Daily Devotional

Son, I am the Great King, and My Name is the only name to be feared among My children! For they must become My holy people. They must listen to Me and make up their minds to honor My Name and My Word. They must pass on the truth of My words that they have received from Me to their own children. They must not lie or cheat, for I want them to walk with Me. They must live good and righteous lives, and turn away from sin. How I wish that all of My children would understand the way to peace. But, for some of them it is too late, and the way is hidden from their eyes because they did not recognize the truth!

 

The words of a pastor should preserve knowledge of Me. My children should go to them for instruction. But some pastors have left My path, and their instructions have caused many to stumble into sin. These pastors pretend to be holy, but they are fearful men. Because of this, they will be severely punished. So My children beware of these pastors who teach in their own way that My truth is not for today. 

 

Because of these false pastors, My children do not fear My Name, and people of the world show contempt for My Name! My children dishonor Me by their actions, and say, “It’s too hard to serve the LORD.” 

 

They cry out to Me asking, “Why don’t You accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because you do not stand up for the truth about life and what a family truly is. You have allowed others to define a marriage, and destroy a family unit. Didn’t I make you one with your wife; the head of the family? And didn’t I say that every wife is her husband’s helpmate?  I want godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to marriage and protect the family unit by obeying Me and then standing up to those who want to destroy it.

 

America has been shattered by the choices it makes with regards to what a family is. They can try to redefine it, but I the Lord, say, “They may try, but I will never allow this. Their country will be known as ‘The Land of Wickedness,’ and their people will be called ‘The People with Whom the LORD is Forever Angry. I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken My warning to heart. You have wearied Me with your words by saying that all who do evil are good in MY sight, and I am pleased with them. You have wearied Me by asking, ‘Where is the God of justice?’ I have not left! They have left Me!”

Daily Devotional

Son, since I have redeemed you, you must speak out! Tell others what I tell you say and watch for the day of My return.

 

My children must be prepared for My arrival. They must be separated from the things of this world. They must not be afraid of what they see or hear from those who are doomed! When My children know My word, they will see these things and be glad. Those who are wise will take all this to heart, will understand My faithful love. With My help My children will do mighty things! When My children cry out to Me day and night, I will not put them off.

 

Today some of My children feel lost, but if they cry out to Me I will rescue and lead them in the way to go; I will not abandon them.  When My children rebel against My word, they will walk around in darkness and misery; imprisoned by their sin of disobedience. It is sad when they do not grasp the significance of My Word and the power of My Spirit. They have failed to understand what I am talking about that can be understood by even a child.

 

One of the keys to a powerful witness for Me is when a person wrongs you; and when he asks you forgive them. What stops you from forgiving? It is because you see yourself as self righteous and think, “I am not a sinner like this person. I don’t cheat, I don’t commit adultery. I pray and fast. I give a tenth of my income to the local church.” Remember, those who exalt themselves are the ones who cannot forgive others, and they will certainly be humbled!

 

In the coming days My children will go through the fire, but this will make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on Me, and I will answer them. I will say, “These are My children, my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth!”

 

Lord, thank You for Your great love and for the wonderful things You have done for me.

Daily Devotional

Lord, when Your children were leaving Egypt – why did you tell your children to plunder the Egyptians by taking their gold and silver into the desert with them?

 

Son, I was testing their character to see what they would do when things become difficult.  When My children are faithful in little things I give them, then I will give them greater things. But if they are dishonest with little things, then I cannot trust them with greater responsibilities.

 

I gave them wealth in order to benefit others in need. Today when I given My children silver and gold, look how quickly they forget Me! They do not wait for My counsel! They do not believe My promise that I will care for them. Instead, they mingle with the world and accept their evil customs and idols of silver of gold. They even approve the shedding the innocent blood of the unborn. 

 

Therefore, they will be handed over to those who refuse to acknowledge Me, and be ruled by those who hate Me. They will complain and shout to Me, “Are You here with us?” My answer will be, “No, I gave you what you asked for,  and that is to be ruled by riches.”

 

Son, there is joy in My presence when a sinner finally comes to his senses and repents. When they search for Me they will find My strength in life.  When they live by continually seeking Me and remembering My wonders, they can stand on this promise, “I keep every one of My promises.”

