, so we don’t need to know much. One of our greatest challenges is we do not like to be childlike. Children should not have a care in the world. They should enjoy the life of a child. The challenge we have is we care too much about what is going on in the world and we are riddled with fear, anxiety, anger, sadness, loneliness, and bad theology about God.

When you know who is in charge, who created you, who holds the whole world in His hands, you, with me can see life as an adventure not a place of anxiety and fear about things we can’t control. Proverbs 1 says, “Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. He who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

God is Wisdom and Wisdom is God, not earthly wisdom, not human wisdom, the Wisdom that is God, and when we listen to God, to the Holy Spirit that is Wisdom personified, we have no fear of the dread of evil. Friends, in the words of the old hymn, Oh what peace we often forfeit all because we do not turn to God in prayer. James 1 says, “If anyone lacks wisdom He can ask God and He will give it freely without finding fault.” Wisdom is what makes life a great adventure because with Wisdom in your ear there is nothing to fear.