An Unexpected Anointing for Wisdom

Let the righteous strike me;
It shall be a kindness.
And let him rebuke me;
It shall be as excellent oil;
Let my head not refuse it.

(Psalm 141:1-5)

A hit on the head is not much fun; receiving a rebuke is not much better. But do not discount the wisdom and anointing you might receive by such means. King David, a man after God’s own heart, understood the value of a well-placed rebuke.

“Let the righteous strike me, it shall be a kindness.” A righteous man is one who is right and just in his dealings. He seeks the kingdom of God and God’s way of doing and being right, and everything else is added to him (Matthew 6:33). He is a wise man, for he stands in awe of God, and that is the beginning of wisdom.

“Let the righteous strike me,” says David. “Let him smite me, hammer me, strike me down.” Why? Because “it shall be a kindness.” The Hebrew word for “kindness” is hesed, the same word used for the covenant mercy, love and faithfulness of God. It is a manifestation of divine love — tough love, real love, faithful love. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs 27:6).

“And let him rebuke me, it shall be as excellent oil.” The semantic range of the Hebrew word for “rebuke” includes to reprove, judge, convict, correct, dispute, argue, decide, reason. “’Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD” (Isaiah 1:18).

It is wonderful to have people who will cheer us on with sweet tones and pleasant sayings. But what we really need are friends who will love us enough to speak a difficult word, a needed correction, an honest criticism.

“It shall be as excellent oil; let not my head refuse it.” Such a rebuke is actually oil upon the head—that is, it is an anointing. Isaiah described the power of the anointing as that which removes burdens and shatters yokes (Isaiah 10:27, particularly in the KJV).

David’s response to rebuke: “Let not my head refuse it.” When someone rebukes or corrects or criticizes or judges you, there is a decision you must make: to receive or refuse it. If you refuse it, you may well be hit with it again at a later date (and let us hope that is so—often known as a “second chance”). But if you receive it, it will be a kindness that will do you good, an anointing that will set you free. Yes, there may be some things in it that are not for you, but there may be much that is.

Even a fool may unwittingly do you a favor by rebuking you. Though he does not have your best interest at heart, and his words may sting mercilessly, there might still be a kernel of truth in them that will improve your life, or even set you free.

Wisdom and anointing may come from unsuspected places. Do not refuse the rebuke of any man who walks in awe of Yahweh. It may be just the thing to launch you deeper into your destiny.

(See also Repentance is a Wonderful Thing)

Repentance is a Wonderful Thing

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD.

(Isaiah 1:18)

Repentance is a wonderful thing. Most people associate it with “sorrow for sin.” Now, sorrow for sin may lead to repentance, or it may even result from it. But that is not what repentance itself is. The Greek word behind it is metanoia and literally means to “change your mind.” In the Bible, it is an exchange of our thoughts and ways for God’s.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
   Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   So are My ways higher than our ways,
   And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

(Isaiah 55:8-9)

God’s thoughts and ways are much higher than ours, but that does not mean we cannot know them. In fact, God invites us to come and know His thoughts. That is what He means when He says, “Come now, and let us reason together.” In other words, come and learn God’s ways, come and know His thoughts, come and get His wisdom. Proverbs 3:5-6 puts it this way:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
   And lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
   And He shall direct your paths.

Many people believe that we cannot know God’s ways and thoughts. They often quote 1 Corinthians 2:9, where Paul says, “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’” Most of them don’t go on to quote or even read the very next verse: “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10).

So we do not have to be stuck with our own thoughts and ways. We can know God’s thoughts and walk in His ways. My ways are feeble and my thoughts limited, and I am more than ready to get rid of them and receive God’s thoughts and ways.

Thank God for repentance! Now I can wake up everyday and go the Father to learn what new thing He has for me. It is a joy when He shows me where my ways have been ineffective and my thinking has been off. Because then I get to repent, to change my mind and start thinking God’s thoughts about whatever issue I am facing. I look forward to repenting because I know that I am about to receive an upgrade in my life. My own understanding will always ultimately fail, but God’s thoughts and ways will always bring success.

Repentance is a wonderful thing, and a good way to begin every year, every month, every week, even every day. Have you repented today and experienced the delight of changing your thoughts for God’s? His thoughts are found in the Scriptures, and if you ask, the Holy Spirit will open them up to you.

How About an Epiphany?

Today is the first day of Epiphany. Here is what I wrote about it in my article The Reason for Every Season:

Epiphany means "appearing" or "manifestation." In this season, which begins on January 6th, we celebrate the ways Christ has made Himself known as the Messiah and Savior of the whole world, revealing Himself by many divine miracles and teachings. We think of the Babe made known to the wise men of the East; the Son made known at His baptism; Christ made known at the wedding feast in Cana. We also watch for the ways Jesus is making Himself known in the world today through His Church.

Jesus is the "Light of the World." In Advent, we celebrate the promise of the Light. In Christmas, we rejoice in the coming of the Light. In Epiphany, we wonder at the shining of the Light, just as the wise men marveled at the Star which led them to Jesus.

Is it time for an epiphany in your life? “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

(See also Getting a Revelation of Jesus)

The Will of God in Your Wallet

We call our ministry Walking Barefoot Ministries and our mission is simple: to help you take the next step of faith in your walk with the Lord and experience the presence and power of God in your life. We believe that God has a plan for every area of your life, and that every plan He has for you is full of blessing and goodness.

God even has a plan for your finances, and if you will step into it, you will be tapping into the flow of His abundance and prosperity. So we want to help you take the next step of faith in your walk with the Lord regarding your finances. We want you to experience the presence and power of God even in your wallet.

Here is a simple step you can take in this area, and it is based on the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus taught His disciples to pray this way: “Kingdom of God, come! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven!” (Yes, these are commands because the words in Greek text, the original language of the New Testament, are in the imperative mood.)

Does the kingdom of God have anything to do with your finances? Of course it does. Does the will of God have anything to do with your wallet? Yes, it has everything to do with your money and all your resources. Since that is so, it is very appropriate to pray, concerning your finances, the same way Jesus taught.

So here is a simple step you can take (and a good way to start the new year). Open up your wallet — whether it has anything in it or not — and pray this:

Kingdom of God, come into my wallet!
Will of God, be done in my wallet just as it is being done in heaven!

Of course, the religious spirit will be offended by this because the spirit of religion is, in reality, a spirit of poverty. It wants us to focus on our own works and take pride in how much we can do without. The abundance and prosperity of God is an offense to this spirit because it wants its own will to be done in your wallet, not the will of God.

Well, what is the will of God for your wallet, anyway? Remember that we are praying for the will of God to be done in our finances just as it is being done in heaven. So what do finances look like in the heavenly dimension? Paul answered that in his letter to the Corinthians (and in a specifically financial context, no less):

And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have abundance for every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Isn’t that exactly what heaven looks like? Doesn’t God make all His grace abound there? Of course. If that is His will for the heavenly realm, then that is His will for you in this earthly realm, as well, for Jesus taught us to pray, “Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Now, notice the fullness of Paul’s statement: all grace, always having all sufficiency in all things, plus abundance (that is, more than enough) for every good work.

