Monday, May 30, 2016

REMEMBER ....AND WAIT

In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for You; Your Name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.....Isaiah 26:8 (ESV)
Most people not only have short memories but their concept of history begins and ends with their terms of reference. The majority alive today are unaware of the impact of past events in history and how their very existence is framed by it.

The wise remember, research and revisit the lessons of chronological events in order to learn from the unique circumstances of things which have altered the course of history. We are who we are, and where we are because of past decisions. It is said that whose who ignore the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat them. Those who manipulate the clueless at times, to go along with any philosophy - from cult to communism - know their audience...and the lack of historical perspective.

This is not so, for the authentic man or woman of God, who has been called, cleansed and classified as a Child of the Living Christ. The paths of the true believer should be different from the regular citizen because the Christian also possesses a future confirmed reservation in an Eternal Kingdom. Due to this very fact, the Ruler of this Eternal Kingdom expects certain things from every resident of this place called Heaven....and He gave those instructions almost 3500 years ago, when He gave the written record to Moses. He then had forty authors, over the next 1500 years, write inspired Scripture in their own style....with the same continuous message - #JesusIsLord!

The first thing we citizens of the Heavenly Realm need to do, according to His Word and His Holy Spirit abiding in us, is to Remember. Unfortunately, the corrupt culture of "self and selfie" has ingrained itself in the Body of Christ and we hear the chant universally almost, of "what have you done for me lately"?! It is not supposed to be like this for the Christian. WE, ABOVE ALL ELSE, ARE THE ONES WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE FOR US, PERIOD.

We are supposed to be steeped in the Knowledge of the Holy Who is Good, Gracious, Forgiving, Compassionate, Loving, Full of Mercy, Miracles and Matchless Wonder! If we are not even aware of one third of any of this, we need to go back to the drawing board of the altar, fall on our faces, beg forgiveness and start all over again. Time and time again, the Lord exhorts us to remember Him, not just in the time of our youth but throughout our lives when we have both great success and failure. We need to remember Him, in ALL His attributes throughout our lifetime, in good times and bad. It is not wise the trivialize the absolute significance of Remembering DAILY just WHO God really is.

Which brings us to the second point - "wait". The "paths of Your Judgments" in terms of the Lord, is focal point of our spiritual growth and maturity. Maturing in the Ways and Wonders of God takes patience. Sanctification is the crockpot of true Wisdom and Grace and we have no choice but to wait, hold on and persevere through those times of trials, afflictions, even times of chastisement and Godly discipline because these are the paths God has chosen to keep us on the straight and narrow highway back to our heavenly abode. These times of patient endurance mold us into the type of solid believer, which God recommends anyone associated with Him become....for our own sakes!

This is the two legs of the one who loves, adores and pursues a closer walk with the Lord. This twofold daily exercise will not only reveal the work we still have to do, in order to attain to God's standards, but these simple straightforward steps are there for both the young and old in the Faith to grab on to and run with. Jesus has equipped us with His Spirit, the same Spirit Who raised Him on Resurrection Sunday, to enable us to accomplish this amazing task. The only thing holding anyone back, from grasping this baton with both hands and running with intention, is desire to proceed. May our desire be for the Great God of Heaven, and to be called a man or woman after His own Heart, in Jesus' Name, amen.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

UPROOTING THE TREE OF TEMPTATION

BY DR. RICHARD HERBERT 
Overcoming temptation is a subject of interest to every Christian, as it’s a subject that affects us all. 

We probably know that the Bible contains a number of guiding and encouraging  scriptures to help us in overcoming, but we may not be aware of biblical analysis of the cycle of temptation and sin that grows from “seed” to burgeoning “tree,” if we let it.  It’s an understanding found in both the Old and New Testaments and one we can apply.

The clearest analysis of the growth of sin is found in the first chapter of the Book of James which describes the genealogy or “family tree” of every temptation leading to transgression: “… each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15).

If we analyze it, the growing “tree” of temptation that James elaborates can help us understand how we can break sin’s growth before it breaks us:
Seed:  “each person is tempted…” – Exposure to temptation
Roots:  “each person is … dragged away by their own evil desire” – Considering the temptation
Trunk:  “and enticed”  – Intellectual acquiescence
Branches: “then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin” – Submission to sin
Fruit: “…sin … gives birth to death” – The eventual result of sin

The pattern is a universal one.  We see it as early as the story of the first sin in Genesis 3 when the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” became the focus of Eve’s attention:“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it” (Genesis 3:6).

