Book of Wars Journal entry and Poetry by Shari L. Johnson
Although I know it was a word search that lead me to Numbers 21, I don’t remember what word I was searching for. I got so caught up in verse 14 and wondering just where is that book? And why do I not remember this scripture?
Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon.
I did a quick web search on the book and read that it was a “missing book,” a “canonical book” not included in the scriptures and a book spoken to a man by an angel just a few years ago! None of those intrigued me enough to search any further for the book, but rather I decided just to let the Holy Spirit speak to me this week of Thanksgiving on what that book meant to me. And why I was lead to the book of Numbers, chapter 21, and verse 14 this morning.
I imagined the wars that God had penned in that book for me. Penned much like I do in journaling, for the purpose of reminiscing and to look back on a time in my history that something amazing happened. Something worthy of documenting. And what will it be like when I get to Heaven and discover in that long, lost book, all the times God rescued me.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Are those wars written in that book? I don’t know.
But I know this. I know God is worthy of far more gratitude than I give, Thanksgiving or otherwise. I’ve had to fight a lot of battles within and without lately, and everyone was won with the Word of God. I had to fight them again usually because I let the flesh take over and remind me not of the win, but of the battle.
Today I’m grateful, first and foremost for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who fought every battle for me on the cross of Calvary when He died for my sins, and yours. I’m thankful that He continues to sit on the right hand of the Father, and watch over me, comfort me and strengthen me through the Holy Spirit.
I do not know what battles have been written down, but I know that the battles above my head in the spiritual realm are real. And I know they’re not mine to fight, else they’d be lost.
Every time I write, draw, speak or sing for Him, I know there’s a battle above me to squelch the praises worthy to God’s name, a battle I must fight. Today, it’s a battle I’ll win on my Lord’s behalf.
THANK YOU JESUS. Thank You for that sacrifice on the Cross and thank You for speaking to God on my behalf. I’m sorry it’s necessary. But I’m grateful You are there.
THANK YOU GOD. For listening. For allowing Your Son to make that sacrifice on the cross. I can’t, nor do I want to, imagine the pain You experienced that day. But I’m grateful that You had a plan to save my soul so that I could thank You in person someday.
THANK YOU HOLY SPIRIT. Thank You for being with me every single day. Guiding me. Strengthening me and encouraging me. Without You I know my creativity would be naught. Without You I know I’d be so overwhelmed. Thank You.
For certain Satan doesn’t want you to know God because he’d prefer you stay in his custody. But once a soul has given their heart to Christ, Satan has to change his game plan to interfere with the Kingdom and the Kingdom’s work. There is nothing he can do to remove the seal of Salvation that God puts on His children.
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Glory! But he can certainly do a lot of damage to the spiritual walk of God’s children by binding them with lies. Or at least that’s the case with me. So today I search the truth and invite you along…
Micah 7:18-20
18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
We’re not to fool ourselves and believe that God is not a Holy and just God Who doesn’t get angry. Oh… I believe He gets angry and I believe He gets frustrated with me on a pretty regular basis. But the trouble with my thinking is, I get stuck there. There in that place of God’s frustration, long after He has moved on and sometimes may never have been, I’m still there. He moved on the second I repented, but I choose to stay in that place of bondage and allow Satan to convince me that God’s frustration lingers on. And I have a feeling I’m not alone.
It’s much easier in our less than merciful flesh to view God as a less than merciful God. If every day we would remember three words that God has attested to, through His Son Jesus Christ.
Forgiven
Micah 7:18 – God delights in mercy! The other day I watched as an adult was less than merciful with a child. The children happened not to be hers. Not that that is always the case, I know parents who are less than forgiving. But on this occasion the child had misbehaved and she separated herself from him as if to say “you are not worthy of my presence.” My heart broke. Praise God our Savior doesn’t treat us in that manner. He longs for the relationship to be restored as soon as it’s broken. But we delay, buying into Satan’s lies that God is forever upset. No… God is forever merciful.
Forgotten
Micah 7:19 – How deep is the sea? I personally don’t know, but I know it’s deep! And how far is the east from the west? Really far! You can’t get there from here. And that is the geographical location of our sins. Yet Satan wants us to believe that God has them attached to His refrigerator, so that every time He goes there, He is reminded of my sin.
That’s how our minds work. Not God’s. I have to work really hard not to rehash old hurts. Because they are not in the sea. They’re in the recesses of my mind waiting for a day that I can call them to mind and be frustrated and hurt again. And have to forgive… again. If I don’t bring them up, Satan will. And so when I’m in need of God forgetting something I’ve done or someway I’ve failed, I am reminded of how someone hurt or failed me, and I attach that theory of thinking to God too. What a lie!
