Becoming a Man/Woman After God's Own Heart: Goliath Pt. 2

Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed,

"I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You [are] My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give [You] The nations [for] Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth [for] Your possession. Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Blessed [are] all those who put their trust in Him.

Psalm 2:1-2; 7-8; 10-12

This is really cool! I had thought I would continue on going from Psalm to Psalm regardless if it flowed with what the rest of the blog would be about, but this Psalm is AWESOME for the prayer on my heart today.

Being Weighed Down With Someone Else's Armor

(The Verses Below are taken from 1st Samuel 17, the story of David and Goliath.)

VS. 28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was aroused against David, and he said, "Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle."

VS. 33 And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you [are] a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same" That's a line from a song by the Fray, I thought I would add it because when we choose to stand for what is right, it is usually harder than going with the flow, isn't it? When David decided to stand up against the blaspheming Goliath you would think all would rally around him, and be so proud he made a brave choice, Instead he faces more "giants". So even when we are on the right track and making right choices conquering giants left and right, we face more "giants" in our own tents.

When Satan sees us moving for the glory of God, he does all he can to pull the rug out from under our feet. For me the greatest sucker punch comes from when he uses our closest of kin, maybe a brother or sister like David's oldest brother Eliab, or a highly respected peer like King Saul.

That hurts doesn't it? When even our family says "You can't", "You're wrong/ignorant", or even "You're too much of a Jesus freak". I know I have failed many battles because I couldn't/wouldn't even leave the camp. There is no easy way to get around this obstacle, this is the most defining moment as a Christian, can we show God's love to someone persecuting us, while still following God's will?

YES!!! But only if our every strength comes from God. We need to accept opinions or even criticism without lashing back in vengeance, but we need to still press on to what God is telling us to do. This is where I fail, I am not good at getting served up some good ol' criticism...I lash right back with self-righteousness, and "I'm more holy than you, nah nah nah!". It's hard, being a Christian isn't cookie cutter perfect, or easy, but showing love where it is not deserved is what defines a Christian from any other religion, that is what God did for us!

What we need to remember is that God's is the only opinion we need to worry about, and that our worth in God is just as great as we treat others. And when God stirs in us to do something, I think we all have learned, you had better do it! Jump the hurdle and continue running towards the goal God has given, don't let others around you steal your passion or your purpose.

It is healthy to get a God-fearing opinion from a spiritual leader, but be weary as our greatest spiritual leader should always, and will always be God Himself!

My Prayer: Jehovah-nissi, The Lord my Banner! God I pray we would only boast in You! That when we're in battle we would lift You high, and When we're in the camp, we would raise You up, so that others would know and see Your glory! God I pray we would always look to You, and not dwell on the harmful words of man, that we would see others as You see them, and show them compassion when needed. God I pray we would never turn to the right or to the left, but always march on to the purpose you have given us! Nothing is too big for You God! Whatever You call us to, You will see us through if we abide. God help us to stand firm in our calling! To love as You do! God we pray that in every day, in anything we do, that it would bring glory to Your name! That no matter what the circumstance might be, that You would receive praise from my response to that circumstance. God Our heart is toward the lost, who do not know Your love, help us to share it in the greatest way possible, by practicing it! You are soooooooooo patient with me Lord, and I thank You for helping pin point the areas where I have not given myself fully to You! Thank You for Your servant David and all that we are able to learn from him. You alone are God who sets up kings and nations and also who tears them down, who gives life and who takes it away, help us to follow Your command, we place our hearts in Your hands! It is only because of Jesus that I am able to make known my request to You and it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen!

Becoming a Man/Woman After God's Own Heart: Goliath Pt. 1

Blessed [is] the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly [are] not so, But [are] like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

The 1st Psalm of David

I've been reading on the life story of David, who was a man after God's own heart and king of Israel, is someone we should strive to be like. Not perfect in any way, but always trying to love, serve, and know, a perfect God. I hope to be faithful to write on some of the realizations I have made while reading up on King David, For today, and with any David story, I must start with

David and Goliath

(The Verse Below in taken from 1st Samuel 17, and the story of David and Goliath. if you would like to read all of chapter 17 that would be kosher, but if not this is one verses I wanted to share today, that had never jumped out at me before, but did this time!)

VS. 26 " For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

David was able to see Goliath for who and what he was, and also who and what he was not. While other Israelites trembled at his size and strength, they missed the very key thing to see about Goliath, that he was no match for The Living God! That by law he had no inheritance to the kingdom and power of God. While others trembled in fear at the death threats from the "giant" David was outraged, who is this man to threaten what belongs to the Living God??

