Black Top

Did you know that the road commission doesn't order new black top down just because someone complained of a problem? They first get an official report stating there is repair needed or actually see the damage themselves and then investigate all areas that are in disrepair for that particular stretch of road. Sometimes the area can be fixed without laying down all new road, but many times, because of wear and tear of that stretch of road, many areas need repair. These areas have to be fixed before the new black top can be applied, otherwise, what looked so nice at first, will wear down into the old areas of disrepair. The new black top would look like the old road rather quickly because of continued use and "weight of traffic". They have to put down a good foundation before they can put the black top down.

Did you notice that "all" areas of disrepair are investigated for that stretch of road? And, did you notice that "they" investigate? This speaks to me of the ministry of the Body of Christ ..."they". This speaks to me of the wisdom and safety we find in a multitude of counselors ..."they". This speaks to me of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The road commission wants to make sure the road is stable before they invest all the money and time needed to put down the new black top. What if there was a sinkhole? Black top sure wouldn't do the trick there.

Sounds just like us. We want to do so much for the Lord and work in the Kingdom of God but we keep getting hung up. It seems we take one step forward and two steps backward. Many times we want the quick fix for our issues by covering them up and burying them so no one can see them. We don't want to let the Body of Christ help us heal. We don't want to get wisdom and counsel because it would reveal our "disrepair". We are content many times to go on with the familiar so no attention is drawn to the disrepair.

We all have areas that need repair. Sometimes we haven't allowed the Holy Spirit to heal us because it may be too deep and wide...too painful. Or, it may be pride in the way of asking for help. James 5:16 states: "Confess your faults (sins, hurts, etc.) one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." Healing comes through confessing and then praying for each other.

God wants to do many new things in our lives. He wants to do abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). We may have learned more, grown deeper in our walk with the Lord, been used in a new area of ministry, but if we don't allow the Holy Spirit heal us, it won't be long before we're looking just like we did before. The same issues keep coming up and up and up. Those "weights" that so easily beset us (Hebrews 12:1 - Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us), will cause the disrepair to show through again. Let the Holy Spirit dig deep to heal those areas of woundedness so you will have a firm foundation for God to build you up for His Kingdom purposes and His glory.

Tastefulness

There are four basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty. In the right combination, there can be great flavor. In the wrong combination, there can be bad flavor.

Taste very much depends on the taste buds of the taster. There are tastes that are more pleasing to some than others because of exposure to certain flavors while growing up. Some tastes are definitely acquired through experience. What one thinks palatable, another may not. Where there has been damage to taste buds, things don't taste as intended. So, no matter what you do to season it, they won't taste it as intended.

Haven't we all experienced this? No matter what you say or do for some people, they can't "taste" your words or giving gestures in the way intended? What you think is palatable, they may not? You haven't been exposed to things they have been exposed to, so you don't "taste" things the same way?

It may be “no taste” or it may be “sour taste” or “bitter taste” or “savory taste” or “sweet taste” or “salty taste” that overpowers the “real” taste. Some pleasant and some unpleasant. When something isn’t received in the way we intended it, remember that person’s “taste buds” have been damaged.

We are the salt of the earth and here to savour it. Let’s season our speech with grace and love.

Colossians 4:6 - Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

A PRESSURE WASHER

How does a pressure washer work? The water comes in full running force from the faucet to the end of the regular-sized hose. The first part of the attachment for a pressure washer has a smaller diameter tube to build up pressure. There is a pressure valve after that tube which releases the built-up pressure through yet another much smaller diameter and longer tube, so it can force the water out even at a higher pressure to clean up where you are aiming the spray.

My spirit did a little leap within me when I heard the information about how a pressure washer worked. I thought about our narrow path and how much narrower it is getting as time marches on to the prize that is set before us and the glory that awaits us. I thought about the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives…..that He came to give us POWER to do His work.

We have control of that valve. The force and speed at which the Holy Spirit will flow from us we obviously cannot comprehend. God’s Spirit (the faucet) is flowing to us (the big hose) and through us at all times. He says that we should have springs of Living Water within our souls (the narrow attachment) that should flood out over all those around us.

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

We have control of that valve. Are we letting the cares of this world keep that valve shut? Are we letting the pride of life keep that valve shut? Open that valve to the Holy Spirit everyday so we can affect everyone and everything we come in contact with. It’s about His power flowing through us. It’s about us opening that valve to let His power flow. We are responsible for affecting those around us. Let the River flow.

A Planting of the Lord

Several years ago, as I was going through some very deep struggles, the Word of the Lord came so alive to me in my circumstances. There are no words that can described the healing and refreshing that I felt as the Holy Spirit applied the Word to my life. I wanted to share this special Word with you. I hope it blesses your life.

