14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” Revelation 17:14
The Lord spoke to me and said, “I want to talk to you about the CHOSEN Gathering,” (Fri, 3/6 and Sat 3/7). I was thrilled to hear this because we are launch ing a new format, a new theme, and a new change.
He took me to Revelation 17:14, and said, “I want you to take the three sessions of this gathering, and explore this verse.
One session will be on “Called”.
- What does that mean?
- What is happening in the midst of that?
The other two sessions would be exploring the same questions for “Chosen” and “Faithful”.
Excitedly, I printed out some of the verses and started to look at them. A few nights later, the Lord did one of those “switch-a-roos” on me…as He often does. He often leads you into a knowledge of one thing, from where you saw it before, and then He turns it around from where you are to see it now. Basically He said, “When you read that verse, you read it as though it were about the guys who were with Jesus. They were called, chosen and faithful. Another way of saying this is that,
- They found themselves,
- Proved themselves,
- Became-grew up to be called, chosen and faithful.”
There is true value in understanding that the company of Jesus will be called, chosen and faithful. But the Lord said, “Since I started bringing you from a heavenly perspective, I have taught you that these are not things to where you arrive, or become able to do. They are things that you become by beholding Me.
So, look at it this way:
Those that are with Him—this is all that we have to focus on throughout our entire journey on this planet—It is simply to be with Him.” With Him, all of these transformations take place.
We are in a season of prayer, positioning ourselves again,
- For new grace,
- For a new experience with Jesus,
- For a new encounter that would carry us to the place where He has called us.
This is because without this new grace, we can’t do what He asked us to do. Which of us can do what He has asked us to do? If we can—It is either too small or we are deceived. This is exciting because what He has asked of us, and what He is going to be asking of us—is HUGE.
Acts 26 is a recounting of Paul’s experience that changed his life forever. Again, this is the new model. It is the renewing of a model that was the New Testament norm. One, that we believe, will return to our own experience.
Paul was a terrorist, the greatest religious zealot, who decided that anything outside of what he held to be truth had to be converted back to his held truth… or be removed. While on his way to Damascus, he was accosted by God. He had an encounter with Jesus Christ. This encounter became his commissioning. He was saved and “called”. He was delivered and given inheritance. He was awakened in his foreknowledge and in his destiny.
It is so powerful to think that he literally goes to Damascus a new man, given a new assignment and put back on track with what he had been called to be.
In Acts 26:19, we read:
19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, Acts 26:19
To be “not disobedient” to a heavenly vision, literally means, that he was obedient (a double negative makes a positive). What does obedient mean? It means he was persuaded. He allowed the experience with God to continually affect him, so that he could fulfill what he was given and called to do.
The things of God are communicated by the Spirit. The Spirit of God is how we learn of Jesus Christ. He has to open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our heart to understand.
Spirit communication is:
- In the Word when we read it
- In a message
- In worship
- Visions and dreams
- Revelation
These are the means of the language of the Holy Spirit.
Once this encounter occurred, Paul’s life was revolutionized. But now 20, 30 years later, it was still the commanding point of his journey. He had grown from that moment.
Every encounter with God that we have in our prayer room, in a service, or in a moment, is from eternity and carries eternity with it…and it never goes away. It only grows in wealth, value and substance. Yet, we will grow in many ways to learn to yield to that sound, and to trust that word over everything else in our lives.
Let’s look at John 6:
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”(He was referring to literally drinking His body and drinking His blood.) 61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” 66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
(The “went back” means that they were not pressing in the crowd anymore. They weren’t trying to get in the front row of the meeting. They just started backing off.)
67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve. John 6:60-71
Again, the whole picture of this is that the words that they were being given that Jesus says were spirit and life and were too hard for the soul of the people at their juncture to grasp or receive, or for the flesh to make sense of. And it was causing a separation because there wasn’t yet the ability to grasp what was being given. Now the only difference that the twelve had apart from the rest of the group was the twelve understood that they didn’t understand what Jesus was saying but what He was saying was eternal life. What He was saying carried eternal life in it. They knew that He was the One who had words of eternal life.”
