Luke 1:37 – “For nothing will be impossible with God.”  NASU

Keeping the passages from Jeremiah we used yesterday in mind (Jeremiah 32:17;27) I want you to consider the message of Luke.  It is an answer to Mary’s question concerning her conception.  The angel said – “You are going to have a child.”  Mary’s response – “How can this be?  I am a virgin!”  Simply, “That is IMPOSSIBLE!”  Then the answer comes.  Now replace the word NOTHING with whatever you are facing.  NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE with God!

Mary was covenant conscious otherwise she would have found it impossible to respond positively.  She had a settled confidence in God’s character as demonstrated in her words and actions.  Her response was faith in the Word of God.  She, like all Hebrews, knew that Messiah would come and He would be born of a virgin.  They knew that word (logos) but this was a specific word (rhema) to her and her response was rooted in her covenantal understanding.  She received and obeyed that word and the Christ child was born in Bethlehem.

Luke 18:27 – “Jesus said:  ‘The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”

Now let’s try something a little different.  I want you to close your eyes and bring to mind some situation you are facing in which to you and by you is IMPOSSIBLE.  Each of the four passages we have used in Jeremiah and Luke say virtually the same thing that NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE with God.  So, bring that situation to the forefront of your consciousness.  It is impossible for you and that is important that you see that.  Now ask, “How would the Lord handle this situation?”  Once you have answered that then roll it over onto Him and refuse to pick it up again.  Leave it in His hands!

Follow me in this please:  Do you believe that HE IS?  Do you believe that HE CAN?  Do you believe that HE CAN BE TRUSTED?  If you answered yes to all three and have seen the revelation that He is, can and can be trusted then you can confidently leave it in His hands without fretting.  I encourage you to do it right now!

John Chapter Six gives us a beautiful picture worth considering in our discussion.  It is the only miracle mentioned in all four gospels.  It is the only event in which Jesus asked the advice of someone else.  It was an unquestioned miracle.  It is not some natural thing altered on a sliding scale, it was IMPOSSIBLE.  The account begins, “after these things…”  After what things?  After the events of this chapter!  What happened in the preceding chapters?  Jesus had chosen his disciples and sent them out in ministry.  They have returned, tired and weary.  They were emotionally and physically drained and Jesus has drawn them aside to rest.

Picture the scene in John 6:1-3 – – They are on a mountainside for some R&R and in verse 5 Jesus looked up and saw the multitude.  Get the picture; these disciples are sitting around worn out from ministry and longing to rest. They wanted to be left alone!  According to verse 10 the number was at least 5,000 and Matthew 14 tells us that it was 5,000 plus women and children so it was a huge crowd.  They are in a remote area and a huge crowd is approaching. There is no HEB or Kroger nearby.  There is no McDonald’s or Burger King to grab something to eat and they are hungry.  It is an IMPOSSIBLE situation, just like Jesus liked it.  Remember the question of the disciples:  “What are we going to do?”  That was more than a question it was an exclamation of despair.

Jesus had taught them that He was God’s Son, God in the flesh, MESSIAH and now He would demonstrate that NOTHNG was IMPOSSIBLE with God.   Jesus gave them a little exam and Philip was the first and Jesus asked, “Where are we going to buy food that these may eat?”  Consider the next verse, next verse and you’ll understand better, “And this He was saying to test him; for He Himself knew what He was intending to do.”  God brings us face to face with our IMPOSSIBILITIES to demonstrated His POSSIBILITIES.   Philip did not really answer but exclaimed:  “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient…”  Jesus asked WHERE and Philip answered HOW MUCH.  Philip focused on the IMPOSSIBLE and Jesus was demonstrating the POSSIBLE.  When Andrew came to the testing room his response was that a boy there had a lunch with five barley loaves and two fish.  The issue is not HOW MUCH but WHO?  Then we know the miracle how Jesus fed the 5,000 with five pancakes and two sardines.  Not only did He feed them but verse 11 says they ate AS MUCH AS THEY WANTED.

Impossible is not in God’s vocabulary and should not be in ours for He is, He can, and He can be trusted!   May God be with you as you go through your day!  God with God and He will assuredly go with you!  Blessings!

Jeremiah 32:17 – “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.”  

