2 Chronicles 20:3, 12 – “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ¹² O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word today, I was intrigued by God’s attention to detail. In 2 Chronicles 20:3, we read, “And Jehoshaphat feared…”   That was not unexpected because a combined force assembled against him was much more powerful than his army. Then it says, “And he raised up his face to pray…” That caught my attention.

He raised up his face (looked heavenward) and prayed.   That was the way Jesus prayed, looking up to heaven.   We bow our heads, but here he looks to heaven. That is a sign of trust.

In verse 12, his prayer is noteworthy.   He petitioned God to reveal Himself.   He made no pretense – “We have no strength (we can’t handle this problem).”    He admitted this was beyond his ability to solve – “We do not know what to do.”    We often try to figure it out and implement plans to solve the problem.   Jehoshaphat said, “We do not know what to do, BUT…”   That is the doorway to the answer. The ‘but‘ either hinders or helps. Here, it is expressive of faith. “BUT our eyes are upon You!”   The chorus, “Where Could I Go But to the Lord?”    Fills my heart.

After Jehoshaphat, the successive kings of Israel are listed, and their good and bad qualities are detailed.   In 2 Chronicles 25:2, we read about Amaziah, the 25-year-old king.   “And he did that, which was right in the sight of the LORD, BUT not with a perfect heart.” The ‘but’ is a doorway, but not one of faith, but of defeat. He did right, but he wasn’t right. Religious but not pure.   Doing but not being.   We face that danger, too.

In 2 Chronicles 26, we find Uzziah, who fell prey to the problem faced by all.    In verse 16, “But when he became very rich, his pride was lifted up exceedingly, so he transgressed against the LORD…”

Riches could be fame, position, or success. If we look at where we have arrived and begin to become self-important, we open the door to pride, which ultimately leads to destruction.

God wants us not just to do right but to be right.   He is not looking for our acts but our hearts.   He wants us to have pure hearts that keep us humble in our own eyes so we can be used by Him.   Pride shifts the dependence from God to self.    Jehoshaphat depended on God.   Ahaziah did it right, but it was not right.   Uzziah let pride ruin him.

God has an assignment for everyone, but only as we trust Him, purify our hearts, and resist pride can that assignment be completed.

May your day be filled with the wonders of God’s miracles and directives!  

Acts 22:14-15 – “And he (Ananias to Paul) said to me, The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear the voice of His mouth.  15 And you shall be a witness for Him before all men of all that you have seen and heard.”

What a day to be alive!  This is the day the Lord has made, and we have an endless number of reasons to rejoice and be glad.   Today, as I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word, I was drawn to something in Acts 22 that resonated powerfully.   Paul was relating his Damascus road experience.  The Light (Jesus) blinded him physically.  Ananias came to pray for him and said something interesting and revealing.

In Acts 22:14-15, we have the revelation of God’s appointment of Paul as an apostle of the Kingdom.  In it, there are four key elements worth noting.

• Know God’s will.
• See Jesus.
• Hear His voice.
• Witness for Him – (Gospel).

For us to complete the mission and commission of Jesus.  To be His witnesses and do the works He did, we have to “Know” Him and His Will.   To truly “Know” Him, we have to “See” Him and “Hear” His voice clearly and correctly.    It is only as we “See” with the eyes of the Spirit and “Hear” with spiritual ears that we can stand in the “Knowledge” of Him and be effective “Witnesses.”

We can only give what we have.   If we try to witness for Him without Knowing, Seeing, and Hearing Him, we become like the seven sons of Sceva.

The power or strength to live the Christian life and fulfill our assignment is established on the foundation of “Knowing, Seeing, and Hearing Jesus.”  If we “Know” Him, we have “Seen” Him.  Remember, Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice and know Me.”   If Matthew 6:33 is a reality in our lives, and if He is “in” us and we are “in” Him, it is impossible not to serve Him.

The Harvest is ready, and the harvesters are few.   The preventative to distraction is Knowing, Seeing, and Hearing Him.  Divided hearts are distracted hearts.    People perish if the hearts of believers are divided.

When we “Know, See, and Hear Him,” a fire is ignited inside us, and He becomes our all.   We have a world to win, a winning message, an undefeatable power, and an eternal commission.   He is calling us to total surrender, will we?   The world’s eternity depends on our response.  If we know His Will, see His Face, and hear His Voice, it will be impossible not to respond.  It is Harvest time!

May your day be prosperous and joyous as you pursue God’s purposes for your life!  

1 John 3:20 – “For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”  ESV

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word today, a reality we all know exploded in my heart and mind.  That reality is God knows! God knows what?   He knows Everything!   There are several examples in the Book of Acts that leaped off the page at me this morning.

In Acts 8, Philip preached in Samaria and saw a great outpouring.  Then, the Holy Spirit said, “Philip, leave here and head south.”  There were no other instructions.  The directive was to head south into the desert.   Why?  The Ethiopian eunuch was seeking God while riding in a chariot.  God knew where he was and the condition of his heart.   Had Philip not been obedient, that man could have been lost for eternity.  God knows!

In Acts 9, Saul, the terrorizer, had his encounter with Jesus and was led into Damascus blind.   Ananias was directed to go to a specific house and pray for Saul.   As a result, Saul was healed, and I suggest that confirmation was an anchor in Paul’s life.  Had Ananias not been obedient, Saul might not have become Paul.   Of course, God could have found someone else, but Saul saw in a vision Ananias coming.  God knows!

