Jonah 1:5 – “The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god, and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, a word from yesterday echoed again in my heart and head. Repentance and Restoration!  The account of Jonah gripped my heart and challenged me.  Jonah heard a word of prophecy for Nineveh but ran.  Why?  We find the answer later, but his nonchalance initially is shocking.

The escape ship endured a fierce storm.   Everyone was terrified and crying out to the god they believed in, not Jonah.   Jonah 1:5: Jonah was asleep in the belly of the ship.  He had no fear of God.   He was comfortable in his rebellion.  His later acknowledgment of God’s character was possibly a part of it. He, like multitudes, took God’s mercifulness for granted.  His rebellion did not bother him enough to change.

He had a supernatural experience in the belly of a giant fish.   He asked for mercy and received it.   God gave him a second chance, and he obeyed. Nineveh repented, and God relented, and Jonah became irate.

Pride (personal embarrassment) infuriated him.  He later confessed that he had anticipated God’s mercy, and his desire to see his prophecy fulfilled was more important than restoration.

When Jesus was at the well, He spoke two important truths to focus on. John 4:32-35, He spoke of true food – obedience to God. He spoke of the true harvest – people.   That was God’s focus in Nineveh. That was Jesus’ focus on the Cross. That is God’s focus – people! Jesus came to save whosoever!

John 3:4-4 reveals the KEY to Jesus’ life of victory. He had the Holy Spirit without measure!  He was saturated with the Holy Spirit.  He was sensitive to and obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit.   We try to be what only He can be in us and through us.  When will we give up, stop trying to produce righteousness, and cooperate with the Holy Spirit so Jesus can be Himself in and through us?   John the Baptist understood – He can only be who He is when I stop trying to be Him.  He can only increase in my life when I empty myself of myself.

So, give up and let Jesus take over!  We sing it; now let’s do it!

LORD, help us to make the right choice and walk in obedience!

Psalm 27: 4-6 – “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple. ⁵ For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.  ⁶ And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, the thought of being hidden in God’s Pavilion tent came to the forefront of my mind.   In Psalm 27:4-6, we have David’s incredible declaration and prayer.  I ask that you read it.   He said, “One thing I have asked…”   

How many things are our focus?  He recounted God’s blessings, and then, in verse 5, he said, “For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.” What a place!

The longer I live, the more things I encounter in life, and the more experiences I have with and in the Lord, the more I recognize the times and need for God to occasionally take me from the front lines of battle and hide me in His Pavilion Tent.  In the battle, the King would have a tent in the midst of the soldiers to which he could resort, and he would take the weary there for strategy. God does that in our lives spiritually.

There are times when we are so battle-fatigued, weak, discouraged, disillusioned, and even depressed that we need an infusion of fresh vision, and that’s where we find it. He takes us from the “heat of the battle” into his Pavilion Tent and “refreshes us”. We are concealed from the enemy, untouchable by the powers of hell, and from there we receive the infusion of strength, power, courage, and anointing to go back out into the battle and win the victory.

Sadly, sometimes we don’t hear the call to come aside for rest and try to be martyrs, pushing ourselves beyond our limits when He is calling us to come inside and “rest.”   Some feel guilty, saying, “There is too much to be done,” and “I must work while it is yet day for the night comes when no man can work.”  

Then we press on until exhaustion takes over.  We lose our strength and are overcome by the forces of hell.  That’s not God’s way and never has been. Burning out for Jesus is a well-intentioned statement, but it’s not very productive.

Here is my advice: learn to listen to your body, your mind, your spirit, your heart, and hear the voice of the Spirit of God inviting you to come into His Pavilion Tent and be refreshed.  The time spent there, if it be an hour, a day, a week, a month, or a year, will prove to be far more valuable than staying in the battle when you are no longer at your optimum.

Don’t let the devil shame you into thinking that you are somehow being lazy or slothful, but realize that it is the Lord’s design to “refresh” you to make you “better than ever” for the battle.   If there is one thing I have learned, it is that we need to enter the rest where the weary are made to rest, and when we emerge, we are not only refreshed but also emboldened and empowered in a new way. That is part of learning to lean on Jesus.

As you go into the rest of your week, I suggest that we all listen to our bodies, hearts, minds, and spirits, and if God says, “Come Apart and Rest,” DO IT!   You will have the opportunity to reenter and to do so with renewed vision, strength, grace, anointing, and power.

I pray that the Lord will help you to be as effective as possible for His Kingdom!  Focus on Him, not circumstances. Give it to Him; refuse to be responsible for the world.   It’s not your job! Let God be God, and when He bids you come into the tent and rest – Rest!

LORD, help us to know what to ask and ask!

1 Chronicles 12:32 – “Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their kinsmen were at their command.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, I sensed an urgency in my spirit.    There is a tsunami forming on the sea of life that will bring the greatest revival, renewal, and restoration in human history, and the greatest time of destruction known to man. 

Right now, it appears as whitecapped swells in the sea, but it is building.   It begins slowly, but once formed, it will move like lightning!   Beware!  Be Ready!  Prepare your heart; the time is short.   In places around today’s world, there is open season on Christians; this is the early sign of the tsunami!   Be alert! 

