It Determines Why You Are Here!

1 Kings 18:41 – “Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.”

I pray your day will be refreshing, rewarding, revealing, and filled with God’s perfect peace.  What a mighty God we serve!  I was invigorated with hope as I read, prayed, pondered, and meditated on God, His Word, purpose, and life.

I love reading about Elijah and his complete obedience to God.  However, we sometimes forget he was subject to human frailty like the rest of us.  The encounter on Mt. Carmel with Jezebel’s prophets was incredible.  Then, the tiny little cloud brought his declaration. “I hear the sound of abundance of rain. “

When Jezebel heard what had happened, she issued her vitriolic threat.  Elijah was terrified.   Wait, what, why was he terrified?  God had moved twice in a mighty supernatural demonstration, yet Elijah let this woman frighten him enough that he went and hid!  Wow!  Man of faith and power, right?

In hiding, God asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  He wasn’t asking about geography.  God manifested Himself in the still, small, quiet voice and asked again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Our focus must always be on God, nothing else.  If we listen to other voices, we forget Who God is and who we are in Him.  If we keep our eyes on Him, we have no fear because His presence drives out doubt. 

The disciples were hiding after Jesus was crucified because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus came to them and said, “Peace be with you.”   When Jesus is near, there is peace. So, I ask what God asked: “Why are you here? and What do you hear?”

You have been called, commissioned, anointed, and empowered to do the work He has called you to do.  That’s why you are here!  Therefore, IF you are in fear, know He is near.  You are here to destroy the works of the devil.  You are here to set captives free.  You are here to bind the strong man.  You are here to bring the kingdom to earth. 

Stop hiding and reject fear.  That is not who you are!  Have a fantastic, victorious day!

2 Kings 19:14-16 – “Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.”

The word “Dependence” filled my heart as I read, prayed, and pondered the Word today.

The king, Hezekiah, was facing potential annihilation by a powerful enemy. The Lord turned back the enemy, but an emissary sent letters of threat to him. The letters were so disturbing that Hezekiah was filled with fear. He took the letters (symbols of the problem) to the altar and spread them before God.

Hezekiah took his burdens to the Lord. His prayer was, “Lord, we do not know what to do, BUT our eyes are on You.” That’s the key to everything.  Take it to God.  Acknowledge our lack of knowledge, wisdom, and power.   Focus on God. Our Focus must be God.  If we look at the problem, we empower it and open the door to fear and futility in relying on our ability or human strength.

We tend to take it to the Lord and confess our inability, but instead of having our eyes on Him, we take it with us. Then we say, “I took it to the Lord, but nothing happened.” That’s right: We took it to Him and then took it from Him.

What we place before GOD must stay in His hands.  Only as we look through or past the problem to Him and Depend on Him entirely do we walk in the full provision and power of the Finished Work of Jesus.

But my God Shall supply ALL your needs according to HIS glory.  If He needs your help, He will tell you.  Trust Him and walk in dependence, trusting Him.  He does not lie and will not fail.

Rejoice!  Then, Rejoice, and then Rejoice!  Victory is your heritage.

2 Corinthians 2:9 – “This is why the Scriptures say: Things never discovered or heard of before, things beyond our ability to imagine — these are the many things God has in store for all his lovers.” 

Today is a gift from God, and behind the veil, there are many untapped blessings to be gleaned from the events of the day!

Somebody said, “I’m a glass-half-full person.” Another said, “I’m a glass-half-empty person.” I said, “Whether the glass is half empty or half full, there is room for more, so why not open your hearts to the Lord and let Him fill your glass?”   I pray that we will become artesian wells from which His Spirit, love, mercy, peace, and power flow! Let us be demonstrations of Him to the world and each other!

In prayer, I was reminded of the Song “Too Much To Gain To Lose.”   The Holy Spirit drove something into my heart in the second verse as I sang the old song in worship.

I’ve crossed the hot, burning desert

And I’ve struggled the right road to choose.

But somewhere up ahead, I see cool, clear water.

And defeat is one word I don’t use.

That last line gripped my heart, and I heard God telling me in my spirit—DO NOT USE THE WORD DEFEAT!  You are more than a conqueror through Jesus. All things are possible with God, and you are in Him, and He is in you; therefore, all things are possible to you—Just Believe!

I feel ashamed of the times I have either thought or expressed defeat in something I was facing. I feel ashamed of the times I have envisioned failure rather than success. I repent and set my heart to eliminate that word from my spiritual vocabulary and focus on the Promises of God. I want to focus on His Person and Power and begin to see myself as Who He Made Me to Be, and I Declare that is who I am!

I pray that the Lord will inspire us to reject defeat and focus on His ability to Do All Things All of the Time! I pray that He will deposit in our hearts His Word so powerfully that defeat is not even considered, no matter what we face.

Remember that God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent.  If He has declared it, and He has, IT WILL BE!   It will be IF we will believe, receive, and obey!

We do not earn things from God, but He does honor faith and obedience! He desires to give us the Kingdom and meet ALL our needs from His abundance! Jesus came to save, heal, and deliver!

Receive from Him what you need today.   May today be a day of rejoicing, knowing you are secure in Him!

