Merimnao

I highly recommend that you buy a copy of the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller.

Having been born to Christian Missionary parents in Kenya and subsequently raised in the rough, tough frontier world of his parents ranch estate, Mr. Keller grew to become a man who was keenly familiar with the life of a shepherdsman. As a young man he eventually became a sheep rancher for 8 years. Through that time he experienced first hand every phase of sheep management and subsequently gleaned many insights from the Lord on what David was seeking to communicate in the 23rd Psalm.

On page 7 of his book Mr. Keller says the following: "Sheep do not just take care of themselves as some might suppose. They require more than any other class of livestock, endless attention and meticulous care......It is no accident that God has chosen to call us sheep. The behavior of sheep and human beings is similar in many ways. Our mass mind (our mob instincts), our fears and timidity, our stubbornness and stupidity, our perverse habits are all parallels of profound importance."

What Phillip Keller is basically saying is that when Jesus chose to call us sheep, it wasn't just a random comment that he pulled out of the air. He had his reasons for saying it. The gospels are replete with passages that define our relationship with the Lord as a shepherd with his sheep. Most of John 10 is centered around this dynamic. Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 2:25, .....There are many verses that refer to this principle and define our relationship with the Lord as such. Now let's take a look at the first two verses of Psalm 23:

"The Lord  is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me besides still waters, he restores my soul." Psalm 23:1,2

Consider the words, "He makes me lie down..." There is more to be understood here than meets the eye. In the third chapter of his book, PK writes the following:

"The strange thing about sheep is that because of their very make-up it is almost impossible for them to be made to lie down unless four requirements are met. One, owing to their timidity they refuse to lie down unless they are free of all fear. Two, Because of their social behavior within a flock sheep will not lie down unless they are free from friction with others of their kind. Three, if tormented by flies or parasites, sheep will not lie down. Only when free of these pests can they relax. Lastly, sheep will not lie down as long as they feel in need of finding food. They must be free from hunger."

Are you already sensing the spiritual parallels? Some of them are pretty obvious. The Lord wants us to learn to rest. He wants our souls to be at rest, to be at peace. I believe peace and joy are the ultimate markers of true righteousness in the believers life.

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, ...." Romans 14:17.

Consider also the following verse:

"....Seek peace and pursue it." 1 Peter 3:11

The Lord wants us to be at peace. But it is something that must be pursued, something that must be sought out. In the previous two posts we have discussed some of the beginnings facets of prayer: Submission, self examination, confession of sin and hearing a Song. These are all vital and consistent components of our time with the Lord. And also, in conjunction with them, I think we need to understand that the Lord wants us to be free. Free of fear, fear of strife, free of demonic torment and free of worrying about food, clothing and shelter.

In prayer, as we self examine ourselves, we need to take a look and see where our thoughts are. Do we still wrestle with past regrets, present worries, worries about tomorrow and selfish ambition in regards to the future? Consider the following three verses:

"But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead,..." Philippians 3:13
"I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul;...." Psalm 131: 1,2
"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5

These three verses speak of past, present and future. Past stuff. Things you can't control anymore. Decisions that were made that can't be remade. Not to say we can't repent, confess, renounce and cast out the enemy. We can and do. We should. But the past is past. Let it go and ask the Lord to heal you in the areas where you need healing and move forward. Move forward.

Present tense worries. Are you worried about something? What? Be honest. What are you worried about? We all worry at times. It's natural. Sheep are worriers. They worry. Are you worried? The Lord wants to take those fears and worries from us and instill faith in us so that we can rest. The Lord wants us to rest so that he would be magnified in us, so that when we testify about him our words have weight. People will see our peace and be drawn to us, not solely because of the words we speak but because of what they see in us. Trust me, non-believers can at times be just as discerning as believers. Some things are just obvious to everyone, regardless of whether you have God's Spirit on the inside of you or not. Are you worried about something? Go before the Lord and, as the Psalmist says, find stillness of soul. Be still my soul. Be still.

In August of 1997 I was a groomsman in a wedding in Austin, TX. One of my best friends from college got married so I drove down and participated in the ceremony along with all of the functions that surrounded it, pre and post. At the wedding reception my friend's mother walked up to me and said "You look different. You seem different. You seem very content. You seem to have peace." I had known this woman for almost 6 years at the time and she had known me before I had come to the Lord. When she said that to me I had only been in Christ for 3 years. You see, she was starting to see a difference in me. She was seeing rest, peace, contentment, someone that was under the shepherding hand of Christ. She saw some of the beginning stages of fruit and so it gave me a liberty to testify with words what she could see in my actions. The peaceable fruits of righteousness. Hebrews 12. I wasn't perfect, but she could see change.

The future. What worries you? Be honest. We all struggle at times. What worries you? I have them. Money, opportunity, housing, the economy, work, ......The list never ends. Questions. Concerns. Worries. Ambitions. Let's do this. Let's do that. Vain ambition. Pride. Envy, Strife. It all stems from having a mind that is set on the unknown variables that surround our future. What about the future? What do we do about tomorrow? The questions sometimes seem to never end. Past, present, future. What about this and that?

So where do we get the title Merminao? Very simple. In Matthew 6 Jesus said the following:

"Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear..........Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes?.....So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or ......Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." 

The Greek word Jesus uses each time for 'worry' is Merimnao. It means "to give thought to" or "to give a share of your thoughts to something." It means to have a mind that is divided. The Lord doesn't want us to have a mind that is divided among worries. In Proverbs it says that a heart a peace gives life to the body but envy rots the bones (Proverbs 14:30). A peaceful heart generates a peaceful mind. But a house divided will not stand.

My wife and I knew a woman in Dallas some years back. One day my wife had a vision of this woman. In the vision Christine saw this lady eaten up with bitterness on the inside, specifically towards her dad who had previously tried to kill her mother. This lady had allowed bitterness to settle into her heart and it brought infirmity to her body. This woman died of cancer last year, most likely way before her time. She allowed the evil one to snuff her life out prematurely because she couldn't forgive. Her house was divided. And it didn't stand.