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
Forever
Micah 7:20 – God’s plan nor word has ever changed, but man’s sure has. The recent election was proof of that. The political rhetoric coming from all sides made it impossible to know who was telling the truth. And even if someone had a video as evidence, we still couldn’t trust that it hadn’t been manipulated in some way and voting was a very serious game of chance. And such is life sometimes. Marriages fail, friends forsake us and parents and children break our heart. So when we hear the word “forever” in the biblical sense, it’s sometimes hard to grasp.
I can’t help but think of Satan’s words to Eve… “ye shall not surely die.” So we have on one hand the thought that forever will never come, and on the other hand, that forever is subjective to the situation. And both make it hard to fathom eternity.
But God’s word will stand true and Satan will forever by a liar! He would much prefer that we didn’t know the truth and one way he can help that happen is to sabotage our relationship with the Lord. It’s not hard when fewer and fewer people keeping their relationship with the Lord first in priority. The more we put between us and God the easier it is for Satan to convince us that God is not desiring a relationship with us. And when we fail, we can’t feel God’s mercy because there’s too much distance. But guess who didn’t move?
God’s exactly where He’s always been. In eternity past, present and future. Loving us as much today as yesterday and wishing we’d just talk to Him, and skip Satan the middle man… he’s a liar anyway.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. ~ Proverbs 1:33
The grey skies of November mess with my head even in the wake of the holiday season. Sometimes because of the holiday season. I seriously try to be honest with myself and struggle. Even though the truth is within me…the literal truth of Jesus Christ; I can still suppress the wisdom of God and allow depression, fear, anxiety to creep into my heart. Reading through Proverbs 1 this morning I found one of the countless nuggets of truth that surfaced and refused to let the clouds over power it. So I thought I’d share it with you. Perhaps you need it as well.
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Yes, that Christmas tune is now playing in my head, but it’s a worthy tune.
Do you hear what I hear A song, a song High above the trees With a voice as big as the sea With a voice as big as the sea
The voice of God can thunder or it can be as still as a whisper, and most usually it’s the latter. What I hear is the voice of God asking “Who’s listening?”
Are you the ‘whoso?’ Am I? Am I genuinely listening for the wisdom of God or am I waiting until He says what I want to hear? And so I ask myself, why am I not listening? Mainly because I fear. I don’t fear death, I fear life. Dying’s easy. I have no control over that with the exception of how I take care of my body. And because I know that I know that being absent from the body is to be present with God, it’s not something I fear. But life. I struggle with it. It can get so out of control and I’m the queen of roller coaster living. Finances. Responsibilities. Accountabilities. Deeds undone. Those things make those November clouds and cold rains feel like a cloak of evil around me.
Yes… I’m a tad dramatic. My grandchildren don’t get that drama from anyone strange.
Do You Feel What I feel?
Do you feel safe? I honestly do. I know that God will not leave me nor forsake me in my hour of need! But the people of the world will. Though I have the comfort of the Holy Spirit, I don’t always feel comforted by people. Sometimes I’d rather avoid them too. A friend of mine struggles with depression far greater than I, but depression isn’t fun for anyone no matter the level. We spoke the other day about times when we’d rather not leave the house for any reason, no matter how joyous. It’s much easier to retreat inside my head and pretend that all is right with the world than to go outside and prove it’s not.
I don’t consider myself akin to Job in struggles but I understand his words when he wrote, “I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.” Job 3:26. He no doubt felt very overwhelmed. King David, felt overwhelmed and shared that thought in Psalms on 7 occasions. It’s why I felt the need to share that the Jesus Chick struggles too. For Pete’s sake if David can confess that he struggle, why cannot I?
It’s not the struggle that I want to share though, I want to share the process of victory. It’s usually not an immediate response from God that gives me peace and removes the dark clouds. It’s a conversation… You can’t hear if you’re not listening, and you can’t listen unless someone is talking.
Do You Know What I Know?
Even on days like today, when I struggle to get out of my Pajama’s and I don’t really care if the bed’s made, because I’d like to retreat back to it, I still know what I know.
I know that there is quiet from the fear of evil and it’s found in (1) the Word of God. (2) The Wisdom of God through prayer. And (3) the Way of God by hearkening to what He says.
