Fear and a False Sense of Peace

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You ever get to a point where you've been through so much you just don't want to move forward? If you could you would just put your life on pause so you can gather the energy to resume. We all have been there before. Satan will try to put you in that place to discourage you from moving forward. This leaves many of us sitting in the middle of the path to God instead of moving toward Him. Satan does this to push us into a lukewarm nonproductive place. Satan often does this by fear and through it he tries to convinces us slothfulness and dormancy in the spirit is the only way to get relief.  So many of us retreat, afraid to move forward. Today God is going to pull you out of that place and strengthen you.

Let's take a look at Elijah. One of my favorite moments in the bible is when Elijah shut down the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. This story makes me so proud to belong to the Lord! God really showed off His might in this incident. During this time Ahab ruled Israel and he was an evil ruler. He and his wife Jezebel brought in idols and murdered God's prophets. Ahab finally met Elijah, the only prophet left. Basically Elijah challenged Ahab to a showdown. His mighty God against their man-made lifeless gods. He asked Ahab to gather the 450 prophets of Baal and meet him on Mount Carmel. Here was the challenge:

1 Kings 18:23-24 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”

Who says there aren't any light-hearted humorous moments in the Bible? It tickles me every time to read about how the prophets of Baal called on their gods all day begging for fire to consume the bull. Elijah even taunted them a bit. He told them,

1 Kings 18:27-29 "Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Then it was God's turn.

Elijah was so confident in the wonderful God we serve he made it harder for God by the world's standards. He asked for water to be poured over the offering three times. Even though Elijah had his fun, he knew the purpose of this showdown. It was to remind Israel of the only true living God.

1 Kings 18: 36-38At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

Instantly Israel begin to repent and they turned from their idols and looked to God. Think of the amazing faith Elijah showed! Think of the damage he did in satan's camp by simply allowing God to use him in bold ways. He challenged the king who was seeking to murder him and put everything on the line trusting in God's ability. What amazing faith! We all have a lot to learn from this moment about how to be a bold servant for Christ.

We've all had superb moments similar to Elijah's in our own way. Maybe you had a week when you did everything you wanted to do. You spend time with God, you read your word, prayed for hours and it was great! Maybe you went witnessing and God used you to perform a miracle in someone's life. We had those moments when we are kicking satan's butt and holding God close. It feels great right? But many times satan says to himself "I know just what to do." That's when his weapon of fear comes out of the boxes. This is exactly what satan did to Elijah. Elijah went from the prophet so confident in God's ability that he arranged a showdown at Mount Carmel, to a man in fear hiding. Just that quickly! Satan used Jezebel to place a spirit of fear over Elijah. After hearing what he had done on Mount Carmel,

1 Kings 19:2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

When we operate in a spirit of fear we forget the power of God.

1 Kings 19:3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

Some of us are in this place right now in our lives. It feels like the harder we try to do right by God the more satan attacks us and you don't want to fight anymore. Seclusion and sleep seem like the only way to achieve peace. On top of that you feel like a failure because you've been brought to this place. This is where satan brought Elijah because he was angry at the damage he made. Pure retailiation. You don't know your own power. Your prayers are powerful and a spark of your faith can heal all wounds and move mountains. Satan hates this and he hates you. So he wants to scare you into a place of dormancy to prevent you from defeating him. 

Here's how beautiful God is. We tend to look at ourselves in this situation and call ourselves failures like Elijah did. However we serve a God who is understanding and loving. God responded by sending his angels to comfort and feed Elijah. God knew Elijah was going through a lot and He dwelled with him--loving him and strengthening him.

1 Kings 19:5-9 All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night.

God asked Elijah, 

1 Kings 19:9 “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

God knew the powerful man He raised Elijah to be and He knew he was bigger than satan's attacks. He then reminded Elijah of the God he serves. 

1 Kings 19:11-14 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

A quick note. God came to Elijah as a gentle whisper. How beautiful! God is so tender and gentle with us because He loves us so much. This is definitely one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Moving on. God repeated himself,

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”


God responded by giving him instructions concerning the destruction of his enemies. This was reassurance he would be okay. 

Sometimes we need that reassurance. God knows it's hard. However let satan's attack push you closer to God instead of further. God loves you and it's during hard times when He wants you near Him the most so he can comfort and strengthen you. That was one moment in Elijah's life. Through that encounter with God Elijah defeated fear. Please read the last post, 2016....Hand of Deliverance or The Finger of God for reassurance that this year is a year of deliverance. You will be delivered from satan's blows and you will be who God called you to be. God is not disappointed in you. God looks at you and despite His mighty ways He approaches you as a gentle whisper. Be encouraged brother and sister and remember you never fight alone. God is there with you. Call on His name. Many times we feel alone when God is sitting next to us the whole time. Call Him. Be encouraged because it wont be like this always. Your deliverance is set to come forth this year. Be bold and most of all have faith because you serve a powerful God who loves you endlessly. Peace doesn't come from dormancy. Peace comes from knowing God is with you in times of good and times of bad. This is how Jesus was able to sleep comfortably despite the fact that a horrible storm was tossing the boat. With His words He commanded the storm to end and peace instantly came over the waters. He gave us the same ability through faith. Allow God to strengthen you and get back in the game. God is with you. He knows you can overcome this because you are His.