The Lord wants us to be a rest, at peace, forgiving, loving, self-examining for any fleshly intrusions, examining everything that passes through our hearts and minds, holding onto that which is good and avoiding that which is evil.

"Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil." 1 Thess 5:21,22

Folks, we need to take out the trash every day. Take out the trash. Have you seen the news over the past two weeks relating to the strikes in France? Government workers have been protesting because the French government is considering legislation to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. The garbage collection workers in Marseilles, France are on strike. There are over 9,000 tons, that's tons of garbage to be collected right now. It's just sitting in the streets. The entire city stinks right now.

Truth be told, this is how we get internally at times. Trash just sits around, untouched. We worry about the same thing for weeks, months, even years. Some of us don't know life apart from Merimnao. Our thoughts are divided among so many things (past, present, future) it's unbelievable. It's ok to think about the past. Sometimes the Lord directs our thoughts to past experiences and speaks to us in context of them. But it should always be in context of what the Lord is doing in us. It's ok to think about today, just not with a sense of exasperation and worry, responding with fleshly control. Look, there will be things that come up in our days that are unplanned. If we are walking in the shadow of the Almighty then we understand that these things are directed of him so we don't have to worry about it. It's ok to think about the future. We just need to peer forward through His eyes. We need to see prophetically as we look forward.

"Cast all of your anxiety (Merimnao) on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7
"Do not be anxious (Merimna) about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

Cast your Merimnao on the Shepherd. Don't be in a state of Merimnao. Rather, through prayer, with a thankful heart, trust that you can put it all before Him, the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. He cares for us. He wants us to lie down and rest. Be at peace. In this world we will have Thlipsis. But take heart. Our shepherd has overcome that which is in front of us. It is HIS to will and to do. Be at peace. Rest. Lie down and rest.

"...He giveth his beloved sleep." Psalm 127:2

JEB
http://www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com/
jayblackshear@yahoo.com

Song

This morning I awoke with the following song in my heart. Take a look.

Song is a powerful thing in the Lord isn't it? It almost feels like you are there. I guess that is the purpose isn't it? When the Lord gives us a song in our hearts, He is in effect trying to take us to another place. He is bringing us into His Presence where His Voice can be heard more clearly. When you hear the music, move towards it. Song is a powerful thing in the Lord.

I once heard Henry Gruver with Joyful Sound Ministries tell a story about how God taught him this principle. As a very young man at the age of 18, he began spending one night a week passing out Bible tracts on the Skid Row streets of Phoenix in 1961. He would walk around after dark and pass out his material to whomever would take one. After many weeks of doing this he started noticing most of his tracts were blowing around in the wind on the ground, having been continually discarded by the people he was handing them to.

In frustration he went to the Lord and asked him how to more effectively minister to the people. The Lord's response to him was simple: "When you walk, I will put a song in your heart and I will give you peace. Only walk where you continually have that song and have that peace. If ever at anytime you lose that song and that peace, stop and go back to the last place you had it and either stay there or continue walking in another direction. Wherever you go, maintain that peace and that song. Now start walking!" (I am trying to repeat the words as best as I remember Henry tell them).

So Henry re-engages the streets of Phoenix. He goes back out one night and the Lord gives him a song in his heart and gives him peace. He continues to walk only when and where he has them. If he stepped onto a sidewalk or in a direction where he lost that song and that peace, he would back up, go to the last place that he remembered having it, and go in another direction. On this night, he eventually finds himself standing still outside of the front door of a tavern in one particular area of downtown. That is where the Lord led him. Everytime he would try to move from that spot he would lose his song and his peace. So he finally just committs to standing still on the sidewalk where the Lord placed him.

All of the sudden, out of nowhere, a drunk man comes flying out of the door of the tavern and charges directly at Henry. The man ran right up to him, got right in his face and started screaming at him. The man was demon possessed. Suddely the man rears back and tries to punch Henry in the face. When he did he completely missed Henry who is just standing there with his feet glued to the ground. Henry can't move. He's just standing there and everytime the man tries to punch him he "miraculously" misses. The Lord was causing him to miss and protecting his servant, who was abiding in God's song and God's peace.

At that point Henry began to pray and ask the Lord to make this man go away. While all of this was happening people were just pouring out of the tavern because a fight was breaking out. So here is Henry, just standing there with his pockets bulging with tracts and people standing everywhere around him. Suddenly the demoniac turns around and goes back into the tavern. At that point God focused Henry's attention on a man standing in the crowd watching what was going on. The Lord told him to go tell the man that Jesus loved him. So Henry walks over, tells this guy that Jesus loves him, and the man just breaks down and starts crying and confessing that he knows that what Henry is telling him is true. Then the Lord speaks to Henry to minister to another man in the crowd who is just standing their crying as he is watching all of this unfold. The presence of the Lord just broke forth in the moment and started dealing with the hearts of the people, and all because an 18 year old kid started walking with a song in his heart. Suddenly people in the crowd are asking him for tracts. He completely emptied his pockets of tracts before the police showed up.  

The point I believe we need to make is this. When we get up in the morning and engage life itself, we need to be listening for a song. Jesus will give us a song if we will listen for it. One of the key ways that his voice manifests is in SONG. It is a powerful manifestation of the voice of the Lord. Look at the following verse:

"For God does speak - now one way, now another - though man may not perceive it." Job 33:14

The word "perceive" in this verse is the Hebrew word Shoor. Shoor is defined two ways in Hebrew. One, it means to be perceptive or discerning. Secondly, it means to stroll about with a song in your heart. So according to the Hebrew language, a person who is discerning and perceiving what God is saying in his heart is a person that also continually has a song in the heart......Do you remember the prophet Elisha? In 2 Kings 3 we find him ministering prophetically to the kings of Israel, Edom and Judah...but not before the music starts playing.