If I’m brutally and shamefaced honest I have to tell you that sometimes I still don’t listen and the clouds continue to hover. But if I search His word and speak what I find He is faithful…
Ephesians 3:17-20 King James Version (KJV)
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
Apostle Paul is obviously speaking to saints, because he calls them brethren. He’s not speaking to the heathen in the jailhouse, or the unsaved adulterer but rather children of God.
Those who he had to preach to in a childlike manner, feeding them on the milk of the word, rather than the meat, because they couldn’t take it.
I think we may have caught our Pastor off guard when he came to Victory Baptist Church because we’re the type of congregation that don’t feel like we’ve been to church unless we leave with sore feet. And the harder a preacher preaches at us, the more excited we get. Because we were raised on meat.
This is an area of the country that can certainly understand that, especially this time of the year. My husband has been getting ready for deer season since the last day of last deer season.
Now, I personally am not a fan of meat, in the literal sense, but in the spiritual sense I love a preacher like Paul that jerks a knot in me if I get out of line. What got me to thinking about this was a little girl in our church who handed me her heart yesterday evening as I left church in the form of a note.
I was tired and kind of out of it, so I stuck it down in- my bag and told her I’d check it out as soon as I got home and put it on the fridge.
Well she didn’t want me to put it on the fridge, she wanted me to take action with it, which was evident by her face when I thought back about her asking me if I’d looked at it yet.
When I finally got home and pulled it out of my bag the front of the note said “Shari Johnson, you are incredible!”
Obviously not, or I would have looked at her note at the church.
But the inside of the note said this:
Dear Shari,
I have one request for a lesson on Wednesday, I would like it to be called, “The road less traveled” It’s about hot the path of sin brings only temporary joy, and how the path of Christ brings everlasting joy.
Love, Brylee
Brylee is 11 or 12, going on 32 spiritually. And she is the product of children being brought up by parents who teach their children, not only right from wrong, but the difference between carnal and spiritual.
Brylee knows that spiritual maturity separates the silly from the saints.
Paul wrote a note to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 3:6 and told him For of this sort are they which creep into house, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, lead away with divers lusts.
What sort was that?
3:2-5 ~
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
That’s a whole list of types of people we should avoid.
So lets just take it one verse at a time.
Have you ever seen a time when people were any more self-centered and arrogant? Children who control parents and parents who are unthankful and unholy without regard for anything God or church related. I don’t remember a time when we were growing up that any kind of school function was held on Sunday. Now, that seems to be a day of preference.
These same parents who say they love their children with all their hearts and will do anything for them are raising them without God. I don’t question their love. I really don’t. I question who’s in charge of who? And how do we help them to realize that the very One who created those children they love, and are in charge of their destiny, needs some recognition in the family.
But it’s not just about raising children, it’s about raising us. We’ve become a generation who embraces what the world says is okay, and doesn’t back it up with Bible.
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Whether or not the world says its okay, the bible says that homosexuality is wrong. Breaking a promise is still wrong according to the Bible. Lying is still wrong. Incontinent (which doesn’t only mean not being able to control your bladder) but it also means not being able to control yourself. And one that really struck a chord with me this morning, despisers of those that are good. The world resents Christians who are trying to live right, because it makes them feel wrong.
And Paul is telling Timothy that he and his people need to avoid people like that. It’s not that we shouldn’t be kind to them, let them see Jesus in our lives, but when it comes to those people who are tearing us down spiritually, we need to avoid them like the plague.
Verse 5 says From such turn away.
That’s easier said than done sometimes. Sometimes those people are people that we genuinely love. But the problem is, if you hang out with sin, it usually gets on you.
Brylee’s bible journaling art and thought was that sin brings temporary joy. Only the joy that comes from serving Christ will last eternally. This babe in Christ, knows what many adults are clueless to. At her tender age she’s separating herself from the things of the world.
That looks different sometimes at the age of 12 and the age of 56.
For me, separating myself from the world is a little easier because I’m not in the world as much as I used to be when I was in the workforce. But truthfully, when I was in the workforce, I made it a point to show the world I was different. I carried my bible to work. I read it on my lunch break. I had prayer with people that came into my office. I let the world around me know, I wasn’t a silly woman. I was saved by Grace and proud of that accomplishment of Christ, not me.
I was not sinless. But I was aware that I sinned.
I avoided people, and still do, who drag me down spiritually. I don’t hang out with liberals. I’m not going to change their mind, and they aren’t going to change mine. So rather than be frustrated – I’m friendly, but we are not besties.
I can feel the frustration in Paul’s voice as he tells the saints of God, I can’t even have a spiritual conversation with you. I can feel it because I’ve felt it in many Christians today who have allowed themselves to get wrapped up in this world and not wrapped up in the word of God.
