Spiritual Archives

June 11, 2024June 10, 2024

Don’t Miss A Thing

¹ The time had come for the Lord to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal, ² and Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord is sending me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

⁶ Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord is sending me to the Jordan.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

⁹ When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you.” So Elisha answered, “Please, let me inherit two shares of your spirit.” ¹⁰ Elijah replied, “You have asked for something difficult. If you see me being taken from you, you will have it. If not, you won’t.” ¹¹ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind. ¹² As Elisha watched, he kept crying out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” When he could see him no longer, he took hold of his own clothes, tore them in two, ¹³ picked up the mantle that had fallen off Elijah, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ~ 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6, 9-13^CSB

Elijah had completed his work for that time, and now it was time for him to leave. The LORD was calling him to cross the Jordan so that he could be taken up in a whirlwind, so he told his apprentice, Elisha, to stay where he was. He didn’t tell him once, but twice. Twice Elijah told Elisha to stay, while he went on alone, but twice Elisha refused to depart from him.

Elisha could have easily taken that as Elijah not wanting him around, getting offended, and staying where he was instead of trucking on. If he had allowed his flesh to become offended, he would have missed out on his blessing and his inheritance.

Elisha didn’t care what was said to him. He didn’t care if it was something he could be offended about, and people would understand. He didn’t care if he was wanted there or not. Elisha knew that Elijah was a blessed and highly favored man of God. He was his mentor, and he was soon going to be taken away by God. So, he refused to leave him and clung tightly to his presence. He stuck so closely to Elijah that two chariots of fire had to separate them in order to take only Elijah to heaven.

This is called dedication and perseverance. He didn’t care how far they had to walk, how long it would take, or even where they were going. Elisha knew that his time with Elijah was running out, and he didn’t want to miss anything.

Aerosmith wrote a love song called “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing,” and in it they say this:

Don’t wanna close my eyes
I don’t wanna fall asleep
‘Cause I’d miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing
‘Cause even when I dream of you (Even when I dream)
The sweetest dream would never do
I’d still miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing

Now, they, of course, were writing a love song about a woman, but just imagine feeling that way about Jesus. The desire to be with Him as much as possible. The desire to spend time with Him, learn from Him, and interact with Him is with more than sleep. That’s how Elisha felt about Elijah, not a romantic desire, but a disciple desire. He knew that Elijah had more to teach and show him, and he didn’t wanna miss a thing.

That was just a man; we today have the opportunity to have an even closer relationship with the living God, and we pass it up for temporary, unsatisfying things of this world. Imagine if we clung to Jesus the way that Elisha clung to Elijah or with the same kind of passion Aerosmith wrote about. There would be nothing stopping us because nothing can separate us from the love of God. A chariot of fire came and separated Elisha and Elijah, but nothing can come and separate us from God. He dwells in us and with us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Miss A Thing.

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Divorce The World

³⁰And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. ³¹And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. ³²He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. ³³And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. ~ 1 Kings 16:30-33

Not only did Ahab walk in all of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, but “…he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.” What was so bad about that?

Jezebel was a worshipper of Baal and a woman of great wickedness who killed the prophets and urged her husband to do more to provoke the anger of the LORD than all the other kings that were before him, according to verse 33.

Ethbaal, Jezebel’s father, was king of the Sidonians, whose land belonged to Israel, according to the Promise. He, too, worshipped Baal. So, instead of being an enemy to God’s enemy, Ahab joined them, uniting with them in marriage. He took a sacred covenant God Himself established and perverted it by marrying not only himself to evil but the entire nation of Israel.

King Ahab didn’t see the evil, nor did he understand the weight of his actions. His entire household perished in the end because he refused to be an enemy to God’s enemy. That doesn’t mean that he needed to hate them, but that he needed to make a stand against them. That he needed to refuse an alliance with them and, even more so, to refuse to welcome and endorse their evil customs.

Today, many of us are marrying the enemy. We’re not just supporting evil, but we are promoting it. And just as Ahab used the sacred covenant of marriage to turn from God, we are perverting the sacred love of God to turn away from God. We are called by God to love people, but not their sin. We don’t accept nor do we endorse sin. We don’t give it a sign of approval and then say, “Well, God loves everybody.” This is called perverting the love of God.