Jeremiah 32:27 – “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? “  NKJV

Have you discovered that you occasionally find yourself facing situations which appear or are IMPOSSIBLE?  Have you ever encountered circumstances so totally beyond your control that you were reduced to despair?  Welcome to the real world.  You just came to the banks of one of the uncrossable rivers of life.  That reminds me of the chorus from an old gospel song:

Got any rivers you think are uncrossable; 

Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?           

God specializes in things tho’t impossible;

And He can do what no other can do!

             It is simply a reality that if you are not ‘now’ in a seemingly impossible situation you have been in one and are headed toward one.  If things are difficult right now wait for the impossible, or as a man I know likes to say, “Cheer up it will get worse.”  Difficulties are a natural part of life.  The issue is not IF we will face seemingly impossible situations but HOW we will handle them.  The question is WHERE will we find the faith, character and strength to deal with them?

I believe that the outcome depends largely if not entirely on your OUTLOOK or PERSPECTIVE.  Are you viewing your circumstances from strictly an earthly perspective or are you seated with Christ looking down on it from a heavenly one?  I have found four key scriptures that deal with the issue of the IMPOSSIBLE and two of them are listed above with the other two being in Luke’s gospel.

In Jeremiah 32:17 we read that NOTHING is too difficult for God and almost everyone would agree.  If that is true, and it is, then ALL that we have been calling IMPOSSIBLE are POSSIBLE with God.  This passage in the Hebrew is incredibly emphatic and could rightly be rendered:  “No, nothing, absolutely nothing for you (Oh God) is extraordinary.  Nothing is outside the realm of your ability!”   Then, why do we worry and fret as much as we do?  The answer to that question will determine much.

The bottom line is WHO God is and that involves far more than just His power but refers to His character.  IF we are to walk in faith then God’s character must become a settle issue.  IF we rest in God’s character we can trust His promises and experience His power.  We will no longer be tossed about by circumstances but stand firmly on the revelation of His character.  It is when we resolve the issue of character with God that we find peace with WHO God is and WHO we are in Him.  It is there that the issue of faith moves from HOW MUCH to HE IS.  The life of faith is not a merchant-shopper relationship it is covenant.  Mark said: Have the faith of God.  Paul said:  The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.  We read:  I live, but it is not I, it is Christ…  We know that faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God so the more developed we are in our relationship with God the more we realize the absence of fear and doubt.  We become secure in our relationship and confident in times of trouble because we KNOW HIM.

Fretting is an evidence of our insecurity in WHO God is and WHO we are in Him.  Therefore we must quickly and completely settle the issue of God’s existence, character and ability.   Jeremiah 32:27 brings us the proposal of God to substitute the word IMPOSSIBLE with ANYTHING and then fill in the blank.  Is (whatever we face) too difficult for me?  Only if I am going in my strength is it too difficult.  The issue is and will be: “Is anything too difficult for God?” 

I want to do just a little more on this so we will pause here and ask God’s blessings upon you as you meet this day with the Joy of the Lord!  Blessings!

Luke 13:3 – “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”  NKJV

In considering the Life of Faith and when Jesus died on the Cross He departed this world with the words, “IT IS FINISHED!”  That is the very reason the Gospel is not a list of rules but a proclamation!  The Gospel means:  “Good news!”  It is not me coming to you and telling you what you must do in order to achieve it is a proclamation of what has been done!  The love of God proclaims IT IS DONE.  You have been pardoned now come and receive.

We have to change targets and stop believing the Lie.  Thus the first word in the Gospel is REPENT!  But, what does repent mean?  In the Hebrew and Greek it meant – “A radical change of mind.”  It involves a complete rethinking of what we have called life.  The entire bent or focus of man has been wrong.  It means that we come into agreement with God’s judgment of our lives.  It means there is nothing salvageable in our old lives and the only thing left to do is crucify it.

God said, “I love you so much that I took your life, put it on Jesus and killed it.”  Now you and I can look at our lives and say, “My life died with Jesus.”  Repentance is not simply being sorry and certainly not sorry that you were caught or exposed.  Repentance is to ‘radically change your thinking.’  Repentance is to do a ‘180 degree turn’ and head the other direction.  It is not turning over a new leaf it is receiving a new life.

