This week I felt the urge to video the devotional instead of writing it out.
Please follow this link for a timely message on a lesson God is showing me in John 2:5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am283pGjD7I&feature=share
https://www.onthevanguard.com/
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
SELF-INFLICTED CURSES
“But the men who had gone up with [Caleb] said, ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, ‘The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.’”
Numbers 13:31-32
I want you to place yourself in the sandals of the Israelites. For days already you have seen God’s hand at work. You watched Him divide the Red Sea for you to walk on. You tasted the water that once was bitter now become sweet. You rested at the twelve springs and under the shade of the seventy palm trees at Elim. And you partook of the manna and quail that littered the ground daily. The deliverance that God had promised His people, you are now living. Only one thing remains, the final entry into the Promise Land. So you watch as Moses takes a single man from each of the twelve tribes, and even feel a little pride when they call out the spy from your tribe. You know that in just a few more days the report will come back, a strategy will be determined, and you will possess the land. After all, God promised it to you and He does not go back on His Word.
But something happens. The spies finally return after forty days, a few more days than you had hoped for. Nonetheless, now they are here and you rush to greet them and hear the stories of what this land holds for you and yours. The men begin to speak and they all agree that this land is wonderful. You see them raise up the fruit they collected and already your mouth waters. You hear them share the details of the soil knowing that your crops too will be blessed. And in unison they speak out that this land surly does flow with milk and honey. Yet something else catches your attention. You hear them say the words ‘giants’ and ‘grasshoppers’. Suddenly the joy that flooded your being is replaced with fear.
Caleb and Joshua, two of the spies that had gone into the land with the others, work to grab the attention of all those listening and remind them of what God had said. “Yes, the inhabitants of this land are great, but God is greater. He has promised this land to us and in His strength we will conquer the land and take back what He says is ours!” It seems as though the words have fallen on deaf ears though, and by morning the other ten spies have poisoned the people with fear and dread. And now even you have begun to not only believe you are a grasshopper, but you also speak it from your own mouth. Sadly, you have become a victim of a self-inflicted curse.
There are many times I can remember in my life where God said one thing, and I said another. Now I like to think that I have been around long enough to know the difference between a curse and a blessing, but I have found this happening just recently. In recent weeks I have felt God moving me toward the calling He has given me of full-time ministry. In these last few weeks, however, I have found opposition. It seems like with every step of progress there has been, there has been a spy there also to push me in to giving up on what God has said. In fact, it had become so persistent that I was beginning to speak these words myself, and finding myself like the Israelites, being zapped of joy and falling into a pit of fear and despair. Instead of listening to the Joshuas and Calebs, and ultimately God, I was listening to the other ten and beginning to confess with my own mouth. I was overriding the promise of God with a self-inflicted curse.
What was the major lesson that God taught His people in their self-infliction? He taught them to not doubt what He says. And how did he do this? He taught this lesson in having the people, who were on the cusp of entering their land, walk in the desert for another forty years. Think about that, they were right there on the border of what God has promised years before. But they blew it by listening to the words of others, believing and repeating these words, and in the cursing of themselves. Do we want the same thing? Do you not realize that you too may be on the cusp, on the border, on the edge of your breakthrough? Do you really want to blow it now by listening to the cursed words of man over the truth spoken by God?
Friends, it is time that we stop listening to the curses of man, and repeating these curses as if they are truth. They are not! They are the devil’s scheme to prevent us from walking in the truth and calling that God has for us. The enemy knows that when you step into God’s promise, God will make things happen. So the longer the enemy can delay you, the longer that sphere of influence is weakened. Please, I ask that you catch what I am trying to say, as one who has seen this in just the last few weeks, stop agreeing with the enemy and delaying what God has for you because of a self-inflicted curse. You do not want to stay in the desert for forty years. Confess the truth of God instead.
