Take A Child

When people ask me about my family, I am excited. (Probably because I realize God is excited about His family!)I am excited not just for the love and the affection shown, but especially the little ones. They are not hardened by life lived religiously or life from the world. There is an innocence. But, my favorite is my walks of discovery with them.

I know it takes 15 minutes if I am walking alone to get somewhere. But if I take any grandchild it will either take longer or we will cover less ground because of their curiosity. They will pick up every rock, bug or leaf to find out more about it.

They are getting revelation. They are learning. The difficulty is building on the revelation and stopping the “next” thought process. (Have you ever taken a child to one thing and no sooner is it done than they are on to “next”? Now part of it is excitement and part of it is hanging out, but some of it is not crystallizing the information just received. “How can you use this” is a great question.)

And like a child, God reveals in similar fashion to us. He will show us a nuance of scripture. And we are like “wow! Great! What else do you have?” Why is He showing you in the first place? A while ago, Randall Worley said in a meeting with us, “I know you have heard this before. Have you asked yourself why you need to hear it again?”

A lot of people have a lot of revelation. But then you look at how they live life. I am not talking about the circumstance or situation you did not create, but I would ask you what are you doing with “what” you have been handed in the circumstance. Is it changing your life?

I have come to the conclusion that a lot of what is revealed to us is not for the “good time” but for the time of challenge and difficulty we encounter. To see that we overcome, that we rise above.

Revelation is what is revealed. Evaluate it. A revelation is like being on a treasure hunt and finding something valuable. But do not move on, because if there is one, there may well be another connected to it. Sometimes you will have to get down on the ground and study the earth. “Why is this here?” You may have to dig a little deeper. “Is there more?” But be careful of the “next” mentality.

I share that because the next piece I received at 3AM.

Rest, Relax And Rule

Rest-Too often we are working so hard at doing something, that we miss the very essence of being with Him. Rest. That place where we come to and we know that we have “entered in”. To enter His rest, is not a place of inactivity, because one must “labor” to get there, but it ought to be the place we devote energy to getting to. Too much energy is expended too often on the things that do not get us there. Like the Hebrew children walking around the desert, because they did not mix their faith with the promise to enter in. (Yesterday’s column talked a lot about this.)

So, those are the two things needed…faith and a promise. One you know and the other you will need to implement.

I can tell you what rest is not. A place of urgency or religious endeavor that just keeps you on the treadmill.

Relax-I will say this again and again. Relax! Too many are captive to a day and not relaxed. Enslaved by a circumstance and not able to relax. The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy One. Not 1/3rd here or 2/3rds there. It is the whole thing. If He gave you the Holy Ghost He gave you the whole enchilada. Righteousness, peace and joy.

Rule-Rare is the king who runs around to rule. And since we serve the King, and we are called “kings and priests” we need to get this. We are called to rule. To take dominion over circumstance or disease.

Is the King running around the kingdom? Is He without rest? Is He without peace? Is He worried?

If our lives are not measuring up to this, we need to ask why. Why do we have so much revelation and education and yet have not stopped sickness or disease? Why do so many rely on doctors and hospitals, or turn to psychology, tranquilizers, anti-anxiety and sleep aids? Why are we living as the tail and not the head?

Immaturity is not sin, but our Father is raising us up to be kings and priests, mature Sons of God! It requires change. If we do not have peace or joy, it is time to get serious about what is “rest”. (It is not a place of inactivity, but a place of strength and influence.)

Let us avoid the “next” mentality on this issue and examine our surroundings. Why is this treasure here? What else is here? Is there more? How can I use this? Will it change my life? Why do I need this? Even “is this you God?”

Let us take revelation and see it as more than just something cool to put in our pocket.

I often think of George Washington Carver. A man who was born a slave. Kidnapped, restored, realized. He took his faith (In later life talking about racial harmony.)in God and changed the world. He encouraged the planting of peanuts to restore the fields from the cotton planting. He then took a lowly peanut and developed over 300 uses. (One was used during the polio epidemic.)He never married.

He took a revelation and overcame with it. He understood his place of rest and relaxed in it. He did amazing things from a place of rest and influence. He ruled over his metron. He took dominion.

That revelation in our pocket? Let’s take it out and do something with it!