That is the flow of God’s prosperity. It flows in to meet your every need, and it flow through to meet the needs of others. There is a continual giving and receiving and giving and receiving.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), so let the Lord’s Prayer and 2 Corinthians 9:7 stir up your faith. Then, when you have no doubt about it, open up your wallet and pray over: “Kingdom of God, come into my wallet. Will of God be done in my wallet just as it is being done in heaven.”

The Year of Breakthrough and Enlargement

“Sing, O barren,
  You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
  You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
  Than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD.

“Enlarge the place of your tent,
  And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
  Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.
For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
  And your descendants will inherit the nations,
  And make the desolate cities inhabited.”

(Isaiah 52:1-3)

Last year you may have felt barren, desolate, unproductive, useless, insignificant. But this year is the year of the favor of the LORD, the year of breaking forth, breaking through and breaking out. It is the time of your expansion, the enlargement of your territory. It is the season of fruitfulness, fulfillment and the habitation of God’s glory in your life. Notice how it begins, with a song of joy.

“Sing, O barren! Break forth into singing and cry aloud!” It is the cry of elation, the creaking of joy, the breakthrough of loud, clamorous rejoicing. It is unmindful of present barrenness, but instead lays hold of God’s declaration of fruitfulness with active faith. Present circumstances do not dictate future conditions, for God has spoken His Word (God always gets the last word, and it is a good word!) and this is the year of the LORD’s favor.

“Enlarge the place of your tent.” God has a breakthrough for you, and the way to get ready it is to enlarge your tent. Begin by enlarging your thinking with a repentance that lines your thoughts up with God’s — start thinking His thoughts, which are revealed in His Word. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

Enlarge your vision and enlarge your heart to receive God’s promise, and He will enlarge your territory. Jabez enlarged the tent of his heart and prayed, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory” (1 Chronicles 4:10). And God did.

“Let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings.” As you enlarge your vision, you are going to be stretched. New wine must go into new wineskins because the fermenting action causes them to expand. Old wineskins cannot bear the strain. Let God burst your old wineskin and take you out of your comfort zone. Let Him give you a new wineskin, washed with the water of His Word and conditioned with a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit. Then you will be ready for the new wine of His prosperous love.

“Do not spare.” In 2 Kings 4, the widow of one of the sons of the prophets came to the prophet Elisha in dire need. She was deep in debt and her sons were about to be sold into slavery. “What do you have in the house?” he asked. “Nothing,” she said, “except a jar of oil.” Then Elisha said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors — empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” She went out and gathered as many empty vessels as she could find, came home, and poured out her little jar of oil into them until they were all miraculously filled. The oil was sold, the debts were paid, the sons were freed, for the woman did not spare. “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,” Paul said. “And he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

“Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.” There are walls that have to be demolished, paradigms that must to be shifted. Give up your small ambitions; your life is meant to be so much larger than you have ever imagined. Start believing, start imagining, start speaking of the prosperity of God coming to overflow in your life. God is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20). Imagine bigger, expect more, for His power is in all those who trust Him — the power for every breakthrough you and I ever need is already resident in us.

“For you shall expand to the right and to the left.” The Hebrew word for “expand” is parats. It is the word for breakthrough. In the year of the LORD’s favor, you will breakthrough to a larger place. Former boundaries no longer apply; God is bringing increase. “The LORD give you increase more and more, you and your children” (Psalm 115:14).

“Your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.” This is not just about you and me — it is about our children, as well. There is an inheritance. “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD” (Psalm 127:3). “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children” (Proverbs 13:22). God has a powerful inheritance that affects all nations: “Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession” (Psalm 2:8). In this inheritance, the desolation for the nations will come to an end, for in the year of the LORD‘s favor, they shall be filled with a habitation of His glory.

Enlarge your thinking to the promise of God. Enlarge your heart and your imagination. God is breaking you out to enlarge your territory. God, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you can ask or imagine, is bringing His power to bear in your life. In fact, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, it is already at work in you, even now. So, regardless of your present situation, break forth with loud shouts of joy, for God is bringing the breakthrough into your life.

The Year of the Favor of the LORD

And He [Jesus] was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
  Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
  He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
  And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:17-21)

Jesus came to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, that is, the year for God to show His favor. Ever since then, every year has been the year of favor of the LORD for all those who look to Him and claim it by faith. This year, 2006, is the year for God’s favor to show up in your life.

• It is the year for the Holy Spirit of God to come upon you. Jesus promised, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). This witness is the testimony of God’s great power and love in the work of Jesus Christ.
• It is the year of anointing, that is, the year for burdens to be lifted and yokes to be destroyed (Isaiah 10:27). Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. All authority in heaven and earth belongs to Him, and He has commissioned us to minister with this same anointing (Matthew 28:18-20).
• It is the year for good news to be preached to the poor. Poverty is not good news, lack is no blessing. But the overflowing provision of God’s grace and power is wonderful news for all those who are poor in spirit, that is, those who trust in Him. “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, so that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
• It is the year of healing for the brokenhearted. Last year you may have felt defeated and crushed by the circumstances of life. You might be emotionally distraught or deeply depressed. But this year is your year. The LORD builds up His people; He gathers together the outcasts; He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:2). This is the year for restoration and wholeness.
• It is the year to proclaim freedom for the captives. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Strongholds are broken, chains are loosed, addictions have no power over those who look to the Lord Jesus Christ and are born again by the Spirit of God.
• It is the year for recovery of sight to the blind. “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them …” BUT, “… It is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4, 6).
• It is the year of liberty for those who are oppressed—the bruised and broken, in body and spirit. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). Sickness and disease come from the devil, not from God. God’s desire is to heal and restore—that is why Jesus came.

Today, in the year 2006, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, this is your year to experience the favor of God, to walk in His freedom and wholeness, even to experience His anointing and power to minister His freedom and wholeness to others. If you have not yet received the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the year of invitation. “Behold, now is the accepted time [the time of favor]; behold now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

(See also The Year of the Favor of the LORD)

Behold, a New Creation

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

In this portion of his letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul is speaking of things in the Spirit. In v. 16 he declared, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.” The actual order of things is that the natural comes forth from the spiritual, so it is now to the spiritual that Paul focuses his attention.

Just what is it that Paul sees in the spirit? A new creation. If anyone is in Christ — received new life from the Spirit of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ — he is a totally new creation. Brand spanking new! The things that belonged to the old man, the man he used to be, no longer pertain to him — he is new. All things have become new for him — they do not pertain to the old man that was. In his letter to the Galatian believers, Paul put it this way:

I have been crucified with Christ; 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 gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NKJV; the KJV has “by the faith of the Son of God.)

The old man is dead — crucified with Christ. This is not something we do ourselves, but something that happened at the cross. We simply receive it by faith. The old man is dead, and there is now a new man in residence — born from above, from heaven, by the Spirit of God. This new man of the Spirit is activated and energized by Christ, by His faith and love.

