God Is Faithful To Those That Are Faithful To Him

Psalm 145:14-15

The Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to you, and you give them their food in due season.

David once said, “I once was young, now I’m old and I’ve never seen the Righteous forsaken, nor his seed in the streets begging for bread. (Psalm 37:25)” The key phrase here is, “I’ve never seen the Righteous forsaken.” God has a way of looking out for his children that are committed to living Right. There is an overwhelming sense of security when you know you are living right vs. when you know you are not living in God’s will.

The Psalmist says that God upholds all who fall. With this economy in near collapse, there are a lot of people who need God’s help to get back on their feet. The question is, “have we been seeking God’s face and not just his hand?” We must commit ourselves to making God a priority as Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.”

God restores our dignity; he raises up all who are bowed down. With the way things are now its hard for a lot of people to hold up their heads but God is a lifter of my head. I will lift up my eyes to the hills because my help comes from the Lord; He is the lifter of my head.

The eyes of all look to God with expectantcy. Every morning we ought to wake up with expectancy. When your ways are pleasing to God, you ought to expect something to happen. When the Israelites were in the wilderness God allowed Manna and Quail to come out of the sky to feed the hungry nation. God is still opening up the windows of heaven for those that are looking with expectancy. He will give us our food in due season. Due season means that we may not get it at the same time as other people but when it’s our season, God will give us what we need when we need it the most.
In order to benefit from the faithfulness of God we must put ourselves in a position to receive it. We must be committed to God in order to be recipients. God is faithful….

1. To those who call upon Him. Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given, Seek and you will find, knock and the door shall be opened. “When we call upon the name of God and ask it in Jesus name, it shall be given.

2. To those who fear Him. Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools [a] despise wisdom and discipline. Fear means reverence. When we have a healthy respect for the Holiness of God, it signals to God that we really do know who he is and the acknowledgment of Him as God then creates a release of provision because we are His children.

3. To those who love Him. Jesus said, “If you love me then you will keep my commandments.” God has said, “You say you love me with your lips but your heart is far from me.” It’s time for us to show God we love him and not just say we love him.

Dear God, I’ve been distracted and off focus. You are my priority as well as my life line. In you I live, move, and have my being. I’m expecting breakthrough for your people because we are calling on your name. As we shift our allegiance back to you, please hear our cry and feed us till we want no more. Thank you for being a faithful and on time God. We love you and today we are going to show you by living out your commandments.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Heart Attack

Ezekiel 36:26

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

I was absolutely stunned when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech by saying that Beyonce had a better video. Young Taylor stood there with her mouth open in disbelief as the crowd booed Kanye with disapproval. It’s like I was watching a reversal of Rep. Joe Wilson when he rudely interrupted President Obama in the House of Congress. Then earlier that day I couldn’t believe how irate Serena Williams became as she cursed at the Line Judges. There seems to be an epidemic of disrespect and meanness spreading faster than H1N1 in our country. America had a heart attack and it started in the house of Congress. Whenever there are issues with the heart it’s because there is a blockage in the arteries.

Spiritually, America is suffering with a hard heart that has been stiffening over time because of our inability to deal with our issues. We played around with them when we studied the exit polls and looked at how older whites were voting for McCain and younger college educated whites were voting for Obama. We had heartburn when former President Clinton mentioned that Obama would win South Carolina because of the black vote. We had heart palpitations when Jesse Jackson said he wanted to cut Obama’s testicles off because the “N” word was talking down to black people. Eventhough, CNN did a wonderful job with “Black in America”, we still don’t want to talk about racism in America.

We made great advancements in coming together as a people of all races, beliefs and backgrounds to elect our first African-American President but we have not dealt with the issues of the heart. What we are angry about is not what we are really angry about. The Elephant in the living room is not the democratic elephant spending money on “Big Government,” if that were it somebody would have went off a long time ago when we incurred a trillion dollar deficit over a war that we lied about. Could it be that the racial tension in America has lay dormant for so many years that it’s caused blockages in our relationships and surfaces in ideological arguments? Could it be that we have a Christian exterior but the heart is turned to stone? People will know we are Christians by our Love. With disrespect spreading faster than H1N1, we need a cure and the only vaccination is the blood of Jesus.