We have to understand that with Jesus and forever with Jesus will be words of eternal life. When perceived, received, and embraced, they will bring eternal life into our being. They will kill us first; but they will bring life to us after we are dead. They will make us free, but first miserable. It is this dynamic, because we are flesh creatures living with soulish mindsets. We have become born again spirit beings that are being called to come into a whole new realm called heaven and the kingdom of God. It is entirely diametrically opposed to the way the world functions. It is upside down and counter-intuitive.
God speaks into us His seed, but then His seed calls us to follow. In this journey we start losing our place in our soul and in our flesh. All we must value is,
“What You are saying has eternity in it. I don’t know what You are talking about…but I’m not leaving You!”
We must reactivate the spirit man in union, through prayer, in order that the soulish man and the fleshly man do not keep usurping our journey. Because what happens is that there is this experience.
Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. The first thing that we recognize is that there is something that happens to us when He speaks. There is eternity that is communicated to us whether we can grasp it or make sense of it, or practice it, or do it.
I tell everyone that this is not about observing to do. It is about beholding and becoming. There is nothing in the bible that we can do—except sin. This is natural. Our soul-man will do it easily and our flesh loves to do it all the time. But becoming like Christ is a beholding ministry.
Peter then goes on to say,
69 Also we have come to believe and know that (this is that “to know” –Experiential knowledge) You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
This company of those being with Him are the called, the chosen, and the faithful.
- It is acknowledging that we are staying with Him because we are chosen. Jesus choses us.
- Everything that will be attributed to us is because of Jesus.
- Everything that we have will have been received from Him.
- All we have to do is stay with Him.
If there is one thing that we simply must focus on, in this hour of our time on earth, is:
Jesus, “I want to follow You.
I want to be with You.
I don’t want to go back away from You even if what You are asking of me is impossible.
Even if I can’t grasp the paradox I am in, I’ve got to connect; I’ve got to stay with You.
You have words of ETERNAL LIFE! You are Messiah!”
I want to show you something in Malachi for a number or reasons. It started off as I was praying yesterday, waiting on the Lord over lots of different thoughts and feelings and concerns. The Lord took me to Malachi 3 because of it being such a strong statement. This is where we all live. We all feel the pressure of money, of lack, of increase, of opportunity, of dreams, of hopes…This is where we all live.
Malachi, like the book of James in the New Testament, is very straight forward. Let’s read a portion of verses then go back to the origin of tithing. I saw, that from this door opened a door of Abraham. I am learning now something that I can communicate. I pray we are all able to grasp it. We hear this scripture during many of our offering times at church services.
“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts; 12 “And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3: 8-12
Before we go back to Abraham, where the encounter with Melchizedek initiated, what we are referring to here is tithing, that ten percent.
I got saved when I was 19. I was so grateful for being saved. I could be told to do anything, that Jesus wanted me to do, and I would have done it. This was just because from that point, I had nothing else to do. My whole life had been erased. What I had been pursuing I was no longer pursuing. I was seeking this man Jesus. So, I was told about tithing, giving a dollar off of ten, and ten off of a hundred. This was about the extent of how far my tithing could go in those days. I was grateful for that learning period because it was a lot easier. A dollar off of ten is a simple thing. It’s a tip. But a thousand dollars off of ten thousand dollars, now that’s a different story because that could mean a lot more than just the one dollar.
Abraham was 75 to 83 when he started. So we can start tithing at any time. But even though that has been a part of me and you, and it should be a part of us, it is still something that has to hold faith, expectancy and response to God or it is just a law. People say, “Awe, tithing is just a law, so why tithe? It’s just a law.” Well, sure, anything can be a law. But it didn’t start as a law.
Let’s look at the next four verses because I think this is really the key that is happening inside of each of us in any area. It could be about money, marriage, or health. It could be about seeking out our movement on the planet, career, or any relationship. But here in this particular scripture, he is focusing on money. Money is always a really key thing in all of our lives.
But then He goes to the next point which is even more important. He says…
13 “Your words have been harsh against Me,” Says the Lord, “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the Lord of hosts? Malachi 3:13-14
Now, none of us would leave church today and say, “Yeah, I think I’m going to go and tell God it is useless to serve Him. But every one of us will be constantly tempted to express that in our thoughts, our words, or our actions. This is because that is the part of the separating of the soul and the flesh, so the spirit man can come alive and we can come into resurrection. We will look at this in Abraham’s life in a moment…
So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.’” Malachi 3:15
Isn’t this how we start to feel? I’ve felt that way. We all know what this feels like. It looks like the world celebrates…
Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name. Malachi 3:16
We can get into the moment of something that is being given, but we cannot carry it with us unless we pay the price to have it. The things of God are given freely; but it costs us everything to possess them. Depending on what God is doing, our yielding is the practice of this.