Notice that Paul says, “Behold, all things have become new.” We have some beholding to do. To behold, in this context, means to see in the spiritual realm, to appropriate by faith what is being declared in this passage.

It may not yet be apparent in the flesh. Look at my 50 year old body and you might not discern that I am a new creation. But as Paul said just a chapter earlier in his Corinthian letter: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Regardless of how I look in the natural, I am now a new creation, fully equipped and capable of living on this planet as a new creation of God. As Paul says, I have “put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created [me]” (Colossians 3:10).

In Romans, Paul exhorted the believers to "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).

Transformation and the renewal of our mind and our inward man does not come by our own work and initiative. They are the work of the Holy Spirit which we receive by faith. Discussing the whole matter of salvation, Paul said that it is

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration [the new birth which is from above, John 3:3] and renewing of the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5)

From beginning to end, this transformation and newness is the work of God. Our job is to behold, to see it in the Spirit and lay hold of it by faith.

As you contemplate the new year take your eyes off the natural and behold in the Spirit that, for those who are in Christ, all things have become new. You no longer have to live like the old man of the flesh, you can live as a new creation in the spirit.

Behold, New Things Springing Forth

Thus says God the LORD,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
  Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,
Who gives breath to the people on it,
  And spirit to those who walk on it:

“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness,
  and will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
  As a light to the Gentiles,
To open blind eyes,
  To bring out prisoners from the prison,
  Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
I am the LORD, that is My name;
  And My glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved images.
  Behold, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I declare;
  Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

(Isaiah 42:5-9)

Behold, I will do a new thing,
  Now it shall spring forth;
  Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
  And rivers in the desert.

(Isaiah 43:19)

Isaiah prophesied a new thing that would spring forth. It is a messianic declaration—Messiah called forth in righteousness and given as a covenant to Israel and as a light to the nations. It is a time for healing and for setting free, a time for the glory of the LORD to be uniquely manifested in the Anointed One. This is Jesus, and His blood shed for us is the cup of the New Covenant for all who receive Him.

The Hebrew word for “spring forth” literally means to sprout, as a plant. A seed is sown. It germinates. Soon a shoot pushes up through the soil. It grows and develops, rapidly multiplying in size. It prospers and flourishes.

Isn’t this what Jesus said the kingdom of God is like?

The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26-29)

To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade. (Mark 4:30-32)

When the seed is sown, we might not understand how it sprouts and grows — it is a God thing. But there is a steady progress from the first shoot to the ripened fruit, and then it is time for the harvest.

God has declared and is doing a new thing which is now springing forth. It is the kingdom of God. It started as a very small seed, but it is continually growing, shooting out large branches with shade for all.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Kingdom of God, come! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In the Greek, the tense is continuous: “Kingdom, keep coming! Will of God, keep being done on earth as in heaven.” For it has already broken into our world and is continually increasing at a greater and greater rate. We are now in the time prophesied so long ago in the book of Amos:

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,
  “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
  and the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,
  And all the hills shall flow with it.”

(Amos 9:13)

Notice that God says “Behold.”

• Behold, the former things have come to pass and new things I declare.
• Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth.
• Behold, the days are coming …
  

To behold means to see, to appropriate or take hold of, as with the eyes. It is to gaze intently, to focus upon with great attention. When God says “behold,” it is a command to see in the spirit that which cannot yet be seen in the natural.

God is doing a new thing that is now springing forth. Our job is to behold, to look into the spirit realm and appropriate it. We may not understand how it shall all come about, but God will somehow bring it about. So we sleep by night and rise by day, all the while beholding the promise of God in the spirit, believing in our hearts, and calling it forth by our prayers. In this new year, therefore, watch and be ready to put in your sickle for the harvest.

And We Are Glad

When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us,
And we are glad.

(Psalm 126:1-3)

The LORD has delivered our captive ones this year and we are seeing dreams come true. In our Faith Log vocabulary, a dream is a communication from a deeper realm, a vignette from the spiritual dimension. Dreams bring to light things thought impossible, or improbable, and bid us to follow on to the place of hope and gladness.

Our mouths are filled up with laughter, our laughter is filled up with joy, and the joy inside us is singing of the goodness of the LORD, which has become so evident in our lives this year that others around us say, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

As we pause in this reflecting place between Christmas and New Year, we agree that, indeed, the LORD has done great things for us — and we are glad!

Yes, there are more captives to be released, but we trust the LORD to bring them back as streams in the desert (v. 4). There is sowing in tears, but there is reaping in joy (v. 5). And those who go out continually sowing will certainly come home greatly rejoicing and with a rich harvest (v. 6).

Consider the great things the LORD has done for you and be glad. Keep sowing your seed and watch for you harvest to come in strong in the New Year — the fruits of salvation: freedom, health, prosperity and joy for you and your house.

Behold the New

Many people are already starting to put away their Christmas decorations. Which is a shame, because the season of Christmas has only just started. Today is the second day of Christmas, yesterday being the first. The Twelve Days of Christmas are not a count-down to Christmas day, but a celebration which begins on Christmas day and runs all the way through to January 6, which some celebrate as Three Kings Day, and shows on the traditional church calendar as the beginning of Epiphany (for more about this, see Jesus is the Reason for EVERY Season).

Culturally, we are also getting ready for New Year, widely recognized as a time for new beginnings. How appropriate that it should smack in the middle of Christmas, because if Christmas is about anything, it is about the new beginning we have in Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. Everything has changed since He came into the world.

At the Nativity, the event we celebrate at Christmas, the angels could not keep silent, but cried out:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. (Luke 2:14)

The earth has always been filled with the glory of God — as the angels in Isaiah’s vision proclaimed (Isaiah 6:3). All that was needed was a revelation of His glory, something God promised in Habakkuk 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD.”

That is what happened at the first Christmas:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

In other words, it was a revelation of the glory of God. That is indeed what the angels were singing about: Glory to God in the highest — “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). It was this announcement which jolted the angels so that they could not contain themselves anymore, and they pierced the silent darkness with loud, powerful praises.

Glory to God in the highest — it has now been revealed! Not only glory, but peace as well, the peace of heaven coming into the earth. For Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and at the Cross, “the chastisement for our peace was upon Him” (Isaiah 53:5) In other words, He took our chastisement and gave us His peace. This would be the Hebrew understanding of peace, the shalom of God: wholeness, restoration, oneness — nothing missing, nothing broken.

The glory of God was revealed that night in the city of Bethlehem. The peace of heaven entered the earth that night, for all who trust in Him, for these are the ones upon whom His favor rests, the ones in whom He is well-pleased.

The Bible says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). This began on that Christmas night and was completed thirty-three years later at the Cross.

The revelation of God’s glory and the peace of heaven entered the world at Christmas — and they have never left! They are not absent, but are fully present in power. The only problem is that we have so often failed to appropriate them.

Now is the time to lay hold of the revelation of the Word of God and the things announced by the angels at Bethlehem. Now is the time to give ourselves over to the Lord Jesus Christ, to receive the peace He came to give us and experience the favor He came to show us, to walk in the glory He came to reveal to us and live in the victory He came to give us. That is where our all our new beginnings lay.

“Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Behold the new!

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Let Earth Receive Her King
Advent, Christmas and the Kingdom of God
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Christmas: Receiving the Word Made Flesh

But as many as received Him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)

Jesus is the Word who was in the beginning, who is with God , and who IS God (John 1:1). He is the Word that became flesh and dwelt among (v. 14). In Him is light and life, more than enough for every human being who has come into the world.

But not all are willing to receive Him. Some love darkness rather than life, because their deeds are evil (John 3:19). The light shines in the darkness and overcomes it, and cannot ever be overcome by it. Many of Jesus’ own people did not receive Him, though He came expressly as their long-promised Messiah.

Even so, there have been many more who have continued to receive Him, and the grace of God is so abundant and rich that, all who have and do receive Him have the right to become children of God, for the Word, the only begotten Son of God has declared the Father to us (John 1:18). All who know Jesus may behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (John 1:14; 2 Corinthians 4:6).

Have you received the Word made flesh and become a child of God? Have you beheld the glory, grace and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ? That is what Christmas is all about. 

Christmas in Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage,
  And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
  And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His anointed, saying,
  “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
  and cast away Their cords from us.”

(Psalm 2:1-3)

King Herod went into a rage at the news of the new King born in Bethlehem, God’s anointed one — Messiah (Hebrew), the Christ (Greek). The anointing of God breaks lifts the burden and shatters the yoke of oppression, but Herod wanted no part of it, precisely because he was one of the oppressors.

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
  The LORD shall hold them in derision.
Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
  And distress them in His displeasure,”
“Yet I have set My King
  On My holy hill of Zion.”

(Psalm 2:4-6)

Christmas celebrates the birth of this King, who comes to set all things right. The oppressors of this world thought they were in control, but it turns out that they were seriously self-deceived — what a laugh!

“I will declare the decree:
  The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
  Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
  The nations for Your inheritance,
  And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron;
  You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

(Psalm 2:7-9)

This is the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, whose glory we behold, “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). God’s truth shines a searchlight on the lies of the tyrants, and His grace — the favor of heaven — is far greater than their cruelties and comes to wipe them out. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the words of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
  Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
  And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
  And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
  Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

(Psalm 2:10-12)

Wise men came, kingly in stature, and bowed before God’s anointed one, for they understood the portent of the heavenly sign. "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy” (Matthew 2:10). They kissed the Son, as it were, honoring Him with gifts befitting a great King.

This psalm begins by depicting the conspiratorial rage of tyrannical kings and despots, but suddenly — and surprisingly — ends with an invitation to receive wisdom, a repentance that ends in exceedingly great joy. It is a promise of blessing — the power of favor of heaven — on all who entrust themselves to God’s anointed one, Jesus Christ.

Christmas: The Memra Became Flesh

In the beginning was the Memra, and the Memra was with God, and the Memra was God. (John 1:1)

John wrote in Greek, but he was Hebrew in thought and Aramaic in speech. The Greek word for “word” is logos, a word which depicted logic and reasoning. But John uses the word to mean so much more. Consider these Old Testament Scriptures:

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

(Psalm 33:6)

He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions.

(Psalm 107:20)

Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.

(Psalm 119:105)

I will worship toward Your holy temple,
And praise Your name
For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.

(Psalm 138:2)

In the Septuagint, which is an ancient translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, the word for “word” in every instance is the Greek logos. It is not merely the reason or logic of God, but the very breath of God by which He created the heavens and the earth. It is the healing, life-giving power of God. It is the light of God which He manifested at Creation. It is equal to the name of God. To speak of the Word of God is to speak of God Himself.

This is exactly how the ancient Hebrew mind perceived the Word of God. The ancient targums, which were translations of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic, the Word of God is often used as the name of God. The Aramaic word for “word” is memra.

• Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image.” The Jerusalem Targum has, “And the memra of the LORD created man in His likeness.”
• In Genesis 9:17, God says to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” Targum Onkelos says, “This is the sign which I established between my memra and between all flesh which are on the earth.”
• In Genesis 17:7, God says to Abraham, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you.” Targum Onkelos says, “I will establish My covenant between My memra and you.”
• In Genesis 28:21, “then the LORD shall be my God.” Targum Onkelos has, “then shall the memra of the LORD be my God.”
• In Exodus 14:31, where the Hebrew text says, “and believed the LORD,” Targum Onkelos has, “and believed in His memra .”
• Joshua 12:2, “Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD.” The ancient rabbi, Jonathan ben Uziel, has, “Now swear unto me by the memra of God.
• 1 Samuel 20:23, “And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the LORD be between you and me forever.” Targum Onkelos says, “And the thing we spoke of, you and I, this is the memra of God between you and me forever.”
• Psalm 62:8, “Trust in Him at all times your people.” Onkelos has, “Trust in the memra at all times.”
• Isaiah 45:17, “But Israel shall be saved by the LORD.” Jonathan ben Uziel has, “Israel will be redeemed by the memra of God.”
• Isaiah 45:22, “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth.” Jonathan ben Uziel has, “Turn to my memra , all dwellers on earth.”

This is in the mind of John as he opens his Gospel. He writes logos, but he thinks memra .

In the beginning was the Memra, and the Memra was with God, and the Memra was God. (John 1:1)

The startling thing is not that John equates the Memra/Logos/Word with God — that was nothing new for the Hebrew mind. The startling thing is that the Memra/Logos/Word “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) and that He is identified as Jesus the Messiah, the unique Son of God (vv. 17-18).

(See also The Word Became Flesh)

Christmas: The Word Became Flesh

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

Matthew’s Christmas story begins with a genealogy and tells of Mary and Joseph, of angels, dreams, and wise men. Mark begins with Old Testament prophecy and John the Baptist. Luke tells of Zechariah and Elizabeth, of Mary and Joseph, of census and stable and manger, of angels declaring and shepherds beholding, of Anna and Simeon.

John begins with the Word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:1-5).

The author of Hebrews puts it this way:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

There is only one Word.

• This Word has always been with God.
• This Word is that which was spoken by the prophets, for their message is one.
• This Word is that by which God made the worlds—“framed” the worlds, as Hebrews 11:3 puts it. Nothing was made without this Word.
• This Word is the brilliant expression of the glory of God, the exact image of His substance.
• This Word is the power that sustains and holds all things together.
• This Word is the Son of the Father, and heir to all things.
• This Word is full of life and light. “For the Word of God is living and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12). “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).

We cannot understand Christmas unless we understand this. For it is this same Word that John describes in John 1:14:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

It was necessary, in order for the Word to purge us of our sins, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, to bridge the gap between us and God. Having purged our sins by His death on the cross, the Word ascended to heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, all who receive Him are seated with Him at the right hand of Majesty (Ephesians 2:6).

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is the unique gift of the Father which we celebrate in this season. It is the glory we behold, the grace we need and the truth we seek — all given to us in abundance.