Here’s the problem, WE CAN’T CHANGE!  Yes I said it.  In our selves we cannot change it requires the work of the Spirit of God in our lives to ‘transform us.’  Repentance is not repenting of this or that sin it is repenting of the false life that was inspired of the devil in the Garden of Eden.  It is to turn from going the wrong direction to heading the right direction as the Spirit of God leads.  It is to do a 180 degree turn not as I heard one preacher waxing eloquent say, “When we repent we do a 360 degree turn!”  I sure hope not for that would be going the same direction.  Too often attempt ‘reformation’ rather than ‘repentance’ and fail miserably.  True repentance says: “I’m finished!  I’m wrong and I will continue to be wrong unless you Oh Lord step in and change me.” 

It involves a radical change in my thought processes.  No wonder the Bible tells us to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.   We were created to be filled with God and allow Him to live His life through us.  We were created to be indwelt by Him and live in union with Him.  Without God we are totally and completely dysfunctional and repentance is saying:  “Amen!  I agree!” 

Repentance is always linked to faith.  Remember Jesus said that if we want to enter the kingdom of God we must do so as little children.  Imagine having to start all over again!  We have to abandon ourselves and trust Him.  Faith believes and trusts that God has taken action and achieved my pardon and He now invites me to come and take it.  He has opened the way that Christ may live His life inside and through me.  I therefore leap into the arms of God and change kingdoms!

That is the reason for baptism.  It is announcing, “I am dead!”  The old me that was me is no longer me that old me is dead and now I bury him.  I have a new life and that new life does not have its source in me it is in Christ so somebody bury me please!  The New Birth is the beginning of the process not the be all to end all.  Maturity involves discovering the wrong ways to live and discarding them resting in God.  Let me illustrate it this way:  “Why do you pay a doctor a $100 for one pill?”  Actually you don’t.  What you do is pay the doctor $100 for the knowledge of all the pills not to give you.  We trust the doctor but sometimes have a difficult time trusting God who knows all the ways for us not to go.

Repent!   Do an about face and cease going in your own strength and begin walking in His!  God bless you as you go through this day!

Mark 11:22-24 – “So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.  23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”  NKJV

In many ways this is a perplexing passage and one that many Christians have attempted and failed miserably.  All of us face mountains from time to time and all of us would like to be able to remove those barriers that hinder our progress in life, right?  To the people of Judah, in Jesus’ day, a mountain represented any hindrance to their progress.  Therefore, when Jesus told them they could have whatever they said and included the visual of the mountain they could readily, identify with what He was teaching.  How many actually believed Him is quite another story.

I would suggest there are some rules or serious considerations for ‘moving a mountain’ in our lives.  I believe it is important to understand the hindrance we are trying to remove or move and how it came to be.  For example, if you have created a financial mountain by lack of wisdom and discipline you will find it quite stubborn in its resistance to your commands to be removed.  If your mountain is physical sickness and you have maintained an unhealthy lifestyle failing to eat, exercise and rest properly that mountain will be quite stubborn when you speak to it.  In fact, I would suggest that UNTIL you take proper steps to correct those root problems you may not be successful in removing it.

Let me give you a few simple rules regarding ‘Moving a Mountain.” 

• Do Not Build The Mountain In The First Place.

God is not likely to allow us to be mountain movers if we are continuously in the process and habit of mountain building.  Praying for the mountain to move won’t work if we are, at the same time, responsible for their creation.  I have witnessed some get healed physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually when the removed resentment and bitterness from their hearts.  (The Lord removed them).  I have witnessed financial miracles when the root of jealousy, greed, covetousness and envy were rooted out.  I have seen lives move from struggle to spiritual peace when bad company was eliminated from the associations.

• It Is Critical To Know That What You Are Saying Is Correct.

Jesus did not say that we were to pray and then hope God removes the mountain.  No, he said we are to believe and expect the mountain to be removed.  I am reminded of the story of the woman who heard the preacher preach on this passage and there was a mountain near her house that she had to go around to get to town so she went home and commanded the mountain to be removed.  The next morning and said, “Just as I thought, still here!”   That is expectation but wrongly applied!