Numbers 13:31-32
I want you to place yourself in the sandals of the Israelites. For days already you have seen God’s hand at work. You watched Him divide the Red Sea for you to walk on. You tasted the water that once was bitter now become sweet. You rested at the twelve springs and under the shade of the seventy palm trees at Elim. And you partook of the manna and quail that littered the ground daily. The deliverance that God had promised His people, you are now living. Only one thing remains, the final entry into the Promise Land. So you watch as Moses takes a single man from each of the twelve tribes, and even feel a little pride when they call out the spy from your tribe. You know that in just a few more days the report will come back, a strategy will be determined, and you will possess the land. After all, God promised it to you and He does not go back on His Word.
But something happens. The spies finally return after forty days, a few more days than you had hoped for. Nonetheless, now they are here and you rush to greet them and hear the stories of what this land holds for you and yours. The men begin to speak and they all agree that this land is wonderful. You see them raise up the fruit they collected and already your mouth waters. You hear them share the details of the soil knowing that your crops too will be blessed. And in unison they speak out that this land surly does flow with milk and honey. Yet something else catches your attention. You hear them say the words ‘giants’ and ‘grasshoppers’. Suddenly the joy that flooded your being is replaced with fear.
Caleb and Joshua, two of the spies that had gone into the land with the others, work to grab the attention of all those listening and remind them of what God had said. “Yes, the inhabitants of this land are great, but God is greater. He has promised this land to us and in His strength we will conquer the land and take back what He says is ours!” It seems as though the words have fallen on deaf ears though, and by morning the other ten spies have poisoned the people with fear and dread. And now even you have begun to not only believe you are a grasshopper, but you also speak it from your own mouth. Sadly, you have become a victim of a self-inflicted curse.
There are many times I can remember in my life where God said one thing, and I said another. Now I like to think that I have been around long enough to know the difference between a curse and a blessing, but I have found this happening just recently. In recent weeks I have felt God moving me toward the calling He has given me of full-time ministry. In these last few weeks, however, I have found opposition. It seems like with every step of progress there has been, there has been a spy there also to push me in to giving up on what God has said. In fact, it had become so persistent that I was beginning to speak these words myself, and finding myself like the Israelites, being zapped of joy and falling into a pit of fear and despair. Instead of listening to the Joshuas and Calebs, and ultimately God, I was listening to the other ten and beginning to confess with my own mouth. I was overriding the promise of God with a self-inflicted curse.
What was the major lesson that God taught His people in their self-infliction? He taught them to not doubt what He says. And how did he do this? He taught this lesson in having the people, who were on the cusp of entering their land, walk in the desert for another forty years. Think about that, they were right there on the border of what God has promised years before. But they blew it by listening to the words of others, believing and repeating these words, and in the cursing of themselves. Do we want the same thing? Do you not realize that you too may be on the cusp, on the border, on the edge of your breakthrough? Do you really want to blow it now by listening to the cursed words of man over the truth spoken by God?
Friends, it is time that we stop listening to the curses of man, and repeating these curses as if they are truth. They are not! They are the devil’s scheme to prevent us from walking in the truth and calling that God has for us. The enemy knows that when you step into God’s promise, God will make things happen. So the longer the enemy can delay you, the longer that sphere of influence is weakened. Please, I ask that you catch what I am trying to say, as one who has seen this in just the last few weeks, stop agreeing with the enemy and delaying what God has for you because of a self-inflicted curse. You do not want to stay in the desert for forty years. Confess the truth of God instead.
Friday, August 1, 2014
THE SPEAR OF PRAYER
Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep praying for all the saints.
I grew up in the church. No I wasn’t a pastor’s kid. I wasn’t even a worship leader’s kid. I was an intercessor’s kid. I was that kid whose mom was either away for hours in the morning, stuffed in a room with like-minded saints praying for the church, or found on the couch at home with a Bible in her lap and eyes closed in prayer. I was that kid that, when you got sick, you knew to call mom because she would drive out every demon on the block if it meant seeing you healed. And I was that kid who, God-forbid, you lied to your mom because she was in such great contact with God that your hidden moments would be told to her by the time you got home from school.
