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Is your delight conditional?

Job 22:25-26 (AMP) And make the Almighty your gold and your precious silver, then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.

No one likes being miserable. If they do, then we have other issues. Some people crave drama and do not feel like they are valuable unless they are right in the middle of a mess. Some want to be the savior in life. We have a term down south called, “spilling the tea.” What does it mean to spill the tea? It is to share exclusive information about a situation or a person. Plain and simple it is gossip.

That is what I think of when I read the book of Job. He had friends around him that liked to “spill the tea.” He was going through some tough times. Take the above scripture and put it into context.

Job 22:23-30 (AMP) If you return to the Almighty [and submit and humble yourself before Him], you will be built up [and restored]; If you remove unrighteousness far from your tents, and place your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks [considering it of little value], and make the Almighty your gold And your precious silver, then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God. “You will pray to Him, and He will hear you,
and you will pay your vows. “You will also decide and decree a thing, and it will be established for you; And the light [of God’s favor] will shine upon your ways. “When you are cast down and humbled, you will speak with confidence, and the humble person He will lift up and save. “He will even rescue the one [for whom you intercede] who is not innocent; And he will be rescued through the cleanness of your hands.”

Job’s friend had made an assumption, that Job had turned away from God and that is why he was going into such calamity. My question is: why do I follow the precepts of God? Is it so that nothing bad will happen to me? Is that our assumption when someone in our church is going through hard times? They must have displeased God. Not true.

Yes, there are areas that we misstep. Here is one such area that we can be flimsy with: Malachi 3:16, “Bring all the tithes (the tenth) into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you [so great] a blessing until there is no more room to receive it.”

There have been a time that, although we tithe, lightning has struck our electronics and we had to spend $1000 to replace them. Then the next week the truck started shuttering and had to pay out another $650 to fix it. Was our allegiance to God questioned? Did we have a secret sin that needed to be repented of? Did we step out of His covering? Nope.

John 10:10 (AMP) The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].

Do you know what we didn’t do? We did not stop tithing, we did not stop giving, we did not stop serving, and we paid those bills with joy. Why? When you delight in Him, nothing the devil tries to steal will effect your position in Christ. We do not give to get. We give because of who He is. We serve because we love Him. We delight in Him no matter what comes our way. We do not change that when things are going good nor when things are challenging.

Psalms 119:16, (AMP) I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. For I shall delight in Your commandments, which I love.

Philippians 2:17 (AMP) But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith [for preaching the message of salvation], still I rejoice and share my joy with you all.

Job had done nothing against God to deserve such a tragedy, but have breath in his lungs. As long as we have breath in our lungs we have an enemy. It is not each other. The devil wants you to question God’s love for you. He wants you to question the Word. He wants you to question the standard of Christ. He wants you to think that you delighting in God does not really matter. It matters, but not in the way that we often think. It matters to chase His heart and face and not His hands. Job’s devotion to God was unconditional. The enemy is not trying anything new.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (AMP) In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might. Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places. Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious]. So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist and having put on the breastplate of righteousness (an upright heart), and having strapped on your feet the gospel of peace in preparation [to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news]. Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  With all prayer and petition pray [with specific requests] at all times [on every occasion and in every season] in the Spirit, and with this in view, stay alert with all perseverance and petition [interceding in prayer] for all God’s people.

Delighting in the Lord should not be conditional. We should not be asking for it to all end when we suffer. He does not punish us because of the low moments and He does not reward us in our highs. He is constant. He is immutable, never changing. He cares for us and loves us deeply. When we are deeply rooted in that love, the delight is unshakable. Our joy in in Him. Our satisfaction is in Him and not our conditions. We are to be inclined towards Him. Delight in Him!

Lord, You are our Creator and our Protector. You are our Banner of Love. Thank You for sending Your Son to set the standard of what it is like to delight in You. There is no one who suffered more without cause than Jesus, yet He kept His face towards You. Thank You for the power to overcome though the Holy Spirit. All is a gift from You because of Your Perfect Love. We repent for making our delight in You conditional. We repent for withholding our service, our relationships, our prayers and even our giving when we did not feel like it. We repent for making it about us. Thank You for Your Word piercing areas with fresh anointing oil. There is freedom in Your Word. We choose forgiveness today. We choose hope today. We choose love today. We choose joy today. We choose to glorify You today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Joy and Strength

Jeremiah 15:16 (AMP) Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.

Jeremiah, in the midst of his sorrow, recognized that all He needed was the reminder of what God had said. This is why I carve out a piece of my day to get in the Word. I am not able to do it at the same time every day, nor for the same amount of time each day. Some days I get to be in the Word longer. There are days that I listen to a sermon while I am at the gym. Then there are days where I keep worship music on while I am doing my daily tasks. There are others that I will meditate on a scripture that I had read. The important thing is to find a way to keep the Truth of His Word at the forefront of your mind. Why?

What does God tell Joshua right before he crosses the Jordan? Joshua 1:6-9 (AMP) Be strong and confident and courageous, for you will give this people as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers (ancestors) to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do [everything] in accordance with the entire law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper and be successful wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

What kept Jeremiah going? The Word of the Lord! What weapon did God give to Joshua so that he would be strong, confident and courageous? The Word of the Lord! What will keep us at peace? The Word of the Lord!

