The Voice of Thanksgiving

“If it be God’s will.”

This phrase is nothing more than a crutch.  It simply upholds a lack of knowledge concerning God’s Word, which is His will.  

A famous quote from the Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come!”

Well, here’s my take.  “If you read it (the bible), you will know.” 

God’s word declares what His will is for us…without debate. 

GIVE THANKS!

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

The Amplified reads, Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].

Interestingly, being thankful is more than just expressing gratitude with a word or a thought, although I do believe it is established with the voice as Psalm 26:7 reads, That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

To give thanks is by definition, to hold responsible.

This is God’s will for us.  To hold Him and His Word responsible. 

Selah.  Think on this. 

 

 

The Spirit and The Bride

Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

Two voices together with one declaration, “Come!”

When will the Bride say what the Spirit is saying? 

There must be a call of approach. 

When we say “Come!”, we are expecting an arrival.  

To say “Come!” is to declare, “Happen!”

 

 

The Lord Has Need Of It

Luke 19:28-35, “ And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.  And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.  And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.  And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.  And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?  And they said, The Lord hath need of him.  And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.”

In this life, there are many things that I could ask the Lord for and there is a fine line between wants and needs.  God sat me down and simply showed me how I will know if it’s of Him or if it’s not. 

Jesus knew what he needed to move forward.  He needed a colt.  And He said to His disciples, go and loose it and if any man ask you why, tell him, “the Lord has need of it.”

Father simply asked me, “In whatever you believe, ask, pray, say, declare or prophesy…can you answer the ’Why?’ with ’the Lord has need of it’?”

There is such power in this, if, even I, can just get ahold of it!  Again, another examination is taking place but it’s time.  It’s time to get a revelation of what “the Lord has need of.”

 

The Seed

The Seed contains both the beginning and the end.

• Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He hath made every [thing] beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.”

It holds Who (what) Was and Is and Is To Come!

• Revelation 1:4, “…Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come;…”

It has the first and the last Word and will always tell the whole story.  The Author and the Finisher created it!

• Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith;”

It’s pregnant with expectation! 

• Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

So whether it’s a Word seed, fruit of the Spirit seed, gift of the Spirit seed, financial seed, good works seed, or whatever it is you need a harvest of…sow it knowing this.

 

Heal Our Land

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Just a thought on humility today. 

Our land needs a healing.  That is altogether evident.  The truth of the matter is, it needed a healing long before an earthquake occurred, a tornado touched down or floods covered it.   

Yet, we are mistaken if we believe that disaster, destruction, devastation, disease or any other circumstances will “humble” us.  Nor should we be foolish enough to think that God will do it or even that somehow, the two are working together to bring about humility in our lives.  The responsibility falls solely upon us.  

James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Just look at Pharaoh!  (Exodus 4-13)  There were lice, flies, locusts, frogs, plagues, water turned to blood, hail and fire from heaven, darkness (so dark that you could feel it), etc.  

Exodus 10:3, “And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.”

It was pride holding God’s people.  Nothing more. Nothing less.

Melissa Flores stated this about humility in a recent post:

“Humility is a synonym for meekness, a fruit of the Spirit.” 

(http://melissaflores.org/2011/05/25/humility-only-grows-in-the-soil-of-integrity/)

If this is so, that means that humility and meekness speak the same language and ultimately speak to the same end, which is clearly stated in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. “

Psalm 37:11 also, beautifully states “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

God desires for us to be delivered from pride and released into prosperity.  We have an inheritance.

As I read again from 2 Chronicles 7:14, it’s very clear that there are certain things that assist or accompany humility. 

1. Prayer.

Daniel 10:12, “Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer.” (NLT)

2. Seeking His face.

Psalm 10:4, “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”

3. Turning from Sin.  Repentance.

Mark 1:15, “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (NIV)

What then?  If one or all of these are absent, humility is not being upheld in our lives. 

Are we then forsaking our inheritance?

 

Ghost Words

Recently I had a dream that my words were being stolen.  It was a very brief dream and in it, I saw a text that I believed to be a proverb of some sort.  It stated that “the thief had come to steal their words”. 

