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.

YOU ARE NEVER WORTHLESS

A lot of us deal with issues of self-worth. We don’t think good about ourselves because of the things we have done or the things that have been done to us. 

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this."

He proceeded to crumple the $20 dollar bill up. He then asked, "who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

Well, he replied, "what if I do this?"

And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

"Now who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson," he said, "no matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20." 

While that $20 bill could have been used for a lot of good, chances are it has seen a lot of bad.  If it could think and had a mind, it might have a bad conscious. Maybe it has been used to buy drugs, maybe it was stolen once and someone died over it. Perhaps it was used to fund a terrorist organization.  Maybe it has been used by impure things like to purchase a prostitute. Any number of things could have been done with this $20 bill. I could take that $20 bill and rip it, scar it, put marks on it that are unsightly. 

"Would you still want it?"  Of course you would.  

Because an authority higher than us gave it its value and nothing can take it away.

The same applies to us.  No matter what we have been through, no matter what we have done, we still have worth. It is in you. Nothing can take it away.

There are things I wish I could go back in time and redo, undo or just never do at all. Even though my own conscious and heart reminds me every day that I did them, I have to remind myself that something with greater authority than me gave me a self worth.

Choose to remind yourself of that everyday.

Are You Really Blessed?

From Scott Dannemiller's One Thing Christians should stop saying: 

I've noticed a trend among Christians, myself included, and it troubles me. Our rote response to material windfalls is to call ourselves blessed. Like the "amen" at the end of a prayer.

"This new car is such a blessing."

"Finally closed on the house. Feeling blessed."

"Just got back from a mission trip. Realizing how blessed we are here in this country."

On the surface, the phrase seems harmless. Faithful even. Why wouldn't I want to give God the glory for everything I have? Isn't that the right thing to do?

No.

As I reflected on my "feeling blessed" comment, two thoughts came to mind. I realize I'm splitting hairs here, creating an argument over semantics. But bear with me, because I believe it is critically important. It's one of those things we can't see because it's so culturally engrained that it has become normal.

But it has to stop. And here's why.

First, when I say that my material fortune is the result of God's blessing, it reduces The Almighty to some sort of sky-bound, wish-granting fairy who spends his days randomly bestowing cars and cash upon his followers. I can't help but draw parallels to how I handed out M&M's to my own kids when they followed my directions and chose to poop in the toilet rather than in their pants. Sure, God wants us to continually seek His will, and it's for our own good. But positive reinforcement?

God is not a behavioral psychologist.

Second, and more importantly, calling myself blessed because of material good fortune is just plain wrong. For starters, it can be offensive to the hundreds of millions of Christians in the world who live on less than $10 per day. You read that right. Hundreds of millions who receive a single-digit dollar "blessing" per day.

During our year in Guatemala, Gabby and I witnessed first-hand the damage done by the theology of prosperity, where faithful people scraping by to feed their families were simply told they must not be faithful enough. If they were, God would pull them out of their nightmare. Just try harder, and God will show favor.

The problem? Nowhere in scripture are we promised worldly ease in return for our pledge of faith. In fact, the most devout saints from the Bible usually died penniless, receiving a one-way ticket to prison or death by torture.

I'll take door number three, please.

If we're looking for the definition of blessing, Jesus spells it out clearly (Matthew 5: 1-12).

1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him,

2 And He began to teach them, saying:

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I have a sneaking suspicion verses 12a 12b and 12c were omitted from the text. That's where the disciples responded by saying:

12a Waitest thou for one second, Lord. What about "blessed art thou comfortable," or 12b "blessed art thou which havest good jobs, a modest house in the suburbs, and a yearly vacation to the Florida Gulf Coast?"

12c And Jesus said unto them, "Apologies, my brothers, but those did not maketh the cut."

So there it is. Written in red. Plain as day. Even still, we ignore it all when we hijack the word "blessed" to make it fit neatly into our modern American ideals, creating a cosmic lottery where every sincere prayer buys us another scratch-off ticket. In the process, we stand the risk of alienating those we are hoping to bring to the faith.

And we have to stop playing that game.

The truth is, I have no idea why I was born where I was or why I have the opportunity I have. It's beyond comprehension. But I certainly don't believe God has chosen me above others because of the veracity of my prayers or the depth of my faith. Still, if I take advantage of the opportunities set before me, a comfortable life may come my way. It's not guaranteed. But if it does happen, I don't believe Jesus will call me blessed.

He will call me "burdened."

He will ask,

"What will you do with it?"

"Will you use it for yourself?"

"Will you use it to help?"

"Will you hold it close for comfort?"

"Will you share it?"

So many hard choices. So few easy answers.

So my prayer today is that I understand my true blessing. It's not my house. Or my job. Or my standard of living.

No.

My blessing is this. I know a God who gives hope to the hopeless. I know a God who loves the unlovable. I know a God who comforts the sorrowful. And I know a God who has planted this same power within me. Within all of us.

And for this blessing, may our response always be,

"Use me."

Now, my new response is simply, "I'm grateful."