P3451 Are you running on empty?

“For it is Christ’s love that fuels our passion and holds us tightly, because we are convinced that He has given His life for ALL of us. This means ALL died with Him, so that those who live should no longer live self-absorbed lives but lives that are poured out for Him—the One who died for us and now lives again. So, from now on, we refuse to evaluate people merely by their outward appearances. For that’s how we once viewed the Anointed One, but no longer do we see Him with limited human insight.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-16 TPT.

Our human insight will always be limited. Let’s always remember that the Lord is so much wiser than we are, that’s why we know we can trust Him. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” And in 1 Corinthians 13:12: “In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at His reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see Him in His completeness, face-to-face. Now all that I know is hazy and blurred, but then I will see everything clearly, just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now.”

We live in a place where we think we understand, and then … we don’t. Where stuff happens and it makes no sense. Where God is suddenly hidden from us – but in the next moment, we can be given a flash of insight and we think we know everything … but we don’t. Why not? We can’t. Our teeny tiny human minds, and self-preservation get in the way. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,”declares the Lord.“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9.

We simply cannot always understand the way the Lord thinks! That’s why we have His book! There are times where it seems like He is fighting us at every turn … but then we discover that this ‘fight’ was part of our growth process! At the end of the verse in 1 Corinthians 13:12 it says: “But then I will see everything clearly …just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now.” Did you get that? Here it is in another form from Hebrews 4:13. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the One to whom we are accountable.”  He is telling us to reassure us, that HE ALWAYS SEES US … always.

At the top of the page I asked, ‘are you running on empty?’ This can happen when we get ahead of His plans. Or maybe we decide we don’t like His plans, and we like our plans a whole lot better, so we go off-roading. We can end up looking a lot like a modern car’s GPS system. Here’s an illustration: our car’s GPS system needs frequent updating. The-powers-that-be are continually making new roads, and they are eventually registered on the original computer guidance maps. But if we use one of these new roads we can appear to be flying over blank terrain. The road is not registered, so the guidance system goes whacko, and then it gives up! 

Hold on… I’m getting to my point and it has nothing to do with car navigation, and everything to do with our own life navigation. The thing that will short-circuit His processes in our lives, is our lack of trust in the fact that the road of our life may not be known to US, but IT IS known to HIM! Unless we are continually fuelled by our love for Jesus, and filled up daily on His Word, we can easily run out of love-to-give-away, and then the road ahead starts to become unclear!

Let yourself off the hook, none of us are ever going to fully understand His ways, by ourselves. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him?” But WE have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:16. There’s the answer! You and I have the same help Jesus had, the Holy Spirit and the bible and collectively – WE, together, the church, Christ’s body, has the Lord’s mind. Which is why our enemy continually tries to break churches up! People get cranky and they leave instead of working things out. That action has fragmented our collective knowledge of His goodness. And this is why we need to meet together, because – all by ourselves, we can be misled.

We need to relax into what He tells us in His written Word,  trust in His wisdom in our midst – and stop dividing other Christians into categories! Otherwise we will very quickly run out of fuel. We can be refuelled by His love for us, through others. This is why going to church is important, other people can input their insight into our lives. They can pray for us, and give us a word from Him.

We cannot afford to stop reading the Word of God to get to know Him and His ways. The bible is our heaven-sent manna to feed us spiritually every single day. It too, helps fuel our passion for Him. At the same time, the Holy Spirit gives us His GPS guidance to help us through the day ahead, even when the road in front of us is unclear, He knows the Way. Let’s remember that although the Lord can  give us, personally, insight, we still need each other. For encouraging prophetic words, kindness in an unkind world, and unconditional love when this world beats us up.

We can’t afford to run on empty. Our passion needs to be continually ignited by the bible, the Holy Spirit and each other.  Bye. 👋. 

P 3122 God sees.

In some places in the bible (Ezekiel and Revelation) all sorts of creatures are mentioned. They have eyes everywhere, in places we don’t even like to think about. To me this is a picture of the incredible depth of sight our Heavenly Father has – He sees ALL! Those creatures’ eyes mentioned in those books reflect Hebrews 4:13: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Our Heavenly Father knows what is happening in your life right now, how hard it is for you.

