This is from a conversation on another thread, so some of it might not make much sense here...

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Matthew 15
The MESSAGE: What Pollutes Your Life

1-2 After that, Pharisees and religion scholars came to Jesus all the way from Jerusalem, criticizing, "Why do your disciples play fast and loose with the rules?"

3-9But Jesus put it right back on them. "Why do you use your rules to play fast and loose with God's commands? God clearly says, 'Respect your father and mother,' and, 'Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.' But you weasel around that by saying, 'Whoever wants to, can say to father and mother, What I owed to you I've given to God.' That can hardly be called respecting a parent. You cancel God's command by your rules. Frauds! Isaiah's prophecy of you hit the bull's-eye:

These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
but their heart isn't in it.
They act like they're worshiping me,
but they don't mean it.
They just use me as a cover
for teaching whatever suits their fancy."

10-11He then called the crowd together and said, "Listen, and take this to heart. It's not what you swallow that pollutes your life, but what you vomit up."

12Later his disciples came and told him, "Did you know how upset the Pharisees were when they heard what you said?"

13-14Jesus shrugged it off. "Every tree that wasn't planted by my Father in heaven will be pulled up by its roots. Forget them. They are blind men leading blind men. When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up in the ditch."

15Peter said, "I don't get it. Put it in plain language."

16-20Jesus replied, "You, too? Are you being willfully stupid? Don't you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It's from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That's what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that's neither here nor there."

[keep in mind each of those have spiritual and physical significance... murder of people by murdering their reputation thru gossip (causing people to separate themselves from them, to reject them, to kill fellowship/relationship with them), fornication/adulteries by receiving anything into our spirit/life that is not of God... evil arguments as opposed to good arguments that are done in love to build up the people of God in their faith... you get the point...]

There's always a double standard at work and people love to swing to one extreme or the other and to deny that they are embracing an extreme. Often times, that denial is rooted in the fact that they are deceived themselves. The young refer to the older generation as "old fogies" living in a fog, brainless, senile, out of touch with what God is doing in the current generation... and yet, the older saints remain part of this current generation of the church, with great significance and purpose. Just because you age, does it mean that you have no relevance, no voice, no awareness of what the Spirit of God is doing afresh?

On the other hand... when I was young I met with constant criticism in the church world for having an opinion about Scripture. The pat answer to dismiss my passion and heart-felt attempts to understand and to live out Scripture was, "you'll understand it when you are older." I remember thinking that I couldn't wait until I had gray hair some day so I could voice my heart for God and all that I felt he was saying and revealing.

Both extremes had negative aspects, and yet both extremes were also valid in ways. The older I get the more I understand things with a richness... I understand God as Father/Daddy in a whole new way when I became the parent. Then I understood him and myself on an even deeper level when my children became teens. The conflicts of life and relationships over time opened my eyes and made me wiser about alot of things. Things that I could have never understood when I was younger.

In my youth, I was constantly asking God about things that my elders didn't have answers for, and he often answered them. I think because I asked... not because I was young. The elders in my life didn't have to deal with the things my generation was dealing with, so they didn't have all the answers I needed to walk out my walk. As God taught me about such things, I gained an insight that they lacked. However, I could go to them and discuss what God had said and there was always some wisdom they would add that would make my understanding even richer.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
There is nothing new under the sun.
The devils schemes are predictable and that's why we're not ignorant of his devices.

Satan just packages it differently for every generation. As long as he can keep us divided, the young will understand the packaging but not always have the experience. The old will have much experience and recognize the enemy's tactics... but they don't always see thru the packaging because it is new and unfamiliar. If we could bridge the gap and respect one another, work together, and love as God loves... we could be an unstoppable force. We would see the deceptions and schemes of the enemy so clearly revealed as the church, as the whole family of God. There is power in numbers, there is power in generations bound together in the love of Christ.

The stench of the Pharisee Church permeates so many aspects of the church today. Even this dividing of loyalties and families. This is not what God meant when he said he came to divide families. Choosing Christ when your family rejects him is a whole other ball game... that never results in justifying arrogance or being unkind to people. God disciplines with love and so should we, not with hatefulness.

