What’s In Your Closet?

Matthew 6:5-6, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

In the margin of my bible, next to this passage I have written, “God, I came for you to see me.”    I know enough to realize that if this is my heart before Him, when no one else is looking, it will be my heart when everyone is.  There’s a comfort in knowing that when I’m crowded by what man sees, what man hears and what man thinks of me,  I am in danger of losing sight of God but God  will never lose sight of me. 

I have to realize that I can do and say alot of things without my heart ever truly being revealed.  My heart is a “secret” part.  One of the many parts that God sees, searches and tries the reins of.  No one but God can see it beating on the inside of me and only He can answer it.

Today, when I was reading this passage, I was prompted to take a look at the word closet.  You are going to love this!  Love. it.

The word closet means storage chamber or store room.  I know, obvious.  But I have never realized this before. When we go into our closet to pray, we are literally stepping into the store room.  All of the inventory of heaven is there available to us in that place and if what Father says is true, because we go there and allow Him to search us out in secret, He will openly reward us!  What we access there by faith, spiritually seeing, hearing, tasting, touching and smelling, will be rewarded us openly in the natural with a tangible seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling. 

God sees in secret.  One of the secret things, I truly believe is “faith”.  No one else can see our faith until God first sees it himself.

 

The Great Leveling

Recently, I was talking with at very dear friend who has been going through  what she refers to as a “valley”. There have been countless songs, devotions and testimonies given concerning “valley seasons”.  And I don’t discount that each of us will encounter trials and even low points that God will inevitably bring us through because that is the kind of God we serve.  But something in this “valley” statement provoked me I have to admit. 

What does the word say about the valley?

Genesis 26 tells us that Isaacs servants dug in the valley and found there a well of springing water. 

2 Samuel 8:13 speaks of the valley of salt.

2 Kings 3:16 speaks of supernatural provision.  Ditches filled with water to drink, even without rain.

Psalm 23 is one we all know. The valley of the shadow of death.  It’s there that David said he feared no evil because the Lord’s rod and His staff were a comfort to him, these speaking of the Lord’s protection and support and most importantly, presence.

Psalm 84 describes another valley we walk through.  Baca.  It’s the valley of weeping made into wells.

Song of Solomon 6 tells us that there are fruits of the valley.

Isaiah 22:1 a valley of vision.  (Burdensome in connotation)

Isaiah 40:4 & 5  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 

Isaiah 63:14 might suggest that the valley is an avenue used by God for divine deliverance.

Isaiah 65 :10 tells us that it is a place for the herds to lay down and for His people who have sought Him.

Hosea 2:5 mentions that the valley (of Achor) was given as a door of hope.  Achor is mentioned many times throughout the old testament and means disturbance or trouble.

Joel 3:2 & 12 tells us that the valley is a place where God pleads for His people and judges the heathen round about.  This in fact is the valley of decision, where many are” on the fence.”

Joel 3:18 encourages us that the valley shall be watered.

Luke 3:5 “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

I sincerely thought that after taking a look at the valley, there would be enough evidence to back the “valley” theory.  However, I feel rather encouraged.  But if your not convinced, I rest my case with the following.

The reason I entitled this The Great Leveling is because as I was researching, I found that the word valley is in the word 126 times, with only one of those being found in the new testament.  And that one verse is one and the same.  Isaiah 40:4 and Luke 3:5.

And I think it’s beautiful the revelation that comes from these.  The glory of the Lord that was prophesied that all flesh would see together (Isaiah 40) is the salvation of God (Luke 3).  Jesus brought forth the great leveling.  Friend, there are no obstacles between us and God.  No valley we have to walk through to get to Him.  No mountain to overcome, no bend in our path, no rough patches that could possibly keep us from seeing His salvation.  He has made himself accessible to us!  Unhindered access.  Praise God!

*Special thanks to Donny Hinkle for the title!

 

A Following

Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of  the Lord forever.”

Do you see that?

Surely.

This is not conditional.  It is not based on what you have done right or wrong.

Have you stopped to consider the order of this particular verse? 

His goodness is going to catch up with you first because it’s the goodness of God that leads man to repentance.  (Romans 2:4)  So whether you are  having a good day or a bad day in your estimation, His goodness is pursuing you.  His heart for you is to lead you to repentance and put you on the right path.

Mercy is close behind.  Because it’s His mercy that will take the punishment of your error, your failures and shortcomings. 

ALL the days of your lives.  None excluded!

 

Fishers of Men

Matthew 4:18-20

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

This morning as I read this, I realized that when Jesus called these men promising to make them “fishers of men”, He was using words that they could relate to because they were in fact fisherman. 

