Monday, April 30, 2007

Lena Journals to Luke 17 Today

…“When you obey me you should say We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty…”
Have we done our duty to God and to men? What is duty? It is what is due. Why is it due us? God is the One who set up the world and its Divine order. We were created for His plan. Those created for His plan must find themselves within it. It is who they are created to be and what they were created to do. Those created to do the plan will give an account to the planner for the plan. That is their “duty” to do so and hopefully they will give a good account, rather than one that is lacking willful duty.
Jesus summed up the importance of priority with God, the way of the order of the Created beings inside of the earth realm – This is the priorital order the summary of the “work order”: Love God with everything you are, and then love people that same way. This helps us in realizing we are here to reflect and reciprocate what was given us so freely.
It is a privilege to be alive unto God and alive in a certain timeframe on the earth. There is purpose to fulfill in our time here. The main purpose is to know Him and to make Him known, that others may also know Him as well.
There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! I have seen this time and time again and feel so sad when we see people care more for themselves and self justify when someone reveals to them that whatever it is they are doing is tempting someone else.
Let me give an example. Say within a church youth group there is a girl who is dressing immodestly. Someone who is in the group or sees the group, may say to them, it would be helpful to the rest of the youth, if you would consider dressing more modestly when you come to youth group. (This suggestion will also help people and change your image outside of youth group, but this is where it is suggested). If the person hearing the suggestion is self centered and immature, they may get offended that someone is trying to tell them what to wear, rather than listening to the suggestion, considering the possibility of temptation they may be bringing into the group. Yet this scripture says – if you offend someone, woe to you! You could be causing an inward struggle in someone who is weak. Self justification (which wars against God) may say to you, “Oh brother, they just need to get a life, they are obviously just weak and need to get stronger, maybe if they consider me immodest, my immodest dressing is a test for them to get stronger!”
One person cares only for self, the other cares for the needs of others (to be a helper to get them through temptation and tests and come out stronger) Self justification would be fine if your life is only between you and God, but God clearly said, it was not good for man (mankind) to be alone, so I’ll make a helper compatible to Him. Even single people were sent a Helper by God, that is the Holy Spirit, who convicts us of such ideals from God’s standard, which is His Word, and gives us a different angle to view in situations than we’d have on our own.
So, being our lives are not our own, and we were put here by God to help one another grow, and we were sent by God to see what others don’t see, why would we stay to our own opinions and self justify not considering the weaknesses of others? Self justification somehow excludes and excuses ourselves to do whatever we set a personal standard to do or not do.
When we said we were believers, Christians, the standard of living instantly changed. It changed from being a standard like that of the world, and one that we made up for ourselves, and we yielded to a redefinition of standards according to His word. Yes this standard of conduct is not set in stone, but is rather subject to the weakness and strengths of the people we are around. Where are they strong and how can I further strengthen and encourage them? Where are they weak and how can I help them grow up, rather than tear them down more?
Here’s a great article, to help give a greater perspective even on this specific area (modesty and helping others) http://www.crosswalk.com/11537027/
I believe a way of the increase of faith is to obey. Obedience to the Lord increases trust, reliance and faith. In the first part of this passage alone there are several points to obey.
1 - don’t be a tempter (in any area of sin, you may be strong and can handle it, but how do you know who the enemy sets someone else up to watch you as an example to the flock, and how do you know if they can handle what you can as well as you can or not? Don’t be selfish, be selfless and give any things up with any evil appearances, just because you love God and others enough to do it. Sacrifice shows love!)
2 - If someone is doing this and you see it, tell them. Not in a condemning manner, but because you love them and who they may offend with their strengths. You want them and the person they offend to be able to give a good account before God someday. Today would be a good day to give a good account of loving Him and His people!
3 - forgive people, even if they offend over and over again.
4 - Increase your faith – read and study the word of God and pray in the spirit and obey God by practicing obedience
5 - Serve others even when you are tired and overworked, do it anyway with a great attitude!
These 5 opportunities to obey God today were given in just the first 10 verses!
How often do you lay down your pride and cry out for God to have mercy on you or on others?
How often do you go give an account to a spiritual leader? Showing you are accountable without being asked to be accountable?
When was the last time you didn’t go to a church service or Bible Study group and you called ahead to let the leader know where you were so they wouldn’t have to think about your situation or worry, and you did it joyfully just to show your face an accountable one?
Many of us, as we’d engage in this type of living would be made whole of what is ailing us, seriously, we’d be further covered spiritually inside of intimate relationships.
How many give thanks to God and to leaders for who they are, how they care for and pray for us, and what they do in life, answering the call of God and giving God a good account for us?
An attitude of Gratitude increases the value of everything! 1 of 10 healed lepers gave thanks well. That man was restored in body, soul and spirit! The others had remnants of the past on their bodies to struggle with.
This is kingdom of God living. When it comes, is when we bring it in with obedience and thankfulness and servitude. It can come to your house today, if you bring it in. It’s when Jesus is made alive by a people who love Him by being as He was/is, by changing into His image and likeness, here today.
I could be impatient and angered by every small thing, or I could exemplify Christ and be as He is I wherever I am now. If I chose to be as He is by the strength and power of the Holy Spirit, I have caused His kingdom to live in and through me, so to my family and my workplace the kingdom has come!
The kingdom comes to those who bring it in. It won’t be a day change a circumstance or a people change, it is an inward work, the work of the hearts of men being made into the image of God! It’s a ME change.
Even when Jesus was here the disciples expected Him to overthrow Herod, sit down on the literal throne and rule Israel. He did not do it that way and when He did it the way He did it, the people, the Jews, even the believers and followers of Christ, though He’d missed it, thought it’d come later on. When He told them it was finished, they were perplexed, just like we are today, when a teacher says God already did what He’s gonna do, or I say the kingdom has come to some your mind does not understand. The Kingdom of God is NOT a natural kingdom, it is a spiritual kingdom which must be seen spiritually and lived on the inside first that it can manifest on the outward world I live in. Inside first is kingdom of God priority order. We don’t yet se it, because we don’t yet do it and be it and live it! It will only happen from the inside out!
The kingdom of God comes to me and my house when I allow it, when I yield to it, when I exemplify it, when it is truly important enough to me to live that way instead of the way I choose to today. When I give up my own agenda and pick up His way of being and doing. I’m the only dam holding back the water of the floods of His spirit-nature from being free to reign in me and in my house.
A flood like this, a flood of people who yield to God altogether, a flood of people who decide to think the same and go after the same pursuits, will move other destructive forces out. This kind of flood will rage war on whatever stands in its way. It will also annihilate enemy and fleshly powers, just as Noah’s flood wiped out humanity and created beings, this flood of the work of God’s spirit alive in humans who yield will destroy spiritual resistances.

Luke 17 Today's Daily Bread

Teachings about Forgiveness and Faith
1 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! 2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. 3 So watch yourselves!
“If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. 4 Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”

6 The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!

7 “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? 8 No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ 9 And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. 10 In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”

Ten Healed of Leprosy
11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13 crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” 16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”

The Coming of the Kingdom
20 One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”
Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. 21 You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.”

22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns, but you won’t see it. 23 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man,’ or ‘Here he is,’ but don’t go out and follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man comes. 25 But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation.

26 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 27 In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.

28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home. 32 Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! 33 If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. 34 That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”

37 “Where will this happen, Lord?” the disciples asked.

Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Lena Journals to Genesis 7

“When everything was ready….” Ready, meaning prepared.
“The Lord has gone to prepare a place for us; Prepare ye THE WAY of The LORD….”
“Prepare” has lots of meanings, some are….
to be firm, be stable, be established, to be set up, be fixed, to be firmly established, be secure, be enduring, to be fixed, be securely determined, to be directed aright, be fixed aright, be steadfast (moral sense), to prepare, be ready, to be prepared, be arranged, be settled, to establish, set up, accomplish, do, make firm , to fix, make ready, provide, provide for, furnish, to direct toward (moral sense), to arrange, order, to constitute, make, to be restored, to fashion, aim (as in towards a target), consider, counted, formed, made preparations for, get yourself ready, made provision for…
WOW, huh?
How is one prepared for the circumstances of life? They submit their lives to truth and to walking in it’s ways willingly being shown direction of the word of God and of others who teach and preach it.
After you have prepared a safe place, you’ve made that place ready, and even you yourself are found to be a safe place, then, at that time, when the place is a trustworthy and a sure and dependable place, invite others to come in also, load ‘em up! Bring your family in and ride upon the circumstances of life! Stay there until the circumstances change, and live that way in the midst of circumstances!
Be a part of building an ark, Be in the ark, be the ark!
When I say “Ark”, think about something that carries and houses the presence of the Lord. Something that values its worth and is privileged to responsibly carry God inside each and every day. A place that is protected and guarded and is holy, kept pure because its value is esteemed as so great that there’s nothing of greater worth in life. The most important thing is guarding His presence, in us personally, in our homes, and in our churches and communities!
What are we doing personally to protect our spiritually alive inner man, who has God living inside of us?
How are we protecting our families from having their faith stolen, or being flooded out with worry and cares that steal it away?
What about our churches, and our attendance and participation there, are we on guard of it and do we treasure it enough to not allow other things to sweep us away from learning and growing in the word? Or do we so easily allow other things to tell us how important they are, as if they are more important than Christ alive in us?
What are we doing to take that protected word we have, and what we have given our families in living color and whatever we’ve established and learned to make with our church body, into our communities?
It’s all about rising above whatever it is around us that may hinder carrying the precious presence of the King of Kings and then guarding His kingdom in us.
That does not just happen all on its own.
It took Noah about a year or so to build an ark for his family to go into. He had to make preparations and it cost Him to do so. He had to decide to and follow through with it. He had to live differently, for the cause set before HIM. We cannot just expect everything to fall into place without any effort. When one decides what is truly important, that person must prove it is important with his lifestyle choices. Noah couldn’t say building an ark was important to him and then go do another pursuit. If it was important to him, then he spent time on it, money on it, got help to do it and set up guards to keep thieves from stealing it away from him.
Noah did everything the Lord commanded Him to do.
Just as God commanded him to do.
It rained and rained and rained (the circumstances in life did not get better, they got tons worse, and Noah and his family were fine, and safe, and rose above all else).
We’ve lived under a deception within our Christian faith. The deception is, if we walk with and receive the Lord, then all of life is supposed to get good, be great, etc. Then if it isn’t, there’s a deception out there that tries to tell us we are not loved as much as the next guy who doesn’t have as many circumstances to deal with in his life! It speaks something like this – “Ya know if God really loved you, you’d not be swimming in this sea at all , everything would be peachy keen”.
I want to offer something to you today.
Did you build a boat, when He said to?
He does love you so He told you ahead of time to build a boat. It went something like this…. “Pastor from the pulpit gives you daily scriptures to read at home, encourages you politely to set up devotion times each and everyday…” God through your leaders, asks you to commit to a Bible Study group and make the meetings a priority in your life. He tells you through the Bible Study Group, how to trust and rely on Him more and more and how to reprioritize in life so that you truly value the kingdom of God first and build it more than you do your own kingdom on earth. He shows you by godly suggestions about how other things could try to take your time energy or resources away. Then He says take what you learn at church and apply it to your own personal life.
THIS IS the building of your boat. He loves you enough to tell you everything ahead, you just may have taken what was said as an option and a mere sweetly motivated suggestion instead of taking it as a valuable thing to spend yours and your families lives on.
He loves you enough to tell you where to get the stuff and how to make an ark, if you don’t listen or don’t treasure the words enough, you may be out in the rain rather than in the boat, now you are wet and then you have to swim. Maybe the water level will rise so high you’ll have to float or tread water, it could be you’d drown in a while, for all land mass is covered with circumstances…but that doesn’t mean God does not love you.
Do you understand this?
You are in the circumstances, but not made to be of them.
They are all around you like torrents of water, moving everything in their pathway, but your pathway is a pathway of peace! You are floating on the surface of very deep waters. THIS is your destiny!
Floating above, with your family in the house of the Lord!
You prepared for this ahead of time, because you chose to love Him back and show it by obeying Him in all subtle suggestions. That humble attitude paid off in this day! Wow you are glad in heart, living no regrets, floating….
You built a boat, brought your family in and are floating in a boat with provision on the waters that have covered the earth and have destroyed everything else around except you and yours!
You listened, obeyed and did, the words of the Lord, wow!

Genesis 7

The Flood Covers the Earth
1 When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous. 2 Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. 3 Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood. 4 Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”
5 So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.

6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. 7 He went on board the boat to escape the flood—he and his wife and his sons and their wives. 8 With them were all the various kinds of animals—those approved for eating and for sacrifice and those that were not—along with all the birds and the small animals that scurry along the ground. 9 They entered the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10 After seven days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth.

11 When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. 12 The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.

13 That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and their wives. 14 With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal—domestic and wild, large and small—along with birds of every kind. 15 Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. 16 A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

17 For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18 As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. 19 Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, 20 rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks. 21 All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people. 22 Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died. 23 God wiped out every living thing on the earth—people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky. All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat. 24 And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Lena Journals Today to Genesis 6

STOP Right THERE!
Most would ask, what was so bad about sons taking for themselves any wife they wanted? Hey, at least they weren’t living in sin, right? It depends. It depends on whose standard we are comparing ourselves to.
God has a standard for all the earth and whether man changes his own personal standard to align with it or not. God’s standard, the way He set up the revolving of the earth, which He governs, remains. It is the ruler that each man will stand before God for both now and in eternity. THAT standard does not change, just as gravity or seasons, days and nights, do not change. This is where we get, “He is the same yesterday, today and forever.”
Now we all know culture changes the level man feels comfortable living within God’s standard in changes. Culture has taken us further and further from God’s ideal for humans. The question is, will you personally allow that measure to change? Do you move towards the worlds definitions of standard or God’s definition?
So now, let’s go back to the 2nd verse of Genesis 6. God set up a standard for relationships, especially long term ones, such as marriage. Being he knows all about us, our personality, our dispositions, our ultimate life decisions, etc. Who should we depend upon to choose our mate for us? Who should we rely on to is there to help us know a standard to compare mate choosing with?
As soon as this was said, “the men chose for themselves”, it then states in vs. 3 that His Spirit will not always put up with people!
????
Were they choosing for the successful perpetuation of spiritual generations or for temporary and natural desire?
What does man tend even our day and culture to choose where relationships are concerned? Does he ordinarily choose after the flesh nature or the spirit nature?
If he does choose after the spirit nature, it seems he has to wage a war in his body and soul, and then be willing to fight for a standard and to keep it.
This is exactly what God is looking for in relationships, just as He is looking for this within our relationship with Him. He is looking for the same qualities within marital relationships.
What qualities are these?
Qualities such as what we value is also what is of worth to us. What is worth to us we will tend more to and keep as precious.
Is the person you “love” valuable enough to you to treat them as a brother or sister first and to preserve their value and physical offering to the relationship until marriage with one person for all earth life?
Will you lay down your own desires regularly for their good, and are you willing to change for and with them? Are you flexible and correctable, especially where the revealed standard of God’s word is concerned? Are you humble or are you a contester and always stand for your own rights?
The Lord is looking for people of the same mind as He is of. This is why He says, “the two shall become one”. Let’s ask, Which one?
Just as He is, but together being a picture of that continual reflection of His will and plan in the earth, for all of the days that the two of them live as one Him, are alive. They are all after exemplifying who He is as much as they know, and then seeking to find out more of what they don’t yet know of Him, so who He is is more visible to generations who will continually do the same as shown by human example.
Why would this say, “God will not always put up with men?” It is speaking of flesh natured desires and decisions man make and end up living the consequences of.
God gives each of us a time to be on earth to show forth and exemplify His will. To execute His plans and teach others who will live after us to do the same. If man is given chance after chance to do this and he won’t yield to it, he doesn’t need to stay here as long as he could’ve if he’d have yielded to that purpose for this IS his design, and his purpose for this life. This is it!
Purpose preserves earth life.
Giants? Yep Giants (Nephalites), the work of man’s own hand, mans own ways. Consequences manifested. Man did this, messed with God’s design and is living the results of his own flesh natured ways, rather than obeying God by faith, man has obeyed himself. This produces a BIG GIANT mess, that man now gets to live with the product of. In fact God will require the men who mess with the plan and mix it with their own lusts to eat those giants and overcome them, annihilating their presence from off of the earth.
Man may cry out- “God help me, save me”. God will give him the supernatural ability when he cries out, but he won’t do it for the man, man needs to do the work of annihilation and see that producing what is all spirit life is what God has in mind for him. Mixing one’s human spirit with the life of God will bring forth an eternal design on earth and eternal model to display.
God gave men imagination. God gave men ideas which He intends for man to use. It’s just because of sins’ influence man needs a tutor and a governor to make sure the ideas are of God and to be pursued and reproduced. This is why we need a multitude of godly council and to seek after wisdom, especially with what we’ll be made one with.
I think a lot about God feeling sorrow. I think of it as I think about and prepare to teach others to please God. Those who love Him will obey and please Him. Doesn’t it hurt your heart to think God would be sorrowful over His creation?
Doesn’t it cause something in you to decide to live righteously and stand upright in Christ?
Noah, a righteous man of faith pleased God, God saved him and his whole house over his righteousness, because he valued his relationship with God and others so much to live as God’s standard deemed even when all others around him would not. Worldly peer pressure is NOT the standard. It isn’t. It is not worth giving in to, ever. There is no eternal value in it.
One must place themselves in a place of eternal safety and security and live this way for the generations after them. It is not easy in our world to choose life, but Jesus told us we are in the world (to save the world and give them the hope of Him), but we are NOT of it! That is worth going after and keeping.
You do know the contest is about keeping the faith?
Please know this. In every situation in all of life this is always the bottom line. Of how much value is your eternal security and present relationship with God and His Word? Is it important enough for you to live in such a way that you stick out like a sore thumb where the world’s standard of living is concerned? Enough to go all into becoming one with a group of people within your own personal community and to become one in agreeing with people you could easily disagree with to the saving of their and your own souls? Are you willing not only to gather with some, but to assemble and become one Him with them regularly with a wholehearted commitment?
If why, then why?
If why not, ask why not.
Be honest and change, if necessary. Work hard to build a place on earth the world can run into and find refuge, whenever they need it (which they do). You can’t be that place alone, it takes a spiritual family to be that for any people.
Your own personal ark will only hold you. That’s not big enough! In joining the desired work of God in Christ within a body, we find favor with the Lord.
Anytime we lay down our own ways for His we have favor with the Lord.
Are we walking in close fellowship with God?
To the extent that you have grown or are growing up with the intent of helping father others in this same type of faith?

