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  • Exodus 25 – 27

    2012 - 01.27

    Today is Day 26 on our plan to read the bible in a year.

    At the risk of summing this up TOO completely, I love these 3 chapters.  Why?  Because it’s a beautiful example of how God wants His house built.  He told Moses to take up a love offering.  It’s not Tithes.   It’s not the sin offering, or the heave offering, or the wave offering, or an oblation or anything else that was not only needed, it was commanded.

    Nope.  This time God says to have people give as much as they can give with a willing heart.  On the outside it looks like God is asking for money.  But think about that one and you’ll realize how silly that sounds.  So why would God want PEOPLE to give to something  that He could have just provided for — say, like they’re stomping around the wilderness and a goat falls into a canyon cracked open by a quake that reveals a huge gold vein…you know, something like that — but He says no, He wants everybody who is willing to participate, to jump in and do it.

    Then there are a couple chapters about how excellent He wants the job done.

    So here I am, just a willing pastor with a building program going on.  Hahaha.  Here’s God showing me in His word that I’m not the first minister in history with a calling to build a sacred place for His Presence, and need to pull some money together to do it.  I wonder if Moses looked around for a gold-filled canyon?

    The real reason I think God wants them to give is so they can have the legal right to be blessed!  You have to sow before you get to reap.  Period.

    There’s a truth in history: if you want Bible results, you need to do Bible things.  Dig deep, find the depth of your willing heart, and give!  We are going to finish the job God has put before us, and wouldn’t you like to be part of a great thing He has done?  From the Biblical example, I see that is His plan.

    It’s Thursday

    2012 - 01.27

    Last night during Bible Study, we saw that the Apostle Paul teaches us this:

    Use whatever reason you can find to send you to prayer!

    Like that time I bought flowers for Karen because it was Wednesday.  Or the time you called that friend because you saw a flock of seagulls and it reminded you of a concert where you saw somebody who reminded you of them.  It doesn’t matter what the reason is, as long as you use it as a reason to go to God like it matters!

    So….it’s Thursday.  What are you going to do?  I know what I’m doing.

    Quoting a GREAT Comment!

    2012 - 01.22

    Hey!  Did everybody see how Stacy ended her last post?

    “I have made a conscious choice after today to no longer allow Flesh people to have a voice in my life.  ”

    That is the smartest thing anybody could say!!

    None of us are alone.  All of us need each other.  See you in the morning for the Word and Worship!

    Fasting and Prayer Day # 10

    2012 - 01.18

    We are just about half way through!

    Ruth commented earlier about something of great importance.  Water.

    Drink water people!  Drink it when you get up.  Drink it throughout the day.  Drink it before you go to sleep.  Yes, even if you have to get up in the middle of the night for a bathroom visit, you’re still flushing out the bad, irrigating the good, and lubricating your whole system.

    Water.   There!  That’s our practical reminder for today!

    As I finished this post, my stomach growled loudly.  Hahaha.  Don’t have time to feed the flesh today, I’m empowering my spirit.

    Bible Reading Plan for Promise Church

    2012 - 01.17

    I’ve been putting this link into posts from time to time this year, but HERE is the Reading Plan we’re doing for 2012.  We got it directly from Pastor Jentezen Franklin’s website.  It’s a really good one, so jump in and start reading!  Today is Day 17 of the Plan.

    In case that link doesn’t work above, cut and paste this into your browser:

    http://www.promise.pro/assets/2012_Bible.pdf

    The Word of God is full of life folks!  Read it everyday!

    Testing *OR* Proving

    2012 - 01.17

    In the Bible, the word ‘Test” and the word “Prove” are sometimes used interchangably, depending on the English translation you’re looking at.

    We can look at a grammer school test that shows whether or not we’ve learned to talk right.  I mean speak correctly.  Or maybe in Junior High, (or what’s called Middle School nowadays,) the test may show whether we have improoved our speling.  I mean that our spelling has improved.  Or by the time we reached High School, we might have had a test that was called a Pre-test that showed us where we still needed to grow in order to actuallyu pass the test when it comes along.

