Blessings of Rain

Psa 68:9  Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. 

It rained a good rain again yesterday. That long drought has been changed in one year to an overflowing of abundant water. This too is our blessing from God a spiritual overflowing. A friend from church came to visit my wife who is confined to bed. She brought a book that I had heard of before."The Book of Mysteries", by Jonathon Cahn. Daily readings full of insights from the LORD. One of the first lessons was to have an open mind and heart to receive from God. Open up to new possibilities. a closed vessel cannot receive, but an open one can contain a river. Like the abundant rain, I love the flowing of the river of God, the Living waters. It is not only to be kept, but also to pour out to others.

Another blessing was that a handyman working through our church ministry installed a roofing roll of non slip walkway for our wheelchair ramp. Thank you Lord for blessings from above flowing out of your people as the abundant rain and living waters. Make me a blessing too LORD.

Are You Able?

Pro 24:30  I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
Pro 24:31  And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Pro 24:32  Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.
Pro 24:33  Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
Pro 24:34  So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man. 

My parents had retired and moved from southern California, 600 miles north to a ten acre ranch. They had come from a dairy farm in Arkansas to California during the depression. My father had worked hard at many jobs, was a carpenter and skilled laborer. Now it was time to retire, but not from work. They made a big garden, had fruit trees, raised cattle, a pig, chickens, ducks and geese. They shared from their abundance with my family. They kept the ranch in great shape.

Old age came to where they were no longer able to grow a garden. They could no longer tend to farm animals. There was a handyman that would come to help them do small fix it jobs. They gave him meat and produce for compensation. He was more useful to them than their distant sons.They were just far enough away from us that we could only visit on weekends. My mother was always given to hospitality, offering coffee, tea, cookies, pie and cake. They were very special. Towards the end of their life she would forget to offer coffee, but on the day she died there was a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough in the refrigerator. Mom died at 86, having worked hard along side of dad and giving care to his 200 lb frame, caring for him and feeding him until the end of her life. Pop had dementia, he no longer knew his family. and lived to the age of 89. They both worked hard all of their lives and had received a blessed life. They were in no way slothful, but sometimes people get to where they cannot keep up their property, they were no longer able. 

There are other people who have never worked never taken care of anything. I feel sorry for these. What of spiritual applications to these verses? Have we neglected the things of God? Do we pray and read the Bible. Do we withdraw from fellowship with the family of God?  Have we started something and walked away from it? Do we have understanding? If so, we can get things as they should be, back in order.  Is our spiritual life" grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down."

As the parable of the sower of the seed, have we grown only to allow weeds and thorns, the cares of this life to choke out our faith and service to God?

Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Mat 13:23  But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 

Keep going, serving and following Jesus until we are with him forever.

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Too humble or too proud?

Joh 16:22  And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 
Joh 16:23  And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 
Joh 16:24  Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. 

We are to pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus. Sometimes I have trouble asking a person of authority for anything. Is this humility or pride? I think in our nation there is a lack of respect for authority. We like to be free, but when facing a judge we can be humbled. How many times are we offended by the performance of someone in authority. We may ask, "He does not care for my needs" and when we are forced to go to one in authority we may be fearful and humble. Criticism from a pew is easy, but what about praying for the one in authority? It is hard sometimes to submit to a rascal in authority. Can we do all in Jesus name with a clear conscience? Even Nehemiah overcame fear to approach his king at the prospect of being refused and killed. Because God was in Nehemiahs request, the king gave him authority to go rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

LORD God, Father, I ask you in the name of Jesus for mercy, for health for my family.  I ask for your love to be poured out through us for others. I receive the promise of peace and Joy in the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Victory over self

Gal 6:3  For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 
Gal 6:4  But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 

Being lifted up with pride and thinking we are better than others, seeking praise from the world, amounts to nothing. We are to find our work to do and with a clear conscience serve the LORD and we are to exalt him in our work for him.

Gal 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 
Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. 

If we do well, we will be rewarded by the LORD. Seek to do good to others, especially those of faith who need encouragement or help. A clear conscience and walking in the Spirit leads us to the way of victory in Christ Jesus. Find your place in the ranks of the army of God, marching to his commands.

2Ti 2:1  Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 
2Ti 2:2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 
2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 

Where is the LORD?

Job 23:3  Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! 
Job 23:4  I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 
Job 23:5  I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. 
Job 23:6  Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me. 
Job 23:7  There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 
Job 23:8  Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 
Job 23:9  On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: 
Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 

Job in his great suffering cries out to the LORD, Oh that I knew where I might find him! Job knows in his heart that if he can make contact with the LORD that he would receive strength. Like Job, even when we do not see the LORD or feel his presence, yet he knows where we are and what we are doing. We are to continue as Job, in faith, for when he has tried you, you shall come forth as gold.

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 

Deu 4:29  But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

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The ins and outs of fasting

Mat 6:16  Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 
Mat 6:17  But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 
Mat 6:18  That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 

Fast as a drawing nearer to God in secret. This fasting is of the soul and spirit as the flesh is denied.

Mat 9:14  Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? 
Mat 9:15  And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

They needed not to fast to seek God when God was with them, walking and talking with them. They needed to see and to hear what was happening before them. Fasting should not be an outward show to others your miserable self. We are to show the fasting of God by doing what he would do in relieving the suffering of people, setting them free of the bonds of flesh and sin; to feed the hungry both food and God's word. Clothing the naked and finding them shelter. Isaiah heard from God what he required in their fasting. Church is not a half hearted exercise in religion, but fasting should be to get closer to God and to obey his will.

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 
Isa 58:2  Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. 
Isa 58:3  Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 
Isa 58:4  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 
Isa 58:5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 
Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 
Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 
Isa 58:8  Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. 
Isa 58:9  Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 
Isa 58:10  And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 
Isa 58:11  And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 
Isa 58:12  And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 
Isa 58:13  If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 
Isa 58:14  Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 

Let's get real and not play at religion. Self needs to hear and obey our Lord in a world of information overload. We are to fine tune our hearing from the LORD and to put his hands and feet to action following the words in Isaiah 58.

None Considers

Isa 57:1  The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
Isa 57:2  He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

Good friends die, loved ones suffer and no one seems to notice until they are no more. The world grows cold, angry and more unloving. The righteous, the good folks who trust the Lord go to be with him. They are at peace. The world gets worse and worse until the time of judgement at the day of the LORD. Be glad that the precious loved ones are at peace with the Lord. The Lord is our peace, we can rest at night and enjoy him; walk with him in his creation. He is with his people. Thank you Lord for your presence.