Genesis 6 Today

A World Gone Wrong
1 Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. 2 The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”
4 In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.
5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the LORD said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” 8 But Noah found favor with the LORD.
The Story of Noah
9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God. 10 Noah was the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. 12 God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. 13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!
14 “Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. 15 Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.
17 “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. 18 But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 19 Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. 20 Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. 21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”
22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Lena Journals to Ezekiel 34 Today

Shepherding is spiritual fathering, it is being made into and becoming and taking the responsibility of the nurturer of an eternal soul.
Of males or any other who has been put in the position or assumes the position of household head, I’ve heard that this is their position as leaders of families. They are a Priest first.
The Priest takes the people he tends and he goes into the presence of His Leader-Father being in proper alignment and in good relationship with his Father-Leader. He keeps the door of welcome open there, for he has the concern of others to present there regularly. That place where his Father-Leader is , is the only place for answers to life true problems which all stem from spiritual roots systems. If he thinks to go for help and the relational door of entry to his Father-Leader is closed, that means his responsibility is unfulfilled.
Therefore he spends much of who he is staying in right relationship with his own spiritual Father, that he himself would have the inquiry and impartation of a son-father, which is who he must become, this is positionally who he (or they) are called to be, intercessors before God for others) God did that on purpose! If he is not already in good standing, he can be and if he realizes he’s responsible to be, he can make the necessary changes and go for it!
As Priest he has a breastplate on. On that breastplate, are the jewels of his life, the jewels of his Father’s life that have been entrusted to him. They are who make him a father, even though he is a son (of his own Father-Leader). He has the treasures, the eternal jewels on his heart continually, he wears them faithfully, they are his responsibility (God has given them to him with a mission and he is able through God’s lead to respond to this call for the spiritual keeping of their souls). He takes them into the throne with him whenever he approaches. He knows their needs, he is in tune with who they are and even who they are called to become, through Christ. Through the intercession for them, he brings about in the spirit, what was already planned or them by God. He finds out God’s plans and agrees with God’s plans, and prays God’s plans for His family-Flock to bring them into manifest form for those he’s set to help.
As a priest, he sees enemies from a far off, and he wards them off in spiritual warfare, before they can even get to his Family-Flock. He sees things potentially hazardous to his Family-Flock’s souls and in the spirit, takes care of them before the Family Flock even encounters them. When they get older, he at least warns them, telling them these are coming their way and tells and shows them what to do to have success over their enemies.
He is also a Prophet, because God will give the Priest instructions as he inquires well, and he’ll have to make it palatable to the flock he’s gathered and herds together. He has another responsibility before His Leader-Father, and that is to give them the words God gave Him for them. He may not be able to give it as straight as he saw it. He may have to chew it up as a mother bird would, for whatever stage his children are at, or spouse is at, etc. As he tells the Family-Flock God’s words to them specifically, he encourages them in the journey they are set to continue on.
It’d be kind of like, he goes to Map Quest and does the search for the directions, then when he gets the directions he writes them down, with the instructions given him, he gets everyone in the car and begins to show them by taking them the way the Map Quest said to go.
He gives the directions the Lord gave him for his flock. He takes them where they need to go, from wherever they are!
As a prophet, he declares the words of His Leader-Father over his Flock! He declares the words of His Leader over their enemies. He is a mouthpiece of the release of blessings and of spiritual warfare on earth. He knows that every natural happening is spiritually inspired, everything visible started in the invisible realm. Some invisible things, such as threats should never be made visible, so he takes care of those before they manifest!
Because of who he is in this, his family - flock is safe, they have good relationships, they understand the ways of His Father-Leader too and will someday take the same stance-place he has over his own life and over the lives of others who need and desire to be led, for he has trained them well by example!
In this fine and loving example, His Family- Flock has crowned him king. His Father-Leader has said well done My faithful son. I am your Father who is well pleased.
Why so many woes to those who do not care and nurture? It is high level kingdom business, the care of souls. It is God’s number 1 concern and plan.
If a soul wanders, one who leads must ask, “Why would they ever leave this place?”
In knowing that the only way they can be safe is to stay. If they stay, they are safe, if they leave, there is no way for the Flock-Leader see their enemies, it is pretty much impossible for an intercessor to do practically speaking, not knowing where they’ve gone, which could be a different place each day according to the leading of the soul’s will, how could that assigned one keep them safe in that state? It cannot be done. The Prodigal Father could not help hault consequence, when the son was away, when he retruned home, the son came willingly under covering. To be willingly uncovered is to be in a dangerous place, spiritually speaking it is far more dangerous than naturally speaking.
So, the question must be addressed honestly, why would they feel to leave here?
A good Leader always uses this to evaluate and improve leadership, because they are humble and want a flock to stay, they want to do all they can to nurture and care. If they need to be changed as the alarms sound, they do.
Yet if the sheep is deceived, they need a watchman on the spiritual wall of their soul to stand and call forth truth, truth to come into the desire of their innermost parts. The Prodigal’s Father watched as he prayed and expected a return of his son’s soul!
If the Shepard’s were selfish and did not intercede for that specific soul before, it is a time to evaluate and repent and begin right away to pray and watch and war. Most warfare for souls is in the secret place. It must happen in the spirit so it may manifest in the natural. To humanly debate and reason is ineffective in delivering the disobedient soul. The breakthrough must occur in the unseen realm before it can be seen and reasoning does not do an inward spiritual work very effectively, only prayer does that, only Divine revelation does that.
Who is praying?
Who is asking for the souls?
Who is calling for Divine desire and revelation for the lost souls?
The Shepard’s – who have the spirit of Fathers – the responsible family leaders of the Lord are!
You can be either male or female and be a spiritual “Father”. We’re speaking of having the same loving drawing, keeping spirit of the nurturing Father, the Father of all spirits who is spiritually concerned for every man, woman, and child alive!
One may look “up” at you today and inquisitively “ask”, “Are YOU my father?”
Are you?
Do you share His heart for their souls?
Are you willing to stay in right standing and make the proper approaches to Him regularly? Staying in right relationship? We’re not speaking of religious acts, we’re speaking of genuine eternal concern.
How about intercession? Are you one who will make a stand between enemies and people? Not allowing them to get to the people at all, even if it means you possibly take the spiritual or natural blow?
Then has anyone put a crown on you yet because you live this way before them faithfully? When, if they do, bow down and hand it over to the King of Kings and Lord of lords, for that will keep you humbled and going on in this again and again, never believing you’ve arrived, until your time to father is over.