I believe in gifts and prophecy and the works of the Spirit in our lives with manifestations... but I also KNOW the counterfeit that masks itself with similar works. It's more than just "DOING THE STUFF" ... it's "BEING THE STUFF." The problem is that most people that I see in such movements like this become very unkind and mean-spirited to parents and to anyone that disagrees with them. Their zeal blinds them to the real fruit of much of their behavior... and they become those blind following the blind into the ditch. Someone is teaching the young. All this talk about believing this stuff and not being told differently based on your youth is a bunch of hooey. Some adult somewhere is teaching it to you.

Karen Wheaton, John Wimber, Billy Graham... who ever the leaders of movements... they are almost always old people who teach it to younger people who teach it to younger people. We follow. We're sheep. It's our nature. We follow the voice of the shepherd. We just better be sure the shepherd we're following is genuine and not just wearing a fluffy white mask. We've all been fooled at some point in our life. This comment isn't meant to dis anyone, and it isn't directed at any one post. I haven't even read everything said very thoroughly. There's just alot of stuff every where in the air of the church world at the moment that is creating a stench.

We really need a return to the word of God, the law for the NT church... you can call me foolish for using it as the light for my path, you can say I'm an old fogie cuz I refuse to go along with anything that doesn't measure up to the order and breathing reality of it, you can call me blurry minded, living in a fog, old-fashioned, out-dated, and foolish... but I believe the Bible. I believe it's the spoken living words of Christ and I can feel his very breath on my face every time I open it and begin to read and I hear him speaking. I love people, I am so very thankful for good, committed leaders who sacrifice so much... but they will never be above God in my heart... and their teachings or the teachings of a movement will never be above the teachings of Jesus. My salvation is rooted in what Jesus said and did... not in the work of the Holy Spirit. I love the Holy Spirit, he is God, he manifests the power of God and walks beside me and enables me to accomplish the example of Christ in my own life. But I'm commanded to be like Jesus as the Spirit leads me in that work.

Our youth pastor said something so profound last night that has stuck in my head. We are studying the Lord's prayer and last night he was teaching on knowing the will of God. He said that the will of God is not something that we cannot know... God wants us to know his will, he commands us to perform it. It was the commission God gave to Christ and he gave to us. I love the way this pastor expressed the simplicity of such Truth... "We know the will of God by doing what Jesus did... if we are doing what he did... we are doing the will of God."

He went on to explain... The will of God is for us to be patient with people. The will of God is to show mercy to people when they are unkind. The will of God is to help the poor, the widow and the orphan... the will of God is to love your neighbor... The will of God is doing EVERYTHING Jesus did. Walk thru the Bible, make a note of everything Jesus did, and then do it, become it, be like him.

The problem I see with swinging over to extremes by such movements is that the fruit begins to rot on the vine, right there in the middle of the church, still wearing the name of Christ, but not reproducing anything healthy or that resembles him at all. Most poeple I know caught up in over-emphasizing the gifts are very mean people. Much like the description of the Pharisees above. If that is the model such church leaders are modeling to the youth, justifying arrogance and rebellion and disrespect against anyone that opposes living in such extremes -- or who opposes their leader (masking it with a spiritual elitist mask as they use all the right buzz words)... it is a dangerous model, and I don't see Christ anywhere in it. Vomit... just like the lukewarm in Revelation. They put on a good show, but they are lukewarm and putrid in demonstrating the LOVE OF CHRIST.

Asuza Street Prohecies of 1906:

In the last days just before the return of Christ..."

1) There will be an over emphasis on power rather than righteousness.
2) There will be an over emphasis on praise to a God they no longer pray to.
3) There will be an over emphasis on the gifts oof the Spirit rather than the Lordship of Christ."

and that was from a Pentecostal minister. I wrote that in my Bible as a young, new Christian, 21 years old. And I find it more true today at 43 than at any time in my walk. I believe the coming of the Lord is so very close.
Love - genuine love - to you guys <3

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Wake up, O sleeper!

