June 2009

Monthly Archive

June 11, 2009

Seek UNTIL you FIND!

Posted by Jessie under knowing God
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Proverbs 2
 1 My son, if you accept my words
       and store up my commands within you,  2 turning your ear to wisdom
       and applying your heart to understanding,  3 and if you call out for insight
       and cry aloud for understanding,  4 and if you look for it as for silver
       and search for it as for hidden treasure,  5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.  6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
       and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 

Luke 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

 
These Scriptures came out in prophetic words last Sunday, so I thought I’d highlight them here. 

 
Clearly the Lord is trying to remind of us of His promise to answer us when we call to Him; that He LIKES to grant us what we ask of Him. 
 
Notice the surety of his promise to give:
-”.. you WILL understand.. and (will) find the knowledge of God” (Prov. 2:5)
-”..it WILL be given”
-”… you WILL find”
-”…  the door WILL be opened”
 
He is a GOOD FATHER who LOVES to give good gifts to His children!  (Luke 7:11)
 
But notice the conditions of His giving –
1.  Accept My Words
2.  Store up My commands within you
3.  turn your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understand
4.  CALL OUT for insight and CRY ALOUD for understanding
5.  look for it (wisdom) as for hidden treasure
6.  ask, seek, knock

 
When you find a treasure hidden in a field, the wisest thing to do is sell everything you have to get it!   

 
When we seek the Lord, sometimes it will “cost” us everything.  But to get the Reality of Him in the end is more than worth it! 
 
Many times we ask the Lord and seek Him for things (and notice here what is most needful to ask for is INSIGHT, WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE OF GOD) — but we give up and stop asking before we actually get the answer!  If He promises that the door WILL be opened, then we should never stop knocking UNTIL it actually opens!  How many answered prayers do we miss out on because we didn’t CONTINUE to seek, ask, knock until we FOUND what we were looking for?? 
 
On a personal note, I want to testify that I have been seeing MANY remarkable answers to prayer, specifically prayers that I have prayed CORPORATELY (i.e. with others, in agreement with others).  God is good! 
 
Let’s be those that seek UNTIL we find.  May we grow as people of prayer!!

 

Proverbs 2
 1 My son, if you accept my words
       and store up my commands within you,  2 turning your ear to wisdom
       and applying your heart to understanding,  3 and if you call out for insight
       and cry aloud for understanding,  4 and if you look for it as for silver
       and search for it as for hidden treasure,  5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.  6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
       and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 

Luke 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

 
These Scriptures came out in prophetic words last Sunday, so I thought I’d highlight them here. 

 
Clearly the Lord is trying to remind of us of His promise to answer us when we call to Him; that He LIKES to grant us what we ask of Him. 
 
Notice the surety of his promise to give:
-”.. you WILL understand.. and (will) find the knowledge of God” (Prov. 2:5)
-”..it WILL be given”
-”… you WILL find”
-”…  the door WILL be opened”
 
He is a GOOD FATHER who LOVES to give good gifts to His children!  (Luke 7:11)
 
But notice the conditions of His giving –
1.  Accept My Words
2.  Store up My commands within you
3.  turn your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understand
4.  CALL OUT for insight and CRY ALOUD for understanding
5.  look for it (wisdom) as for hidden treasure
6.  ask, seek, knock

 
When you find a treasure hidden in a field, the wisest thing to do is sell everything you have to get it!   

 
When we seek the Lord, sometimes it will “cost” us everything.  But to get the Reality of Him in the end is more than worth it! 
 
Many times we ask the Lord and seek Him for things (and notice here what is most needful to ask for is INSIGHT, WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE OF GOD) — but we give up and stop asking before we actually get the answer!  If He promises that the door WILL be opened, then we should never stop knocking UNTIL it actually opens!  How many answered prayers do we miss out on because we didn’t CONTINUE to seek, ask, knock until we FOUND what we were looking for?? 
 
On a personal note, I want to testify that I have been seeing MANY remarkable answers to prayer, specifically prayers that I have prayed CORPORATELY (i.e. with others, in agreement with others).  God is good! 
 
Let’s be those that seek UNTIL we find.  May we grow as people of prayer!!