Ezekiel 34 Today's Daily Bread

The Shepherds of Israel
1 Then this message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? 3 You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. 4 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. 5 So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. 6 They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.
7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you abandoned my flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were my shepherds, you didn’t search for my sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve. 9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. 10 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey.

The Good Shepherd
11 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. 12 I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. 13 I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers and in all the places where people live. 14 Yes, I will give them good pastureland on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in pleasant places and feed in the lush pastures of the hills. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign Lord. 16 I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will feed them, yes—feed them justice!
17 “And as for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to his people: I will judge between one animal of the flock and another, separating the sheep from the goats. 18 Isn’t it enough for you to keep the best of the pastures for yourselves? Must you also trample down the rest? Isn’t it enough for you to drink clear water for yourselves? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Why must my flock eat what you have trampled down and drink water you have fouled?

20 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will surely judge between the fat sheep and the scrawny sheep. 21 For you fat sheep pushed and butted and crowded my sick and hungry flock until you scattered them to distant lands. 22 So I will rescue my flock, and they will no longer be abused. I will judge between one animal of the flock and another. 23 And I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David. He will feed them and be a shepherd to them. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among my people. I, the Lord, have spoken!

The Lord’s Covenant of Peace
25 “I will make a covenant of peace with my people and drive away the dangerous animals from the land. Then they will be able to camp safely in the wildest places and sleep in the woods without fear. 26 I will bless my people and their homes around my holy hill. And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing. 27 The orchards and fields of my people will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken their chains of slavery and rescued them from those who enslaved them, then they will know that I am the Lord. 28 They will no longer be prey for other nations, and wild animals will no longer devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will frighten them.
29 “And I will make their land famous for its crops, so my people will never again suffer from famines or the insults of foreign nations. 30 In this way, they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them. And they will know that they, the people of Israel, are my people, says the Sovereign Lord. 31 You are my flock, the sheep of my pasture. You are my people, and I am your God. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Lena's Journalin' to Psalm 65 Today

Don’t most of us expect God to be a keeper of His Word? Do we not expect God to do His word? Whatever we find that His Word says, don’t we at least have a high hope it will be kept? He even wants us to remind Him of His words and execute their power on our behalf!
One of the most awesome aspects of God is His word and the keeping of it, right?
We are created by God, and for God, and have been made in His own image and His own likeness. He has given us power in our words also. What is it we are saying about any parts of our world? Do we say what is, and what we see? Or do we say what we do not yet see? What we do not yet see is in the unseen world, a world yet to come into sight. Because we do not see it does not mean it is not there. Just because we do not see a baby does not mean the baby is not alive and developing within the mother’s womb, right? Right. This is the exact same condition of the world of faith we do not yet see.
If we get whatever we say, as though our words had creative power (and by the way, we ARE getting what we have been saying, creating the world in which we are presently living in –which could be a world of havoc- …Example: you are speaking about someone who bothers you, “Man, they always do that, no matter what I do or say they won’t ever stop bothering me, I can’t believe how unfair they are, etc, etc….) So now may I ask you, is that what you desire to be happening? Is that what kind of world we desire to live in?
When God desired a sun to shine and stars to be placed in the sky, and birds to fly in the air, He said so, even though He had not physically seen them yet. He spoke and it was so. So , IF our words are that powerful (which they are), IF we can have what we speak (which we do- even if the words stay in process time for a bit), If we get what we speak, would we not say what it is we really desire?
God is so a God of His Word. He and His Word as One, God and the Word One. He is that way and thinks that way. So whenever we speak He believes what we say, we also mean, for He does not say what He does not mean. So , if I say “I’m Born Again, I Surrender to God, I am living a new life, or I am filled with His Spirit, and I am a Christian”, then He is waiting for the proper corresponding proof to happen in the form of actions.
Do we, have we kept our words with God? Have we fulfilled our original vows to Him?
If not, why not?
The cost has been weighed out, Yes it is a high price to pay to give your whole life and every day of it to the kingdom of God, but the price not to is far greater. Ok true we did count the cost, but that doesn’t really matter for now we know it better than we did, it is now the time to pay what we owe God, a life lived for Him today and tomorrow and forever.
I was teaching a class and the lesson stated that we do not contest God for the contesting was over when we gave our hearts and lives to Him, so whenever we hear His word taught to us, expounded to us, it is not to see if the word being preached is correct and fits into our lives or to compare it with our understanding and try to conform the word to our lives to see if it’ll work for us specifically. The word works, period. It may not be at work for us, if we reason it out and won’t do it! Whenever we listen to, read or study the word, it is not to see if we agree with God or not, it is simply to learn, as a disciple would. No contest, He won, now I learn how He wants me to live, period. If I find I’m not, or have not been living that way, this is why I make an immediate adjustment. I see my old ways were contesting His ways, now that I’ve surrendered, there’s no contest, just surrender! Continual surrender, every time I find I was not doing His word now, I adjust and head towards doing it. I said that I surrendered all, not just all I desire to surrender, I said I surrender ALL.
Let’s go here again, for we can never go here often enough.
God loves you! That is over, will never ever change, ever!
You can never ever do anything to separate His love from your life, ever!
What you do or do not do in agreement with His word and His ways has everything to do with how much rain falls on what it is you work for or sow into the ground of this earth. Obedience opens windows and doors of blessing.
If we contest God, He wins. If we surrender, we win with Him!
That is pretty simple.
Want the blessing of the Lord in everything you do? Live as He is teaching you to through every avenue He’s provided for you, day in and out. Do life here His way, forget the contests. It is where the struggle lies. The flesh nature wars against the spirit nature of God. Surrender ALL to Him. Surrender ALL to His ways. Learn of Him, lay down your own ideas and pick up His dreams and become a messenger, a runner of His visions for the earth wherever you live! Dive deeply into the river of God and float on the current of no contest. Seriously, He is raining down his blessings, and those in the position of surrender receive them with whole hearts, those who do not, have not given up yet.
Go beyond reason today. Reason has warred against the blessing of God for you that will be ignited and engaged through faith!
Faith pleases God and moves you into a place where God’s blessings rain on you! Get under the rain. He made it for you, has always wanted you to live under it.

Psalm 65 Today's Daily Bread Reading

For the choir director: A song. A psalm of David.
1 What mighty praise, O God,
belongs to you in Zion.
We will fulfill our vows to you,
2 for you answer our prayers.
All of us must come to you.
3 Though we are overwhelmed by our sins,
you forgive them all.
4 What joy for those you choose to bring near,
those who live in your holy courts.
What festivities await us
inside your holy Temple.
5 You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds,
O God our savior.
You are the hope of everyone on earth,
even those who sail on distant seas.
6 You formed the mountains by your power
and armed yourself with mighty strength.
7 You quieted the raging oceans
with their pounding waves
and silenced the shouting of the nations.
8 Those who live at the ends of the earth
stand in awe of your wonders.
From where the sun rises to where it sets,
you inspire shouts of joy.

