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Wednesday, December 30, 2015

I am Lot

I am Lot. Abraham is willing to go to war for me and my city, in spite of my bad choices. Abraham is willing to plead for me and my city in an intercession motivated by the reality of an impending righteous judgment. He intercedes based on God's character to show mercy. Love protects, love rescues, love intercedes, I am Lot.

On my heart is the question, "How do we transition from a gathering of people who have as their center, their needs and wants, to a gathering of people who love not their lives unto the death, and have the glory of God as their center?" I think the “shaking” and the trials that are to come will eliminate the grey area that now exists and the true followers of God will become very apparent. So it is critically important to know God and His ways and to develop a deep trust in Him that leads to a rest in Him and a total dependence on His life.
Don't waste any of your time. As time drags on there will be a tendency to start to drift and slide, Fight that tendency! Press in, “Your God reigns” and He has a plan and He is wanting to do a deep work of preparation in your heart here and now. Your life is not “on hold” this is an important time where deep truths and deep lessons are available to you. Cry out for the grace to walk in His power and peace.


There is a "contentment" that is the "anti" of the rest and peace that God gives. Lord break us free of that!
Something like being okay with God having a piece of your life but not the whole of it. Outwardly you are "good" and life is good, but He is not your Lord, He is an addendum that adds to your life, but He is not your life.

How do we "hold back" God?  with our own ideas, agenda, trying, doing something again just because it worked one time, not yielding an area of our personal life that He has put His finger on, doing what we 'think' is right, doing what He wants us to do but in our timing not His, 

If you have not been through it yourself, you do not know 

what they are going through.  Shut-up listen and pray.

Drugs like Xanax and Ativan mask the problem and take you around the problem, but they prevent you from facing the problem.  (Some drugs are to help balance chemicals, but these drugs are to mask and depress our normal reactions.)

Be the first to apologize, even if you can't think of anything you did wrong.

Think of different music styles as different languages that reach different people.

Relationships and eternity that is the stuff that matters.

2015 coming to a close and these were the highlights that have been poured into my life by friends as we draw to a close.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

The Book of Hebrews

Six hour marathon Bible study with many friends contributing, many souls adding to the understanding of this amazing book.  Now for the challenge, summarizing 6 hours!
Our culture runs away from pain and suffering.  Suffering is the path of life, even Jesus had to walk it and "benefited" from it.  We are not cut off from eternal life, His life is for us here and now to flow through us, the truth is, "You exist in that life now."  Kimberly Comer
The path of the priest is suffering, so that, he is merciful and faithful.
David understood he was from the Melchizedek priesthood.  Priesthood that does not eliminate the promises to Abraham and the Hebrews but predates them.  His priesthood is one of forgiving sin and iniquity.  The transition in 3:5,6 from "servant" to "son" is an amazing blessing.
Rest is destroyed through disobedience.  Rest is trusting in His life to flow through us.  Unfortunately, "We are more comfortable with the anxiety than the rest."  Joy Burd
Death creates "rest" because we are "dead" and in need of being acted upon by the life of Christ.
4:3 God's works are finished, but he is still working.
4:9,10  lines up with Col. 1:29 and Hebrews 4:11 It is His life flowing through us while we rest.
The context of 4:12,13 is dividing between dead works (Lord, Lord did we not) and works that flow out of the rest of God entered into by faith.
Hebrews 6 basically states that the rest of God being entered into by faith, that allows for the life of God to flow through us is MILK!   That is amazing to me, because many moons into this walk with Christ I am just coming into an understanding of "rest."
Hebrews 6:1-8 and Hebrews 12:25 are "holy ground" scriptures that I feel it is only right to read and not to comment on.
(Sometimes people do not need a 6 hour Bible Study they just need a little 10 or 20 minute seed.)