Lately God keeps speaking about Light shining into the darkness. It is an image I cannot get out of my thoughts and every time I turn around something else is happening to emphasize it. The depth of that darkness, the very face of evil, the removing of the mask and the bone chilling reality of how real and active our Enemy is. We are not warring against people... it is a spiritual creature that stalks us and reaches thru our weak places to wound and attack and devour one another.

... but then the Light shines into that darkness, revealing Truth and restoring Hope and bringing Healing on the wings of the morning. What beauty in the Word of God revealed... Jesus, Light of the World, our Hope, our Salvation.

Malachi 4

1For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

2But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

3And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

4Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

6And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

There is just too much to explain or express in that passage. A word for the future, a word for the past, a word for the here and now. God is unchanging and his word and character remain faithful to every generation.

Two weeks ago our Sunday School class was discussing how long Noah and his family were on the ark before he finally sent out the dove and the raven. I woke up the next morning and turned on the TV to watch the news with my coffee, and it was unbelievable what appeared on the screen the second that that TV clicked on. It was a show depicting the old testament, the scene where Noah first opens the window to send out the birds.

The light flooded thru the window and the eight passengers on board crowded around that little window in awe of something as simple as sunlight. The show went on to focus on the sending of the birds and exiting the ark, but that image seemed burned in my thoughts. I thought about it as I went thru my morning routine, talking to the Lord and pondering it all. And it occurred to me how long they had spent in the darkness... living by torches and firelight for a year or so or however long it was. Their hope lay in the promise that God would bring them thru that dark time. They knew the Light, they had seen it, and they waited in that place of darkness trusting God...

Then when that window opened for the first time after so very long... what must it have felt like. That Hope fulfilled, the simplicity of it all, the warmth on their skin, the chemicals that began to stir to minister to them physically.... the Light, how they missed it... how beautiful it was in stark comparison to the dull substitutes they lived with for so long... I can only imagine how real that moment will be for us when we see him with our own eyes and feel the warmth of his presence on our own skin. There will be a day and it will be overwhelming and truly awesome.

So much more happened in the weeks that followed, but I want to get to the other moment of that Light piercing the darkness that just shook me so deeply...

My teens have been listening to Showbread's new cd series Anorexia and Nervosa. Their music is already pretty edgey, but this new material seemed over the edge at first listen. But we love this band and really trust that they are sold out to Christ, so we made a great effort trying to understand what and why they were presenting such a dark piece of art. They are ministry minded artists, so what is it they were trying to say....

Musically the albums are incredible.

My teens went to a summer camp/festival for a week called Cornerstone. Showbread was performing this new material... and my daughter came back absolutely undone by the experience. She said they came out all in white with black gunk smeared all over themselves. The place was darkened and two large screens were flashing videos and pics thru the performance. It was pretty intense and caused her to feel somewhat uncertain... but suddenly, near the end, there was a video of a girl in a field. The lead singer began to sing a beautiful hymn, the girl looked up and a light shined down upon her. And that scene took the performance out.

She bought both cds, deeply moved, but still holding them at arms length because they seemed so dark in a sense... she was trying to understand what God was stirring in her heart concerning it all. It turns out that the albums are a story line. They are like an opera of sorts... you are instructed to sit in a darkened room and to read the story thru as you listen to the albums. The story is a tale of two sisters that live a very dark and evil life... along the feel of LORD OF THE FLIES or something worse. One sister embraces the evil and has relations with a pig and the story is intensely evil as she marries herself to the darkness. The other sister lives a similar life but in the end is changed and freed from the darkness.

This is a very very intense piece of artistic expression (parents need to be available if your teens have questions as they try to wrap their mind around the message presented)... but the impact is staggering.

Our family thought on it for some time. And just this Sunday, I felt I understood a new aspect of the effect of this story project. It came back to the Light shining in the darkness... I love what Showbread has done, whether this was their intent or not. This album is a must-experience experience for church kids. What is does is so affective. It shocks them but not in a way to entertain them or to feed some eccentric fetish... it shocks them and opens their eyes to the depth of the evil of a very real enemy. It effectively rips the mask off of the darkness that reaches out to them and taunts them.