I’ve been guilty of it. But we have to try harder ever day to stay away from those that Paul told us to avoid. And we can do that by hanging out more together. The world needs to see us in the public eye being open to the ways of God.
When we dine out… may prayer a big deal.
When you meet a Christian friend, encourage them in their faith, have prayer with them, show them what joy they bring!
You’ve brought joy to me, just by being on line today, or watching me later. God bless! And I hope that you have a non-manic Monday!
Below are my notes for Not another Manic Monday published live on Facebook, Monday, October 29th. The video is below the written version. I pray you’ll join me on Mondays at 10 a.m. each week as I share in music and word what the Lord has laid on my heart. – Shari
Our scripture for today’s devotion is 1 Corinthians 15:57 “But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory though our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I get so tired of hearing the battles that Satan wins in the lives of our people. Not the people who are lost, but those that are saved. He defeats us through deception, discouragement and darkness.
Let’s talk about
The Power of Deception
One of my favorite pieces of journal art is the roaring lion I journaled in 1 Peter 5:8 where the verse reads Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
You need to underline that in your bible “as a roaring lion. The devil is a faker! Jesus is known as the Lion of Judah. Satan wants to be lion, but he’s not. He walks around making noise, but he can do nothing that the Lord does not ordain. But we often hear the roar, and it stops our dance.
If Satan can incite fear or doubt in you by roaring in your ear that something bad is going to happen, or something good isn’t going to happen, he’ll do it, and we’ll buy it. Why? Because we give him a mane, when he truly doesn’t have anything more than a deceptive Halloween costume.
John 8:44 says that Satan is the father of lies, and yet we listen to him like he’s speaking truth.
He is the great deceiver and every time he makes us believe a lie he does a victory dance that should have been ours.
So what’s he been roaring in your ears. For me, he tells me every day that I’m forever going to be in the position that I’m in financially and physically. That’s my roaring lion.
If when we hear that roar, we’d imagine Satan in a cheap plastic lion mask, the roar would turn into a meow. Because that’s all the power he truly has.
The Power of Discouragement
It looks a lot like the power of deception, but discouragement is in the heart, deception is in the head because we try to reason with logic. Discouragement, at least for me, is a heart matter. Satan uses the things that I’m passionate about to tear me down.
He’ll do it through other people who will make comments that just cut me to the core. Maybe it’s about my appearance, or my family, or a project that I’m working on and it immediately causes me to want to throw my hands up in defeat.
One of the ways he’s been tearing at me lately is through my grandchildren. Reminding me every day that they are exposed to some of the wicked things that my mind would never have imagined through a nightmare at their age. And their literally seeing it through television, Youtube, friends at school and other means of the media.
I feel powerless and discouraged. This is not a plastic mask demon, this is a real live demon messing in the lives of people I love. So how do I take back the dance that Satan has been dancing with discouragement?
I give them to God believing that He has sent the power of angels to shield and protect my grandchildren.
Hebrews 1:13-14 says “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent for to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
No angel sits on the right hand of God. Jesus Christ sits in that position. But, God, Creator of all has assigned ministering spirits to those who are heirs of salvation. Ha! That’s us! It only took one angels in 2 Kings 19:35 to kill 185,000 people. I’m pretty sure, my grandchildren’s guardian angel can take care of a few middle schoolers wanting to harm, or infest my grandchildren’s minds with garbage.
I can’t be with them every day, but I can trust that God will provide the protection they need. I have to, else Satan will do a dance every time I worry.
The Power of Darkness
1 John 1:5-7 reads This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
I witness it every day and would be a liar just like the scripture said if I didn’t acknowledge that good Christian people are exposing themselves to the darkness and pretend that it doesn’t affect them.
I was telling my teen class the other day about a time when the television was called “booger john” because people believed it to be evil. And that was in the days of Leave it to Beaver! Look what our minds are exposed to now. We truly deceive ourselves if we don’t think that everything we allow into our minds doesn’t affect us in either a negative or a positive way.
The news media has filled our minds with fear and deception and we’ve bought it hook line and sinker. We watch shows with sex and violence and those images are seared into our brains to be drawn upon when Satan wants to get our minds off godly things. I was sitting in church yesterday and a television show that I had watched (that’s geared toward children by the way) a marvel hero who, came into my mind, an ungodly scene that I should have never allowed into my mind, and Satan brought it up in church, or I did. I don’t want to give him full credit.
Who ever said the eyes are the windows to the soul, knew what they were talking about.
