I love Jeremiah 1:5 which says that God knew us before He formed us in the womb. Our seed of conception was wrapped in His completeness. Let this sink in: all of who you are is part of His purposed-pathway. We may be like Jonah with deviations through our disobedience. Yet, God will bring us through every designed trial. What He has begun He will complete.

There is a story in 2 Kings 4 about the Shunammite woman. You can read the whole story. In verse 13 Elisha asked her what he could do for her. She and her husband were old, yet they had no son. Verse 15 says, “…About this time next year you shall embrace a son…”

She had the promised son, and he was growing. Then one day he died. The women did not despair. She spoke life words to everyone who asked. In verse 35 his life was restored. Now we go to chapter 8. In verse 1 Elisha told the woman to leave because there was a famine coming that would last seven years. She did.

Verse 3 says that she returned after seven years. In verse 4 the king was listening to Elisha’s servant retell the story. Verse 5 says, “…as he was telling the king…there was the woman…appealing for her house and land to be restored…”

I love verse 6 and have often used it in praying for others and myself. It says, “…So the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, Restore…” Yesterday, as I read this, I saw for the first time how she was wrapped in God’s completeness. So are we!

There is nothing that has ever taken place in our lives that was not purposeful. Ephesians 1:11 says, “In Him, also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” Do you hear the completeness in this verse?

1 Peter 1:4-5 says that our inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, and will not fade away. It is being kept for us by the power of God, the same power He used to raise Jesus from the dead. Right after Peter wrote that promise, he went into the subject of trials.

Trials are God’s instrument to conform us to His righteousness. Think again of the potter. It takes consistent pressure to center the clay before it can be formed. The Lord uses our trials as pressures to reveal the hidden dross-flaws as He centers us on Him. Picture a sign over your life: Do Not Despair God Is At Work.

I finished reading 1 Kings Sunday night. The thing that stood out to me was how God used His people to fulfill His purpose. Time and again it says something like: that His word was fulfilled which He spoke through (His prophet).

God is sovereign, yet He depends on us. He uses us as His instrument to carry out His purposes on this earth. It is an astounding truth.

Isaiah 43:7 says that He created us for His glory. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

The question I had to ask the Holy Spirit: am I walking in all that You have prepared for me to walk in? The provision is there. The assignment has been set up before time began.

John 15:5 is a daily reminder for me as to how essential my relationship with the Lord is. It says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Nothing.

We know what happened to Jonah when he tried to run from God. Baalam disobeyed the Lord and found himself closed in, with no way to turn to the right or the left. God stood as an adversary before him.

Indecision is from our flesh warring against our spirit. Instability. Double-minded. Jesus asked His disciples to pray. What did they do? They fell asleep on the job. Matthew 26:41 says, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Are you still praying for our nation: that the Lord will have His way, that the hidden will be revealed, and that He will be glorified through all that is taking place? Let us be diligent to quickly obey from the heart. Let us walk in the Spirit so that we do not fall back from what God has called us to do. Let us emulate the Lord and fulfill His purpose through our lives.

We make multiple decisions every day. Every decision is first a thought. Elijah challenged the children of Israel. Ahab, their king, worshipped Baal. 1 Kings 18:21 says, “And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him. But the people answered him not a word.”

Both Moses and Joshua challenged the children of Israel at different times. Deuteronomy 7:6 says, “…the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.” God’s choice was decisive in accord with His character. We are made in the image of God. We have the capacity within us to be decisive.

James helps us understand what happens when one is not decisive. James 1:6 says, “But let him ask in faith…” We have to go back to verse 5 which is in the context of our trials. It says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” Verse 6 goes on to say, “…with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”

Our character is forged on the anvil of our trials. The dross of doubt, fear, and unbelief may lie hidden. However, when the fiery trial comes, the dross is exposed and brought to the surface.

The children of Israel were double-minded. They faltered between two opinions. They had no courage of their convictions. They were ensnared by foreign gods. James 1:8 says, “He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Here is an acrostic for stability:

Steadfast

Truth

Always

Believing

Increasing

Love

Intentionally

Trusting

You

King Solomon, his son Rehoboam, and Solomon’s servant Jeroboam all deviated from God’s commandments. The 12 tribes were divided. Jeroboam had ten and Rehoboam had one. Judah and Benjamin were combined.

1 Kings 13 has always been a sad chapter for me. God sent a man to prophesy over the altar that Jeroboam had built that caused all of Israel to sin. Verse 2 says, “…Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.”

That prophecy was fulfilled in 2 Kings 23:16. Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He was Manasseh’s grandson. 2 Kings 22:2 says, “And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.”