Peter told us to be sober-minded and watchful because the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. We can’t allow the world to lull us to sleep with lies of unity because, in reality, the Devil doesn’t truly want unity; he wants division between us and God. Therefore, wake up from your spiritual slumber and pay attention to the Word of the LORD. Don’t allow the world to convince you that it’s wrong to follow Jesus and believe every word that comes from the LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Divorce The World.

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It Takes Love

³²Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. ~Ephesians 4:32

This is a very tall order when you couple that command, be kind and tenderhearted to one another, with forgiving them just like God forgave us. We have to remember that after those Roman soldiers nailed Jesus’ hands and feet, and after the Jews turned on Him and asked for a murdering thief to be set free and for Jesus to be crucified for literally nothing that He had done wrong, He had done only good, He cried out, “Father forgive them…” And that is what we are asked to do. That is what we are expected to do.

Sometimes, it is hard to overlook someone who has hurt us deeply with just words, much less with physical abuse or who has sexually abused us. Now, we are being commanded to be kind and tenderhearted to each other, even to those who have abused us, and not only that but to forgive each other our faults and trespasses. It doesn’t say that they have to change, feel remorse, or repay our jester; we must be kind, tenderhearted, and forgive even though we have been hurt so deeply. It doesn’t sound fair, but it will be worth your while in eternity. There is so much stored up for us in eternity that this now big thing will seem like a little thing.

I know that it is hard now, but not impossible. Once you have the love of God in your spirit, it will be easier. Stephen, the first recorded martyr of the Church, was being stoned to death, and just before he died, he cried out to God to please forgive those who were stoning him. It takes the love of God in you to do something like that. Because all of our God-given primal instincts scream the opposite, they scream, “Survival at all cost.” But again, it takes love to overlook, to put someone else first, and to forgive those who have deeply hurt us. It takes love to be kind to those who hate you for no good reason. It takes love to be tenderhearted to those who are closed-fisted toward you and others. It takes love to forgive those who have grievously caused you harm.

I read a story about a mother whose only son was killed by another young man. She visited him in prison and forgave him. She began to pray for him and when he got out of prison, she got him an apartment right next to hers. In essence, he became her son. That is true forgiveness. That is what we are asked to do here, be kind, be tenderhearted, and forgive. And because of her forgiveness, the young man’s life was radically changed. He is now serving the LORD. A soul saved is the main goal.

Heavenly Father, please give us the strength to be kind and tenderhearted towards others, even those who are rude and unkind to us. To forgive those who have deeply hurt us. It is not easy, but with You all things are possible. Thank you, LORD, in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Right Standings With God

³³And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar, and the men of Israel who were in ambush rushed out of their place from Maareh-geba. ³⁴And there came against Gibeah 10,000 chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was hard, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them. ³⁵And the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and the people of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day. All these were men who drew the sword. ³⁶So the people of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. ~ Judges 20:33-36

Do you recall the Gibeonites? Well, they were the people who came deceitfully and lied so that they could make a peace treaty with Joshua and the elders of Israel. And they tricked them into signing the peace treaty because they did not consult the LORD. Because of the peace treaty, they could not totally destroy them as the LORD God had instructed them to do. So, the Gibeonites lived among the Israelites as slaves, but I am sure they passed on or transferred their way of worshiping their gods to the Benjaminites, who took possession of that portion of land, which included sexual immorality.

The Israelites were fighting against the men of Benjamin because an Israelite traveler had stopped in at Gibeah with his concubine and his servant to spend the night. Some worthless men of the town came to the house to have sex with the man and his man-servant. The man sent his concubine out to them, and they raped her and mistreated her all night long, and in the morning, she was found dead with her hand grasping the threshold of the door.

The man took his concubine and cut her up into twelve pieces and sent each piece to the different tribes. The decision was made that the Benjaminites must pay for their crime against the man and his concubine. So, they went to war against Benjamin. The Scriptures tell us that the battle was hard on this day, and all though the Benjaminites were fighting undauntedly, disaster was looming near and they did not know it.

There are two lessons to be learned in this story. When you become one with people that are not of God, you become like them. Birds of a feather flock together. It is also like the other proverb: bad company corrupts good character. And that is what happened to the Benjaminites; they did not know or did not realize disaster was about to strike them. That happens when your conscience becomes seared. Your conscience becomes seared when you keep ignoring the warnings of the Holy Spirit. And when you keep ignoring the warnings, you make God your enemy instead and not your ally. When that happens, God will fight against you in order to get your attention and bring you back into right standings with Him.