It takes the listener on a journey thru the life of the unsaved as viewed spiritually... darkness, the evil, the absolute vileness... so that they almost smell the stench of the enemy's breath in their face... it exposes the lie... it allows them to see the loss, the utter emptiness and bondage and filth of sin... and yet it allows them to see the beauty of the Light of the world. Not just in words, not so that they must play in the filth of the world to taste it. But rather it reveals the Truth of the darkness and the power of the Light... of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the World, Prince of Peace, Giver of Hope.

what it is to be clean.

Just as the Light flooded thru that window and affected Noah and his family in the darkness of that ark... Light and understanding floods the mind and heart of the listener who is truly listening for the voice of God. The difference lies in the fact that Christians, the people of God, know that the Light is there as they persevere and wait for the revealing of it... as they live in this cursed and putrid world... telling everyone about the Light that is coming again, as they reflect him and testify of his beauty and his goodness.

On the other hand, the lost have no idea what they are missing. They are content in the misery of that darkness. They have never heard or seen or experienced that Light. The darkness is their reality, the filth, forever stained and married to the darkness. They live in such pain and suffering because they know no other way. They are seduced and deceived. Until someone tells them the Truth... until they encounter Jesus Christ... until they feel the warmth on their skin and the stirring in their heart...

and they are overwhelmed.

Acts 26

15"Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'
" 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 16'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

Matthew 4

16the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned."
17From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Ephesians 5

1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them.

8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

And even now as I write this and refer to that Light... it brings me unexpectedly back to the passage that God spoke to me during my prayer time recently in Ephesians 5. The word that jumps out at me is idolatry... that word also came up this past Sunday... perhaps that is something the Lord is wanting to address among the church in the current hour.

Perhaps that greed of so many who are currently corrupting the church and the people of God is about to be revealed for what it is... perhaps God is about to deal with those who walk in such idolatry. It is a time to pray for repentance and for the mercy of God. Once again God is dealing with the spots and wrinkles because he is preparing a bride... and the wedding day is approaching so quickly while so many continue to sleep.

Wake up, O sleeper!

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I just came thru a difficult three years, and how I wish this new cd by CeCe Winans had been out then. I'm listening to the samples on her myspace and I'm looking back over all that I have walked thru... and I can bear witness with the testimony in her worship. WAGING WAR... IT AINT OVER... these are things declared in the heat of the battle, in the midst of attack, at the start of the turning of the tide...

This is pay week and I will definitely be buying this cd for my personal prayer/worship time.

If you are going thru difficult times. If you are tired of so much, if you've lost hope in good people, or you're in a situation that has drained every last ounce of energy and joy from you... I encourage you to get this cd and let it restore that fire in your bones to let God bring a change. It's the midnight hour for so many, and we've prayed and wept bitterly and cried out. God has heard and the anointing has been and is being poured out. We enter the battlefield led by worship of our God. No matter our enemy, no matter how afraid, no matter how small and beaten we feel... we go in faith, trusting him to intervene as we step out.

Are your feet there? Does the blood run from fresh wounds that you've suffered? Are you looking down right now at the stream of blood and tears as they fill your shoes and soak the very ground that you're standing on? Are you carrying a friend or a loved one who is that tattered soul, who bleeds beyond your control?

Look up... our redemption is here.

 

There are several voices of worship that get it. They carry an anointing from the throne of God. Two of those voices are CeCe Winans and Charlie Hall. They have been key during my worship lately. The samples on their myspace pages have spoken to me... and I plan to buy their cds this week so I can really sit in that soaking place of prayer and worship. God is using them to lead me into his presence, and I truly believe that he is calling many others to that place as well. Perhaps the same worship will lead you there. If it's a different worship minister, great... but go there. Go to that place. The people of God must begin to declare and claim the will of God in all the earth. He is pouring out an anointing upon such declarations right now.

Worship is such a key thing right now. But it is worship with the right heart. There is a counterfeit that masks itself in false humility... so be careful. You will know it by the fruit... does it lead you to Christ... are you changed... does it cause you to  reflect Him and no other... do your eyes (the windows of your soul) shine with a light that loves Christ above all else?

