Jesus stood in the midst of the poor, the down trodden, the lonely, the confused, the frustrated and the heartbroken. His words came out of His mouth like fifty caliber bullets out of a machine gun; strong, fast, powerful and deadly to your enemy the devil himself.
“The thief cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they (you & me) might have life, and they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10 KJV)
Bless the Lord Oh my soul! What a promise! I speak it, I want it, I crave it, I hunger and thirst for it; gimmie, gimmie and gimmie again!
When I read this scripture I get like a spoiled three year old having a fit in the candy store screaming, Mama, Mama, Mama….I want it! I want it! I want it!
And I really don’t think God has a problem with this; matter of fact I think it pleases him for us having a “want fit” when it comes to His unlimited promises.
Jesus himself cried out, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Mat. 5:6 KJV)
“If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.” Nora Roberts, the best selling author
Gaby Compres writes, “There are stars you haven’t seen and loves you haven’t loved. There’s light you haven’t felt and sunrises yet to dawn. There are dreams you haven’t dreamed and days you haven’t lived and nights you won’t forget and flowers yet to grow. There is more to you that you have yet to know.”
In his three and one half year trek, teaching and preaching here on earth, Jesus seemed to run across many who had stopped and huddled in their little “give up” coral. Lame from no movement, no vision, no dream and no hope.
Most of us have been in somewhat the same place, for at least a short period of time. And that is not good!
The word “arise” which threads it’s way through your King James, touching down some 158 times, was in many cases the urgent, strong and powerful command of God himself. “Then saith him to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine house.” (Mat. 9:6 KJV)
And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, “Talitha cumi, which is being interpreted, Damsel, I say to thee, arise.” (Mark 5:41 KJV)
In good old red neck language we often say, “My get up and go has got up and went!” And how true that is….who wants to plow on this farm of life another day and who wants to grind at this mill another ten minutes let alone another day. Who cares about this relationship that is going nowhere and this dead end job that doesn’t even pay my bills. Where is the good life and how do I obtain it or as one wise man asked, “How do I get to where I want to be, with what I have?”
Our bibles teach that, “Where there is no vision, the people perish..”(Prov. 29:18) Also that, when Holy Ghost time came on Pentecost morning and an upper room in Jerusalem got filled with Holy Fire from Heaven; the human race was changed forever.
Jesus came alive in 120 souls and every one of 30 trillion plus cells in each of those human bodies was saturated with Holy Ghost power from Heaven. Like the burning and lighting fire from the sun, it was power unlimited to learn, preach, save, deliver and heal every living soul inhabiting our world from then to now.
The only limitation that has hindered all of this being done is the lack of curiosity and hunger for enough of this unlimited energy to burn in the souls of the redeemed.
Our nation, The United States of America is under attack as never before in this 240 plus years of our existence. But when God’s people get into total obedience and get God’s power everything changes and it changes for the good.
It is time as the late tennis great Arthur Ash wrote, “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.“
God has demonstrated in times past, as written in His Holy Word that common men and women have access to His world changing power.
It says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (Jas. 5:16 KJV)
And, “Elijah, was a man of like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”
And he prayed again, and the Heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” (Jas. 5:16, 17 & 18 KJV)
Stopping the rain and shutting up Heaven is what kind of stuff our Bibles are speaking of in these scriptures. Not only was this an actually happening but also a demonstration of what our Lord can do in the circumstances of our everyday living.
At this moment changing the weather is not on my need list; and probably never will be. But being healthy, healed, full of God’s Holy Ghost power and comfort is. Having good loving and strong relationships with wonderful people is there too. Having a hunger and thirst for God stuff, wisdom, godly knowledge and Holy Ghost prayer power is on it too.
Yes Lord, give us this day! And make it a good one!
In the second book of Chronicles, chapters five through seven, we find some of the most powerful acts of the God of Heaven happening here on earth among His people.
Holy Ghost fire power from Heaven so strong and hot that it lapped up “..sacrifices of sheep and oxen which, could not be told nor numbered for multitude.” (2 Chron. 5:6 KJV)
“And…. a sacrifice of twenty and and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep…” (2 Chron. 7:5 KJV)
Just to give you an idea of what those figures are, the twenty two thousand oxen would be around 25,000 tons of beef making a loaded line of semi trucks with sixty foot trailers lined up for about twenty five miles; a lot of beef, and it sure took a lot of fire from Heaven to lap it up; and this was the small load!
After all of this, God appeared to Soloman by night, and said, “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.” Then proclaimed, “If I shut up Heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence (pandemics)among my people; If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked way; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chron. 7: 12, 13 & 14 KJV)
Again, these happenings in our bible are genuine, but they also serve as a metaphor as to His unlimited power to what he can do in our personal lives.
In my heart and soul; and in yours also, we know that God’s Word is true and His promises are for real. But we also know that obtaining these great and unlimited promises is not a cake walk on easy street. We have to go through some “stuff” and sometimes it is “tough stuff” and “long time stuff!”
Abraham Lincoln, thought to be by many the greatest president ever of our country; prior to his presidency, in deep depression, wrote: “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall be any better, I cannot tell. I awfully abode that I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible. I must die or be better, it seems to me.”
Great and not great people go through great trials, deep valleys, the dark unknown, battles with the powers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places, the rulers of darkness and more.
Many, many times we find our spiritual strength to carry on through the words of an anointed song written by an anointed man or woman who is going through or has been through a gut wrenching trial of life; a time spent in darkness and the fear of never coming out.
One of my favorites goes like this:
“If you’ve knelt beside the rubble of an aching broken heart, when the things you gave your life to fell apart. You’re not the first to be acquainted with sorrow, grief or pain. But the master promised sunshine after rain.“
“To invest your seeds of trust in God, in mountains you can’t move, You have risked your life on things you cannot prove. But to give the things you cannot keep for things you cannot lose, Now that’s the way to find the joy God has for you.“
This is the old hymn, “Joy Comes In The Morning,” written by the great Bill & Gloria Gaither; What truth, what revelation!
To go through the “tough stuff” of life is just our assignment; a simple must.
His word proclaims, “…In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings…..” (2 Cor. 6:4 & 5 KJV)
It was in his battle of life and death that God stopped the sun and put brakes on the moon for Joshua.
It was in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace where Jesus welcomed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and in the lion’s den where God robbed their appetites to save his Daniel.
It was a blind Samson, grinding at the mill growing his second head of hair when his strength came back double strong to wreck the the Philistine arena and double the killing of his demon possessed enemy.
Bottom line; it all comes down to our faith; and Bless the Lord, we got it! Maybe a small amount; but we got it! Maybe not so strong; but we got it! So weak we can hardly put one foot in front of the other but bless God, we got it! In the middle of the day; we got it! At three am, we got it! All day and everyday; we got it! Victory over sin; we got it! victory over sickness and pain; we got it! victory over finances; we got it! Victory over the negative forces of hell; yes, we still got it. Are all things possible? yes we got that too! The problem that has been driving me crazy and keeping me awake; yes we got it so relax and sleep well!
Get in your bed in the fetal position, wrap your arms around your Jesus Bible and receive every blessing contained in His word and then you got it! Now and forever! Speak it, affirm it, declare it, proclaim it, embrace it and Thank God for it! AMEN!