Know and Understand

The Lord told the prophet Daniel something very profound when he said:

Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin

"Know and understand...." Daniel 9:25

The prophet lived a life that was saturated in dreams, visions and spiritual happenings. Many were his own while others where received by those around him. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of an enormous statue, Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a tree, the mysterious hand appearing before King Belshazzar and writing on the wall, Daniel's dream of Four Beasts, his vision of a Ram and a Goat, the Seventy Sevens, and finally Daniel's Vision of a Man. All of these things were profound. And all of them required not just knowing but understanding.

Understanding has two applications in scripture. One is the unfolding of plans and strategies as it follows the wisdom that God gives us. I wrote about that in detail HERE.

The second application of understanding is simply this: to interpret that which God has already spoken. King Nebuchadnezzar knew what he had dreamed in Daniel 2. He just didn't know what it meant.

"....Nebuchadnezzar said to his astrologers, 'I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.' Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, 'O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream (knowledge), and we will interpret it (understanding)......The King replied to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me." Daniel 2:3-5

Do you see the dynamic? It is one thing to know what the Lord has said. But it is another thing altogether to understand it. Knowing and Understanding are two different things. Even the wicked know what God says at times. The difference often between faith and unbelief is understanding that which already has been said. That is where the real reward is...in understanding.

"Jesus replied, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: 'Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's hearts have become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." Matthew 13:11-15

Jesus himself drew the distinction between knowing and understanding. The wicked at times know what God has said. But they never understand it. Understanding is a sign of growth in God. It is a sign that God's work is progressing in our lives. Proverbs speaks often of the man of understanding.

"...though is cost all you have get understanding." Proverbs 4:7

Pharaoh knew what he had dreamed. He just didn't understand it. Only Joseph could interpret it. Only Joseph could understand it. Interpretation = Understanding. Because Joseph understood, because he could interpret, he was rewarded. Nebuchadnezzar promised death to his astrologers if they failed to interpret/understand and at the same time he guaranteed wealth, honor and riches to those that did.

I am not advocating materialism. I'm preaching provision. God's provision rests in the laps of those that both hear and understand. Remember, God showers his people with riddles as he speaks to them. He always has.

"When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles." Numbers 12:6-8

Yes, the Lord often speaks to us plainly. But he also often speaks to us in riddle form that requires interpretation and understanding. Daniel had to interpret the writing on the wall even though everyone "knew" what the words were. We need to both know and understand when the Lord speaks through symbols, riddles, types and shadows. We need to Know and Understand.

Be Blessed,
JEB
http://www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com/.

Without Ceasing

In the summer of 2008 the Lord moved my family and I to San Antonio for a two year stint to finish prepping us for our move to Mexico. We moved there via a management transfer with my company at the time, Sam's Club. As our time in San Antonio continued to unfold I ended up having a run-in with my boss at work. She accused me of doing something I did not do and it became obvious in the course of time I was being pushed out, ableit by the Lord. Believing that the Lord had told us that we would only be in San Antonio for 2 years, and seeing that I may not make it the full two years in San Antonio with Sam's, I started looking for another job where I could make comparable money.

In the course of time I realized that this was God's will. He opened a door for me to go to work in sales for Frito Lay in our final 8 months of our time in the U.S. The Lord had a very specific reason for doing this although I did not realize why until this afternoon.

Typically my prayer life has centered heavily around spending large amounts of time in prayer and study in one sitting and then going about my day full force. To explain this in a physical parallel, this would be like someone eating only one large meal a day and then not eating another bite of food until the following day's large single feast. It's just been the way I have functioned over the years. I know some people say that they pray throughout the day. I have never been one of those people. I will sit down and pray for 2 to 4 hours at a time and then if I do pray at another time in the day I just pray in tongues or at very specific breaks of time. But never in a conversational pattern throughout the day.

This is not to say I haven't had conversations with the Lord or meditated throughout the day. I do. But I typically wouldn't pray about every step I took. I did that before I stepped out of the house and then I would go all-out while trying to be discerning as I went along. Well, this was why the Lord sent me to work for Frito Lay. He was trying to break me out of the deficiency of this pattern by eating smaller meals throughout the day instead of one large meal in the morning with a couple of very small snacks in the day. Let me explain how.

When the Lord opened the door for me at Frito Lay I was hired in as sales rep. Starting out in this job, your primary responsibility is to cover sales/delivery routes for the other reps that are on vacation or leave-of-absence. It's sounds easy on the surface and the base pay is good for what you do. But the job has many difficult variables that I've never experienced in any job I have ever had. Right after I started my immediate supervisor told me that this would be the toughest job I would ever have. He was right. Let me explain why.

