Many of us find ourselves right now in the midst of the waters of difficulty, testing, and trial as our world and our country seem to be groaning from the inside out. We, the people of the Most High God, through this are being shaken and subjected to situations we have not yet experienced before. Situations that beg the question... will we trust Him or not? It brings to my heart over and over the scripture where Yahusha (Jesus) asks if He will find faith on the earth when He returns (Luke 18:8). I ask of my own heart... will he? As we go through what seems to be bad event after event in our nation and world, many of us find ourselves at times simply struggling in general.... whether it be from experiencing the death of a loved one, our own physical ailments, the lack of peace and normalcy in the earth, loneliness, the burden of family and friends who cannot see the truth and do not walk in the truth, and the list goes on and on. I have even found myself in what feels to be under a dark cloud of sadness where it seems so difficult to break through. But oh yes, Father always strengthens me to break through at some point (and many times through the prayers of my brothers and sisters)!! He IS completely faithful, and there is no change in this. Having said that, the time under the dark cloud can feel hopeless and helpless; it can literally feel as if there is no way out, even though we know He is there with us. These are the times we must break through, believing that we have been given the strength, the authority, the mind, and the love of Yahusha (as His word clearly says this)! Yahusha Himself also felt some of these very same things and always overcame through His faith and obedience to His Father. He knows intimately what we are going through as He experienced the same trials and temptations of man! He is there to help us break through if we will only believe; and He IS literally there beside us the whole time, although we may not feel Him at all! These trials are our practice to reach the place of trusting Him where the dark cloud has no place -- where there is no wavering and only loving and obedient faith... through Him. Oh how I long for this place; but honestly, there are still times when I feel so far away. I am reminded at this moment... These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33 It is in these times that we must allow Father to use every second for our growth and His glory. In other words, let us not allow one tiny bit of our trial to be wasted! We must be willing to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to suffer as much as needed to prepare us to be fully His, for His kingdom and His purposes... a bride without spot or wrinkle! We are no longer our own; we have been bought with a very dear price. Honestly, without chastisement, testing, and suffering... can we really be His disciples and servants? No we cannot. So, our suffering is our price to pay. All in all, our trials are opportunities to prove we believe this and will stand in it, regardless. As I have experienced much of what I am sharing today, I felt compelled to encourage all of you who are likely experiencing very similar things. In the midst, it is so important that we allow the truth of the Word to be our encouragement, pressing on in full faith in Him; for there is no other option. And when the dark cloud comes and we feel we are trapped under it, we must STAND. Even if we stand in silence, we simply STAND in His truth. And when we stand, Father provides many infallible ways for us to overcome, and He is faithful in each one. These things we experience are for our own good and His glory; that is the foundational truth that must permeate our hearts. As we practice more and more, and sometimes have to practice the same thing more than once, we will begin to come to a place when we can truly rejoice in our trials and suffering. This has to be the very thing that inspired Paul to say this: Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5 In closing, I would like to share something that has encouraged and inspired my own struggling heart, helping me to more fully understand and embrace my times of suffering, even when I feel paralyzed in them. It is written by a very devout monk from the 1600s named Brother Lawrence who reached the ultimate place of surrender and rejoicing in the midst of suffering. These words are taken from a letter that he wrote to a brother in Christ to encourage him in his own time of suffering. Please allow this wisdom to minister to your soul and equip you to willingly suffer for our Savior -- all the while knowing that this same level of divine peace can be yours in the midst. All we have to do is want it and ask for it, patiently staying the course as our loving, compassionate, and understanding Father and Savior will work it out and finish it in His time and at a pace we can handle. May you be blessed and encouraged as you encounter and endure your own walk of suffering... I thank our Lord that you have received some relief from your suffering, for I know this was what you have been wanting. I have been near death often. I have never been as content as I was then. Therefore I did not pray for relief, but I prayed for strength to suffer with courage, humility, and love. How sweet it is to suffer with God! However great the suffering may be, we receive it with love. It is paradise to suffer and be with Him.
