Isaiah 42:13 says, “The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.” Let me capture a scene of His zeal.

John 2:13-17 was the scene. Jesus saw what was taking place in the temple. Verse 15 says, “When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changer’s money and overturned the tables.”

At that moment He fulfilled Psalm 69:9. It says, “Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on Me.” The fleshly activity in God’s house brought reproach.

Jesus bore the reproach of our sins when He hung on the cross. Romans 15:1 is our mandate for this hour in history. It says, “We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”

Verse 3 says, “For even Christ did not please Himself…” Paul then quoted Psalm 69:9. The Lord’s name is being reproached by those who have set themselves against this country—from within and without.

Will we take up His mantle to intercede? In Galatians 1:10 Paul set an example for us. It says, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”

Today our nation votes. This was written last week. I love His timing. Let us unite to intercede for our country in this crucial time. Daniel 2:21 says, “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.”

I noticed something when I read a very familiar passage in my daily reading. Here is my preface. The king of Moab hired Balaam to curse Israel. God instead blessed them through the words He told Balaam to speak.

The next scene was what took place at Baal Peor. An Israelite man and a Moab woman were speared through by Phinehas. My focus is on what he did rather than the reason he did it. Through his intercession the plague was stopped.

Numbers 25:11 says, “Phinehas…has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.”

Pause and think about this in terms of our country’s present state. Ezekiel 22:30 was God’s call for an intercessor. It says, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”

Psalm 106:29-31 says, “Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, and the plague broke out among them. Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped. And that was accounted to him for righteousness to all generations forevermore.”

We exemplify the Lord when we intercede on the behalf of others and for our nation. He is right now in heaven interceding for us. Romans 8:34 says, “…who also makes intercession for us.”

Do you exemplify Him in His zeal?

While I was talking to a friend, these words came out of my mouth. ‘We often get emotionally tangled up from our thoughts about our past.’ The Lord has a way so that we can instantly bypass that entanglement.

Think of why they perform bypass surgeries. Arteries have narrowed or become blocked. It causes the heart muscle to be short of blood. Let’s take that into the spiritual sense. We keep our past alive through our negative fears or thoughts. We jam up our lines of communication with the Lord and with others.

Our worship comes from our heart. Worship flows when our focus is on the Lord. It stops when we look back. Our spiritual bypass surgery is praise. It is performed with a thought rather than a scalpel. 

Psalm 22:3 says, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.” Enthroned in the Hebrew means to dwell, remain, sit, and abide. The Lord is always present. Yet He uniquely presences Himself in our praise. 

Our praise is like an open invitation to Him, an expression of love from a free flowing heart. His enthronement leaves a fragrance that cannot be compared to anything on this earth. Mary’s act of worship filled the house with, “…the fragrance of the oil” according to John 12:3.

The next time you have a fearful or negative thought flit into your mind, bypass it through praise. Psalm 34:1 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalm 146:2 says, “While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.”

When I think about the word ‘transform’ my mind goes to Romans 12:2. It says, “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Encapsulated, the verse was emphasizing mind renewal through the truth of God’s word. Then our thoughts, words, and actions will be living proof of our conformity to His will.

Transformed~metamorphosis. 

I love to think about how the crawling caterpillar eats leaves. It is all it knows. Until metamorphosis~then a butterfly that flits from flower to flower. Leaves are nowhere in its mind. It delightfully drinks rich nectar. 

When we renew our mind with truth, our old thought patterns metamorphosis. They die to give way to life-giving thoughts. I used to dwell in negative thinking about myself. I renewed my mind through verses like Psalm 119:73 and Jeremiah 1:5. I daily rejoice in God’s creative ingenuity of how He made me.

Adam was formed out of the dust of the ground. When God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life~metamorphosis. Adam became a fully functioning man. He creatively named all the animals. Think about it~ the zebra, gorilla, starfish, and butterfly all received their names as soon as they were presented to him.

As we gaze upon the Lord of glory, our innermost being is transformed. We no longer think as we did. The veil from lies is stripped away. We behold Him through a new spiritual lens. Joshua lingered. Let us linger until we see ourselves as He sees us~redeemed from the cocoon of our negative past thoughts.

Oh that Mary’s example may be said about each of us. Do others realize that you have spent time with Jesus? Do you carry that fragrance with you wherever you go and to those you interact with?

Acts 4:13 says, “And when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” Evidence demands a verdict.

John wrote about the disciples’ experience with Jesus. 1 John 1:1 says about it, “…which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life.”

They walked daily with the Lord. There were eyewitnesses of His works. Think about being there when He multiplied the five loaves and two fishes. It was a paltry amount for 5,000 men. Yet the disciples handed out the food and held the baskets with the leftovers.

Moses spent time with the Lord. When he came down from the mountain he did not know that his face was shining with God’s glory. Exodus 34:29 says, “…that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.”

2 Corinthians 3:13 says that Moses had to put a veil over his face. Yet, we are invited to gaze upon the Lord through our intimate communion. Like Mary, we are never the same. Verse 18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” We are transformed by dwelling in His permeating Presence.

David wrote his Psalms pre-cross. We read them post-cross. Psalm 138:8 says, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands.” As we know from Philippians 1:6 that the Lord will continue His work until He takes us into eternity.