Also, you simply cannot pray without worshiping and you cannot worship without praying. They are two sides of the same coin, and to spend one requires the spending of the other. Both are the act of talking to God... so talk.

 

 

 

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with our weapons restored

one more thing to add to the post above...

I was praying yesterday and God put a couple things in my heart. The first was Ephesians 5:7-14,

"3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them.
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

I felt like the Lord was saying to be discerning, to realize that not all that calls itself Christian is, and not all who claim to work for the Kingdom of God are working for Him. Consider the fruit, not the title that they have given themselves. I felt that he went on to say for his people to not be afraid, to not feel so small. It was as though he was saying that...

You are not going into battle alone.

Remember the vision I gave you long ago of the Shepherd as he walked. One sheep heard his voice and began to follow him as he led it along. Then other sheep, one by one, also heard him and began to follow as individual sheep. Suddenly the vision was a whole flock of sheep that followed him as individual sheep, but who became a body of sheep in the process. That is us. That is the church. That is the gathering process. Following the shepherd is the key for each sheep, as we follow him with our whole heart, he will form and fashion a body of believers committed to following him above all else. That is our common bond. That is unity, and the affection that causes us to love one another... our love for Him.

Follow the shepherd into battle. Go and there will be others there with you, walking beside you, meeting you along the path, appearing from within the flock though you were never even aware of their presence until the right and perfect moment.

You are not going into battle alone.

Then he took me to I Samuel 13:16-22, as I continued in prayer and worship...

" 16 Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in Gibeah in Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Micmash. 17 Raiding parties went out from the Philistine camp in three detachments. One turned toward Ophrah in the vicinity of Shual, 18 another toward Beth Horon, and the third toward the borderland overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the desert.
19 Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, "Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!" 20 So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plowshares, mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened. 21 The price was two thirds of a shekel for sharpening plowshares and mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.

22 So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them."

It's as though the enemy has worked an intricate and clever plan to disarm the people of God. Our weapons are unprepared and we stand on the battlefield vulnerable and wondering how it happened. Let me make it clear.... prayer removed from school, the ten commandments outlawed and forgotten, the holiness of the marriage bed defiled, the blood of Christ removed from our hymnals and our politically correct pulpits, our hearts lusting after all the stuff the world says we should have, our eyes lusting after the flesh that surrounds us and seeps into our homes thru every form of media, the pastors and denominations that we have come to worship as though they are God, the word of our testimony silenced because of our guilt and our shame and our sin and our pacifism...

We finally stand and go to battle, only to try to face a deadly enemy, armies and armies that have organized and plotted against us, who have used our own weaknesses to set us up as easy prey... but the story of Jonathan goes on, just as I believe that our testimony will go on to bring God even greater glory. Faith pleases God always, in every situation. That's the key we must remember as we read the rest of the story. Israel remained stuck for a time and unsure what to do, sound familiar? But then we read I Samuel 14...

"1 One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor, "Come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side." But he did not tell his father.

2 Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, 3 among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left.

4 On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez, and the other Seneh. 5 One cliff stood to the north toward Micmash, the other to the south toward Geba.

6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows.

Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."

7 "Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul."

8 Jonathan said, "Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands."

11 So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. "Look!" said the Philistines. "The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in." 12 The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, "Come up to us and we'll teach you a lesson."
So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me; the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel."

13 Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. 14 In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre.

15 Then panic struck the whole army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.

16 Saul's lookouts at Gibeah in Benjamin saw the army melting away in all directions. 17 Then Saul said to the men who were with him, "Muster the forces and see who has left us." When they did, it was Jonathan and his armor-bearer who were not there.

18 Saul said to Ahijah, "Bring the ark of God." (At that time it was with the Israelites.) 19 While Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand."

20 Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords. 21 Those Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them to their camp went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. 22 When all the Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit.

23 So the LORD rescued Israel that day, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven.

There were hundreds of men there that day ready to fight for Israel... but only one that put his faith in God. Jonathan's comment in verse 6 reminds me so much of a couple chapters later when David would meet Goliath on the battlefield.

