Friday, February 27, 2009

I abandon the quarrel

Proverbs 20:3
"It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling."

Interpretation by definition of the Hebrew Lexicon of Proverbs 20:3 is as follows:
It is with a reputation of honor, glory, reverence for God and dignity that a man ceases or rests from strife or controversy with words; but every fool, one who despises wisdom or mocks when guilty will be meddling, breaking out in contention, carrying on a debate, though it is to his disgrace.

Proverbs 17:14
"The beginning of strife is like the letting out of water, so abandon the quarrel before it breaks out."

God has placed precious living waters on the inside of me, too precious to be let out by allowing strife to begin and empty me of those waters. I abandon the quarrel. By grace I write what is in my heart and I trust the All Consuming Fire...that He loves me and you enough to burn up what cannot remain in our lives.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 says "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."

My heart doesn't know, simply what it doesn't know but the Refiner will reveal it, lovingly.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

It Takes An Army

Malachi 3:10 says, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

Normally I would use italics to emphasize an entire scripture but in this case, the italics are important, in that these words were not in the original context but were added later. Keep that in mind. That in itself is not the main focus of this entry but is important to note for later reference.

Now, I know you have read and heard Malachi countless times, especially if you tithe and attend a church that tells the truth about it! Amen? But as I read this passage the other evening, I recognized someone in it that I never did before. God called himself, Lord of Hosts. I had to stop and ask why?

He could have said, "prove me now...saith your Source" or "prove me now...saith Jehovah Jireh, your provider." No, he said, "Prove me now with this...saith the Lord of armies...Lord of companies, mighty in battle!"

It is the Lord of Hosts, our heavenly Captain, the General that actually opens the window of heaven over our life and why is it Him? Because He knows the war that is ensued when someone is faithful with Kingdom finances and He is willing to go to war and send forth the heavenly hosts, the company that will battle to deliver the blessing to all those who will do what is right, just and holy, releasing to God what is His.

And what is this window? Interestingly enough, the word "window" is defined in the Hebrew as a place for lurking, to lurk, lie in ambush or lay wait. Can't you just see them now, the heavenly host, laying wait for your tithe and offering to give the order for the window to be opened? Just waiting to ambush your life with the blessing of God and remove any hindrance that gets in the way.

The "poured out blessing" is another thing altogether. "Pour" in the Hebrew means "to empty". This thing that God does is not a mamsy pamsy trickle! He takes the blessing, turns it upside down, inside out, all at once and empties it into our lives! He empties prosperity to give it to us! He empties every divine care and confers every happiness to us! To confer is to literally exchange views. He wants to pour out upon us in such a way that heaven is literally emptied into our life and we are looking then from heaven's perspective, right here on earth! A blessed perspective.

And now, take away every word from that passage in italics and read it now. That... not enough! I may have gone to the other side on this point but I believe God says to me, "Prove me! I'll do this but you'll see, with how I love you, that's not enough for Me! There's more!" Come to the other side! What a view!

Monday, February 9, 2009

What's in you?

Last night at the World Lighthouse here in Grantsville, MD, we watched an instrumental teaching (video), by Lance Wallnau. The topic was the Kingdom of God and the Seven Mountains but at the very beginning, he mentioned something that has been ringing in my heart since I heard it. He said, "When Elijah called for the rain and there appeared a cloud the size of a man's hand, it was because the rain was in him." WOW! What a statement! How can we prophesy and see it come to pass? Because it's in us! The provision is in us! The only way that Elijah could call for the rain...was because it was in him!

If you are not familiar with this part of history, it's 1 Kings 18:41-46
And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

What's in you just waiting to be called for? What part of the KINGDOM should you be determining to be in the earth now? What has God said to bring up out of your belly now? The "rain" is in you!