It wasn’t until I went off to college, though, that I began to truly understand the power that comes in prayer. In my freshman year I ended up fracturing my femur in a lousy attempt to show off my white-boy dance moves. The report from the doctor was at least six weeks on crutches and possibly a surgery to place screws in my leg if I planned to walk again. So, after I got done crying from both the pain and the report of the doc, I decided it was time to pray.
After two weeks of walking on crutches, I threw them aside. I was done. Not that I would suggest this to anyone else, but I felt that they were more than a physical crutch. To me, they represented a lack in faith that Jesus could heal me. So I tossed them aside, and began to pray for a complete healing in my leg. I had seen the original x-rays, I knew it was cracked, and cracked good. But when I went back for my check-up, something was different. I can still remember the doctor talking into his recording device and saying, “I don’t know what happened, but there is no mark of a break, and no reason for the surgery.”
I know and have heard testimonies far better than mine about people getting healed, or being sparred of what could have been a terrible incident, or even having needs met, but all these accounts go to prove one thing. Prayer works!
When most put on the armor, they put on the pieces we have already looked at, which include the belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet, and sword. However, Paul didn’t stop with just these six pieces. Tucked within Ephesians 6:18, and maybe tucked just a little too good, is one more piece. This final piece of our armor is prayer. Now you may question how I come to this conclusion as again, it is not bluntly mentioned in Paul’s dressings. But as many believe Paul wrote Ephesians while being watched by the Roman Guard, so Paul would hourly have had before him a fully dressed guard to look at. This Roman soldier would have been decked from head to toe in all his gear, and carried with him the shield, sword, and a spear. It is this spear that is equated in our piece of prayer.
The Roman army actually had two spears at their disposal, and both were for a different function. The first was a short spear, better known as a javelin or pilum, and it was common for the soldier to carry at least two of this style. It was this tool that was thrown with the intention of penetrating the armor of their enemy. Furthermore, the tips on these spears were crafted in such a way that they would break off or bend when hitting their target. To see the remnants of broken spears littering the ground, and wounded soldiers with the metal spear tips half swallowed within their body became the norm in war.
Along with the javelin, though, was the lance. The lance was a long, shafted weapon that normally required the use of both hands to fully throw. While many within the army would carry at least one lance, it was not uncommon to see a soldier carrying two of these approximately eighty inch weapons. It was the tip of the shaft that was made of iron, while the back portion was made of ash wood, in addition to being weighed with lead weights to increase the balance, distance, and impact when reaching the intended target. In battle, it was the lance that would be thrown first with the hopes of doing great damage. If the lance failed to take out a soldier, it would hopefully do damage to the soldier’s shield, as being stuck into the enemy’s shield would at least render the shield useless and the lance unable to be throw back
In Ephesians 6:18, Paul states to “… pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Just to clarify this verse, Paul didn’t specialize on what type of occasions or kinds of prayer, but simply stated ALL occasions and with ALL kinds of prayers and requests. Just as the soldier had a javelin and lance for whatever the situation required, so Paul is pointing out here that we have a prayer for whatever we are dealing with. This spiritual weaponry has been given to us not for decoration, but for use against the strategies of the enemy.
We read that on the night Jesus was betrayed, he took the disciples with Him to the Garden and asked them to stay and pray while He went further into the Garden Himself to pray. Upon His return He found the disciples sleeping and eventually questioned of them if they could not tarry just one hour. Yet how many times has this happened to us? I know personally that I can make the commitment with my mouth to wake up early for a prayer meeting, but get as far as, “Dear Heavenly Father…,” before the Zzzzzz’s of sleep overcome me. How can I expect to take on the enemy if I cannot tarry one hour myself? And have you ever noticed that you pray more effectively when you have a burden to pray for something? Perhaps another reason we cannot find the ability to tarry is because we have lacked the burden. Our prayers become as effective as throwing the lance with a broken arm. Yet if we tarry, and become consumed with the burdens that burden our Lord, we will find the lance effectively hitting the target each time.