Dividing up this example of the tree of temptation, we see exactly the same pattern:
Seed:  “the woman saw …” – Exposure to temptation
Roots:  “… the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye” – Considering the temptation
Trunk:  “and also desirable for gaining wisdom” – Intellectual acquiescence
Branches: “she took some and ate it” – Submission to sin
Fruit: “when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:17) – The eventual result of sin

Once we understand the structure of this figurative tree of transgression, we can see that the only logical place to stop the growth of temptation is at the beginning – by killing the “seed” before the “roots” begin to grow.
  
Physical seeds need the right conditions in order to germinate.  Spiritually we must do everything we can to make sure that the conditions are not in our lives for the seeds of sin to continually grow.  In some circumstances, of course, we cannot help but be exposed to temptation – its potential is present in so much of modern society. But we can prepare our environment to avoid a good deal of it.

Gardeners wanting to avoid the growth of weeds regularly use “pre-emergent” herbicides to stop the germination of those unwanted plants, and our regular use of the spiritual “pre-emergents” of prayer, study and other spiritual disciplines can have exactly the same effect on temptation.

But whenever we are exposed to temptation, it is imperative that we kill the “roots” before they take a firm hold.  It is always easier to pull up the small roots of a sapling than to cut down a grown tree trunk, and easier to cut the trunk than to try to cut off every branch.  It is the one unfailing principle that can help us overcome temptation more than any other – the earlier we attempt to end the growth of temptation, the more likely we are to succeed.

Transferring the analogy to actual everyday life means throwing everything we can at temptation the moment it begins to grow within our minds.  That can mean asking God’s help in immediate prayer (Matthew 6:13), putting something else that is attractive but good into our minds to replace the wrong thoughts (Philippians 4:8), or simply getting ourselves into a different environment till the temptation passes (2 Timothy 2:22-24).

Sometimes, all three strategies are necessary to help us stop the growth of a sin in our lives. But the encouraging thing is that just as there is no tree that cannot be felled, there is no temptation that cannot be overcome if we are willing to attack it – before it grows.  
DR. HERBERT'S WEBSITES:
TACTICAL CHRISTIANITY
LIVING WITH FAITH

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF NUMBERS #6

PRECUSOR TO THE CROSS
6 The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “[j]Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:6-9)
This passage is no small matter. We are never told what Moses prayed when he interceded for the people one more time. Before this last episode recorded above in Numbers 21-6-9 , we are told that the Israelites rejected God ten (10)times! This time, God ran through the latest rebels like a knife through butter. He unleashed poisonous serpents which bit countless Israelites who paid the ultimate price for their sin.  Realizing their sin, the people came and begged Moses to intercede on their behalf with Almighty God. Moses was then given instructions to fashion a snake and put it on a pole, high and lifted up. God then ordained that whosever look upon that snake, was healed. And they were healed.

The significance of this can be found in the greatest passage in Bible history – John chapter 3, where Jesus Himself recalled the instructions He gave Moses then, during His nighttime meeting with Nicodemus.  Jesus said "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[a] have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:14-16).

The serpent in Scripture is synonymous with sin, Satan and self. It was the serpent in the Garden of Eden who introduces sin into the world and brought the downfall of mankind, leading to death, destruction accompanied with all the pain and suffering we see today.  The reason Christ recalls this incident with Moses in John 3 is its dynamic parallel to the Cross. The equation is as follows: just like Adam and Eve in the garden, the Israelites sinned immensely against Holy God and died. They deserved to die, just as we do. However, Yahweh (Jesus in the Old Testament) had Moses place a snake on a wooden pole and lifted it up high. Then, when those same Israelites in the desert looked up to that pole with sin wrapped around it, they lived, in spite of their deadly snake-bitten bodies full of sin.