Therefore, do not become one with wayward people. We are in the world but not of the world. Then, do not harden your heart against the warnings of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to be obedient to Your warnings so that I can always be in right standings with You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Start Abundant Living

³²Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴They said to Him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” ³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” ~ John 6:32-40

Jesus claims here to be the true bread that came down from heaven. In verse 35, He actually says, “I am the bread of life …”

When Jesus refers to the bread that Moses gave the Israelites in the desert, He is actually talking about the Manna that God fed them with, in the desert after bringing them out of Egypt, the land of slavery. Did you notice that in verse 35, Jesus said, “³³For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world?”

Four times in the passage, that we read, Jesus refers to Himself as bread. And bread in some form is mentioned 97 times in the New Testament. In those times, bread is a metaphorical symbol of spiritual nourishment.

In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus refers to healing as the Children’s bread (Mark 7:27). Healing and casting out demons are the children’s bread, and Jesus is that bread. He is the Living Water and the Bread of Life.

Jesus didn’t just come down from Heaven to die for our sins; He came to bring life and life more abundantly. Jesus came to give us life with freedom. Freedom from sin, disease, oppression, illness, stress, addiction, psychological issues, etc. He came to free us from any and everything that tries to hold us back.

Therefore, confidently approach the throne of grace through the precious blood of Jesus and give it to God. Jesus paid for your healing with His own flesh. He paid for your peace with His own chastisement. Jesus purchased us not so that we could remain oppressed by the enemy and the cares of this world but so that we might be free in Him. So that we might live life more abundantly. So, take every stronghold in your life and begin to tear them down in the name of Jesus because it is through Him that we overcome because He first overcame.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Start Abundant Living.

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Fight, It’s Your Family

¹⁴ After I made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord, and fight for your countrymen, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes.” ~ Nehemiah 4:14

The Jews had just returned to Jerusalem to find the walls broken down and the Temple destroyed. When their enemies heard that God had visited the Jews, they were angry. They did not want anything good for them. They threatened them and tried to intimidate them, anything to get the work to stop.

We have an enemy that has those same feelings toward us. He hates us and does not want anything good for us. He does not want us to work for God. He will do anything to get us to stop working for God.

Nehemiah encouraged the people to ignore the threats and to not fear them because God is for them. Then he charged them with this: fight for your countrymen, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes.

That is what we must do: fight for our family members in prayer, crying out to God day and night for their salvation. God will hear, and He will answer and save your family.

Dear Heavenly Father, please remember my lost loved ones. Please speak to their hearts and bring conviction on them. Save them, LORD, in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Prayer Can

¹⁶Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. ~ James 5:16

Confess your faults one to another. In other words, live in peace with each other so that your prayers are not blocked. The accuser of the brethren is always on the lookout for those at war with each other. When he finds one, he uses it to have your prayers blocked. But with confession comes deliverance, and with deliverance comes freedom, freedom to have your prayers heard and answered. Some people don’t receive their healing because they have held someone up for something that that person probably has long ago forgotten.

Once you have cleared the air, so to speak, you can now focus your attention on prayer, effectual fervent prayers. Now, this word effectual carries the sense of activity or energy. It is not some Kumbaya, in the sweet by-and-by type prayer. But an active, emotional, heartfelt prayer reaching out to God knowing that He will hear and when He hears, He will answer. Because what you cannot change through your own strength WILL change through effectual fervent prayer.

Father God, help me to be consistent, determined, and fully persuaded about the things of God. Standing on Your promises, praying always, and never giving up before I receive an answer from You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Pray Desperate Prayers

¹ About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. ²He killed James the brother of John with the sword, ³and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. ⁵So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. ~ Acts 12:1-5

Herod laid violent hands on some of the Christians, including John’s brother James, whom he killed with the sword, as well as Peter, whom he imprisoned, guarded by four squads of soldiers. He planned to kill Peter after the Passover, just like he had killed James, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Herod’s plan was to kill Peter because he saw that killing James pleased the Jews, but earnest prayer was made for him. Desperate intercession went up to God for Peter. Herod and the Jews had one plan, but the Church had a different plan, a plan that involved Jesus.

