Day 94: A Jug Of God's Desire, If You Please!

Day 94: A Jug Of God's Desire, If You Please!

Read: Hosea 2:6 - 23

I guess you might say that today things might get kind of mushy for us guys out there. But there is a word that is pressing on my heart this morning. That word is desire. What is it that we desire? Peace and Quiet - absolutely! Our own fair share of Wealth and Prosperity? A most admirable and laudable aspiration. More success than failure? Yes indeed success is very good and more of it would seem to me to become a confidence builder and a healthy balance of failure makes sure we keep on trying and learning. Love, relationship, family and God? You have hit the nail on the head!

Which brings me to the Book of the Prophet Hosea. I want to go back to a book of the Bible that was one of the most profound and most amazing love stories in the Bible. Many of you will have never heard of it. Many of you will have never even read of it. The book is about Hosea's relationship with his wife and children, their up and down, on again off again love for one another. It’s also a mirror picture of God’s love for us. His name has a very profound meaning. His name means “salvation” in the Hebrew language. He was bringing the word of God's desire to love all, to His people of Israel.

God was looking out toward His people, those who were called by His name were denying Him, turning their backs on Him, they were worshiping false gods. They were doing all these things. God was heartbroken about it. God said to him, “Hosea, take yourself an unfaithful wife just like Israel has been unfaithful to me.” Basically what He desired was Hosea to not only speak His words to the people of Israel but He desired Hosea to feel the pain that He felt. He desired that he experience what He felt when He spoke those words. God desired that the people feel His great anguish.

The first thing we see is that our personal desires just don’t satisfy when it comes to our relationship with God. We have to realize that the desires that we put in our own lives, that take the place of God, just won’t satisfy us or Him. Listen, God desires a personal love relationship with you as an individual. He created you. He loves you. He even uses marriage as a metaphor of what that relationship is about. That’s what He desires for us. He desires to be first. He desires to be the center, primary in our lives. There is nothing more life giving than that. When you desire to start sharing that with someone you make a huge impact on their life. There is no substitute for God.

Let us pray: Redeeming God, Author of my life, Lord of all that is love, Change my heart oh God Make it ever true. Change my heart oh God, May my one deepest, most truest desire be only You. In the name of my hearts greatest desire - Jesus my Lord!!!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSFdegPWiqE
I Desire Jesus - Hillsong Live (2012 New Album Cornerstone DVD) Lyrics/Subtitles (Worship Song)
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Hillsong Live New DVD Album, Cornerstone, 2012,

I Desire Jesus - Hillsong Live (2012 New Album Cornerstone DVD) Lyrics/Subtitles (Worship Song)

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Hillsong Live New DVD Album, Cornerstone, 2012,

Day 93: A Cup Of Mystery, If You Please!

Day 93: A Cup Of Mystery, If You Please!

Read: Romans 16:25 - 27

I like a good mystery. I like a good mystery that from the first page to last keeps you in suspense. I love a mystery where there is an enticingly slow build up from the introduction of the characters, the scene of the crime described with utmost detail with emotion and great passion. There is the character development, the step by step interviewing of each of the potential suspects, the revelation of all the subtle hints to the upcoming twists in the plot. The drum beats faster and faster as the plot gets ever thicker with all the suspense being built up. Page after page it continues then just as you get to the final pages when you are sure you have solved it - drum roll - The Butler did it!!!

Mysteries about God are another matter. I think this is because of two reasons. First people will tell me even before you start reading the book you know the answer - It was God all the time - beginning to end, Alpha to Omega, first page to the last page. Now what fun is the mystery if you already know how it is all going to turn out? So there is the second reason - there is a little voice going around inside of my head that is saying if the mystery is already solved, that I should know and understand all there is to know about the author. After all it is the only possible mystery that is solvable. But this is God. So I obsess over studying the Bible trying to solve what is unsolvable.

But I am wasting my time, but I do not care about that. God will remain the eternal mystery. After all, who can know or comprehend the mind of one who created us in His image and we are all preciously unique. Can we understand all there us to know every single person that is alive today? There is simply not enough time in eternity to accomplish it. Personally I believe that God loves being the greatest of all mysteries. The greatest mysteries ever written entice us to read them, get to know all the characters, study them, become them, identify with them, model our lives to try and live like them.