During the time of Ezekiel, Israel was a corrupt Nation. God said their ways were so corrupt that they were like a woman on her menstrual cycle (Ezekiel 36:17). The way we are treating each other in America is just nasty. God told Ezekiel “I’m getting to the heart of the matter." There are three things God needed to do for Israel that he also needs to do for the “United” States of America:

1. Verse 25 - I will cleanse you with water from all filthiness and idols. Our morality has been corrupted by our idols which are money and greed. God has to cleanse us so that our motives are right. While we are arguing over surface issues our country is dying with heart disease, literally.

2. Verse 26 - I will give you a new heart and put my sprit within you. Our only hope in America is a heart transplant. We will never be able to work across party lines and racial lines until our hearts have been fixed. The Holy Spirit is able to regenerate our hearts so we can love each other with the Love of God. God is a heart fixer and a mind regulator.

3. Verse 27 - I will put my sprit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my Judgments and do them. When our hearts are right in God’s sight then we are able to carry out his statutes and his word. The only way for this country to live out the true meaning of its creed that all men our created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights such as Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is that we need a heart transplant. God has to make our hearts soft again. We don’t know how to love each other because we are so much into seeking our own way that we have forsaken God’s way.

Each of us must be the change we want to see. Last night Beyonce personified that grace when she called Taylor Swift back up during her award for Video of the year. She showed a great heart by allowing this young lady the dignity of receiving her award without a disrespectful interruption. Everybody deserves respect even when it appears you’ve lost.

If we are going to turn the tide of disrespect we each need to search our hearts for any kind of hatred, racism, or sin and ask God, “ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

In Jesus Name,
Amen

New Day, New Mercies I See

Lamentations 3:22-23

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because his compassion fail not, they are new every morning, Great is your faithfulness.

There have been times in our lives where we felt like Indiana Jones stuck in the Temple of Doom. The walls were closing in on us and everywhere we stepped was booby traps. Everyday brings with it new challenges but also new mercies. Sometimes it feels like God has forgotten about us because we are sitting in the dark and struggling financially. Any normal person would have given up with all of the hardships some of us have experienced but there is something or somebody who keeps us from being consumed.

Jeremiah said, “It is through the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.” In the book of lamentations Jeremiah laments the ruin of his people and his nation. I felt like that last night with President Obama trying to present his case to a divided house. My heart ached seeing our nation wrestling with an inherited national debt, people dying, and leaders divided. Jeremiah felt the same thing with his people living through God’s judgment for their harlotry and disobedience to God’s will. Babylon had ravished the nation leaving people homeless, hungry, and without Healthcare. Through the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah cries out to God for relief, but right here in the middle of his plea he makes a proclamation and remembers the Loving side of God.

1. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed. If God did not have mercy the whole Nation would be wiped out with disease, famine, and poverty. When disease and pestilence comes through Judgment, it affects the Righteous and unrighteous. Jesus said, “It rains on the just and unjust but the comfort is knowing we serve a merciful God and we are not consumed.

2. His compassion fails not. God can’t stop Loving even when he’s angry. It’s bad theology to pray death on a President because that’s not the kind of God we serve. If we loved a President who lied about a war, can’t we love a President who you disagree with on Healthcare reform? God wishes that no one would perish but all might be saved through repentance of sin.

3. His mercies are new every morning. If you woke up this morning that’s because God loved you enough to give you New Mercies. What you do with it determines how long trouble lasts. Jeremiah said in verse 26, “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the Salvation of the Lord.

4. Great is God’s Faithfulness. God is faithful even when we are not. God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. God will not turn his face from his children who turn from their wicked ways and seek his face again.

