Yesterday I had an encounter with a person so bitter over Christmas, it offended her.
I shared a bit about it yesterday.
However they got to that place of hurting did not matter. They were there. So much so they would break policy and find themselves constantly on the lookout for their boss to change the music back. Continue reading God Bless You!
When I first became a believer there were a few pieces of Christianity that I grasped on. Held tight to.
For life!
They were: Continue reading Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
[amazon template=thumbnail&chan=default&asin=B005C6FG0G]The last few days have been different for me. Not sure why. But as I 
have been putting together archives and older stories, testimonies and such I have been visited with a renewed sense of purpose. Let me be clear when I say I am not sure “what it is” entirely. Part of me feels like I have been relegated to a cave. With that left on the table…
I have cited the following story and teaching because I find myself back here every now and then. [amazon template=banner easy&chan=default&asin=B008TUE3WE]
Four lepers. Years ago my friend Jack Taylor shared from this passage 2 Kings 7. It is one of those teachings that never left my mind. “Can’t stay here. Can’t go back. Must go on. Got to tell somebody.” You need to read the story. Because the church clearly cannot be impregnated with the DNA of heaven and think it can go back or stay here. Impregnation connotes growth. Growth is a precursor to birth. And birth is a new creation. Your continued growth is because you were “born from above” and have to grow. Now the bigger question upon coming on such a collection of gems and treasures. (Like the lepers, their enemies had been scattered. You have authority as Jesus did over ALL the works of the devil. The devil is not strong but he is a liar. But you my friend are seated high above principality, rulers of darkness and all wickedness. It is time you TELL SOMEBODY.
Today I want to take a moment and talk about “you can’t stay here.” Sometimes when you are “up to your butt in alligators it is hard to remember that the purpose was to drain the swamp.” Too often we are going down the paths of life and interruption appears. It does not need to be the “elephant in the room” traumatic interruption, but sometimes it is just the “shoe string” broke. But depending on your focus and thought process it can stop you dead in your tracks.
Needless to say we have an enemy, but sometimes it is just life. Your car blowing up is not an attack if you never put oil in it. Regardless, you are stuck.
But I have found that often in our lives God changes His method of communication. He might take you from dreams to the word of God. Or from the word to listening for the still small voice. And that is hard. “Is anybody out there?!?!?!”
God never changes His purpose, but I suspect other things including His way of communication may occur. Sometimes we get so caught up in what we are doing He may have to “force” us off the spot. In our “old language” we used to say that “comfortable” season was a mountaintop and now it is time for the “valley” experience. I do not believe moves on us to be uncomfortable but like having a child I think there is a dynamic of being in “one position” too long. Sometimes you may need to move. I am not saying once you were an evangelist and now you are not. But is it not possible God might want to hang out with you a little and allow for things to change or to shift? Now granted that is part of my experience and the experience of others but it may not need to be yours.
So where “can’t” you stay? How about you cannot remain a baby all your life? Or mine? How about the process of growing up is happening, “like it or not”? “Ready or not-here I come!” (Said all unborn children and the expression of God through you!) Perhaps you need to make a geographic? Perhaps the season of your job has met your needs but was but a step in the purposes of God.[amazon template=thumbnail&chan=default&asin=B005C6FG0G]
As a prophetic voice I see lots of words given and received. I also see that there are lots of “wow’s” while it is happening. But let me tell you when a word is “truth” it may mean your life is about to change. Joseph had a dream. He announced it. How many years did it take from the pit to the prison to the palace? How many coats (bearing identity) were lost in the process?
Everyone wants a great God word! I do. But in the process, you might not be able to go back. I am going to share the following story with you. Let me tell you what changed.
As “Nick at night” (Nicodemus) once asked “can a man return to his mother’s womb?” Sometimes you just can’t go back. You got to move on. That is what happened to Tina and I.
A Quandary
Like so many these days, I feel as my life is a quandary. Perplexing. I read the news. I look at the changing events across nations. I watch economies shift and slide. And in the midst of it, my natural self rebels at the changes I am forced to “go through.” Why? Because I am caught in the issues of the globe! I have watched my business change as other businesses have floundered and gone out of business. I wonder what is going on as so many do. But I trust God.
A few years ago, my wife and I were the owners of a home. Two bedrooms up and 3 converted rooms down. The home produced income. A radio station paid for a small portion for their transmitter. We thought we would be there forever. A smaller home, beautiful views.
My then, handicapped son (God has healed him from the traumatic brain injury and given him a great wife!) was living there, as were my daughter and her three children (A newborn baby was one) and my youngest daughter. Family…
And then the enemy sneaked in. A contractor had been hired to remove the underground oil tank(Required by our insurance and mortgagor.) With in twelve hours of pulling away, my lower level was flooded. Three months of doing all that I could while I waded (Yes, pun intended!) through paperwork for insurance companies, etc., while I was working 24/7 to keep the water from the $50,000 transmitter. (In retrospect, I should have let the water destroy it. Had I let it be ruined, insurance would have had to kick in.) Finally respite came in the form of winter, drying up the water source. During the winter my wife and I gutted the destroyed living area. (Over $60,000.) That spring we had installed an inside drainage system.) We thought we had it knocked. And while we worked out of pocket waiting for insurance companies to step up to the table and did what we could, one night as I lay in bed I could not breathe. Black mold. The story goes on and on. (You can read about it at this Facebook link if you are interested.) The upshot was we lived off site for the next three years.