(See also The Memra Became Flesh)

Christ in Christmas

I just received the latest newsletter from Saint Augustine’s House, which is, I think, the only Lutheran monastery in the world (or at least in the United States). I lift this quote from Father Herbel’s Advent* meditation:

We are frequently exhorted this time of the year to “keep Christ in Christmas.” It is, of course, a welcome reminder of the “reason for the season” as another catchphrase puts it. As Christians we certainly ought to be concerned over deliberate attempts to empty this season of its traditional and specifically Christian content. But along with this concern we should also have confidence that Christ is able to keep Himself in Christmas. He entered into the first Christmas; He is able to enter into this Christmas too.

When we think Christmas is all about what we do, we worry and fret. But when we recognize that it is really about what He does, we enter well into the season of comfort and joy.

*Advent is the season of preparation to celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world.

How Shall These Things Be?

Today as I did my prayer walk around Westfield Shopping Town in Brandon, FL (see Prayer-Walking at Westfield), I found myself asking these questions:

• How shall Your church emerge at Westfield?
• How shall Your kingdom come here?
• How shall Your will be done at Westfield as it is being done in heaven?
• How shall Your name be hallowed here?
• How shall Your glory be revealed here at Westfield?
• Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil—how shall that be manifested here?
• How shall these things be?
  

I’m reminded that Mary asked a similar question when the angel visited her and announced that she, a virgin, would bring forth a Son. “How shall this be,” she said, “since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34).

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you” (v.35).

The Greek word for “overshadow” is found only a few times in the New Testament: here, the Transfiguration accounts in three of the Gospels, and in Act 5. Acts 5 tells how the people brought their sick out into the streets and laid the along the way where Peter would pass, so that his shadow might “fall on” some of them (v. 15). The Greek for “fall on” is the word for “overshadow.” The next verse tells us that they were all healed!

How shall these things be? The Holy Spirit must come upon us, and the power of God must overshadow us, even at Westfield — or wherever God has placed you and me.

(See also The Shadow of Glory — Part 1, Part 2)

Christmas in Isaiah

Isaiah 40 is rich with Christmas, the coming of Christ into the world (Handel found it to be fertile soil for his Messiah oratorio). Speaking to a people who would soon be going into Babylonian captivity, Isaiah prophecies a wondrous future beyond. It begins:

“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.” (v.1)

There is the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (v. 3). The Gospel writers reveal this figure as John the Baptist.

Then there is the promise of the Gospel, good news to Israel:

O Zion,
  You who bring good tidings,
  Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
  You who bring good tidings,
  Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
  Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” (v. 9)

There are four “Beholds” to consider. When God tells us to behold something, it is to fix our attention, our focus, our gaze upon something that our human eyes cannot yet discern. It is to look into the realm of the spirit and see truth “behind the scenes.” It signals something unexpected, something that is known only because God reveals it to us.

In verse 9, the command is to “Behold your God!” There is the dimension of the divine, but there is also the personal aspect, because He is called our God. After the time of captivity and darkness, the Good News comes: Our God is now here to deliver and take care of His people.

The second “Behold” immediately follows:

Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand.
And His arm shall rule for Him. (v. 10)

Our God comes exercising power and authority.

Then comes the third “Behold”:

Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him. (v. 10)

The NIV has the second line as “And His recompense accompanies Him.” These are the spoils of victory. For our Lord Messiah comes to destroy the works of the enemy and set the captives free, while making prisoners of those who held His people hostage. He lifts up the humble but repays those enemies who have lifted themselves up in pride.

• “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)
• “Therefore He says: ‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.’” (Ephesians 4:8)

In Isaiah 40:11, we find that our warrior God, who prevails so powerfully against our oppressors, is also a tender shepherd:

He will feed His sheep a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.

Handel’s Messiah marries this text to Matthew 11:28-29:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I wil give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

But we are also drawn to the Good Shepherd in John 10:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. (v. 11)

The fourth “Behold” comes in Isaiah 40:15.

Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted s the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

God is big! All the nations taken together cannot compare to Him. They do not even come close. Do not let the nations shake you, for God will shake the nations and bring them into line. For He is not like the false gods and idols of those nations. He is the true God and Judge who comes to set things right. Therefore, “lift up your eyes on high” (v. 26).

Why do you say, O Jacob,
  And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
  And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
Have you not known?
  Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
  The Creator of the ends of the earth,
  Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
  He gives power to the weak.
  And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
  And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the LORD
  Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
  They shall run and not be weary,
  They shall walk and not faint.

(Isaiah 40:27-31)

That is why Jesus came, to deliver you and me, to shepherd us and restore us to God. Isn't that the promise of Christmas?

Christmas in the Old Testament

Just now I’ve been watching the CBS “Early Show.” Discussing the Presidential Christmas cards, one of the anchors brought up the Old Testament and mentioned that it does not mention Christmas.

No, not by name. But then, neither does the New Testament. But they both talk about the birth of the Christ, or as He is called in the Old Testament, Messiah. Consider these Messianic passages in the Old Testament:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

(Isaiah 7:14)

For unto us a Child is born,
  Unto us a Son is given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulder.
  And His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
  There will be no end.
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
  To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
  The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will perform this.

(Isaiah 9:6-7)

Now compare with the New Testament account:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

But while he though about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name, JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and the shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

(Matthew 1:18-23)

Consider also the testimony of the Magi, who learned the when and the where of Christ’s birth because they paid attention to these Old Testament prophecies:

The utterance of him who hears the Words of God,
  And has knowledge of the Most High …
I see Him, but not now;
  I behold Him, but not near;
A star shall come out of Jacob;
  A Scepter shall rise out of Israel.

(Numbers 24:16-17)

But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
  Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
  Who will shepherd My people Israel.

(Micah 5:2)

Compare again with Matthew’s Gospel:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
  Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
  Who will shepherd My people Israel.”

(Matthew 2:1-6)

Christmas is there in both the Old Testament and New. For it is all part of God’s eternal plan to redeem His people. Wisdom recognizes this.

(See also Wise Men Discern Kings)

Christmas in Zion

Hey, our new faith-building article is out for December 2005. It's called Christmas in Zion and is free to read and download at Walking Barefoot Ministries.

Surrendering to the Passions of God

Been reading in Mystics and Miracles: True Stories of Lives Touched by God, by Bert Ghezzi. Part Six is called “Miracles that Changed the Course of History.” It begins with this quote from Clare Boothe Luce:

The saints give little thought to changing the world around them. They are too busy changing the world within them. They are not out to reform Caesar, but to conform themselves to Christ.

Later, Ghezzi comments: “The surrender of the saints gave God permission to intervene directly in human events. That accounts for the flow of signs and wonders in their wakes.”

We change the world, not by trying to change the world, but by surrendering to God. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else will be taken care of.

Mary understood this and lived it out. She said, “Behold the servant of the LORD! Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Indeed, the world changed.

We change the earth by surrendering to the passions of God.

Stand in Awe of God and Fear Nothing

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

(Proverbs 9:10)

To fear the LORD is, in a word, to stand in awe of Him. We used to say “Awful” (read “awe-full”). Now we exclaim, “Awesome!”

