Remember the word given to Saul? Namely this, that he would would be changed into another man and would be numbered among the prophets. There was however with Saul an uncertainty that left him timid and restrained from doing God’s will. With all of us, God seeks to do a new thing, but the timid of spirit can’t see it–its view is clouded by all the baggage. Get it! God says ‘you will be endued with mighty power and with the mind to receive what I would do on your behalf; you will be changed by a heart touched by my love and declare My word to men.’ The word says as much in 2 Timothy 1:7 when it says, ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity but one of power and love and sound judgement.’ Samuel declared of the Lord’s chosen, ‘see there is none like him in all the land’. The New Testament says we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood and yet we too easily miss His mighty acts because we all too often dwell with the timid and not the humble. Saul’s royal life was haunted by that timid spirit, and he never got rid of the baggage he was hiding behind. Timidity will keep you in “Yourself” while humility will take you beyond yourself to behold what God will do just because He said so. Humility will give you a front row seat to God’s glory, but timidity leaves you blocked off with a very realistic view of yourself and no faith to see beyond the strength of your own hand. I recently found myself frustrated and angry because I could not change a particular situation that I was facing. God revealed my frustration was borne of a timid spirit causing me a place of grief instead of seeing the way of victory. The timid never go past the frustration, but continue with a passive approach that leaves them disappointed and missing the full plan of God. He showed my need to dwell with the broken not the timid. In that moment of anxiety God revealed this: the timid fail to see His move because of many reasons all driven by fear, but the broken humbly take a seat of rest by a window of recovery to behold what God says and moreover what He would do. Saul became King, but failed to possess all God had intended because he was slave to his own thinking. It left him angry and disappointed not full–timid but not broken. And the end of his life was spent still trying to change the situation by His own methods missing God by a half a step. What about you…want to be angry for the way things are turning out? The timid spirit will keep you there–mad but unable to really do anything about it. That is why it is so frustrating because there is really nothing “you” can do there behind all that baggage hiding from God’s favor. God says, ‘why don’t you look to the word that I’ve given to you as sons?’ ‘I have not given you a spirit of fear and slavery, but I give a Spirit of love so your heart becomes mine. I give a Spirit of power–an unction moving your life from uncertainty to possess the things I have said on your behalf, because son, there is to be none like you, so that I might declare my life through yours. I have given you a Spirit of discipline to think with sound judgement so you can work my plan not your own with the unlimited ability of my resources to accomplish the word I will send before you. I offer you today sound judgment enabling you to think like sons not slaves. Today, which will you be?’ He further says, ‘kindle afresh the gift of God by the Spirit I have given to you, which is powerfully appointed to enable you to focus and to act as sons.’
Category: Impression
Change My Heart O God
There is a instance in the dialogue between the prophet Samuel and the newly appointed King Saul concerning what would be for the Lord’s chosen vessel. Samuel said, ‘The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightly and you shall prophecy, and you shall be changed into another man. The word states in 1 Samuel 10:9, after being told he must wait, ‘God changed Saul’s heart in one day’. The point is that in one instant God with one thought, one word can powerfully change your heart to His. The question for you today as was always with Saul is this; will you serve God under His distinct annointing which can loose your tongue and change your life? Today I am impressioned with the simple little song which says, “Change my heart O God, make more like you….” So great is His influence He can change your heart today! A friend recently shared a letter written by Corrie Ten Boom in which she declares strength for every believer in these days by saying each must find their own Pentecost and be endued with power for what comes on the whole world. Will you get yourself still before the Lord today and let Him inspire and create in you a clean heart filling your life with His power and purpose? You are His Ambassador–but only with the changes He can make in your heart–today!
A Tale of Two Trains
I received a vision of a train–one bound for nowhere, the other for glory. From the station they appear to run along parallel tracks; one however, merely circles the city while the other moves swiftly and westerly out from all that looks like progress through a valley and then on to a mountain summit. It is really a picture of faith. Take for example the story of Abraham and Lot. One wanted the city, the other took the heights. Abraham, if you will, took the outbound train for glory by faith to believe God that glory was in moving out and taking possession rather that circling that which he could never fully possess. Scores of believers are literally being taken for a ride on the inside track. It is a ride of deceptive influence where the enemy is the “Thief Conductor”. He makes his passengers comfortable and happy and there are many stops along the way. All the lively excitement enriches the senses, but leads the spirit of man nowhere and for no cause greater than self. In Mark 8:17 Jesus asks His disciples, ‘do you have a dull and insensible heart?’ Repentance will be the mark of true believers in these last days–sin however, will keep you with an inflated view of the obvious missing the discerning influence of the Glory Train–its riders are under the influence of faith because they are hearing a word made more clear as they have a seat by the window with a view of the God inspired not the man-made. Riders of this outbound train have taken the seat of faith for a ride that would seem less certain in its destination, yet the word of the Conductor has a settling effect as they move away from the familiar to experience a revelation God himself could only reveal. David Wilkerson has said, many have knowledge, but no revelation of Jesus. One train deludes, the other reveals. Which train will you ride? One is content only with knowledge, but never finds repentance from circular things. The other is a train of trust where passengers ride because God says, ‘I have greater things for you, and your confession of My Lordship will be your release to board’. Do you find yourself on the inside tracks going round again? You know your are on the wrong train being taken for a ride when God shows you something, but it serves you little benefit. It means you have a thief for a conductor. Truth is, as believers we have all spent far too much time riding the inside rails and not the outbound train. God says don’t be foolish; get off at the next stop and make the connection for the Glory Train. There is one leaving from a stop very near where you live….
The House of God
Someone recently confessed they were presently walking through a fog, but in spite of deep hurts they were choosing to trust God. They went on to say, “When life doesn’t seem fair, the Word can give answers man cannot give and when you commune with God moment by moment you learn to hear His voice alone, even amongst the noise.” I have a question for you. Are you hearing God “amongst the noise”? Isaiah declares those who come to minister to the Lord find the house God chooses to live in. Jesus said in Luke 19:46; “My house shall be called a house of prayer”. Did you stop to think that God lives in a place of prayer. In a place where men would call on His name for refuge and strength. David says in Psalm 61:1-2, “Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint.” Are you about to faint on some things? Prayer is the address to God’s house. David’s prayer is not just any prayer; no, it is a cry–a prayer of desperation. He is saying, ‘Lord I am at the end of it all about to faint and I desperately need you to lead me to a higher plane of thinking–there on the solid place where you dwell. In Genesis 35, God tells Jacob to go to the house of God and live there, but doing that would require removing some things that were unwelcome in God’s presence. In Isaiah 57, God rebukes those disobedient children who had been so influenced by an idolatrous culture they had failed to understand God’s silence and their own subtile rebellion. His word came then as it does now to shake men from their numbness to understand only those who find a refuge in Him will have an inheritance. God says, ‘My house is a house of prayer and I dwell in a place of refuge and deliverance.’ In Psalm 32 David declares, ‘God You are my hiding place’. Colossians 3:1-3; reminds every believer to stand because our life is hidden with Christ. Simply put, life is found in a hidden place there in the presence of Christ when we stand and find His refuge. As I recall, the storm didn’t stop for the disciples, just because Peter chose to get out of the boat and come to Jesus. But there was clearly a place with Peter where the storm couldn’t touch him. This storm may have fogged you in, but you have God’s address, and He is refuge from the storm. There is a sanctuary in the inner place of God’s house and a song being sung by a heavenly choir. Can you hear it? God says I want you to hear it…Psalm 32:7, “You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.” If you understand the song it is more like a shout because living in the refuge of Christ produces victory–because He has already overcome and there in God’s House He lives and prays for you…