This is what I'm talking about...

In the Forgotten God book and DVD, Francis Chan contends that we’ve ignored the Spirit for far too long, and that without Him, we operate in our own strength, only accomplishing human-sized results. It’s time for the beloved church of Jesus Christ to reverse the trend of neglect. Let’s pursue the Spirit-filled life of effectiveness God desires and we desire.

Captivated

God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

River fountains splash joy, cooling God's city,
this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
but Earth does anything he says.

Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
"Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything."

Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

Psalms 46

The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Take a long loving look at me, your High God...

The strength you seek for your day, your life, this moment... is in that look.

Your God is who He says He is. Who does God say that He is?

Your God can do what He says He can do. What does God say that He can and will do?

Hold your Bible in your hands. You hold in your hands the infallible, sacred and protected written Word of the Almighty God.

All day, every day we are all bombarded with news of wars and rumors of wars, failed governments and leaders of men who have gone back on their promises. Where do you take your counsel? Where do you find your refuge?

Whose voice are you listening to? What has the focus of your attention?

God is calling to you now...

"Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything."

When God joins you in devotions...

Sometimes you just know that God has joined you, even anticipated morning devotions with you. Music on to set the mood - "random song" His Grace is Enough. Holy Spirit prompts, "Read Ephesians 1"



Ephesians 1:7-8 "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us."

Before I sat down to do devotions today I had a magnified view of my own inadequacies. In my heart I talked with the Lord about how much I needed His guidance and direction. I spoke to Him of how I desired to acknowledge Him in all my ways so that He would direct my paths...that He would lead me in the paths of righteousness for His Name Sake.

So when I turned on the music and sat down to read at the Holy Spirit's prompting I realized that God had joined me in my devotions with Him, speaking so clearly and lovingly to my heart of how sufficient and all powerful was his grace which he LAVISHED on me.

‎"Study diligently on this one...because we can't afford to be wrong on this issue.

‎"Study diligently on this one...because we can't afford to be wrong on this issue." Powerful words spoken by Francis Chan in his preview video for his upcoming book on Erasing Hell, as he discusses the importance of the doctrine of hell, and why at this crucial moment of ecclesiastical history Christianity can't afford to get it wrong.

The essential message of this video captivated my heart, spoke to my spirit. The Word of Truth is too important to ignore. We hold in our hands the very Word of God and many of us go days without even bothering to pick it up. It's not just the doctrine of hell that carries this importance. Our relationship with God is of primary important, we cannot afford to treat it lightly. God is full of mercy but we cannot afford to ignore our fellowship with Him.

As I study the scripture to discover how to "live redeemed" every day of my life, my spirit tunes in the call of God for fellowship. The story of Enoch caught my attention. His story is short and to the point. The only thing other than his lineage - who he was the son of and who his children were - the only thing we know about this man is that he had such a walk with God that God enjoyed Enoch so much He took Enoch home without the experience of death.

The only thing God chose to reveal to us about Enoch is that He (God) enjoyed fellowship with this man.

By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:5-6 NKV

The scripture says this of Enoch ..."before he was taken he had this as his testimony, that he pleased God." and then the author of Hebrews explains only faith qualifies one to please God. Further this faith consists in believing that God is - he exists - and that He (God) is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. True faith is active. In Genesis 5:24 when it says that Enoch walked with God, commentators say that this is a common phrase in Eastern countries denoting constant and familiar intercourse. God took pleasure in Enoch because Enoch was diligent about seeking Him (God). Enoch had constant and familiar intercourse with God.

The whole purpose of the Gospel - the power of the Gospel - is the message of how God went to great lengths to restore our fellowship with Him. Not only is our fellowship restored in salvation by the Blood of Jesus Christ, but we are invited to come boldly before God's Throne.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 NKJ

We are invited to come in our time of need - not when we "have it all together."

Someone once gave me a brochure that was something about spending "Seven minutes a day with God". I think the point of the author was to encourage the reader to spend time with God - even if it is "only seven minutes a day" with God.

Seriously? That's all we can give is seven minutes a day to share fellowship with the answer and provision to our every need?

If we understood the revelation of who God is and how passionately He desires fellowship with us - those who have been created in his image - we would order our entire day around spending time in His presence.

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalms 16:11 NKV

What are we waiting for?