Jesus said that the person who says to the mountain ‘be removed’ will get what he speaks if he does not doubt ‘in his heart’.  Therein is the rub.  We have the promises of God and proclaim and claim them but in our hearts we ‘doubt.’  The heart is the residence of doubt.  Doubt can be dealt with and overcome with knowledge.  The more I know the less I doubt. It is valuable for us to examine our hearts and lives to see if we are creating the very mountains we are trying to remove and if so take steps to correct our actions.  Then, believe God’s promise that we can identify that mountain, speak to it through His authority and see it crumble before us.

I am not suggesting that whatever you say you get without fail but that if you face mountains, not of your creation, God gives you a promise that if you trust Him that mountain can be and will be removed!

            God bless you as you go through this day!

Hebrews 11:6-7 – “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”  NASU

I have long desired for myself, my family, my friends, and the Body of Christ to rise above the theoretical into the realized experience of the victorious plateau of KNOWING who we are in Christ and FULLY enjoying our inheritance in the Kingdom of God.  I would think it obvious that faith is an essential element in that objective.  Just as faith is an essential for the Christian Life, doubt and unbelief are enemies.  If we are to ‘know’ who we are in Christ and move from the theoretical into the experienced reality there are some things that must happen.

• We Must Be Born Again. [ 1 Corinthians 2:14; John 3:3; John 10:27]
• We Must Apply Ourselves. [2 Timothy 2:15]
• We Must Discipline Ourselves to Do What God Instructs. [Romans 10:17; Luke 8:21; Matthew 21:29; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5; Psalm 119:11]

For faith to become a functional reality in my life it must move from the theoretical (mental) into my heart.  I must move from a general knowledge into an ultimate intimacy of becoming one with truth.  That brings several things into focus which I would call ‘Gates’. 

• The Eyes – – (Visual). What I see.
• The Ears – – (Audio). What I hear.
• The Mind – – (Imagination and Meditation). What I think on.
• The Will – – (Choice).

I readily acknowledge that everything that comes through the gate of my eyes and ears enters my mind and becomes subject to my will.  The question is:  “Do I give it place in my life?”  Paul instructs us in Ephesians 4:27 not to ‘give place’ to the devil.  Then Philippians 4 gives us a list of things to allow into our minds for meditation and ultimate entry into the heart.  If I think on these they will enter my heart and Proverbs 23:7 will become reality.

When something passes the Eye, Ear or Mind gate I can choose its disposition but for it to enter my heart it is only there by an exercise of my will.  I chose to allow it there.  They eyes and ears can only report what they see and hear. The mind meditates, contemplates, associates, connects and rationalizes but the will chooses according to its strongest foundation.  It is either the flesh or the spirit; the world or the word. 

 Psalm 141:3 is the Psalmist’s prayer for God to ‘set a guard’ over our mouths and Psalm 101:3 is a commitment to allow no wicked thing before our eyes.  It is making a choice! It is making a covenant with our eyes, ears and minds to be totally God’s.  Clearly, everything I see, hear and think has the potential to strengthen or weaken my faith.  Some things come into my sight, hearing and enter my thoughts but it is in the mind that I have the option and ability to cast it down and bring it captive to the obedience of Christ.

Thomas doubted and Jesus allowed him to see and touch the wounds which restored his faith.  The two disciples on the road to Emmaus were experiencing doubt and Jesus walking with them rehearsed the Word and events but it was not until that evening when he broke bread with them that the visual reignited their faith.  Gideon was a coward at the time the angel appeared to him but something happened.  God spoke a Word to him that passed through the gate of his ears into his mind and as he meditated on that word faith soared in his heart and he moved from the theoretical to the realized.  God gave Abraham a visual to constantly remind him of the covenant and keep his faith level high in the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.

Understanding that our eyes, ears, minds and wills are Faith Gates can help us carefully guard what is allowed through those gates and help propel us from the theoretical to the realized.

            God bless you as you go through this day!

Psalm 139:7-10 – “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.”  NASU

I have used the phrase or made the declaration, “Wow!  God showed up this time.”  Did He?  Did He just suddenly show up as though He had been somewhere else?  Where was He previous to that moment in time?  What was He doing before that particular manifestation and demonstration of Himself?  I am quite serious! 