Jesus was predicting His own Sacrifice to Nicodemus when He said to the teacher of Israel that just as Moses lifted up that bronze serpent on pole in the desert, so must He (the Christ) be lifted up. Later on, at Golgotha, Nicodemus would realize what that meant when he and Joseph of Arimathea took the deceased body of Jesus off the Cross – the same Jesus Who became sin, lifted high on a piece of wood. This ultimate sacrifice of the Ancient of Days on behalf of sinful man was done in order that we may look up to the payment on the Cross, believe in His finished work and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. 

Yes, this is much more than an instance when Moses once again prayed for God to spare a rebellious and evil generation. This is the foreshadow of our coming salvation.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF NUMBERS #5

HOW SHOULD I PRAY WHEN WRONGED BY ANOTHER?
15 Then Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them.” (Numbers 16:15)
22 Then they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the congregation?” (Numbers 16:22)
I have chosen these two far apart verses as a continuation of the same prayer. The reason for this is they are both part of the same incident – the Rebellion of Korah. Korah and his family and “followers” were all jealous of the special relationship which Moses and Aaron had with Almighty God. In those early Bible days, God would come down from Heaven in a Cloud of Glory into the Tabernacle and meet with both men, but mostly Moses.  Another Levite, whom Moses called a minister, was envious of all the ceremonial aspects of what Aaron and his other son Eleazar did for the Lord Himself in the desert Tabernacle and directly challenged them with bold accusations.  Numbers 16 gives us that account, starting in verse 1. Korah and his 250 rebels basically accused Moses and Aaron of acting “mightier and holier than thou”.

Both Moses and Aaron knew better than this and God Himself, through the Holy Spirit told us that Moses was the most humble man on earth (Numbers 12:3). These two men of God reacted with proper humility rather than lashing out, as modern human nature would….even in ministerial circles.  God had given Korah and his clan (all Levites) a special ministry but they went even further in their unseemly rebellion. From Numbers 16:12 and following, the records show that these so-called men of God even called Egypt the “land of milk and honey”! They had the nerve to blame Moses for trying to get them killed when they were the ones who were among the many who doubted the good report of Joshua and Caleb about the REAL “land of milk and honey”.

The Bible records Moses praying in righteous anger for the first time. This is the first Imprecatory Prayer of Scripture.  So now therefore, now, how does the Christian respond in similar situations?  What occurred here is a prime example of the violation of the Tenth Commandment, which is a direct command against envy and lust for something (or somebody)belonging to someone else. It does not matter if thing envied is a ministry or your neighbor’s new car, when your car is 12 years old – this is a violation of His commandment and the spirit of the Law. Moses, a man with almost nothing to his name, who spent his time serving a bunch of ingrates and praying for God to spare their lives time after time, was in perfect order to appeal to God for help as he did in verse 15 (see above). Should we, as Christians, pray likewise if under assault like this? A lot of what Moses faced here has been faced by many people – from church leaders, to bank tellers to moms and dads and even teenagers bullied in school. It is abhorrent and worthy of laying the case directly and promptly before God. The words may be different because the circumstances are not always the same, but if a person proceeds down that road, extreme caution is necessary.

Take a very good look at what Moses said in his prayer. He only asked God not to accept their expensive grain offerings because of their attitude. Nothing else.  God responded in severe anger at the rebels because He knew Moses was telling the truth about accepting nothing from these people. He also knew the hearts of Korah and his 250 rebels who were not really rebelling against the leadership of Moses and Aaron, but God Himself.

In the final analysis, all rebellion, sin, transgression and iniquity are against God and His Sovereignty. Because God is sovereign He can also do what He wants. For the second time in five chapters (the last time was Chapter 12 when Moses’ prayer stopped God from wiping out over one million people), Moses, putting aside the personal attack against him, pleaded with God in verse 22 (see above)( to not destroy all the people when it was only one man leading the rebellion – Korah! The Lord relented and only punished the 250 rebels and their families.

This second prayer (verse 22) is important to tie in with the first one in verse 15. In what was the mildest imprecatory prayer in history ("Lord do not accept their grain offerings"), Moses continued to show why Jesus/Yeshua/Yahweh chose him to be the Redeemer of Israel.  After God told Moses to stand back, “let Me at them…ALL of them”, Moses again prayed and begged for God to only deal with the one person who started this entire unpleasant episode.