We have to fill our souls with more light than darkness.
Another quote says that knowledge is power. Well, yes but it needs to be godly knowledge, not all knowledge is good power.
We have to stay in the word of God and to weigh everything we’re told by scripture. Not just the parts we want to believe.
We cannot possibly make it through this life unscathed with just a Sunday service. Not to mention those people who don’t even attend on Sunday’s or they hit and miss. Satan has you in his cross hairs first thing Sunday morning and he’ll be dancing on your head by Tuesday afternoon like a chorus line if you don’t get some more word into you.
I’m glad you joined me today, but don’t let it stop here!
Devour the word this week and keep Satan from devouring you!
Rest: The manipulation and deception of the body into a position where exhaustion takes over with a result of sitting still or falling asleep, only to arise in a state of guilt and frustration later for the “wasted time.”
That’s my warped definition of rest.
It’s only been lately that I’ve come to the realization about how very little I rest. And by rest I don’t mean my warped definition, but that of the Lord Jesus Christ who said in Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Prior to that verse He had chastised cities where He had done great works, but there was no repentance (vs. 21-24) But then His conversation turns to those for whom He has compassion, the wise and the prudent,” who God has hidden things from as though they were babes; those who still don’t understand who God is but are willing to learn. (vs. 27)
I don’t really consider myself to be the “wise and the prudent.” But I guess that I am from the standpoint that I seek to know God deeper, past the infant state that I feel that I’m in most of the time. And often times I can’t get to that deeper relationship because I’m just too tired from life. And so God understands and gives me this verse to chew on today, and to experience it once again, but this time, to go deeper into understanding “rest.”
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (vs. 29-30)
Take my yoke… attach myself to Christ in such a manner that the two of us are working together as one. The same work that I’ve put upon myself, alone, believing that to be the best idea. Yes, I am that foolish mortal.
God desires to bare that load and give us rest even in the midst of the labor. But we must first yoke ourselves with Him so that every step we take, in every day, we take it together. Allowing Him to shoulder the load that drives us to exhaustion. When I do the dishes, He is there, When I make the bed, He is there. When I write, sing, serve, He is there!
Not only allowing Him to shoulder the load, but getting so close, as we’re bonded together through the yoke, that we begin to witness and understand the character of Christ. He’s not a slave driver; He is meek (humble) and lowly (common and simple) willing to take on and share in even the menial tasks of our lives so that our lives can be better. God, the Creator of all the earth, wants to walk with His creation just as He did in the days of Adam, but now through the Holy Spirit.
What must it have been like when Adam walked in the garden with God? No doubt an awesome, enlightening experience. We have that opportunity, but we’re too busy to realize He’s there, waiting to shoulder our load, our every burden, and talk us through.
I am a critter lover. I have two dogs, a cat, and 10 chickens. They each have their own personalities and agendas. The dogs live to serve, the cat lives to be served and the chickens live to be fed and to feed me (eggs). They all depend upon me, but they’re not all grateful. However, the one thing they all have in common is they understand the need for rest. Critters don’t overthink anything, they just do what they’re created to do.
I get that they don’t have souls, they’re not burdened for the lost, nor do they really care if I have money in the bank. They don’t understand any of that. But they understand the simplicity of the Creator. The humble and lowly Jesus.
If we are to live our lives being more like Him, we, or at least I, need to stop overthinking life because it overwhelms my soul and robs me of rest.
Jesus knew that. That’s why He wrote those verses. That’s why He made me a critter lover, so that I could see Him through His creation.
THESE ARE THE NOTES FROM MY MONDAY, OCTOBER 15TH – “NOT ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY” – LIVE FACEBOOK SESSION. SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM IF YOU’D LIKE TO WATCH THAT VIDEO OR ENJOY ALL THE PIECES I LIKELY FORGOT TO SAY BY READING THE NOTES 🙂
Get dressed, Put your shoes on and don’t worry about provision.”
That’s what I heard as I read Ezekiel 24 on Saturday morning.
I’d been struggling to get back into the reading of this book because it’s so tragic. Israel’s rebellion and punishment from God breaks my heart. It also heaps the guilt on me because I feel like Israel most of the time. The rebellion in my heart never seems to go away. I look at our country, and the shape that many of the people in our nation is in and I could easily go into depression were it not for the fact that I know the end of the book and I know I’m going to be okay, as well as all others who know Christ as Savior.
But what about the bad days that I’m struggling with more than reading Ezekiel. That’s where the scripture I read in the book of Ezekiel really helped out.
