A Different Look at Adam

We have all heard the story about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We know that Eve took the forbidden fruit and passed it on to Adam which caused them to be expelled from the Garden. Different preachers will take different paths on who was the most to blame. However, that is not even the subject of this blog. I want you to see something in a different light.
First of all, just like Adam, Eve was never born. Neither was she created from the dust of the ground. She was 'taken' from INSIDE of Adam. Everything that was a part of Adam, was now a part of Eve. She had a different body than he did because God wanted them to have children and raise them to love and obey Him. Her curse was not in bearing children. Her curse in Gen. 3:16 was that God would greatly multiply her pain in childbirth. A lot of you ladies will testify to that.
The myth of "opposites attract" was not a marital opinion set forth by God. He took Adam's feelings, his personality, his loves, his desires-----everything Adam was---Eve was. She just had a different body. What he liked, she liked. How he felt about something, she felt the same way. What made him happy, made her happy. That's called walking in unity. Personally, it should be preached from the pulpit that just as sure as hell is hot, couples should run away from "I know we have our differences, but---" when they are considering marriage. It is not a God option. Will God work with it? If you marry and serve God, He has to.
But, is it boring being married to someone pretty much like you? Marriage is ALWAYS what two people relying on God make it. With what married couples have to go through today, it would help tremendously if they started off agreeing with each other. I know some of you out there have opinions. Let's hear them.

Now my point about Adam.

Here is a man who has someone walking with him that shares his same likes and dislikes. The difference is, and still remains, that women are a little more fragile and they tend to be more emotional than men. Men on the other hand have this instinct to hear their spouses laugh and love to see them happy----no matter what they have to do. (I'm talking about when you first started out. Not the way some have wound up after years of being together.)
I can see where Adam was so filled with love for his mate that he would do virtually anything to make her happy. Does that sound familiar guys? We'll do anything to see her smile? We only laugh when we have done something that makes her laugh? I know. It might not be that way now but it once was. Could it have been that Adam was so deeply in love with Eve that he wanted her to have ANYTHING that would make her happy?
What do you think?

Prepare A Way For God To Move In Your Life

Isaiah 40:3 (NIV) A voice of one calling, "In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

Yesterday, Sunday, I was listening to a song from Robin Mark's CD entitled Belfast Revival. The title of the song is "Revival." You really, really ought to go to YouTube and search for either Robin Mark or Belfast Revival. It will crank your motor if you've got anything to crank.

Naturally, I listened to it several times in the past couple of days. This verse from Isaiah was used at the beginning of the song. It is sung slowly and passionately. In this intro, it winds up becoming a prayer. You really ought to listen to it.

As I meditated on it throughout today, I was reminded of a message I preached a couple of years ago from this very same verse. The meaning of the message came fresh into my soul and challenged me once more.

This passage tells me that I need to prepare a way for God to move in my life. It seems that it indicates that God is WILLING to move in me but He refuses to prepare the way. He leaves that up to me. The question is, how much do I want God to move and how willing am I to make the appropriate changes?

The prophet gives us a bit of insight at God's hint as to how much He will move. He plainly tells every believer that God's desire is to move in such a fashion that we would need a highway to safely allow God to navigate. To see it another way, go stand in any highway you want. All of them are bigger than you.

God's heart is to do something in our lives that is way bigger than we are. Can we see it? Are we earnest enough to begin our preparations for Him to be able to do what He wants?

Are We Offended Because of Jesus?