    Then we grow up and the real tests begin, huh?

    We all really do have something to prove.  The only way to show that it’s really provable is to test it.  Now the purpose of the test isn’t to show our shortcoming.  It’s not even to show whether or not we’ve learned a lesson.  It’s to show we HAVE learned.  Not whether or not.  Just whether.  Yes.  Not Yes or No.

    3 x 3 = 9

    It always will.  It always has.  And when that equation is written on a page and it sits in front of me, it’s not to test whether or not I know it.  Duh.  I got that one.  I can work that out.  Even if the 9 isn’t filled in for me, I can finish that equation because it’s inside of me; it was taught to me and I’ve experienced in my own life that it is true, and nobody can talk me out of it.  3 x 3 = 9.  Everytime.

    To me, that’s not a test.  It’s a proof.  Semantics, I know, but go with me on this.

    There are non-negotiables inside of me which have been taught to me – by one teacher or another – and that I’ve expereinced to be true, and they become part of my very soul.  I know them and nobody can talk me out of them.  I’m married to them and it’s ’til death do we part!  Still, from time to time, circumstances set a page in front of me with a question on it that asks me to confirm, “Is this really true?”

    When I got to college I had developed a system inside of myself for taking tests.  I usually didn’t get an “A” on my first test of any class.  In fact, most times I got a B- or a C+.  Shock!  Me!  A smarty-pants genius, getting a C?  Yeah.  That first test was, in my young mind, a throw-away that would get dwarfed by my successive victories.  What I did on that first test was get to know how my professor tested.  I learned, “Oh!  That is the type of thing he is looking for,” so when I studied for tests, I knew what types of things to emphasize.  “A+” after that made several of them ask me what I changed to boost my grade.  My answer was that I studied better, and that satisfied them.  The whole truth was that I studied my prof, and knew what they’d be looking for.

    Gladly, I didn’t have any professors who actually *wanted* to trip up students in the tests.  They wanted to have the students Prove they’d grasped the materials.  They wanted to confirm that we understood.

    Ah!  Now we’re looking at a difference.  Subtle, and trust me: not consistent, but a difference.

    I think, for me anyway, that Testing shows where I can go until I fail, and Proving shows that I can succeed.

    Sometimes we equate Tested with Tempted, and maybe that’s a good evaluation, but only sometimes.  A temptation that two people experience may be a temptation for one person to stumble, and a confirmation to another that it’s not that big of a deal.  Demand a four-year old to work their multiplication table up through their 3′s, and you’ll get a crying child.  You’ve tested them and found them lacking.

    God loves you.  And when you are Tested in the way I described above, by a loving Teacher, it’s not to show how bad you are or how much of a failure you are or how dumb you are.  It’s to show you your limits right now and to be there to offer this: In your weakness, God’s strength is shown to be perfect and complete for you!

    Here’s the important part!  Whenever you reach a testing time, have you noticed that the Teacher is usually quiet?  He’s already taught you some things, and during the test the teacher is typically quiet.  And since our Teacher is the Lord, you can count on two things:

    1. If this is a Test, it’s not just going to show where you come up short, but shows where He can step in and fill that gap.

    2. If this is a Proving time, it’s not just going to show you how far you’ve come, but shows a new high-water mark in your life.

    Welcome Testing, as embarrassing and humiliating and hard as it may be, because with the right attitude it can make us rely on God so much more.  Welcome Proving, as hurtful and painful and frightening as it may be, because He has brought you so much further than you’ve ever been, and farther than you ever thought you’d be.  Look at yourself!  Do you realize what a successful testimony you already are?

    We were lost!  We were a big fat “F”!  You may have been a good person, but just like a smart person who doesn’t know the materials, you couldn’t pass an examination.

    I guess that’s what I’m saying here.  It’s an examination.  It gives a genuine analysis of where you really are right now.  An honest assessment of your capability right now allows you to know the capacity of what you can do right now.  Then you go back to class (Thank you God for the school of hard knocks,) and learn the material because you have another test coming.  Or a proving time.  It’s an exam.