Here again, we have the example of how we should pray when wronged by someone else.  The example of Moses is perfect. I know people whose lives have been almost ruined by others calling themselves Christians. They have lost jobs and been called names and even threatened….by so-called fellow Christians, one of whom was a church elder. Do you know what all that pain, tears and fears led to, in the long run? They led to prayers for not just protection from all evil, but for the offending party’s salvation and restoration. This is grace upon grace. Jesus told us to pray for our enemies and in so doing, we heap coals – burning coals – upon their heads. If we respond in love and grace like Moses here, we would be better off in the long run. If we do this, we would be more like Christ, Who said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”.

You mean, “I am supposed to put aside all the tears, stress, heartburn and worse…where I cannot sleep at night and now need medical attention, so that I can pray for them, so that I, the wronged party, can be more like Christ?” The answer is – YES!  There is nothing we can do in this lifetime to correct somebody’s attitude towards us or pay them back, where we will not end up worse than we were before. There is nothing that we think we can do to the offender in the equation that will equal what  God can and will do to them, if they do not repent and make it right. Therefore it better for us to lean on the Scriptures, the written Word and humble ourselves even MORE before our Heavenly Father and then just do like Hezekiah did – lay out the entire case before Him and let Him deal with it. I know this works, having been through the fire for several years of trial by co-worker. How God worked in this situation was tremendously productive. The offender came to Faith in Christ several years after her retirement . Is the Arm of the Lord too short? No, it is not! Simply trust Him fully to do what He said He will do. Trust....and pray!


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF NUMBERS #4






REJECT GOD AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
17And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18'The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.' 19Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of Your steadfast love, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now." Numbers 14:13-19
Many do not believe in generational curses, but do believe in generational blessings. If you look at some of the great men of God in all history, there may be something to that. The greatest sermon in America was preached by Jonathan Edwards in 1747 in East Windsor, Connecticut. It is "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". This sermon was read in monotone off notes by a near-sighted Pastor Edwards and 500 people got saved that day. He was the great reformed preacher from the First Great Awakening in America which led to the American Revolution, and the birth of the greatest country ever on planet earth.

Now many will say that generational curses do not apply anymore, since the Age of Grace. There is some validity to this. However, whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap.  The principle does not change. America’s great preacher of the 18th century – Jonathan Edwards’ descendants were college presidents, and pastors. There was even one Vice President of the United States in there. There is another prominent North Eastern American family, from the same state, whose patriarch was a notorious rum runner and manipulator and womanizer. A lot of his descendants became drug addicts, divorce-ridden multiple times and even dead at an early age. These are not generational curses but family traits. The son of one of the biggest atheists in America became a pastor....thereby showing the Sovereignty of God....and how He fits nobody's patterns or thoughts. This man's mother is Madelyn Murray O’Hair, the person who got prayer and the Bible out of American schools.

In this prayer above, Moses acknowledges the patient mercy, grace and long-suffering of the Lord.  From our personal experience, we know God has been patient with us in all our stupidity and sin from the day we were born. Even when we continue to sin after we were born again, our Father Who art in Heaven, forgives and removes our sin from our record. Not so with the unsaved and especially those who have committed transgression and iniquity. Transgression and Iniquity are places no Christian would wish to go because they represent severely willful defiance of God.

We are all sinners saved by grace and will have a nature in us which continually misses the mark. This will decrease as we grow more mature in the Lord and will last with us throughout our lives on earth. Transgression, however, is crossing the line from trying to live right and sinning occasionally, to willfully disobeying God. Samson is good example.  As a Nazarite, he was not supposed to be around any dead animal, drink alcohol, go near pagan women or allow his hair to be cut. He violated all of this. 

Iniquity is the mother of all sin. It is as vile as King David willfully staying away from his duty and ogling his one of his Mighty Men - Uriah the Hittite’s wife – Bathsheba. This led to the culmination of years of ungodly lust for her, as he summoned her and they willingly had an affair. The affair then resulted in Bathsheba becoming pregnant. However, David went one step worse than crossing the line from Transgression.  He committed premeditated murder of Bathsheba’s husband and his own friend, Uriah thereby breaking every single one of the Ten Commandments. This was his iniquity as it was unrepentant sin of the highest degree which he plotted and committed. It was cold, calculated sin (iniquity) and a slap in the Face of God, which took two years for him to be caught by the Prophet Nathan. It took two years for King David to repent before God.

