DROP THE ROCK

This morning I read something I had never noticed before....

In, John 8:4-11 When the angry mob was about to stone the woman caught in adultery, Jesus rose to His feet and said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” He spoke one sentence, and then He knelt back down again and wrote on the ground. As His words registered, “they went away one by one, "BEGINNING with the OLDER ones”

The older ones dropped their rocks and walked away first.... I had never noticed that before.

I remember throwing the first stone. Maybe not the first stone, but I joined the mob and cast my stone of gossip, my self-righteous opinion, and my judgment. But life teaches us to drop the rock. When we’re young, we are more arrogant and quicker to pick up the rock. Too many times, being right becomes about winning.

Over time, I have learned some hard life lessons. After making so many of my own mistakes, I am less inclined to drive home others’ failures. It’s easy to judge. We all have opinions. But we all know what it feels like to fail. I no longer pick up rocks and I stay away from mobs.

Even if I'm right, if I am wrong in the way that I am right, then I'm wrong.

 ‪#‎lifelessons‬ ‪#‎nolongerachild‬ ‪#‎droptherock‬

Prayer for your Children

Janice Sjostrand taught us to pray this prayer over our children at the 2015 Reign Conference in Beaumont, Texas.

Numbers 6:24-26

Verse 24 - The Lord bless you and keep you- for it is written, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and He addeth no sorrow with it.” (Prov. 10:22).  If I bless you with a new car, you will have to put gas in it, keep good tires on it. If I bless you with a new house, you will have to pay taxes on it and do maintenance to keep it. I can't bless you without adding something to it that will cost you. But when He blesses there is not attachment that will weigh you down. So when I pray for my children, I pray "The Lord Bless you and keep you".  I can't go with you every day and in every room, so may the Lord keep you. When I say these words, heavens hears me over whoever I am saying them to The Lord said you say these words if you want to bless my people. You say it and I will do it.  I did not make them up. So I am quite sure that when I say may the Lord keep you, that I have dispatched heaven to walk with you when you leave.

How often do I need a blessing?  Every day. You walk every day, you eat every day, you wash every day.  You need this blessing every day. And your children need to hear them. 

Verse 25 -the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you;

Some children are people pleasers and some of you have been people pleasers, Just like the children's book "Are You My Mother" always searching for someone to look down at you and say, 'You're lovely, you're precious, you’re special'.  But most people put a price tag on that.  They will make you pay something for what you want.  You have to behave a certain way.  It is called pay to play. But when the Lord makes His face to shine upon you, what does that mean?  It means he makes eye contact.  If I could just get into your presence you could fix anything that is wrong with me because you are God and nothing can resist you.  Like standing under a sun lamp.  You will just fix it all.  You are saying when you pray this that you are asking God to arrest this person, hold their face in your hands and look you in the eyes.

And then when He does, the scripture says he cannot behold iniquity.  When he sees us through Jesus he looks past our filthiness.  We can't dress up good enough for him, because no flesh will glory in his presence. So when I say the Lord make his face shine upon you, I am saying, overlook (that's what gracious means, it means to overlook) when he looks at you, I am praying that he does not look at all the things your accuser points out to you. Because you look pretty good to me.  I know you are human, but I believe Jesus wants to populate heaven with people like you. I believe he wants to give you a crown.  You won't wear it, you will throw it at his feet, but I think he wants to crown you, in fact David said, Bless the Lord Oh my soul, who crowneth me with loving kindness and tender mercy.  I want a crown I don’t deserve.  He has blessed me, so I have tender mercy around my head, not the voice constantly reminding me of what I am not and can't do.  I wish this for you. I wish this for your children.

Verse 26 - the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."  After the Lord makes eye contact with you, he doesn’t want to make you self-conscious, so  he skips over the dirt, mistakes and errors.  I see a little child laying on the pew beside his mom, with tennis shoes on and his hair tussled, I have scanned him from his head to his foot and he looks just perfect to me. I am lifting my countenance upon him, and he is sound asleep and doesn’t even know it.  I am moved with compassion.  So you see what I am doing, I am smiling.  When the Lord looks at you and your children, I pray that he looks at you with the same tenderness that I look at that little boy.

I believe what is wrong with the world is that they are looking for a smile or approval from someone who could care less. But if your kids and you can catch his eye and he can look at you long enough, and you don’t look away, you see that is what the Song of Solomon was saying, he sang to her, remove your veil and let me see your face. And instead of getting judgment or correction, he smiles.  There is something so satisfying  about him looking at me and saying you are everything I want you to be.  You are just fine.

He has danced with us, laughed with us, played with us. And smiled with us.  I feel his approval, his favor, his love. 

“A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just” (Prov. 13:22).

 “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (3 John 2).