    Fasting and Prayer Day 16

    2012 - 01.16

    If you’re fasting a total fast — drinking only clear liquids, you know you have to stay close to the bathroom still.  (Can you believe how honest this blog is?)  All those toxins and waste and buildup are letting loose, and you’re cleaning your system out like never before!  But the headaches might still be there.  And you don’t have the stamina you have had before.  Don’t despair!  This is only a few short weeks, and the fast isn’t designed to make your physical body amazingly strong.  It’s to make your spirit strong; it’s drawing you closer to God while you pray and read the Word.

    There’s also the mental clarity that is coming.  God can give you ideas clearer than you’ve had before.  I tease that it’s because you no longer have that food stuck in your spiritual ears.  Maybe there’s some truth to that.  I will quickly add that every single idea that runs through our minds isn’t necessarily from the throneroom of the Almighty.  Weigh your decisions wisely with prayer and the Word.  Nothing’s wrong with counsel.  Ideas right now from God don’t have to get shot down in committee, but you might actually amaze those in your counsel circle by the clarity and value of those ideas right now.

    If you’re living on a modified fast, including fruits and vegetables, you’re doing so excellent!  It worked for Daniel and his friends, and at the end of their testing period they looked healthier and more wholesome than peers who ate and drank anything they wanted.  Isn’t it funny?  Discipline in our diets is good.  Not using discipline in our diets makes for an undisciplined lifestyle and none of us what that anyway!

    If you have particular food items you’ve removed from your diet during the fast, and if there are activities on top of that food restriction that you’ve removed (TV, Web-browsing, etc.,) be sure to couple all that with reading the bible and praying.  God can absolutely honor that.  He will meet you where you are and bless your obedience to Him.

    Temptation is a regular visitor in everyone’s life, and I guess in every area of life too.  Temptation is NOT a sin!!  Did you get that?  Temptation is not a sin.  It’s a trial.  A test.  It’s a proof that you are made of sterner stuff than the temptation.  Yesterday after church, Christopher and I went to the store to pick up something after church and they were cooking ribs on the barbecue out front.  Grrr.  It smelled like a corner of heaven will probably be.  Okay, maybe they won’t be cooking pork ribs in heaven, but you know what I mean.

    So the test came.  Peer pressure would keep us from falling because my son doesn’t want to disappoint his daddy, and Daddy wants to set a great example for his son.  Plus, it’s not going to kill me not to eat flesh for a few weeks.  Because my son is 14 and active in baseball at school and still growing, his fast is not as stringent as mine.  It’s not a go-to-hell-for-breaking-fast sin for him to have some ribs!  But he made me laugh when he took a great big sniff, sighed, and said, “Well, we’re coming back here in a couple weeks!”

    You will feel better about yourself for holding true to your commitment through to the end.  You may stumble and mess up and “cheat.”  Don’t give up!  You’re not disqualified.  Get up and keep going forward.  Pray like you really mean it!!  Pray for your own strength.  Pray for your Pastors.  Pray for Promise.  Pray for our city, state, nation, world!  Pray for the church around the globe fighting for their faith when we have such freedom here.  Read the bible and see what God has done for His children throughout history.

    He’s still on the job.  He’s still a faithful God.  He’s the ONLY faithful God!  And I promise, He is proud of you for your sacrifice and obedience.  Keep moving forward.  He has plans for you that are coming to pass.

    Bible-reading day 16

    2012 - 01.16

    Jacob’s name is now Israel.  From time to time God’s chosen children, His nation of Israel, is referred to as the children of Jacob, and sometimes as the children of Israel.  Jacob means the one who grasps and takes what he wants.  Israel means the champion prince of God.  Have you ever heard a mother ask her husband, “Where is your son?” when it’s really both of their kid?  Or a husband say of his daughter, “She takes after her mother.”?