Hosea 2:13-24
“13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.”
God will help me forgive myself for my past sins when I let the lust of the flesh, the lust of eyes, and the pride of life take over my life.

“14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.”
He will lead me to the wilderness to be there with Him. He will take me away from the distractions and take the distractions away from me so I can focus on Him. He will speak tenderly and lovingly to me.

“15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.”
It is there, in the wilderness, that I will get the harvest of my soul…transformation. It is there, in the wilderness, that I will get deliverance from the past, have hope renewed, and joy restored.

“16 And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.”
He will be my Husband. He will fulfill my heart. He will fulfill my needs. I will look at Him, not as a taskmaster, but as a loving Husband. He doesn’t want me to “perform” good deeds to get His love. He wants to just love and and bless me.

“17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.”
Those things that were holding me for so many years are going to be removed from my heart, so my lips will not speak the curses to myself, over my life, any longer.

“18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.”
He has a covenant with His creatures and creation for me. He is always working on my behalf. He is working things out for His glory and my good. He is my husband. He will keep me safe in the midst of the battles.

“19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.”
“HE” is betrothed to “me”. That means that He has committed Himself to me with everything He “IS” and everything He “HAS”. That’s His part in this marriage. With or without my commitment. HE IS His covenant.

“20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.”
Because of His love and faithfulness to me, I will acknowledge Him at every opportunity. I will draw closer and closer to Him. I will share His love and compassion with those around me…those He brings into my path for His purposes. I will have many divine appointments.

“21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth.”
He WILL respond to me. He will hear “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”. He will hear what comes to His Throne and Heaven will respond.

“22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.”
Jezreel means “the sowing of the Lord”. What “HE” has sown…I will reap the benefits. The earth and all that is in it will hear and respond to His sowing…they will see and receive His provision (corn), they will hear and see the moving of His Holy Spirit (the wine), and they will see and feel the anointing of the Holy Spirit(the oil) through me ..."the sowing of the Lord".

“23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
He sowed me in this earth. He planted me for Himself in the land. I am “the sowing of the Lord”. I am what He wants to bloom and grow and flourish. He planted me because He knew I would produce a good crop. I am His and He is mine.

Applying God's Word

I was looking through some old papers the other day and ran across something I’d written over 30 years ago. I remember that my heart was moved by the Holy Spirit one day when I was at school at Trinity Bible Institute in Ellendale, ND. Genesis chapter 1 just bounced off the page for me that day…January 5, 1977. I began to write His Word as it applied to what I was going through at the time. Put yourself into this reading and let it minister to you. I hope it blesses you.

And my life was without form and void.
And darkness and despair was upon me.
And the Spirit of God moved upon my empty life.
And God said, “Let there be Light and hope once again in her life”.
And, with no effort of my own, there was Light.
And God saw the hope that it was good.
And God divided the hope from the despair.

And God said, “Let there be a solid foundation in the center of her life of struggles and tests”.

And God said, “Let her life be gathered unto one place – Jesus Christ, and let the life of victory be hers”.

And God said, “Let this victorious Christian grow and bring forth fruit, yielding fruit after its own kind”.
And the life grew and brought forth fruit, yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself.
And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let there be hope in the dark times of her life and let them be for signs and give hope to the heart of my child”.

And God said, “Let the trials and testings bring forth abundant lessons to learn”.
And God allowed many great trials and small trials in my life, and each trial brought forth another trial after its own kind.
And God saw that it was good for me.
And God blessed them to my life.

Now that I’ve reread this several times, I see God’s wisdom and faithfulness to me over the years. Amazing. I didn’t like trials then and still don’t. But, now, thirty years later, have a better understanding of how the process of changing me into the image of His Son comes through these trials.

Thanks for letting me share this with you.

FLAVOR

The wild salmon that live in the North Pacific Ocean have to fight those waters for years to get back to their spawning grounds. According to the “foodies”, it is the wild salmon that have the best "flavor". They attribute that flavor to all the fighting they have to do to survive and the struggle to get back to where they were born.

Flavor is the quality of anything which affects the taste. When someone remarks on the flavor of something they are trying to describe the specific way something tastes. Flavor can also be used to describe the act of adding a taste alteration to change the taste to something. This is usually done by adding. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

You wonder why you go through so much struggling in your life? God wants you to have the best flavor for this world! He is conforming us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son”), and it takes a lot of work for some of us. He has to “add” His flavoring all the way through our journey to get us to be tasteful and flavor “full”.