Dear God, thank you for keeping us through dangers seen and unseen. Please turn this recession around and lift this darkness from us. We are your children and we thank you that we are not consumed. Father, I fear for our country because the disrespect for you and our leaders is getting out of control. People are hiding their hatred behind ideology and religion and they don’t represent your spirit. I pray that you would hear the cries of your people and turn this country back to you. Pour your Spirit on us so that we may heal the sick, set the captives free, clothe the naked, and feed the hungry. Fill us with your compassion so that we can really be One Nation under God, indivisible. Thank you for your New Mercies, I think I can make it today as I await your salvation.

In Jesus Name.

Amen.

Go There!

Jeremiah 40:4

I free you this day from the chains that were on your hands. If it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, all the land is before you, wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.”

What we do with out rime determines where we will end up. It’s hard to decide what to do when your hands are free and you are free to go wherever you want to go. The choice is between two places, Babylon or Jerusalem. Babylon is the place of captivity, where everyone has gone because of their disobedience to God. Jerusalem is God’s city but it's been ravished by the enemy and awaits restoration. You have to work the land but you can’t work it unless you go there. Babylon is a great city but it’s controlled by the enemy. Jerusalem is God’s city but it's been destroyed by the enemy. I’ve been set free by the enemy due to the fact that I’m chosen by God. Which way do I go? Go there!

Oftentimes, when you hear people say “don’t go there!” There is a place where others dare not go because it is a place people try to avoid. They will say I can’t believe you “went there.” “There” is a place that needs to be addressed but nobody wants to “go there” because they are inconvienced or it’s not popular to go “there.” “There” is a place that has been devastated by the enemy but if I “go there” I can speak to what happened and why it happened but eh question is “”Do I have to go there?” If you are going to see true restoration you have to “go there.”
When you “go there” God will make your enemy bless you! It’s in the text.

When Jeremiah decided to go back to the devastated Jerusalem and dwell with the remnants the captain of the guard gave him three things:

1. Rations. There was no food in the land. Jeremiah said the people were out in the streets begging for bread and wine. They were moaning from hunger but he was given rations. God made the enemy give him something to eat because Jeremiah “went there.” You got to understand that Jeremiah “went there” before he “went there.” He was obedient to what God told him to do even when it was unpopular to do so. He told Israel that they needed to turn back to God while they were still experiencing prosperity. After the land was devastated and people were hungry, Jeremiah was still eating because he “went there.”

2. Gift. The captain of the guard gave Jeremiah a gift. It could have been money, it could have been clothes, but he gave him a gift. When you “go there” God will bless you with gifts. Your gifts will make room for you and bring you into the presence of great men. When Mary and Joseph “went there” to give birth to Jesus away from home in a manger, God sent foreigners with gifts to bless Baby Jesus. When you have Jesus with you foreigners will bring you gifts even when you are inconvenienced by manger situations. Go there!

3. A place to stay. The Captain of the guard told Jeremiah to go take residence with somebody in charge in the city. When you go there God will open up doors and give you a place to stay.

All I need is my freedom and some rations, my gift, and some place to start over, but I got to “go there” in order to get it! You know what you need to do today?! Go there!

Dear God, help me to go there and not be afraid to speak truth to Power, to speak truth in love, to shed light where there is darkness. Give me the strength and the courage to “go there” even when it seems inconvenient to do so. Thank you for going there with me and for “going there” for me. You didn’t have to go to Calvary’s Cross to die for me but Jesus you “went there” hung, bled, and died so that one day I could “go there.” Thank God I’m HERE!

In Jesus Name!

Amen.

Stay Here

Jeremiah 42:10
If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you.

There is a temptation to run away when things aren’t going right. It's easier to abandon what is devastating and run to what seems to be working but what God wants us to do many times is to stay where we are. Yes, God is a progressive God, he is always moving forward, but in order for us to catch up with God sometimes we have to stay where we are.