"But now bring me a harpist. While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha and he said......" 2 Kings 3:15

Elisha prophesied as the harpist was playing. Elisha could perceive and discern the mind of Christ because he could hear the song, the joyful sound.

"Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance." Psalm 89: 15.

Worship helps facilitate a flow of the voice of the Lord. Actually, spiritual worship in the form of a song is  the beginnings of the voice of the Lord. He gives a song to us. He speaks to us in song.

"He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God." Psalm 40:3

It serves two purposes in our walks with the Lord. One, we hear God in song as we are fellowshipping with him in prayer. Two, we hear God in song as we go about God's business on the streets of our cities and communities, our jobs and our homes, among our families and friends and among people we do not yet know. The Lord speaks to us in song continually if we will just listen to our hearts. Song is a manifestation of the voice of the Lord. When you are hearing a psalm, hymn or spiritual song you are, in effect, hearing God's voice. Consider the following two verses.

"...be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ....." Ephesians 5:18,19

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:15,16

Our hearts should be an atmosphere where both peace and the word of God (the voice of God) dwells in us in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Peace and Song go together as we are "in Christ."

"If any man be in Christ he is a new creation."  2 Corinthians 5:17

The voice of the Lord will carry with us throughout the day, from the time we get up in the morning until the time we go to bed, and even throughout the night at times, in Song. When we go before the Lord in prayer we reach for him, exam ourselves, respond to conviction if he brings it, and then we move in Song. As we leave the closet and go forth in His Work we can expect a continaution of the peace of God that accompanies Song. Song is a powerful thing in the Lord because Song is in fact the manifestation of his voice in one of its various forms.

Can you hear the joyful sound? Can you hear the Song the Lord is giving to you today? Ask for a song and go forth in peace. Ask him for it. It's a part of our inheritance in Him. Be Blessed.

JEB

http://www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com/

jayblackshear@yahoo.com

Rice Cake Prayer and Skirt Steak Hearts

I don't know if you have every taken a bite out of a piece of rice cake before but it's about as pleasant of an experience as eating card-board. No flavor, hard crusty texture, difficult to chew and mostly uninviting. Truth be told, I think some born-again Christians feel this way about praying. To them it's an uninviting process that yields little or no results. I know. I once very much felt this way about spending time with the Lord. Yes, I loved God and even feared him. But I needed to experience Him, learn His voice, become familiar with the manifestation of HIS presence and all of the blessings that flow from it. And all of this really begins for us in our time with him.....In Spiritual Prayer.

Their is a saying in the business world when it comes to "Salesmanship": Facts Tell but Stories Sell. Let's tell some Stories.

In the late spring of 1996 I was renting a room from a friend of mine who owned a home in Frisco, TX. One day before going to work I sat down on the edge of my bed to pray for about 30 minutes. When I started to pray, I began to speak and pray in a foreign language that was unfamiliar to me. It seemed of Slavic origin like Russian or Polish, possibly some type of Easter European language. This lasted for about 2 minutes. I was literally praying in a foreign language.

"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages (tongues) as the Spirit enabled them." Acts 2:4

When the words stopped coming out of my mouth I just sat their in awe wondering what was going on. I finished my prayer time, went to work and slowly but surely, throughout the day, I began to get very sick. I got so sick that I had to miss work for 2 weeks. I was completely bed-ridden from that day forward for about 10 days. I could barely stand up and move around more than 15 minutes at a time. I was very sick.

"Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin." 1 Peter 4:1

Something interesting was happening to me through that whole experience. Over those 2 weeks I began to posses an insatiable hunger to read scripture. You see, I was still young in the Lord and really had no desire to read my Bible very much. The Lord saw this deficiency in me and addressed it, both through a time of intense spiritual prayer and through the subsequent sickness and transformation of my heart that I experienced through it. While I was on my back for those 10 days, I was in effect actually laying on an operating table of sorts.

God was cutting a measure of the flesh out of my heart. It was a measure of flesh that was keeping me from getting closer to the Lord. Have you ever prepared and cooked Skirt Steak (Fajita Meat)? This cut of meat comes from the belly of the cow. It is a tough cut of meat and has its share of fat and a silver skin attached to it. This skin is an unchewable plastic like membrane that must be removed before cooking and eating.

This was what was happening in my heart through all of this. The Lord was circumcising an unyielded, fleshly, unusable portion of my heart through this infirmity. And in the process I began to have an insatiable appetite for both scriptures and more time in prayer. You don't believe that? Judge it by the fruit. Nothing but righteousness came out of that whole experience. And who was I praying for or what was I praying for in that unknown spiritual tongue? I am not really sure. But I do know that things changed from that day forward with my relationship with the Lord. I was experiencing Spiritual Prayer....in one if its many facets.

During the entire year of 2003 and part of 2004 my family and I attended a church in Richardson, TX. Because our oldest son Kevin was 15 at the time we were subsequently involved in the youth program. This church did not have a youth pastor for most of 03' so we were graciously invited by the senior pastor to help out at times until they brought someone in. When they finally did hire a youth pastor my wife and I were asked by the new YP to continue in the roll we had been playing. We agreed and formed a good relationship with the man that took the job. Sometime around November of that year, on a Sunday morning, I had been in prayer before the Sunday service and during my time of prayer the Lord spoke to me and told me to tell the youth and the youth leadership to fast one day a week through December. He told me he wanted us to devote that month praying that the Lord would move on this group of kids.

So on this Sunday, I went to the YP (youth pastor) and told him what the Lord had spoken to me while praying that morning. He looked at me and said, "Jay, the Lord told me the same thing." So we held a meeting with about 30 or 40,the seminary interns from Christ for the Nations Seminary, and some of the parents that were active in helping and ministering with the youth. During this meeting I stood up and shared with everyone, about 50 people in all, what the Lord had spoken to me and asked everyone to fast one day a week and pray throughout the entire month of December for the youth program. Many people made a commitment on some level for the entire month and we subsequenty went about doing what God had told us to do. We dismissed everyone and stopped holding meetings for the month of December because of the holidays.