Praying always with all prayer...in the Spirit - Engaging in Spiritual Warfare

To most effectively rise as one who may learn to penetrate the darkness in prayer or ministry, let "Christ in you" infuse you with the Holy Spirit of one who being born into the bloodline of the Lamb of God, chooses to learn and live as one of His flock. It is these who are invited to "reign in life" now.

That is what we were "born again" to receive, to inherit and to live in. It is exciting and laden with blessing and joy....(this) requires a life that is based in "the basics" of prayer, the Word, and a growing faith. (page 30)

I pulled a package out of the mailbox, more substantial than the rest, it has to be a book. Ah, I love books. What did you bring me today, Father?

As I pulled the book from it's wrapping, my eyes focused on the title, "Penetrating the Darkness: Discovering the Power of the Cross Against Unseen Evil" by Jack Hayford with Rebecca Hayford Bauer.

The opening lines of this blog post come from this book. I respect Pastor Jack Hayford as a man of prayer, not given to sensational ministry, just a presenter of the good solid Word of God. I knew this book would be good.

As I write this post, I am only a few chapters into this book - the text already "glowing" with my fluorescent highlighter and notes written in the margins of nearly every page. There is no mistake that this book is in my hands. Reading it the message comes through as though it were a battle assignment from the King of King Himself.

This book a training manual on effective prayer for the believer who seeks to make a difference in their own life and in the lives of the people they love. The scripture says that "the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16). One person CAN defeat the darkness - our prayers loose God's power - the same power that raised Christ from the dead, which dwells in us (Romans 8:11) - loosed into our own lives, the life of our spouse, our children, our pastor, youth pastor, our community, our world...Not only are we called to do this as believers, scripture equips us for effective battle.

Scripture tells us we are in a battle, lays out our armor as well as the rules for engagement. Ephesians 6:17-18 details our armor and calls us to "pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit". This directive does not sound like a last resort. "Well, all we can do is pray." Prayer is where effective warfare begins.

In the first two chapters, Pastor Hayford lays out the rules of engagement in this spiritual warfare as well as present the concept that the war is being waged between to kingdoms. The message of the Cross bestows on each of us a believers, a kingdom (Luke 22:29). The power and the presence of this Kingdom is the entry of God's will and rule - penetrating the kingdom of darkness.

The message of The Faith Project, as I seek to define and expound the five statements of faith:

1. God is who He says He is
2. God can do what He says He can do
3. I am who God says I am
4. I can do all things through Christ
5. The Word of God is ALIVE and active in Me

These statements of faith describe kingdom living - I can expect all of this as a citizen of the Kingdom of His Dear Son.

Faith begins where the will of God is known. The Bible is the written will of God. Effective prayer employs faith in the Living Word of God and expects God to act according to His Word.

In chapter three, which I will devote another blog post to, Pastor Hayford explores four areas that can successfully shape daily devotional prayer, which should be basic to every believer's faith walk. This is an important foundation for every believer, especially one that desires to employ the power of the Living God in every are of their life.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. I Peter 3:12

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. I John 5:14-15 NIV

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Penetrating the Darkness: Discovering the Power of the Cross Against Unseen Evil By Jack Hayford Spiritual warfare is raging across the globe. How can we defeat the enemy? Encouraging you to stand firm in hope and light, Hayford lays out the strategies he's learned for overcoming evil. Discover how to develop powerful devotional habits, practice intercession, plead the blood of Christ, understand the correct use of binding and loosing, and more. 208 pages, softcover from Chosen.

A Place for Weakness: Preparing Yourself for Suffering

This topic fits sweetly in my pursuit to Walk by Faith. Jesus tells his disciples in John 16:33

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

I found an invitation in my email inbox from Elizabeth DeBarros, of Finding the Motherlode blog to join her and other readers in an online book discussion for Michael S. Horton's book, "A Place for Weakness: Preparing Yourself for Suffering". I love reading Elizabeth's blog posts. The title and the exercise in discussing this topic online intrigued me.

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A Place for Weakness: Preparing Yourself for Suffering By Michael Horton / Zondervan In a world of hype, where more and more Christians are buying into the idea that, through Jesus, they'll be healthier, wealthier, and wiser, where do they turn when they become ill, or depressed, or bankrupt? In A Place for Weakness, award-winning author, magazine editor, and radio talk-show host Michael Horton exposes the pop culture that sells Jesus like a product for health and happiness, reminding CHristians that their lives often lead to difficult routes they must follow by faith. As a child, Horton would run up the down escalator, trying to beat it to the top. Christians, he notes, sometimes seek God the same way, believing they can climb to him under their own steam. This book offers a series of powerful readings that demonstrate how, through every type of earthly difficulty, God keeps his promises from Scripture and works all things together for good. Formerly titled Too Good to Be True.