The people under Moses’ care and leadership had reached that point (of no return) when they rejected the reports of Joshua and Caleb and sided with the other ten scouts who basically called God a liar. It was God Himself who had Moses send out the 12 tribe representatives to view and scout the Promised Land.

The rebellion against God was so evil that the people wanted to choose a leader who would lead them back to Egypt! That would be like God rescuing us from a sewer pit and then having tasted of His miracles and His goodness, we decided that we actually loved living like pigs in the muck, dirt and sewage rather than worship in the Freedom, Purity and Goodness of Almighty God. This is what the majority of the tribes did. When Joshua and Caleb spoke up to defend the Lord and tell of His Truth and the wonders of the Promised Land, the people tried to stone them.

For their rejection of the One True God, He wanted to wipe them out right then and there…and this is where the humble man of God – Moses, interceded once more.  Here is where Moses also sought to maintain the reputation of the Lord, while attempting to save his people from destruction. He knew God was more than justified in wiping the memory of them off the earth and off His books, but Moses also knew the Egyptians will hear of about one million people dying in the desert at the Hands of “their God”.  Because Moses sought no other purpose other than the Glory and Good Name of the Lord, God did not immediately destroy every person in that motley group of Israelites. God mentioned the ten times they rejected him and it was only then, that He decreed them wandering in the desert for forty years, after which every single adult except Joshua and Caleb over the age of 20 would die in the desert. To show His utter rejection of them as a people, He called their future perishing bodies “carcasses”! 

What are the lessons for us today? First, simply put – we should never cross that line. When we were saved, God saved us from the Power of Sin, however the presence of sin still abounds.  We see it everywhere.  Scripture teaches us to "take every thought captive". When the devil puts a tempting thought to distract and divert us away from God, to sinful thoughts, we MUST eradicate it with the Power of the Holy Spirit and not dwell on it.  Even good Christians have the potential to fall and fall hard if we do not run from sinful thoughts, but allow then to embed themselves in our consciousness and then develop into lustful fantasies which may or may not cross the line into active sin.  God has created several firewalls before we even get to that point of transgression and pre-meditated commission of sin.

We must activate those firewalls by knowing the Scripture and how to beat back the lies of the devil with them. We must also run from sin and we should not worry about offending the person tempting you to sin. Worry more about offending God and bringing bad consequences of any potential actions. There is a reason the Bible tells us to “flee immorality” and “resist the devil and he will flee from you”. They work! The firewall against sin, transgression and iniquity is the Word of God and the willingness to follow what it says.

The second lesson is this – God WILL punish all who reject Him. He is patient and kind and will allow people to reject, blaspheme and ignore Him more than ten times. However they will pay the price. In fact, if you want to go back to the pit where you came from, God will allow your choice because He does not wish to coerce anyone to love and respect Him, who is not inclined that way. Hell is full, and will be replete with the majority of mankind from all eras, who have shaken their collective fists at God, shouting that He is "dead" or how much they "do not believe in Him". The Kingdom of Heaven remains open to all, who fear God, keep His commands and accept the Son - Jesus Christ - as Lord and master over all. This also has not changed and the free offer stands as long as there is time.

The third lesson is God is patient. While He can destroy anyone at anytime, He listens to prayer and the prayer of one of His most faithful servants - Moses. Abba Father still pay attention to the prayers of His saints and desires that none should perish but that all will come to repentance. The entire account from Numbers 13 and 14 about what led up to this prayer and God's angry reaction is symptomatic of life today. Christians and others are always asking "where is God while....X Y or Z is happening".... or "how long can the wicked reign..." and all its variations. His patience, grace and love should not be mistaken for weakness, because when He acts, it is always final and the results are devastating. The key is for the Faithful to remain faithful in prayer, supplication and obedience. The modus operandi for remaining in the good graces of God is finally, to keep short accounts with God and man; to walk the straight and narrow and to live a repentant lifestyle....not in fear, but out of love and respect for the One Who has saved us by His Grace.