When our life comes into alignment with the life of God, with what His will is, we are in the place of rest.
7:16  Wow the power of an indestructible life!  The Melchizedek priesthood, has this life as its foundation, not laws but life!
Hebrews 10:14  We are perfected and from that perfection we are "being" sanctified.
10:20  This is a living way, hence my term "organic order".
11:3 =  1:2  In Hebrews 11, these guys that are being talked about persevered by faith not seeing just trusting in God to make a way with a Melchizedek priesthood of forgiving iniquity.  It is those who are seeking and trusting in His mercy and forgiveness who are "perfect" because it is about perfect trust in His forgiveness.
12:10,11 Discipline from God is the path to holiness and righteousness.
12:12-15 Help your brothers, "see to it" that they don't fall short of the grace of God.  How?  By showing them mercy and forgiveness.  That is our place as the "church" to repent of with holding mercy and grace that have caused a root of bitterness to spring up, and then when it does we stand off at a distance and criticize them.
"It is patient mercy that we corporately lack."  Laura Bean
12:16  Esau really gets a "beating" here, not sure how to take that.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Rest and get to know Me

Trying to take some moments and stop and hear what the heart of God is saying.  He seemed to ask what do you think of when you think of rest, and I thought of sleeping and lying down motionless.  He seemed to say, "It is more like the capsule at the top of the rocket ship, the rocket part is doing all the work, the capsule is 'along for the ride'".  Christ in me the hope of glory is guiding and empowering all I do and my "life" is along for the ride, at rest.

Another day I felt He said, "As you spend time with Me you will become like Me."

Another time I was chided by the words, "You saying Holy Spirit is like you saying "escargot in Istanbul". You have never had escargot and you have never been to Istanbul.  We really do not know what we are saying when we use those words.

Art Katz teaching made me think that one of the hardest things in the command, "Sell all that you have." is to relinquish the "good efforts" and the "good things" that we think we do.

The deepest thing said to me this year was by Julie Trommeter, "Worship is God hands us the Lamb and we hand the Lamb back to God."  When Moses is consecrating Aaron to the priesthood, he hands Aaron the wave offering, Aaron waves it and hands it back to Moses.

Singing was definitely a part of worship, but it was singing in the presence of burning flesh and bloody sacrifice.

In order for the priest to worship, there was a process of stripping, washing (by another) Clothing (by another) Anointing with oil (by another) and the application of the blood from the sacrifice (by another).

At the mount of transfiguration Peter wanted to "make a place", but God wanted them to listen from the place of a dependent and costly relationship.


Friday, December 4, 2015

The Son of God born out of "bitter."

Found my paper from the quiet prayer time on Tuesday night.
Mary means “bitter” so God chose to have His Son born from “bitter” not “mother of many nations” or 'beautiful” or “blessed” but “bitter”.
Jesus knew He was born in Bethlehem at the time of the census and could have easily defended His honor when He was attacked as being a bastard son from the poor village that had no mention in prophecy. Jesus chose never to defend Himself which left all the room that God needed to be His defense. When we do not defend ourselves we are leaving God room to be our defense.
When we carry the ark without letting our stinking flesh touch it, nobody gets hurt.

When we are at rest in Him we are weilding the strongest weapon we have, our trust in Him.

It is so terribly important to wait on Him and seek for what He is saying in any given situation.

If we take the time to learn from our circumstances, if we fall on our face when the guy who reached out to steady the ark dies, if we cry out for Him at a time when we just want to accuse Him of being not who He says He is, then we enter into Holy Ground.

Paul speaks of being born “out of time” understanding that the salvation and healing of the Jewish people is “on hold” while the time of the gentiles is being fulfilled. He knew he was a miracle of mercy and was given a taste, a “down payment” of things to come.

Quiet day so far, did some dishes said some prayers, listened to some songs on you tube and listened to the sheep among wolves movie again.

Put two posts on facebook. “This world is not my home.
                                              This life is not my own.”

and

His amazing plan is to overwhelm a vicious army of wolves with a small group of sheep, sheep who are wise as serpents and who have no power of their own but are relying on the resurrection life of God. (my take-a-way from this film) Sheep Among Wolves.