In chapter 24, the obedient servant of God, who’s doing his best to live a righteous life, loses his wife. God warned him in advance that he was going to take away the “desire of Ezekiel’s eyes.” That scripture proves the love Ezekiel had for her. But God tells him that he’s not going to cry, or morn, but he’s going to put on his turban and his shoes, and everything else in between I assume, and preach! And as he does, he’s not to worry about the provision of the people. God will take care of him.
That seems a tad harsh for me.
But it also helps me get life into perspective.
Prior to that verse in chapter 22, verse 30, God says “I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”
I sometimes feel that that is how God looks at America. But then I know better, because I’m in it. And He hasn’t destroyed us yet. Although I’m a failure sometimes, I also stand in the gap with the word of God, sharing the gospel of Christ and standing for Him, in the gap that has been created by a fallen world.
Yes, America is a mess. But let’s look at us individually. Those of us who are on this blog today, looking for hope and believing that we’re going to find it in the word of God.
Over the last few weeks I’ve had some terrible days. Days I physically did not feel like going on. I had to fight to move. Days that I failed my family and I failed God and I wasn’t really sure what was going on.
I have a feeling this may have been how Elijah felt as he preached judgement and wrath again and again and in the process of that he lost his precious wife; and God basically tells him to suck it up and get back out there.
How did He do it?
Wrap your mind
The tire that the Lord tells Elijah to bind around his head isn’t a steel belted radial. It’s his turban. A piece of fabric that protected his head from the elements of the day as he went out into the world.
We need that in a spiritual form that protects our minds from the elements of the world. Negative people and thoughts of our own and drag us into a mindset that’s unhealthy. Satan always makes us believe it’s worse than it actually is.
Wow, did I need to hear that. All week I had been procrastinating some things I needed to do because I was sure it was going to be terrible. When I finally got around to it, it was fine. But in my mind I had convinced myself of the worst case scenario.
That’s how Satan works to knock us off our game and cause us to step out of the positions and plans that God has for us. Doubt and fear are never of God. He may warn us of things we shouldn’t do, but He will never incite fear. That’s a tool of the Devil.
So in order to bind our minds we have to fill it with words of encouragement. The word of God is a great place to start! But also godly music, and friends who speak life into you!
Shod your feet
That’s the second thing that God told Ezekiel to do.
Ephesians 6:15 tells us that part of the armour of God is to have “Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;” Before that it said to have the helmet of salvation on. God’s word may change forms but it never changes the truth.
Just as Ezekiel spread the word by physically walking in the heat of the sun to get to the people of Israel, we can spread the word by walking in the power of the Son! S.O.N.
Perhaps an acronym for “save our nation.”
The Word of God speaks peace! My struggle with Ezekiel had less to do with the book, but rather had to do with my state of mind. I was allowing Satan to get inside my head and preventing me from sharing the gospel.
God’s third piece advice for Ezekiel was:
Feed yourself
At the loss of his spouse, there would no doubt be people that would want to help Ezekiel out. God warned Ezekiel not to rely on others for preservation.
The same is true with us. We cannot depend on someone else to feed us physically or spiritually. We have to take care of ourselves.
It’s why I listen to preaching multiple times a week. I feed myself the word of God through any means possible. I read the bible, I listen to preaching, I listen and sing gospel music. Things that feed my soul and encourage my spirit so I can encourage the people God puts in front of me.
Years ago, when I first got saved I claimed 2nd Corinthians 2:1-2 “But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me.”
I determined as a young Christian that I would sow seeds of hope and happiness, not seeds of despair and sorrow that I had witnessed so many other saints of God sowing by constantly telling the people around them how terrible life was.
I’ve not always been able to stick to my convictions, but I honestly do try. And that’s why this Monday live video is so important to me. I want to give you hope and encourage you for the day.
I feel that Ezekiel’s example, although sorrowful, is still a great scripture to hang onto today.
As the weather changes, we have need for a turban, or toboggan as the case may be, sandals have been replaced by boots and hot soups are soothing to the soul on these cold days. Let those serve as a reminder that God has you covered too!
I am guilty of only posting the pretty pictures. I don’t post the countless times I wad up a disfigured Jesus Chick or other images that don’t measure up. If someone takes a picture of my bad side, which can actually be any side that I don’t deem myself “pretty” I don’t post it and I’m quick to delete it off my phone before someone accidently on purpose stumbles across it. Are not our lives much the same way?
We let people see the “pretty” side of our selves. The one who is made up and picture perfect on Sunday morning, but what about the one that breaks down into tears on Monday because their world just ain’t right? Oh… that one.
