Yesterday I started to gather the information I needed to do my 2016 income tax.  I filed an extension for 2016 and 2017 because I still could not read or decipher numbers.  I had a hard time writing down my sales.  There were only six.  I could not remember how to figure out how much sales tax was included in my sales.  I’m a retired accountant.  It should be second nature.  However my brain fatigued and I had to quit.  The struggle disappointed me.

Do you ever feel impatient in your trial?  This morning the Lord took me to James 1:4.  It says, “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be complete, lacking nothing.”

No lack.  Lacking nothing.  I thought about these words.  Psalm 34:10 says, “The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”  The Amplified says beneficial things.

Obviously these verses are talking about our standing and not our state.  In our standing in Christ we lack nothing.  Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”

Spiritual blessings such as grace, mercy, forgiveness, peace, etc.  You can continue the list.  He took me back to Psalm 107.  Verse 1 says, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!”

In each of these sets of verses the Lord documents His goodness.  Verses 6 and 8, 13 and 15, 19 and 21, 28 and 31 all say the same things.  Here are verses 6 and 8.  “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.  Oh, that men would give thanks in the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works in the children of men!”

We have a tendency to focus on our lack in our changing-present-state-trials.  Instead, let us consistently lift our hearts in giving thanks to the One Who secured us eternally.  The art of perseverance is to cling to the Lord through our standing which never changes.

I want to go back to my February 12 blog.  I gave the definition for endurance from the Strong’s.  The note in my Bible says: …not with passive complacency, but with a hopeful fortitude, that actively resists weariness and defeat.

Let’s start with passive.  It’s a inactive word.  It means doing nothing, procrastination, hopeless, defeated, just getting by, and simply existing.  Fortitude on the other hand is a very active word.  It is intentional, alert, watchful, and standing in truth and grace.

John 1:14 says of Jesus that He was full of grace and truth.  Verse 17 says that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  Now verse 16 in the Amplified says, “For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received (all had a share and we were all supplied with) one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift (heaped) upon gift.”

That is our standing!

Picture it like this: each one ~ grace~spiritual blessings~favor~gifts~ is leap frogging over  and piling onto the other.  Can you see it?  It is ours now to live in, actively participate with, and be vitally united to Him through an intimate communion relationship.

Faith declarations: personalizing and standing in God’s promises.  As we make them our own, we are transformed into His character through our trials. Romans 5:3-4 gives us this progression.  It says, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character, and character, hope.”

Our trials develop our character to be like Him.  There is an old hymn.  “O To Be Like Thee” has a stanza: stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.  As we abide in Him through our trials, we are beholding Him through intimate communion.

2 Corinthians 3:18 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 become who or what we behold.

Beware of what or who captures your heart (thoughts, time) other than the Lord.  Dwelling (abiding) in bitterness because of what has happened to you will make you a bitter person.

The Lord is our Sufficiency.  He has given us all the provision we need.  2 Peter 1:3 says, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him…”  Grapes are the fruit of the vine.  Abiding is intimate communion that bears the fruit of His character.

Verse 4 says, “By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of His nature…”  John 15:4 Amplified says, “…Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.”

Here is the first part of a new song that describes intimate communion: I lift my unveiled face, to gaze into Your face.  Face to face, I behold You as You behold me.  No veil separates us, no fear of being known.  We have intimate communion, our hearts are knit as one.

Acts 4:13 says of Peter and John, “…they realized that they had been with Jesus.”  Do others see the Lord reflected through you life?  They will as you stand in His promises, and abide in His love as you go through your trials.  Your fruit from abiding will be succulent, and they will want more.

What is the difference between discerning something and judging it?  Matthew 7:1 says, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”  The context is about having a plank in your eye.  Verse 5 says, “Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Judging another with a critical spirit is the characteristic of a flesh reacting faultfinder.  Romans 2:1 cuts to the chase.  It says, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”

Discernment is a gift-empowerment from the Holy Spirit.  We discern through our spirit man.  The flesh has no part.  1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “…the things of the Spirit of God…are spiritually discerned.”  Natural reasoning cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit.

I love verse 10 which says, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”  The Amplified says, “…(the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny).”

Jesus said in John 8:15, “You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.”  2 Corinthians 5:16 says, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.”  According to the flesh is external. Only the Lord knows hearts.

In my word search this morning I also added discretion.  I love Proverbs 2:10-11 which says, “When wisdom has entered your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you.”

Negative judging is assessment with a critical spirit.  Discernment is a gift from the Holy Spirit at the moment of need.  Discretion is the fruit of walking in His wisdom and knowledge.