9 You take care of the earth and water it,
making it rich and fertile.
The river of God has plenty of water;
it provides a bountiful harvest of grain,
for you have ordered it so.
10 You drench the plowed ground with rain,
melting the clods and leveling the ridges.
You soften the earth with showers
and bless its abundant crops.
11 You crown the year with a bountiful harvest;
even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.
12 The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture,
and the hillsides blossom with joy.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep,
and the valleys are carpeted with grain.
They all shout and sing for joy!

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Lena Journals to James 5 Today

I believe there is a cry louder than any other in heaven or on earth. It is like the cry I’ve heard people have visions of, of the spirits of say aborted babies. It is the cry of blood, of a potential life taken.
The Lord spoke w/ Cain who slew Abel, and He said, “Abel’s blood is crying to Me from the ground!”
This cry is the same cry of the eternally lost! Those who are lost because people who say they know God, have chosen to live more for earthly security and have spent their life accumulating and caring for things, all the while their next door neighbors do not get the time of day, and their souls lie in the balance of eternal life or death with no one thinking to stop and notice.
Busy, busy, busy, too busy, with what? Eternal, heavenly pursuits or earthly, flesh satisfying pursuits?
I believe the field workers being cheated in pay could very well be those who do choose to live for the kingdom of God while on earth. They could possibly have been being overlooked. As others work for a lot of things and do not really think to contribute to those who work faithfully in the fields of eternal harvest, making it a point to contribute to the support of those who have and take more time to pursue His kingdom.
Offerings could be likened to Kingdom of God “taxes”, we give into the Kingdom “pool” so others can live! We give and allow someone who is bold and loving to go forth and bring Christ to the world. We may be one who works more at a secular job, and at work, we ourselves are a living example of Christ, but we also share in what we’ve worked for to help support what we believe in and live for by giving some of what we do to those who really are out there doing kingdom work.
Are riches “bad”, nope they are not. Are treasures of earth “bad”? Yep.
Why? The word “treasure”, means what is of the most, of the utmost value to you in life. What do you yearn for, live for, and would even die for in living so hard for? THAT is your treasure. We cannot have both earthly and heavenly treasures, it has to be either one or the other. While on earth, we can have heavenly treasures.
An example of this would be, that we treasure the heart and lives of other people. How much value have we put in the establishing and continuity of relationships with others? How much stock do we put in the true spiritual care and wellbeing of another person’s soul? How much interest do we have in other people’s spiritual growth? How much time do we spend nurturing another’s spiritual growth? Do we even think this way or care about this? This IS heavenly treasure that can be valued on earth. This is ALL God cares about. He could care less whether we make a name for ourselves and get famous or look good in our fancy cars with our fancy homes as we wear our nice clothes.
It is fine to have a fancy home, a car and nice clothes, but ask this question – “Does my value depend on this? Does it define me? Do I have to become its slave to have it? Is it what I serve?”
God wants a people willing to make a name for Him. When we bear His name, does He look good, is He magnified and glorified? Is His name above other names of importance to us? Names like prestige, clout, fame, success, or accomplishment? Is His will and what He desires us to do while we are here number 1? Is what He wants done, what I am after doing in life, this present life I now live? Do I even think to ask Him what He wants me to literally do today where kingdom of God building is concerned? Am I in tuned and keen enough to listen to Him tell me clearly that will?
Here is an example of something God could ask me to do today.
“Listen Lena, about that impatience issue, do you trust Me? I’d like for this to be your goal today, to be developed by the exercise of patient longsuffering with thankfulness and mercy. Show mercy to those who do not deserve it, today. Today I have a prescription for you to grow and be changed. I need to see you submit yourself to being changed today. I’m going to increase Myself in you today, for I so desperately need to be seen by others who are already around you as being made alive in you. Are you willing to demonstrate Me today in this way?”
So my prayer is the same as John the Baptist’s was.
“Lord, I must decrease, that You may have visible increase in me today! Thank you Lord for making me aware of the specified areas that I may display You properly, and represent You as You are, not through the flesh, but by the spirit. I’m available to show others we can overcome our flesh nature’s struggle through relying on the strength of Christ Jesus. I believe I can do all You have called me to do, and that You are allowed to do that through a human like me. Nothing at all is impossible through Your strength and power! Lord. I’m so thankful I’m being strengthened today in this area, that I may show others that they can do whatever they need to, in order to show more of Jesus alive, by a visible demonstration and a literal godly example of being able to be changed too. I pray people would see the changes and notice. I pray they’ll be affected by it.” (That’s gonna take zero effort, as people notice pretty easily any human who is willing to be changed).
Please do not religiously bypass what the Lord is saying to us through this passage today.
Be honest- all of these are not wrong to do. The questions are, about priority and being honest about the rearranging of priorities. If a balance scale is off, set it right, then weigh again, ok? That’s what a willing student, disciple and humble person does, they are open to the Lords ideas to change!
Do you ever take time for yourself? How much do you spend worrying? That is time taken for self. What about dreaming about what you wish things were, or could’ve been? That is also spending thought life on self. That is giving one’s self the luxury of spending your time and thought patterns the way you desire as though they are your own to spend the way you desire to.
Is your desire the same as His? Many believers would say yes, but we have to go deeper and consider every possible hindrance to our witness and walk.
Again be honest. This is huge. Do you do good things and ask God to bless what you have decided is good to do? Or do you follow leaders and what they say we are doing together, give that work first place before the one you yourself decided was a good work? See God’s blessing is really on what it is He has directed us to do. If we are directly in His will our steps are ordered by His blessings. God set people in churches to do a specific work together. If one goes off and does a good work for the kingdom themselves and get satisfaction in it and then when it comes time to give in to the work directed to our local body and we are too tired, we are not being led or directed, we are our own person before God, we are not submitted, flowing after anyone else’s lead or direction. The corporate work is lacking, because God set us in the body and counts on us to help do a greater work than we could ever do alone and if we are too tired for it, it lacks our strength.
Is your life centered around fellowship and worship of God with others, or is it a loner life, where you are to yourself with whatever you have accumulated feeling great contentment over having lived as you have already? Do you like being alone and doing it your way, no waves made with anyone else?
Think about it, your desire or His? Your way or His?
Can He upset that and tell you what He’d like for you to do? Today? Regularly?
At the end of a day, what are you tired from? Purposeful kingdom work and the working out of purposeful relationships or from cleaning your things and being worried, full of strife, and mowing over other concerns?
This shows what we have really treasured and what we are really spending our lives on.
What a man sows is what he reaps, in this life AND in life eternal.
Whatcha sowing that is eternal today?
Not one earthly good is of eternal value.
It is only People that ARE of great eternal value.
How much value do we place in which area? The accumulation of Goods or the building of healthy lifelong covenantal relationships with people?
If you have sowed eternal seeds call for the rain! Call for the rains to fall upon the seeds you plated, It is springtime, time for seeds in fields to grow up.

James 5 Today's Daily Bread Reading

James 5
Warning to the Rich
1 Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. 3 Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. 4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.
Patience and Endurance
7 Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. 8 You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.
9 Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door!
10 For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.
12 But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.
The Power of Prayer
13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. 14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
Restore Wandering Believers
19 My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, 20 you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Lena Journals to Hebrews 6 Today!