Picture God, and the kingdom of heaven, being a house on a mountain in Mammoth at a ski resort, or a house on the 9th hole at a golf resort, or a house on the sands at the beach at a perfect surf spot—or wherever would feel like heaven to you. You are given the entire house with no payments or taxes. We head back up to the mountain because it is going to snow. Every year, we are given our own boarding equipment – skis, snowboard, outfits, and a ski pass. We have everything we require to just rock, and be gnarly, except one thing. We don’t know how to ski. We don’t know how to surf or we don’t know how to swing a golf club.
So, if we are to ever really enjoy what we have been given, we will have to practice and pay the dues. We are going to have to sit on a board and get clobbered in white water and wonder what we are doing and why do it. Our arms turn into noodles, get tired and feel stupid. We will go up on a mountain and get off the chair lift and fall flat on our face. We will get in fights with our spouse because we take her down the wrong mountain. Unfortunately, I did that to my wife on our honeymoon. She got mad at me. Now, we go down it and its fun but it wasn’t then.
You see, it’s not about our ability or responsibility. It is about responding to His voice and becoming skilled in responding, skilled in yielding. We don’t earn this gift. We learn this gift. We wouldn’t be getting up early, while hoping that somehow our ski pass would work, and we would be allowed on the mountain again. We would be praying to God that we could get down the run this time, without hitting a tree.
We are making incremental growth in something we possess the possibility that is limitless. Soon we can go and travel, and be and do. But you’ve got to practice. No practice, no learning. So our board will sit in our garage. Our outfits will sit in our closet. We won’t know where our pass is. And we will sit around and start complaining, “I can’t stand these cold winters. And all these tourists coming up and parking in my driveway and trying to get up to the ski run! I can’t believe the way the crowds are…blah, blah, blah….”
Why? Simply because we haven’t maximized what was given to us. We didn’t grow up into the thing, so now we are complaining about the thing as being useless and valueless. This is really what it is. It is about right now, all that is needed of all of us is the ability to re-respond to His voice at the current moment we are in.
Let’s just jump over to Abraham in Genesis 14. The Lord brought Abraham up to me, and He showed me something very important. It is simply this: Every time God speaks and faith comes (because God’s word brings faith, the voice of God quickens and awakens, revelation empowers) I respond to God in totality. Within that totality, the current state of my captivity will re-awaken. Faith will always be followed with a massive experience of a new fear. We will enter into a new place of liberty, with another place of captivity wanting to rise up and we will wonder what in the world is happening”. At first, we react to try to squelch this horrid thing that just showed up. The older we get, we realize that it was actually supposed to show up so God and us can walk out a new thing. He doesn’t need us to be perfect. We are already perfect. If we are already justified, we are already glorified. There is nothing for qualifying. There’s no earning, it is just learning.
I had to learn this stuff. I remember in 1994/95, we were standing in a glorious moment during a service. Something was happening that had never happened before. God said to me, “This is a faith accident. You don’t know how you did it, nor can you do it again.” Isn’t that encouraging? You’re just on a zenith of a new moment of life and God says, “You can’t do it again.” And that was very true. I did not have the capacity, the wherewithal, or the clarity. I did not understand what worked and what didn’t.
If we give a child something wonderful, the first thing they have to do is break it. The first thing they have to do is take it apart. God knows that. He gives us perfect things to break and take apart long before it will be required of us, or necessary for us to be a person who can put it together and make it work. This is the journey of growing.
What the stupid board in my garage is for to strap on my feet and to go down a hill, I’ve got to start long before He needs me to go on an important run for Him. We have to understand there is no missing it. Our journey is entirely and completely planned.
In Genesis 14:18, Abraham has just delivered his nephew Lot out of a very crazy situation and in his return of having overrun kings and liberating cities, he has an extraordinary response with God’s help.
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all. 21 Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.” 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’— 24 except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.” Genesis 18-24
Abram responded to a revelation.