 

 

 

The Lord has equipped us with powerful, effective weaponry through His word.  We wield our sword and hack each temptation to bits!  Hebrews 4:12.  His word is living and powerful. It pierces into then splits, divides, and discerns between our fleshly and spiritual thoughts.  It reveals the very innermost parts of our heart.

Ephesians 6:17 says, “…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  That’s not the whole Bible, but one Scripture wielded against the enemy.  Matthew 4:4 says, “…man shall…live…by…every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  A Rhema word brings light and life through a moment of His revealing its truth to our heart. It comes to empower and encourage us in our walk with Him.

1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But the natural (fleshly) man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God…nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  Walking in the Spirit means that we are attentive, watchful, listening, sensitive, discerning, submitted.  Galatians 5:16 says, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Anatomy of a temptation: first it is a thought.  If we don’t cut it off with our sword, it will germinate in our minds.  We think about it until it becomes an impetus to sin.  All sin is first a thought.  James 1:14-15 says that the thought becomes a desire that conceives and births.  Verse 16 says, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”

Hebrews 5:14 says that when we eat the strong meat of His word, our senses will be exercised to discern between good and evil.  A temptation begins with a thought.  We hack that thought to bits through His Rhema word.  As you read His word daily, He will highlight verses for you to put in your Rhema weaponry: verses that will help you stand and resist every temptation to sin.

I’m reading the book of Matthew now.  Here is something that I picked up this time around for my own arsenal against the enemy of my soul.

Jesus was intentionally led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.  After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, the devil crafted his temptation to Jesus’ present need.  He was hungry.  That is how he works against us also.

Notice the way Jesus countered the temptation.  In its kind.  In Matthew 4:4 Jesus quoted His word according to its kind: hunger, true bread.  “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Back in creation, Genesis 1:11 says what God said.  “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself…”

Jesus quoted His word that was relevant to the temptation.  The key: when we are tempted, we grab a verse related to the temptation.  It becomes our sword to whack the enemy’s temptation to bits!  Tempted to be angry?  James 1:19-20 says, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

As we hide His word in our heart, it is there as a ready sword.  I love Psalm 18:42.  It says, “Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind; I cast them out like dirt in the streets.”  That’s what we do when we quote His word out loud, wielding our mighty sword for the pulling down of strongholds.  There is nothing left.

We fight the temptation according to its kind.  The word of God is a seed whose seed is in itself.  As we speak His word, it seeds into our heart.  It overtakes the weed temptation and renders it impotent.  It cannot reproduce.

God’s word prevails and reproduces fruit after its kind.  It breaks the power of the enemy’s temptation, but seeds truth into our heart at the same time so we can stand.  In Acts 19:19 they burned their books on magic.  Verse 20 says, “So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”  Don’t leave a foothold for the devil to encroach.

We cannot consistently step forward while looking backward.  Forward motion requires single-minded pursuit.  We don’t look back to what was, but live in the now of what is.

1 Timothy 6:11 says, “But you, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”  Psalm 34:14 says, “Depart from evil and do good, seek peace, and pursue it.”  Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”

Pursue is an action word.  It requires attentiveness, being alert, and watchful.  It means to be aware and not complacent.  I want to make sure that nothing pulls me off course.

Peace is irrevocable.  It is a gift of righteousness.  To seek peace and pursue it means that I need to wrestle down any thoughts that would disturb my gift of peace.  For example, someone does something that causes anger to rise up within me.  Listen to this: that act of their part just revealed a hidden unresolved issue in my heart!

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of spring the issues of life.”  Our unresolved issues rise when we least expect them.  They spring out unexpectedly.  Don’t get sidetracked in an angry exchange.  Instead of reacting, we should rejoice that the Lord has just revealed something that we buried.  It’s time to get set free!

One of my constant prayers is for the Lord to reveal the hidden in my heart.  I was a stuffer.  There are things buried that I don’t remember.  He is faithful to set us free, when we have enough truth hidden in our heart that will keep us grounded.

John 14:30 Jesus says, “…for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has no hold on Me.”  Jesus had no footholds, no hooks, absolutely nothing for satan to use to pull Him off His course.  That is what He desires for each of us.

Stay the course!  Luke 9:62 says, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”  Walking consistently with the Lord requires undivided attention, single-mindedness, and wholehearted pursuit.  Let go of your past to pursue peace in your present now.

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord taught me something very significant that I want to share with you.  I fell into a hard trial January 2, 2017.  It was right after I had typed 35 short ebooks and published 27 of them in 7 1/2 months.  Three of us were working to compile seven of the ebooks on forgiveness.  I was looking for duplicate verses when everything stopped.

