Month: September 2014

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The Birth

Over the weekend my oldest daughter went into labor and gave birth to my fifth grandchild.

When Linda and I arrived in Dallas on Friday, she was already having some contractions. She might take a few steps and then stop and get this real look of pain on her face.

The contractions subsided over night but picked up in intensity on Saturday. A man cannot imagine the pains of labor. Perhaps stomach cramps are as close as men can get to that sensation but it probably is a poor comparison.

Men will never know the pain of labor or giving birth.

Or can they?

The Bible says,

Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. James 1:15

Each of us conceives desire and gives birth to sin. Each of us will know the pain of death.

But those that look to Jesus for salvation understand the meaning of born-again.

As Jesus said,

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

As someone once said, “You can be born once and die twice or you can be born twice and die once!”

Experience new birth!

Abba, thanks You for giving me a second chance! In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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When bad news arrives!

It’s bad news!

The report from the doctor isn’t good.
The car breaks down.
You’re being laid off.
A house fire, flooding, or a tornado destroys all.

The list can go on and on with bad, disturbing news.

How do you react?
Anger?
Throw a fit?
Perhaps you blame someone else or try to get even!

The bad news for Hezekiah was an army surrounding his city and boasting of the destruction they would bring. The Assyrians had surrounded many other cities and had all but destroyed them and taken the people as slaves.

Now they were at Jerusalem’s gate boasting of doing the same.

What did Hezekiah do?

And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2 Kings 19:1

Hezekiah humbly sought God.
God powerfully delivered him and the city.

When life becomes more than you can handle, seek God!
It’s okay to go to the doctor or to appeal to family and friends for help – but look to God first and seek His healing, help, and protection for you and your family.

Abba, keep me calm today in the midst of trouble. May my eyes be kept on You for all things! In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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Hoarders

There is a reality show called Hoarders about normal people that cannot or will not throw things away.
They stash, stack, stuff, push, cram, ram, and pile things like magazines, cardboard boxes, collectibles, photo’s; just anything they can.

Most have mere trails through the mountains of stuff so they can move around their home.

It’s ridiculous how many things these homes are crammed with.

Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place. 2 Chron 29:5

There are Christian hoarders too.

They stash, stack, stuff, push, cram, ram, and pile things into their lives that are nothing more than rubbish. Things like unforgiveness, hate, anger, grudges, grief, griping, and the such, really have no place in the life of a Christian.

Like trash in your home, it needs to be taken out! Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and there is no room for that kind of rubbish!

Paul said this about it –

I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Phil 3:8

Don’t hoard. Make room for more of Christ in your life.

Abba, let’s take out the trash today and clean house! In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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Open Door

Look at a door that leads outside. If you opened it what will that do?

It will let in fresh air and sunshine. It will allow the sounds of the outdoors to enter your home – the sounds of a cicada buzzing away in a tree. The sound of a bird singing a beautiful song. The sound of wind in the leaves.

It will allow neighbors to walk up and talk with you.

It allows you the free access to go unhindered out or back in.

It also allows unwanted thing to enter. Flies, roaches, mice, snakes, wasps, or blowing dust could all makes its way into your home.

That’s the thing about an open door – it allows in the good and evil alike.

The same can be said of spiritual matters. When God opens a door many wonderful things can happen but Satan is always nearby to try to sneak in.

Paul said it this way:

For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 1 Cor 16:9

He knew the blessings of an open doorway but also knew of the opposition to it.

Anytime there is a great move in church, there is opposition to it.
When revival breaks out, there will always be someone to dampen it.

Stand strong in the message from the Lord Jesus:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Rev 3:20

Abba, help me to recognize that open door and use it for Your honor and glory. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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Reviling Accusations

During Sunday’s sermon I read a verse that has been with me since.

2 Peter 2:11 Whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

The term “reviling accusation” is what has stuck in my mind.

I have seen this elsewhere.

Jude 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

I looked at the text in Greek and saw the meaning of the word – a blasphemous accusation.

How can one possibly commit blasphemy against Satan, fallen angels, the people of Noah’s time, and the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Here’s how – by not speaking the truth about them.

For instance, what is the great sin of Sodom? If you answered homosexuality, then you’re not correct. Though that sin is present, the first sin of that city was pride. It’s followed by gluttony, laziness, and an non-caring attitude for others.

That’s hit’s closer to home, doesn’t it!

A “railing accusation” is to accuse others of things they did not do. I am guilty of such!
By not knowing all the facts, I have made blasphemous accusations before God about someone else. This is according to what His word says.

The Bible gives me two other verses that I need to heed before I make accusations.

1 Thess 5:17 pray without ceasing

James 1:19 let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath

YES&AMEN

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The Next Shemittah – 5

This is my conclusion on the meaning of the shemittah.

The Law demanded the release of debt every seven years.

Deut 15:1 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts.

The one indebt did not have to ask or beg for this release. It was given to the indebted at the end of the seven years by Law.