Sometimes I know I cower at problems, I fear outcomes, instead of seeing how big God truly is in my situation. I often go with the flow of being ridiculed in movies or in the media as a christian,I will laugh at the funny "you might be a christian if" jokes, but I'm starting to feel that I should be outraged, that someone would dare even take my Lords name in vain, or ridiculing the morals and laws of my God such as abortion being old fashioned, and same-sex marriage as normal, or that I could get a referral in school for talking about God or even saying Merry Christmas. David was willing to risk his life to stand for his God. I wish we all could have the same view of God as David did. David knew that God was bigger than any foe he would ever face, He knew that he was in the palm of his Almighty God's hands, and that God would provide.

Why can't I see that when I face superficial giants? Has Satan so deceived us all to believe that he is actually bigger, or stronger than our God, we would be able to refute that lie easily if we only read God's word. Satan is cast forever and a victory is already determined, so there is no way (in hell) that Satan could ever amount to anything in comparison to our God!

My prayer:

Beloved Almighty God,

You alone created the stars in the sky and the ability for muscle's to move in such rhythm so to give life to what would be dead dry bones. I am astonished and amazed and the grandeur of You God! Thank You for leading me through a study on David, Thank you for showing me how to be a child after your own heart, and how being a man/woman after your heart does not mean I will ever be flawless on my own. God I pray tonight that you would give me all boldness along with all reading tonight, or even being stirred by your spirit to stand, Give us boldness and strength, to call our Goliaths for what they are, wretched uncircumcised gentiles, not righteous or deserving of our fear or reverence or even an accepted defeat. Help us to stand against anyone who would defy You The Living God, not in anger, but in love for you. That we would love so much that we would yearn for those persons to come to know your great love and the truth of You! That they would know, Jesus Christ is not a crutch, that abortion and marriage laws are being apposed not because of pride, but because of love and care that You desire the deceived to have. God I am no perfect, I will never be, and God I know I have missed opportunities to be bold, please forgive me! God it is my heart's desire to be a child after You, that all would see and know God! Please don't give up on me, as I know you wont. I want to please you daddy! I pray that I do, until that day when I see you face to face, dear Lord, please give me strength and boldness, encouragement, and perseverance to do as you desire! Help me to see all Goliath for who they are, what they are, and for who they ARE NOT, and What they ARE NOT!

Thank you for Jesus in whom I have the ability to make known my request to you. I pray all this in His name, and desiring your name to always be glorified in any thing I do.

Amen!

Boast in the Cross

Read: Isaiah 53:1-10 (below)

Who has believed our message? To whom will the LORD reveal his saving power? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither [was any] deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

Wow! Reading how He took it all, reading about how my Jesus was marred and bruised, and for what? Why did Jesus allow this torture? He did it for you, like we read last week how His desire was for us to know God, to be one with God. Jesus took on your every sin, so that the wall built between you and God, would be broken down, so that you could commune with God! That’s truly awesome. Think about it you wouldn’t even have the ability to pray to God, you wouldn’t have the ability to ask God’s forgiveness if not for Jesus breaking down the wall of sin and death. He was lowly and rejected, did He give up? Did He say after the first time people tried to stone Him “Hey Father? Yeah, well, you know the reason you sent me? Yeah, well, their too far gone, can you beam me back up now….” Is that what He did? NO! He said Lord forgive them, they know not what they do! Even when we don’t want forgiveness, Jesus prayed that the Father would show us forgiveness.

Pray: Thank Jesus for His ultimate gift! Thank Him for loving us when we didn’t even think or want to love Him.

Read: Isaiah 11:1-5, 10 (below)

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

"And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious."

As we read in Isaiah 53, Jesus was lowly in all manner, He was not beautiful or glorious in his appearance, but what was Glorious about Jesus was, His Father; His resting place, the fear of the Lord He had, the way He judged righteously. Jesus Had nothing to boast in but His Father and the rest that He promised. He didn't boast in His own authority, He only boasted in the authority of His father, but not that His father would smite them all, He proclaimed God's Love. I know we live in a world where aknowledgment and pride are upheld in the highest places, but do we honestly have anything to boast in?

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galations 6:14

You and I may be complete no ones. We may be the lowest of low of all people. We have no glory no fame no money no unspeakable beauty, but what we do have, is the Glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, on whom all the sin of the world was laid, and paid. And in that we can boast and sing into eternity.

Pray: That you would boast only in the cross of the Lord, that you would make it you mission in life as Jesus did, to only glory and only speak of the Kingdom of heaven and the Glory of the Father!

Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:12

So God is giving to Jesus a portion of the greatness, to Jesus whom "people" esteemed lowly and unworthy of even a just trial. God is giving Greatness. Are we not now crucified in Jesus Christ, are we not now heirs to His riches? Beloved, never feel that you are not good, that you are unworthy, You have the glory of the Father in you. The same glory that Jesus had inside of Him. Jesus poured out His soul unto death, and now He is seated at the right hand of Almighty GOD. Can we fight a little longer, can we stand firm in this vapor of time, so we can be seated in Him, can we endure the slight suffering so to recieve our riches in heaven? Pour out your life to Him! He bore or sins, He eliminated our iniquity, He made intercession for the transgressors. We are capable of the same, eliminate sin in your life, pray for eliminated iniquity daily, and make intercession for all who you know need to know your Lord, who need to know the Gorious hope of Christ in them.

Pray: That you would be like Jesus and pour yourself even unto death if that is what God wills, though we are lowly and poor, we can share in the riches of Christ by giving our lives to God, and making intercession, praying for those who are transgressors and do not know our Lord. Pray about inviting someone to Easter service at your church. Pray that many would come and see that Jesus is Lord!

The Time is at Hand

And he said to me, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.

Revelation 22:10

Wake Up!

Read: Luke 22:39-46

I love the way Mark wrote his account of this story, he says that Jesus said to them:

“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Mark 14:38, and if we look into Johns account of the mount of olives, he records what Jesus prayed in the garden. This was after He decided to take the cup of suffering.

Read: John 17

Isn’t amazing to see how Jesus prayed and is praying for us? Here Christ is about to be brutally murdered and He is praying that we might know God as He knows God. His earnest desire was for us to know God like He knew God. Yet sometimes we can’t even stay awake for our encouragement from the Lord, The Spirit is willing, God will send His angels to us to strengthen us when we cry out to Him, can we stay awake?

The hour is at hand Christ has given us the righteousness and power to pray the same prayer Jesus did that night for everyone we know. We are given the priveledge of praying that our friends would know God like we know God. Are we sleeping when we should be praying for Christ’s inheritance? Jesus Died for EVERYONE! God loves EVERYONE! If you are too timid to share with your friends and classmates isn’t that essentially cursing them to hell? It spits in their face to say that you do not love them enough to share the greatest gift EVER given! If you don’t have that love for others, than you might not have God, 1st John 4:8 says that if we do not love then we do not know God. Do you know God? Are you showing love?

Long before we made messes of our lives God made a mess of His son’s life for EVERYONE! Wow! WAKE UP SLEEPERS! The spirit is willing to answer your prayer of salvation to all you ask, but your flesh is too weak to pray??? I don’t think so! WAKE UP!!!

Pray now:

Like Jesus did, in your own words, pray for your friends for your classmates, for anyone you know who is not walking with the Lord, that they might know God like you know God. Pray for The Holy Spirit to strengthen you to share the greatest gift ever given! Write out a prayer, make it real! If a certain person falls on your heart that you know needs Jesus, specifically pray for them list their name.

"It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
Isaiah 65:24

Is God not good??? Before we even ask God for a friends salvation He will answer us, and while we speak He hears! Maybe right now this very moment at your request God is sending angels to surround the person you listed above, are you called to be an angel for someone in this moment?

If you prayed earnestly for a friends salvation and you desire them to know Him like you know Him, you can count that prayer as good as answered. The Lord gives us the desire of our heart when we humble ourselves and delight in Him. He is sovereign and He will be Lord of every heart, salvation is coming to those hearts!


Final prayer:

Thank God for His awesome promise to answer our prayers, Thank Jesus for giving us the ability to come before God, Thank God for grace through Jesus and for salvation that is free to all. Pray about the commission you have been given to be a harvester, God laid that name on your heart for a reason. Go to coffee with them and let them get a taste of the insatiable passion you have for the Lord, you don’t need church to reach out to your friends, first, YOU need to reach out to your friends! Ask God how you are to harvest the field He has given to you! Make this prayer real write it down, keep a journal to see how God will blow your mind with answers!

Will you fall asleep, and grieve Jesus again?? Or will you give God the sweet smelling aroma of a heart humbled before Him? His Spirit is willing!

I love you so much dear faithful one, but there is one much greater than I and He has a will and purpose for your life that is greater than you can imagine! Don’t believe the lie that you are not good enough for any reason!

You have The Holy Spirit inside you, and that is the same Spirit that raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, Amen!

Read: Jeremiah 1:4-12, 17-19