The High Calling of God

Psalms 131 Verses 2, 3 “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord, from this time forth and forever." We have been learning how to have that perfect peace, that peace that passes our need to understand ( Phil. 4: 6-7 ). Continuing on in this short but powerful Psalm. The word- calmed —in the KJV= “behaved". In the original it means “to adjust,counterbalance". Quieted means to “to be dumb, to perish, to stop, cease, hold peace, rest, be silent, stand (be) still". WE need to learn to ADJUST our behavior! We need to yield our souls to God and His workings in our lives as well as the lives of others. Like a  "weaned child" who no longer fusses after mother’s milk, no longer stressed out that you’re not going to get what you think you need or want- but calm, reassured, trusting. You have seen those Christians- throwing temper tantrums because

Psalms 131 Recently this little Psalm was brought to my attention. I say "little" but this Psalm packs a giant punch right in the middle of all the anxiousness and stress that is going on around us in the world today- and especially at this time of year. It only has three verses but I am going to break this up into two parts. Verse 1: "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me."   NKJV Wow! If we could just get that verse into our spirit and live by it, we would alleviate a lot of stress in our lives. We should not presume we are anything in God- high, exalted, lifted up and not compare ourselves with others. That is where a lot of unrest comes in. We tend to constantly compare ourselves with others. We even do it subconsciously! We need to know what God wants us to do- do it- and leave the others to God. This will chase away most of the stress, unrest and questi

Philippians 4:6-7  "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Especially at this season there is a lot of talk about PEACE- the PEACE of God; Jesus Christ in the Son of PEACE; PEACE, goodwill to all men. We talk a lot about it but do we really know what it is like to experience it. How many of you like to put puzzles together? Don’t you just hate it when you get to the end and find out you have one or several pieces missing? It makes the entire puzzle worthless. We learned we can’t put puzzles together on our table and leave them there without covering them up when we weren’t working on it. We found out that Ginger, our Golden Retriever would go along the edge of the table and just swipe off entire sections of the puzzle and eat them. It was nothing to find out that an enti

Remember the old railroad signs-- STOP-LOOK-LISTEN ? Sometimes that is what we as Christians need to do. We live in a world full of stress and anxiety. It shows up in our health, our conversation and our way of life. God didn't design us to be caught up in the wacky world of stress. We are not designed to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. God never intended us to say yes to every opportunity that came along. He doesn't want us to be so busy that we forget all about Him. With all that is happening in the world today, we absolutely need to find a place of quiet and rest for our souls on a daily basis. Sometimes on an hourly basis! Psalm 46:10 says to "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" We are to be still-it means to cease, be idle. After all the descriptions of what is taking place in this chapter-- even though the earth be removed, the mountains carried into the sea; though its waters

Remember that tomorrow- Sunday, November 13 is the IDOP for our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters . We should be praying for all Christians on a regular basis, but this day has been set aside as an international event. Remember those who in prison or being persecuted for their faith. The following link will take you to one of the websites http://www.idop.org/ Hebrews 13:3 -- "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them-those who are mistreated-since you yourselves are in the body also." The following list is some of the things that I pray for them. As you begin to pray for our brothers and sisters the Lord will lead you into the direction He desires. We must identify with the body of Christ-not just those we know, or who worship like we do or who look like us. The Church in the free world must begin to recognize the rest of the body.   1. Pray that their faith remains strong and that they are great witnesses to their persecutors of the love and forgiveness

John 3:16: "For God so loved the world tat He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Galatians 6:9: "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." I have always been the type of person that gets discouraged rather quickly when I don't see immediate results. Though the Lord has helped me a great deal with this over the years, I still stuggle with it from time to time. I admit, I have complained and talked with God about this a lot. I remember one specific time several years ago I was asking, rather complaining, that it seemed like no one was responding as I thought they should- for example- I would invite people to church, I would talk to people about the Lord, I would try to be part of people's lives and give them the Good News of Jesus Christ- I would try to do what the Lord would want me to do--and much of the time it fell on deaf ea