Mt 11:6--And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

John the Baptist was faithful in all that God had asked him to do. He ushered in the power ministry of Jesus. However, John wound up in prison for honoring God and His Word and eventually lost his life. He was in an unGodly and unrighteous situation and was obviously upset that Jesus didn't set things straight. In the natural, Jesus couldn't even set His own life straight. The same unGodly rulers took His life also. But, Jesus remained focused ONLY on the business that His Father had for Him to do. He realized that, as he trusted His Father, every situation would work together the very way that His Father planned it. That included His torture and His death which provided deliverance for the world.
Jesus sent a message to John that we all need to find a way to be at peace with. Blessed and happy are those who are not offended in Him. Bad things happen to good people and some bad things last longer than others. Just like the cross, is there some purpose that God has in mind for us to go through the ugly that we are forced to live with? If we look at the cross of Jesus Christ we have to say, 'Yes'. Jesus said that if we didn't take up our cross instead of trying to avoid it, we could not be His disciples. The term disciples indicates someone who learns. 
Under your cross today, there is something you need to learn, not something you should be offended by. Millions of people have received deliverance because of the unrighteous cross that Jesus suffered on and was not offended by. How many can we reach in the same manner?
Endure with grace today, Beloved.

Believe, Receive, Have

Mark 11:24--Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.


This was Jesus' lifestyle and this is what He taught. Let's break it down into the original Greek.
Believe--pisteuo-to think to be true, to be persuaded of
Receive--lambano-to take with the hand, lay hold of
Have--esomai-"I will be." This Greek word is the future first person plural of 'to be.'


What Jesus is literally saying here is, When you pray, be persuaded that I will give you the things you are asking for, take ownership of them in your heart and that's where I will be. 


How deep is that promise? In verse 23, He declared to His disciples that even if they were to command a mountain to be cast into the sea, it would happen. Does that sound far-fetched? Let's see.


Like a lot of other folks, I get paid twice a month. Today is July 22, 2012. I am scheduled to get paid on the last day of this month. Technically, that's nine days away. We believe that the company we work for is truthful and even though we do not physically have the money in our hands, we have laid hold of that event in our hearts, souls and minds. We go a step further. We have already planned and settled into our hearts what we will do with those funds when the 31st gets here. And, you do the same thing. We lay hold of something on the inside and we are convinced of something before it manifests. The more often it happens, the stronger our faith in the fact.


Jesus says that answered prayer is the same way. You become persuaded that it is yours, you lay hold of the future fact-------then did you notice what He said?
He said, when you are persuaded of and lay hold of the promise----THAT IS WHERE I WILL BE. Jesus, Himself takes charge of the outcome.


As this promise takes hold of us, let us rise like a mighty army and TAKE BACK our families, our communities and a lost world. Let us take back our finances and the future of our children. Let us take back our well bodies and the health of anyone we pray for.


Be persuaded, lay hold and know where Jesus is. He said He would be right in the middle of our answer.


That's good stuff. Pass it on.

What Was The Key To Jesus' Miracles?

I guess you could say that we're still talking about Phil 2:1 and Heb 12:2. If you would take a good look at the Author and Finisher of our faith, you would see that He spent a good deal of His time talking about the goodness of His Father and the extreme value of His Father's Word. He never praised the devil, He never complained of His circumstances and He always knew the right thing to do. The only thing that angered and/or exasperated Jesus was when people refused to believe His Father's Word and when they taught other's to do the same by their actions.


As I have mentioned in previous blogs, if you desire to fellowship with the Spirit, then you should talk about the things He wants to talk about. You already do this in your daily life. If you really, really want someone to take up some time with you, you begin a conversation about something they have a passion for.  Everybody has 'hot' buttons. For some it would be football, for some it may be cooking, for some it could be fishing, but everyone has a 'hot' button. Me? If you want to bring a smile to my face and desire a spirited conversation, ask me something about the books I write. I love my characters, I love the Godly meaning that is instilled in the stories and I love the outcome of the book I am writing now. Just ask me one question and a thirty minute conversation comes blurting out of my heart. BECAUSE IT'S MY PASSION.


Read about God's passion in Dt. 6. He says something that He promises will make us live a long time and give us a mighty increase. His passion is to bless man in every way possible. As you read through the chapter He says things like, "give thee great and goodly cities," " houses full of good things," and "when thou shalt have eaten and be full." That sounds like someone who is excited about blessing you, doesn't it?