Immediately when I awoke, I went to the concordance to search it out and the only reference I could find concerning the stolen Word was in Jeremiah 23. If you have a moment, spend some time reading this chapter entirely.  For brevity sake, I have only put a portion here.

21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. 23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. 25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. 28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. 29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

In the Amplified version, Jeremiah 23:30 reads that the stealing of the His word is “imitating the phrases of the true prophets”.

God has been speaking to me much about imitation recently.  My last post http://insimplicity.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/top-seed/ touched on this. 

There are imitation seeds that have been planted in our gardens but it’s the true Word of God that is going to completely uproot and plant these in the sea in the coming days. 

Today I was doing some studying on Merriam Webster online and something caught my eye.  The editor will do a segment addressing questions that are asked every now and again.   This particular segment was entitled  ”Ghost Word”. 

A ghost word is basically a “word form” never in established usage.  I see this as an “imitation” word.  The one fake word came into being on July 31, 1931.  (If you’re wondering, that word was “dord”.) 

Dr. Shirley Arnold (http://www.shirleyarnoldministries.com/)  carried a word to Women of Valor this year in regards to this.  False proverbs are being laid to rest or to death will no longer be put to use!  (Ezekiel 12:22-25).  The proverbs have had nothing to do with the will of God but came with an agenda of disabling the church.

In fact, that passage of scripture surrounds the very verse that God gave to Pastor Sharon, concerning Women of Valor, Now Is The Time!

There have been words spoken, Jeremiah says, without and within the walls of the church, with the assignment to “fake” us out! 

It shakes me  when I read verse 16 of chapter 23 as it should all of us. 

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.”

Do I truly desire for NOW to be the time for me and ultimately God’s purpose for me?  Does the church?

If so, then I (we) will be bold enough to examine the prophecies spoken to me (us) and through me (us). 

I’m not ignorant to think that prophecies have not come to “speak to my vanity” or that others have not cast visions not of God’s heart before me.   It could be that I have seen distorted visions my own self (without the help of anyone else).  We are the prophet of our own life first.

Even more challenging, I’m not ignorant to think that I am not guilty of partaking in “feel good” prophecy that has spoken to the vanity of others as well.  Not with the intent to hurt someone, ever but simply because I am not infallible and it is very possible that I could have spoken to someone from human perspective and fleshy compulsion.   For that I repent. 

If you find yourself in any of the above categories, there is hope.  The very fact that God is opening our eyes to such things should germinate and resurrect our hope!  It should be lively within us!

First, allow God to reveal to you anything that is not from Him.   He is for you and there is none that can be against you!   False prophesies are the very things that are depriving us of God’s best and nurturing poverty in our lives, simply because we are wasting away sowing into words that will never profit us!  It’s time to weed the garden and it’s not hard.  

What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? (vs. 8 & 9) 

The Truth and His fire will simply blow upon it and burn it off your threshing floor.   It’s nothing for the  hammer to break through the rock!

Secondly, if you fear that you have spoken falsities, simply repent. You cannot go back and retrieve those words.  You can’t undo what’s already been done but God can.  Just like He is revealing to you, we must trust that He will reveal to others.  And in the future, examine before you speak. 

How will you know if what you are hearing or speaking is from God?   The word of God is good enough to spell it out for us.  True counsel will cause the people to hear and turn from evil ways, toward Him and it will never cause them to forget His name for another, as the fathers had forgotten His name for  Baal. (vs. 22 & 27)

As for the church, it’s a bigger scale.  What we do personally will determine what occurs as a whole. 

 

 

Top Seed

Luke 17:5-6, And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.  An the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, an be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey you. 

How was it that a seed could displace a tree? And not just any tree.   Scholars believe the sycamine tree  to be the same as the  “tree of the knowledge”  found in the book of Genesis.  

Interestingly enough, when referencing the sycamine, the Hebrew describes it as “having the form and foliage of the mulberry, but fruit resembling the fig”. 

Similarly, the tree of knowledge also bore two characteristics…good and evil. 

