The Burning Bush

Somewhere on the backside of your wilderness there is a place in God’s presence that will draw you in to captivate your heart and arrest your complete attention. Like Moses in Exodus 3, the burning bush reminds us God is never finished — though we may have long given up. I have recently been reminded that we are living in the last days. Things are out of control, and it seems men’s hearts are so hard. Even believers seem so fixed in just what they know; there is no desire to receive any more than just what they have. It would seem all is well, yet something turns sideways because all is not well, and men are racing over a cliff to destruction with no one to hold them back. It is all indicative of the last times. There seems to be resistance to the truth no matter how hard you try. We are living in days where the people of God often find themselves in a wilderness from wanting to follow God, but genuinely not knowing how. Have you found yourself in a wilderness like Moses running — running from your fear, from your people, from what would be the plan of God for your life — all because you tried to follow God and failed?  In these days you had better find that burning bush on the back side of the wilderness you are living in. I believe these days are to be a season of rescue and recovery, but you need the burning bush. You need the Spirit of God to draw you in to look at Him spending time in His presence beholding what consumes, but does not burn up. It is marvelous as Moses said it was. It causes you to remove what is unholy because you got a word from God that says put that down and away from your life and come to me … here on holy ground. There you actually can hear God confirming to you His desire to save — it was His desire all along, and you thought He had forgotten and left you in the wilderness. But He has not forgotten you. You, like Moses, may have had the right idea, but failed to get in on the full plan of God. But now with the bush He includes you, telling you, “I see the affliction of men’s souls, and now I want to use you.” You see, we need the burning bush experience that lies in the wilderness of our struggle, because without it we lack awareness of God’s care or concern. We lack understanding of His plan to include us in the work to liberate men’s bondage. We are in the last days, and men are surely in bondage. If you fail to see that, you are proving you need a touch of the marvelous bush from which God speaks. Somewhere, there in your dry place, He is telling you to stand and see — looking for that bush that burns. It is Christ in you the hope of glory. It is not so far, though you may believe it cannot be found. God will use these very words you are reading now to stir your heart and bring you to find that place. It is a place of power and privilege; it is a place of revelation and inclusion. It is a place in these days you cannot afford to be without. From the bush, He calls us to identity as sons. He says, “Come, and I will send you.” God is saying to us — I will touch your lips and give you a voice so that your slowness of speech will be met with the confidence to declare freedom to every bound place, so the captive souls of men can be made free.

 

The Anointing of God

1 Jn 2:27 says, ‘You have an anointing you have received from the Father which abides in you.’ Think with me…this is the single most powerful concept that John reminds us of to combat the work of deception which daily presents itself to you. Just think, an anointing that instructs, promotes, and supports the work of your salvation in this present hour.  What are you doing with the anointing? How are you treating it?  Recently someone gave me an article entitled, “The Man God Uses” (He most surely has an anointing).  You have an anointing, I urge you draw near to its application by the power of the Holy Spirit in your life and find a balm which can sooth, heal and restore your life exchanging your weakness for His strength.  To every true believer there is given this anointing.  It is an anointing that activates truth by informing me of His thoughts toward me.  It elevates my relationship with the Father by seeing myself as a son with a rightful place at His table.  It covers my life with His power to conform me to His image and enables me to practice victory rather than defeat.  It is an anointing that actuates love in my life identifying me as His disciple.  The Word says, by this love all men will come to understand that you are identifiably changed and uniquely His.  I don’t know about you, but I need such an anointing that can take my  feeble “want to” and make it a living reality for His glory to the restoration of others.  You want the anointing?  Ask for it and don’t stop asking until He gives what He has promised to every son who believes.

The Power of the Resurrection

Jesus is resurrection life. In the story of Lazarus, the point to Mary and Martha was not merely to bring them to an understanding of Jesus as savior and Lord. That they had already confessed. But that their experience could believe Him to be the savior for that day, that hour, that moment in order to resurrect their Lazarus. You see they loved their brother Lazarus, but Jesus loved him too. It is important that although Jesus knew what he had come to do and that the outcome would be to raise the dead, still He wept. Why? The word gives clear indication Jesus understood how it would all turn out. He wept over the condition of men’s souls and their faithlessness; He wept over their hardness to heart to believe; He wept over their grief and sorrow. I believe He wept in response over what the enemy meant for evil. All because Jesus is moved with compassion to care not just for Martha and Mary, but He cares for you. This familiar story makes a greater point of relevance to your life, that today, Jesus seeks to resurrect your Lazarus, but with power. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead to bear much fruit as the word says, ‘bringing many souls to Jesus.’ Many more can be brought to the Savior by the power of His resurrection in what you thought was dead, or of what you had stop believing Him to do, touch or redeem. Do you realize Jesus has wept over your condition? He weeps for what the enemy has done and wants to redeem your dead condition to raise up a powerfully able witness to deliver men from their state of denial and unbelief. He waits for you to believe Him for today, saying to you like Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this? I am the power to raise you where I live and move to do the unbelievable’. Jesus commands new life to your current state of condition saying, ‘come forth as my living testimony, I will raise you up to bring many others to Me’. Read John 12:9-11 and see many were brought to Jesus all because He cares to resurrect those He’s wept for. He cares for you and says, ‘Just believe.’

The Word of Life

The Word of God is an interesting tool. Hebrews 4:12 tells us it is sharper than any two edged sword. It is a sharp instrument of definition cutting shape into your life by getting to the heart of every matter. This word brings truth and makes a place for decision to everyone who will endure its precision cuts. It moves me to dwell with great thinkers and those who pondered the path of life. With this tool the Spirit of God moves me to the mind of Christ, when I would otherwise dwell with foolish thoughts and superficial things. Its reach is vast touching the heart of every matter making my life genuinely His by putting me on ready to be the vessel only He can use. Find yourself under the influence of this word. Read it exercise it and activate its power. It is the good news power of God to activate my role in the Kingdom. With this tool working in your life, you will see like He sees, hear like He would, and care like He does. Find yourself marked by this word in order that your outreach be His touch to save, heal, and deliver those who are in your field.