That is exactly what Proverbs 4:27 is telling us, “Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.” 1 Samuel 12:21 says, “And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.”

The man that God had sent deviated from what he was commanded to do and lost his life. The fruit of disobedience yields devastating consequences. Let us be like Jesus and set our face to do as the Lord called us.

Anything that we do in our own understanding, our own strength, or seeking counsel from the ungodly is deviation. Psalm 5 was written by David. Verse 8 is one of my prayer verses. It says, “Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face.”

Verse 12 reveals one of the fruits of obedience. It says, “For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.” To disobey or to obey is a heart choice.

Erosion is gradual. It is not something that is readily noticed. Solomon was given much wisdom by the Lord, but he did not use it wisely. At the beginning of his reign, he made a political alliance with Egypt. What?

Let’s remember that the Egyptians held the children of Israel captive. They were slaves under cruel masters. Why would Solomon choose an Egyptian wife? That was the beginning of his silent spiritual erosion.

God appeared to Solomon the second time. He warned him. 1 Kings 9:6 says, “But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them.”

Verse 7 said that He would cut off all Israel from the land…” In verse 8 God said that the temple that was exalted, the people would hiss in astonishment. They would say, “…Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?”

The silent erosion continued. 1 Kings 11:1 says, “But King Solomon loved many foreign women…” Verse 3 says, “…and his wives turned away his heart.” The chapter continued to tell how Solomon worshiped their gods. Sad.

Hebrews 3:12 is a warning for us. It says, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.”

Note that spiritual erosion starts in the heart. From what I read, Solomon did not believe that God would do what He said He would do.

There is no fence straddling in God’s kingdom. We are either in or we are out. We are either walking in our flesh, or we are walking in the Spirit.

Hebrews 4:2 was talking about the gospel. We can apply it to our daily walk with the Lord. It says, “…the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”

What is the Lord speaking to you right now through this post? May you have ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to grasp hold of what He has called you to do. Let us be diligent to guard our hearts from anything that would erode our relationship with the Lord. As Hebrews said: beware. Ask someone to hold you accountable. Heart integrity is a precious gift that we must guard.

King Solomon built the temple. It took seven years. His own house took 13 years. Hmm. All the temple stones were quarried away from the building site.

In Solomon’s ceremonial speech, He reiterated to the people how that it was in David’s heart to build the temple. 1 Kings 8:20 says, “So the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; and I have filled the position of my father David…”

In his prayer of dedication He first acknowledged the Lord. Verse 23 says, “…there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.”

Verse 24 says, “You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.”

What God has spoken, He will fulfill with His hand. That takes us to a Psalm that David wrote. Psalm 31:15 says, “My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.”

We are in God’s hands. Compare His hands to the hands of our enemies. There is no contest. John 10:28 says, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

The atrocities in the dark, that have been continually exposed through His light, are not a surprise to the Lord. We must stand in His word. His Light will continue to expose and shake the dark deeds like a dog shakes a rag. Only what He knows will remain in this country will not be shaken out.

I love to quote Psalm 63:8 in the Amplified. Other translations say my soul. Capture these words for yourself. “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.”

What do you do when you feel like you are lacking something? Since every believer is complete in Christ, could the lack be emotional? If not, then why do we seek an emotional filler?

I know that years ago, when I would crave something, I would try a bite of many different foods to see if it would stop my craving. No, that wasn’t it. My searches always ended in futility. I would pick up a book I was reading and get lost in my story. I didn’t know then what I know now. Anything outside of the Lord is an empty emotional filler.

When we feel a lack, it is essential to first go to the Lord. We can ask Him what has unsettled us. Why do we feel restless and not content? He is our Completer. By asking Him, we are repurposing our feelings of lack. He will bring us into truth.

In 1 Kings 3:5 God appeared to king Solomon in a dream. He said, “…Ask! What shall I give you?” As I was thinking about this yesterday, I wondered what I would answer. If I was feeling a need for instant gratification, I might answer with something that was a temporary fix.

King Solomon asked for something life long. Verse 9 says, “Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil…” God granted his request. Then He added what He wanted for Solomon’s life. Let’s go back to verse 3. It says, “And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David…”

God exudes with abundance. John 10:10 says, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”

Think now about every emotional filler that you have ever used. We use myriad ways. Set them up against God’s abundance. It is a paltry dot in the ocean of His provision for us through our relationship with Him.

He is ready to meet every need through Himself. John 14:21 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.”

The Lord manifested Himself to Solomon. He gave him his request and added far over and above what he had asked. The Lord reveals Himself to us through our intimate communion with Him. Hear His words to you now: Come and dine.