No, nobody needs to see that, right?
Yesterday as I loaded yet another load of laundry for two obviously very dirty people into the dryer I felt a knot in my throat and tears well up in my soul. There was no reason. Other than I just felt overwhelmed.
I quickly sucked it up, started a new load of laundry and told myself, you don’t have time for that.
This morning as I loaded the dishwasher, for obviously very hungry people, the Spirit spoke to me and said, “just be real.”
I scroll through the countless images of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Listen to the ranting of crazy people and realize that there doesn’t seem to be a happy medium. There’s either the beautiful, seemingly perfect families or the nutcases.
I sing this song at the Long Term Care on Monday’s that the residents just love. I didn’t add it to my repertoire for a couple of years for fear it would offend. It’s called “Who do you think you’re foolin” by Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers. When I played the last note yesterday, the little old lady behind me yelled, “We need more like that!”
I realized then, and again this morning that people want the truth, not just the pretty images of Christianity. They need to hear that all of us have moments of sorrow, confusion and days that we too would be nutcases if we weren’t Spirit controlled preventing us from publishing that nutcase rant of reality.
Isaiah 57:15
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Two quick points to ponder before you post today.
The Sprit of the Humble
I love humble people. People who don’t lift themselves above others but realize that we are at best sinners saved by grace. There is also a humility we all tend to ignore and avoid whenever possible, and that is the humility of allowing people to see the brokenness within us. That life hurts sometimes.
I’m always careful to buy waterproof mascara for fear of the black clown face that can occur when that spirit of humility takes over. I waterproof my social media post too. But what we miss when we do this the spirit of revival. God will revive the spirit of the humble… not the proud.
The Heart of the Contrite
To have a contrite spirit is to be crushed and broken. Hello? My thinking is the only people who want the world to see that is the nutcase “ranters” who make me shake my head.
My thinking is wrong.
There has to be a happy medium and I see it once in a while. When someone just gets real for the sake of encouraging others. In that process they do not drag someone else into their post, it’s about their relationship with God, not man. God uses broken vessels to let the water of life pour out for others to drink and have their souls revived as well.
After my open heart surgery my water intake was extremely limited. Prior to that I didn’t even like water, but suddenly I craved it, and still do. Their denial of that life giving substance, though it was for my own good, caused me to desire it more.
The more dry and broken we become the greater desire we have to be revived. But you can ignore it until it becomes the norm. Oh… how often I’ve seen that across the churches of America. They only want the pretty Sunday’s, not the ones where broken people get revived and give control to the Spirit of God. It is then that rantings are replaced with the testimonies of broken people being healed, tears flow and God is welcomed into that place and He shows up in a mighty way.
Do we want that?
I don’t want people to air dirty laundry on social media, but it would be good if people shared a trial and how God brought them through. We all have struggles. People need to see they can have victory too.
Below is the video link as well as my notes for the “Not Another Manic Monday” Video Blog published October 8, 2018. Tune in live every Monday at 10 a.m. on Facebook as I share what the Lord has laid on my heart to encourage us for the coming week.
VIDEO NOTES:
To begin with, it’s hard to begin a conversation with
Someone we’re not familiar with or perhaps may not even know.
Someone we’re angry with (if we’re honest)
Someone we’re afraid of, or
Someone we don’t understand.
It’s sometimes helpful if we have a conversation starter.
Prayer needs are obvious conversation starters. I used to think I was prayer warrior until I realized all my prayers started with “Lord help me.”
Who wants a friend who only comes around when they need something? Don’t get me wrong, God wants to hear everything we need. But He’d like to have some talk time with us just for the sake of getting to know Him better. Not hearing just hearing about our problems.
1 Timothy 2:5 says “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Conversation Starter
So if by way of a conversation starter you heard God ask “Why don’t we talk more often?” How would you answer?
Which one of the excuses would you have, or perhaps another one. But be honest with yourself and ask, what causes me not to have a closer relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you fear Him?
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.”
So let’s break that verse down.
If God hasn’t give us the spirit of fear, who has. Easy question to answer. Satan loves it when you won’t talk to God. Because he knows without a good relationship with Jesus, God can’t work in your life to the fullest extent. So he whispers lies in our ears to keep us apart and a way from a three fold promise.
The Power of God. The Love of God and the Strength of having a sound mind. Power to make it through any problem we’re facing. Love, not condemnation which Satan wants you to have, and a sound mind, meaning that you worry and stress less. Is that not something we all desire?!
So take the time to have that conversation with God today. What’s coming between you and Him?
