God's Will

We often want to know God’s will.  This verse clearly spells out God’s will. 

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

This is one of the few places in scripture that specifically spells out what the will of God is.  Since this scripture was highlighted to me by the Holy Spirit recently I have been much more mindful of being thankful in all things.  I have also been noticing how much the Apostle Paul exhorted the churches to be thankful.

Ephesians 5:18-20 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; ¹⁹ Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; ²⁰ Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Colossians 3:15-17 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. ¹⁷ And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Moving Forward

What we are moving into is a new thing.  But we do not throw out everything of the past.  The new thing is built upon the past.  It is built upon those that have gone before.  It is built upon what God has done in the past. 

Hebrews 13:7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith. RSV

But we do not want to get stuck in the past we need to move on into the new thing that God has prophesied. Sometimes we only recognize the new thing as we move into.  For example on the Day of Pentecost Peter stood up and declared, "this is that which was prophesied."  The Holy Spirit gave him a knowing that what they were experiencing was the prophecy that they were familiar with. That prophecy of Joel only had its beginning in that day and is continuing to have its outworking in our day.  It still has not come into its fullness.

Acts 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

Many in Peter's day, in the early days of the church, were unable to accept and move into the new thing that God was doing and thus missed out on what Jesus had been preaching and what God had prophesied for a few thousand years.  I do not want to miss out on the thing that God is doing in my day or in the days ahead because I am stuck in the past.  But I do not want to throw out the past either.  It is a new day.  Each day is a new day and I will rejoice and be glad in it for it is the day that the Lord has made.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Just as those who have gone on before cannot enter into the fullness without us, we cannot enter in without what they have established before us.  We need to run the race set out before us.

Hebrews 11:39-12:2 ³⁹ And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: ⁴⁰ God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 12:1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Each generation was meant to build upon the previous. That is one of the reasons the heart of the fathers must be turned to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers.

Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: ⁶ And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Don't Look Back

Often we do not move forward because we are looking back to the way things used to be and are trying to reproduce it or at least have it happen again.  God wants to do a new thing and we are trying to enter into an old thing.  There are new paradigms of functioning in the Spirit that God wants us to move into. They are not new to God.  They are just new to us, because we have not passed this way before.  It is uncharted water.  This can be scary.  This is the water to swim in, where we are no longer in control. 

First Abraham was led out of the land of his family into the land of his inheritance.  Later the Israelites were led out of Egypt back into that land of promise.

The Israelites were always wanting to go back to the familiarity of the slavery in Egypt, when God had the land flowing with milk and honey waiting for them.  How often am I like that?  I would venture a guess that it happens way too often. 

Like the wilderness God has purpose in the journey.  And He has new things waiting for us as we press on into the land of milk and honey.

As they were passing into the Promised Land they entered into a new way of being led.  Up until this point they had been led by the pillar of fire and the cloud.  They had also had food provided daily in the form of many, now they were going to have to grow their own food and there were enemies to be driven off of the land that was promised to them.  They were transitioning into a new way of being led and provided for, as they moved into the Promised Land. Those transition points can be uncomfortable as we learn to function in a new place and a new way.

Genesis 15:7  And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

Deut. 4:37-38 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; ³⁸ To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Isaiah 43:18-19 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. ¹⁹ Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Joshua 3:4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore  --

Luke 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Present Tense God

Exodus 3:13-14 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? ¹⁴ And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

 Too often we try to live in the past or in the future, but all we really have is the present.  Something I recently read pointed out that our God is the ever present God.  He calls Himself I AM.  I AM is present tense.  Our God is a present tense God.  I have heard it said, God did not call Himself “I was” or “I will be” but “I AM.”

Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.  

Today is the only day we have to live.  Yesterday is gone and tomorrow has not yet arrived.  This is the day we have to live for God; moment by moment, saying “Yes”, to all that He has for us in this day.  May we live it to the fullest with our eyes fixed upon Jesus.   

Phil 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

We need to forget what is behind, both good and bad, and reach forth to that which is before.  As we reach forth and press for that prize, we can only do it in the present, one step at a time, one moment at a time.