I believe Melchizedek was Jesus pre-incarnate – my personal belief and I think a lot of bible scholars will say the same. In any case, Jesus today is the High Priest under the order of Melchizedek, so he received this moment. When he saw that God was the possessor of heaven and earth, and that He was the one who had given him the victory, he responded with a tenth of the spoils. He understood that he was entering into a covenant of union, of growth, and grace that would come from God—and God only.
Sodom, who represents the world, the king of Sodom was saying, “Just let me have the people and you can have everything.” And he then made this bold declaration, which faith will always do. We know we are in faith because we shoot our mouth off. It is something we cannot perform and we don’t know what we just committed our self to, but faith just comes out of our mouth. It comes into our heart and out of our mouth before we know what we said…Then
the moment is over.
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Genesis 15:1
Abram made a bold declaration of faith. As he retreated back to his little camp that he owned no property in, the land that he was just a pilgrim in, he began to have consideration as to what he had just done. Fear started to fill his life. In that fear, he started coming into his soul realm.
He was totally in faith, and totally connected to a determined decision, but he did not have the capacity to carry it. God came to him and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am your shield. I am your great reward.”
Now, something was meant to happen, that we don’t value. (I’m just going to give you permission to let God have access) This moment of fear, triggered other deficits that Abram became aware of , as it always does. He began to say, “You know what, not only am I just a little guy in a little group of 200 servants, I don’t even own any land and I don’t have the city fortified, I don’t even have a kid. And, I’ve been hearing these words ever since I started out in what is now present day Iraq, with my dad, and we moved up to Haran, present day Syrian/Southern Turkey border, and then when my dad died, I came down here and have been having these promises of becoming a great nation. I don’t even have a kid.
You see, what is meant to happen, is the faith of God is a seed that goes inside of us that begins to call eternal life. It contrasts the lack of life that we carry naturally. It is meant to contrast the lack of life. God does not need our flesh. He is not impressed with the strength of a man, or the legs of a man, or the strength of a horse. He is not impressed with any of it. And yet, we become painfully aware because of a light that came that we are actually very deficit.
So, Abram does a great thing. This is so important.
- Once God begins the conversation to encourage us, then be honest with Him, with what now is currently possessing our soul.
- Once God initiates a conversation, which He will do every time we pray if we stay long enough until some encounter happens.
- Once the encounter happens, tell Him the truth.
- Draw near to Him with a true heart.
Abram does exactly that.
But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” Genesis 15:2-3
It takes faith to talk to God when He responds to us, that He is REALLY there. It takes faith to have a conversation to which we do not accuse Him of ill, but we speak to Him from where we are. It takes faith to be able to tell Him, “I’m not getting it! And, this is really starting to undermine my journey with You.”
4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Genesis 15:4
This is just like when Nathan spoke to David and said, “And from your body will come a king”. At this point in David’s life he had done nothing but right. He was like the cat’s meow, as far as always behaving wisely. Do you think David had this concept of which one of his sons would be king? Would it be from Abigail? He had no idea that it would be Solomon, born from Bathsheba. It would be after he went through the most horrific, dark season of his entire life, in total humiliation of who he really was. He has no idea.
Do you think God is saying, “We will figure out in about 40 years which son I want”? No. He already knew which son He was going to choose. Do you think God looks at our lives and says, “Oh wow, I had plans for you! What did you do with yourself? You let yourself go.” No. He can’t do that! He doesn’t need to do that! He totally knew what each of us were going to do with what He said to do.
So, when Abram opened up the barrenness of his life, God then came to Him in a great vision.
We have the words of eternal life. Therefore, what is God going to do if He comes to help us? He is going to talk to us. Beloved, we must value Him talking to us and talk back. We must then engage and let Him re-convince us, re-calibrate us, and re-orient us to faith. The longer we go, the more we will have to do that because there is less of us to offer to God.
We have all heard those words, “Oh God has need of you because of…blah, blah, blah. That is just a trap Holy Spirit can use to get us to journey with Him. Please understand that this a very gross way of explaining a very complicated thought. It is not a trap, but it is. It is alluring to our flesh, our pride, and our sense of self-worth. So, we will go for it. But He knows that we have not the capacity to be what we think we are, so we will be defeated in the midst of it. At some point, we will understand that what He said He was going to do, He is going to do because He said He was going to do it, not because we were the key. “We’ve been waiting till you were born! Finally. Somebody who gets it is here!” This is the downfall of every young minister and every saint alive. We think that what we are learning, no one has learned before…..and what we are hearing, we are sure no one has heard this. Therefore, we must be special. You know who originated that thought? Lucifer. Too much traffic of the spirit will cause anyone to have an exalting mindset.