• Frito Lay pays their sales reps a base salary plus variable-over-time (VROT). VROT is calculated as your base salary divided by all hours worked that week, divided by two. This determines your wage rate for every hour worked over 40 hours. There is no time-and-a-half for Overtime with VROT. This means the longer you work, the less you get paid per hour of overtime worked. This means you become cheap labor. The longer you work the less the company has to pay out in labor per man hour. This means they give you an extraordinary amount of work each day/week and there are no state or federal overtime laws regulating how much work they can dump on you. 
• Your normal work load keeps you in the field at least 60 hours per week with some holiday weeks easily taking you over 70 hours. I had one week where I worked over 70 hours in 5 days. One of the reps that I trained with worked 80 hours in 5 days.
• The average sales route has 10 to 12 deliveries a day, each taking at least an hour on average. This does not include your drive time to and from the plant across town in traffic plus your drive time to and from work in your own vehicle.
• Covering routes for other reps means your routes change every week. This means you have to learn a new route every week. This puts you in different geographic areas of the city each week. It feels like you are starting a new job every week. In fact, you are starting a new job each week, week-in and week-out.
• They don't provide you with GPS. You work everything off of your own maps that you provide for yourself after you get home from working your 70 hours.
• Every delivery truck drives differently and many are built differently. Just when you get used to driving one truck they put you in a different one. And the backs of the trucks are made of aluminum and don't have heating or air conditioning. This means that between deliveries you are either sweating to death in your polo-shirt and dress slacks or you are freezing like a pop-sickle. 
• Driving safety is a major company priority and liability. This means if you get in a wreck you are probably going to be looking for another job right after you get back to the plant. The risk is high.  
• All retailers (large and small) have different check in procedures. Target, Valero, Exxon, Sam's, HEB, Costco, all local mom and pop gas stations and grocery chains, .........They all vary and all have their own cut-off times for delivery. If you are not familiar with their systems it can set you back substantially.
• Every manager of every store can impose certain check-in and delivery stipulations beyond company policy. This means that two Exxon managers may have two different ways of checking in based on their personal preferences.
• When you do show up for delivery you may not get checked in right away, losing precious minutes to get through the rest of your route.
• Most employees that work in receiving departments of food retailers have poor people skills. That is why they have been moved to the back of the store....so they don't have to deal with the public. That means when you show up they treat you with very little if any respect.
• You are constantly rotating dated product on the shelves seeing as you are selling food items with sell through dates. Most of the routes that I covered for the full-time reps on vacation or LOA were neglected with regards to product rotation. This meant that I had to report back to their supervisors that their routes were not being properly managed. And then guess who had to spend extra time on each stop fixing and rotating all of the dated product? That would be me. Almost every bag has to be touched, popped and laced on the front row. It's very tedious once your start merchandising. It's boring and mind-numbing work.
• Products are often displayed in each store in unknown and unfamiliar locations. Every time you show up at a new location you have to spend valuable minutes locating displays and shelves, locating your product because this is not your usual route. It's like cooking in someone else's kitchen every day and asking, "Where do you keep the steak knives? Where do you keep the salt? Where do you keep......"
• You are having to order for each store for the following delivery without any knowledge of their selling patterns. Each store has different sell-through patterns on various products and the ordering system Frito Lay gave us to use on our handheld computers was often unreliable and useless in forcasting sales trends and ordering requirements.  
• It's overall physically rigorous. You move around hundreds of pounds of freight every day. You are constantly moving from standing back to kneeling back and then back to standing positions while stocking. You are up and down all day long. You are constantly on the move. In the San Antonio plant we had 150 sales reps total. 148 were men.  After I started I lost close to 10 pounds. My immune system was severely challenged for about 4 weeks. Every time I blew my nose blood would just spurt out from the sinus infections I had contracted while working.



Fun for who exactly????


The job had nothing but obstacles, obstacles, obstacles. The stress was unending from week to week. Never had I needed God more in my work from situation to situation, moment to moment, delivery to delivery, day to day, week to week.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful." Hebrews 12:11

The pattern of familiarity that develops in most jobs was gone. Just when you would get used to the nuances of one sales route the company would move you to another one with a whole new set of obstacles and challenges. The pay was great but the stress and demands were unending. You could never get into a pattern of predictability and it was frustrating for me beyond anything I had ever experienced in any job (Olive Garden management, Real Estate Sales, Sam's Club Management). The sales managers were constantly on us to meet ridiculous corporate sales quotas that were being set by home office in Plano, TX. The hours were incredibly long. And to top it all off the plant was on the other side of the city from our home meaning I drove to and from work at least 30 to 45 minutes one-way.

I could just keep going. I was grateful for the pay. I was grateful to have a job. But the job was mind-numbing and difficult in just about every way imaginable. At 40 years old I was feeling physically outmatched for the first time in my work life. I try to stay in good shape by running and swimming but this job was whipping my back side.