Let me point out here as well, though, that God answers in His time. We pray in a time that is important to us; we pray in the now, the KRONOS. However, God is Sovereign, and He can do what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants to do it. Therefore, God answers prayer on His appointed timing, his KAIROS. We cannot push His timing, but we can keep praying until the two times collide.
Let us look at still one more relationship between the spear and prayer, this one found in our moments of worship. In Acts 16:25 we find the account of Paul and Silas in prison for rebuking the spirit of python out of a woman who predicted the future and earned funds for her masters as a fortune teller. Now, sitting in prison at the midnight hour, we read that the two were praying and praising God in song. Suddenly, there was an earthquake that shook the prison and released all the prisoners of their chains. Don’t miss that point. Through prayer and praise, the chains that held them all captive were broken off them. The spear had been thrown because of their prayer and praise, and it hit the enemy square in the chest. Freedom for Paul and Silas was found, and salvation for the entire home of the jailer was accepted. To think that praise is not also a weapon is wrong, for even in the wilderness David sang his prayers to God.
It is prayer and praise that gets our minds on God and His plans. It is prayer and praise that opens the door for God’s hand to change circumstances. It is prayer and praise that urges us to walk in God’s ways. And it is prayer and praise that reminds us of what God has done, encourages us in what He is doing, and gives us hope in what He will continue to do. It is for this reason that Jude 20 reminds us to build ourselves up in the most holy faith.
Prayer is a weapon, for it is communication with God. How can we know the heart of God if we do not tarry for His heart? How can we throw the spear and hit the mark if we are throwing aimlessly? Therefore, let us take the time to seek Him, seek His heart, and pray through the burdens that He places on us. He has given us this means of communication so that in this battle we will know the target and hit it dead on. Now, grab your spear, and pray.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep praying for all the saints.
I grew up in the church. No I wasn’t a pastor’s kid. I wasn’t even a worship leader’s kid. I was an intercessor’s kid. I was that kid whose mom was either away for hours in the morning, stuffed in a room with like-minded saints praying for the church, or found on the couch at home with a Bible in her lap and eyes closed in prayer. I was that kid that, when you got sick, you knew to call mom because she would drive out every demon on the block if it meant seeing you healed. And I was that kid who, God-forbid, you lied to your mom because she was in such great contact with God that your hidden moments would be told to her by the time you got home from school.
It wasn’t until I went off to college, though, that I began to truly understand the power that comes in prayer. In my freshman year I ended up fracturing my femur in a lousy attempt to show off my white-boy dance moves. The report from the doctor was at least six weeks on crutches and possibly a surgery to place screws in my leg if I planned to walk again. So, after I got done crying from both the pain and the report of the doc, I decided it was time to pray.
After two weeks of walking on crutches, I threw them aside. I was done. Not that I would suggest this to anyone else, but I felt that they were more than a physical crutch. To me, they represented a lack in faith that Jesus could heal me. So I tossed them aside, and began to pray for a complete healing in my leg. I had seen the original x-rays, I knew it was cracked, and cracked good. But when I went back for my check-up, something was different. I can still remember the doctor talking into his recording device and saying, “I don’t know what happened, but there is no mark of a break, and no reason for the surgery.”
I know and have heard testimonies far better than mine about people getting healed, or being sparred of what could have been a terrible incident, or even having needs met, but all these accounts go to prove one thing. Prayer works!
When most put on the armor, they put on the pieces we have already looked at, which include the belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet, and sword. However, Paul didn’t stop with just these six pieces. Tucked within Ephesians 6:18, and maybe tucked just a little too good, is one more piece. This final piece of our armor is prayer. Now you may question how I come to this conclusion as again, it is not bluntly mentioned in Paul’s dressings. But as many believe Paul wrote Ephesians while being watched by the Roman Guard, so Paul would hourly have had before him a fully dressed guard to look at. This Roman soldier would have been decked from head to toe in all his gear, and carried with him the shield, sword, and a spear. It is this spear that is equated in our piece of prayer.