" 45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands." (I Sam 17)

Faith. Confidence. Trust in God. Risk...

And God honored the faith of one man as Jonathan put his trust in who he knew God to be. The victory was granted to a nation, because one man trusted God and convinced another to trust God, and it was that Faith that led an army into battle despite their vulnerability, despite the intricate plans fashioned against them by their enemies.

Will we be a people of Faith?

We have allowed ourselves to sleep, we have allowed our weapons to grow dull, we have followed eccentric/arrogant/unskilled voices to the battlefield and arrived unprepared... depending on someone/anyone to step up and tell us what to do. We fail to think and to ready ourselves and we allow ourselves to be slaves and robots without purpose or passion or vision... that is not God's plan for us. That is not who he fashioned us to be... When we obey voices that tell us to let our guard down, rather than the voice of God that says to be diligent in guarding such things... we die.

But when we choose to be a people of faith, no matter what the enemy has schemed... when we choose to seek God despite our weaknesses and our failures, when we call upon him and look to him with contrite and repentant hearts, when we continue to fight for the good of the whole, for his people and for his perfect will... God is pleased. When we trust him and act with courage, with humble hearts, acknowledging our sin and our shortcomings and our need of Him... God will act on our behalf. He will not remain silent. He will forgive, and speak and guide and confirm and restore our strength. God will confuse our enemies and he will grant us victory by his grace and his mercy.

God will get us thru this battle. We will win this ground somehow as we put our trust in him. And then as the battle moves forward to the next territory that he leads us to reclaim... we will move forward with the Lord... wiser, and with our weapons restored.

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I have been overwhelmed by the presence of God among his people. There is a song by CeCe Winans that has just consumed my thoughts and my heart lately... WAGING WAR from her new album THY KINGDOM COME. There is such a cry among the people of God for Christ to come and fulfill all things. Evil runs so rampant in the earth... the war rages these days and the people of God are really fed up with the devil robbing them of so much... This song is offered as a free mp3 download online:

http://music.download.com/cecewinansthykingdomcome/3600-8437_32-101127335.html

It is truly a BATTLE CRY if I have ever heard one... but it is different from any other...
It is a PERSONAL battle cry, from and to the heart of the believer. And as each of us is under brutal attack, as those we love are walking thru such suffering, like never before... we are fed up and the cry is to ourselves and to hell... ENOUGH!

The church is finally standing up one by one. Kinda reminds me of that Mel Gibson movie the PATRIOT. It was so convincing to adopt a pacifist view, to speak gently and sit idly, avoiding confrontation, as the enemy attacks and torments everything precious to you and to those around you... but there comes a point when people of conscience must reach that point of LIVE or DIE -- screaming/shouting/declaring to death, hell, and the grave, "I will cast my lot for what is right and good and Godly!"

Look across the church, and there are scars and bloodstains and lack... but something is changing in the wind. And that wind is the wind of His Spirit that blows thru the core of who we are... one by one he is empowering us. As we make up our minds, as we become resolute that we will not fear pain and death and suffering, we become that tree planted by the water that generations of the church have sung about for so long... we have finally faced fires and floods of our own that have brought us to a place of understanding. We finally get the heart of what they were singing about... we're done with hugging trees with limp-wristed affection, now we want to be that solid oak -- unmovable, unshakable, towering and massive in our faith and in our doing.

There is a division in the church.

There is a line being drawn, cut, burned, thru the center of the sanctuary. The people of God must choose... the peace of the world or the peace of God... only one is a real peace. The peace of the world tells you that life is about comfort and lack of conflict and compromising the statutes of God for the unity of the body... hmmm....

The peace of God tells you that life on this earth will be difficult:

" 4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24)"

"13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. (John 17)"

" 32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11)"

" 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.........
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4)"

YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE!

Just because you are disappointed in someone that chose selfishness and sin, rather than what is right...

Just because the injustice of this world and the self-centeredness of people we love flares up in our face and we are angry that they are harming themselves and everyone that loves them...