When we read about the experience of the early church in the upper room we think how wonderful it would be for God to show up like that again.  I am not trying to split hairs and speak in semantics but WHERE IS HE NOW?  Did not Jesus say in Matthew 18, “…where two or three are gathered in My name I am there in their midst”?   Did He not say, “Seek and you shall find”?  David in this Psalm identified that no matter where he turned God was there.  That theme is repeated time and again in Scripture so I must ask WHERE HAS GOD BEEN if He just SHOWED UP?

The problem is not God’s absence it is the lack of our willingness, determination and commitment to PRESS INTO HIS PRESENCE.  He never left and stands ready to manifest Himself anytime our hearts are open to His presence and lordship.  I had someone ask, “How frequently does God speak to His people?”  My response was, “He never stops but we do not always hear or listen.”  I see this, the same for God is ALWAYS PRESENT we are not always open and receptive to His presence.  The problem is not God’s absence it is our entrance into His presence.  Proverbs 15 declares that God’s eyes are in every place and if His eyes are there He is there.  Psalm 145:18 declares, “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”  David in Psalm 16:8 cried, “I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”  The problem is US.  The problem is the vessel.  If we open our vessel to the Holy Spirit HE IS THERE!

Paul asked in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”  If He dwells IN us how can he not be where we are and when we are?  So, while I am not being critical of anyone saying that God showed up or wanting God to show up I know what they mean.  I am suggesting that we shift the focus from looking for God to show up to preparing our hearts for His presence.  I am totally convinced when we do we will realize His presence in a way never experienced before and on a frequency we have not known.

It is time for us, as believers, to begin asking, seeking and knocking and not being satisfied until we are AWARE of His presence.   May God be with you as you go through your day!

1 Peter 1:6-9 – “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith — the salvation of your souls.”  NKJV

The life that we have been called to through the Blood of Jesus is based on Faith and that Faith is the most precious possession we have on planet earth.  It is more precious than gold and it is only when we are exercising faith that we are at our fullest potential as human beings.  That is why we are here on planet earth!  We are to demonstrate and manifest the fullness of God in our lives.

That faith is always ‘tested’ and ‘tried’.  It is not a sideline hobby but a life!  Faith, in reality, is ‘my response’ to the revelation of God.  It never initiates anything new it responds to God.  God is the initiator and when He comes with a revelation of Himself and we respond, trust and rest in that revelation we manifest the demonstrated character of God who cannot lie!  Man was created to walk in faith.  It is as natural to human life as breathing.  It is not a ‘work’ it is a ‘demonstration of life’.  Remember we are made in the ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ of God and God is faith so if we are created in Him image and likeness we have the deposit of faith He has placed in our hearts.  It is our responsibility to ‘respond’, ‘trust’ and ‘rest’ in His word and it is there we operate in faith!  We are to live ‘in His presence’ and that is the atmosphere of faith!

Faith is life and that was the goal or target toward which man was created.  We were created so that we could be filled with the fullness of God’s Glory or filled with the fullness of God!  God is love and as we are filled with Him we are filled with love and out of that flows God’s love to the world.  That is a life of faith!  That was the goal but a problem occurred along the way.  It happened in the Garden of Eden and the problem is called SIN.

We use the words ‘sin’ and ‘sinner’ and sadly they are old English words that few truly understand in our modern world.  Too often I have heard church people looking down their noses as others say, “Sinner!”  The word SIN means ‘to miss the mark’.  There is an obscure verse in Judges where is says the men of Benjamin were says that the men of Benjamin were left handed but they were ‘experts’ with the sling and they never ‘missed the mark.’  Therefore since they always hit the target they were not sinners or mark missers!

Unfortunately for many it is not they we have been trying desperately to ‘hit the mark’ and just keep missing.  It isn’t that the target has been set up and no matter how hard we try we ‘miss the mark’.  NO! NO!  The problem is that man set up an alternate target.  It isn’t just that he missed God’s mark but he set up a completely different target.  So we are missing the mark because we are shooting at the wrong target.  The devil inspired man to set up a different target thinking he could live independently of God in his own strength.  It is not that he does not believe God exists it is that he believes God is over there doing His thing and man over here doing his thing and occasionally they will get together and discuss things then off you go again on your own.  He is ‘up there’ and we are ‘down here’.  We might not admit it but too often we view Him as an ‘absentee landlord.’  Man believed THE LIE and exhibited faith in that lie rather than faith in God.