It’s important to note that to become anything that will be of profitable service, we must follow Jesus.  He wasn’t asking them to leave their profession or their skill or craft.  He was simply saying, let Me employ you in this.  He was emphasising the greater purpose in what they “do” from day to day.  A higher employment. 

Whatever trade we have taken up, from President of the United States to janitor, we must let it be “of men”.  There is a higher way to be president and a higher way to be janitor. 

What is it that you are employed to do right now?  If you are a Christian, you are employed by Father God.  You are in the family business.  A growing family business, if you will.  Fill in the blank here.  If you are a _________, become a _________of men. 

That word of; for being such a simple small word, it hold’s great definition.  It carries great weight. 

One definition is: a function word to indicate relationship between a result determined by a function or operation and a basic entity

[Your trade, skill, craft, etc.]  Whatever you are being used to do, however you are employed right now is meant to forge a relationship.  In what we do, we can either lead men to God or keep them from Him.  

Jesus called us to watch Him, keep our mind on Him and to attend to Him and as we “do”, we will become of service “of” men.  He wants us, in whatever we do, to be the bridge to relationship between Him and them.

Again, Matthew 4:19 says, “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  

Here’s my paraphrase.  Follow me, and I will make you most effective and prosperous in what you do.  How rich are you?  (Not counting your paycheck. ) 

 

Call it!

I’ve been spending time in the beginning with the Beginning lately. I have this insatiable craving to know God more intimately from beginning to end. Front cover to back of His wonderful word. So, here I am, reading Genesis 2 (and might I add, it’s taken me four days to get here from chapter 1, it’s just that good) and it came to me, by way of verse 19, that all that God had made, all He created, He brought to Adam to name.

　

　

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.　

　

　

Do you think for one minute, if God brought you all of creation, that you could name it? I think Adam had to have been firing on all of his brain “cylinders”! Don’t you? Just thinking about that gives makes me want to short circuit or over combust but somehow I get it! God gave us the authority to call it! To name it and while we didn’t witness the magnitude or even grandeur of the process, we have continued in this authority even until the present.

　

　

Just think about it. Even today, when something new is discovered, we call it. We tell it what it is and reinforce it’s existence. What’s more is that we have given infirmities names, even our own names at times. For example, Huntington’s Disease. Check this out. The medical name Huntington’s chorea is defined as a neurological disorder: a hereditary disorder of the nervous system that manifests as jerky involuntary movements in early middle age, with behavioral changes and progressive dementia. It was named after George Huntington (1851-1916), U.S. neurologist. An infirmity became known because it got a name. And now, when the previous mentioned symptoms begin to manifest, it get’s called.

　

　

That’s the negative. Now for the flip side of the coin! I call heads! (We are the head and not the tail!) Whatever God brought Adam to name, He brought him what He had said Adam would have dominion over. Genesis 1:26, “ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every thing that creepeth upon the earth.”　So, whatever Adam called, he had authority or dominion over it! That’s such good news!

　

　

　

But, here’s the clincher. Uh…well…three clinchers actually and I’ll just leave you with these few thoughts. Three points…no poem. I promise.

　

　

1. Everything that God made was good and Adam had the privilege of calling those by name. He could identify the goodness of God!

　

　

2. God waited to see what Adam would call it. Genesis 1:26. Hmmm…interesting. What Adam called it, it was. It became known

　

　

3. It’s important to note that our mind is just as brilliant as Adam’s before the fall. We have been redeemed and restored by the blood of Jesus Christ! God is continually putting good things before us. Things specific to our lives both personally and as a church and He’s waiting on us to call it what it is.

 

Prophetic Fire!

This morning during intercession, the Lord showed me a very clear picture of Maryland.  I know that Maryland has always been called the Pan Handle but today, God revealed it as a pistol.  This state is in the hand of Almighty God.  Garrett County is placed strategically as the mouth of the barrel.  Yes, the government may have the handle but the mouth is what releases the fire!  We are set to prophetically fire across this nation!  And just like a muzzle loader with the ball and powder must be reloaded and cleaned after every fire, that is what must take place in our life as an intercessor.  We must allow the Holy Spirit to refine us and to clean up our mouth so that every shot can be clean and precise.  The Refiner is charging us to have accuracy.  With every prayer and every declaration, we are taking this nation back!

It was while Ps. Megs was saying, “Fire! Fire! Fire!” that the Lord opened this image up before me and I believe that it should be just like that! Check, check, BOOM!  Check, check, BOOM!  Allow the Lord to check us and then BOOM!  

Tim & Claudia also said, “This is the shot!”

Again, I saw another picture. This time it was a double barrel!  And the enemies eyes were aligned with the barrels.  He has found himself looking down the barrel of a loaded gun!  Whoohoo Jesus! Thank you Lord!

And as Tim put it so well, “Reach for the sky, you varmints!”