Janice Sjostrand - Prayer for the Called

In an interview with Jacob Tapia (Ministry Mentorship), Janice Sjostrand shared her journey into ministry and gave practical advice for young ministers.  At the end of the interview she was asked to say a prayer:

"Lord I thank you for the opportunity to give back what you have giving to me.  The simplicity is in Christ that you love us and that there are people that want to love you back. Someone listening has felt your love and wants to return it.  This is the person that you are going to teach. I pray that you will help them when you begin the process of correcting and instructing them, when they feel like you have forgotten them, that they can't ever get it right, that you would remind them that this is how you treat sons, that correction and the way that we endure it, identifies us as your children, in Hebrews 12.  And the more correction we take the more like you we become, because we are not born knowing how to behave and in order to become like you, you must shape and mold us.  So to that person who is just getting started, to someone who has never viewed themselves as worthy, I pray you remind them they are more precious to you than all the works they could do.  I pray you remind them that you created the heavens an the earth, the stars, and you are still creating things that we will never see, but because you are a creative God, you do things just for your pleasure, and it is your pleasure to become intimately acquainted with this person you have called.  And if they never do a thing that is outstanding or noticed, knowing you is the most outstanding thing anyone could ever accomplish.  As Paul said, that I may know you, not just in the power of your resurrection but in the fellowship of your suffering. So I pray that you would help them to forget what is behind and reach what is before and press toward the mark of the high calling that is in Christ Jesus.  There is no greater calling than to hear you whisper a name and then invite us to come forward.  Whoever it is that others would have walked past and not chosen like David's six other brothers, you chose the little shepherd in the field and if there is someone who has been ostrasized or rejected by men, and you have chosen then, then you enfold and guide and bring them to completion for it is written he that has begun a good work will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. We thank and praise you for this privilege, let your work continue.  An unbroken line from before the book of Genesis until after the book of Revelation.  In the sweet name of Jesus we thank and praise. "

Right Place ..... Right Time

God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time, but it's up to us to see and seize those opportunities that are all around us all the time.

Mark Batterson, author of In A Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, received an email from Peter, a man who started reading the book on a flight to Las Vegas.  During the first half of his flight, he read chapter 1 and
felt challenged and convicted.   One sentence arrested his attention: "God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time, but it's up to us to see and seize those opportunities that are all around us all the time."  Peter switched planes in Phoenix and sat down in his new seat assignment.  He said hello to the girl next to him, but she shut him down rather abruptly.  It was one of those looks that says, 'Don't talk to me for the rest of the flight, and by the way, the armrest belongs to me!" Peter didn't want to offend her or bother her, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.  He knew he needed to swallow his pride, face his fears, and seize the opportunity.  He leaned over and said, "I know it's absolutely none of my business, but you seem so burdened.  If sharing it with a complete stranger might help. I'm all ears."

The seventeen year old girl, who was three months pregnant, proceeded to tell him she was running away from home.  Her boyfriend told her to take off and "take care of it".  She had stolen her dad's credit card that morning to buy a ticket to Vegas to get an abortion.  During the flight, Peter spoke words of comfort and encouragement. When they landed in Vegas, he convinced the girl to call her parents, who were worried sick.  Her parents convinced her to grab the next flight and come home.

I'm quite sure one life, perhaps two, were saved that day!  All because one man beleived that a seat assignment might be a divine assignment.  And when we act on those prayer promptings, the Grandmaster can use a single pawn to check-mate the enemy's plans.

Mark Batterson - Draw the Circle, The 40 Day Prayer Challenge

Desiring a Father

All my life I have questioned why I could not have grown up with a father or even a step-father in my life. My father died when I was 6 years old, but I have only vague memories of him and those were when he was ill with the cancer that took his life.  My mother never remarried and I had no grandfather to take on the role. 

In a message by Dr. Gerald Jeffers, God gave me my answer:  

To prevent children from coming to the table and not eating their food because they filled up on junk food, as a parent you have to limit the amount of junk food they have or you take it away from them altogether.  They may call us mean, but we accept that label in order to preserve their bodies. God has said to some of us, the reason we did not have a proper relationship with a father, or mother, or someone you loved, is because I knew if I let you fill up on human love, you would not have hungered for the good food of divine love, so I limited, or stopped altogether how much love I would let you receive so you would hunger for divine love.  

God knew how hungry I was for a father's love, and that only He could fulfill that desire.  He has never disappointed me and I could not ask for a better father.  

 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  –1 John 3:1

Psalms 107

 

To receive help from God, you must come to the end of yourself and cry out to Him for His undeserved favor. That is the message of Psalm 107 to teach us how God uses trials to drive us to trust Him.