When Jesus went to the Cross He ripped down the veil and not only exposed our sin and opened the door to forgiveness but opened the door to access to God.  Now through the work of the Cross we have access to the presence of God and a life of faith!

I want to address this area a little more but for now I pause and say, “May God bless you and be with you as you go through this day!”  

Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”  NKJV

Some time back as I was driving a preacher on the radio said, “People have about as much of God as they want.”  That hit me like a ton of bricks and as I mused on that statement I knew it was true.  I hesitate to take one portion of the Beatitudes for I seem them all interrelated and connected but I will for the purpose of addressing the thought of ‘hungering and thirsting’ for righteous which is for God.

Most of us have declared that we are HUNGRY for God but are we really HUNGRY?  Before you turn me off and disregard what I’m saying consider being hungry in the natural.  Most of us have been hungry and there may have been times we were really hungry but how many have faced the grim prospects of starvation?  That’s the imagery in this statement of Jesus.  This is like the hunger of someone crossing a barren wasteland with no food or water.  They search everywhere for even the slightest morsel and droplet of water and would do anything to get it.  Nothing would be more important than finding nourishment and the water that will sustain life.  Have we been that hungry for God?  Are we that hungry for God?  Before you contend that you do give it a moment and allow the Holy Spirit to address that in your heart and then reflect on your priorities, habits, actions and life.

They shall be filled is the promise!  This word ‘filled’ carries with it the idea of being satisfied and successful is woven into its fabric.  There is a complete dissatisfaction and uneasiness in a person that realizes that they must find food or perish and they become singular in their focus and devote their efforts to that cause.  That is the approach of someone fighting to live but there are those that ‘give up’ and resign themselves to perishing.  Jesus is telling us that if we develop that kind of ‘driving hunger’ for God and His Righteousness we WILL BE SATISFIED. 

There have been times in my life when I had such a driving desire to press into God’s presence that life itself was unimportant and times when I was much less driven.  I have never been faced with starvation in the natural but have seen it and know the preciousness of food to those so affected.  The words of our Lord here and elsewhere are not designed to condemn us but to inspire us to press in to the promise.  Many, including me, are very concerned about the condition of our world socially, morally, politically, economically and spiritually.  That being said I am 100% convinced that along with all our other efforts the MOST IMPORTANT and MOST PRODUCTIVE is making this passage a reality in our lives.  If we so press in to God the resulting transformation in our lives will affect change around us even in the face of opposition.

Nationally the call should be 2 Chronicles 7:14.  Personally the call should be Matthew 6:33 and Matthew 5:6.  I cannot escape the reality that I and we have about as much of God as we truly want.  If we do not there should be such an unsettling in our hearts that nothing can keep us from HUNGERING and THIRSTING as a person facing starvation.  No wonder David said in Psalms 42:1-2 – “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” NKJV

             Let this be the hour, day, month and year that we become consumed with HUNGER FOR GOD!   May God bless you is my sincere prayer!

2 Timothy 1:12 – “…I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”  NKJV

I believe in God and Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior!  I am troubled over what I perceive to be a lack of commitment in much of the Christian community today.  I know that sounds judgmental but I honestly do not mean it to be.  I just question and do not understand some of what I see.  I am startled by the lack of vision for the whole and the abundance of vision for self that I hear in churches and from believers.

I could allow myself to think as I used to think before I experienced the Christ of the Cross but I will not.  I have an option to either blend in with the crowd and popular thinking or I can opt to swim upstream against the current of much popular thinking.  I choose to invite the Holy Spirit to enable me to think God’s thoughts!

I have been amazed at how many people come into local fellowships declaring that God has called them to be there and then depart over frivolous things.  I have witnessed people starting churches only to find it difficult and declare that God said shut it down.  My question is always, “Did God instruct, you to do it initially?”  If so does that mean God is fickle and changes His mind at the first sign of difficulty?  If difficulty is a justification to quit, how did the early church survive?  James suggested we both expect trouble and respond to trials with joy for it is helping develop our faith and courage.