Through all of this I found that I didn't have time to pray like I used to. I didn't have time to gorge on the presence of the Lord everyday, fill up and go out with my stomach full of God's wisdom and power. Granted I was off on the weekends but I was so beat up physically and mentally I just wanted to sleep in and veg for two days on Saturday and Sunday.

"We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." 2 Corinthians 8,9

The Lord had me under a type and measure of pressure that I had never faced and because of it I found myself relying on God like never before. There were so many things that could go wrong on any given day that I could only cry out to the Lord for deliverance from day to day, shift to shift, delivery to delivery, check-in to check-in. I found myself praying about things all of the time throughout every day. Truck safety, traffic, knowledge of routes, unloading of freight, check-in efficiency, favor with managers, favor with employees working in receiving departments, stocking proficiency, merchandising efficiency, ordering efficiency, meeting sales quotas from week to week, getting to each delivery with speed and ease, ......I found myself praying over details of my efforts on an ongoing-basis like never before in anything I had ever done.

All of this difficulty was there in my life by God's design to teach me to spread out the icing on the cake. The Lord was forcing me to pray without ceasing throughout my day. He was forcing me to change.

"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." Luke 5:16
"Be faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12
"I keep asking...." Ephesians 1:17
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." Ephesians 6:18
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2
"Night and day we pray most earnestly...." 1 Thessalonians 3:10
"...pray continually; ..." 1 Thessalonians 5:17

This dynamic has been critical for us in Mexico. I needed to learn this on a really deep level before we came down here. It is one of the main things we have had to learn to walk in on a regular basis out of sheer necessity. Safety in driving, finances, physical safety, protection from corruption, our immigration status, making friends, learning Spanish, speaking and communicating in every situation, paying bills, setting up our lives in every area, raising our kids in a foreign country ............All the things we took for granted in the United States we can no longer take for granted.

We find ourselves praying over things we never prayed over throughout our days and not just in our prayer times in the morning. And why? Stuff appears before us over the course of our day. Needs arise over the course of the day. The Lord shepherds us over the course of a day. Our focus is over the course of a day and throughout a day. We are called to function with Him over the course of a day. Psalms 23 bears witness to it.

I normally only write in the mornings but I felt that the Lord had me sit down this evening and put this out there, prophetically if you will. If you find yourself reading this in the Lord, and you have yet to have this worked into your life, then the Lord is going to bring a change in the circumstances of your life to bring about this level of relational prayer and faith. Changes are coming to the Body of Christ throughout the world to increase our intimacy and faith in God. And this will be a good thing in God.

Be Blessed,
JEB
http://www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com/

Aroma and Bouquet

I used to be a sales manager for the Olive Garden. One of my primary responsibilities in that job was to help educate the waitstaff to know our wine list, to be able to describe our base wines in great detail and consequently to be able to sell those wines to our customers. One of the things I would teach my waiters and bartenders was the differences between a wine's aroma and bouquet. Aromas, simply put, are flavors that the grapes absorb during the growth and fermentation process.

An example of this would be the following: If a wine orchard sits next to an apple orchard, the grapes will naturally absorb the flavor of the apples in the adjoining orchard. Another example of this could be grapes absorbing the flavor and smell of flowers as rainwater runs into the grape orchard from the surrounding countryside. Aromas are absorbed by grapes simply by being in proximity to something else. Aromas can be floral, apple, pear, pepper, ......anything that is naturally occurring in the environment.

Bouquets in wines are a little different. Bouquets are simply the flavors that are infused by man-made intervention in the barreling and bottling process. Examples of these are cedar, oak, smoke, leather, caramel, coffee.......These flavors are purposefully built into the wines by the winemaker to give their product distinct flavors and appeal. This is usually done by determining the type of wood used in the barrels, smoking the barrels, .....the list goes on.

So in summary, aromas are flavors that are absorbed from the natural world while bouquets are flavors that are man-made and infused by the wine-maker himself. With that said, this morning I found myself reading the following verse:

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope (wait) in the Lord shall renew their strength......" Isaiah 40:28-31

All Christians are familiar with this verse. It is probably one of the most quoted passages in all of scripture. Yet when I read it I keep finding revelation pouring out of it. In verse 28 it says that the Lord never grows tired or weary and the understanding that flows from his heart and mind is unfathomable. It goes onto say that the Lord gives out strength and increases our power when we are weak. Yet it also lays down a condition. It says that only those who "hope" (NIV) or "wait" (KJV) on the Lord receive His strength, his power and his understanding in given situations.