John 1:1 (AMP) In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. 

John 15:4 (AMP) Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me. 

John 14:6 (AMP) Jesus said to him, “I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

John 17:15-17 (AMP) I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but that You keep them and protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth.

How can I abide with Jesus (the Word) if I will not get to know the Word (character and nature of God)? The Holy Spirit draws us to the Word (the Truth)…Jesus. Someone asked me about abiding the other day. My response is that I hunger for the Word.

I do have a prayer life, but a prayer life without knowledge of the Word is full of emotions, which are not bad, but not grounded in the Word can be dangerous. Our prayers that are not rooted in the Word can lead to division, isolation and unintended rebellion. Why? They have not been filled with the Truth. There is a difference between my truth and THE Truth. Often times we base our walk and our prayer lives on our truths and in return the “Be strong, confident and courageous” is done in our own power (which is lacking) and not in His Power which is grounded in THE Truth.

One of the first parts of the Bible I will tell a new believer to read is the Book of John. John reveals that we are His Beloved. John reveals all the areas of our lives that Jesus came to be a part of. Then there is Ephesians, Ephesians reveals who we are in Christ. Reading Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther tells me about the character and nature of God during the time that the Israelites had once again gotten themselves into captivity. Psalms and Proverbs are popular to read. I do make a point to read them once a year at least, but I cannot get stuck there. I have to see the Word of God as a gift and not just pieces for me to take apart because I like them best. It may be easy to just stay in one book like Psalms, but we could be limiting our prayer and devotion life to the emotion part only. The same as if we only read the New Testament.

2 Corinthians 11:3 (AMP) But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of [your sincere and] pure devotion to Christ.

The enemy, the devil, is cunning and will try to twist the words like he did with Eve and like he attempted with Jesus in the wilderness. His goal is to get you to question the Word and to question the character and nature of God. We may not understand everything that is in the Word the first time we read it, or even if we read the same passage 10 times, but can we trust God? Jeremiah did not understand why he was going through such hardships, but he trusted God at His Word, and joy returned to him. You cannot be strong and courageous without the Word. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Truth. Therefore, the Word is Truth. I cannot abide in Jesus separate from the Truth of the Word. I am strong and courageous because I am now in Christ, standing firm on the Word of the Truth. Everything pointing back to Jesus. He is the source of our joy and our strength.

God, You are worthy of honor and praise. We are in awe of Your majesty. Thank You for sending Your Son, the Word made flesh. Your Word is a light to our lives and we trust in You. Forgive us for not spending time in Your Word and giving Your Word first place in our lives. We have allowed the busyness of life to keep us from meditating on Your Word and have chosen to mediate on our worries. We repent for allowing deception to come into our minds when it comes to allowing our truths to override the Word of Your Truth. Thank Your for reminding us in Your Word that You love us, that You desire us, and that You want us free and whole. Thank You for sending Your Son to redeem us and restore us into that relationship with You. Your Word is Life. Your Word is Truth. Your Word is Power. I choose today to abide with Jesus, the Word, the Truth. You are the source of our joy and our strength. In Jesus name, Amen.

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Lazy Days of Summer are Over

Philippians 3:10 (AMP) And this, so that I may know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers], and [that I may share] the fellowship of His sufferings, by being continually conformed [inwardly into His likeness even] to His death [dying as He did].

Summer break is officially over for us. My youngest started his first year of high school this week and my oldest will start his first year of college next week. I have to overcome the lazy days of summer and get back into a routine. Why? I have become lazy. I have become lazy in my devotions. I have become lazy in my reading. I have become lazy in my writing.

Sunday we began 21 days of prayer with our church. You can follow along with the social media prompt here on our Facebook Page. These 21 days of prayer are focused on our children returning to school. We are sending them out as light into the darkness. We do not pray over them in fear, we pray over them so that they may make an impact. I have never hidden my children from the world as we have been instructed to be light to the world. How can we hide what He has illuminated (Matthew 5:15).

My children are not my own, they are His and I have to trust that He can do better with them than I. Remember Hannah (1 Samuel 1), we have dedicated our children to the Lord for His service. Even though the household that Samuel was sent out to was not perfect, God still spoke in and through him.

With all that being put out there, how do I overcome my laziness? I have also taken these 21 days to give my time back to God. I have become more intentional with my devotion time. I have become more intentional with my reading. I have given Him my days again. Why? Just like the above verse states, so that I may know Him. Desiring for More has always been about drawing deeper into my relationship with God.

Monday I redid the website and social media pages to reflect that. When I began this two years ago the verse I used was Ephesians 3:20, (TPT) “Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.” I firmly believe when we run after the things of God that my wildest imaginations will come to life. However, that is not why I chase after Him and I wanted to convey that in my writings. So the key verse for Desiring for More has been changed to Philippians 3:10.

To get out of the lazy, I need to realign my heart with His. Seek after Him and do the works of the ministry. However, I cannot get so busy doing that I do not spend time with Him. I cannot spend so much time with Him and never get to doing. That is why I gave Him back my time these 21 days of prayer, it is His time now.

How are you doing with your time? Could you use a readjustment like me? Give back to Him what is His. He freely gave it to us. We need to be good stewards with it (Matthew 25:14-30). Spend time in His Word, spend time in prayer and get out and do what He says. Show your Light and His love today.