I declare today that I do not have all the answers and sometimes wonder if I have any but I do not have to have all the answers.  I know the one who does!  I can trust God to be who He declared He was and is and rest confidently in the fact that He knows my need before I even pray.  I trust Jesus to be Lord!

I make the choice to think according to the Word of God and base my thinking on what God says not how I feel, desire, wish for, or prefer.  I choose to adjust my life to fit what He says rather than try to adjust His word to fit my life.  I choose even when I cannot see in the natural and it seems the promise is delayed or will not come. I choose to believe and trust God.

I choose to stand against the powers of darkness, not in my strength but on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus and His Covenant revealed in His word.  I choose to roll myself onto God and trust Him in all things and at all times.  I choose to allow God’s word adjust my thought processes bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  I confess that I have had a lot of practice in wrong thinking and now invite the Holy Spirit to reprogram my thought life.  I ask that He convict me every time I drift toward the old thought patterns and bring me into conformity with the Word and thereby transform my life.

That is my declaration today!  What is yours?   May God be with you as you go through your day!

Galatians 6:7 – “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”  NKJV

Let’s pick up again on considering the Law of Harvest.  We considered five things regarding harvest in our previous devotional:

• Seed Must Be Sown Before You Can Have Any Harvest.
• That Sown Seed Must Be Rendered Useless To The Sower.
• The Seed Sown Determines the Type of Harvest.
• The Size of the Harvest is Determined at the Time of Sowing.
• The Seed Must Be Sown in Good Soil.

             Each of those is critical to obtaining a good harvest.  Now we move on to further elements involved in the harvest in our lives.

• The Crop Must Be Cared For to Have a Full Harvest.   Matthew 13:7 – “…and the thorns sprung up, and choked them…”   In the natural and spiritual you cannot leave the seed unprotected against the ravages of a hostile environment – – [bugs, birds, weeds, drought, etc.]  Jesus commanded us in Matthew 6:33 to ‘seek first’ the kingdom of God and His righteousness with the promise that ALL THESE THINGS would then be added to us.  If we place God first in our lives we will find the sown seed protected.

• The Sowing Is Always To Harvest Size Not From Harvest Size.  Genesis 26:12 – “…Isaac sowed in the land, and received… an hundredfold…”   There was a famine in the land and the world’s way would be to have gone to Egypt but he stayed in the land and saw the harvest.  Farmers understand this principle in agriculture, but most miss it in finance or most anything else.  We normally sow ‘from’ our need rather than ‘to’ our need.  Why?   Fear of insufficiency. 

Remember the biblical account of Elijah in 1 Kings 17?  God told the prophet He had prepared a widow in Zarephath to SUSTAIN him.  The widow had not heard that word and when the prophet asked for food she resisted telling him that she had only enough to prepare one meager meal for herself and her child then they would die.  HOLD THE PHONE…  Didn’t God say He had commanded her to SUSTAIN the prophet?  She relented and obeyed and the miracle (harvest) happened.  Disobedience would mean death but obedience meant harvest.   Blessing or death is our choice!  

• Expenses Are Always Greatest At Harvest Time.  Matthew 20:1 – “…a man that is an householder… went out early in the morning to hire laborers…”   When the harvest is ripe there is unction, in your spirit that says: “It is time for harvest.”  That is the time to give (whatever it is) in a greater measure.  In the natural you have to hire laborers, bring in the equipment, etc.   It is expensive to gather the harvest!  In the spiritual why not let the laborers loose in your fields.  That just might be the key you have been looking for.

• A Portion of Every Harvest is For Sowing.  2 Corinthians 9:10 – “For God, who gives seed to the farmer to plant, and later on good crops to harvest and eat, will give you more and more seed to plant.”  (TLB)  You never want a ONE TIME harvest!

• A Portion of Every Harvest is For Eating.  1 Corinthians 9:7 – “…who plants a vineyard, and eats not the fruit thereof?”

• Every Harvest is a Miracle.  1 Corinthians 3:6 – “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”

2 Corinthians 9:6 advises that if we give little we reap little.  The size of the planting directly affects the size of the harvest for the law of multiplication comes into play.  That is never questioned in farming but frequently not understood in spiritual things.

 Luke 6:38 – “Give and IT shall be will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.  For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

IT – – is not just money it is everything!   May God be with you as you go through this day!