Jeremiah 4:1-4 Hosea 10:12 In chapter 3 of Jeremiah there is a call to repentance to backsliding Israel. In Jeremiah 4:3 - the Lord is saying to break up the fallow ground. Fallow ground was once fruitful and productive and then plowed over. There was no seed sown in it and it has become unproductive. The land allowed thorns and thistles to grow up in it. It is useless and good for nothing. At first I was thinking that God did this—but the Word says that WE are to break up the fallow ground. WE are the one responsible for circumcising our hearts. WE are the one responsible to respond to the dealings of God! Mathew Henry: "An unconvinced, unhumbled heart is like fallow-ground, untilled, unoccupied. It is ground capable of improvement; but it is unfenced, unfruitful, overgrown with thorns and weeds, which are the natural product of the corrupt heart; and if it be not renewed with grace, rain and sunshine are lost upon it.” Many Christians are in this position. They were on

Recently the Lord showed me a couple things that He is doing in the Church today.  One of the things He is dealing with is the sin of complacency. Webster defines it as- " contentment, satisfaction, esp. self-satisfaction". Now there is nothing wrong with feeling contented or satisfied with the Lord. We should feel this way. But when we become self-satisfied to the point we don't go any further- that is what the Lord hates. In Jeremiah 48:11, 12- The Lord spoke out against the country of Moab- saying- "Moab has been at ease from his youth; He has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent has not changed. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, That I shall send him wine- workers who will tip him over and empty his vessels and break the bottles."  The dregs or lees menitoned here has to do with wine making. The lees were deposits

Recently I was doing a study on Elijah. I Kings 17:1-7 tells how that after he prophesied to King Ahab that there would be no rain or dew for three years- the Lord told him to go east and hide by the brook Cherith which flows into the river Jordan. There he was able to drink from the brook and he was fed by ravens. I looked up this word “Cherith”. The location was unknown. The word in the original means “to covenant, make a league” . The place was a hiding place for Elijah. It was a place where he could quench his thirst and satisfy his hunger. It was a place where he could make a covenant, a league with the Lord. I thought- how much we need those places in our lives. That “secret place”, that “hiding place” where our spiritual hunger and thirst is satisfied. Our prayer closet is that secret place. It is where we go to be alone with God. It is during those times of being shut in with God that He fills us with His spiritual manna and living water. How much we need this in these da

 In continuing with the subject of integrity this bring us to the man Job. In one day Job had his 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys stolen and the servants that tended them were killed by raiders. His 7000 sheep and the servants that tended them were burned up and then worst of all, his 10 children were all killed by a violent storm! In all that it says that Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Then later Job was afflicted with terrible boils all over his body and his wife told him to curse God and die. But Job HELD FAST TO HIS INTEGRITY (2:3) In the end God restored all that he had lost- actually In some things He gave him twice as much as he had before. Whatever we go through, if we maintain our integrity before God and live righteously, God will bring us through the trial. In chapter 2:3- God told satan that Job "still holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without a cause." Our trials are not meant to destroy u

Psalms 15:1,2: "Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle: Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth from the heart." The word uprightly, according to Strong’s Concordance actually means integrity, truth, without blemish, without spot. Webster defines it as a “state or quality of being complete, undivided, unbroken, entirety.” A man’s word used to mean something. Just a handshake used to seal a deal. I remember as a young adult first out on my own. I needed tires for my car. I went to a business run by a man that my family had known for years and did a lot of business with him. When I saw the tires that I wanted and that I didn’t have enough money to pay for them at one time, I asked him if I could pay the rest later. He made a statement that really hit home. He told me that he had done enough business with my father that he knew that he could trust me too.I never forgot that. I knew my father was a man of his word.