Then, in Acts 10, Cornelius was praying, and an angel came and directed him to send to Joppa to a specific house and have Peter go to Caesarea.   Peter had the sheet vision which prepared his heart to understand.   He went, and Cornelius and those with him were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.   Had Peter allowed his orthodoxy to prevail, this expansion of the kingdom might not have occurred, and the gospel might have been delayed in reaching the Gentiles.  God knows!

We must become explicitly obedient to the Holy Spirit, knowing that God knows!  God knows every detail and is watching!   Obedience is required!   Imagine what might happen when we explicitly obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The reality that God knows is either a tremendous comfort or a terrifying thought!   I pray that it will bring peace today and every day!

Acts 3:15-21 – “You killed the Originator of life, whom God raised from the dead.  To this fact we are witnesses!  ¹⁶ And on the basis of faith in Jesus’ name, his very name has made this man—whom you see and know—strong.  The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all.  ¹⁷ And now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance, as your rulers did too.  ¹⁸ But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets—that his Christ would suffer—he has fulfilled in this way.  ¹⁹ Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, ²⁰ so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you—that is, Jesus.  ²¹ This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, I was challenged.   I felt like I was reading the unread in the Book of Acts.  What do I mean by the unread?  I mean the things that are skimmed over and unnoticed.

In Acts 3, we focus on the miracle of healing and give little emphasis to Peter’s charge to the onlookers.  In verses 15-19, he explained the miracle, but his message was in verse 19 – Repent!   That is the heart of God!  His miracles are evidence of His love and desire to restore us.

The religious rulers threatened them with excommunication.   Peter and John rejected the endorsement of tradition and religion in favor of obedience to God.   The result was a prayer meeting where they asked God for boldness to preach Jesus.

The result in Acts 4:31 was another outpouring of the Holy Spirit.   God’s answer to their prayer was another saturation with the Holy Spirit.   We sometimes overlook the fact that they did not seek that outpouring but boldness and courage to continue.   God’s answer was to saturate them again with the Holy Spirit.  The key to fulfilling His commission is saturation with the Holy Spirit.

When Steven related Israel’s history, he spoke of the burning bush.   God said to Moses, “You are standing on Holy ground.”   What made it Holy?   We take experiences and make shrines, but what made that spot Holy?  It was God’s Presence!   God’s Presence makes the place Holy ground.  We seek signs and make shrines.  Seek God, and wherever we are becomes Holy ground.

We are praying for revival, but we will not have it without promoting repentance.  Without repentance, there will be no revival.   Repentance brings us into the presence of God and opens the door to saturation in the Holy Spirit, which produces the boldness and power to bring conviction, the doorway to revival.

We want more of God and His power.  The only doorway through which it comes is Repentance!   If we want more of God and His power, we must submit ourselves totally to Him.  We do not need more programs.  We need His presence.  We are waiting for open doors of opportunity without realizing that when the saturation of the Holy Spirit comes, every door, every place, and every person is an opportunity.

It’s harvest time!   Let’s rejoice and come to Him in

John 20:6-9 – ^“Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb.  He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, ⁷ and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself.  ⁸ Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed.  ⁹ (For they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.)”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, several things moved me and captured my thoughts.  The folded napkin in the tomb is meaningless in our Western culture, but not in Jewish culture.

The Gospel of John 20:7 tells us that the napkin, which was placed over Jesus’ face, was not thrown aside like the other grave clothes.  The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

Simon Peter arrived and went inside.  He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, along with the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head.

To understand the significance of the folded napkin, we must first grasp a bit about the Hebrew tradition of that time.  The folded napkin had to do with the master and servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition.  When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he ensured that it was exactly as the master wanted it.  The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating.

The servant would not dare touch the table until the master was finished.   If the master were finished eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers and mouth, clean his beard, and wad up the napkin and toss it onto the table.   The servant would then know to clear the table.  For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, “I’m finished.”

But if the master got up from the table, folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table because the folded napkin meant, “I’m coming back!”   The message was clear, but did Peter and John receive it immediately?  Jesus always gives us signs of what He is about to do, but do we grasp them?  Not always immediately.

After Jesus appeared to them, a transformation began in their hearts and minds.  In the Upper Room, the full impact of His Promise and Purpose flooded their hearts.

The Holy Spirit was and is the Key.   He is our direct connection to Jesus, and Jesus is our direct connection to the Father.  Acts 1:8 gives the key to the fulfillment of the commission.  He provides the power or energia to fulfill the purposes of God.  He brings revelation and conviction to the heart.

Ephesians 5:18 reveals the infilling and compares it to being drunk.  The word is pleroo (saturated).   In Acts 2:15, Peter responded to the comparison of being drunk by saying, “You are right, they are drunk, just not on natural substance but with the Holy Spirit.”

In that saturation, they had the divine energia to work miracles and turn entire cities upside down for God.  Their message was REPENT!  Everything begins with repentance!  Repentance opens the door.  The Holy Spirit provides the power to be and do!

The ultimate evidence that Jesus arrived in heaven, poured His blood on the mercy seat in heaven, and the sacrifice for sin was accepted was the Day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.   They were saturated, and in that energy, the church was born.  But it was not a one-time experience.  They were continuously filled.  
Jesus came and is coming!  We have a mission and a commission.  We have the provision of power to be and do what He purposed.

Are we saturated?   They became saturated by being united in purpose and in repentant prayer.   Every time the Spirit was poured out, it was the same.  Are we saturated?  

Lord, we pray that You saturate us with Your Presence and Spirit, and enable us to become all You desire, impacting our world!