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Funny, I can relate to this description, as a grown woman I tried to run up a down escalator because there was a very long line of people on the up escalator - I nearly killed myself. Oh, I made it to the top and saw my vision start to go black just as the security guard put her hand up preventing me from stepping from the moving top step to solid ground, telling me never to do that again. Michael Horton is right, that story is a great analogy for how many Christians life life under their own steam rather than seek for the wisdom of God's Word.

I am just coming out of a very dark season of my life. In a manner of speaking I felt hunkered down in a war torn bunker with my Bible and a candle - not sure if the light from the Bible was brighter than the candle. On this side of things I still don't know how I made it except God, Himself, carried me. He sweetly reminds me how we (he and I) prepared for this season. He as the gentle instructor guiding me through lessons where I learned of His faithfulness, how and where to find strength in His Word.

In "A Place for Weakness: Preparing Yourself for Suffering" there is a quote in the first chapter, I'm reading it on my Kindle - so sorry I can't tell you what page - that speaks to this...speaks to the whole premise of The Faith Project:

Understanding who God is, who we are, and God's ways in creation, providence and redemption - at least as much as Scripture reveals to us - is to the trials of life what the preparing for the LSAT is to the practice of law. Theology is the most serious business. Preparing for this exam is not just a head game or a prerequisite for a temporal vocation, but it's a matter of life and death. It is about our heavenly vocation and its implications for each day here and now. It's about living, and dying, well.

I discovered in this recent time of trial that studying God's Word like my life depended on it was more than a metaphor - my life literally depends on knowing who God is, who I am and putting the living Word of God into action in my life.

The experience of suffering itself does not make us experts on the subject. Golfing more will not correct one's bad swing; only training can do that. And so we need to learn from God's Word how to meet trials, apart from which more tough times will only tend to reinforce what we already believe, whether it's good or bad theology.

Without the trials that life in a fallen world presents, faith is not really roused to grab hold of the promises of God, or the God of his promises (paraphrase on a quote from Horton). I don't believe the trials come from God to teach us - we live in a fallen world - they will come, but because God knows they will come He lovingly seeks to prepare us to overcome.

I am enjoying the discussion of this book that continues over at Finding the Mother-lode. Grab your copy of the book and join us.

A Place for Weakness: Preparing Yourself for Suffering By Michael Horton / Zondervan

If you are a visitor from Elizabeth's blog, please contribute to the conversation as a comment here. If you have a blog post in the discussion I will do the same for you.

Who Am I? Who are You?

I just love this excerpt that I read over on Don Miller's Blog where he writes his thoughts which, I think, eventually go into his books. Please go read the full post to capture the full measure of the story.

Made in the image of God, able to speak something into nothing, able to create solutions to the worlds problems, we stammer about in disbelief, waiting for somebody else to take responsibility for our lives and for the lives we have been given to care for. We are all creators, but too many reject the God-given right to create and instead become consumers, hiding in the safety of some government, some corporation, some self-help philosophy to take care of us. And so why should we be surprised when we turn around and somebody is sitting in our chair, dictating how our marriage will go, how our career will go, whether or not we can have peace with our neighbors? We shouldn’t be surprised. We handed them our authority.

Until I did Beth Moore's Believing God Bible Study I didn't give much of a thought to seeking my own identity as God defines me. When Beth declared with confidence, "I am who God says I am!" At first I thought, "ME TOO!" and then I thought, "Who does God say I am?"

The Faith Project is about this journey to discover God and myself as God defines us both. The discovery is thrilling! Like a country girl in New York City my eyes are wide open and my jaw dropped at the amazing discoveries I never knew were here all along.

Discovery this good cannot be kept to myself. Join me in this Faith Project.

Do you know who you are?

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Believing God: Leader Kit DVD By Lifeway Based on Isaiah 43:10, Believing God: Experiencing a Fresh Explosion of Faith explores what it means to believe God. Through studying the lives of Abraham, Moses, and others from Hebrews 11 as examples of persons who believed in God, Beth encourages women to deepen their own trust in God and receive a fresh word from Him. Join Beth for 10 life-changing weeks and learn to believe God! This Leader Kit includes ten video sessions on six DVDs, a Leader Guide, and one Member book.