When God and God alone is awesome in our eyes, we will not fear anything else. We find a classic example of this in Numbers 13, when Moses sent out a team of twelve to spy out the land of promise.

Ten came back and said that, yes, indeed it was a land of milk and honey and an abundance of fruit. But, you see, the people there were very strong: “There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:33).

They made the mistake of supposing that, because they saw themselves as grasshoppers in their own sight, the “giants” of the land must have seen them that way, too. But their view of God was small, and caused them to look only to themselves and, coming up short, they lost heart. They did not fear the LORD, so they ended up fearing everything else.

On the other hand, there were two spies, Joshua and Caleb, who stood in continual awe of the LORD. Listen to their report:

“Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” (Numbers 13:30)

“The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.” (Numbers 14:7-9)

They did not consider the “giants.” They did not even consider themselves. They considered the LORD alone. Their only consideration was, “The LORD is with us;” their conclusion was, “Do not fear them.”

The virgin Mary stood in awe of the Lord. When the angel announced the favor of God on her, and that she would give birth to the Son of God, she learned that there was not only nothing to fear, but that nothing would be impossible:

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this in now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible. (Luke 1:34-37).

Mary visited Elizabeth, who announced Mary’s pregnancy: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42). The Mary sang a wonderful song of praise which begins, “My soul magnifies the LORD.” She stood in awe of Him.

When you stand in awe of God, you will never have to fear anything else. There is nothing to fear, for nothing will be impossible.

(See also When It’s All About God)

The Voice of the LORD

The voice of the LORD is powerful;
The voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

(Psalm 29:4)

In the beginning, when darkness was over the face of the deep, the voice of the LORD boomed, “Light be!” and the darkness was broken (Genesis 1:2-3). God caused light to come into existence in the natural by the Word of His mouth. Indeed, the Bible says that the whole world was framed by the Word of God (Hebrews 11:3). The voice of the LORD is powerful and full of majesty!

The Lord GOD 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. (Isaiah 50:4 NASB)

When the voice of the LORD speaks it is so that He may be heard. He awakens our ears to hear, so that we may speak His word. It is the essence of discipleship.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)

When we hear the voice of the LORD, faith comes. When we believe, we speak. Paul said,

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak. (2 Corinthians 4:13)

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans10:10)

The heart believes, the mouth confesses. That’s how faith works. Jesus described the same thing:

Assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (Mark 11:23)

The whole world is made up of the Word of God, the voice of the LORD. Our part is to hear His voice, believe His Word and speak it forth into the world. That is how and why faith moves mountains.

Faith Comes! Faith Works!

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)

Faith works through love. (Galatians 5:6)

“Faith comes! Faith works! Get the Word part right, and faith always comes. Get the Love part right, and faith always works.” ~ Kenneth Copeland

Tune up your faith by hearing the Word of God and releasing His love to others.

The LORD Your Shade

The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

(Psalm 121:5-6)

There is another name God reveals in this psalm: “The LORD Your Shade.” How close is your shadow? The LORD is just as close. The word for “shade” comes from a root that means “to hover over.” The LORD overshadows us to protect us from the burden of the day, but also from the fears that torment in the night.

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
  Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
  Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

(Psalm 91:5-6)

When the LORD is at your right hand, He overshadows you with all the strength you need for any situation. With Him at your right hand, you are able to do what you could never do on your own.

Yahweh Shamar: The LORD Your Keeper

The LORD is your keeper …
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
  He shall preserve your soul.
The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
  From this time forth, and even forevermore.

(Psalm 121:5, 7-8)

We find the Hebrew root shamar, six times in this psalm, translated as “keep” or “preserve.”

• He who keeps you (v. 3).
• He who keeps Israel (v. 4).
• The LORD is your keeper (v. 5).
• The LORD shall preserve you from all evil (v. 7).
• He shall preserve your soul (v. 7).
• The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in (v. 8).
  

I think that the LORD is trying to tell us something! In fact, He brings it out quite strongly in His name, Yahweh Shamar — The LORD Your Keeper. (Notice that the word “is” in verse 5 is in italics. This signifies that it has no basis in the text, but was added by the translators.)

The word “LORD” (all caps) represents the Hebrew word Yahweh, the personal name of God by which He reveals Himself in covenant with His people. By the name Yahweh Shamar, God has covenanted to watch over His people to protect and preserve them.

• The LORD keeps you, both individually and as a part of His corporate people (vv. 3-4).
• The LORD will keep you from all evil (v. 7). Jabez prayed to the LORD to preserve Him from evil, and was powerfully blessed by God (1 Chronicles 4:9-10). The Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Deliver us from evil.”
• The LORD will keep your soul. The “soul” is not just the immaterial part of a person, but is often used to refer to your entire being. The Bible says that God will sanctify and preserve us completely — spirit, soul and body — at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
• The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in — from now on. God is just as able to take care of us in a foreign land or right under our own roof, and all points in between. He covers us in our daily routine and at all hours.
  

Look to the LORD to watch over and keep you in every area of life. He is committed to you — are you committed to Him?

(For more about the LORD your keeper, meditate on these verses: Psalm 12:7; 41:2; 97:10; 116:6; 145:20; 146:9.)

The Wakeful Guardian

He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

(Psalm 121:3-4)

Those who look to Yahweh are standing on a firm foundation. Their feet shall not slip; they shall not be moved by calamity. It shall not harm them.

The Hebrew word for “keep” is shamar. It means to hedge about, to protect, to attend to. God desires to set a hedge of protection about you and take care of you. He is a full-time God, and His protection and provision are always dependable.

“Behold!” says the psalm writer. It is a word of focused attention, signaling a foundational truth. It is a if the psalm-writer is leaning in to let you in on the most wonderful secret: “He who keeps Israel, shall neither slumber or sleep.” Yahweh watches faithfully over His people. He never falls asleep on the job. Not ever.

This is why the psalm writer looks to Yahweh for his help, no matter what he might be facing (vv. 1-2). And that is why you and I can, too. When we look to Him, He looks out for us. We receive it all by faith in His promise.

Parsing the Hills

I will lift up my eyes to the hills —
From whence does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

(Psalm 121:1-2)

There are hills and there are hills — and then there are hills. There are the hills which hide our enemies, waiting to ambush us. These are calamities and circumstances of life which would fill us with fear every time we set our eyes on them, if we did not have any help.

And there are the hills on which are situated the false gods and idols of the culture. They are presented as assets, but they are actually liabilities. They can do nothing to protect or provide for us and, in fact, must themselves be protected and provided for. They have no help to offer us.

And then there is the hill of Zion, the mountain of God, on which stands the temple of Yahweh. The ark of the covenant is there, signifying the presence of God Himself. It is on this hill that the psalm-writer ultimately focuses his attention. For this is a “psalm of ascent” and he is on pilgrimage to the city of God.

Today the hill of protection, provision and redemption is Mt. Calvary. It is the place where God cut an eternal covenant by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. All who look to this hill will find all the help they need in every circumstance. Lift up your eyes and behold!

How to Raise the Dead

As you go, preach, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons.” (Matthew 10:7-8)

If we are going to obey the Lord and raise the dead, we have to start somewhere. Here’s a good place to begin.