The Roman army actually had two spears at their disposal, and both were for a different function. The first was a short spear, better known as a javelin or pilum, and it was common for the soldier to carry at least two of this style. It was this tool that was thrown with the intention of penetrating the armor of their enemy. Furthermore, the tips on these spears were crafted in such a way that they would break off or bend when hitting their target. To see the remnants of broken spears littering the ground, and wounded soldiers with the metal spear tips half swallowed within their body became the norm in war.
Along with the javelin, though, was the lance. The lance was a long, shafted weapon that normally required the use of both hands to fully throw. While many within the army would carry at least one lance, it was not uncommon to see a soldier carrying two of these approximately eighty inch weapons. It was the tip of the shaft that was made of iron, while the back portion was made of ash wood, in addition to being weighed with lead weights to increase the balance, distance, and impact when reaching the intended target. In battle, it was the lance that would be thrown first with the hopes of doing great damage. If the lance failed to take out a soldier, it would hopefully do damage to the soldier’s shield, as being stuck into the enemy’s shield would at least render the shield useless and the lance unable to be throw back
In Ephesians 6:18, Paul states to “… pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Just to clarify this verse, Paul didn’t specialize on what type of occasions or kinds of prayer, but simply stated ALL occasions and with ALL kinds of prayers and requests. Just as the soldier had a javelin and lance for whatever the situation required, so Paul is pointing out here that we have a prayer for whatever we are dealing with. This spiritual weaponry has been given to us not for decoration, but for use against the strategies of the enemy.
We read that on the night Jesus was betrayed, he took the disciples with Him to the Garden and asked them to stay and pray while He went further into the Garden Himself to pray. Upon His return He found the disciples sleeping and eventually questioned of them if they could not tarry just one hour. Yet how many times has this happened to us? I know personally that I can make the commitment with my mouth to wake up early for a prayer meeting, but get as far as, “Dear Heavenly Father…,” before the Zzzzzz’s of sleep overcome me. How can I expect to take on the enemy if I cannot tarry one hour myself? And have you ever noticed that you pray more effectively when you have a burden to pray for something? Perhaps another reason we cannot find the ability to tarry is because we have lacked the burden. Our prayers become as effective as throwing the lance with a broken arm. Yet if we tarry, and become consumed with the burdens that burden our Lord, we will find the lance effectively hitting the target each time.
Let me point out here as well, though, that God answers in His time. We pray in a time that is important to us; we pray in the now, the KRONOS. However, God is Sovereign, and He can do what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants to do it. Therefore, God answers prayer on His appointed timing, his KAIROS. We cannot push His timing, but we can keep praying until the two times collide.
Let us look at still one more relationship between the spear and prayer, this one found in our moments of worship. In Acts 16:25 we find the account of Paul and Silas in prison for rebuking the spirit of python out of a woman who predicted the future and earned funds for her masters as a fortune teller. Now, sitting in prison at the midnight hour, we read that the two were praying and praising God in song. Suddenly, there was an earthquake that shook the prison and released all the prisoners of their chains. Don’t miss that point. Through prayer and praise, the chains that held them all captive were broken off them. The spear had been thrown because of their prayer and praise, and it hit the enemy square in the chest. Freedom for Paul and Silas was found, and salvation for the entire home of the jailer was accepted. To think that praise is not also a weapon is wrong, for even in the wilderness David sang his prayers to God.
It is prayer and praise that gets our minds on God and His plans. It is prayer and praise that opens the door for God’s hand to change circumstances. It is prayer and praise that urges us to walk in God’s ways. And it is prayer and praise that reminds us of what God has done, encourages us in what He is doing, and gives us hope in what He will continue to do. It is for this reason that Jude 20 reminds us to build ourselves up in the most holy faith.
Prayer is a weapon, for it is communication with God. How can we know the heart of God if we do not tarry for His heart? How can we throw the spear and hit the mark if we are throwing aimlessly? Therefore, let us take the time to seek Him, seek His heart, and pray through the burdens that He places on us. He has given us this means of communication so that in this battle we will know the target and hit it dead on. Now, grab your spear, and pray.
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