Jessie’s Blog

Sounds good to me!  I must admit that one of my heart cries has always been to “bear much fruit” in my life.  Don’t we all?  Don’t you long  for your life to be meaningful, to have impact, to make a difference in someone’s life?  Of course, we all do.  It’s in the fabric of our being.  Because God put it there.

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man

       who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

       or stand in the way of sinners

       or sit in the seat of mockers.

 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

       and on his law he meditates day and night.

 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

       which yields its fruit in season

       and whose leaf does not wither.

       Whatever he does prospers.

 4 Not so the wicked!

       They are like chaff

       that the wind blows away.

 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

       nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,

       but the way of the wicked will perish.

John 15?

5″I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

 9″As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Joshua 1

6 “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I want to be unshakable, unmoved by life’s circumstances and storms and fruitful in every season (good or bad).  I desire to answer the call to be strong and courageous, to not give in to fear, and yes, to press in to “possess the land” and all that the Lord would give to me/us.  These passages make it clear what the keys are for unlocking this supernatural strength, courage and fruitfulness: 

-delighting in God’s laws

-being rooted deeply in the Lord (like a tree)

-drinking deeply from the waters of Life

-abiding in Jesus, being fully and vitally connected to Him.

-meditating on the Word day and night

-remaining in His Presence

-obeying the Lord

So, instead of trying harder to produce more results/fruit/etc. in our lives and mustering up faith and courage to carry on day after day, we are instructed VERY clearly by God that our main priority must be being with Him. Call it “quiet time”, “devotional life”, prayer/Bible study.  Whatever you call it, it’s basically about building your relationship with Jesus.  All strength, all power, all courage, and great fruitfulness are promised to flow from THAT reality.  And, it takes time.

TIME.  We all have it, but most of us would say we never have “enough”.  A wise person once said to me, as I mused about “not having time . . “:

We have time for what we want to have time for. 

Get it?  To put it differently, your truest priorities are revealed when you look at where you actually spend your time.  Many of us have great notions about what we consider a “priority”.  But, truth is revealed in what we actually do with our time.  You can say that your relationship with God is of primary importance in your life, but if the only time that is set aside for Him is when you’re at church on Sunday morning, what does that really say? 

Where can you “find” the time?  Well, maybe you can spend less time in front of the TV screen or the computer screen.  You could skip a meal here or there (it’s called fasting).  You can get up earlier or go to bed a little later.  It’s not that hard to find the time, the hard part is making it a priority decision and doing it. 

I know for many of you reading this, that may not be a news flash.  It’s not for me.  I’ve been trying to live my life that way for a long time.  But, I still haven’t seen what I believe is the end result that the Word describes.  I have yet to see what I would call “much fruit”, and it’s still a struggle many times to “be strong and courageous”.  Does this mean that it’s not true?  No, because God cannot lie, it’s impossible for Him to do so (Hebrews 6:18)!  It is the answer and we must not grow weary in doing good, for if we do not give up, we WILL reap a harvest (Galatians 6:9)!  They key is:  Don’t give up!  Keep faith for “much fruit”, keep vision for God to His part as you do your part.

Take the prescription that the Lord gave Joshua:  Take His Book (the Bible) in your hand, and in your mouth (speak the words back to Him) and think upon it, day and night.  Give long and loving meditation to God and His Word.  Then, you will see Him conquer your enemies and give you every promise that He has for you.

I try to steer clear of social and political commentary, most of the time, and particularly when I’m writing my posts.  I’m not sure if this is a wise decision (so as not to mix personal opinions with the Word) or if it’s motivated out of fear (don’t want to offend anyone).  I probably teeter-totter in both directions.  I’m also not a big fan of the “news”, so I’m not particularly well-informed most of the time. 

But, I will say that our current culture and recent events give me much reason to pause.  Though I delight in the Lord and sense His blessing in my life personally, I fear that we as a nation/culture/world are consistently moving further away from Him.  Some would quickly step up to their soap box to tell us all the reasons why “those people” are sending us (proverbially) “to hell in a handbasket”.  But, whose fault is it, really?

To put it differently:  Whose world is this?  Who should be setting the cultural norms?  Where does lasting change come from?  Who will have the final say? (Note: the answers to these questions are not all the same.)

The following Scripture passages pretty much tell the story and answer these questions.  I’ll let you read and absorb, then I’ll try to put them together.  Please DO read them, this is my “weekly Word” post after all; you’ll get a good dose of the Word here!  

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
       the world, and all who live in it 

Isaiah 9:6-7  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
       and the government will be on his shoulders.
       And he will be called
       Wonderful Counselor,  Mighty God,
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
   Of the increase of his government and peace
       there will be no end.
       He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.    The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.         

Psalm 102:25-27 In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of Your hands.  
They will perish, but You remain;  they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing You will change them
and they will be discarded.
 But You remain the same, and Your years will never end.    

Daniel 2:20-22 “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.  He changes times and seasons;  he sets up kings and deposes them.       
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
  he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. 

Revelation 1:5-6 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.   

Revelation 5:8,10 golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. . .You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

Revelation 8:3-4  Another angel . . .was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.  The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand.

Matthew 6:9-10 “This, then, is how you should pray:
 ” ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,
   Your kingdom come,
   Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Revelation 22:17  The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”

Here’s the story:

The earth, all of it, and all of the people in it belong to the LORD (Yahweh, the “I AM”).  He has given the governmental authority to His Son Jesus.  Jesus’ Kingdom is ever-expanding and ever-increasing on the earth.  He’s not losing ground and He has never lost control.  He is in the process of fully establishing His Kingdom, and in the End, it will be upon the Earth.  Everything else is subject to change, but He will not.  In fact, He will be the One to change the things that are not right.   

However, He won’t rule this Earth alone.  He has joined Himself to man.  When He became a man, he made the eternal statement about His desire for God and man (us) to be in eternal partnership with Him.  His desire is that we would partner with Him in bringing His Kingdom to earth – and how?  Through (corporate) PRAYER (if this sounds familiar, you probably read this other post).

But, even more than that, if we look into the prophetic picture that God gave the apostle John in Revelation, we see the unfolding of the End Time drama.  Many people are afraid of this book, though at the same time, more people than ever are convinced that we are living in the End Times.  Beloved, this should not be!  God has given us the script for what’s coming down, we can’t ignore it and hope it will all “pan out” in the end (we actually did a chapter by chapter study on the book of Revelation if you’re interested)!

What I find stunning as the events of the book of Revelation unfold, is what precedes some of the most dramatic moments of God establishing His righteousness:  the prayers of the saints.  One of the main catalysts that releases God’s power and reign on the Earth is His people partnering with Him in intercession!  This is our role as “kingdom and priests”.  As priests, we stand before God on behalf of man (intercession), and we stand before man on behalf of God (preaching/witnessing).  As kings, we have the authority of The King to execute His decrees (His Word) and we do it in prayer!  The increase of His government on the Earth (Isaiah 9) comes as more and more people submit to His Lordship AND partner with Him in the place of prayer. 

Another thing that startles me as I look at the picture of God’s activity in the end-times, is this:  the only Church we see is the praying Church.  The people that reign with Him in that day are those who have learned NOW how to partner with Him in prayer.  There is no other group pictured except those who have offered up incense of prayer in the past, and eternally continue to do so.  This is the identity of those who overcome and who truly are “with Him” in the end. 

And, when it truly all shakes out, we will all be of one heart, as the “bride” (Jesus’ eternal companion), in harmony with His Spirit, crying out (prayer), “Come Lord Jesus!”, and then, HE WILL COME!!

Oh, the majesty, the mystery and glory of prayer!