We devoted a lot of time and energy to this property. We never received a dime of insurance and spent all our savings trying to recover. We are in a a financial crunch as the result of it. 4 years later we still own the property, are trying to negotiate a way through with the bank, and may or may not lose it.
Why share a story like that? Because God is still Lord over our lives. He has not changed, was not surprised nor worried. And neither should we be.
Paul tells us in Philippians 4: 4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Only last year many lost their homes and their properties in tropical storm Irene. did I have compassion? You bet!
I am reminded of the story of David on the run. 1 Samuel 21 tells us that upon inquiry, he finds the sword of Goliath, wrapped in an ephod. Two chapters later, we see David wrapped in the ephod, while all that is stolen is restored. Sometimes we need to be reminded of a previous victory to get over the hump, the quandary we are in to see the restoration. In David’s case it was the sword that slew Goliath.
My wife and I have had some down days, even some down weeks over our nearly 20 years of marriage.
Like so many, I could list many, many more. But the Lord is faithful and worthy to be praised. That scripture from Philippians has been worth it’s weight in “gold” to me over the last 20 years.
Some of you have faced death and won. Tell someone! People need to know that the Lord is still Lord over our lives. No matter what.
Not every dream I have is a “multi-user” dream. Many of my dreams speak to me, others for individuals, a church and then there are the broad spectrum dreams that are fora lot of people.
Lately we have seen a lot of blessing. Not millions yet, but lots of $100, $500 and a few $1000 blessings headed to people. Yesterday I went to visit my oldest son, his wife and their baby before picking up my grandson Jacob to spend the Christmas week with me.
On the way home I needed to buy gas. I realized I had a choice. Buy gas in Vermont (In May they added a new gas tax.) or squeak across across the line and buy it in my home state of New Hampshire. So imagine my surprise when i was approaching the border and there was a single gas station left and I felt the nudge from the Lord, “this is the place.” Hmmmm… So, I hesitantly pulled in. I put my card in. It asked for a rewards card. I plugged that in. (I had not used it in over a year.) How amazed was I when it recorded a $.15 a gallon discount. I filled up.
The last few days I have had various dreams and a vision about the goodness of God. Continue reading A Dream Of Goodness
I think at one point everyone wants to be the favorite. In first grade because I did well with studies the teacher let me be the milk monitor for our class. Each day I would go down to a refrigerator and pull out a case of small milk cartons. The favor? I was allowed to receive 2 chocolate milks for my efforts each day. I was the favorite.
Many have tried to curry favor with another in an effort to receive goods, money, attention or something else. But what about working with God? Continue reading I Am Your Favorite
When I was young I attended a prep school that was predominantly Jewish in enrollment or so it seemed. I had lots of Jewish friends that I spent time with not only in school but outside of school. Some played in our rock band, others invited me over for feasts and gatherings and get-togethers.
I understood the Jewish culture somewhat. After leaving Connecticut I had no real contact with the Jewish community until a business I had brought me once again into relationships with them. Not long after that I found my relationship with Christ. Immediately, through our first church I had a number of Jewish believers I fellowshipped with. Again, I was pulled into their culture and what the Jewish follower believed. It was through this I began to understand the scriptures of Old Testament. I studied feasts, customs and more. Continue reading Equal Footing – The Blessing Of Your Children
Yesterday my friend Mark brought a woman up who had received a check, unexpectedly in the mail for something from 10 years previously. She testified. One of the things Mark said to the body was that we need to rejoice when others get blessed. Yes it is a biblical principal, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” But there is something about getting excited with someone who is excited. Why pray for healing in others if you are not going to be excited when they get it? I find the more we get excited for others the more we see it happen.
In my book on decrees, I talk about decrees over properties, families and friends. The perspective (At the right hand of the throne of God.) is important to us. When we see just how good it can be or how good it is, we are watching the joy of the Father. What parent would be unhappy to see blessing in a child’s life? If you are upset about it, let me just simply say, “you are shortsighted and selfish.” You need to change your mind about it.
I just read of a parent who lost her son last night. I do not know all the details, but I do know that she does not deserve some of the cutting remarks that I have seen posted. Weep with those of them who are weeping.
I find many find it easier to weep and comfort someone (Maybe it is “thank God this is not me!”) than it is to rejoice with someone who just got a blessing. I would say it is time to change that.
The word rejoice in Romans 12:15 means this:
1) to rejoice, be glad
2) to rejoice exceedingly
3) to be well, thrive
4) in salutations, hail!
5) at the beginning of letters: to give one greeting, salute
Rejoice exceedingly.
I found this in the book of Maccabbees. It said they “rejoiced” exceedingly at the success of others. EXCEEDINGLY. Get excited about another’s success. About their prosperity or healing. Do not be like the older brother who was disheartened and dismayed at his brother’s homecoming party. Be excited when the body is blessed, for it is a blessing to you!
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