In these last days, we must have God’s Anointing!   Ritual, form, and business as usual without the anointing will not produce life or save from the coming calamity, nor will it enable one to reap and keep the harvest.

We need the spirit of the men of Issachar today.   1 Chronicles 12:32 – “They understood the times…)”   Do you recall Jesus’ lament – “You knew not the time of your visitation.”   How about His decree that we must “Discern the Times.”   Not only did the men of Issachar understand the times, but they also knew what to do!

Hear me!   Seeing the problem is not the answer.   Seeing without knowing how to handle and face it brings depression, doubt, discouragement, and defeat.  Knowing what to do makes the problems bread for us!   WHY?   Because we know who is in charge and see His designed pathway.   The Anointing, then, will break the yoke!

In Chronicles 14:15, we have the key:  Listen For The Sound!   “When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, then attack.”   This could be the dawning of that grand and glorious morning when Jesus comes back!   But rather than sitting, soaking, and souring, hiding behind the walls of religion, we need to be listening for the Sound, Ready to Act!

Caution:   There will be conquerors and castaways in these last days.   We must get our hearts right, or we will be overcome by the plight!  Unless our hearts are right, we won’t be a part of the fight; we will be those fought and overwrought!    We either wear a victor’s crown or we go down!

The choice is ours!    The choice requires deep soul searching, total surrender, and complete obedience In Everything!  

It will be Conqueror or Casualty.  

2 Kings 19:14-19 – “Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So, they have destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, I was inspired to pray, but not just to petition.   Sometimes we face things that far exceed our ability to handle.  We come face-to-face with the glaring reality, “I Can’t!”   In that moment, we have a life-or-death choice to make.   We can give up and surrender to the enemy.  We can wail in the despair of our hopelessness.   We can turn to our only true source of help. 

Hezekiah did the latter in 2 Kings 19:14-19.  He read Sennacherib’s threats.   He did not ignore or deny the problem.  He took to heart the validity of the enemy’s claims and threats.  That’s step one – Face the problem.

Then, he took the threats, placed them on the altar, and prayed a prayer that was like the opening statement of the plaintiff in a court of law.     In verse 16, He argued that the taunts, blasphemy, and threats were only indirectly directed at Israel, but were, in fact, taunts against The Living God!

In verses 17-18, He acknowledged that what Assyria claimed was a factual historical record.   They had done what they said and would do the same to Israel unless God intervened.

In verse 19, He made his petition – It was Help!   Sometimes the simplest prayers are the most powerful!  “God, here is the situation.   We can’t handle it – HELP!”   In verse 34, we have God’s response, I will shield you!

Hezekiah sent to Isaiah for a Word from God.   What do we do?   God’s Word came in 2 Kings 20:5 – I have heard your prayers.   (I have considered your case).  I have seen your tears. (I see your heart).  I will heal you.  (The Word heal = make complete or whole).   They did not need physical healing; they needed deliverance from an enemy far superior in power!   God said I will make you whole!

From Revelation 8:5, a challenge came to my mind.     Prayer releases the fire of God.  Hezekiah prayed, and God acted.  The Early Church prayed, and God acted.  James 5:16 – “The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much.”    Let me rephrase that: “When we pray in total sincerity and honesty according to God’s Word, God moves.”   

1 John 5:14-15 should be learned as a life guide.   If we pray according to God’s will & word, He hears us.  If He hears us, we are assured our prayers are answered.   Like Hezekiah, we need to be totally honest and transparent.   We must become totally dependent on God.  We must be willing to follow His directions explicitly.  We must pray with expectation.

LORD, help us to guard against double-mindedness and live in total surrender!

2 Kings 12-1-3 – “In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ² Jehoash did right in the sight of the Lord all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³ Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, the phrase “Incomplete Obedience” reverberated inside my head and heart. This is totally unacceptable to God and leads to snares.

In 2 Kings 10:31 – “But Jehu did not carefully and wholeheartedly obey…He did not repudiate the sins which Jeroboam had encouraged Israel to commit.”  As a result, God reduced the size of Israel. Incomplete Obedience weakens us.

2 Kings 12:2-3, Jehoash did what God approved…BUT.  That’s the problem, but he failed to be complete and let idolatry continue in some areas.  As a result, the temple was in disarray, and King Hazael of Syria seized its sacred items.

2 Kings 13:14-19, Elisha gave the king a prophetic directive, which he obeyed half-heartedly. The result: Incomplete victory.   2 Kings 14:1-6, King Amaziah obeyed, but not totally.  He allowed temple worship to be mixed with idolatry. The result: they were defeated in battle.

God requires total obedience.   He expects explicit obedience.  He is gracious and patient, but we must remember that disobedience and Incomplete obedience open the door to the devil.  If we give him legal ground, he can and will do damage.   

If we want victory, we must close the door to him.  It is then that we can walk through the Open Door as John in Revelation 4:1. In Revelation 3, in the message to the church at Philadelphia, we have the promise of an open door unshuttable by man or the devil. Total victory for total obedience.

It is not a small thing to disobey. Small acts of disobedience become cumulative and large! Every act of disobedience should be followed by immediate repentance.

Let’s close the doors to the devil and receive the open doors of God! Total victory in total obedience.