 

Proverbs 2
 1 My son, if you accept my words
       and store up my commands within you,  2 turning your ear to wisdom
       and applying your heart to understanding,  3 and if you call out for insight
       and cry aloud for understanding,  4 and if you look for it as for silver
       and search for it as for hidden treasure,  5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.  6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
       and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 

Luke 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

 
These Scriptures came out in prophetic words last Sunday, so I thought I’d highlight them here. 

 
Clearly the Lord is trying to remind of us of His promise to answer us when we call to Him; that He LIKES to grant us what we ask of Him. 
 
Notice the surety of his promise to give:
-”.. you WILL understand.. and (will) find the knowledge of God” (Prov. 2:5)
-”..it WILL be given”
-”… you WILL find”
-”…  the door WILL be opened”
 
He is a GOOD FATHER who LOVES to give good gifts to His children!  (Luke 7:11)
 
But notice the conditions of His giving –
1.  Accept My Words
2.  Store up My commands within you
3.  turn your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understand
4.  CALL OUT for insight and CRY ALOUD for understanding
5.  look for it (wisdom) as for hidden treasure
6.  ask, seek, knock

 
When you find a treasure hidden in a field, the wisest thing to do is sell everything you have to get it!   

 
When we seek the Lord, sometimes it will “cost” us everything.  But to get the Reality of Him in the end is more than worth it! 
 
Many times we ask the Lord and seek Him for things (and notice here what is most needful to ask for is INSIGHT, WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE OF GOD) — but we give up and stop asking before we actually get the answer!  If He promises that the door WILL be opened, then we should never stop knocking UNTIL it actually opens!  How many answered prayers do we miss out on because we didn’t CONTINUE to seek, ask, knock until we FOUND what we were looking for?? 
 
On a personal note, I want to testify that I have been seeing MANY remarkable answers to prayer, specifically prayers that I have prayed CORPORATELY (i.e. with others, in agreement with others).  God is good! 
 
Let’s be those that seek UNTIL we find.  May we grow as people of prayer!!

 

  

-Jessie 

 

 

June 4, 2009

Present Power

Posted by Jessie under knowing God
1 Comment 

 

Luke 5:17-26 (New International Version)

Jesus Heals a Paralytic
 17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.
 
18 Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.  
 
20When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”  21The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  
 
22Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
 
25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

 

Tom Schroeder shared this Scripture at our prayer meeting yesterday and my heart was stirred, so I thought I would post it for our weekly word.  What an amazing account!  Jesus, with the scrutiny of the religious leaders is teaching AND the power of the Lord was present to heal the sick!  I want to share a few observations and a few questions (without answers) for you to consider. 
 
First, the questions that I’m asking God:  What does it mean that the power of the Lord was present for Jesus to heal the sick?  Was this power not ALWAYS with Him?  And, how would one know if the power of the Lord was present in a particular way to heal or not?  What would bring the power of the Lord in such a way?
 
Those questions alone would be a great menu for prayer . . .
 
But, I want to look at the faith of these individuals who became recipients of this power.
 
Surely there were many people in this meeting, and probably many who needed healing, and perhaps many more that got healed than just this man who is highlighted in the story.  Luke, the author, surely highlights this part of the story because it wasn’t normal (then again, what WAS normal when Jesus was around??).  It seems that these guys acted in particular way that made it inevitable that Jesus would answer them and give them what they wanted.  They presumed upon His goodness and power. 
 
It’s as if they said to themselves, “If we can just get right in front of Him.  He WILL heal you!”
 
Here’s what I see as their mindset, and what we could apply to ourselves. 
1. Do whatever it takes… to
2.  Get as close to Jesus as possible
3.  Believing that He WANTED to give them the answer
4.  With no regard to what it would “cost” in terms of energy, reputation, etc.
5.  Not worried about offending others (what did the owner of the house think as they were tearing off the roof?!!) 
6.  Any doubts about, “What if it doesn’t work”, didn’t keep them from trying. 
 
I don’t know about you, but, I’ve been praying and seeking God to be present in such a way among us.  I think these guys set forth a great template for us to follow as we seek to be people who believe AND see in faith.  We must see the LIVING God at work among us.  Let us seek to get as close to Jesus as possible so that His power will be present to heal . . and to save.. and deliver…. and do whatever Jesus does when He is around. :)    
   

-Jessie