I have heard many, many people say something like this, “Why would a God of love condemn anyone to hell?”
Let me clarify a smidgen. God IS LOVE, He is not “a god” of love. He is Love, His ways are Love, Love IS ALL He is. Some may say, “but what He’s decided isn’t “fair”.” They are correct, at least where men count fairness, and where the world has set up a love gage that is temporary minded and temporarily defined. God is eternally mindeed and His love is eternally defined.
If we lived under the ruler of a “fair” leader ruler, then whenever we did something worthy of punishment we’d get our due, no mercy, no grace. Whatever we deserved even if it were “a mistake” would need to be charged to our account. We’d be indebted to people up to the sky and we’d owe God even more!
I’m so glad He is NOT “fair”!
As in fairness, what we as men tend to count that way is not fair at all in God’s eyes; for Love allows choice, freewill choice, and love is not love without it. We want God to save all men, no matter their freewill choices, but God IS LOVE and love chose to make humans with freewill’s, and Love will not violate that freely given will.
True love is reciprocal. If one who does not have to, wants to reciprocate love, it is true, because they did not have to, but decided to.
This is also the way of salvation. We do not have to, but we can believe in Him by freewill choice and receive Him by freewill choice and we can by freewill choice, walk in His ways and be “saved” if we want to. He did not have to die to save men, but He decided to, and did it because of love. The greatest love is shown, when I don’t have to, but I do it anyway!
The earth which belongs to the Lord, has been given men to manage for a time period, when the time period is over the remains in the state it is in will be returned back to the owner that lent the lands to whom he lent them to. The condition men have put it in will determine its outcome in that end.
The Lord is most interested in the management of relationships. The relationships with other people in the earth, and He’ll be looking to see whether men made a place for the nurturing of those relationships in the earth as a priority or not. If a man was self centered and self indulged in life that will be burned up, for it is not eternally helpful. Then again, if a man was God and God’s people centered and made changes to His own life for the sake of being a grand example to others of the ever growing love of God, that product of His life will stand throughout eternity, there is nothing to burn up in that. They’ve already been proven while on earth, their works and their character have already been submitted to the potter’s wheel and urn.
To those who give their lives now over to the development of the spiritual character found in Christ, they gain life everlasting. Those who save their own life and want to live it as full as they think it should be lived, will lose a lot eternally speaking. They may be saved, but with a very small home in glory land. All know it’s better to have a small home there with Him and in Him, than a large one in Hades!
Yet if God’s plan is for a man and his household to build kingdom works now, should not that freewill man do that as much as he can during his earth life, while he is on assignment of the Master Steward as a human being? We’ve got to understand why we are here. If we get this, we’ll lose a lot of prior struggles of how to spend our days or whatever else we struggle with. Purpose preserves life. If one knows their purpose, they live. Those who do not know their purpose perish (die eternally) in not knowing!
Our lives are to know Him and to make Him known to any and everyone who we know in life, where we already are. It always starts at home. If someone at or from our homes, does not like us, does not want a relationship with us, won’t be around us too much, we need to ask why and be wiling to be changed, for it is God’s design to know Him and become as He is; to make Him known. If the word - “Christian” is a stigma in your family, ask why? Have you been very religious, judgmental, unmerciful? Even God hates religion, for it is too pretty on the outside but does not work the righteousness of God inwardly first.
It’s time to turn the tables in our lives, let Him shine through us from the inside out! Allow the spirit of God to search us inwardly and make as many changes as are necessary to cause our family members do a double take! When they see us they feel like they are looking at a copy-Christ. They say you look like Him, you are a Christian! It’d be better to have others call us such than we call ourselves this and err.
You Do know God does not lie, ever, right? Some may ask, then why do there seem to be unfulfilled promises and prophetic words?
Do you realize many words to us from God are already accomplished on His end, and it is only on our end that this is waiting to come in line with what he has already done for us? When it does, we have connection and viola - promise fulfilled.
Many of the promises of God, have conditions, many blessings flow when conditions are met. Deut 28 one of the blessing and cursing chapters says, “I will, if you will”. This has NOTHING to do with God’s love at all, He did and does love us, but the blessings flow inside of the “I wills’”. He wills, do we?
If I decide the conditions of the promise or the blessing are not for me, that is not because God lied or deceived me. No, usually we are told right up front, of the price, cost, and condition. When we willingly satisfy our portions by faith, we activate a covenant already in force for us.
Count the cost, pay the price , even if you don’t think you can afford to, ask God for the supernatural beyond your own strength, increase of “Christ in me” to do His will.
The NT says, “I CAN DO ALL things through Christ who strengthens me”! (That means I can obey Him all I want to, I can do His will as much as I really want to, no matter how hard it may seem to me, as much as I want to. I have an allotment to be withdrawn by me through faith to do what He asks of me, I can do it as much as I want to! Through His strength I can do it all! The key is do I believe it enough to want to?).
It does not say I can do whatever I decide to do to have fun on my own apart from the wisdom of God. No, I can do all of His desire and fulfill all of His plans for my life, through His strength. He won’t ever ask us, even through leaders to do what we cannot do in His strength. We may feel weak, but He’ll make us stronger as we become more and more willing.

Hebrews 6 Today's Daily Bread

1 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. 2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.
4 For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—6 and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.
7 When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. 8 But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.
9 Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. 10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. 11 Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. 12 Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.
God’s Promises Bring Hope
13 For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:
14 “I will certainly bless you,
and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”
15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.
16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. 17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. 18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Matthew 5 Today

One day as the crowds were gathering, Jesus went up the mountainside with his disciples and sat down to teach them. 2 This is what he taught them:
3 "God blesses those who realize their need for him, F29 for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are gentle and lowly, for the whole earth will belong to them. 6 God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will receive it in full. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. 9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. 10 God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 "God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.
13 "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 You are the light of the world ? like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. 15 Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
17 "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them. 18 I assure you, until heaven and earth disappear, even the smallest detail of God's law will remain until its purpose is achieved. 19 So if you break the smallest commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God's laws and teaches them will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 20 "But I warn you ? unless you obey God better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees do, you can't enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all!
21 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Do not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.' F30 22 But I say, if you are angry with someone, F31 you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, F32 you are in danger of being brought before the high council. And if you curse someone, F33 you are in danger of the fires of hell. 23 "So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. 25 Come to terms quickly with your enemy before it is too late and you are dragged into court, handed over to an officer, and thrown in jail. 26 I assure you that you won't be free again until you have paid the last penny.
27 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Do not commit adultery.' F34 28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye ? even if it is your good eye F35 ? causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your hand ? even if it is your stronger hand F36 ? causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 31 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a letter of divorce.' F37 32 But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33 "Again, you have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Do not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' F38 34 But I say, don't make any vows! If you say, 'By heaven!' it is a sacred vow because heaven is God's throne. 35 And if you say, 'By the earth!' it is a sacred vow because the earth is his footstool. And don't swear, 'By Jerusalem!' for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. 36 Don't even swear, 'By my head!' for you can't turn one hair white or black. 37 Just say a simple, 'Yes, I will,' or 'No, I won't.' Your word is enough. To strengthen your promise with a vow shows that something is wrong. F39
38 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'If an eye is injured, injure the eye of the person who did it. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the person who did it.' F40 39 But I say, don't resist an evil person! If you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other, too. 40 If you are ordered to court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. 41 If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, F41 carry it two miles. 42 Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow.
43 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Love your neighbor' F42 and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! F43 Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too. 46 If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, F44 how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
FOOTNOTES:
F29: Greek the poor in spirit.
F30: Exod 20:13; Deut 5:17.
F31: Some manuscripts add without cause.
F32: Greek uses an Aramaic term of contempt: If you say to your brother, `Raca.'
F33: Greek if you say, `You fool.'
F34: Exod 20:14; Deut 5:18.
F35: Greek your right eye.
F36: Greek your right hand.
F37: Deut 24:1.
F38: Num 30:2.
F39: Or Anything beyond this is from the evil one.
F40: Greek `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' Exod 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21.
F41: Greek milion [4,854 feet or 1,478 meters].
F42: Lev 19:18.
F43: Some manuscripts add Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.
F44: Greek your brothers.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Lena Journals to Zechariah 10 Today

