The High Calling of God

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...