Psalm 139:23, 24 - "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." David is praying and asking the Lord to search his heart and reveal any hidden or secret sins so that he could confess them and be right with God. So many times our thoughts get us into trouble. It isn't a sin to have a bad thought, but when we mull it over, talk about it, it eventually turns into a sinful act. We must stop sinful thoughts where they start- in the mind. That is where the battle is either won or lost! But God has not left us defenseless against our flesh. The Word of God is our sure defense. Hebrews 4:12 says "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." When we read the Word with an open heart and with the

I have been thinking about this word a lot recently. For over a year now I have been trying to maintain a healthy balanced diet and weight. Previously I had come to the conclusion that to keep myself from the health conditions that my family had- namely heart disease and diabetes- I was going to have to do something about it. I wasn’t going to wish it away. I realized like never before that I needed to make some life style changes. I also realized that this was going to be something that I would have to adjust to for the rest of my life. Just going on a diet was not going to do the trick. And though I have no guarantee that I will never get those health conditions, I made up my mind that I was at least going to do my part to keep them away. I made a commitment to myself to change. Over this past year I have tried various things for the exercise that the health professionals say I must do in order to get down to the healthy weight they say I should be. At first I was walking, but with t

Deuteronomy 15: 16,17 —“And if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise." This was the law concerning bondservants. After they had served six years, in the seventh year they were allowed to go free. But if the servant chose to stay with his owner, the owner would take an awl and pierce his ear to the door as a sign of ownership. God is calling His church to this place of service, of worship, of life. The thing here was that the servant had a choice. He was allowed to go free at this particular time. He did not have to stay with his master. But the servant desired to stay---- because 1)- he loved his master; 2) he loved his house; 3) he prospered with his master. That is just so neat--- the servant knew where he prospered . We know wher

Luke 1:17: "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." This verse was talking about the ministry of John the Baptist. He was to preach and make way for the Lord Jesus Christ. He preached "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand." I personally believe that we are at the beginning of the Day of the Lord spoken of by the prophets. We certainly are in the Last Days to be sure! It is a great and terrible day when God sends His judgments. I believe that what the world is experiencing now is the PREVIEW of things to come. We need to be ready! The only place of safety is in the Lord-in the Name of the Lord-walking, abiding, living and dwelling in His presence on a 24/7 basis. As with anything worthwhile and lasting-we have to have some basic training. Anyone wishing to join any branch of the armed forces will h

A couple months ago I was asking the Lord why it seemed like things seemed so much more difficult at times than when I first got saved. Why aren't things as simple as they used to be? The answer He gave me was very interesting-just one word- "Barnacles". So I did some research. I found out some very interesting facts: barnacles are parasites that live off other creatures. They also can grow on inanimate objects such as boats. Many barnacles cause scars for years to come. They suck in the very flesh of the whale and zap it of its strength and speed. Those animals that stay in fresh water are less likely to acquire barnacles. With an object such as a boat, a layer of protective paint is required so that the barnacles won't attach to it. Many of us in our Christian lives at one time or another have acquired "barnacles" in the spirit. Hebrews 12:1 states: "lay aside the weight which doth so easily ensnare us and run with endurance the race that is set b

Philippians 3:12-14: "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." God just keeps dealing with me on these verses. There is so much here one could go on for years if not longer. Previously I wrote that I believe this call to be the original call that God made from the very beginning- that heavenly divine call of mankind to Himself. He made this available through the sacrificial death of His Son Jesus Christ. It IS available to every man, woman and child, though it is up to each individual to accept and receive it and thereby live in it. As 1 Peter 2:9 states: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a ho

After the last post the Lord opened more thoughts on this upward call from Philippians 3:12-14. I saw that how in 1 Peter 2:9 we are called out of darkness into His marvelous light to show forth the glory of the Lord. The only way we can do this is by staying in the Light. I remember as a kid an item that my brothers and I would get, usually at our fair. It was either a cross or a picture of Christ surrounded by material that when you kept it in the light, it would glow in the dark. We used to see whose object would stay glowing the longest. The key was to keep it in the light for prolonged periods of time. I thought- YES- that is what God is requiring of us. We need to spend prolonged periods of time in His Light so that when darkness comes to us or those around us, we will glow in the dark. How do we spend those times in His Light? What are some of the things that we can do so we absorb His Light in our lives so we can be shining examples of the Lord Jesus Christ to a dark world