The Valley of Deliverance

The anointing God gives is powerfully useful to advance His kingdom. It becomes however, a matter of vision and focus to properly use what God gives. I think of men like Samson who with the strength God gave, delivered a nation, until he became focused on his own pleasure and his strength failed. When men choose to look away from God, their faith becomes paralyzed by fear. In the book of Samuel, David stands as a picture of faith and focus. He becomes God’s tool to set the record straight for us there in a valley between two mountains of influence. David stands against that Goliath in your life that has continued to degrade your faith and usefulness to God’s kingdom. Have you misused your freedom in Christ because you were looking the other way? Your wayward look has brought you under a yoke of fear and bondage keeping you from advancing where God would have you go. No war was ever won with decisive victory by talking the enemy to death. No sir, victory will requires decisive action. It’s the obedience factor to the word which we hear. God wants to use us, but not until fear is gone and the enemy is silenced. In some real sense our Christianity has become too much a product of our culture. Our reality based TV shows have influenced ‘real life‘ for too many believers. It’s like everyone is in the same pot of water and it is beginning to boil watching the same images that promote real-life moral decay in a society that says they are ok with everything while standing for nothing. Everyone is drinking out of the same bottle and it has made them drunk with the wine of immorality; time is past for passivity and not speaking up. It is time for God’s people to act and to move with Him. Where the enemy taunts, God calls to action. The questions are these: Will you be caught looking with the masses the other way, or will you recognize the anointing God has bestowed on you? Will you move with God to behold the situation that lies before you with the eyes of faith and focus? Will you expose the enemy’s lies to you–about you–sent to defeat God‘s purpose in you–so that you fail to possess that inheritance He’s given you? I believe God wants to bring you to a valley; it is a valley of decision, it’s a valley of deliverance. The valley is to address your passivity and blindness. In 1 Samuel 17, David represents here a type of Christ, sent to deliver a nation because he was not afraid to enter the fray. Unafraid to move forward there in the valley of decision–in the valley where forces collide. There is a valley in your life of two opposing forces, one of God and the other contrary to His will and His way. In that valley there is a very real enemy who taunts and scoffs at the things of God and at those who find themselves on His side, however timid they might be. He calls out to you; He taunts in this very hour. The word says, ‘Goliath, the champion came out to Israel and taunted God’s army’. Goliath, the word says was over nine feet tall. He was big, just not as big as the lie he and everyone else had believed, but David would not be part of that culture of fear. He had come from outside that culture–from the sheepfolds and a place where he had witnessed God’s ability to deliver from death. You see the enemy is a champion of fear; he champions fear by telling lies that he will prevail and not you. He looks to cast aspersions on your character and ability by telling you, ‘you’re not mature enough, not big or strong enough’. All of those things being what they are, still he underestimates the greatness of your God when you stand in the window of opportunity and say what God says. The word says, David ‘ran quickly to the battle line’ and took decisive action because the time for talking had past, and the need for swift action had come. Deliberate action in faith gets God’s attention and His favor, so that you do not act alone. His awesome power will move with you, bringing you to see victory and the prevailing word of God that will bring all those around you under the influence of His word and power. When you move in faith through your Goliath, you create a testimony God then uses to publish His fame in a way like you could never imagine. Your single act of obedience creates a single spark…but driven by a great wind that spreads the power of His name like wildfire. David in his youthful zeal would serve at God’s pleasure to tell a story of timeless influence proving, if but one thing, that God needs little more that your readiness to be His instrument. You see, man has a fame that awards himself, but God rewards and uses those who lay self aside–there on the battle line of His reputation to call forth glory in the face of the foolish. Are you listening to the Enemy’s degrading taunt? How’s it working out for you? Run to the battle line of obedience and sling the truth of God’s word letting it fly with boldness to declare the Greatness of YOUR God who slays the champion of fear.

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 Word

The Enemy uses the fog of confusion to effectively disrupt the vision and purpose of God. It is important to understand no matter where we are relative to the fog–we will live by our faith. That’s right; it is never by sight anyway.  And when sight is clouded, my hearing becomes of utmost importance.  How is your hearing?  If we know faith comes by hearing the word of God, then God’s word and His voice is the key to our uncertainty.  Your life as a Christian will be defined, refined and ultimately proven by this word that you hear.  You simply will not have faith or even proper obedience unless you hear the word correctly.  Timing is everything and perceived need essential if I am going to find the divine directives the word offers me. Isaiah 55:1; offers us an invitation by saying, “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink–even if you have no money! Come,…” The word brings an invitation into my life–a portal through which God’s thinking can flow into my darkness giving proper direction from my clouded judgement.  And where my foggy thoughts have left me stranded, this word would be the impetus to move me forward without fear.  This word promises a satisfaction that bread alone cannot.  Jesus said, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”  It has the power to strengthen your bones to make you stand up, fill out and fast forward you from dark to light in one single instance.  This word comes to impart the faith like Abraham as God Himself speaks to your own heart, calling you from the fog you’re living in.  It could be a fog of confusion, of doubt, of fear, of failure, of lies and deception so thick that this word could be wasted on you.  But make no mistake, the fog will break down communication of this word unless you recognize the invitation this word is making to you.   You need to see the absolute importance of this word–it’s a powerful thing!  You and I often spend money for things that leave us short and the fog remains, but God desires that we discover a line of communication that leaves us well informed and confident–ready to display His thoughts and a testimony that proves His word will affect my quality of life and living.  I have seen the fog of confusion, and I tell you this word can powerfully remove its effects to give you the will and way to move ahead toward the promise no matter what you see.  His invitation to you stands and His word will remove your fog.  I believe He is saying, ‘timing is everything, so come now, everyone who thirsts, come now…’

The Application of the Cross

Sometimes I am wanting to find the application of this word into my life, but I’ve got no aptitude for it.  To that I would say, “God give me a mind for what you think, so I could be effective as your disciple.”  I came across this scripture  the other day taken from Isaiah 50 which says; “The Lord has given Me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.  He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.” Often, we look for ways to apply this word in our lives only to find the simple truth is not merely conveyed with great oration or vivid illustration.  The truth however is best understood by what Jesus said in Luke 14, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” While men often go here and there to find great preaching looking for that one great illustration, nothing connects me to Jesus like the cross.  Jesus is affirming the cross as a means of application but more importantly as a means of identity.  When by taking up our cross we deny ourselves, we are saying no our thinking and to our own reasoning and even our own cause.  When we do that, we are identifying with the thinking that had Him at the cross for us in the first place.  Taking up my cross aligns my life with the cause and thinking of Christ.  Presently, most Christians know more about God than they are able to apply for lack of the cross.  All of us have a cross to be sure, but is yours currently out for repairs?  Paul said in Galatians 2:20; “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” Paul saw himself as crucified with Christ because He’d taken up His cross.  There was with Paul a death to this world and its thinking, but also the applied ability to actually live as Christ would because he had nothing else to live for.  Full faith in Jesus had taken over his mind to actually comprehend the height and depth of Christ’s love for him.  That is ultimately what Jesus is saying in Luke 14, namely this:  that as long as you have something else your living for, you won’t carry your cross.  Jesus is saying, ‘nothing can come ahead of me, so get square with me and I will order your thoughts aright and connect your head with your heart and you will live and speak as my disciple.’