Friday, May 13, 2016

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF NUMBERS #3

TRYING THE LORD'S PATIENCE - NOT A GOOD IDEA!
Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!" (NUMBERS 12:13)
Christians have to be very careful in our inter-personal relationships when it comes to our interpretation of what the Lord has said in His Word and what He means. God is an awesome God and is not to be trifled, minimized and disrespected. As many will find out on THAT day, while the Lord is silent as all kinds of atrocities are committed by people with evil intent and while the majority of this world bows down to false cults and religion. The Apostle Paul writes in the New Testament (Romans 2:5) "But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed."

This is an incredible piece of history which is absolute proof that even the best of the best of us can commit despicable sin.  Make no bones about it, racism is unacceptable in the Eyes of God, especially among His chosen.  In terms of the Judeo-Christian faith, the parties involved here are huge in terms of the foundations of our Faith. Aaron (no last name as most of our Old Testament bible heroes) was the first high priest of God. Miriam was the sister of Moses, the instrument of God’s redemption of Israel from slavery and bondage. Yet these two great Levites, the chosen priestly tribe of God’s people, crossed the line.

Aaron had taken it upon himself to criticize Moses, who had no other companionship, for marrying an Ethiopian woman (Cushite in some translation). This means, basically, that she was a black woman, like most Ethiopians. It appears that Aaron chose to couch his distaste for Moses’ wife in terms of how Yahweh chose to speak to Moses ….as opposed to him (Aaron) and Miriam.   Aaron had just finished this criticism of his brother and the Bible says God IMMEDIATELY summoned them, in anger.

God also made a point to put in the Scriptures that “Moses was more humble than any other person on Earth”. He went on to specifically tell them that Moses was His and had a unique face to Face relationship with the Almighty. When the Lord had finished lecturing Aaron and Miriam (Numbers 12:4-9). Miriam was instantly afflicted with leprosy while Aaron, the chief instigator was not. However it was Aaron who repented, falling on his knees and finally respecting Moses, asked for mercy, on behalf of their sister.

Here is where Moses uttered this short prayer, knowing Yahweh would listen to His servant "O God, heal her, I pray!"

God, in His righteous anger, promised to restore her in seven days, but Miriam had to be cut off from the congregation, as a form of discipline. Here are some serious points for all of us to first think about and then accept:
- God is Sovereign. He will have favor upon those He wishes to, regardless of what limitations mortal men see in the person God chooses.
- Racism is a sin and more so, in those who call themselves believers and are actual Christians. 
- Be careful speaking out against a church or ministry leader. If such a person has committed obvious sin,  in Matthew Chapter 18 Jesus gives specific instructions on how church discipline should be enacted.
- God will punish sin, especially in His own people. Miriam developed leprosy and had to be cut off. Aaron was left alone to be scared silly and then intercede on her behalf. Even Moses did not make to the Promised Land in the flesh due to his sin against God (Numbers 27:12-14).
- God is compassionate, longsuffering, patient BUT He is VERY kind. Most lepers – 99.999% of them were lepers for life. Miriam only suffered seven days for her sin, then was restored.
- God literally controls everything, whether even Christians like it or not. The sooner we, who are called by His Name recognize that, the easier it will be for us to move ahead and do the work He called us to do.


Tuesday, May 10, 2016

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF NUMBERS #2

OH NO YOU DIDN'T!
 11 So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!” (Numbers 11:11-15)

Have you ever gotten to a point in life where you wanted to throw everything down and just walk away from an appointed task? It does not matter if you have the biggest job in the town; or a church leader or even the head of a home. There comes a breaking point where even the best of us may have had it and even wanted to throw the towel. Sometimes a person can give and give and give, see no gratitude and in fact, you may see the opposite - complaining, whining and no concept of the grander picture at all, just incredulous commentary. 

If you feel that way, you will not have been the first. Moses would not have been the first leader of a congregation, nation, even a family to want to pack it in and walk away. Fortunately he had the greatest Listener for what burdened his heart - the Lord God of Heaven! What had set him off was the entire group of ingrates whom God had liberated from 400 years of brutal oppression in a godless, hot and evil land of Egypt. Yet, they incredibly spit in the proverbial Eye of God by saying the following "5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”

They conveniently forgot the hopelessness, death, harsh treatment and worse they suffered at the hands of their slave masters in Egypt and focused on things which I am sure they did not eat of regularly. On slave wages, there is no way all these people could be eating as high on the hog as an official in Pharoah's court as they let on. Yet, they despise the very food miraculously provided from Heaven - manna.  The bible passage here even goes on to say how good it tasted - (like cakes) "taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil" (verse 8).