Read Psalm 107 and see what all the Lord delivered them from: 

 Psalm 107

107 ^1-3 Oh, thank God—he’s so good!
    His love never runs out.
All of you set free by God, tell the world!
    Tell how he freed you from oppression,
Then rounded you up from all over the place,
    from the four winds, from the seven seas.

^4-9 Some of you wandered for years in the desert,
    looking but not finding a good place to live,
Half-starved and parched with thirst,
    staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.
Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.
    He got you out in the nick of time;
He put your feet on a wonderful road
    that took you straight to a good place to live.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
    for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;
    the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

^10-16 Some of you were locked in a dark cell,
    cruelly confined behind bars,
Punished for defying God’s Word,
    for turning your back on the High God’s counsel—
A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy,
    and not a soul in sight to help.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
    he got you out in the nick of time.
He led you out of your dark, dark cell,
    broke open the jail and led you out.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
    for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors,
    he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!

^17-22 Some of you were sick because you’d lived a bad life,
    your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;
You couldn’t stand the sight of food,
    so miserable you thought you’d be better off dead.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
    he got you out in the nick of time.
He spoke the word that healed you,
    that pulled you back from the brink of death.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
    for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
Offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
    tell the world what he’s done—sing it out!

^23-32 Some of you set sail in big ships;
    you put to sea to do business in faraway ports.
Out at sea you saw God in action,
    saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean:
With a word he called up the wind—
    an ocean storm, towering waves!
You shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out;
    your hearts were stuck in your throats.
You were spun like a top, you reeled like a drunk,
    you didn’t know which end was up.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
    he got you out in the nick of time.
He quieted the wind down to a whisper,
    put a muzzle on all the big waves.
And you were so glad when the storm died down,
    and he led you safely back to harbor.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
    for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
Lift high your praises when the people assemble,
    shout Hallelujah when the elders meet!

^33-41 God turned rivers into wasteland,
    springs of water into sunbaked mud;
Luscious orchards became alkali flats
    because of the evil of the people who lived there.
Then he changed wasteland into fresh pools of water,
    arid earth into springs of water,
Brought in the hungry and settled them there;
    they moved in—what a great place to live!
They sowed the fields, they planted vineyards,
    they reaped a bountiful harvest.
He blessed them and they prospered greatly;
    their herds of cattle never decreased.
But abuse and evil and trouble declined
    as he heaped scorn on princes and sent them away.
He gave the poor a safe place to live,
    treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.

^42-43 Good people see this and are glad;
    bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.
If you are really wise, you’ll think this over—
    it’s time you appreciated God’s deep love.


This was suggested to me by my pastor to read. I am glad I did.

When God Closes a Door

In a vision seen by Dr. Gerald Jeffers: 


As soon as the door shut behind him the door locked and God said now don't try to go back through that door.I am the door and I've locked myself to that way, meaning there is no more anointing there in that place for you to perform. 

Now here's the problem I'm having:  My people are standing in front of the door crying, longing for what they used to experience on the other side of the door. I've lock certain relationships and people are crying longing back for the relationship. I've allowed certain people to die and people are standing in front of the door crying longing back for their loved one. Now when I shut the door what ends up happening is you find yourself in the hallway.  God called this the position of transition. 

The other problem I'm having is when people turn around from the locked door they start trying doors.  They start trying to make things happen.  He said what I need from you is to worship while you wait.  You're going to have to stay in the hallway which is a place of spiritual limbo, a place of no direction and do it with joy.

When God wants to make you he leaves you in the hallway and gives you instructions for other people/details and while you have no clue for what to do with your own life.So while you are standing in the hallway your trying to force things open/open doors yourself.  The Lord says your going to have to wait on him in this season.  It's a mark of maturity, the ability to wait. When you can wait while you worship, when you can wait with the right attitude, that shows the mark of maturity and the Lord will bless and honor that.

The door is not opening for you because you are not in position.  You start walking towards the door and you see it opening for other people but it's not opening for you and God said it's because you're not in position.  It is when you are about 5 feet away than an electric eye picks you up (electric super mart door) that now you don't have to push it will open automatically.  The Lord said I have set before you doors and I will open them at the appointed time but you've got to come into position. You are in position when you have the ability to wait upon me, worship me, while you're stuck in the hallway.  The power is in dependency.  The Lord is pruning strength.  When you're weak, when you are empty of human strength, then you have the ability to hold Devine strength. So now I am strong although I was weak.

God is trying to get you to pour out your human strength.  If you try and handle what's going on with your human strength you will be overwhelmed greatly and you will not be able to handle all that is coming your way. You must be able to give your weakness to God.  The power comes when you admit that you are weak  The Lord said if you will become privately weak, I'll make you publicly strong. But if you become privately strong, I will make you publicly weak.  Your power is in your nakedness with God.