DAily Devotional

Son, My children in America have become slaves to political correctness, and to the lies of the media. So what will it take to free My children? Their own thinking! Some of My children when faced with a choice to stand for truth and bear the consequences, will change their minds and keep quiet. While others who do stand up for the truth will suffer the consequence as well; their life becoming more difficult. They will be asked and accused, “Why are you doing this. Look at what you have done to us? Why are you making us choose? Leave us alone, and let us be. We do not want to draw attention to ourselves, we want a quiet life.”

 

These children of Mine who say this have made their hearts as hard as stone. They never read My Word, or accept any messages from My faithful servants.  Since they refuse to listen, I will not listen when they call to Me in the days ahead. This type of thinking is why the land of America has become hostile and hopeless. They have allowed this land of My promise to become a desert of evil.

 

To those faithful children of Mine I say, “Don’t fight against each other. Stop telling lies that you swear are the truth, for I hate all this.  Don’t be afraid, but stand up for My Word and watch what I will do! Remember My promise of agreement, and do not allow My family to be splintered by feuding over things that will not last. Seek My Kingdom above all else, and I will give you everything you need. Be ready as though you were waiting for Me to return today. Remember that a servant who knows what I want but who isn’t prepared, will be greatly disappointed on My return. What I give you – I will expect a return; the more you receive – the greater the return should be. What I have entrusted to you I expect that you be faithful.”

 

People of the world have the wrong idea of who I am. They think I came to bring peace to the earth. No, I came to set this world on fire, and to divide people against each other! And then to show a distinction between them; those who hate Me and those who love Me.

 

So My faithful children, be strong and finish the task I have given you! Live a blameless life and a life of integrity, and of love in your homes. Refuse to look at anything that is vile, vulgar, and do not deal with anyone who deals crookedly; have nothing to do with them. Stay away from anything that is perverse and evil. Remember that I am looking for faithful people to be My companions; those who are above reproach.

 

You leaders of My children, be very careful that you are not one of those people who hide the key to knowledge by not telling My children the truth, but be faithful and tell everyone everything I say to you.

Daily Devotional

Son, this is how it is with your nation. Everything is defiled by their sin of unbelief when they say, “Who is the LORD? Why should we listen to Him?” Therefore, people are not satisfied. They work hard and have little left. Their wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! They have become completely discouraged because they refuse to do what I tell them. They refuse to turn to Me and enter My place of rest for them.

 

Some of My own children won’t listen to Me anymore, so how can I expect the leaders of your nation to listen? My children must began to listen and obey what I have told them in My Word. Each day they must proclaim the good news of salvation. Tell everyone about the amazing things I have done, and that I do for them each day. Tell everyone who will listen, “I am coming to judge the world with justice, and the nations with My truth, and to give Me the honor and glory I deserve!”

 

I’m looking at their lives for true repentance of their sins and how faithfully they have turned to Me. Don’t just say to each other that we have repented and are saved. Words mean nothing unless your life reflects what you have said. When My children have been touched by Me, they will search for Me and quickly find Me.

 

Lord You made me, and You are My God. Thank You that You reached out to touch me.  My heart will not become hard towards You. For I am truly thankful for all You’ve done for me and my family.  

Daily Devotional

Son, what do you want Me to do for you?

 

Lord, I want to see what is about to happen, so that I can be prepared and tell others.

 

Son, then listen carefully to what I am I am going to tell you. The closer your walk with is with Me, the more your life will be filled with awe, but the father behind you get the more you will be overwhelmed with fear.

 

In the last days leaders who are supposed to know right from wrong, will hate good and love evil. They will hate justice and twist all that is right. Their life’s foundation is built on corruption murder, and they make decisions based on their love of money. Soon they will be screaming at Me in terror, and will be in pain like a woman in childbirth, all because they do not have any answers for what they face. They do not know Me, or My wisdom and truth, and neither can they understand My plan to save and redeem them.

 

You false pastors, prophets, who are leading My people astray today, you say that you depend on Me, and then tell those listening to you, “No harm will come to us, because the LORD is here among us.” When these things begin to happen you will pray to Me and ask for My help. Do you really expect Me to answer you after all the evil you have done? The people that follow you are not prepared for what is coming, and because you have denied them the truth – I won’t even look at you!

 

When My kingdom comes My Throne will be the highest place, and My House the most important place on earth. I will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations. Nations will no longer need weapons of mass destruction. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. Everyone will live in the truth and peace, prospering and enjoying their work, for there will be nothing to fear. Unfailing love from above, together with righteousness on earth will work together while the Holy One smiles.