The rest of the story is that basically God says, “Let Me come in to your tent, now let Me take you out of your tent and let Me open up your eyes to see. Can you count the stars? That’s how big your family is going to be.” And Abram believed God. He allowed the heavenly vision to persuade him.
Do we understand this? Some of us are just stuck because we are expecting God to answer some question before we respond. But He’s not going to answer that question. If I know Him, and I do, He will hit us in a new experience. By the time we recognize that it is Him, the question is already gone. But if we continue to insist that we are not going anywhere without this question answered, He will say, “Okay. Do you want to leave too?” “Tell me about this eating bodies and drinking blood. I can’t go on with that.” “Does this offend you?” Have we ever had Jesus say this to us, even once? “Does this offend you?” “Did what I say offend you? Oh My God! I’ll change My gospel!”
Seriously, come on. Where are we? Planet earth? “Does this offend you? Oh no. I’m sorry! What if you see Me go to heaven?” This is the Jesus we let in our house. He has no intention of living on our budget, or eating off of our table with our resource. He is here to provide His own meal, rearrange His own kitchen and He’s going to tell us, “I’m sorry, no.” We will think we can’t but He will tell us, “Let’s work it out. Let’s process. Let’s learn.”
If we ask God for help, He will not solve the problem, He will give us the solution for the eternal plan. When Abram said, “I need a kid.” God said, “Okay, how about this many [all the stars in the sky!]” “Well, one would do. I just wanted one.” This was in the desert. There were thousands and thousands of stars. “What’s the matter, God would say? You said you wanted a kid.” “Yeah, well I just wanted one kid.” That’s your God! That’s, my God, our God!!
Something in Abram said, “Sure. Sure. Let’s do it. It has been a crazy ride ever since I left Iraq. Whatever. You are forever, so whatever. Let’s do it.” He goes home. He told his wife, which didn’t give her a bit of faith. It only gave her an offense. Because his encounters with God only left her feeling more barren than she already was. So she came up with her remedy, which was half retaliation. Babies were made and strife begun. Abram was trying to solve the strife. It got pretty ugly and everything went quiet for about thirteen years. Finally God comes. And trust me Beloved, It did not go one day too long, or one day too short. God started the first encounter thirteen years before He needed the next encounter. He times us.
Now, let’s see Abram this time. Because every time I have an encounter with God, it is going to cause faith to rise and me to respond. Then something in me that I don’t want in me is going to come back alive or come to the surface. I then have to learn how to not take responsibility. I think that it is not there. I’m not afraid—but, yes, I am afraid. I’m not undone, but yes, I really am undone.
This time Abram was given the word of the name change. Isaac was to be born in a year. It was very specific. He followed through with the specifics that he could do. Circumcision, changed his name, He suggested to Sarai that she might be known as Sarah (but he doesn’t go too hard on that one.) A little while later, Jesus showed up with two angels – the Angel of the Lord and a couple of men accompany Him. While they were having a meal, He spoke so Sarai could hear that she would have a son. He had an encounter. Jesus had an encounter with Sarah. Sarah, though she was 90 years old, considered God faithful. Therefore she received strength to conceive.
There is strength coming to some of us that we are going to consider God faithful once again.
Now, with Sarah, from this encounter which was just so Sarah could hear Jesus speak to her, she got it herself. Jesus sent the two angels to go check out Sodom and Gomorrah to see if the city really needed to be dealt with.
Abraham again rescues his nephew and intercedes for the city (Genesis chapter 18, 19, 20). In the morning Abraham sees that his intercession did not divert this destruction, and now smoke and the furnace is burning in the plain. He then went home to Sarah and said, “We need to get out of here.” They then moved from the land of Negev to the coastal region of present day Gaza. As it feels today, it felt then.