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2016....Hand of Deliverance or The Finger of God

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It's been a while! First off let me start by saying Happy New Year! Better late than never right? We're now in the second month of the year, and God gave me a word concerning 2016 that I've been sitting on. First off let's praise God for what He did in 2015. In the previous post New Year, New Places, God gave us a word concerning 2015. He promised to take us to new and higher places. He told us there would be 2 kinds of people: people who will be given more, and people who will be given things but it will be taken away. I seen this come to pass in my life and in the lives of people around me. How about you? Some of us may have felt bitter because we were taken to higher places but experienced warfare. More warfare comes with the territory of elevation. Be that as it may, when you look back at some of the warfare you experienced you'll see even then you were blessed. There were some of you in the bunch that had things taken away in 2015. Even that is a blessing, for a person who is corrected is a person who is loved. If a parent allows their child to do whatever they want and if they let their child play in dangerous areas without protection or correction, we would look at that parent and say they don't care about their child. God cares about you. He is not fighting you, He is fighting those demons surrounding you that are trying to overcome you. He doesn't hate the sinner, God hates the sin.

So wherever you found yourself in 2015, rejoice because you made it to a new year and a new season. I asked God for a word concerning 2016 and I didn't hear anything until sometime in the middle of the night. I heard a gentle voice tell me in 2016 people will either experience God's "hand of deliverance, or the finger of God." I immediately begin to think of how this word related to the word for 2015. It seemed almost identical, at least on the surface. But when God begin to breakdown His word, I was shown 2016 will be vastly different than 2015.

Hand of Deliverance

In 2015 God promised to give some people elevation, and now in 2016 He is promising deliverance. This isn't the same thing. For example Saul experienced elevation but he didn't have full deliverance of some things. Saul started off a humble man. However he suffered from a disconnection with God due to his lack of seeking Him directly. Even with this flaw God still gave him elevation. On a quick side note, we have to be mindful that elevation has nothing to do with perfection. God doesn't bless us according to our greatness because we have none. God blesses us according to His greatness because His greatness is true and everlasting. Going back to Saul, after Samuel anointed him to be king God elevated Saul's heart.

1 Samuel 10:9-11 As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Through the Spirit of God, Saul was anointed and elevated. However Saul needed deliverance in an area of his life and didn't receive it. This lead to his disobedience later down the line. In the beginning of Saul's elevation God did mighty things through him. He gave Saul victory in war, and through this the people of Israel came to respect him as king. One particular battle against the Amalekites, God commanded Saul,

1 Samuel 15:2-3 I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

However after defeating the Amalekites, Saul looked at their possessions and thought it looked too good to destroy, so he didn't. For this reason God regretted making him king. Through His servant Samuel God rejected Saul as king. So in this scenario Saul received elevation without deliverance, and this caused him to lose it all. So some of you are probably wondering, "why didn't God deliver him? He was setting Saul up for failure." The answer to that question lies in Saul's flaw. He didn't have a true connection with God. Instead he turned to men like Samuel for guidance instead of God. Later in his life he turned to mediums. There's nothing wrong with reaching out to a pastor for help. We must double team the devil so reach out to your family in Christ as much as you can. However you and God must have a relationship, as well. That happens by seeking Him and allowing Him to continually transform you, and this brings about deliverance. Saul wasn't delivered because he never seeked God. He started off as a humble person, but it didn't end that way. God tested him with a little elevation and his pride and failure to know the God who blessed him led to his disobedience and rejection as king. 

This leads me to my first point. This year will be a year of deliverance for many. Last year many of you were elevated but still fell to sin. Satan uses your falls to justify why you are undeserving of more. However our ways are not God's ways. God elevated us last year and He watched our response to see if we can handle the abundance that is set to come this year. However God didn't judge us based on our falls. He judged us based on our hearts. Many of you have been elevated but may still struggle with addictions, distractions, you name it. Your heart will determine whether or not you will experience God's delivering hand or the finger of God. Opening yourself up to God's deliverance requires a heart after Him. Even after a fall. It requires humility and these were actions Saul didn't display. Know the God who elevated you in 2015. Know the God who loves you, who gives you breath in your nostrils. Know the God who forgives, who looks at you and smiles every time you seek Him. God doesn't care how filthy you are when you come in His presence. We care though. We look at the disgusting horrible things we've done in God's sight and we want to hide. However God looks at us in our filth and smiles because He admires us for having the strength to come to Him in repentance despite our dirt. 