 

Lord, teach me Your ways, so that I can begin to live according to Your truth and righteousness! Help me to have a pure heart, so that I may honor You; for Your love for me is very great. Help me not to speak out of fear, but may my words flow out my awe of You.  Lord, overwhelm me with Your AWE! 

Relationships – Chapter 17

Fellowship in Depth – Part 5

Dying To Self

 

Continuing on we see that learning to share with someone else – some of our struggles, victories, etc. is a form of dying to one’s self. Jesus said: “Pick up the cross and follow me.”

 

The greatest hindrance to the Christian life is our selves. Jesus said that we must die, but this is the last thing that self wants to do. Self will do anything if only it can live fully satisfied. Self will go to the end of the world, give up its worldly goods, will sacrifice whatever it takes to live. Jesus went on to say: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24

 

In our fellowships we find many lonely people. Could it be because we have not learned how to die? We have not learned how to share?

 

We know that on the other side of the cross there is resurrection life, but it seems that this is something that we know very little about. I mentioned in my previous letter a quote from Paul Tournier that when a person has overcome his timidity and learns to share that, “he experiences an extraordinary feeling of liberation. The dimensions of his being are suddenly increased: he has breached the wall within which he was suffocating. By becoming transparent for you, he has become transparent for himself.” He is talking about something of a new life.

 

We begin to get to know ourselves when we fellowship in depth with people that we can trust. This is crucial for finding our place in the Body of Christ. We begin to get God’s perspective on how we fit in. This brings to us a sense of belonging which is crucial for us to operate properly with our spiritual gifts, etc.

 

1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” We may have had great teaching on this verse on how we are part of the Body, how the Lord has given us all spiritual gifts, etc., but it will not be until we experience fellowship in depth that we fully understand how we actually ARE a part of the Body.

 

One last thought that I would like to bring out is that knowing Christ and
knowing one another go together. How can I say I know Christ when I do not know my brother in whom Christ resides? Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

How can I say I love God and not love my brother? In other words, my love
for others is a measuring rod, or thermometer, on how much I love God. 1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”

I believe that one of the reasons why the ‘cell church’ is becoming so
powerful around the world is because this need for fellowship is being met.

Daily Devotional

Lord, why are these acts of nature happening in America, and especially in California?

 

Son, I am making accusations against California and your nation. Just who is to blame for this rebellion towards Me? It is your capital! Your leaders think up evil plans and hurry to carry them out simply because they have the power to do so. They have canceled My Word in their hearts, and then removed My Word in their schools, in their government, and will have it removed from every public place; and then they test Me, “If there is a God, then do what we want.”

 

Why do they keep doubting Me? Why can’t they understand? Their hearts are just too hard to take it in. They have eyes, but can’t they see all that I have done. They have ears, but can’t hear Me. They don’t know, and can’t even remember; they have no understanding of anything true and holy. Yet, more than anything, they need to understand who I Am! For their own sakes, they need to stop seeing things merely from a human point of view.

 

This is the question that needs to be asked, is the sin of rebellion in your country/state too deep to heal?

 

If it is, then people will anxiously wait for relief but only get bitterness.  They will no longer walk around proudly because it will be a terrible time. People will tell My spokesmen, “Don’t say such things. Don’t prophesy like that. Such disasters will never come our way!” But respond to them by saying, “Will God have patience with such behavior? If you do what is right, then you would find God’s words comforting. But you have filled the land with sin and now the land is being ruined completely.”

 

Lord, if You say that California, or our nation’s rebellion is too deep to heal, then my family and I will look to You to guide us through the terrible time. When You lead us then we will have the strength for each day. When we set our minds on what You say is coming, then our hearts can rejoice. Your promise will comfort us as we walk through the Valley of Weeping, and it will become for us – a place of refreshing. We know by what You said, that You will withhold no good thing from those who honor You.

Daily Devotional

Son, sometimes the road to My promises will lead through the dungeons of man. But the key to understanding is that you listen to Me. So pay close attention to what you hear Me say, and do not assume anything else. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given about the drudgeries and pits in life. 