    I think that sometimes when the Bible refers to the children of Israel as Jacob, it’s like a chiding, a sort of dig reminding them that they’re out of line.  And refering to them as the children of Israel is like saying, “Good children!  That’s my child.”

    I don’t always feel like that’s what it’s saying, but it seems like it a lot.

    Here in Genesis 46 and 47, Israel and all his household come down to a colony in Egypt seperated for them to flourish in.  On the way in, Pharaoh gets up from his throne, leaves his palace, and goes to meet a herdsman named Israel.

    Do you get that?  Pharaoh was worshipped as a god himself.  The people didn’t just obey him because he had an army to enforce his bidding.  They considered him a god.  Tradition tells us that the masses never got to see his face, that it was covered from unworthy eyes.  But he didn’t summon Israel.  He didn’t call him, ordering this foreigner to come before him for account of all he planned.  He did not order Israel to report to the Pharaoh’s court to maintain the protocol that said: You come to me, I am the center of the universe.  Israel was not even of the nation of Egypt.  He had “nothing” to offer to the Pharaoh.  “Nothing” to enhance his holdings.  Pharaoh didn’t “owe” Joseph anything!  He promoted Joseph out of jail, pardoned a fake charge of attempted rape against Potipher’s wife, and allowed a foreigner to run the country.  As far as tradition dictated, Joseph owed it to the king to do everything and anything he was ordered.

    No.  That pharaoh knew the truth.  Joseph had not only saved Pharaoh’s throne, but he had collected all the money, all the title deeds of all the property in the country, and had loan seed to the people with a 20% tax for all time.  Double-tithe to the king.  Joseph had made the Pharaoh the richest man, (oops, don’t tell anybody he’s not a god.  It would be bad press,) in the world and he knew it.

    So when Israel came into the countryside, this man of foreign blood brought his father into the Pharaoh’s presence.  Not as a dignitary coming to negotiate a treaty that would benefit both counties.  Not as an ambassador for a country Egypt feared.  No.  I think Joseph brought in his dad to talk to another dad.

    No airs of, “Bow to the almighty Pharaoh,” and that sort of thing.  But 47:7 says Joseph brought in his dad and SET him before the Pharaoh.  I love that!  Can you imagine the throneroom guards that stood there?  Day after day.  Week after week.  Month and year after month and year.  They were honored to stand in the very room to guard this god/king.  And here comes a doddering old man who wasn’t even from their country, and he gets to SIT with the Pharaoh???!!!

    They saw their Pharaoh so interested in Israel.  It was their Pharaoh who was privileged to meet Israel even more than Israel was excited to meet their king.  And it was Israel who blessed Pharaoh, not the other way around.  And Pharaoh was so blown away by Israel himself that in 47:8 How old are you?

    A gueard hears him reply, “130 years old,” and maybe he thinks, “This guy is a liar, and my king is going to cut out his heart!  He’s going to kick these unworthy people out of our country!”

    And it was Israel who blessed Pharaoh.

    You and I may have some short-comings in this life.  It’s life.  We may wonder — at least I know I do sometimes — that even though God’s Word promises us harvest from our sowing, and abundance and all our needs met through Jesus, and *not* seeing that come to pass in the time that we want…well we’ve all got some place in our life where we think things could have been better if something had changed in the middle of that circumstance, huh?

    If God had rescued Joseph out of that jail cell, he would never have ascended to a throne that was second only to Pharaoh’s.

    We don’t own tomorrow.  And today you may feel like you’re in a jail cell.  You might see that a famine is wiping out all your worldly goods.  You know: the goods that God blessed you with!  And now they’re all being taken away in the middle of your faithfulness.

    If you stay faithful, the bible also promises that you will reap if you don’t faint.  Don’t grow weary with what you’re doing for Christ.  Don’t let despair talk into your ear telling you it’s no use.  And don’t let others who wish they had a voice into somebody…anybody’s life just blab and blab into your life either!  God has a plan for you and it IS harder than you would have planned.  But it’s also BETTER than you would have imagined.