We re-convened in January, 2004. All of the adult leadership, the YP, the seminary interns from CFNI and some (not all) of the youth came back together for a leadership meeting around the first week of the new year. When we did it was amazing to see what God had been doing in response to our obedience to pray and fast. The meeting in and of itself took on a level of power and anointing. Prophecy began to flow, people were being convicted of their sins and one lady was baptized in the Holy Spirit. While I was standing in the front of the room I looked at the back row where three of our youth were standing and the Lord spoke to me and gave me an individual prophetic word for all three of them. The Lord spoke to me by the word of knowledge (1 Cor 12:8) and told me what primary spiritual gifts he had put in each one of them. Things just started to move in God.

Two more key things happened because of all of our fasting and praying. One, the Lord began to expose some hidden sins and heart issues in our young adult interns from CFNI. We ended up having to take all of them aside and minister to them one night a week in seperate meetings designed just for them. And through all of that you could see real growth and foundation emerging in them because God was dealing with their hearts. The second thing the Lord did was to change the spiritual and physical atmosphere in our youth meetings. When we officially re-convened in January,  on our first Wednesday night meeting with ALL of the youth, as soon as we walked into the sanctuary, you could literally sense a change in the atmosphere of the entire building. My wife and I weren't the only ones that sensed it. You could literally feel the peace of God in the sanctuary. The air felt lighter, cleaner, brighter, holier. It had a heavenly feel to it. It was more peaceful and orderly. The Lord had literally changed the atmosphere of the room.....and it was in response to our prayer and fasting. God was responding to Spiritual Prayer.

Spiritual Prayer has facets. It has more than one characteristic, phase or aspect to it. In my understanding, real Spiritual Prayer has roughly about 8 or 9 aspects. They are very simple, easy to understand and easy to walk in. It's not hard , not complicated and it GETS RESULTS. Let's talk about the first four.

First, we need to step towards the Lord. Just move towards Him. Reach for the hem of his Robe.

"Come near to God..." James 4:8
"Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'Come close to me.'" Genesis 45:4

Move towards the Lord. Just talk. Sit down and talk. Open up. Move towards the Lord. He's not going to bite. Just move towards him. He's going to respond to our movement. Move towards him.

Step #2. Examine your self.

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you- unless, of course, you fail the test?" 2 Corinthians 13:5

Romans 12:3, 1 Corinthians 11:28-32 and 1 Timothy 4:16 all refer to our need to regularly take a good, long and hard look in the mirror. Why?.......

Step #3. Respond to Conviction. I hope this doesn't quickly come across as me being negative. But the bottom line is that sin gets in the way of our moving on to other things with God. Remember my analogy of the flank steak? The Lord wants to cut on us on a regular basis to release us into freedom and peace. Some people say God doesn't see our sin anymore. That's hogwash. Yes, we may approach God with freedom and confidence in Christ (Hebrews 4) but that doesn't mean when we do that he won't point out things to us that need changing. Consider the following verse:

"Your iniquities have separated you from God." Isaiah 59:2

Sin separates us from God. The more we sin the farther we move away from him and the more faint his voice gets. Repentance is the process of moving towards the Lord, responding to his conviction by confessing our sins, experiencing his forgiveness and moving on towards better things with our Father.

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." 1 John 1:8-10

The apostle John wrote this too believers. The circumcision of our hearts is a process. And we deceive ourselves if we ignore that fact. If the Lord shows me something that is not right about my heart (i.e. sin) then I just need to confess it to the Lord and ask him to bring me into the purification process and circumcise my heart. He brings us into the fire and takes the dross out. Read the previous post on Seasons of Fire. This isn't complicated. Man-made theology has brought confusion to so many in our time. It's time to get clear on what amounts to a very simple process.

Move towards the Lord. Just talk to him. Open your heart to him. That is step #1. Step #2, Exam yourself. Ask the Lord to give you revelation about your heart. Talk to the Lord and ask him to help you self-examine. Step #3, Respond to conviction "if" he brings it."

"This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear Friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him." 1 John 3:19-22

If and when we get before him, if your heart is condemning/convicting you, then set your heart to rest by confessing your sin. Look, God is greater than our hearts. He knows everything. If your heart condemns you, confess your sin. If the Lord shows you that you need to carry out some action to make things right then go do the thing God is telling you to do. Make things right with God and with men. And if your heart is right at the moment, if their is no condemnation, then let us enjoy the presence of our Father. Have confidence before him and receive from him in your stance and position of obedience.

Step #4, Prayer is continuous. It is something we "learn" to do continually.

"Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." Luke 5:16

Read Luke 5:16, Romans 12:12, Ephesians 1:17, Eph 6:18, Colossians 1:9, Col 4:2,12, 1 Thessalonians 3:10, 1 Thess 5:17. The scriptures are replete with passages that admonishes us to be continuous in prayer. Be consistent. Prayer is continuous. Before the day is over, hopefully we will have moved towards the Lord several times. The process we are describing is a repetetive one. It's normal. I correct my kids all the time. But I also praise, hug, kiss and encourage them all the time. Enjoy the process.

This stuff is so simple and fundamental yet the nature of man, the sinful nature, the Adamic nature causes us to drift from fundamental truth. Then we want to know why the Peace of God is no longer there in our lives. It's because we have moved away from simple things that make us powerful and peaceful in Christ. Be fundamentally strong. Be foundationally strong. Put your Fundare to use and be close to God, peaceful in God, powerful in God. This game we play is fundamental. The Kingdom of God, our relationship with the Father, is about fundamentals.

Get some results!!!! You have to be foundationally, fundamentally strong in prayer if you want to hear God's voice. I heard someone say one time that "If you want to hear God talk, just ask him about money." That's semi-ridiculous. That statement may be true on some levels. God does talk to us about money. But if you want to hear God talk to you, ask him if there is any area of your life where he has given you the capacity to walk in HOLINESS and instead you are resisting him. Look, God is trying to get as much of his peace into us as he can. But if we resist him by refusing to acknowledge his voice in conviction when he is trying to trim the fat off of our SKIRT STEAK HEARTS then we will never posses that measure of inheritance.