“Free Peter. Save Peter’s life, O’ LORD our God,” they desperately pleaded in earnest prayer.

This word earnest is the Greek word ektenōs. It means:

Eager, Continuous prayer

In other words, they were desperate.

I’m not talking a little five-minute, “If it is Your will, dear LORD…” type of prayer. This was an all-night, all-day crying out to God for His mercy on Peter type prayer.

The Christians praying for Peter was desperate for a move of God. They had just made the mistake of not praying for James in desperation and James had paid the ultimate price. He was executed by Herod. Peter fared much better. Why? Because of the prayer of desperation.

If you want God to move, then you need to pray desperate prayers. You need to be on your hands and knees seeking God. You need to reach that place where you’re willing to wrestle all night until you get your answer. You have to be willing to knock all night til the door is opened to you. You have to be willing to become desperate if you want to see God move miraculously in your life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray Desperate Prayers.

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Turn the World Upside Down

¹ And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. ³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. ~ Acts 2:1-4^KJV

When the day of Pentecost had fully come. Please understand that the Jews were celebrating the Feast of Pentecost for centuries. This was not their first rodeo, as they say. That’s why Dr. Luke tells us when it had fully come. In other words, the fulfillment of the feast had finally come. God had given His Holy Spirit to His beloved Church. Now, the 120 believers gathered in the Upper Room were filled with the Holy Spirit, with power, with boldness, with confidence, with love. And they began to preach the message of the Good News. Souls were saved, lives were changed, and bodies were healed.

But the believers came together in one accord and waited upon Jesus as He had instructed them before His ascension. Great signs and wonders and miracles were wrought forth by the hands of the Apostles and the early believers.

Somehow, we, nowadays believers, have lost the power to perform signs, wonders, miracles, and great acts of healing. Maybe we need to get back to waiting upon the LORD, and to prayer, and to the study of God’s word.

So, this Pentecost Sunday, let us make a determination to wait, worship, and dedicate ourselves to prayer. Let us seek the LORD our God and turn the world upside down for Jesus once again.

Heavenly Father, please fill us with the promise of Your Holy Spirit, and with power and with love. In Jesus powerful name, amen.

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Prepare To Do It Alone

²⁸ Jehu eliminated Baal worship from Israel, ²⁹ but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit — worshiping the gold calves that were in Bethel and Dan. ³⁰ Nevertheless, the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in my heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.” ³¹ Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. ³² In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites throughout their territory ³³ from the Jordan eastward: the whole land of Gilead — the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites — from Aroer which is by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan. ~ 2 Kings 10:28-33^CSB

Jehu was told to remove the house of Ahab from Israel because of their wickedness, which he successfully did, and he was expected to follow the instructions of God with all his heart, but he failed to do so. Because of Jehu’s obedience, four generations of his sons would be on the throne, but because of his lack of dedication to the LORD, Israel began to decrease in number. Jehu, when directly told exactly what to do, followed instruction, but when it came to him seeking and trying to follow God for himself, he fell short.

God isn’t always going to hold your hand and tell you exactly what to do. He’s going to show you the first few times and then He expects you to be paying attention, learning, and preparing to do it on your own through Him. Here’s what I mean. God expects us to be able to listen to the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit after He has led us into green pastures and showed us righteousness. God expects us to grow, not continue as a small baby. God wants us to mature in Him so that we might have discernment, wisdom, and understanding so that one day, we might be able to lead others to Him the way someone led us to Him.

Where Jehu dropped the ball and led the people of Israel astray and decreased their numbers, we are to hold on tightly to the ball (the Word of God) and spread the Gospel, tear down strongholds, grow in the Spirit, and harvest many souls for the Kingdom of God. When we drop the ball in this area, our physical lives may not be harmed in any way. Jehu’s descended were kings, but his people decreased in number. Our physical lives may not be harmed, but our spiritual lives and those around us begin to decrease when we refuse to learn right from wrong and fail test after test. When we refuse to remove the strongholds in our lives and our family’s lives.

We’re in a spiritual war and if we’re not careful, we’ll fall asleep without even realizing it because we have no spiritual discernment. Our physical lives are going good, we’re prospering, our children are prospering, so we think God is with us, when actuality we turned away from God long ago and didn’t even know His Holy Spirit left us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare To Do It Alone.

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Tag: Spiritual

Don’t Miss A Thing

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