Paul wrote to all believers: 'Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever! Amen. (Romans 16:25 - 26)

I have called these "fascinating words" because they speak of the whole God mystery as if it had been moving forward from the beginning of human history, all the while it remains veiled, hidden, obscured from human understanding. What is so fascinating is that I can finally stop the impossible task of trying to figure it all out. What I know, what any of us will ever know; will be individual to each of us. God will always uniquely strengthen us according to what needs we have. He will reveal the right portion of His great mystery to each of us at the exact moment we need that revelation in life. And that is an absolute relief for me, with assurance, to be able to hold onto all the possibilities God has in store for all who love the greatest of all mysteries.

My personal prayer for each of you today is as Paul prayed for the believers all over the known world: 'Now to God who is able to strengthen you ....... according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret but is now disclosed ....... according to the command the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith - to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever! Amen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmA9fPEpe4
Indescribable - Chris Tomlin (Music Video With Lyrics)
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Indescibalble by Chris tomlin music video with lyrics

Indescribable - Chris Tomlin (Music Video With Lyrics)

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Indescibalble by Chris tomlin music video with lyrics

Day 92: One Cup each Of Order and Obedience, Please?

Day 92: One Cup each Of Order and Obedience, Please?

Read: Genesis 22:1 - 14

I like to have order in my life. I don't always like to be obedient. In fact order is a whole lot easier to like than obedience is. Order is something that I place a high level of importance and value to. There is a created order to all things in life and anything outside of that is Chaos and I have zero interest in trying to live within that. When it comes right down to it, truth is I feel the same way about obedience as I do about order. I have to be obedient, that is okay. It becomes a lot more difficult to remain obedient to all the important people I have to be obedient to - my God and my Wife.

Order and obedience are very important to me - and that is probably something of a gross understatement. I have spent great parts of my days and my life fighting chaos tooth and nail. Disobedience just does not sit very well within neither my heart nor my spirit. I guess I just look at look at both as nearly inseparable as can be. Without one there can never be the other. Considering the life circumstances most of us can find ourselves on any given day the struggle to keep order and be obedient is an epic one.

The Author of the Created Order is God and God alone - not me and certainly not you who are reading this right now. Order is ultimately found in the way God orders our life. I have come to slowly and painfully realize that when I do not see order in my life, it does not mean it is not there. It means that I struggle too hard to see my own efforts to keep it and struggle too hard against seeing God's effort on my own behalf.

Obedience means listening for God’s Directions and not listening only to those that I have set up, or only those I believe will keep my own chaos at bay (Genesis 22:1 - 2).

Obedience means following God’s Direction for my life not the one based on my own map. You see, my map and even your map gives us order, keeps chaos away from us by as great a distance as humanly possible (Genesis 22:3).

Obedience means we must expend great energy struggling and striving and following our God in Faith. It is our hearts desire toward remaining obedient to this fight that we keep God's created order close by (Genesis 22:4 - 8).

Obedience means following through in Faith (Genesis 22:9 - 12). It is knowing when to 'put the knife down' as Abraham did. Surrendering ourselves that our desire for maintaining our part of the Created Order and acts of obedience are tests from God. That our God will reward our obedience to this Created Order (Genesis 22:13 - 14).

Let us Pray: Father, we thank You that through You alone we are guided through our lives, not by our own strength or wisdom, but in the knowledge and wisdom of our omniscient God. It is not by might, nor by power, but by Your Spirit that we can stand against the tactics of chaos as we struggle and strive to build our foundation of faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNjKdfjUaw0
ORDER MY STEPS IN YOUR WORD
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praise and worship song with lyrics

ORDER MY STEPS IN YOUR WORD

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praise and worship song with lyrics

Day 91: I believe We Can Fly

Day 91: I believe We Can Fly

Read: Isaiah 40:21 - 31

Ever thought about how cool it would be, to be able to fly? I mean you with just your body, soaring above the earth; you, banking over the forests; you skimming over the rivers; you darting through the canyons; you breathing deeply in the fresh air of free and effortless flight! Almost everybody at one time or another has wondered what it would be like to fly like a bird, If not at the present, then at least when you were only a kid you probably thought about it. Slowly coming back to earth and you remember that you can never break the laws of gravity. There seems to be something heavier.

Perhaps it’s not just gravity that seems to be holding you down, but everything. For as your mind comes back on line and you think about the things that lie behind, that lie directly in front of you and those things that lie ahead, your shoulders will visibly slump as if you were actually carrying something. There may not be anything visible to the eye, but it feels real. Truth is, you are carrying something, probably many.

There are burdens that bring there own gravity to life, burdens that don’t show up on bathroom scale. But you can still detect them. You can detect them in your face made weary by what it has endured. You can detect them in eyes made sad by what they have seen. There are work issues. There are family issues, the people you love. You see your parents getting older; perhaps becoming infirm. You see your children struggling in this or that. Perhaps you’ve hit a rough patch in your marriage. Someone you know is dying or has already succumbed. Yep, there will be no flying today.