Posses your inheritance. God has good plans for all of us. He just wants to get the nonsense out of the way so we can move onto more peaceful and joyful things in HIM. Move towards the Lord. He's not going to cook you and eat you. As long as we are sincere, He's going to put his arm around us and remind us of what is not right. We are going to confess it. He is going to forgive, he is going to light a fire and start purifying.....and we are all going to move on with HIM.

We do this everyday. This is an everyday process that ultimately, hopefully, culminates in hearts that are fully dealt with in the fullness of time. The Lord teaches us how to engage with him in real Spiritual Prayer and through the process he trims off the fat and unusable portions of our hearts so we can get on to bigger and better things in HIM. Amen?

JEB
http://www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com/
jayblackshear@yahoo.com

Fundare

I have some friends back in Dallas that have a picture frame hanging in one of the bathrooms of their house with the following words on it:

"This game is about running, throwing, catching and hitting. What is so difficult about that?"....Paul Richards, Baltimore Orioles Manager, 1955-1961. 

Pretty basic statement. I have always appreciated it. It stuck with me over the years. Running, throwing, catching and hitting. So if I want to play baseball I need to learn four basic skills to get started. This same rule applies to all sports in varying ways. In football you have throwing, catching, running, tackling and blocking. In soccer you have running (lots of it), passing, trapping, shooting and saving. You get my point. In all sports you have basic fundamentals that have to be taken on and exercised in the course of a game to gain superiority over your opponent. I think we can all agree on that. With that said, here is our spiritual application....

In our walks with the Lord we also have fundamentals, basic practices or skills that the Lord wants us to learn and exercise over and over. He wants us to continually put certain things into practice so that we can continually discern and operate in His will for our lives:

"Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:9

Paul's admonition to the believers in Philippi was to take the things they were learning, receiving, hearing from and/or seeing in Paul and put them into practice. What were these things he was referring to? When Paul stayed up through the night with the believers in Troas, what was he talking about (Acts 20:7-12)? Why did Paul stay in Corinth for two whole years (Acts 19:9,10) and have daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus? What was he sharing with all of these people? Was he just evangelizing non-believers, healing the sick and casting out demons? Or was there more?.....

Is it possible that in all of these times we just referred to, that Paul taught fundamental spiritual skills? Was he teaching them how to run, throw, catch and hit...spiritually speaking? I believe he was. In 1 Corinthians 3:10 it says the following:

"By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder...."

The word foundation comes from the Latin root fundare. Fundare is also the Latin root of the word fundament from whence we get the word fundamental. So out of of the word fundare we get both the word foundation and the word fundamental. They both mean the same thing in Latin. The Romance languages (English, French, Spanish and Portuguese) are rooted in Latin..... Spiritually speaking, what do we understand from this? What was Paul doing over the course of time in all of these churches?.........It's simple really. He was giving them spiritual foundation. He was teaching them how to operate in spiritual fundamentals. Once he evangelized them he was showing them how to run, throw, catch, hit, block, tackle, kick, shoot, pass, trap........He was giving them fundamental skills. What fundamentals do you ask? Let's take a look.

In Hebrews 6:1-3 we get a partial glimpse of spiritual fundamentals......

"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so."

Here we have an almost complete list of spiritual fundamentals. I say almost complete for this reason......I believe, when we look at the totality of the scriptures, especially in the New Testament, we find a few more things that are foundational that make this list complete: Prayer, Spiritual Warfare, and The Heart. The psalmist said "The sum of thy word is truth. (Psalm 119:160). Paul stated that he had been commissioned to preach the word of God in all it's fullness (Colossians 1:25). I am not downplaying the passage in Hebrews 6. What the writer stated is true. However, in looking at the totality of scripture, from a foundational, fundamental perspective, I believe the writer of Hebrews would agree that what I am about to say is true. I believe with all of my heart that the things that make for sound fundamentals fall into the following areas: Baptisms, Prayer, Faith, Works, The Heart, Spiritual Warfare, Laying on of Hands, The Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgment.

Baptisms. There are three of them: Water, Spirit and Fire. Water is a one time of occurrence that has spiritual symbolism. The Spirit baptism is distinct from the water baptism, most often evidenced by tongues, prophecy and various manifestations of power. The Fire baptism is progressive and seasonal as we abide on the narrow path.

Faith. Simply put, Faith is God talking to us and us acting on what we hear (Romans 10:17). It's that simple. And within God talking to us, we come to grow in our understanding that the Lord speaks to us in a variety of ways: Song, Wisdom & Understanding and words of Knowledge, Remembering, Prophetically, dreams and visions. We come to understand that within the realm of faith, of God talking to us, that God ultimately speaks to the heart and that there is a unique relationship between the voice of our hearts and our conscience within us. God speaks to our consciences by way of our heart. We learn that in God there is a formula to faith. Simply Put....The Fear of the Lord leads to Faith > Faith leads to Works > In God's work we find discipline, discipleship and deliverance (DDD) > Through DDD we mature in the way's of love which ultimately is the character of God. So in summary we have Fear>Faith>Works (DDD)>Love........We learn that Pursuit is an element of faith. We learn that the Gospel is simply put.....hearing God which is walking by faith. We learn that the gospel of salvation and the Gospel of the kingdom are different...one composed of the other. We learn that Endurance is an element of faith. We learn that forgiveness is a vital component of keeping the "Faith engine" running like oil in the engine of your car. We learn what "The Faith" really means.