2 Chronicles 5:13-14 – “In unison, when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord saying, “He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting,” then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, ¹⁴ so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”

As I read, prayed, pondered, and considered the Word, a reminder came to the forefront of my consciousness.

God’s Presence!  In 2 Chronicles 5:13-14, we have the details of what happened at the dedication of the temple.   (Keep this in your mind; our bodies are the temple of the Lord.)

They began to worship and praise God with singing and with Thanksgiving. They sang or chanted, “For He is good; for His mercy endures forever…”  At that moment, the glory cloud filled the house.  The Shekinah Glory was so powerful and prevalent that the priest could not stand to minister.   The house of the Lord (type of us) was filled with the brightness of His Glory!

2 Chronicles 7:1 informs us that after Solomon had finished praying, FIRE (type of the Holy Spirit) came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.

God manifests Himself when we truly worship Him with hearts of praise, thanksgiving, and prayer.   If we want a continual consciousness of and visitation by God, we have a key to receive.

Ephesians 5:18-21 – ”And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  New English Translation (NET)

“And don’t get drunk with wine, which is rebellion; instead, be filled continually with the Holy Spirit.  ¹⁹ And your hearts will overflow with a joyful song to the Lord. Keep speaking to each other with words of Scripture, singing the Psalms with praises and spontaneous songs given by the Spirit!  ²⁰ Always give thanks to Father God for every person he brings into your life in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ And out of your reverence for Christ, be supportive of each other in love.”  The Passion Translation (TPT)

The Key – – Sing to yourselves!   Speak to your inner person with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (songs of worship and in the Spirit).  Sing and make melody with your heart to the Lord.   Give thanks ALWAYS for EVERYTHING in the name of Jesus!   I think of the song “I’ve Got Confidence.”   In good times and bad, remember God’s faithfulness and worship Him. 

We need God 24/7/365, not just in crisis. Having God’s presence ALL THE TIME is the only way to truly live. He is not a “break in case of emergency” tool. He is God, the LIVING GOD, and His eyes are on the righteous, looking for opportunities to bless.

Do you want God’s Presence 24/7/365?  Then, praise, worship, thanksgiving, and prayer are continual activities of your day.

Genesis 24:10-15 – “Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and he went with all kinds of good things of his master’s in his hand. So, he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹ And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when the women go out to draw water. ¹² And he said, “O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please cause this to happen before me today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; ¹⁴ now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will give water to your camels to drink also’—may she be the one whom You have decided for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.” ¹⁵ And before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, was coming out with her jar on her shoulder.”  LSB

We need to consider specificity in prayer and how that relates to faith.  In Genesis 24, we have the prayer of Abraham’s servant regarding the wife he was commissioned to bring to Isaac.  The specificity of the prayer is important.   He even told God where he was and who was around him.  He asked for specifics.  Our petitions need to become extremely specific.  God is a God of detail.

The Book of Acts reveals the incredible journey of the apostles and the fledgling church.  They were people of intense prayer as they waited in obedience to Jesus’ command to tarry.  They did not know the dynamics of what awaited, but they waited in prayer.

The result of the infilling of the Holy Spirit produced an attitude of confidence that Nothing Was Impossible with God or for them.  In Acts 3, Peter and John encountered the lame man at Gate Beautiful.  Something specific caught my attention.   Peter’s words, “Look at us,” brought hope to the beggar.  Then his words deflated him.  “I don’t have any money…” 

What Peter did next was amazing.   He declared healing in Jesus’ name.  I am convinced that had he done what we have done, no healing would have transpired at times.  We declare, pray, and walk away.  Peter extended his hand to the cripple and pulled him to his feet.  “As he pulled the man to his feet, suddenly power surged into his crippled feet and ankles.”  Healing transpired! 

In Acts 2:16, Peter explains to the people that faith in Jesus’ name caused the healing.  The question that we need to address is, who had the faith? 

• Was it the lame man?   That does not seem to be indicated in this account. 
• Was it Peter and John?  They appear to be the ones manifesting faith for healing. 

Peter declared what (healing) and by whom (Jesus), then acted on his faith, and healing occurred. 

Specificity in prayer coupled with definitive corresponding action brought about the miracle. 

• Do we fall short in specificity?
• Do we fail to boldly declare God’s promises? 
• Do we walk away without acting on our declaration of God’s promises without acting in faith?

Specific prayer has an element of risk.  Bold faith has an element of risk.  We could fail and suffer embarrassment in the eyes of people.  I’ve heard the argument that if we dared and failed, it would bring discredit to God and then allow timidity to prevail. That is a flawed argument!

Let’s be bold and specific in our prayers, fearless in claiming God’s promises, and dare to fail.  Peter was so filled with the Holy Spirit that they put the sick along his path, expecting them to be healed by the power of God emanating from him.  Lord, make me so full of You that the power and love of God can be felt and experienced when I walk by.

I hate the devil’s works.  Jesus came to destroy them and has authorized us to use His name and power to overcome them.   Expect a miracle!  God is the God of the Impossible!

May the God of the Impossible manifest Himself in you and to you today!