If we desire to enjoy the peace of paradise in this life, we must accustom ourselves to intimate, humble, and loving communion with Him. We must keep our spirits from wandering away from Him on any occasion. We must make our heart a spiritual temple where we can adore Him continually. We must watch incessantly over ourselves, so that we may not do, say, nor think anything that may offend Him. When our minds are focused on God, suffering will be filled with peace and solace. In the beginning, it is very difficult to arrive at this state, for we must act purely in faith. Even though it is difficult, we also know that we can do all things with the grace of God, which He never refuses to give to those who ask for it earnestly. Knock and persevere in knocking. I assure you that He will open to you in His time, and immediately grant you what He has delayed giving you during these many years. God knows best what we need, and everything that He does is for our good. If we realized how much He loves us, we would always be willing to receive both the sweet and the bitter equally and indifferently from His hand. Everything that came from Him would please us. The most painful afflictions appear intolerable only when we view them in the wrong light. When we understanding that it is the hand of God that dispenses them, and we know that it is our loving Father who humbles and wounds us, then our sufferings lose their bitterness. They even become sources of consolation. May all our energy be devoted to knowing God. The more one knows Him, the more one desires to know Him. Knowledge is commonly understood as the measure of love. The deeper and more extensive our knowledge of Him is, the greater will be our love. If our love of God is great, we will love Him equally in pain and pleasure. *This excerpt was taken from the book, "The Practice of the Presence of God".
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Father has had me on a path to discipline over the last few weeks. I lack this in my life in many ways -- food, exercise, and so many other things. And as most of us know with our spiritual lives in particular, no discipline usually means no progress. And even more importantly, no discipline also usually means no obedience. While we want to avoid a works-based salvation, true faith and love for our Savior will always produce works, for faith without works is dead (James 2:17-18). Discipline is an integral part in our faith-based works, because obedience requires discipline. And then we know that without faith (and the resulting works which He has determined for us to do), it is impossible to please our Heavenly Father (Hebrews 11:6)! Yahusha was perfect in His discipline and obedience, but we know that He learned it through His suffering (Hebrews 5:8). Why would it be any different for us? Bottom line is that discipline is key, and it is required. This is something Father is perfecting within me. And I hate to admit it, but after all my time of following Him, I still have a good way to go in this area. All I know is that I am willing, right now, to be strengthened in this area, knowing full well that it will likely be uncomfortable. Now is not the time for comfort for me, or for any of us. This is a time when so many of us are feeling the urgency in our spirits to get it right and to truly surrender all to the One who deserves it ALL! Because this area of discipline is likely where many us may have a tendency to "cut corners", I feel this is a good focus for some of my upcoming posts. And because someone else has already shared some much-needed revelation on this subject, I am not going to reinvent the wheel but use what Father has so perfectly given to her. May this writing, and all the ones to come, bless you and enrich you and strengthen you as you allow Father to incorporate a dedicated discipline to Him into your journey to being formed into the image of His dear Son and your Beloved Savior, Yahusha ha Mashiach (Jesus Christ)! SALVATION IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
by Pietra de Bod In the Utmost for His Highest Devotional, April 8th, Oswald Chambers wrote: Thank God for the glorious and majestic truth that His Spirit can work the very nature of Jesus into us, if we will obey Him. God knows that His children are unable to fulfil the law that He has made for us. To love Him with our whole heart, mind and strength and the second one, like unto the first, to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Word says that He knows what is in the heart of man. John 2:24-25 King James Version (KJV) 24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. Hebrews 4:13 King James Version (KJV) 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. God, in His great mercy, has given us His Spirit to fulfil these two laws in us and through us. The power and the nature of the Spirit of God is manifest in us more and more as we mature in obedience to the Spirit’s guidance in all things. Jesus told His disciples in John 14 that the Father would send His Spirit to guide us into all truth and that He would remind us of the things He said. He said that it is expedient for them that He should go in order that the Holy Spirit may come to dwell in them. This is not just God with us, but God in us. A few years ago I was complaining to the Lord about how difficult it was for me to do what He asked of me at that time. I reminded Him that He was right in front of Peter on the water at the time of the storm. The Lord replied, “Yes, I was in front of Peter, but I am in you.” Case closed. When we are subject to Him in all things and humbly walk in obedience to Him, He gives us His power, nature and He teaches us to walk by faith. We do not receive His nature just from being born again. Life after the birth testifies of this reality in most of the Christians we encounter. Something is working within us, whilst He demonstrates His life without. Very often we will not even be aware of what He is slowly and intricately weaving in our innermost being, and other times we will be painfully aware. We are to be an expression of Jesus, just as Jesus was the expression of the Father. Paul calls us living epistles in 2 Cor. 3: 1 – 3. But these epistles are not written on stone, but on the heart. We are His witnesses, His messengers. Not giving a message, but being the message. God desires His image to be restored in us. The same image that Adam and Eve