Latter rain is a term unfamiliar to us except in the word of God. What is this? It is one of the important rains farmers depend upon in harvest, The former or first rain is for the watering of the seeds planted, the latter or last rain of harvest is for the crops to mature in growth before harvesting the crops.
A definition here could for explanation sake say, ~ the Lord, it is He who will do a marvelous work, a supernatural feat, one you can only expect through faith in Him. Where natural rain is concerned, all one can do as a farmer is to hope and pray that the proper rains in the proper times will come, then wait for it. They hope that, that which was planted would come to fruition, would mature in the field, but it is always God, who is the Only One to depend upon for the fruit in the field coming to full maturity, It is He who will bring what is needed to make it happen, as if fashioning it just for you to have food set on your table to eat, enough to feed each other, enough to abound in feeding others!
That’s how Good His harvest will be when He is believed in by faith and hopeful expectation to send His supernatural rain.
Those who only hope in their own strength will get what they work for and all of the possibilities of destruction along the way. Human strength fails and is unsure and unsteady; undependable; subject to the elements and the patterns of the world. Those who put their trust in God can reply on Him for what they cannot expect otherwise.
One’s who are self dependant, self strengthened, these really follow nobody. They may feel they lead their own lives well, but in God’s ways they are leaderless, Shepard less. They are still sheep, who need leading, but they are led wrongly if they do not follow Shepard’s.
So what if from childhood, you had no leader and were never taught to be led? Now that you are of the age of understanding and are seeking God’s word, you can see you were led wrongly in how you were raised. Come on into the sheepfold, find a Shepard and follow Him yourself, because you decide to. Your parents or grandparents may have taught you in error, but to continue in error is up to you. You are older and wiser now, Go into the fold, find pasture, find safety, find rest for your soul. The past error is between your parents and God, your grandparents and God, maybe someday as they see you in the fold, they will desire and learn to come under the mercy of God also. Forgive and pray for them as you do what you must do before God. Time for blame to cease, no one now is causing you to be uncommitted, unsubmitted except you. Submission is a decision the one who submits makes or does not make.
Those who submit self, come into the flock, God will arrive on that scene and cover them in this day of trouble, in the day of battle, in their battles He will arise as victor. Victor of the flocked ones! He will train our hands to war properly (not ever with people personally, but with principalities and powers that war against inner souls), He will cause His sheep to arise as warriors! No longer, mere sheep, though they had to start that way, so He’d know He could use them into His battles as faithful committed and useful ones.
Just because you were raised a certain way, does not mean the generations after you have to be raised up that same way. Maybe you were abandoned, that does not mean you abandon, you are a victor. Maybe your parents were addicted to worldly powers and pulls, that does not mean you or your children have to be, you can follow whoever you decide to, you can be led by the spirit if you want to, and so can your seed. You are a Victor! You came under submission willingly and on purpose, no one made you, you decided differently, to have a Shepard where no none else in your line did, you made this correct decision, You are a victor!
Because you are in the field the rain of maturity will fall on you. You were once a seed, now you are wheat, next you’ll be bread too! You’ll be on someone’s table in who knows where. It could be a nation that you do not yet know. You’ve allowed the power of His will and His word to be at work in you. You are fruit of His vine. A fruitful vine in a pleasant field. He is well pleased with you and will bless the new generations you will lead by your awe inspiring example. Everything has changed where your name is concerned; you were once unloved, unlovely, and are now loved, in the beloved, and lovely!
Your future is not dependant upon your past, it is dependant upon your decisions to be in the fold and in the pasture today!
If and when you ever encounter any enemies of the past, you will face them so differently now, for you are not who you were at all! You are a Victor! Victorious in Him. You wear and bear a new name, a perpetual generational name, you belong to God.

Zechariah 10 Today

Zechariah 10
1 Ask the LORD for rain in the spring, and he will give it. It is the LORD who makes storm clouds that drop showers of rain so that every field becomes a lush pasture. 2 Household gods give false advice, fortune-tellers predict only lies, and interpreters of dreams pronounce comfortless falsehoods. So my people are wandering like lost sheep, without a shepherd to protect and guide them. 3 "My anger burns against your shepherds, and I will punish these leaders. F38 For the LORD Almighty has arrived to look after his flock of Judah; he will make them strong and glorious, like a proud warhorse in battle. 4 From Judah will come the cornerstone, the tent peg, the battle bow, and all the rulers.
5 They will be like mighty warriors in battle, trampling their enemies in the mud under their feet. Since the LORD is with them as they fight, they will overthrow even the horsemen of the enemy. 6 "I will strengthen Judah and save Israel F39 ; I will reestablish them because I love them. It will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the LORD their God, who will hear their cries. 7 The people of Israel F40 will become like mighty warriors, and their hearts will be happy as if by wine. Their children, too, will see it all and be glad; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD. 8 When I whistle to them, they will come running, for I have redeemed them. From the few that are left, their population will grow again to its former size. 9 Though I have scattered them like seeds among the nations, still they will remember me in distant lands. With their children, they will survive and come home again to Israel. 10 I will bring them back from Egypt and Assyria and resettle them in Gilead and Lebanon. There won't be enough room for them all! 11 They will pass safely through the sea of distress, F41 for the waves of the sea will be held back. And the waters of the Nile will become dry. The pride of Assyria will be crushed, and the rule of Egypt will end. 12 I will make my people strong in my power, and they will go wherever they wish by my authority. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
FOOTNOTES:
F38: Or these male goats.
F39: Hebrew save the house of Joseph.
F40: Hebrew of Ephraim.
F41: Or the sea of Egypt, referring to the Red Sea.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Lena' Journals to Joel 2 Today