So Moses had the same reaction that a parent may have towards an ungrateful child and prayed the prayer above to the Lord. He sorts of blames God for "afflicting him (Moses) with these (grumbling) people" and twice asks for relief "if he had found any favor" at all in God's sight (verses 11 and 15 above).

The specific complaint which set him off was the one of continuous manna from heaven when the people, who had done nothing to deserve their freedom and good health and clothes which never wore out...wanted steak, baked potatoes and corn on the cob...for free! No just that, they wanted it well done, with steak sauce, cheesecake and expresso for after dinner. They had done or deserved nothing for the Grace which God showed them.

The first thing, therefore, which we should notice here is this: God knew all along Moses could not handle all of this on his own, but was waiting for Moses to realize this and then ask for help. We can say that because the Lord did not send them the desert equivalent of Ruth Chris Steakhouse but told Moses to get 70 elders from the tribe leaders, who will assist him in managing an unruly people. This occurred in the very next verse after Moses' prayer above.

The second thing is a great lesson for today, as it was then. The real issue was not the fact that Moses was overwhelmed trying to lead millions of people with their individual hangups. The real issue was and always is - UNBELIEF. Like Christians and in fact, all people today, God is their personal ATM. He is their blessing and cash machine to withdraw from without even the thought of saying "thank You" to Him. There was no trust in Him to complete what He said He would complete (the Promised Land) and in fact, all these people could see was the moment, nothing further than their noses and taste buds and even after they saw God on the mountain....they still did not belief. Modern man, and even Christians do the same thing because they don't fellowship closely with God through Bible study and prayer. We either believe His promises or we do not.

Third, if we do not guard our hearts and minds and souls, by staying close to the Source, the Giver of life, the Father of Lights, from Whom cometh all good things, we too can become horrible grumblers like those in this bible passage. We will have no clue until Judgment Day what God has kept us from, protected us from and given to us DAILY, sometimes minute by minute, yet we are never grateful for small mercies....and sometimes not even the big ones. 

If we do not acknowledge the One Who gave it all for us - Jesus Christ - by living in the realm of Him as our Lord and Master, we are basically no better than some of these people who looked back at the time before they were freed from slavery and saved from the Bondage of Sin and Satan. How dare we, who were bought at the ultimate price - the Life of God on a Cross - compare the pleasures of sin for a season by looking back across the divide, when the Joys of Jesus are divine, eternal and so much more?  How? Indeed.....


Saturday, May 7, 2016

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF NUMBERS #1

LET THE LORD DEFEAT YOUR GIANTS
35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, Rise up, Lord; let Your enemies be scattered; and let those who hate You flee before You.  And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands in Israel. (Numbers 10:35-36)
This great prayer of the Warrior Moses could be one used by God's generals today - those who are in spiritual battle on all fronts, all across the world. Three things are happening which we need to take a note of, since it has relevance to us, in these last days.

In the first place, we see the Ark of the Covenant, signifying the Presence of Holy God and its foremost place leading the people of God. Secondly, we see this same Ark, coming to a resting place - a stop - showing the people of God where they should make their stand and stand their ground.


Third, Moses is praying for the following: that the Lord takes on all who hate His Words, Commands and ordinances and worship pagan gods and for their complete annihilation and dispersion in the atmosphere.  Then he wants the Lord to again favor His wayward people.


There are parallels here to 2 Chronicles 7:14 (if My people who are called by My Name...").  In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God is laying down the conditions for Him to heal, bless and favor. These conditions have a foundation of true repentance BEFORE God will do what He says He would do. In this prayer of Moses from Numbers 10:35-36 we see the symbols of the actual Presence of God right before millions of people's  eyes  creating the environment for Moses to go boldly before the Throne of Grace and make His request.


For us, the lessons are for the defeat of the giants and enemies in our lives - whether they be circumstances like depression, hopelessness or doubt....or worse - is to KNOW that GOD is with us. We, who are Christians, already have the same Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead. He - the Holy Spirit - is the symbolic Ark of the Covenant. The Presence of the Holy Spirit in the Christian is proof that God is with us, even unto the ends of the earth, meaning until we go to be with Him.