were made in at the beginning of creation. The whole of creation is in travail awaiting the adoption of the sons of God, which is God’s restoration not only of man, but of creation itself. It will be a cosmic event that the earth has been groaning and travailing for since the fall. We need to consider the magnitude of the work that is being done in us. If we have a limited view of this work, we will be marginalizing the cosmic event that it is and also the reason behind His severe dealings with us. It is a cosmic event because at the very end, God’s cosmic purpose for creation will be fulfilled. His glory, His power and His Kingdom forever. We think humanly, where we ought to think spiritually. This adoption is not just to be resurrected and to receive glorified bodies, but this adoption expresses itself in resurrection life in the now. Now is the time that we are learning how to walk by the Spirit so that we may rule and reign in His Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is here! When the Holy Spirit together with our working out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2: 12 KJV) work in us, He prepares and cleanses us through the process of sanctification. We need to understand that salvation is the beginning. Everything from our justification, predestination and sanctification is for the incarnation of God in man. Just as Jesus was the express image of the Father in His human capacity, so are we the express image of the Son. We cannot be this in word only, but in authenticity. He is the patterned Son, the Author and Finisher of our faith. We are looking to Jesus not only to inspire us, but to imitate Him, in authenticity. Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” This is why we are admonished to walk as He walked. He would not require us to do something without providing the means. The just shall LIVE by faith! Incarnation is the final expression of redemption. The very work the Spirit does in us in times of discipline and testing, prepares us as the temple of God, to be indwelt by Him and us in Him. Solomon’s temple was meticulously prepared for the express purpose that God’s glory would fill it. God was very specific about every little detail He gave to Solomon in the building of this glorious temple. And yet, the Creator of all things, have chosen not only to dwell on earth being born from a virgin, but to now dwell in us by His Spirit. In the same way our bodies, our temples are prepared for the infilling of His glory. And if God is meticulous about a building, how much more the temple of His Spirit? His glory is His resurrection life, not just the infilling of the Holy Spirit so that we may receive His gifts, but that we would be the express image of His Son. This glorifies the Father when He sees His Son in us. This is the very thing the enemy fears. He does not fear us, he fears Christ in us! When the Holy Spirit takes charge of your life, He will expect unquestioning obedience in everything. He will not tolerate in you the “self-sins” even though are permitted and excused by most Christians. A W Tozer. One thing you will read repeatedly here is that resurrection life is preceded by death. Repetition does no harm, it reinforces and this truth has to be imprinted onto our hearts. It is the first thing that needs to come to our minds when we are faced with anything. “In what area here must I die so that I may receive His life in me?” This is a spiritual principle that has to be lived daily. Paul said, I die daily and so do we need to do also. It will be two-fold. The first is that He will by divine providence allow certain situations to cross our path. These situations will cause our faith to be tested and tried. Our faith will grow and we will receive wisdom as we submit to the promptings of the Spirit. However, we often mistake these circumstances as an attack from the enemy, forgetting that Father allowed it. This is to say if we did not open a door through deliberate sin. The second way of dying daily is where we live in obedience to what He teaches us in renewing our minds. Here we die to our will not only in the big things, but also in every detail of our lives. The one area calls for restraint, and the other for discipline. Both of these develop the fruit of self-control, which is extremely important if we want this resurrection life now. This resurrection life will not be seen just in set apart moments, but in our walk, our life and our everyday occurrences. These two ways of daily dying are intertwined. The one will cause us to cry to Him in dependency, whilst the other will cause us to walk in faith. Dependency and faith are one. These trying circumstances can either be seen as coming from man or we can see that man is merely the agent and God the author. It is easier for us to want to blame the enemy. Unfortunately, our sinful behavior does open doors for the enemy to come and steal and destroy, as we through deliberate sin gave him the legal right to do just that. We have to however ask ourselves why God allowed that particular situation to cross our path, whether out of sin or not. Years ago I had a miscarriage and in my anger I vented myself in arrogance towards the Lord for not preventing it from happening. His answer was clear and concise. He said, “Either I am good or I am not. But I am not in between.” There is no shadow of turning with Him. I knew right away that even if I did not fully understand it, I had to lean on His goodness. I had to lean on the fact that He knows the future. That all my days have been written in His book. I had a choice to make. Either He is good or He is not. This also led me to understand that nothing can happen to me without God giving the enemy permission. I once read the statement that whatever comes across your life, no matter how bad, had to go through God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit to get to me. Therefore it must have great purpose. This brought me much comfort knowing how much He loves me and that nothing ever happens to me without His foreknowledge. And when it does, I know that it will always be for my good, no matter how difficult it is. It also reminded me of Job. Satan was asked by God where he has been. To which he replied that he was roaming to and fro and up and down on the earth. God asked Him whether he has seen righteous Job. He replied that the only reason Job was so righteous was because of God’s hedge around