 

When I walked this earth I told My disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”  But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat and it began to fill with water. I was sleeping at the back of the boat with My head on a cushion when the disciples woke Me shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” I got up and rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped and there was calm. I asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

 

At first they acted upon what I said; they got in the boat and headed out towards the other side, but when a wall of opposition came it made them think that what I had said – might not happen. These disciples asked Me, “Don’t You care?” They accused Me of not caring about what they we’re going through. Of course I care, but I wanted them to understand what faith is: to keep acting upon what I said even if it looks or feels like it is not going to happen.

 

Son, those great men with faith that I had mentioned in My Word believed what I told them because they kept going on what I said to them – no matter what. They lived out their lives as though it already happened. Even though they were humiliated by the world and mocked by their own family and friends – they kept the vision of My promise before them and didn’t stop moving with it. 

 

So what have I said to you? Do you think I have forgotten about it?  Do you think that you can run away from it because of where it takes you?  You cannot run away from Me and how I will fulfill My words to you. If you go after understanding – you will gain the strength to keep going in what I said to you.

 

Lord, Your children are mocked and attacked when we live our lives by what You have said. Our enemies laugh at us and say that our hope is a joke. Many of Your children are giving up on what You have said. Strengthen our next-to-nothing faith, and revive us, so that what You have said to us – we will do it all in Your Name. May we hunger for Your words of wisdom and encouragement each day as we keep moving through every wall of opposition that is in front of us.  Lord, increase my faith!

Relationships – Chapter 16

Fellowship in Depth – Part 4 – Grow Spiritually

 

Paul Tournier in his little book SECRETS brings out three steps that a person takes to become or develop a personality. It would seem that each step is important in this development.

 

He uses the illustration of a little girl called Sally. Sally when she begins to talk tells her mother everything – where she has been, who shetalks with, etc. However, one day Sally tells her mother everything except for one thing. Sally has a secret. Paul Tournier goes on to say that Sally is now beginning to develop her own personality.

 

What Sally does next is very crucial. She will choose someone to share
that secret with. This is the second step in developing a personality. When Sally shares that secret, something that no one else knows, she has done something very special. The person that she shares that secret with has been picked out by Sally to become her friend.

 

Often what happens is that this friend takes the secret and shares it with
someone else and doing so Sally is crushed, because her confidence has been eroded by the one that she picked out to be her special friend. What often happens here is that Sally does not share anymore, which in turn hurts her, not only in her personality but spiritually as well.

 

Paul Tournier goes on to say that there is one other step and that is to share that secret with God. One might say why share it with God since God knows everything anyway. The reason we share that secret with God is because we are taking the step of saying to God that wewant Him to be our closest friend. He will never break our confidence.

 

Why we need fellowship in depth is because no-one ever discovers himself in
isolation. Paul Tournier says: “No one discovers themselves in solitude,
by turning inward on himself and by analyzing himself. It is by giving one’s self that one finds himself. To tell a secret is to give one’s self. It is the most precious of gifts, the gift which touches the most. This friend has become himself a person by this victory over his timidity and constraint. He experiences an extraordinary feeling of liberation. The dimensions of his being are suddenly increased: he has breached the wall within which he was suffocating. By becoming transparent for you, he has become transparent for himself.”

 

“The most powerful means of getting to know one’s self is to allow ourselves to be examined by God and to listen to what He has to say to us, for He knows us better than we know ourselves.”

 

The tendency for each one of us is to go off on tangents. One of the things that will happen when there is genuine fellowship is that people will act as mirrors. We begin to see ourselves and our own mistaken attitudes. This is where ‘corrective surgery’ can come in.

 

Paul said something very important in Romans 2:1 “You, therefore, have no
excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”

 

If we understood this verse I doubt that we would be so judgmental.

 

 

Do you find yourself getting irritated by what someone else does or says and you find yourself judging that person? It is possible that person is acting like a mirror and you are seeing some of your own wrong attitudes, errors etc. that the Lord wants to correct. This does not mean that we do not judge, because we must, but it does mean that we first take the log out of our own eye before trying to take out the splinter in someone else’s eye.

 

The Psalmist said in Psalms 19:12 “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.” The writer of the Hebrews says: “Throw away every weight.”

 

 

Fellowship in depth brings these to light so that they might be dealt with and that we might become all that God wants.

 

The problem that we face today is that the format of our fellowships does
not enable real fellowship to take place. We are like little islands in the midst of the congregation. Real community life is essential for fellowship in depth and fellowship in depth is important for spiritual growth.