It was the tree of accountability with God.  Like the law itself, the tree of knowledge would continually bear record of rights and wrongs. To eat of it is death.  (Genesis 3:3)  

The fact that it bears foliage that  resembles the mulberry tree, yet bears the fruit of a fig eludes that is nothing more than an “imitation” of what is true. 

Religious living and keeping and doing the law….the constant maintaining to be “good” is exactly that.  It’s nothing more than an imitation of righteousness and a counterfeit of faith. 

Galatians 3:19 says, What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. 

The mustard tree (seed), on the other hand is believed to be symbolic of the “Tree of Life”, God’s original plan.  Note that this tree is undivided, representing wholeness and unbroken fellowship with God. It was of this tree that Adam & Eve were invited to eat freely, until the time when they partook of the other.  

We have received this Seed!  

Religious attempts that have been nothing more than overgrowth in our garden, imitating the blessings and  leaving room for little else can be easily displaced by the Seed.     

The mustard seed wants to have a conversation with the sycamine tree in your (my) life!

 

Will He Find Faith On The Earth?

With all the kerfuffle about the “end of the world”, especially among my kids and their peers both church and in public school, I felt impressed to talk with them about the return of our Lord. 

His coming is imminent and without fear for those who love Him.  Amen? 

Amongst all the talk, adults included, I couldn’t help but note that it’s been brushed off, as though it ”ain’t happening”. 

Well, not as rumor had it! I agree!   

No one man alone has the “only correct interpretation of the Word of God.”   2 Peter 2:20-21 clearly states, “ Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Secondly, if we are going to prophecy the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, it should be that we are accurate. 

He is coming!  The Word is clear on that.  Here are just a few scriptures that may be of help.

Acts 1:11, “…this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

1 Corinthians 15:52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Mark 13:28-37, ” Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:  So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.  Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.  Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.  But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.  Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.  For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.  Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:  Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.  And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

1 Thessalonians 5:2, “For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

All of the above is simply ground work for what I’m about to share with you.  There is a conviction in my heart.  It’s been coming on for a long time but yesterday, as I was sharing with the kids that God dropped the bomb on me! He said, “But atleast someone was looking.”

Luke 18:8 says, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” 

God has been doing such a work of resurrection in my life.   Specifically where “faith without works has been dead”.  I realize that the faith for my Saviors return has been laid to rest in regards to other things I have been believing for.  I would sooner see all the promises of perfect health, wealth, and circumstances “be fleshed out” before His return.  It’s always the next event on the calendar that distracts me, hoping to make it to this mile marker or that one, so as to have a better sense of completion. 

When my aspirations of personal fulfillment are greater than His ultimate fulfillment, I’m dealing with a dead work horse.

Yes, I’ve always believed He’s coming but if the truth be known, there’s a part of me that has lost the anticipation of  His return.  I’ve put it off in my own heart.  I can just  hear all the “tsk tsks” and ”shame, shames”  now but I have a feeling this boat could get pretty crowded. 

Generations have come and gone believing He would return and the truth is, if the Lord had come at that moment in time, He would have found faith! 

Can the same be said about this day and this age?  Can the same be said about me? 

Faith for His coming is being resurrected now!  Jesus is coming! 

Lord, when you come, I pray that you find faith in me!  May your eyes fall on me and this generation!  I repent Lord that I cannot remember a time when I first asked for Your coming before all else and rejoiced as though it could be today. 

What should my life look like, based on this revelation alone?   That remains to be seen.

 

Come To The Hour

John 12:26-28, If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.  Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?  Father save me  from this hour:  but for this cause came I unto this hour.

As a  Christian,  I live with an expectancy of what God has said.  I look to the “time” it will occur, believing it will eventually happen or  come to me at some point.

Jesus too lived with such an expectancy.  All throughout the Word and His ministry, He was awaiting the “hour”. 

John 2:4 eludes to this. When the wine ran out at the Wedding of Cana, Mary put a demand on His destiny and…”Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.”