him. Now, let’s think about this. Do you think the Lord did not know that satan would say this? And do you think that the Lord did not know all the plans the enemy had for Job’s destruction? Of course He did! So why did He who is a righteous judge and loving Father allow this horrible thing to happen to righteous Job? Was Job not doing everything right? There has been a lot of speculation through the years. Maybe Job was secretly prideful of His relationship with the Lord? After all, it is easy to love and worship the Lord when things are going well, but how do you fair when it seems as if the hordes of hell have only eyes for you? How do you worship and love Him then? When you lose a husband, wife, child, material wealth and prestige like Job? You become a miserable sod on top of a heap of ash. All your friends telling you that you have completely lost your way and those closest to you tell you to cut your losses and make other plans to survive. You cannot just sit there and do nothing! Because surely you have done something very wrong to be going through this hell on earth. Can we believe that Job’s story is our story? Can you believe that Job’s life resembles the way of God with the righteous? Those whom He has chosen to serve Him in Spirit and in Truth? He will build us up and bring us to ashes, and it will all be for His glory. For unless we know Him in our best and worst circumstances as a good God, the way He wants to be known, how will we be able to be that expression to those who are living desperate lives devoid of reality and truth? Those who themselves go through these calamities and desperately need answers from God. I know now that not one thing happens to me without my Father allowing it. It will always be for my good, because my Father is good. He is always in control and our enemy is but only His errand boy. Not to be trivialized as mere minions by us. However they are all at His command. There has been much speculation and many theories about why Job had to go through what he did, but let us stay with the most important question? Why did God allow it and why to such an extent? He allows these circumstances because not only does He know the future, but He knows what we need to learn and what we need to let go of. Initially, His focus will first be to heal us. He knows that life has given us some serious blows that makes it very difficult to walk in obedience. And during this season of restoration and healing He will start to teach us slowly to renew our minds and begin to walk in obedience. The requirements will become greater and so also our dependency. His ultimate goal is holiness. He is the Alpha and Omega that is preparing us for eternity. Preparing us for His glory. That through our lives He may be glorified over all the earth. Not us, but Him. As we mature in the Lord, it is no longer about whether we have money in the bank, clothes to wear or a job. The things of the world become of so little importance. Our eyes will be singularly focused only on how our lives can give Him glory. Whether in joy or pain, peace or suffering. We will become indifferent to the circumstances and wholly given to His purposes. It often takes terrible things to happen to us before we realize just how much we hold onto them or how much our thinking still has to change. He allows these difficult circumstances to teach us His ways. Out of our own we will not seek out that which brings out the worst in us. But that is exactly what He wants to do. Bring out the worst in us so that it can stay out of us. He needs to bring it into the light so that we can deal with it. In the end we have the ultimate gift. The gift of being in control of our souls. Which is not to be controlled by our emotions and traditions and old ways. To be able to say like Habakkuk, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the Name of the Lord! You have a choice. Would you rather have your circumstances improved so that you can be happy, or your circumstances stay the same or even digress so that you may be brought to a place of joy in the Lord? Happiness versus His joy? The joy of the Lord is our strength. However, the world is “In pursuit of Happiness”. The one is eternal, whilst the other is temporary. For His joy in our circumstances is the expression of the overcoming power of God. The expression of an intimate relationship with God. Living epistles, witnesses to the saving grace of the gospel. What will you allow Him to do? How far are you willing to go with God? Have you set the boundaries? Are you happy with living the mundane life of going to work, home and to church and do it all over again, but not experience His true intention for the Church, which is GLORY? Or are you willing for anything that comes from His hand and interpreting your circumstances through the eyes of the Holy Spirit? As coming from God and not from man? No complaining, no murmuring. Not that we should not ask for prayer, but has your prayer become your murmuring? These are tough questions, especially if you have gone through some very painful experiences and find yourself seeing God as cruel at times. Which will ultimately erode your trust in Him. If all you see is how God does nothing to change this evil world, or to help the broken and destitute, it is only an indication that you first of all do not truly know Him, and also that you demand that He does things on your terms and timing. He did not say He will not do anything about it, He has His time for everything. But we will be held accountable for not obeying Him and rebelling against His ways, which is the reason for why the world looks like it does. At least your own life. Your own justifications often speak of the pride in your heart, unwilling to bow before the Creator of all things. We have no excuse or justification within ourselves. If we choose life, then that is exactly what He will give. Resurrection life. He has promised that He works all things together for good for those who love Him and who are called by His name (Romans 8: 28 KJV). This is not a principle, it is life! |
Special NoteThese writings are written in love and a spirit of servitude. They are not designed to judge but make us think. We are all sinners in need of saving, and we all need encouragement and absolute truth to endure on the narrow road to sanctification and ultimately eternal life. Categories
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