Through this injury I could not see clearly, read anything, drive, work on my computer, think, process, or make decisions.  My emotions were flat line.  How do you not think?  If I tried, my brain would fatigue.  The Lord would bring a phrase from Scripture to my mind.  I would stay in that thought for hours.  Then He would give me another phrase.  As long as He brought it into my mind I could stay in that thought.  Here is an example: my life is hidden with Christ in God; You are my Steadfast Rock that cannot be moved, I am right now being strengthened in and by and through Your word, etc.

We are so prone to dialogue in our minds.  Our flesh loves to rehearse what has happened.  It is a futile pursuit, but a very effective tactic of the enemy to occupy our minds.

When we enter into trials, one way to remain steadfast in faith, is to rehearse God’s word.  His word is all-powerful.  Hebrews 4:12 says that His word penetrates to divide between our soul (mind, will, emotions) and spirit, and that it discerns our heart.

His hidden word is truth that has penetrated into our very soul.  It is truth that we know experientially.  It is His truth that has set us free from past areas of bondage.  We lean on that truth, we speak it in our hearts, and it governs our actions.

 

Consistent trust is an essential part of endurance.  There is a Greek word that I refer to often from Hebrews 10:26.  It is hupomone.  It is the word for endurance.  The verse says, “But you have need for endurance (hupomone), so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”

The Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance says that hupomone means: constancy, perseverance, continuance, bearing up, steadfastness, holding out, patient endurance.  I call it barnacle faith.  We cling to our Steadfast Rock with refusal to let go.

Our heart capacity increases as we continue to trust in our difficult circumstances.  We remain in His power that continually undergirds and strengthens us.  We remain steadfast as we rehearse the truths of His word.  He grounds us spiritually, emotionally, and physically to Him.

We remain as we encourage ourselves in the Lord.  Mark 4:17 says of the seed sown on rocky ground, “And they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time.  Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.”

We have a persistent adversary that wants to destroy God’s word within us.  He can’t because it is Eternal.  However, he consistently wars against us.  What happens when we fall into trials?  Our faith is tested.  It is purified so that we can stand in barnacle faith. We hold our door shield of faith up to quench every fiery dart he throws at us.

Trials also test our trust.  When we are suddenly immersed into hardships, do we lean on our own understanding, or let go of it to cling to Him?  Do we bury our emotional pain, or release it to Him?  Do we resist the work He is doing, or embrace it?

If you are in a hard trial right now, I encourage you to gather some personal intercessors.  They will be your ambush against the enemy.  Ai was defeated because of an ambush behind the city (Joshua 8:3-22).

Psalm 18:-16-18 is my personal testimony.  It says, “…He drew me out of deep waters.  He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.  They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.”  The Lord gave me eight on call personal intercessors.  They prayed for me while I clung to Him.

We are called and equipped to endure.  His word in us is the anchor of our soul.  We are God’s display of His manifold wisdom.  Ephesians 3:10 says, “To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.”

This morning the Holy Spirit spoke these two words, ‘indefeatable hope’ as I started my quiet time.  Almost immediately phrases from hymns marched across my mind.  The first: …fastened to the Rock which cannot move, grounded firm and deep in my Savior’s love.  I’m sure you can recall some also.

Our hope is in the Lord who created us for a love relationship with Him.  That love can never be taken from us.  Our hope is as sure as His eternal love.  Romans 8:38-39.

I want to encourage you through these anchor verses.  Anchor verses hidden in our hearts secure and ground us in our trials.  Hebrews 6:19 says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.”

1 John 3:3 says, “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

Romans 5:2 says, “Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”  Verse 5 says that now (present) hope does not disappoint.  It goes onto say, “…because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Are you discouraged?  It is the enemy of your soul’s weapon against your faith.  Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Until the day He takes you home to be with Him, He will work IN you through your adverse circumstances.  Nothing is in vain.  May He anchor you in His promises.

Psalm 62:5 says, “My soul, wait silently before God, for my expectation is from Him.”  Titus 1:2 says “In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.”  This verse secure my heart.  God cannot lie.  It’s impossible!  Therefore His word is true, backed by all that He is.

Here my verse that sums up my quiet time.  Psalm 119:147.  “I rise before the dawning of the morning, and cry for help; I hope in Your word.”  We have a living, active, present hope in the One who rose from the dead.  1 Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

I painted this last night.  Great reminder.  Encouragement is an investment of the heart.