Jerusalem and Judah had been devastated because the people over the years had been disobedient to God, burning incense and making offerings to the “Queen of Heaven.” The Queen of Heaven was a false god that personified the lusts and cravings of Israel. In their minds, they faired better when they were making sacrifice to the “Queen of Heaven” but Jeremiah reminded them God was being patient with them because he didn’t want to wipe them out but the destruction they were now experiencing was a result of God’s judgment. The people that were left after most of the people had been killed or taken captive wanted to know what God wanted them to do. However, when they inquired of Jeremiah they already knew what they wanted to do in their hearts. They had their bags packed and ready to go to Egypt. This inquiry was just a formality. It’s how we come to church every week. We already know what we are going to do we just want to see if God or the preacher is going to co-sign to our mess.

They said, Jeremiah, Keep it 100% real, what does God want us to do about this devastation, this famine, this recession. What does God want us to do? God told Jeremiah that he sees the hardship of his people and he is relenting from his judgment. He’s about to turn the economy back around under the condition that they remain in a devastated land and let God build them back up.

God said he would:

1. Build them back up and not tear them down. God wants to rebuild what he allowed to be torn down. Whatever the enemy devastated, God is getting ready to rebuild it if we would only stay where we are.

2. He would plant them and not pluck them. God is about ready to plant where nothing was growing but we got to stick around long enough to see it grow.

This didn’t sound appealing because building and planting takes time and the people wanted immediate prosperity and protection in Egypt. It’s hard to build and plant when you want what you use to have immediately under the false worship of a lustful and materialistic era. This is the time to rebuild and plant and you want to run to the immediate.

They told Jeremiah, “You made that up! “That’s not what they wanted to hear. Jeremiah told them if they left that God would wipe them out and he would tear them down and pluck them up in the land they were fleeing to.

This is the time God wants us to be still and restore order back into our own devastated lands.

1. Work on your own marriage instead of tipping out for greener pastures. What looks like green grass on the other side of the fence is really artificial turf. Get your fertilizer out and take care of your own grass.

2. Restore order to your own community instead of abandoning it for a nicer neighborhood. Foreclosed homes are just homes ready to be restored and empty buildings are potential businesses and ministries waiting to be birthed.

3. Make your church better instead of running to another church and making it worse. Don’t leave before it’s time for you to grow and help your church be better.

4. Stay on your job and make your company better instead of going somewhere else that looks stable just because it’s bigger. If there is no struggle there is no progress. It takes a small business 3 to 5 years before it sees its first profit.
Unless God builds a building the builder builds in vain. Unless the Lord watches over a city the watchmen watches in vain. Be still and know that He is God!

Dear God, give me the discipline to remain in a land that I would rather leave. This devastated land is my promised land but I have to rebuild it after it's been devastated through disobedience. It's not that you have left us, but we left you. Now we re-turn our faces back to you and we humbly submit our plans to your will. Help us to rebuild what was torn down and plant what was plucked up.

In Jesus Name,
Amen

Why Are You Sighing?

Ezekiel 12:7

Why are you sighing? That you shall answer because of the news…
Nobody likes bad news. As a matter of fact my consumption of the news is limited because of the over-saturation of negative news. It seems to be one tragedy after the other. Every now and then there are glimpses of good news but they are out numbered by bad news.

Don’t just think because I shelter myself from bad news that it stops the events from happening. Sometimes I need to hear the bad news so I can make adjustments in my life to deal with what might be coming my way.

People in certain parts of California need to hear where the fire is spreading so they can evacuate before it hits their home. People in America need to listen to get updates on the swine flu to see where their children and elderly can get vaccinated. There are impending, potentially catastrophic events we can avoid if we listen to the news.

Ezekiel got the news from God that Jerusalem was about to fall because they had not kept God's commandments and their eyes were fixed on their Father’s idols. God was about to unleash Judgment on his people because they abandoned his commandments.
God told Ezekiel to look at the news of what was headed toward Jerusalem. He told him to:

1. Sigh with a broken heart. We ought to see what’s going on in the world and it break our heart. If we were to really look at the world the way God sees it, we would be weeping. When Jesus looked over Jerusalem and saw the people who looked like sheep without a shepherd, he wept. We’d rather watch American Idol than look at the condition in Somalia or see the murdering in Chicago. What we see in the news ought to break our hearts to move us into action.