1. Get a revelation of heaven.

• There are no cemeteries in heaven.
• There are no funeral parlors in heaven.
• There are no undertakers in heaven.
• There are no obituaries in heaven.
  
• There are no memorial services in heaven.
• There are no burials in heaven.
• There are no dead people in heaven.

2. Remember the prayer Jesus taught us:

• Father, reveal who You are.
• Kingdom of God, come!
• Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven.

3. Pray that prayer.

We have authority to raise the dead, we just need to learn how to use it.

Rendering Thanks

What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits to me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of His people.
(Psalm 116:12-14)

How do we thank the LORD for all His benefits to us?

1. Take up the cup of Salvation. We receive what has been given--embrace it, welcome it. God has given us the cup of salvation, so the way we give thanks is to drink of it. Many people would object saying, “Oh, I’m not worthy,” as if it had anything to do with our worthiness. It does not. It is about His worthiness. It is the salvation that comes from Him. And it is about Jesus, for the Hebrew word for “salvation,” yeshuah, is the Hebrew name of Jesus, Yeshua.
2. Call on His name. How do we render thanks to the Lord? By receiving the cup of salvation--Jesus, His Son. How do we receive this cup? By calling on the name of the Lord. The Bible says that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13). His name is Jesus.
3. Give witness to His goodness. Testify. Say out loud how good the Lord has been to you. Speak of His salvation cup. Go public with it. Don’t hold back--let it all out. When your cup overflows, let it overflow on others.

Jesus has a cup overflowing with blessings and benefits for you--salvation, freedom, forgiveness, healing, protection, prosperity. Call on His name and drink deeply from that cup.

For more about the benefits of the Lord, see Six Things the devil Wants You to Forget (But God Wants You to Remember).

The Benefits of Listening

Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you!
O Israel, if you will listen to Me!
There shall be no foreign god among you;
Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
I am the LORD your God.
Who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

(Psalm 81:8-10)

Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies,
And turn My hand against their adversaries.
The haters of the LORD would pretend submission to Him,
But their fate would endure forever.
He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat;
And with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.

(Psalm 81:13-16)

God has something to say, and if we will listen, it will do us a world of good. It is a word of advice, caution and promise. Look at the benefits:

1. Freedom From False Gods. “There shall be no foreign god among you, nor shall you worship any foreign God.” Psalm 115 briefly describes what it is like to be enthralled to foreign gods:

Why should the Gentiles say,
“So where is their God?”
But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.

Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes the have, but they do not see’
They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
(Psalm 115:2-8)

Those who make idols are just as helpless as the idols themselves; those who worship are just as powerless. Not so for those who listen to the LORD! He alone is God and no other voice compares to His.

2. Covenant With the True God. If your listen to the Lord, we will hear Him say: “I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” The Hebrew name behind “LORD” is Yahweh, the personal name of God, the name by which He reveals Himself in covenant with His people. He is the God who delivers and sustains His people.

3. Filled With Good Things. “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” God is not out to scold you but to bless you. So open your mouth, enlarge your expectation and look to Him to provide for you in every need and desire.

4. All Enemies Subdued. “I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries.” There may be people out to get you, and they are, in that sense, enemies. But our real adversaries are spiritual: satan, who the accuser of God’s people and the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy; sickness and disease; poverty and lack; anger, lust and greed, etc. God is able to subdue them all, and if you will learn to listen to His voice and walk in obedience, you will see all these enemies vanquished in your life.

5. Sustenance, Sweetness and Satisfaction. “He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.” God has reserved the finest and the best for His people, and it begins here and now. Divine provision and rich fulfillment!

All those who receive the Lord Jesus Christ are well able to hear His voice, for He promised, “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:27). If you will hear and observe to do, you will be building your life on a firm foundation, that will withstand every adversity:

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25).

It is all about hearing the voice of God, believing what He promises, and doing what He says.

Remembering—the Essence of Thanksgiving

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And forget not all His benefits.

(Psalm 103:2)

Giving thanks is about remembering. One of the problems for the children of Israel in the wilderness is that, though God brought them ought of Egypt by His mighty hand — “He brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes” (Psalm 105:37) — they forgot. That is why an eleven day journey through the wilderness turned into forty years! Psalm 106 recounts the story of their forgetfulness and all the terrible things it brought them into:

Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders.
They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,
But rebelled by the sea — the Red Sea.

(Psalm 106:7)

They soon forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel.
But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tested God in the desert.
And He gave them their request,
But sent leanness into their soul.

(Psalm 106:13-15)

They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
Awesome things by the Red Sea.

(Psalm 106:21-22)

Then they despised the pleasant land;
They did not believe His Word,
But complained in their tents,
And did not heed the voice of LORD.

(Psalm 106:24-25)

The joined themselves also to Baal of Peor,
And ate sacrifices made to the dead.
Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
And the plague broke out among them.

(Psalm 106:28-29)

They mingled with the Gentiles
And learned their works;
They served their idols,
Which became a snare to them.
They even sacrificed their sons
And their daughters to demons.
And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and daughters,
Whom the sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with blood.
Thus they were defiled by their own works,
And played the harlot by their own deeds.

(Psalm 106:35-39)

Forgetfulness is a lack of faith. When we forget, be become disconnected from the all the blessing God has for us. But it is not God who disconnects us. We do that to ourselves by failing to remember and trust in His goodness.

Even in the midst of our forgetfulness, notice the extent of God’s goodness:

Nevertheless He regarded their affliction,
When He heard their cry;
And for their sake He remembered His covenant,
And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.
He also made them to be pitied
By all those who carried them away captive.

(Psalm 106:44-46)

We may forget, but God still remembers and reveals His mercy, even in the bad situation our forgetfulness has brought us.

How much more, then, will we enjoy the blessing and benefits of God when we remember to acknowledge and trust in His goodness — in a word, to be thankful! David offers the short list of those benefits:

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns [surrounds] you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth [desires] with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

(Psalm 103:2-5)

Thanksgiving is about remembering. God has provided so many wonderful blessings and benefits for you and me, let us not forget a single one of them, but lay hold of them all by faith and thanksgiving, trusting completely in the goodness of God.

(See also Six Things the Devil Wants You to Forget, But God Wants You to Remember)

Thanksgiving — Entering Into His Gates

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the LORD, He is God.
It is He who made us, and now we ourselves.
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

(Psalm 100)

Here is an invitation to the nations — to all peoples, tribes and tongues — and to you. Come and be filled with joy. Hoot and holler and celebrate with singing. Enjoy the LORD — He is for you, not against you.

Enter into a personal relationship with Him and experience the knowledge that He is God. He is revealing Himself in covenant with all who will come to Him.

Come and know your Creator — He is Yahweh (the Hebrew name behind the word “LORD,” all caps), and He is our Maker. We come from Him. Not only that, He is our shepherd, and will take care of us forever.

So how do you enter in? By thanksgiving and praise, being thankful to Him and blessing His name. In other words, it is by faith, coming in complete dependence upon Him, recognizing that He is the source of every good thing, and blessing His name.