And yet, what does the text say? “....but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Perhaps we spoke too soon! The Lord says that we can “soar on wings like eagles!” I don’t know about you, but he’s got my attention! He is suggesting that there is a way to overcome the gravity of our lives, a way to lighten our loads, a way rise above it all. Has he got your attention? He certainly has mine!

“Do you not Know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God,....He will not grow tired and weary and his understanding no one can fathom.” “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. “ “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like Eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” God wants you to soar. And the way it happens is through the changing of perspective. When you begin to entrust your life to him instead of yourself your perspective is changed. Everything in life is dwarfed against the largeness and authority of the Lord. Gravity is overcome by faith!

Let us pray: Lord, in the midst of all those things of life that keep me grounded, work with me, come alongside of me, help me to change my worldly perspectives. Help me to overcome the gravity of my life, help me to lighten my load, place before me a way to rise above it as Jesus Christ rose above the grave. Lord, I truly believe I can fly!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUpPVOEkdA
I Believe i can fly lyrics
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This is my supposed to be my 1st video i made, and i got over 2500 views! Thank you for all watch,comment,subscribing,and flavoriting. I do not claim ownership...

I Believe i can fly lyrics

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This is my supposed to be my 1st video i made, and i got over 2500 views! Thankyou for all watch,comment,subscribing,and favoriting. I do

Day 90: As The Phoenix Rises From The Flames .....

Day 90: As The Phoenix Rises From The Flames .....

Read: Psalm 138, Proverbs 13:12

From a young age I was apprehensive and restless, searching for something to fill a void within me and give meaning to my existence. When I was 18 I entered Navy Basic Training to continue my search in a faraway land (Illinois), in another harsh disciplined environment (8 long weeks of military training), separated from my family for the very first time in my life. 

 

There I went to work and lived an independent life among a bunch of other guys my age, continuing to seek answers to my questions. Is it always supposed to be so incredibly difficult? Is my whole life meant to be defined as being nearly impossible? Is the life we live forever destined to be mired in failure?

David was a man who walked with God for many, many ,many years. David was a man who had been in the deepest trouble many different times. And David when he was in trouble, When he was at a spiritual low, Looked up and prayed and ask God to revive him. And every time David stopped to ask God to revive him. Guess what? "God did!"

For myself I was just incredibly naive about such matters of God and faith and the ways of the world. I stopped and left home never looking back at my parents when I boarded the plane for the first time. Truth be told, I never stopped to look up either. This is how my life went simply because I was never brave or bold enough to rise up.

3 On the day I called, you answered me,
you increased my strength of soul. (Psalm 138:3)

Then there was the day that I could no longer rise up and I did like David did, I looked in the only direction I could - UP and prayed and asked God to raise me up, to revive me and He did! Looking back at that night I realize that for the first time in my life I was raised. I was revived like the Phoenix from the flames of complete nothingness.

Today, as experience tells me, when I pray and God answers that prayer, that should encourage me to pray on. When I ask God for something great and God gives me something great. Then the next time I need something great I am encouraged to pray on. YES, Faith comes by praying and waiting, but it also comes out of our daily living and and the absolute excitement from seeing God answer and move and work.

1 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
2 I bow down towards your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;
for you have exalted your name and your word
above everything. (Psalm 138:1 - 2)

Pray:

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands. (Psalm 138:7 - 8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56zx_Xr4Uwc

You Lift Me Up- The Afters

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READ! I hope everybody enjoys the video, this video was uploaded on my 14th birthday by the way. Please don't post any bad comments or put cuss words in them...

Day 89: When Catastrophe Just Keeps on Singing

Day 89: When Catastrophe Just Keeps on Singing

Read: Psalm 137

If you know much about OT literature/writings, you will realize that a lot of times, especially in Psalms, that the stories were written as poetic expressions of personal feelings/emotions, due to the circumstances, good or bad, and let the truth be said here that at one too many points in Israelite history 'catastrophe' was appropriate too. All these ranges of expression came directly from deep within the wounded heart, from what was taking place in the writers day to day life. Songs of peace and hope, of prayer, comfort and love suddenly, when we are least prepared to change our tunes, throw up their hands surrendering themselves to the Song of Catastrophe.