What is an alarm exactly? A warning of a happening, which could be of great importance to the protection or preservation of life.
We have health books , first aid books, etc., that tell us of the alarms of the human body. There are book’s that tell us that symptoms of illness are alarm systems to the physical man, something to take notice of, a threat of possible importance to the life of the human flesh. These books give suggestions for health and recovery from the ailments described as alarms to the body. The person with the ailment will weigh the suggestions out and see if they feel they can take the course of action described to preserve or protect their physical life from the threats of death in either long or short form.
The word of God is the Book of Eternal, Spiritual life. Its prescriptions are all about our spiritual eternal life, the “suggestions” or rather commands within it, are from God. Yes there are alarms, some which would effect physical life right now, but all are about eternal life later on. Don’t be fooled by the evil twister of God’s word to think what you’ve read is only speaking about your life on earth now, and if you can just get through to forever, you’ll be alright and will have escaped peril.
One huge question the Father has been addressing His church with for years is, “Are you a part, a functioning, working part of My army?”
An army is assembled faithfully and on purpose, with purpose. Their life is not their own and they do not act on their own behalf according to their own comforts, etc. They are giving their lives daily for the cause. They do not dress in the clothes of their own choosing, they do not sleep when they decide, they do not live where they choose, they go wherever they are assigned and show up for their assignment whenever the commanders tell them to. Their schedule is not their own. They are unified under one commander who is saying the same thing to everyone who is with them. They move as one man inside of their regiment. No one even speaks their ideas of how they thought or think it should be done, they don’t one individually go this way, and one individually go that way unless the one over them says to go separate ways. They are committed even unto death, they are under command. They are in covenant.
It is about the possibility of shedding their blood for a purpose greater than what they see today, They live this way because they believe in the vision. It does not matter if they see the whole picture, if they follow to obey one who does, they are doing their part, their portion, and that is all they are called to see and do. What they do affects people 100’s and 1000’s of years beyond their own lives.
This is what soldiers are like.
This is who soldiers are.
They choose to join, or they are recruited. Yes if recruited, drafted, they can go AWAL, but if a soldier, this is their meat and their drink, to do His will, why would they leave it. If they left it, it would be leaving them.
How can any one man, doing whatever he does in life, make the sound of an army, the sound of victory alone? How can he accomplish the huge will of God doing a small ministry he sees is good? No man is good alone, only God is good, His plans are what one is here to live for. Yes He did give us talents and all the earth for us to enjoy, all is to be partaken of within the assembly with others who also come not to do their own wills, but His being done in and through the corporate assembly of them.
A mighty army can do what one man can never do alone.
One of the first tactics of the enemy of God and of His people is to separate out, to tell one they are not needed and to do what they want is more important than to assemble and to be a part of what others are telling them to do. He does this, whispers this in ears, so he can be more effective and God’s people less effective. Anytime the enemy or any voice sounding like any voice in our heads tries to tell us to do our own thing, to just stay home and rest, to not listen. It may say something like, “Those people at church, they don’t know what they are talking about you know better than they do about your own life and what you can fit in”, etc, etc. Shut that voice up! It has come to separate you and to capture you and to steal away your soul and minimize the effective work of God in the earth where we all, as one, join together with companies of believers and run swiftly to defeat evil’s visible work on earth, before our time is up here and we go to heaven.
So repentance is in order. What is it God’s people, not sinners, but God’s people, are repenting of? Sin, unbelief, no commitment, independent living, selfishness, distrust, lustful living, and unloving actions that are not according to vision and not eternally centered, but have been self centered and self serving in nature.
Ya know, even natural, physical, and mental illnesses can be a part of the eternal alarm system. Mental torment is a part of the eternal alarm systems. If one is ailing either physically or mentally, there is a reason. That is actually set up by God as an alarm system to humanity. Usually the root system is sin somewhere. One has to be willing to see that, and judge that, and repent of whichever behaviors listed above have given curses a runway to land on in our lives.
The enemy has no right to a Christian or power over a Christian, unless that Christian allows him take that right back through disobedience, or by ignorantly giving an invitation there may be an entry somewhere.
What God calls sin is what the believer needs to begin to define as sin, also. This is what discipleship is all about, learning what God calls sin, to go ahead and call sin, what God calls obedience, obedience. This is actually what the root word for “Confession” is, “to say as God has said”.
Until the believer agrees with God, the alarms will continue to go off. When one tries to bring his self relief from earth’s pains without agreeing with God on root issues, and allowing the supernatural help of God to come through repentant living, it would be like taking a pill to ease some pain, the pain is partly eased alright, but the disease is not cured or healed. Can’t we all relate to that? We all can relate to that and that is why I’m explaining it this way. This is the way of the kingdom.
God wants us healthy, in fact He paid the eternal price that we could be healthy if we want to be by changing and beginning to learn of and call sin what God does, that it may be personally defeated and disallowed in our lives.
Just because He paid for our health, does not mean we’ve withdrawn this from our heavenly bank accounts. We must enter the account numbers on a withdrawal ticket and sign on the dotted line. We’ve also got to go to the bank. The funds for this life are there, if we never go and do the transaction the promises due us, the things he deposited for us, are not in our hands.
If one ends up on a continual course of pain management or meds that do not seem to work anymore and if they go to physician after physician and are not helped these are final alarms sounding loudly stating, “Your times are and have been in your own hands for too long. Now is the time to call on heaven’s accounts for you, give up, give in. healing belongs to the righteous, those made right through the shedding of His blood, the only thing in the way, barring the door of the heavenly are things like this - Sin, unbelief, no commitment, independent living, selfishness, distrust, lustful living, and unloving actions that are not according to vision and not eternally centered, but have been self centered and self serving in nature. It is high time to break the chains off of the doors! Your Father owns the bank! Listen what is in there is yours! You’ve got to get in. The way was made, now forsake the ways of the chains, break free in His power and take what is yours!” It is up to you, and what you decide is not just for you, it goes WAYYYY beyond you to generations after you.
Do you know every week there is a call for assembly of the people of God? When we take this lightly and assemble only when it is convenient, God and others cannot count on us to add to the strength of His army and to accomplish the plans He’s set to do in accordance to the size of our specific locality. I believe He gives congregations of peoples assignments as army commanders would. He has plans He desires to do with this specific people. He is waiting to do it, and each specified plan takes so many people. When that many people show, then He does it through them. If I don’t come we won’t do His will together. You may do a part of His will for you personally at home or in the community, but we won’t do His will as an assembled army.
Those who do engage, do have provision. The guy on AWAL has to find a way to make his own way. He has to find and walk on his own path. He even has to find and make his own food, from the day he leaves, but if he returns and is able to be in good standing once again, form the day he returns, provision is there for him personally and inside of the assembly of troops.
If I were a troop lacking the strength of one of my men, I’d be glad that he returned. The engagement, the commitment, the actions of faith, the assembly is what God is so waiting for us to have together. In that the supernatural strength we need to do His will is there.
It’s like building a building or assembling a car. It’s really nice when the tires show up, but if the headlights or the engine doesn’t we have parts, but no car, In a building if we have the wood or bricks or paint or windows, we have parts but no livable structure. When all come, when all assemble together, a work is done and a life can partake of the use of this design, a family can drive this car to wherever or a family will live together and learn and have a home to express hospitality and the love of God in. How do you know if you are a “house” or a “car”? You may start to see who you are individually and feel special when you find out you are a working or functioning part. You may have never seen you were tiles on a rooftop or a gas pedal on a car. Now when you see that, stay and wait for your part and your place, without your part the assembly is not whole or functioning properly.

Joel 2 Today

Locusts Invade like an Army
1 Sound the alarm in Jerusalem!
Raise the battle cry on my holy mountain!
Let everyone tremble in fear
because the day of the Lord is upon us.
2 It is a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of thick clouds and deep blackness.
Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains,
a great and mighty army appears.
Nothing like it has been seen before
or will ever be seen again.
3 Fire burns in front of them,
and flames follow after them.
Ahead of them the land lies
as beautiful as the Garden of Eden.
Behind them is nothing but desolation;
not one thing escapes.
4 They look like horses;
they charge forward like warhorses.
5 Look at them as they leap along the mountaintops.
Listen to the noise they make—like the rumbling of chariots,
like the roar of fire sweeping across a field of stubble,
or like a mighty army moving into battle.

6 Fear grips all the people;
every face grows pale with terror.
7 The attackers march like warriors
and scale city walls like soldiers.
Straight forward they march,
never breaking rank.
8 They never jostle each other;
each moves in exactly the right position.
They break through defenses
without missing a step.
9 They swarm over the city
and run along its walls.
They enter all the houses,
climbing like thieves through the windows.
10 The earth quakes as they advance,
and the heavens tremble.
The sun and moon grow dark,
and the stars no longer shine.

11 The Lord is at the head of the column.
He leads them with a shout.
This is his mighty army,
and they follow his orders.
The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing.
Who can possibly survive?

A Call to Repentance
12 That is why the Lord says,
“Turn to me now, while there is time.
Give me your hearts.
Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,
but tear your hearts instead.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He is eager to relent and not punish.
14 Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve,
sending you a blessing instead of this curse.
Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine
to the Lord your God as before.
15 Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!
Announce a time of fasting;
call the people together
for a solemn meeting.
16 Gather all the people—
the elders, the children, and even the babies.
Call the bridegroom from his quarters
and the bride from her private room.
17 Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence,
stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.
Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!
Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.
Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say,
‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”

The Lord’s Promise of Restoration
18 Then the Lord will pity his people
and jealously guard the honor of his land.
19 The Lord will reply,
“Look! I am sending you grain and new wine and olive oil,
enough to satisfy your needs.
You will no longer be an object of mockery
among the surrounding nations.
20 I will drive away these armies from the north.
I will send them into the parched wastelands.
Those in the front will be driven into the Dead Sea,
and those at the rear into the Mediterranean.
The stench of their rotting bodies will rise over the land.”
Surely the Lord has done great things!
21 Don’t be afraid, my people.
Be glad now and rejoice,
for the Lord has done great things.
22 Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field,
for the wilderness pastures will soon be green.
The trees will again be filled with fruit;
fig trees and grapevines will be loaded down once more.
23 Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem!
Rejoice in the Lord your God!
For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness.
Once more the autumn rains will come,
as well as the rains of spring.
24 The threshing floors will again be piled high with grain,
and the presses will overflow with new wine and olive oil.

25 The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost
to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts,
the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.
It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.
26 Once again you will have all the food you want,
and you will praise the Lord your God,
who does these miracles for you.
Never again will my people be disgraced.
27 Then you will know that I am among my people Israel,
that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.
Never again will my people be disgraced.

The Lord’s Promise of His Spirit
28 “Then, after doing all those things,
I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on servants—men and women alike.
30 And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth—
blood and fire and columns of smoke.
31 The sun will become dark,
and the moon will turn blood red
before that great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.
32 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved,
for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape,
just as the Lord has said.
These will be among the survivors
whom the Lord has called.