Satan thought he had you last year. Even in your elevation he used your weaknesses like puppet strings to pull you back into the mess God delivered you from. This brought about an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. Some of you probably think there are addictions and weaknesses you suffer from that you will always deal with. That's not true! This is your year of deliverance. God will close doors this year that you thought would never close. And because of that deliverance you will have no strings holding you back from the high places God wants to take you to. Now I feel the need to be specific because there are many deceivers out there. When I speak on elevation and higher places, I am not just talking about financial and career increases. I do see God unleashing these gifts on His people in 2016, but I want to specify that I am referring to blessings of the supernatural and in this world as well. 

I know these are words, but hear me on this. The only one who can stop your deliverance this year is you. Satan can't take it from you. Satan won't be allowed to come into your camp and take your blessings as plunder anymore. However what Satan can do is convince you to forfeit those blessings, and believe me he will use this tactic more than ever in 2016. Prepare to have your mistakes thrown in your face. Remember, satan is an accuser. This is what he is going to do. Thanks to Jesus Christ it isn't the sin itself that pulls you away from God. It's what the sin does to you. In other words, when we come to God in true repentance we will be forgiven. By His stripes we are healed. But sin does something to us and this is why God wants us to stay away from it. Sin opens us up to satan's lies and closes us from God's love through our guilt, and self-condemnation. If we fall we must resist the urge to want to distance ourselves more from God. If we come to God immediately after we fall with a true desire to change, the sin is wiped clean and forgotten about. Saul certainly didn't receive deliverance because God didn't want to deliver him. Saul didn't receive deliverance because he didn't seek God and he didn't allow himself to be transformed by His love. This takes me to my second point. Unfortunately there will be some who will experience the finger of God instead of deliverance due to pride and other factors blocking them from humbling themselves and seeking God. 

The Finger of God

Let me be frank--there will be judgement in 2016. Fortunately for us God's judgement comes after many warnings. Let this be a warning. If you have even a slight feeling you may be in this group repent. Better to play it safe and repent than to turn your back to God and walk right into judgement. God's heart will soften to any heart filled with true repentance no matter what you've done. He will immediately begin His plans to deliver you. God judgement will go hand-in-hand with God's deliverance. This means many who will fall into this group are people who took something from you. It will be those who hurt you, and those who have plotted against you behind your back. We are to pray for these people. The bible talks about the fingers of a human hand God used to speak judgement on a group of people who stole and enslaved the people of God. Here's how it begins:

Daniel 5:1-4 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

One thing to point out before I move on. These people were celebrating while God's people were enslaved. This seems to always be the case! How many times have you felt like doing the right thing has gotten you a first class seat at the bottom of the barrel? Meanwhile as you suffer you have to sit there and watch friends on social media who have the slightest care about God, live like kings and queens. On the surface it seems like we can't win. It causes us to grow weary in doing good. God promises us many times in the bible that those who rebel will not prosper. Their day will come just like your day will come when God will wipe the tears from your eyes so you may never cry again. We just need to trust God and avoid comparing ourselves to others.

Going back to Daniel 5, in the middle of their celebrating,

Daniel 5:5-6 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

Can you imagine? I would be terrified as well. None of the new age diviners and enchanters could figure out what the writing said. King Belshazzar then turned to Daniel to interpret the message. Daniel informed him,

Daniel 5:18-26
“Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.
“But you, Belshazzar, his son,have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.
“This is the inscription that was written:
                                   mene, mene, tekel, parsin
“Here is what these words mean:
Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Notice God's reasoning for bringing about His judgement. It was pridefulness. King Belshazzar didn't have a heart for God. He trusted in his position and he didn't trust in God. He allowed his heart to be filled with pride instead of God's love. Similar to Saul's mistake right? The night Daniel gave King Belshazzar this word he was killed and thus stripped of his seat. I am not speaking death on anyone, but there will be people stripped of the greatness they claimed to have. Those who think their greatness comes from social positions, jobs, income, and other meaningless things will be in this group. A humble heart, meaning a heart that recognizes greatness only comes from God will be rewarded this year. The deliverance group will be given the blessings this group will lose.

Now zooming out, America will experience judgement this year. We as a country have been in rebellion with God for a long time and this year God will begin His judgement in louder ways. However His people will be protected through His Holy Spirit. So we must be in tune with the Spirit. We also need to continuously pray for this country. We need to pray for this world. There are world leaders with prideful hearts who think they are higher than the Almighty God. God will show Himself to be great and mighty. The question is will you be the object of His wrath or will you be on His team?

It's not too Late

The key here is in the heart. We must renew our hearts. We need hearts after God. We need humble hearts. Sin and good deeds won't determine it. It will be how humble the heart is, and how much that heart wants God. Invest in a relationship with Him. Anyone with a true urge to turn away from sin, pride, and their harmful ways will receive deliverance. None of us are perfect, but a heart after a perfect God will cover our flaws and give us another chance. Make it a priority as we enter month 2. I wish you blesses this year and I look forward to another year with you!


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