Likewise, we as Christians should be releasing those that are in debt to us. To say it better – Christians should be forgiving those that have sinned against us. It should be given without waiting for the offending party to ask.

Like the shemittah it should be automatically given.

Once the loan holder released the loan through the shemittah, he no longer had to worry about the debt owed to him. He did not have to worry about foreclosing on someone and ruining their life.
What a blessing it was to release someone’s debt.

And when you release someone through forgiveness, you no longer have to sit around ponder and grumble about it. You know longer have to feel wounded. You can be freed by releasing forgiveness.

How many times should you do this?

Matt 18:22 Seventy times seven.

Abba, I have been offended and I have forgiven. I have offended and pray I am forgiven. I do this release and receive this release in the name of Jesus. YES&AMEN

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The Next Shemittah – 4

Peter inquired about forgiving others involving the number seven, which is the number of years to forgive debt in the year of release – the shemittah.

Jesus replied and also involved the number seven.

Matt 18:22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Then Jesus tells a story about a certain king

…who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. Matt 18:23

Why would someone want to settle the accounts?
It could be because a shemittah year was at hand and he was looking to recover the loan before he was required by law to release the debt.

In the story it says the king

…was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. Matt 18:27

Released him, loosed him, forgave him the debt certainly sounds like shemittah.

You are in debt to sin. It has demanded a high price for you – death!

Jesus is the Shemittah! He is the One that can release you, loose you, and forgive you of that debt.

I do not know what will happen at the end of the next shemittah, which is September 13, 2015.

But I do know that putting your trust in Jesus will give you the peace and hope through any problems.

Abba, I am blessed that I have been released from sin’s debt. I will trust You to care for me no matter what happens. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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The Next Shemittah-3

As I mentioned in an earlier devotion, for me the spiritual meaning of a shemittah release is rooted in forgiveness.

With this thought in mind it will totally change the meaning of what Jesus taught Peter about forgiveness?

Matt 18:21-22 “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

It has been said that the Rabbi’s taught that forgiving someone three times was sufficient. I have found where a Rabbi Yosi may have taught this in the Talmud using the example of Joseph and his brothers as the backdrop.

But what I find interesting is that seven and multiples of it are used.

Seven is one shemittah. Seventy is ten shemittah. And seventy times seven is 490 or seventy shemittah.

What if Peter was not just talking about forgiving someone seven times but seven years!
A shemittah!

Then the response of Jesus is not to forgive someone 490 times but seventy shemittah’s or 490 years. That would mean your whole life!

Forgiveness is not an option – it is a lifelong lifestyle!

Matt 6:15 If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Abba, my forgiveness from You will become my forgiveness for others. I release them and free myself from any grudges. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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The Next Shemittah – 2

A study of the shemittah will reveal that it contains three releases.

First the release of debt.

Deut 15:1 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts.

Second is the release or rest of the land.

Lev 25:2-4 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.

And third is a release of your faith and dependence on God.

Lev 25:20-22 ‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.

Can the U. S. possibly fall under the curse of God because we have not held to this principle?

More likely, I believe the U. S. falls under the judgment of God because we have not upheld the principles of Christ and the truth’s of which this nation was founded on.

To me, the spiritual implication of a shemittah is in forgiveness. There is no real forgiveness outside of Christ. Even those that call themselves Christian’s often struggle with truly forgiving someone.

I constantly hear things like “I’ll forgive but I’m not going to forget!”
That is not a release! That is clinging and holding onto the trespass.

Jesus said in the model prayer,

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Matt 6:12

As for the U. S., our problem is not a government problem. It is a people problem. If Christians would have risen up in 1963 with fasting and prayer and stood their ground – then prayer may have remained in schools. It has been downhill ever since with one thing after another, including the government sanctioned right to kill the innocent unborn.

A release of forgiveness is not bound by law but is given by the heart that has been changed by the release and forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus.

Abba, I pray that I can shemitah anyone in debt to me, especially those that need my forgiveness. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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The Next Shemittah – 1

I did not know the word shemittah until I heard it from Rabbi Jonathan Cahn two years ago.

I do not know all there is about the Bible but I consider myself a good listener, quick study, and a disciplined learner.

What the Rabbi had to say in light of my Bible study made since, especially when he had the physical evidence of the collapse of the U. S. economy coinciding with the release (shemittah).

This period of rest and release is written into the Law of Moses as a agricultural rest for the land and a financial rest for the people.

Lev 25:2-4 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.

Deut 15:1 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts.

Though there were some financial crises in 1973, 1980, and 1987, the ones fresh in our memory took place in 2001 and 2008, all of which are 7 year periods.

And another shemittah year begins later this month.

For the sake of brevity in each devotion, I will continue with this next time.

Abba, I want to know Your word to the fullness and exercise it in my life. I want to release those in debt to me and be forgiven my debt, as my Lord Jesus prayed. It is in His name I pray, YES&AMEN