Do you ever feel like you are lacking something? That is a great indication that God is still at work. Our state is an ongoing journey of spiritual growth, but our standing is complete. Colossians 2:10 says, “And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

Yet in progressive sanctification, we are being completed. 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.”

Hebrew 13:21 broadens our understanding of the ‘how’ He does this. 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, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

When I read the word ‘working’ I think back to a potter. The dry clay has to have water worked into it to make it pliable. The water and the clay become one, fully integrated, before the vessel can be formed.

As we daily read His word, which is our spiritual water, He is at work to implant His truths into our heart. Philippians 2:13 Amplified says, “(Not in our own strength) for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you (energizing and creating in you the (power and desire), both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.”

His part is the work, and our part is the submission. His work is to impart His desire into our heart, and then empower us to carry it out. Such a mystery! The Infinite One partners with His finite children to delight His heart in carrying out His work.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 Amplified says, “Faithful is He Who is calling you (to Himself) and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it (fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you).” He created us for His glory. Intimate communion with Him is the catalyst for thriving in our journey of progressive sanctification.

Here are two essential truths to bring up front regarding praise. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of His people. Psalm 68:1-2 says, “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.”

God’s Presence thwarts every attack from the enemy. No darkness can come near God. Therefore, when we praise Him, His Presence fills the atmosphere around us. It creates a barrier that satan and his minions cannot penetrate.

Now let’s go to Hebrews 13:15. It says, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

Paul and Silas are an excellent example of how a sacrifice of praise works. Acts 16:23 says that they laid many stripes on them. The jailor put them in the inner prison. The Amplified says that it was a dungeon.

Think about their pain. Their backs were ripped and bleeding. Their feet were in stocks. They certainly could have complained, wallowed in self-pity party, or moaned and groaned. Watch their sacrifice of praise in action. Verse 25 says, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

The lies that we have believed imprison us. The prison walls are only a deception. They are only in our mind. The foundation of the lies are fortified with more lies. Lies upon lies surround us to hold us captive.

Praise will set us free! Through praise we face off the lie. Its support crumbles. Picture the lies like Belshazzar in Daniel 5. When he saw the handwriting on the wall, the joints in his hips were loosed and his knees knocked against each other. That is what our praise does to the enemy’s lies.

Praise breaks the chains that bind us to the lies. Praise is filled with the truth of Who God is! He is the One who comes to set us free. He is Ever Present. However, when we praise Him, He inhabits our atmosphere. The enemy’s lies crumble. The chains that have bound us are loosed!

It is His truth hidden in our heart that is the praise-weapon God’s uses to penetrate our mind-prison and set us free. The cover of my first book is a sword going down into the prison walls. Freedom! From Past Hurts. Look for used copies on Amazon and other places.

We sometimes will gently shake a child’s shoulder to awaken them. When the Lord needs to awaken His children, He will also shake us. At first it is gentle, but if we don’t heed? Hebrews 12:18-27 is in the context of Exodus 19. Verse 27 says, “Now this, Yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.” We don’t have to fear His shaking. What He allows to remain will be for His glory.

Ephesians 5:13-14 says, “But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says, “Awaken, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” In Revelation 3:2 God told the dead church in Sardis to strengthen the things that remain.

Let me pull this together. Physically dead things have no ability to respond. However, it is a different story for those who are spiritually dead. Ephesians 2:1 says, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Take note, even a believer can slip back to walk in darkness. 1 John 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” It is an activated truth which keeps our fellowship with the Lord and others open and thriving.

John 17:17 says, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” When we hide God’s word in our heart, no matter how much we are shaken, that truth remains. When the Lord needs to ‘awaken’ us to something that He is fingering, He shakes us.

The only things that can be shaken are ensnarements. It could be worldly pursuits, ministries we started apart from Him, or hidden sins that are done in the dark. It could also be emotional fillers, which are heart-idols that usurp His place. They all block His purpose in our lives.

Everything that God does or allows is a prepared path. He has gone before and taken out the things that would shake our faith. Let’s go back to when Jesus told Peter that satan desired to sift him. Sifting would be another word for shaking. Luke 22:32 says, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

The things that have been shaken, give us a testimony of endurance that the Lord uses to strengthen others. Chris Wark was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. He said that the Lord used it to awaken him. He took stock of what he was doing that was causing such stress in his life. The Lord used it to bring radical course correction. That is what His shaking accomplishes in each of our lives. He will only shake what can’t remain, in order to strengthen what will remain, which is fruit for His glory.