Only God knows what circumstances and situations in our lives will cause us to swim upstream. Only He knows what will make us stronger and what will cause us to search for Him with all our hearts.

Acts 17:26-28 tells us that:
“26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.”

He allows circumstances in our lives to cause us to “grope” for Him; groping as a man in total darkness for a way to the light. He knows where we need to be to draw closer to Him. He knows what will bring out our full flavor to this world! He knows what will cause us to reflect the image of His Son to this lost and dying world.

We have that inborn nature, just like the salmon. The salmon have to get back to where they came from to fulfill their purpose in life. No matter how far away they have gone, that innate motivation causes them to swim against the hardest waves and tides to get back to where they belong. During the “process”, something wonderful happens to them. During that fight to get back, they become very strong and full of flavor for someone else.

We have that innate motivation inside of us as well. We have a void to fill. We have someplace we have to be. Nothing else will fulfill that void but getting back to where we belong. No matter what we try as alternatives, nothing will fill His spot. We strive all of our lives to get back to that place, the place of communion with God, the place of our beginning. "He also has planted Eternity in men's heart and mind (a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but only God can satisfy). Ecclesiastes 3:11 Amplified.

We’re always swimming upstream to find our way back to God, whether we realize it or not. People take many different routes, but are all innately trying to “full fill”. Only He can fill His place. Just as the salmon, only when we arrive at our destination, is their life complete….our desitnation of communion with God. Only then are they the best flavor they can be for others.

Hard Lesson

One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn this last year is that you can’t help someone who doesn’t want help. You can’t give love to someone who won’t receive love. You can’t feed someone who won’t eat. The old saying, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”, was shown to me in full force. If someone doesn’t hunger and thirst after righteousness, you can’t make it happen. It’s all about choice.

They “say” they want help, but their actions aren’t showing they are really hungry and thirsty for righteousness. They want their "lives" to change, but they don’t want to change. They want their "circumstances" to change, but they don’t want to change. They aren’t devouring the Word and hearing those that God has sent into their lives to help them. They won’t “receive” encouragement. They won’t “receive” love. They definitely won’t “receive” correction and instruction in righteousness.

My Bible tells me the only way to change or be transformed is by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2), by the washing of the water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26). When you see transformation in someone’s life, you know that they are washing with the Word. Their mind is being transformed. Therefore, their lives are being transformed.

Matthew 25:34-40 tells us we are to clothe, feed, and house those who need help. He will bless us for that. But He also tells us, if they claim to be His child, there are expectations of behavior. They must show His fruit and grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. There comes a time to release.

The Holy Spirit showed me in the Word how Jesus handled these situations. The Prodigal Son wasn’t chased down by the Father. The Father had to wait for him to return after “he came to himself”. Had someone been there all the time to rescue that boy out of the pigpen and kept bailing him out, he would have remained too comfortable to make a change. Sometimes we get in God’s way and do the same.

Acts 17:26-27 says: 26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
God knows the “place” or what the bounds of our habitation needs to be that will cause us to seek after Him. One version says He puts us in a place, or land, or boundary to cause us to “grope” for Him as in desperation. Let’s stay out of God’s way.

Jesus shared His love and truth. If they didn’t “hear” Him, He shook the dust from His feet and went on. People who came “to” Him because they wanted healing and deliverance were healed and delivered. If someone says they want it but don’t come to Him, don’t grope for Him, aren’t hungry for Him, aren’t desperate for Him………it won’t happen.

It’s very heartbreaking when you can see the potential in someone, yet they desire to stay in that place of comfort and complacency. It’s very heartbreaking when you see the pain that Jesus wants to heal, and they won’t let you in to help. It’s so difficult to watch someone self-destruct by the words of their mouth, knowing that they will have to reap what they are sowing. It’s so difficult to know they are rebelling against God’s authority and those He put in authority, because they have to reap what they sowed. Galatians 6:7 – “Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap”.

There comes a time that you have to let them go. They have to learn hard lessons. We get in the way of God’s work so many times. There are so many times that Christians “rescue”, thinking they are doing the right thing. However, many times the “mercy” gift isn’t really in operation. It is compassion, but not Spirit-led. Many times mercy and compassion doesn’t “look like” mercy and compassion. Real mercy is shown by letting God bring them to a place that will cause them to seek after Him and become desperate for Him. If we step in and give them comfort and solve all their problems, their comfort will negate the desperateness for Him.

Pray before you act. Wait to hear direction before you act. Get wise, Godly counsel before you act. If you really care, you will get out of God’s way. It brings us back to the Jonah situation. Sometimes someone has to be thrown overboard to save the ship. (Read my blog on Jonah).