Nothing is ever hidden from Him. And as we walk through this life toward complete wholeness and holiness in Christ – that thought should not make us afraid – it should turn our hearts to the Saviour. We need to remember what Colossians 3:3 says:“For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.” We don’t have to hide anything from Him when we choose to live our lives for Him. Let’s continually allow the Holy Spirit, to guide, correct and teach us His Ways, and continue to remain hidden by what Christ did for us. Because of what He has already done, we know that we can trust Him and His Word. 

This is why an intimate relationship with our Father is important. If we only give God importance in our lives according to our immediate needs, then we could eventually fall away. Because sooner or later our prayers will appear to be unanswered! Instead, let’s bow to the superior knowledge and sight, of the Great I AM. That knowledge is revealed in the bible. Our God sees everything, and He is a mighty JUST God – WHO LOVES US. If we sin, He already has an Advocate praying and pleading for us at His right hand. His own dear Son. Jesus is utterly trustworthy. He never held anything back from His Father in His entire earthly life, and He poured His life out for each one of us!

God’s measuring tools are not the same as ours. We cannot afford to use our own measuring stick, because we can end up deceiving ourselves with excuses … and blame. That’s why Christ came – to provide us with a Saviour Who has personal experience of His Father’s love. He showed us what obedience and humility looks like …and He had perfect confidence in His Father’s Word. On top of all that, He also had understanding about the pressures of this world! The Holy Spirit will reveal what is in our hearts to us, if we let Him. He knows everything. He gave us these scriptures and then lived them out in front of our eyes.

This why our bible reading needs to become more than just a cursory reading. We already know that it can become a diagnostic tool, and reveal to us our own hidden attitudes and actions. It also shows us the works He prepared for us to do, before we ever arrived here. Human beings like to fool themselves. We hide things, even from ourselves, because we don’t like to be wrong …instead we can end up blaming others.

Exhibit A … Genesis 3:12. Adam blamed GOD HIMSELF. “… the woman YOU gave me … ” Hiding ourselves from Him is foolish, and we are only fooling ourselves. We are like little children, who love to play hide and seek, they have no comprehension that the person who is seeking — is not really gone! God knows and sees exactly where we are and what is really going on.

In Ezekiel there is another example of what God knows and what man doesn’t. Most of us know this story so I will just give a brief overview today. The Holy Spirit whisked Ezekiel away in the spirit, to a valley filled with skeletons – dry bones. And then He talks to Ezekiel about them. These people are totally DEAD. The scene is a powerful picture of what life without Almighty God, and Jesus Himself looks like. Important people come and go in this life – famous ones, clever ones, but, in the end – we will all end up dry bones. But, because God sees and knows all, it doesn’t have to stop there!

The Spirit reveals to Ezekiel that valley of utter, permanent destruction, seemingly permanent oblivion. But God can see potential even in dry bones. He can raise up an army from a valley that has only known death for years!  Ezekiel 37:9.“Then Yahweh said to me, Prophesy to the breath. Yes, prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, ‘Lord Yahweh says: Divine breath, come now from the four winds. Breathe on these lifeless bodies, so that they can live again.’The Holy Spirit asks Ezekiel a hard question in this chapter: “Can these bones live?” Verse 3. Ezekiel is no dummy — He gives a GREAT answer, filled with humility and hope! “…only YOU know Lord…” Then the Mighty Spirit of God commands the prophet to prophesy and command life to come back to those bones again!

I want to encourage everyone who has loved ones who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet — or loved ones who have wandered away — to be like Ezekiel — speak His life to the dry bones. God has given us the power to shift things that appear to be fixed. Sometimes situations like these, loom over us like huge mountains in our lives. But Jesus once said: ‘Speak to the mountain and tell it to move.’  The Lord once told the sea to be still! Prophesy to the Divine breath – the Holy Spirit. Let’s start praying for our friends and families: “Holy Spirit come. Breathe on these empty, lifeless bodies so that they know true life as His children, and become part of His army.”

God sees and knows what is happening around you. Sometimes instead of lying down under circumstances, we need to stand up and prophesy what God says: “And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let His mindset become your motivation.” Philippians 2:5 TPT. Amen. Bye 😘💨💨💨