The pavement sings as it's pelted with wetness. The. Midnight song of a Fort Worth summer.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Wilderness Before Promise: Entering the Promise Land
Desert Hills by Jose Maria Cuellar
Being Led Into The Wilderness
It's hard to search the bible for being "led" without coming back to the story of Israel in the wilderness, or references to it.
Deuteronomy 8:2 NKJVIs it possible that we create our own wilderness experiences; or, is it that we prolong them by our defiance?
And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
The Wilderness Precedes the Promise
Matthew 4:1So we can see a pattern emerging. From Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Israel the Nation, Elijah, to Jesus himself, wilderness times precede the promise. These are times of testing and proving. I don’t think God needs you to prove anything to Him. He knows what you are capable of, more than you do.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
What God wants, is for you to experience the proof yourself. It’s as though, the very proving ground, training ground, testing ground itself, is where hero’s are made.
Abundance Despite The Lack
Both Israel, and Jesus himself, were led into wilderness times. It seems that God actually does this on purpose in the lives of people who have submitted themselves to him. So when wilderness times come, let us learn from them, and grow through them. We can see where Israel failed here.
Israel murmured and complained the entire time they were in the wilderness. Even though God met every need, to the abundance, to the overflow, they still murmured. They lacked food, He rained down bread. They lacked meat, He gave them quail. They lacked water, He brought forth a river from a rock.
At each turn, they had the opportunity to ask and receive, instead they complained and took. Eventually, they disqualified themselves from the promise. At any time, they could have repented as a nation, and they could have entered that promise. However, it took another generation to rise up, one that would respond differently.
Leaving Egypt Behind
Israel was either begging to go back to Egypt, the land of their slavery…
Is there some Egypt in our heart still calling us back?Or, Israel was making golden calves, and deals with the enemy they should have been conquering.
Do we seek God's will our own way? Are we willing to compromise with the devils that stand between us and our promised land; rather than do the harder work of trusting God to purge them?Joshua's generation proved that the Giants weren't preventing Israel from taking the land. Longing in the hearts of their fathers for the past, mistrust in the present, and fear of the future, kept Moses's generation stuck.
And yet, it was Joshua’s generation that faced the fiercest battles, and most challenges. The wilderness is there to train you in safety for the real fight that it takes to obtain your promise.
If you don’t win in the wilderness, you’ll never make it in the promise land.
Here my question today:
Are you using the wilderness time to hone your skills, deepen your relationship with God, and train for the real battles ahead?
Or are you simply walking around in circles never quite out of sin or into victory?
By Darrell Wolfe
About This Blog, and Darrell.
This Weeks Resource:
Affiliate Disclosure:
I earn commissions off of some of my suggestions. Full Disclaimers (Click Here)
See my Store for more suggestions (Click Here)
And now I leave you with a question:
What are you preparing for the promise, or barely enduring the wilderness?To Respond Leave A Comment on This Post
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Romans 8: In God We Trust!?
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| "In god we trust" by Aaron van Dorn |
Romans 8 is PACKED full of good stuff!
Who knew all this was in the same chapter!?
Why do I find it so hard to believe God? I mean over, and over, and over, He has proven himself faithful to me, in very real and practical ways. Just recently, the favor He's shown in moving me to my new job position, has been nothing short of miraculous.Nevertheless, as soon as the next trial comes along, I start doubting again. After awhile, if the same problem is coming up over and over, the only place to look is in the mirror.
ME? You mean I'm the problem? Well, yes, I am. But that's not the mirror I'm referring to.
James 1
22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
When I spend time in the perfect Word of God, it shows me things I couldn't see. Just as mirror shows my how crazy my hair really is in the first minutes of morning, the mirror of the Word shows me how crazy my thoughts are before I washed them in His Word.
I had one such mirror moment reading Romans 8 this past week.
-Romans 8 Study-
Yield to HolySpirit
6For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.8So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
I've always used vs 11 as a healing scripture, which is just fine, nothing wrong with that. But today I saw it in a new and fresh light. If I have a carnal mind, I'm envoking the curse/death. If I engage the spiritual mind (mindsets) I am envoking blessing/life. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in my body, quickening (making alive) my mortal flesh.
That INCLUDES my mind! HolySpirit is inside of my, assisting in the renewing of my mind. I don't have to strive for a new mindset, or work hard at it.
I need only yield to what He is processing in me.
How do I engage this spiritual mind?
16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
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26Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
HolySpirit bears witness to my Spirit, first of my adoption, and then to any truth I need, because he is here to lead me into all truth (according to John). Likewise, he helps me in my weakness by interceding for me and praying out the Will of God in my life.
I can tap into this during my times of prayer, meditation, and silence.
28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.This process of allowing him to pray through you, specifically through times of silence and praying in tongues, is how he works all things together for Good!
Believing God for provision...
31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
NO ONE!
He didn't spare His own Son...