The second lesson is this - God, in the form of the Spirit, has gone before us and fought our battles if we have turned from our wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14) and surrendered all our evil circumstances and giants to Him. We must commit our ways unto the Lord for Him to handle. By doing this, the "return of the Lord" which Moses prayed for in verse 36 will be realized by the ocean of peace we experience because He has caused all His (thus our) enemies to scatter.  This peace from the Lord dealing with these giants who persecute us, can only come about if we do what Psalm 46:10 says "cease striving (be still) and know that I AM GOD"

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF EXODUS #4

"SHOW ME YOUR GLORY!"
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33:12-17)
At some point in their journey of faith, many believers come to a point where they doubt. Healthy doubt is not necessarily a good thing, even though it demonstrates a certain lack of faith. In Mark 9:23-24, Jesus encountered a young boy who was possessed by an evil spirit rendered him deaf and dumb. 

The boy’s father asked for Jesus’ healing mercy, grace and compassion and the response of the Lord is classic “If you can, believe, all things are possible to him who believes”. The response of the father of this poor young chap should be the cry of anyone who is struggling in their faith. Whether this struggle is to persevere through trials, tribulations and long illnesses which we have prayed about or other things, we all need this encouragement to know that the Lord our God is with us….that His Presence goes with a before us. After  Jesus said those words (in red) to this man, the man said “I believe, help my unbelief”. Jesus then healed the young boy.

What this tell us that being in the Presence of the Lord is even colored by doubt. However, never let your doubts hold you back from wanting more of His influence and power in your life! At the point of conversion, we receive the same Spirit of God Who raised Jesus from the dead on Resurrection morning. The Holy Spirit is 100% God and we have Him sealed in with our spirit, until the Day of Redemption when we leave this earth to be with the Lord.  

In order to experience the FULLNESS of joy, as the psalmist says, we must allow Him to work in us. That is, we decrease in pride, arrogance and doing things our way, that He might increase (John 3:30). We must also decrease in wanting to do things our way and start doing what we said we do as Christians - submit to the Lordship of Christ. Moses knew that. Moses knew God Face to face more than once. Moses felt the Heartbeat of God because His Spirit moved Moses to write the story of Creation, the Flood, the Patriarchs, the Exodus and more. Because he God intimately, he was the most humble man of all....and the Bible tells us so...read Numbers 12:3 here.

This is one of the greatest lessons for ALL of us, as we study the Life and Prayers of Moses, from the Pentateuch (Torah, Law). He never asked anything for himself. God gave him the most impossible mission - corralling and leading millions of unruly Israelites out of Egypt and through a desert for 40 years. Yet, apart from losing it and striking the rock (thereby losing his life to disobedience), he always did what God told him. All the prayers of Moses we study through Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy show a man praying for his people, so this prayer request in Exodus 33:12-17 was extra special.

Moses said "I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way" (Exodus 33:12b-13a). He wanted to see the Father, literally! We know no one has seen God and lived. However many have seen the Living Christ - Who died on the Cross in 33 AD and rose again. Moses himself spent untold days with Him on the Mountain getting the Law and the first five books of the Bible.

The Father was gracious unto Moses and saved his life by putting him in a rock as He passed by. He did that so Moses could still see His Glory passing by (from His back) yet continue his physical existence. God is amazing. He answered the first request from Moses to "show me Your Way" like this: 
 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14). The second time Moses asked the same question but this time included the family of God traveling with him (all the Israelites) and it was only THEN God the Father allowed Moses to see His passing Glory!

That is a good lesson too...as favored and as loved and humble Moses was by God, the only Promise to him from Above was the Presence of the Lord (The Holy Spirit Who also lives in us) and REST (verse 14)!! That's it! But showing the closeness of his relationship with the Lord, you can actually read the TONE Moses uses here, when he expanded his first personal request to include those under his charge.

This is our precise charge to pray. Even if we have children or in some cases, grandchildren who are not saved, let us resolve to pray for them first for salvation and for others to succeed, be healed or for guidance. In that way, we will not only see our own spiritual lives soar, but from first hand experience, I can tell you - you will see more than just Creation out there in the Supernatural. God will give you things to see which not many of His own saints will never see. This is the reward of humility similar to the great lawgiver, Moses.