Just because you chose for your spouse to stay home so that someone would be available to minister to the daily needs of your family, and you can't provide all the trappings that the world says you need...

Just because you're without health insurance tho you are working yourself in the ground to cover the basic necessities of your family...

Just because life is not easy and tensions flare and you are not popular or well-liked by everyone in your circle...

Just because your sickness or hardship or thorn in the flesh remains after much prayer and petition for healing...

Just because it is your heart to do what is right, to love God, to love people, to serve, to learn from your sin/mistakes and to be a better person -- and yet, somehow it's never enough, somehow the appearance of things and the voices around you try to convince you to abandon your hope and your joy...

YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE!

Hold on to your faith. Fight for your hope and your joy. Slap the hand and the face of the enemy every time he tries to reach into your life to redefine what God has said. This life is supposed to be messy. We're not supposed to be comfortable with living in a cesspool of decay, living in a world that is cursed and that is rotting away beneath us. It is stressful, it is difficult, it is painful, it is demanding, there is lack and want and sickness and loss and poverty...

this is not paradise, it is a battlefield.

For too long now the church has somehow entered the mindset that everything is supposed to run smoothly if you're doing the Christian thing right.. but that's not the reality, that's not Truth, and that's not what the word of God says. We live our lives daily seeking Christ to lead us thru the big and the small. Fires blaze on every level and we must manage them all at once the best we can, trusting God to make us able and thanking him for fighting the flames beside us. There are souls to rescue in the fire, and there are loved ones we must guard who war beside us. Sometimes the battle is in the trench. Sometimes the fault is theirs, sometimes it's ours, but God is present to lead each of us to repentance and to realign us... keeping all things in order and effective and winning the war.

We fight and obey, He fights and oversees. We submit and trust, He rules and reigns.

Almost always, our walk is not a pretty site... it's the hand of God upon us, his grace and mercy, that turns our bumbling attempts into something beautiful and leads us on to the victory he has promised. It's always about him, it's always our weakness and smallness and his greatness and omniscience. He is God, we are merely reflections... what a privilege. Made in his image... why would he bestow such an honor upon us, why would he choose mud and muck to breath himself into? We reflect him because he chose us for that honor... But we must choose to receive that commission, we must decide whether to covenant with him, to enter into adoption as his child, as his heir. We must choose to love him back.

Will you stand up and cast a vote?

In the movie, The Patriot, in that little church, the people had to choose where they stood. It cost them much. In that same little church, they were burned alive, leaving nothing but ashes and loss. But they left a legacy, a challenge to those that would come after them, something that was so much more than the precious handful that they were trying to protect. They fought for their families and their neighbors, they fought for a measure of lands and homes... but they won a nation and generations of people that knew freedom because of them. We too must stand and fight for the parcel of ground on which we stand in this moment, and the pocket of life that has been handed to us, the souls left to our charge to teach and to lead into battle. Yes, into battle. We are not preparing our children for paradise and ease, we are to prepare them to war. Paradise and peace are the promise, the prize when the battle has been fought well.

" 21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' (Matthew 25)"

"45But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
47"That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
49"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. (Luke 12)"

NO COMPROMISE. The word of God is sure and true. It is time to wage war just as CeCe talks about in her song...

" 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6)"

... fearlessly, as I should.

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Hand it over...

(John 7:16-18)

16Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.

Jesus was performing the Father's will. He had set down his authority and right and power to rule and reign and he submitted himself fully to the Father as a man. That's pretty incredible. How many of us can set down our right to something and resist the temptation to pick it back up at will... to go back on our word when things get tough, to snatch it back up in our weakness and our fear?

Christ is our model. Our perfection and our strength. He was tempted like us in all ways, but he resisted. Oh to be like him... he makes us able. As God, he understands the power of temptation, and he walks us thru resisting it every step of the way. We can perform the Father's will above our own, Christ teaches us and leads us in it as we call upon him, as we humble ourselves, as we acknowledge that he is God, as we reject our own will and follow his, as we follow him like sheep because we know that he loves us as the Good Shepherd. We make it too hard. Stubborn goats and mules that we are at times...