2. Sigh with bitterness. Some of the things we see ought to make us angry. We ought to have a righteous indignation over global warming and failing inner-city schools. I think we have a lot of bitter Americans because their ideology is being challenged but God wants us to be bitter because our theology (thoughts about God) has eroded into every human doing what's right in his or her own eyes. God wants us to sigh with bitterness because his people have strayed from him. If we could stop arguing over policies and turn our attention back to righteousness and what is best for humanity I think we could change the news.

A lot of the turmoil we see unfolding is God’s judgment against man for his abuse of the earth, evil towards humanity, and forsaking God’s commandments but the BREAKING NEWS is that we haven’t seen anything yet! Revelation 8: 13As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"

The good news is that we still have time to evacuate before we are consumed by eternal fire. The good news is that there is a cure for sin sickness. The vaccination is the blood of Jesus. If we turn back to God we can avoid catastrophe. For God so Loved the World that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Dear God, thank you for the Good News of Jesus Christ that he came to save the lost, die for the sinner, and defeated death and the grave. That’s Good News! Helps us to get the Word out about this impending danger of your judgments against the wicked before it’s too late. God I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody who can save anybody. Help us to save the World through the Good News of Jesus Christ!

In Jesus Name,
Amen!

God Needs More White Blood Cells!

Revelation 7:14
These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

White Blood Cells or Leukocytes are cells of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials. It’s important for the body to have a normal count of White Blood Cells in order to stay healthy. When they are low in number they expose the body to disease. These White Blood Cells make up 1% of a healthy blood sample but are vital to the health of the body.

Christians are God’s white blood cells to the body of humanity. We are supposed to bring Life and life more abundantly because of our spiritual genetics. The Apostle John sees a vision of a great multitude of people that no one could number of all nations, tribes, people and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes. John asks the angel, "who are these?” The angel says, “these are they who:

1. Come through great tribulation. In order to become a part of God’s healing movement we have to overcome the tribulations that come our way. Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 1 John 5:4
for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

2. Washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. How do you wash your robes in Red Blood and get white robes? What kind of process can produce white robes out of red blood? Only God can do that. Only God can take a brown cow that eats green grass to produce white milk. Only God can take a sinner like me who lived a dirty life repented, and washed in the red blood of Jesus and made my soul white as snow. Only God can do that.

The name “white blood cell” derives from the fact that after centrifugation of a blood sample, the white cells are found in the Buffy coat, a thin white layer of nucleated cells. Centrifugation is a process that involves the use of centrifugal force for the separation of mixtures. Centrifugal force means to flee by the process as an outward force away from the center of Rotation.

When Jesus died on the cross there was a centrifugal force at Calvary’s cross that caused a separation. I was a mixture of sin and righteousness but when Jesus shed his blood, God shook up the whole earth and the curtain which separated the holy of holies from the secular people was split. There was a divine separation from good cells and bad cells. When Jesus rose from the dead three days later he made it possible for me to receive a transfusion. When God shook up the whole earth with the resurrection of Jesus it allowed you and I to be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

When we come together in two or threes we form cell groups. Where two or three of us are there Jesus is. We then become white blood cells able to fight off disease, sickness and foreign objects that threaten the existence of humanity.

Dear God, help us to be your white blood cells to fight off disease of sin, injustice, racism, oppression, and sickness. Use us to infuse humanity with a dose of your saving grace and the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus, what can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. God, I pray that you would multiply Christian cell groups all over the place today. I pray that two or three of us would consistently start coming together at work, at school, at home so that we can fight off the disease of sin so that one day we will be able to stand before the throne of the Lamb in heaven many nations, many tongues, because we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.

In Jesus Name I pray,
Amen.