What does God say will bring these things. One is to love the Lord with all of your heart, soul and strength. The other it to talk about His Word and not your circumstances. This is why Jesus was able to overcome oppressive forces, work miracles and bless so many lives. His Father's passion became His. He talked about His Father's passion when He prayed. He talked about His Father's passion when He talked to the disciples. He talked about His Father's passion to the crowds. And, He showed His Father's passion when He healed and delivered the multitudes.


Sharing God's passion with Him in fellowship increases the love bond between you. As you continue to fellowship with Him and His Word, the love bond becomes a part of Your lifestyle. That love bond begins to come out in your home life for your children to see. That love bond comes alive where you work, you shop and you worship. Through fellowship with Him, His love begins to manifest through you in healings both physical and emotional.


It is so vital that we learn how to fellowship with Him correctly. This world desperately needs to be taught about the real Jesus in a real way. That comes through constant correct fellowship with Him.

Jesus Talk

I'm still on the subject of fellowship with the Spirit from Phil 2:1.

What we talk about constantly is an indicator of what we have been thinking about. So before you go opening your big mouth again....well let me say it like this. When someone ELSE shoots off their mouth, NOW you'll know EXACTLY what they have been thinking about. Notice what people say when they are put under a little bit of pressure. Uh-huh. You'll know where the phrase 'Open mouth insert foot' comes from. The mouth is just the overflow of your thought life. Change your thought life and you change your mouth and actions.

Heb. 12:2, let's look at Jesus. He talked some kind of talk, but He also walked some kind of walk. That's because 'the words of His mouth and the meditations of His heart' were acceptable to God. Jesus gave satan His life plan when satan tempted Him in the wilderness. The Henry version of what Jesus told him is this, "I am going to live by every Word that comes out of my Father's mouth, unlike what you did you loser."

It is evident satan chose to meditate on and act in disobedience to God's Word. Look what it got him. Don't you know that Jesus' words were a dig into satan's soul. And very well they should have.

Long story short, when Jesus had fellowship with the Father, He always brought up the death, burial and resurrection. On the mount of transfiguration, He talked to Moses and Elijah about his resurrection. Very early in His ministry, He began to teach the disciples about His death, His burial and His resurrection. What did Jesus wind up with? He was crucified, just like His Father said. He died and He was buried just like His Father said. He rose from the dead just like His father said. There's a message there somewhere.

Psalm 19:14--David must have had a clue to fellowship with the Father when he wrote, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." When David QUIT thinking in line with God's Word and STARTED meditating on things he shouldn't have---POOF--there was Bathsheba. 

'Nuff said. But, saints, we have NOT been vigilant  enough in meditating and walking in the Word. That is what we have in common with the Holy Spirit. Fellowship with Him in accordance to God's Word strengthens our relationship with Him and one another. It also straightens our path.

I Paid For That With My Hard Earned Money

That's generally the statement that will come out of our mouths when one of our children breaks a window or dents the car. We'll be the first to tell them in no uncertain terms that they have broken something that they did not have to pay for. And, true enough, children often learn a big lesson about responsibility when they have to work to buy their own possessions.


When we fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and begin whining about what we don't have and what we desperately need, Jesus has every right to step in and say, "I bought that with my very own blood." If you'll pause and think about His Word, He has declared that every need is met according to His riches in glory. Remember a few blogs ago when I made mention that to fellowship with the Spirit, you had to have something in common to talk about? That should be one of the first and foremost of the 'talking points.'


Whatever you need has already been bought by His blood. The blood from the crown of thorns, the lashes that ripped his back apart, the nails that held him to the cross and that flowed out of his side. You will have to admit, dying on a cross was not the easiest thing in the world to do.


Before you begin bringing your petitions to the Lord, spend some time meditating on the price He has already paid for your needs. As the thought of His shed blood becomes a reality in your heart, you'll approach the throne of grace with more boldness knowing that your need has already been bought and paid for.


Think about it.