Here is something the Holy Spirit pointed out to me just now as I was proofreading my next book, “Persistent Faith: silent trust in God alone.” Exodus 33:7 says, “Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting…”

I always read it before as if it were a separate tent. It was his living quarters! He made his life the place where he met with God. Liken this to our quiet time. We set aside time, away from our busy life, to meet with the Lord in intimate communion.

Dwelling in the present in His Presence is like Mary. Luke 10:38-42 is a narrative about two sisters. Verse 38 says that Martha welcomed Jesus into her house. Verse 39 says of Mary, “…who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.”

Verse 40-41 might be a good example for us of staying too busy to spend quality time communing with the Lord~sitting at His feet. The narrative says that Martha was distracted with much serving. Jesus spoke to her in verse 41, “…Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.”

Here is my take away. Jesus said in verse 42, “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part…” I love John 12:3 which was written about Mary. She, “…took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair…”

Note how her act of love affected her and everyone around her. The verse went on to say, “…And the house was filled with the fragrance of oil.” Sitting at Jesus’ feet prepared her for the good work He preordained for her to walk in. 

Ephesians 2:10 says that the good works He has prepared for us were, “…prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Hebrews 13:21 clues us into His purpose for our trials. It says, “Make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ…” 

We would be incomplete if we resisted the very tool the Lord was using to shape us into the vessel He needs to accomplish His purpose in our lives. When I think of the word ‘working’ my mind always goes back to when I was learning how to do wheel pottery.

The clay is dry and hard. No one can form anything until the clay is prepared properly. It requires a lot of water, kneading, and patience. Once the clay is ready to be shaped, it is placed on a potter’s wheel.

At that point the wheel begins to spin. My hands were too weak to center my clay. My instructor had to place his hands over my hands to help me. The essential step of pressure causes the clay to center in the potter’s hands. Only then can it be shaped.

The Lord uses our trials to center us on Him. Even a mature believer can become distracted and derailed. Philippians 1:6 assures us that what the Lord has begun in our lives He will complete. Psalm 18:30 says, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

Since His way is perfect, His desire is that we walk in it. He uses our trials as verse 32 says to make our way perfect. Perfect is not perfection, but rather the word used for the maturing process. 

John 14:21 gives us a glimpse into our love’s tangible entrance through intimate communion. It says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

John 3:16 says that God so loved the world. That is everyone without exception. Yet, to the believer we are brought into that love relationship of loving communion. 2 Peter 1:4 says that we become partakers of His nature (verse 3) through our knowledge of Him.

Ephesians 3:19 described it as experiential, meaning that we live in it. The Amplified says, “(That you may really come) to know (practically, through experience for yourselves) the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge (without experience)…”

How do we most effectively learn His love through our experiences? Through hard trials, hardships, adversities, afflictions, suffering, and facing the impossible. We embrace Him through intimate communion.

Saying something like, ‘Get me out of this’ or ‘I can’t stand this any more’ are words of resistance. Through them we miss His gift of grace that will be our sufficiency moment by moment. 

God’s intended end was stated in James 5:11. “…the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” Psalm 145:9 says, “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” We are His workmanship of love according to Ephesians 2:10.

Equipped To Endure

Our example of endurance is Jesus. Hebrews 12:2 says, “…who for the joy set before Him endured the cross…” What was that joy? Us! He knew that His death on the cross would bring us into the newness of life. Sin separates us from God. Jesus paid our penalty in full, creating a way for us to have fellowship with Him.

Obeying (observing to do) God’s word is the key to endurance. Hebrews 5:8 says that Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered. Paul said in Philippians 4:12 that he learned contentment through being full, hungry, abounding, and suffering.

Our salvation experience is an open invitation for growing in a close relationship with Jesus. We can approach Him at all times during the day or night. His heart is always open to us. His love does not ebb and flow, but is constant and full. Hebrews 4:15 says that He sympathizes with our weaknesses, because He was tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Since He knows our thoughts before we think them, we have no need to hide. Verse 16 says that we can come boldly, at any time, and will find grace and mercy for our need. Here is a verse in a new song that taught me a truth I did not consider before.

Extravagant Oil Of Joy

With joy I lift my heart in song. A song that flows through me like a river. A song that cascades and rushes to be expressed. In pure worship knowing Your joy as You behold me.

Do you personally believe that the Lord finds joy beholding you? My years of self-hatred and self-rejection blocked that truth from my heart. When the Holy Spirit sang this new song to me, the chains around my heart snapped apart.

Hebrews 12:6 indicates that our trials, afflictions, and hardships are evidence of God’s love. Paul’s instruction to Timothy is key for us as well. 2 Timothy 2:3 says, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

The writer of Psalm 119 addressed the benefit of their affliction. Verse 67 says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” 

Proverbs 3:11-12 was the king’s words to his son. It says, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”

Do you truly believe that the Lord delights in you? Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Paul’s thorn in the flesh was his teacher. He pleaded with the Lord three times to remove it. Yet, the Lord’s answer gave Paul a different perspective. Our trials hone our vision to turn us from shortsightedness to broad spectrum.

Tunnel vision is used metaphorically to denote the reluctance to consider alternatives. We tend to focus on our circumstances, rather than fixing our eyes on Jesus. Here is a verse in a new song called Song Of The Altar. Nothing can overtake me when I hide in You. Nothing can overwhelm me when I look to You. I set my eyes on You and I gaze into Your face. I bask in the love of Your eyes full of grace.