So why, here on earth, would I doubt His desire to give me freely ALL THINGS?!!?!?!?!
Once I get that straight, and really accept God had my best in mind, I'll be able to freely trust Him for all things.
I must yield to how much he loves me!
Take away's
- Yield to HolySpirit's instruction/leading.
- HolySpirit bears Witness to me.
- Yield to the Love of God.
- So it really is all about #BeStillBeLed! (Tweet That!)
By Darrell Wolfe
This Weeks Resource:
- Blessing Of The Lord: Makes Rich And He Adds No Sorrow With It, By Kenneth Copeland
A study of "The Blessing" through the Old and New Testament, from Abraham to Jesus.
Affiliate Disclosure:
I earn commissions off of some of my suggestions. Full Disclaimers (Click Here)
See my Store for more suggestions (Click Here)
And now I leave you with a question:
Have you struggled believing God will provide natural things you want/need?
To Respond Leave A Comment on This Post
Sunday, August 3, 2014
$0.74 vs $3.96 - How does your perspective change your decision making?
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| Thermal Cutoff: $0.74 fix for a $75.00 problem |
Have you ever got something in your head so strong... that you failed to see the bigger picture?
How I refused to pay $3.96 to fix a $72.41 problem, all because it wasn't $0.74.
I hate heat! HATE it! Passionately hate it. I grew up in 125*F summers and I would rather live in snow than heat. Apparently the one thing I hate more is spending money on something I cannot eat. So, I've driven around in 80-90 weather with the windows down, so I could save less than $5. This is SO sad looking back on it.
$0.74 vs $3.96
I've known since BEFORE summer arrived that the air conditioner in my 2001 Honda Odyssey was broken. Worse yet, I've known exactly what to do to fix it. This video, here, describes the issue in perfect detail. It describes the part, a "Transistor Assembly", as a $72.41 part. At my current budget, that's a LOT of money.
But wait, the third time I watched the video I noticed a link that I'd been ignoring to this companion video, here, describing how to fix the Transistor Assembly for less than $1. Yes, that's right, a $72.41 repair becomes a $1 repair. So you can go to to DigiKey.Com and order this Thermal Cutoff for $0.74, yes 74 cents. I got that "less than $1" part stuck in my head.
However, the part will require $3.22 shipping...
So... I'm excited to find a $0.74 fix to a $72.41 problem, then thrown off by $3.22 shipping. My mind could not get over paying $3.22 to ship a $0.74 part. Even though, if shipping were free, I would have been happy to pay $10.00 to fix a $72.41 part. I even would have been satisfied to pay $3.22 shipping for a $10.00 part. However, I couldn't bring myself to pay $3.96 (total with shipping) for a $0.74 part.
Delay. Procrastination. Fear. False Perspectives:
These are all too familiar companions in my life.
I know... I know... that sounds ridiculous.
And it is.
It's now August and I'm finally bringing myself to buy it. There are 100 other reasons I've had not to buy it. Maybe not 100, but at least 10-20. But they all amount to excuses, procrastination, fear of loss of money, fear of being wrong about the fix, etc, etc.
Isn't it worth $3.96 to attempt the fix with the possibility of comfortable driving? Sure, when you put it like that?!
Change Your Perspective
So, today I realized I was also doing this in bigger areas of my life. I was treating my kids as a chore, rather than a blessing. Spending time with them was an obligation to be endured, not a privilege to be cherished. It was a internal emotion, not a reasoned thought. But it was affecting my decisions, and creating a poor atmosphere for their growth.
I was choosing TV or Facebook, and brushing them off to "go play". The underlying message they were getting was: "You are not worth my time, go away".
I would have said it was stress, or being tired... but is the result for them any different based on my reason or excuse?
Maybe I could choose gain a new perspective, on purpose. Maybe I could choose to see my family from a different light, and then I would be able to participate in their growth... rather than observe it from a distance.
The Solution
As I continue to learn how to #BeStillBeLed, I'll become a Father more like My Father in heaven! (Tweet That!)
And now I leave you with a question:
What portions of your life could use a new perspective?
To Respond Leave A Comment on This Post
*PS: I got this message after I ordered, so it ended up being cents cheaper!
Your total cost is $3.70 in U.S. currency, including $2.68 postage.
*PSS: It didn't work; however, I tried! It's better to know than wonder.
By Darrell Wolfe
This Weeks Resource:
"Christians create great difficulties for their own lives when they don't take time to speak in other tongues and gain clarity from God in their own spirits before moving forward in a particular direction. They marry wrong people, get into bad business deals, make wrong career moves, allow wrong people around their children, and create a host of other problems for themselves, all because they don't take time to know the mysteries of God about their own lives through speaking in other tongues."
Affiliate Disclosure:
I earn commissions off of some of my suggestions. Full Disclaimers (Click Here)
See my Store for more suggestions (Click Here)
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