Hebrews 4:7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

2 Corinthians 6:2 For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

A Tribute To Wade Taylor

In February of 1979, I made my first trip to a small Bible school in the woods of upstate New York.  When my college roommate and I set out on the trip to visit her friend at Pinecrest Bible Training Center in Salisbury Center, NY, I had no idea how profoundly my life would be influenced by that place or through the life and teaching of the founder of that school.  The founder of that school was Wade Taylor, affectionately called Brother Taylor by many. 

 That weekend in 1979, I was given a small book titled The Secret of the Stairs.  Over the next several years I read and reread that book until it was falling apart.  The author of that book was also Wade Taylor.  Eventually Brother Taylor revised and added to that book, but somehow I kept being drawn back to the copy I was originally given, even though I bought some of the later editions.

Wade Taylor went home to his eternal reward yesterday.  That is the reason for writing this post in loving memory of a man whose life had a profound effect on many.  It is hard to put into words what I learned from him.  I believe the most important thing I learned was about having an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  I gained an appreciation for the presence of God, waiting on God and sitting in His presence.  Through this I have gained more than I could ever articulate. 

I gleaned much over the years listening to Brother Taylor speak, even when he shared the same thing over and over again.  I gleaned much through his articles in The Banner and his books.  I received much through his prayers for impartation. 

 

John 12:23-26 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. ²⁴ Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. ²⁵ He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. ²⁶ 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.

   

I keep thinking of the above scripture in relation to Brother Taylor.  Jesus spoke this shortly before He gave His life on the cross.  What He had invested of Himself in others would live on in them and continue to bear much fruit.  There was a necessary dying that had to take place for the fullness of this to happen.  In the same way, what Wade Taylor has imparted into lives of others, through his ministry, will live on in the earth and continue to be multiplied into “much fruit.”  I have a sense that with his passing there will be a further maturing of the fruit that has come forth from his life.   Bro. Taylor served God for many years investing in the lives of others.  I believe God is honoring him today as he has gone to be where Jesus is.

 Thank you Brother Wade Taylor

CHRIST WITHIN

Recently I have being thinking a lot about Christ living within me and what that means as I go about each day.  Wherever I am and whatever I am doing I want to be able to let the Anointed One within me come forth and touch those I meet each day. 

 Here is a little prayer I wrote:

More of You and less of me…Divine Seed exert thy might

Come forth thou mighty Christ in me,

That others may see You and not see me

Light burst forth from within

Enlighten the darkness all around me

River of God flow out from me

Refresh all those in need

More of You and less of me….Divine Seed exert they might

Fruit of the Spirit from within, to the world be made known

Anointed One empower me to be Your hand extended

An instrument through which Your healing power and deliverance flow

For greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world

Not by might, nor by power, but by Thy Spirit

Shall each mountain be removed, every hindrance must go

More of You and less of me…Divine Seed exert thy might

Forgetting and Fruitfulness

Genesis 41:51-53 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. ⁵² And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.  (KJV) 

Note the meaning of the names that Joseph gave to his sons and there order.  Manasseh means "caused to forget."  Ephraim means "fruitfulness."  First he was caused to forget.  Second he was caused to be fruitful.  Sometimes to come into a place of fruitfulness we have to forget some of the things that have happened in the past.  Sometimes things from the past both good and bad can get in the way of pressing on into what God has for us.  Perhaps there is some baggage from your past that has kept you from being fruitful. I think each one of us need to seek the Lord to see if there are things we need to forget, so we can move forward into the place of fruitfulness God has for us.

Note also that it says “God hath made me to forget” and “God hath caused me to be fruitful.”  Forgetting and being fruitful require letting God do the work within us.  It requires our submission to Him and cooperation with Him.  Sometimes it is a quick work and sometimes it is a process.  Sometimes progress is made in large steps and sometimes in tiny steps.  The important thing is to continue moving forward.

Phil 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus

Forgetting is not just pretending that something did not happen and just tuck it away somewhere in your subconscious, where we don't think about it.  It inolves forgiving and/or letting God heal the wound of the event so that it has no more pain or power within us.  For example Joseph still remembered what his brothers had done, but it no longer had power over him.  He had truly forgiven his brothers and had allowed God to heal the pain.  Joseph had come to the place of seeing how God had taken this painful event in his life and used it for the good of his entire family, for nation of Israel. 

Genesis 45:4-5 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. ⁵ Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Genesis 50:19-21 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? ²⁰ But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. ²¹ Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.