17If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

That is so often the problem. We want to know for sure before we make a final decision, but that's just not how faith works. "Seeing is believing..." that is our comfort zone, but to believe Christ without seeing the evidence/proof of all he says requires us to trust, to risk, to hand over control, to give up our rights and position and power.

The instant we choose the will of God, the moment that we step out of our comfort zone and we risk and we trust him... then we know. Without words, without explanation... we just know Truth, with a capital T. It is when we hand over control to God, that everything begins to make sense and we gain a confidence that is beyond understanding. We just know that Jesus Christ is everything he says he is. We no longer have to see the evidence or the proof. We become people of Faith.

18He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

It's not just a matter of faith, of trusting, of handing over control to God... it's a matter of handing over the spotlight as well. It's no longer about me and manipulating all things to serve my interests and wants. It becomes a matter of what can I do to fulfill the will of God... because it is in the fulfillment of his will that ALL of us are blessed and whole and full of every good thing. It really is all or nothing. We either work for the good of all, or we waste our efforts trying to work it some other way. The will of God will be fulfilled... and his will says ALL PEOPLE who call upon HIS NAME shall be saved. Who are we to seek our own honor, to think we deserve the spotlight or that everyone owes us the spotlight...

Reminds me of the verse I just posted on my myspace tonite:

(Psalm 8:1,4)

1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens...
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

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Pray out loud, at all times, in all that you do... so that others may hear and agree and be saved and empowered. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

pray

PRAY

like never before, all day long, under your breath, in your heart, in your thoughts, out loud in the car, mumbling to yourself in the crowd, unafraid of who hears, unashamed of looking foolish, owning the title crazy and weird... pray.

if ever there was a time, an hour, a moment, an urgency... it is now.

pray over your families, your government, your community, your church, your friends, all that you have been given authority over to influence and protect and press and pull and lead into the image of Jesus Christ. If we are not praying and declaring things into this world, it remains unchanged. It remains empty and dark and full of luke warm pools of stagnant putrid water... is that a clear enough image...

speak

pray

declare

when we do... oh if you could only see into that other realm... if you could only see the power attached to your breath and the calories expended...

the Spirit of God lives in you... it attaches an anointing to every word... it goes forth as you pray, as you speak, as you think, as you do... and something begins to stir...

where are you aiming such power?
are the sights of your weapon set on what matters?
have you not even lifted the barrel, or even wondered how to pull the trigger?
are you shell-shocked and standing with your mouth gaping as you watch the enemy rape and ravage and rob all that you love and every person that you were to protect???

raise your weapon!
this is war...

PRAY.

without ceasing, in all things, about everything, about everyone, all day, and night, in your busyness, in your boredom, over your loved ones, into the lives of your enemy...

that stirring, that one small moment of breath... sets a whole world into motion.
you thought it was all about keeping you alive... that breathing that you do, that feeding of oxygen to your brain, to your body... no, it's about so much more....

you breathe without ceasing,
now pray without ceasing...

it is the breath of life.
so speak life...

pray <3

---------

(Ephesians 6:17-18)
17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

(Acts 12:5)
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

(Romans 1:9)
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

(1 Thessalonians 5:17)
Pray without ceasing.

(2 Timothy 1:3)
I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

-----

you don't know what the outcome will be... only God knows.
some will choose to go their own way, some will reject the good that God has planned and that you have claimed for them... do not be discouraged by the appearance of things.

do not be discouraged

do not think it hopeless

do not think it bigger than God says it is

be faithful, plant, water, pray, believe, and trust God to bring the increase.
the outcome isn't your concern, the laboring is... don't blame, don't find fault, don't look for excuses... God will let you find them just as surely as he will pass you over if you choose to remain enslaved to lukewarmness...

he is looking for the faithful, the committed, the diligent, the honest, the genuine, those seeking his heart and his will, those who are passionate to reflect his image and his love.

FAITH

faith

you gotta trust him with the outcome as you diligently plant and water and pray...

pray
without ceasing.

-----

6I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. (I Corinthians 3; KJV)

6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. (NIV)

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