He arrived in the city with his beautiful wife. This man had again just stepped into a whole other level of faith and he was now acting out a whole other level of Abraham. You see, God loved Abraham to be Abraham, while God got to be God. But Abraham was learning some things now. This time he realized he has really made a blunder. And in his fear to go to Gaza – his fear in Gaze – he had now given his wife (who is with promise to have a child) unto the king of Gaza. What does he do then? The bible doesn’t tell us what he does, except it kind of does in Romans 4. It says that he decided to not stagger at the promise through unbelief even though he was dead and Sarah’s womb was dead. They were now in a very precarious place.
Instead, the bible says he glorified God. And he became persuaded that whatever God said, God could do. So Abraham began a conversation something like this:
“Heavenly Father, walking with You is never a dull moment. Man, did I blow that. I still believe we are going to have a kid, but whoa did I blow that.” God says, “Let’s get off the blowing it. What are you going to do about this?” Abraham says, “We have a big problem that You’re going to have to fix. Because You’re going to have to do what You said, because I believe You can do what You say. I don’t care what I did. I believe You can do what You said. It’s Your promise. You perform. I glorify You for Your ability. I don’t really care. Go tell the king he is dead if You need to. I don’t know what You’re going to do, but I say what You said is what is true. I will not say it is wearisome to serve You, or that it is a bother that I’m here. I don’t know how I got here. I got in deep intercession, then I freaked out.”
That is exactly what happened to the man. I’ve watched that. I’ve had it happen to me. When we get vulnerable in the Spirit, we can go so far, and then some little thing happens and we just lose our whole place. We then retreat way back from where we started the last moment of movement. This is a King. This is the Spirit of God. This is wind.
I’m supposed to go to Thailand and teach people how to pastor a supernatural church. Ha! This is like pastoring the wind!
We just learn to yield, and trust, forget, and let go and say, “Oh, here we go again.” Every time our faith comes alive, something else will come up. And when it comes up – the deficit, the fear, the bad habit, the betrayal—whatever
it is—don’t fix it! Submit it. Discuss it. Open the door. Have a conversation. And then don’t disengage faith in what God is saying. Let God keep saying what He’s saying. Sometimes it is like, “Lord, I really have to be honest with You. Yeah, You say You’re my great reward, but I don’t have a kid so I really don’t think You are that great of a reward. I’m sorry. You really think You are really hot, butI want a kid.” Honest conversation!
Then God shows you the constellations and says, “Will this do?” You have just got to let Him in. Every time God comes into my mess, He leaves it still a mess… but I feel so good. Because that is the God I serve. He knows how to get a hold of me. Every time I get into a dilemma where circumstances are now pressing and unless something really, really happens, I say, “What are You going to do? Boy, I made a mess, but what are You going to do?” That is faith!
Faith is not, “Oh dear. God wanted to do something wonderful in the land, but those Christians! They just weren’t good enough. They didn’t pray hard enough. They didn’t believe long enough. They didn’t vote for the right president! God is mad and He is going to destroy us!” That is not your Daddy! Jesus did not come to the earth to make this so ridiculous. It is all Jesus. Jesus doesn’t need anyone, but someone in faith.
One man in faith says, “I don’t really care how the economy is going. I don’t care what I did to get myself in this situation. My God can get me out and will get me out because God told me I was going to be rich! God told me I’d have kids! He said I’d have a galaxy of kids! He said I would get married, but I’m not married, so who cares?!! Whatever, He’s forever! Whatever, He’s forever! My God is faithful! MY GOD IS FAITHFUL!!!
This is faith fighting against the circumstances that want to collapse us. This is what it means to be faithful. We are becoming full of faith!
5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. 7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” Genesis 15:5-7
Upcoming Events
Sunday, March 8, 2015, 9am: Brian Rogers will share, “Yield to His Voice”.
Sunday, 10:20am: Join us for the Nations Prayer – Now is the time of sitting with Christ in His victory, praying for His nations, in His will. Join us and let your prayers be heard.
Sunday, 11am: I will be sharing, “His Chosen Company…What we look like and how we will be known” At the conclusion of our forty days of prayer, we are expecting a new grace for this new season. His gift to us to reign in this life. I am very excited to see what the Lord will do for us.
All of our services are leading us to the CHOSEN Gathering, March 6th and 7th. Pray with us and register today! Remember, lunch on Saturday is free to those who register now. Our intercessors are praying for those who register, by name.