Another account of this is when Jesus had met the woman at the well.  “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.” John 4:21 

John 5:25, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. “

The hour was a definite time.  By definition, it’s a moment free from uncertainty or obscurity; unquestionable; decided.  FREE FROM DOUBT!  The hour is faith in permanent ink on the calendar!

Jesus could say, “is coming” and “now is” without contradicting Himself because the hour is continually present.  The “hour” was simply the outcome of what He had already.  That’s why, when Mary put a demand on Him, he could fulfill it at that moment because what was “yet to come” was “present”. There was a cause! 

Looking again at John 12:28, Jesus said “for this cause came I unto this hour”. 

Each of us have an “hour”. 

Jesus came to His.  He didn’t wait for it to come to Him.  In everything He did, He approached it, as though it was present tense, happening now because it was.  What was done for all eternity, could be released at any moment at Father’s will. 

He didn’t ask to be delivered from an hour that He felt wasn’t in His strength to fulfill.  

 

About An Inch Tall

Did you ever hear the saying, “I felt about an inch tall.”? 

I tried to google it and couldn’t find where it originated.  Quite possibly on the Finzel Road in the Minnick household.  Ya never know.

It’s one of those terms that was used following “open mouth insert foot”… “Shoot, I shouldn’t have done that.”…”One of us kids did the very thing that Mom was mid-sentence telling us not to do.”, etc.  You fill in the blanks. It was either she and Daddy, one of us kids or all of us who were left feeling about an inch tall in the wake of a bad choice.

Yesterday was a great day!  I want to give God praise because my grandfather who has been suffering with five broken vertebrae in his back (four in-operable), went into surgery to repair the one that could be repaired and left that hospital pain free!  Glory to God!  On cloud nine with Jesus, if your looking for me…

And then it happened.  In an instant, one of my kids did something and immediately I felt the urge to shrink in defeat.  It was one of those “mid-sentence kind of deals.” 

So, I took my one inch tall self and kids home.  FYI, even if I am one inch tall, I still have to look up to my boy because he now has surpassed me in height.  Good for him!  He gets to measure in at about one and a half inches.

And wouldn’t you know it… after taking the left hook and staggering a bit, here comes the uppercut I wasn’t expecting. 

Having already been taken down a major notch or two, I was now the size of dust.  Yep, good reminder of whence I came.  To make it worse, I happened to be dust that was shedding many tears.  So that made me tiny mud.    

Psalm 103:14, For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Thank goodness!

When I was laying in bed late last night, I said, “Help me.  I feel about an inch tall.”

Then I read the words of Kathryn Kuhlman.  Simple but profound.  She was talking about Zacheus and said, “and Lord knows I was up a tree.”

God immediately said, “Even short people can climb trees.” 

So, I took His advice, which is always good, by the way.  I began to climb in the Spirit and my heart was crying, as I read the words spoken about Zacheus. (Luke 19:1-9)  “For he wanted to see who Jesus was.” 

Lord, show me, who are You in this?

It was at this moment that my eyes fell on the next line.  “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said to him, Zacheus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at your house.”

We read this thinking that it was because Jesus happened to see Zacheus, that he said, “Oh great idea!  I think I’ll come over since you went through all that trouble to climb that tree!” 

Mmmm….nope.  That doesn’t sit right.  It sounds more accurate to me that Jesus, perhaps unbeknownst to Zacheus, already had His GPS programmed to his address.  You know…123 No Good Tax Collecter Drive. 

(Insert my address here.)

“Make haste and come down!  For today I must abide at thy house.”

What that must have sounded like to Zacheus!  We see it in the Word!  He received Him JOYFULLY! 

“Who would want anything to do with that sinner?”  

And Jesus says, “Did I hear someone say sin?  Someone made a mistake? Oh, I’m coming over! I’ve got some salvation for this.” 

That’s what I heard, loud and clear ringing in my Spirit as I lay down, finally, to rest. 

“You can always trust Me to abide at your house.  Don’t you shrink back again! I take great pleasure in you. Don’t you know what just happened here today?  It’s what you’ve been praying for.  Salvation is come not only to your ”household” but to his ”house”.  Today he came to Me himself before you ever knew of this.” 

Thank you Lord.