Prayer. It has 4 Levels. The first level is the driver of the other three. The first level is composed of facets. I call the first level "Spiritual Prayer." It is composed of the following facets: It's Continuous. Self Examination and responding to conviction. Repenting from anxiety caused by past memories, current distractions and vain imaginations. Worship in Song. Thankfulness and Praise. Listening. Praying according to God's will with your mind and with your spirit in Tongues........All of these are facets of the first level of spiritual prayer. As we become efficient in this first level the Lord takes us into the second Level while still operating in all things on the first Level. I call the second Level.....Waiting on God. The second level is about the way of the Eagle, about pressing in and waiting for your spiritual updraft to take you to new spiritual heights. The second level has 3 facets.....Effectual Fervent Prayer, accosting God and Persistence.......The Third Level is simple. It is about Awakening the Dawn. It is about grazing on the grass that is drenched with the early morning dew. It is a level in and of itself and it comes and goes in seasons......The fourth level is called The Night Watch. It's about the all-night wrestling match at the Red Sea and by the brook in the hill country of Gilead. It is about Gregoureuo, about pressing through the wall and breaking forth into another level and season of God's destiny for us and the lives of those close to us.

Works. Let's talk about works. Are they optional? What do the scriptures say? What was Paul telling the church in Troas? What did he explain to the churches in the regions of Galatia? What did the apostle James explain about works to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations? What did he say? What did the Lord Jesus say about works to the church in Sardis? What was he expecting from them in this area?........ It's about God having detailed plans for our lives and for the Body of Christ corporately. We are created for specific works and in turn God gifts us and prepares us for specific works. Faith leads to works. We need to show a pattern of God's work. We are to maintain his Work and be zealous for them. What scriptures talk of this? We are to complete the work God gives us to do both seasonally and in the fullness of our lives. Where does it speak of this? Are we judged for our work? Does the gospel of Matthew, Romans, James, 1 Peter and the book of Revelation speak of it? What about Trust in the process? What about morality without works? Do we see "Morality" and "Good Morals" being taught without Faith and Works? What happened to the Israelites in the desert while they had the ten commandments but nothing to do while Moses was on the mountain for forty days? Did Morality without works lead to wicked acts? What about the deliverance of the soul and works? Do we change while we do the work God calls us to do? Is this an optional process?.....Paul discussed these things will all of the churches.

The Heart. It's where we hear God. Their is a relationship between the heart and the conscience that needs to be understood and explained. It is where our "wills" reside.  The sinful nature starts in the heart. A hard heart = a seared conscience. Sin ripens when grace is rejected. Be circumcised. Purify your hearts. Subtle/Hidden motives lie within the heart. From Stone to Flesh. Did man have a conscience in the days before Christ was a man on the earth? What was the status of the conscience in B.C. days?

Have any of you hit a saturation point yet? Good. I think I have. We are supposed to get to a saturation point and then come back for more later. We have not even explored Spirit/Soul/Body, the Laying on of Hands, the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgment, The Millennial Rule of Christ and vital facets of Spiritual Warfare. They are all foundational, fundamental areas that HAVE to be covered if we are going to play the Spiritual Game correctly. They are foundational. They are fundamental.

Why do you think Paul stayed in Corinth for two years? For what reason was Paul constantly dispatching Timothy, Silas and Titus to churches they had ministered in? Why? What areas where they covering? What was the topic of conversation, the doctrine, the teaching and the counsel all centered around? I submit to you that they were building foundations. They were covering fundamentals. Folks, when we operate in sound fundamentals, nothing can stop God in and through us. That is when we move mountains, when waters part, the dead are raised, the sick healed, the demon possessed are set free, the blind see, the lame walk. When we are foundationally, fundamentally sound in all of these basic areas then the indivudual believer and the body as a whole becomes a force that no demonic principality, no power, no spiritual force of evil in high places can resist.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. (1 John 3:8)

Do you have fundamentals? Is your foundation strong? Do you abide in the foundation as it was set in your life? Is the work complete or are you still needing areas shored up in your life? Let's talk about the night watch....Or how about Awakening the Dawn? Do we know what it's like to Awaken the Dawn for months at a time? What happens? Are you baptized in the Spirit? Have you ever prayed in another language that was either a human language or a tongue of angels? What does God's voice sound like? In what way's does He speak? Are we being faithful in the work God has called us to? Are we even doing what He has called us to do? Are we delighting in the Fear of the Lord so that we maintain wisdom in our hearts on a daily basis? Do we still Fear him? Or has that fear slackened or been snuffed out all together? Do we have fundamentals? Are we foundationally strong? Do we have the essence of Fundare abiding within us? And are we teaching others to do the same? Are we operating in our Fundare?

Many questions to be answered. Many things to discuss as we go forward with God. Our passions, our desires, the things that drive us, who we are in Christ and our callings in him need to have its roots ultimately finding it's way back to our foundation......Our developing prayer life, hearing his Voice, .....all of the facets of foundation. It all comes back to our foundation. Foundation. Do we have and are we abiding in the fullness of foundational fundamentals? This is the question I feel confronted with personally, in my own walk, in my own journey. Am I abiding in my foundation as it has been given to me?

JEB
jayblackshear@yahoo.com

A Holy Balance............Exceeding Expectations

Last Sunday morning I was up praying and found myself bouncing around in the scriptures until I finally wound up in Jeremiah 1:9,10.

"Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, 'Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.'"

After I finished spending time with the Lord we went to a church service at Iglesia Bautista Norte. When we walked in the door the usher handed us the program for the day. We went and sat down and lo and behold guess what the La Leccion was for the day? Jeremiah 1:1-10. The thing that stands out to me is this.....When we think of old-testament prophetic ministry like Jeremiah's we often think of God's Judgement. And rightfully so. Much of the OT prophetic ministry centers around God's call to repentance, discipline and judgment for the stubborn refusal to believe. These principles can still be in play today through prophetic ministry. They are. But there is something else here that we need to consider. God appointed Jeremiah to minister for two reasons: One to tear down, destroy and overthrow.......and two, to build and to plant.

In the previous post we discussed "Seasons of Fire." The Lord brings us into a progressive baptism of Fire.  He has every intention of taking things out of us so that He has room to put things into us. He can only do this through his discipline and our willingness to embrace the changes that come through it. Discipline is seasonal and unpleasant.

"Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are not true sons.....No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:7,8,11


The Lord has taken my family and I through many seasons of hardship and discipline. Christine and I were married on June 27th, 1998.  To the right is a picture of a car that I had when Christine and I got married. This is not what the car looked like the day we got married. This is what the car looked like the day after we got married. On the night of our wedding someone (the devil) came by our house and put a brick through my back windshield. I am assuming this was a wedding gift. In many ways this event was a marker of sorts. It was a defining moment. It was a retro-active starting point to God fulfilling a word that he would speak to my wife less than three weeks after our wedding night.  

Five months before we were married, starting on January 23rd, 1998, going all the way through April, 2000, my wife Christine heard the audible voice of the Lord well over 25 or 30 times. It may be more than that. I would have to go back and read through her prayer journals and count. During that heightened prophetic season, on July 19th, 1998, 22 days after we were married, Jesus spoke audibly to Christine and told her the following: ".....your trials will feel difficult and more frequent. You feel pressure like a hot fire bringing the dross to the surface and then it must be dealt with. Trust that I will help you. Stay close. Remain in me. You are my children. I discipline in love. I am taking many things out of you to prepare you. Time is short and I have much work to do through you both."

On September 1st, 1998, 34 days after that word, the Lord audibly spoke the following to Christine: "Child, do not feel apprehensive about the happenings of the world. Nations must fall. They must reap for their behavior. All nations will bow down to the Lord....You have nothing to fear except the fear of the Lord God Almighty. You continue to walk in faith and I will continue to guide your family. This will be a difficult time for you. You feel that your limits are stretched but I know how much you can handle. Remember child, I only prepare you for the time to come.....This sometimes means greater hardships and greater blessings."

On September 17th, 1998 the Lord spoke again to Christine the following: "Endure hardship like a good soldier. Your days of hardship are numbered." The Lord then told Christine that he loved both of us.

These are personal words that the Lord spoke to us as a family. Yet I share them with you for a reason. Folks, The Lord has exceeded my expectations thus far in this life in two areas. First and foremost he has exceeded my expectations on how much he has been willing to discipline us. The Lord anointed Jeremiah to do alot of tearing down, destroying and overthrowing. And I can tell you he has done the same in our lives as well. The last 12 years for us as a family has been mostly centered around God's discipline in our lives. James 1:2 says that we go through "trials of many kinds." 1 Peter 1:6 says we go through "all kinds of trials." I think the trials in our lives can be broken down into three areas: Financial, Social and Physical. I  believe these are the three areas that we can experience seasons of fire in.

Christine has had 3 miscarriages. We lost our daughter Elizabeth to Down's Syndrome and a heart defect 21 days after she was born. Christine has had the trial of lingering back problems stemming from a car wreck where she was hit by a drunk driver. She has had some days where she has barely been able to walk. We have been foster parents and have endured the trials and burdens that comes with it. Our youngest son has been diagnosed with a minor form of autism. (We are expecting him to be delivered from this.) We have been shown the door in two different churches for not conforming when the leadership was in error. We have experienced on-going seasons of isolation between very few seasons of fellowship. We have experienced rejection by family members. We have experienced betrayal from false brothers.

We have lived in 5 different cities in 12 years, not by our own choosing. We have lost two houses to foreclosure, one an investment property, one our principle residence. We have had our share of seasons of living paycheck to paycheck. We've had a season where we had no established income because of unemployment and layoffs (OTR). We have been passed over for promotions and mistreated by bosses at work (Olive Garden, Sam's Club) who despised our witness for the Lord. Seasons of 70-hour work weeks at two different jobs just to keep food on the table, enduring on-going physical exhaustion while at it. I have been a night manager in retail with a season of very little sleep (Sam's Club). We have been constantly on the move both physically and in our work, not by our own choosing. We have known constant changes.

Our testimony may never make the Foxes Book of Martyrs. Our testimony doesn't compare with Brother Yun's in The Heavenly Man. Others have had much worse and still do today. Many of you have similar testimonies. We are not trying to set ourselves above others by sharing this with you. My point is that the Lord has fulfilled his word and exceeded my shallow expectations in just how far he has been willing to go to deal with our carnality and flesh through circumstances and events. He has disciplined us and exceeded our expectations in the process. Remember, I told you that the Lord has exceeded my expectations in two areas. This is the first one.....that being the disciplining of our souls. It has been a hard 12 years in the Lord. And before Christine and I got married I had 3 years of this on my own. For me personally it has been 15 years of distress, development, humility and transformation on some level. And with that, there is another area the Lord has been exceeding my expectations in.......His Blessings and its many forms. I will give you one example.

Back in 1996 I had a pastor who shared a story with me about the Lord's provision in his life. This man was praying about buying a new car for his wife and wanted to make the best decision for his family. After awhile he narrowed down his search to four cars. At that point he just prayed and asked the Lord which car he should buy. He asked the Lord about Car #1. The Lord said that he could buy it. He then asked the Lord about car #2. The Lord said that he could buy that one as well. He asked the Lord about car #3 and the Lord said "Yes." He asked the Lord about Car #4 and the Lord said, "No, don't buy that one." He then said, "Lord, I don't understand. You said 'yes' to three cars and 'no" to one. I don't understand. I am confused. Tell me which car to buy."

The Lord replied to this man, "You are my son. You can pick any of these three that you want. Don't buy that fourth one. It's a lemon." ...............From what I can remember he said the Lord called it "a lemon." Do you get the point? The Lord was trying to show him that he was giving him a choice among three vehicles, but the other one was a bad choice. Just pick one. Do you see sonship in that? Don't you see fatherhood in it? I see a father loving his son and letting him pick which bike he wants to buy, obviously within a budget......This story had an impact on me. Most of my time walking in God up to that point had been about discipline, cleansing and repentance. Love was still a foreign concept to me. The nurturing side of the Father's heart was foreign to me at that time even though, looking back, I know I was being Fathered by Him in small ways. I just didn't discern it.