One of the foremost examples of this is here in Psalm 137. For me, this is the toughest passage in the Bible. It is the song of the hopeless, it is the song of deepest disgust, it is the song of deepest anger and hatred. It is a song sung with the greatest possible passion against God and the Babylonians. God calls us to sing great songs of His salvation but where is this great and glorious salvation to be found in these words the exiles sang: 'Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!' Wow. In my heart of hearts, I grieve greatly for such words as these. God must've died!!!

Now, I know there ain’t nobody in this place that’s ever felt like that, but let me tell you I can bear witness to what the writer’s saying. I mean, when blessings are just overflowing all around you, you’ve got plenty of money, lots to eat, everybody’s healthy, miracles are all around us, etc.. We just can’t help but shout the victory for the great goodness of the Lord. But suddenly, one day the bottom falls out. Suddenly sickness has attacked you, you went to the checking acct. and there’s nothing there, no food in the cabinets, you have a foreclosure notice, your spouse is leaving ...!!! Will catastrophe ever stop shouting its horrific songs into our ears?

We think to ourselves, how can we praise God in the midst of all this? But I will tell you, and I pray that there will be a time when you can believe it, that in the moments of deepest despair, that’s the time to lift up a praise offering to the king. We have got it all backwards. We think all we have to do is wait until everything is smoothed out, and peaceful before we start singing praises again. When the greatest Songs of Catastrophe have bombarded your ears long enough, just slowly begin to sing Jesus. Gradually find one more reason each day to sing of God and His greater goodness. THERE IS GREATER POWER IN YOUR PRAISE THAN THERE IS IN YOUR DESPAIR!

Let us pray: Ever Living God, help me to experience that in the midst of my very worst of times, when my mind is becoming convinced that you have died and left me behind, that within my heart of hearts, I am alive and well living in the truth that You are alive and well and living within me (John 14:23). Praise God for our Resurrection!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghC3gqNQJPQ
Official God's Not Dead (Like A Lion) Lyric Video
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Watch the official lyric video for the brand new Newsboys single "God's Not Dead (Like A Lion)"!

Official God's Not Dead (Like A Lion) Lyric Video

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Watch the official lyric video for the brand new Newsboys single "God's Not Dead (Like A Lion)"!

Day 88: When Trouble Comes A Calling On You

Day 88: When Trouble Comes A Calling On You

Read: Psalm 91

It is always somewhere where we would rather it not be. It is forever trying to pop up and surprise you when you least suspect it. It is always lurking around some corner. It is always an ever present house guest. It is always trying making itself at home. It lives, it breaths to bring a measure of lasting grief into your life at the exact moment when you absolutely do not need it. When you are nowhere near ready to receive its presence there it is. The last house guest you will ever need in your life - its trouble!

But the question that we as believers need to address today is: “What Do You Do… When Trouble Comes?” In other words, how do you respond…? How do you react…? What exactly is the correct measure… What are the appropriate steps that must be taken… If we are to make it through… When trouble comes a calling on your doorstep and you are not dressed for it. When trouble comes; you need to know how to deal with it, because in actuality, you don’t have a choice…! It is planning to stay awhile.

Psalm 91 presents us with one fundamental issue that we need to consider if we are to survive during this time of trouble and uncertainty… It lends to us, the potential advantage of how to overcome the adversity… It sheds light on what we need to do… When trouble comes…! If you want to make it through tough times… If you want to make it when trouble comes… You must first strive to remember that...

HE’S STILL GOD; OUR EVER VIGILANT PROTECTOR (verses 1 - 8): What a profound statement this is in verse one… God is our refuge…. (God is…) In other words, God is a safe place… A safety zone… A shelter from danger... He will send His angels to you. The old folks used to say; "He will hide you", “He’s a shelter in the time of storm…”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had some storms in my life… I’ve had some troubled times in this life… I’ve had some times where it seemed like I wasn’t going to make it… Some times when I didn’t know whether I was coming or going… Some times when I didn’t know which way was up…! But I am very glad that I had a refuge…

I’m glad that I had a place of shelter… For not only does the text inform us that He’s our refuge… But Psalms 91 tells me that “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide… Under the shadow of the Almighty… For He is my refuge… And my fortress… In Him will I trust…” What I’m trying to say is that … “I’ve got a secret place…! I’ve got a shelter…! And when things get bad, I can run to the secret place…!” (“Who Can I Run To?”) I can run to God when trouble comes calling on me.

Today when you pray, pray the words of this magnificent Psalm. Make it deeply personal to your needs. Create great passion, profound purpose through your deep down desire for God alone to come calling on the trouble that came calling on you.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntd18gxdSGk
Psalm 91
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Psalm 91 by Lincoln Brewster

Psalm 91

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Psalm 91 by Lincoln Brewster