What is His name? He has revealed Himself as Messiah (Isaiah 53) and His name is Yeshua (literally, “Yahweh Saves”). He is the Word John talked about, by whom all things were made (John 1:1-3). He is the Good Shepherd, who gives His life for His sheep (John 10). In English, we call His name Jesus.

Joy and celebration in the courts of God belong to all who come with thanksgiving and praise, trusting Him for everything and blessing His name — Jesus.

(See also Invitation of Joy to the Nations)

Prayer Walking at Westfield

For this Thanksgiving and Christmas season, I have taken up a special project of prayer — actually of prayer walking. Four or five days a week, I am going up to the local shopping mall, Westfield Shoppingtown, for some onsite prayer.

Jesus told a parable of some different soils — some hard and compacted, some rocky, some full of thorns and thistles, and some very good soil. The seed that was scattered was very good seed—the best, in fact — but the differences in the soil made all the difference in the world in regard to the harvest.

In another parable, Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a man who planted a seed, and then when about his business. The seed grew, though the man did not know how. He simply prepared good soil, planted good seed and then had full confidence that there would be a wonderful harvest — and there was.

So my project is to prepare the soil for a good and fruitful planting. During this next month, there is going to be a special opportunity for the seed of the Gospel to be presented as people go about their holiday preparations. It will be a witness of the coming of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, and also a consideration of why He came.

Yes, there is a lot of commercialization that has grown up around it, and for many or most people, the commercial tends to choke out the spiritual. That’s why I’m praying. I’m preparing the soil at Westfield to set an atmosphere where that will be receptive to the Gospel message inherent in the Christmas story. As I go up and down the mall (I probably look like I’m just walking the mall for my health), I am praying. Things like:

• Father, show how remarkable you are at Westfield.
• Show Your glory and reveal Who You are in this place (sometimes I actually sing this to a little blues riff).
• Kingdom of God, come to Westfield.
• Will of God, be done at Westfield just as it is being done in heaven.
• Sometimes I pray a particular Scripture that comes to mind.
• Sometimes I pray in tongues.
• Often I sing in tongues.
• And I release praise and thanksgiving as I go.
  

When I finish, I go to one of the sitting areas and have a little personal devotional time God. I have a handy little New Testament with Psalms. My habit is to open up the Psalms and beginning praying them to the Lord.

The Christmas story is good seed, and as it begins to be sown into the soil prepared at Westfield this season, I am watching for a harvest of joy and salvation for many who frequent the shops and kiosks of this place.

I have taken on this project because it is my conviction that things and places are sanctified (made holy, set apart for God) by prayer and thanksgiving. I invite you to join me in this, wherever you go this Christmas season.

See also:

• Father, Reveal Who You Are
• The Glory of God at Walmart
• Releasing the Glory

Believing With God

God is faithful — that is, He is full of faith. He believes everything He says and expects to see it all come to pass. Indeed, from His eternal perspective, He already sees it as accomplished.

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, God has said some wonderful things about you — and He believes everyone of them with all His heart. Though you and I may find it hard to see in each other, when God looks at us, He sees all His plans and promises in us as already fulfilled.

Our job now is simply to get into agreement with God about what He has already said and believes about us — to join our faith with His.

God has called you to live life full of faith, to believe with Him all the things He has promised in His Word. Indeed, God is calling us all to believe His Word with Him.

Obedience — Obligation or Opportunity?

Many Christians look at obeying God as nothing more than a matter of obligation — just something we gotta do. They treat the will of God as something to put up with, something to acquiesce to, whether we like it or not. It is just a sacrifice we make. What a drag!

But people who know only obligation, duty and sacrifice have not yet come to the place where love is reigning in their hearts.

• Love does not speak of obligation but of opportunity.
• Love does not dwell on the duty of obedience, but the delight of loving God.
• Love does not think of sacrifice, but of serving the one we love.
  

When we love, the will of God becomes, not something we gotta do, but something we get to do. For the will of God is the unveiling of the powerful passions, delights and desires of the He who loves us more than our words can described.

The Bible says that “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). But if we stop there, we have missed what God is about. Obedience and sacrifice are the technical terms of bean-counters and legalists, not the language of passionate lovers.

But God is a lover, not a legalist; He is about relationship, not rules. He gave Moses the Law, that is true. But it was not for the purpose of restricting His people; it was given to enable the relationship—He was after the heart of His people. The Law simply serves the relationship. The Bible says that “God is Love” (1 John 4:8), not Law.

Rule-watchers and score-keepers, who see everything in terms of obligation, eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is a bitter food that leads only to death. God-lovers, who see God’s will as opportunities to enter into divine passion and delight, are going after the Tree of Life — and they shall find its fruit in abundance (John 10:10).

Sow Good, Reap Grief?

Someone asked, “There are many people who sow good and reap grief. How do you explain it?”

If we sow good, then we will reap good, and if we are patient, we will see it come to pass.

If we have reaped grief, it is because we have sown grief. The Bible says that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). In other words, all have sown grief. God created us to participate in His glory — to reflect and express His glory, which is the manifestation of His goodness. But we have all declined in one way or another. The Bible calls that "sin." The Greek word is harmatano and literally means to "miss the mark." We've missed the mark of sharing in God's goodness.

We inherited this affliction of grief from Adam. He had the choice of eating from the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Tree of Life is relationship with God. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is about trying to be God ourselves, something we were never created to be. Adam "missed the mark" and passed his sickness of spirit on to us.

The good news is that Jesus Christ came to redeem us from that affliction, to forgive our sins and bring us back into relationship with Father God. Speaking of Messiah (the Hebrew name for Christ), the Bible says:

He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

(Isaiah 53:5-6)

In other words, Jesus took our place.

• We sowed the transgressions, but He reaped the wounds.
• We sowed the iniquities, but He reaped the bruises.
• He reaped our chastisement, we reaped His peace.
• He reaped our stripes, we reaped His healing.
• He reaped what we sowed, and we reaped what He sowed.

In the New Testament, we read more about this great exchange: "God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, He took our sin and so we could become righteous.

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). We should have reaped eternal death (which is separation from God), but Jesus gives us eternal life — the Tree of Life that Adam passed up.

We receive this great gift through faith in Jesus Christ. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Though the devil (the thief of this world) comes to steal, kill and destroy, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who comes to give us abundant life (John 10:10).

Now we are free to sow the good — something we could not do before when we were, as the Apostle Paul puts it, "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). We may still reap grief, but often it is because we still sow grief, or have not dealt with the grief we have already sown. Repentance and confession are wonderful means for healing and detoxifying in this regard. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Jesus has also given us authority over sickness and the demonic strongholds we may have let into our lives — we just need to learn how to exercise that authority (which is one of the things Christian discipleship is supposed to be about, but is often neglected).

Make the "Great Exchange" with Jesus Christ. Stop sowing grief. Keep sowing good. Grief will decrease, good will increase. Overcome evil with good.

The Reaches of Faith

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible."

—Corrie ten Boom