Tell it to the Scapegoat
Anything that prevents you from having a conversation with God is a sin. Even if you don’t view it as a sin, it is because it’s keep you apart from your Creator.
In the book of Leviticus, an Old Testament ritual was that the priest on the Day of Atonement would take two goats before the people at the temple. The first he would kill which symbolized the blood sacrifice that Jesus would make in the future. The second goat he would release into the wilderness, symbolizing that the sins of the people were carried away.
I love the scripture which says “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
Everything that causes you apprehension with God, is gone. You can visualize it on the scapegoat, running into the wilderness never to return.
What an awesome way to visualize our sins! Running away from us.
The last point for today is to have a
Tell it to Jesus
It’s a conversation that I had last night in the preparation of this morning’s video blog. I needed somethings to go away. I had to get very honest.
I’ll share those with you, because I need to get them out in the open and perhaps your struggle is similar.
I feel every burden of my family on my shoulders. Everyone’s. And I most always think that it’s my fault.
I don’t ever feel that I measure up before God or man and that I’ve failed everyone who loves me.
I feel that my value is tied to my pay. Which for someone in the ministry, (not a paid ministry) that makes my value “0”.
That may or may not be your issue. But something probably is that keeps you and God from having in depth conversations.
I hope that today you’ll take the time to talk to Jesus. Tell Him the truth about why you and He don’t talk as much as you should. And let’s start this Monday on the right foot, getting closer to our Lord.
Bible Journaling Art by The Jesus Chick – Shari Johnson
It’s not my nature to be late for anything. I struggle with it. It’s as if to say if I arrive on time for everything in my life, all is obviously right in my world. Right? Wrong. Very wrong. But I can at least pretend for that day of punctuality that I’m okay.
So for this entire week, I’ve awoken at 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. multiple days. I hear the Holy Spirit speak, “Get up, I have something to say to you.” And rather than get up, I would lie in bed awake, in frustration with my body that loved the feeling of the covers against my skin and drift in and out of sleep; only to wake up a few hours later feeling as if I’d been beaten, with every joint in my body aching. So this morning at 3 a.m. when I heard to Holy Spirit speak again, I snuggled back beneath the covers, had a nutty dream and heard Him speak again at 5. Just like the past week every day. So at 5 a.m. I determined to get up and listen. But by the time I rallied myself up and made it to the kitchen it was 5:20.
Twenty minutes late for God…
That too is my nature. I’m not late for the world, but I’m late for divine appointments on a consistent basis and for multiple reasons and excuses.
Twice this week, two different very close friends ask me how I “really was.” They ask me hard questions that examined me like a spiritual physician and I knew they were warnings from God that I once again needed to slow myself down and take some pressure off. Doggone those people who love you.
Did I listen? I tried. But life has a way of getting you to the point that you’re 20 minutes late for an appointment with God. And that’s not good. Nobody makes God wait without consequences.
My mind went to Jonah, and his very own book. A look into the life of a man who tried to make God wait. But God didn’t lead me to that scripture, He lead me to Luke, chapter 12.
12:35-36
Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding where they will even use a Wedding Limo Company in Ottawa for travel: that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.”
IN HIS PRESENCE
The scripture refers to the return of Jesus Christ, when He comes to call His church home. But it could just as easily refer to any time the Lord knocks and requests us in His presence. Like 3 a.m. wake up calls.
BY HIS PETITION
12:37
Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: very I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
My mind is humbled at the very thought that the Lord would serve me. And yet He does when He speaks to my soul and ministers to my broken spirit. He’d had sent angels of mercy in the form of friends who gently warned… “Rest.”
He Himself had not tried to wake me to steal my rest, but rather give me rest through His word. And yet I refused to listen but rather drift back into a restless sleep. Until today. And though I was twenty minutes late, He was still right on time to give me the message that I needed to hear to calm my troubled heart.
FOR MY PORTION
12:42-43
And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
I weep in the wisdom that the Lord provides my portion in due season. Which often time comes later because I didn’t answer the door when He was prepared to make the delivery.
It came late this week because I kept failing to answer the door. I studied this week out of necessity of teaching opportunities. Not for personal portions. It’s like savoring the goodness of someone else’s plate as you deliver it to their table. Never experiencing the food for yourself. I wonder how many Pastor’s experience that.
This morning the Lord and I dined over frosted mini wheats and coffee and the word of God. It tasted so good! And the mini wheats were pretty tasty too.
A lesson in life from the Jesus Chick… when God knocks, open yourself to opportunity.