    He is with you.  And when you get to the place God had in mind all along, it’s going to be YOU who is the blessing.  Yeah, the ones who get blessed by giving you a chance, the ones who get blessed by opening a door for you, they do get blessed.  But it’s YOU who will be a blessing to them greater than anything they have to offer to you.  Why?  Because you really are an ambassador.  You really do represent a nation that they want (or really should want) to make a treaty with.  Hebrews 11:16 refers to it as a Better Country.  You represent heaven here on earth.

    So go!  Be a blessing!  Actually work hard to make your employer wealthy…or wealthier!  The world will stand in awe looking at you, wondering, “Where did this one come from?”

    Don’t give up.  Stand strong.  God will bless you so much that you have abundance to bless others.

    Promise Church Fasting and Prayer Day 14

    2012 - 01.14

    If you don’t have a copy yet, print the Bible-reading plan we posted right here.

    Today is Day 14 for the Promise Church Bible Reading plan on our corporate fast.  Just yesterday morning Karen and I were talking with a long-time friend and the story of Joseph came into our conversation.  Why?  Because it’s fresh since we’re reading about his life’s story right now!

    That’s a HUGE hint for all of us: read the Bible and the Holy Spirit will bring it back to your rememberance.  But we have to put it in there to start with, huh?

    So we’re talking with our friend, and I mentioned how God seems to very, very consistently move people into the *world* system for some kind of training, coupling it with the *God’s family* system training He has given them in order to complete their preperation process.  Then, and only then it seems sometimes, are they ready for their Destiny to be fulfilled.

    When I preach, I use my own life experiences as examples.  Things like working the fast food restaurant when I was young, and the lessons I use today that I learned then.  You know what I mean.

    I don’t think it’s just that we should use all our experiences to help us today.  I think the Bible shows us that God deliberately brings us through experiences that will enhance our ability and effectiveness.  There’s no replacement for experience, right?  That’s why I pay attention to other people’s experiences too.  Sometimes I don’t have to go through things if I can learn from other’s lives.

    So here in Chapters 41 and 42 of Genesis, Joseph is now brought UP.  God’s miraculous empowering, (interpreting dreams,) coupled with God’s miraculous equipping, (Potipher’s house and the jail,) coupled together for the great promotion God had in mind all along.

    We can’t look at the jail cell we might be in right now.  We have to look at the Lord, and see where His eyes are looking.  Why?  Because He has a bigger idea in mind than anything we’ve considered so far.

    And He knows how to use all that YUCK you’ve been through to make you the perfectly equipped person for the job!

    Fasting and Praying at Promise Church

    2012 - 01.12

    So excited to see REAL comments on the blog!  I get so many comments every single day on this blog that it’s crazy!  Why?  Because they’re by Blog-bots spamming and looking for unmoderated blogs to slam their wares on.

    But hooray!  We’ve got a dialogue going!

    We’re “in” Day #4 now, as we officially started Sunday at sundown.

    What a great service tonight!  Mainly because we’re not just Fasting!  We’re Praying and Fasting, so having a Bible study on praying was entirely appropriate.  The Lord’s Prayer is the model Jesus Himself gave to his disciples, so I think it is a perfect pattern for us to follow too!

    Yes: Pray your prayer list.  But at the end of the list, when you’ve  prayed about everything on your page, we can still follow Jesus’ example and declare our Heavenly Father is Holy.  That His Name is Holy.  We can still announce out loud in our prayer that we pray His kingdom comes (and the sooner the better I say!) and that His will takes place in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, everywhere on earth like it does in heaven.

    I love verse 8 of Matthew Chapter 6 because it comes right before a prayer that says ask God for our needs, but it says right up front that God knows our needs before we ask them.  Yet, we are to ask them.  Thank you God!

    Forgiveness is a book series, sermon series, and television series all in one, and yet the crux is that you and I must must MUST forgive others.  Period!  God forgives us as we forgive others.  Be eager to forgive.

    Read the Lord’s Prayer.  Pray it.  Begin with it and then move to your personalized heart-felt communion with the Lord!  I promise He will honor it.