Fast forward a couple of years from the time when my pastor told me this story in 1996. It is now April 16, 1998. The Lord spoke to my wife during her season of prophetic insight. He told her, "Jay has great understanding and knowledge but love is still foreign to him. In his season to come he will learn much about the ways of love." In my early seasons of development I was taking on the fear of the Lord, the wisdom, understanding and knowledge that flows out of that fear.....and some measures of character from it as well. But the ways of Love, relational love in many ways was still very foreign to me. I was still like a young man who was strong in revelation but didn't understand the heart of the Father towards me. A holy balance between discipline and his nurturing nature was still very foreign to me. In order for me to understand and grow in it I needed to take on not only the discipline of the Lord but I needed to discern and experience his Fatherhood in rest, enjoyment, expansion, growth.......

As God told Jeremiah, it's not just about tearing down, uprooting and destroying.........It's also about planting and building. We need to experience both. We need to experience both sides......A Holy Balance between both the taking out and the putting back in. We need to know lack and we need to know abundance.

"I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:12,13

Paul knew both sides to the Lord. We should learn them as well.

Fast forward to January, 2001. The Father had put a bit of money in my lap in that season in my life. My wife and I were in a season where we were prospering financially for a time. We had a friend of the family that had a car that was absolutely falling apart. One day while praying the Lord spoke to me and told me to give this woman my car. Now I have to tell you I didn't want to give this car away because I had just received it as a gift from my sister and brother-in-law. I liked the car that they had blessed us with and I had every intention of driving it for many years and saving it for our oldest son Kevin. I finally had a car with a back-windshield. I had been driving that white Honda in it's wretched condition for over two years. God had humbled me and I didn't expect much more than what I had been given by others. But what I was about to learn was that the Father had a side of his heart that he wanted to show me. It was a side that, like my pastor from some years before, was going to exceed my expectations. The Lord had more in store for me than what I had for myself.

So I get this word from the Lord that I am supposed to give my car away. I don't say anything to my wife. Within a brief period of time Christine says to me, "Honey, I think we should give **** our car." At this point I knew God was confirming it so I began to pray about a replacement vehicle for ourselves. And I have to tell you, in my logical self I was looking at another inexpensive Honda. But the more I prayed the more I kept feeling drawn to Ford F-150 trucks. Honestly, and I know some of you are shaking your heads, my main priority was to stay frugal and spend as little money as possible. But the more I kept searching for vehicles and praying about it the more I kept feeling drawn to Fords. I shared this with Christine and she kept going back to the Hondas. So we went and test drove a Honda one night at the local dealership and the strangest thing happened. You would have had to have been there. The salesman acted like he didn't even want to sell us a car. It was odd. Very odd. You had to have been there to fully understand what I am saying. They acted like they didn't want us in the dealership. So I went home somewhat confused. A few days later Christine and I were eating at Jason's Deli on Hulen road, discussing the whole matter. I looked at Christine and told her that maybe I should just buy this other lady a new car and keep the one I had. But when I tried to reason that out I just couldn't get peace on the whole matter.

Christine finally looks at me and says, "Honey, I think the Lord has told you to buy a truck. Let's go buy a truck." When she said that I just felt a peace come over me, literally. So I asked the Lord for a budget and he told me $17,000.00. We started looking for Ford F-150's the next day. We found a dealership on South Loop 820 in Ft. Worth that was advertising Ford's for $16,888.00. Christine called them while I was at work. She told them I would be there around 5PM that day to see what they had in inventory and test-drive one. They told her they had them in various colors. I show up at the dealership and lo and behold they only have one truck left and it is the color "TEAL". Now don't get me wrong. Teal is nice color in it's own right but not for a new vehicle.... IMHO. I have 3 color preferences for cars: Black, White or silver.........So I ask to test drive the teal truck but they won't let me because an ice storm was blowing through the metroplex.  They ask me to come back the next morning. So I leave and go home not feeling real good about this even though I feel obligated to be grateful. I just said to the Lord, "Lord, forgive me for being vain. I don't mean to make this a big deal but that color just doesn't sit with me. Help me to get over this and accept it."

We show back up the next morning with the family friend that we were giving our car to along with her car that we were going to use as a trade-in for the truck. We walk in the door at 7AM. I am prepared to go "teal." We walk in the door and stand in the lobby. The Salesman that was helping me the day before walks right up to me and says, "Hey! Guess what? We have one other Ford-150 supercab for sale. It's WHITE. The guy that was buying it failed his credit check. It is sitting right outside ready to go. It has already been detailed and you don't have to wait for it." I was just standing there, somewhat awe-struck. My wife is jumping up and down yelling, "Praise-God! Praise-God!" (This was before she had a big tummy). I honestly didn't know what to say. The Lord actually cared about how I felt about the color of a vehicle. It was sort of a new revelation to me. As I took it all in I began to understand a little more of this side of God's heart towards me as a son. I had not experienced this on a regular basis before and so it sort of took some getting used to.

Through that whole experience the Lord exceeded my expectations in bringing more balance into my life. Brethren, I have to be completely honest with you. The Lord has exceeded my expectations on both sides. He has exceeded my expectations in how far he will go to work righteousness in us. And he has exceeded my expectations in how far he will go to Shepherd us in not only our daily needs but in the desires HE places within our hearts. The desire I had in my heart for a truck was placed there by the Lord. And he fulfilled his desire in me and exceeded my expectations in the process. I could give more examples in our finances, relationships and in our health. We just don't have time.

I don't know everything and I don't completely understand the Father's heart in all aspects. I am still learning. I want to learn more. But as we go forward we need to be prepared for the Lord to take us beyond what we might expect for ourselves in both tearing down and building back up. I once heard Graham Cooke say, "God always wants to go farther than we do." I think this applies for both sides. We need to have an expectation for both sides of God's heart towards us. He brings us comfort and He brings us painful discipline. He brings both....a Holy Balance in our lives that can Exceed Expectations.

Be Blessed,
JEB