The Hebrew word for "wait" in the King James Version is Qavah. Qavah is defined as gathering together, or to bind together by twisting. This would be like taking to pieces of twine and twisting them together to make a rope. I have also heard it described as a vine that grows up and wraps its way around a tree.

You may already know this but human skin is extremely porous. Our skin is like a sponge in a sense. When you press something up against your skin your body begins to naturally absorb components of whatever is applied to it. If you take a clove of fresh cut garlic and put it against the bottom of your foot you will start to taste garlic in your mouth within a short period of time.

Our spirits and our souls function in the same way. As we wait (Qavah) on the Lord and the presence of the Lord, as we wrap ourselves around him, as we gather with him, we absorb his nature. We absorb his wisdom, his understanding, his knowledge and his power within ourselves. Just like grapes growing on the vine absorb the aromas and flavors of that which naturally occurs in and around the vineyard, so we naturally absorb the nature of Christ as we consistently entwine with him. And as we do so we take on a divine flavor and aroma that distinguishes us from the rest of fallen humanity.

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life." 2 Cor 2:14-16

Be Blessed

JEB

Our One-Year Anniversary

Yesterday marked our first year here in the Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. At this point we are preparing for another phase of what God has us doing. While we do feel God has made Merida our home, at least for now, we feel the Lord is having us take some more steps in getting settled in here.

When we first moved down I believe that the Lord showed me that we had approximately 2 years to get settled in. At this point I can say we have made several steps forward in learning the culture, the language and in fellowship. The scriptures say the following:

"God sets the lonely in families..." Psalm 68:6

We have seen this dynamic in our lives as we have been here. The Lord has set a family around us. The Body of Christ generally functions as a family, a body and an army. While the definitions of each one of these overalap to a degree with the other two, their is still something very basic and purposeful about family. Help with daily living, communication in the same language, help with errands, helping with each others kids, showing one another how to live on a daily basis, eating together.......All of these things fall into the category of "family" as I see it. And God has given us a family here and we are very grateful for it.

Yet we still have more settling in to do. If we are going to be here long term we are going to need to consider whether we are going to stay on an FM3 visas or shift over to FM2's. Once an expat from another country holds an FM2 for 5 years you can apply for inmigrado status. If approved, an inmigrado becomes a Mexican citizen except that you do not have the right to vote in political elections on any level. You can also adopt Mexican orphans if you have an FM2. This is something we are praying about at this time.

There is more I could share but for the sake of expediency I won't. I would just ask that you would pray for us to have wisdom, understanding and knowledge as to how we are to continue settling in here in the place we believe God has told us to call home. If we come to your mind please just pray for us to have these things along with the Grace of God. We very much appreciate it.

The boys are doing well. Christine is doing well. All of our new pets are doing well. I think I am doing well. We hope and pray you are all doing well. God Bless and keep in touch with us. If we can pray for you please let us know how.

God Bless,
Jay and Family
http://www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com/.

Calvin and the TULIP

Tulips are beautiful flowers. I settled on this picture when searching them out but I am not sure that any one photo really does this plant justice. Originating from Southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Northwest China, it is a perenious bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa.

Originating from the lily family (Lilacea), tulips overall are composed of 109 species of plant. Although naturally indigenous to mountainous areas with long, cool springs and naturally dry summers, they have subsequently been introduced as annuals in every continent on the globe.

Unfortunately, these are not the tulips we are going to speak of today. Instead, we are going to talk about a Tulip that has done more to impede the flow of life in the Body of Christ than just about anything I can think of. During the wealthiest days of the Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1923) the tulip became a symbol of abundant indulgence. And so much so that the high point of the Ottoman Era was referred to as the Tulip Era.

Isn't it ironic that so much of the church in America today has become just that,... abundantly indulgent in in it's own self-will? And much of that indulgence in American Institutionalized Christianity (AIC) has been driven by none other than TULIP doctrine. TULIP is an acronym that represents the fundamental doctrinal tenants of what we know today to be Calvinism. Many people believe that the 5 basic tenants of Calvinism where formally drawn up at the Synod of Dort in Dordrecht, Holland in 1619. Are you bored yet?

When I started writing this post about a week ago I, like everyone else, assumed that the conclusions of the Synod of Dort, the formation of TULIP and its accreditation being given to John Calvin was true. After all, the Presbyterians are the largest formal advocates of Calvinism and from what I understand they believe that John Calvin authored the basic tenants of Calvinism (TULIP). I thought that to. A devout Presbyterian gave me a book on the subject stating as much in 1996. But now I am not so sure that is the case.

Who was John Calvin, what is Calvinism, and was Calvin a Calvinist? Or was Calvinism unfairly ascribed to his name roughly 60 years after he died? And what does Calvinism have to do with you and me and the body of Christ as a whole today? How does all of this apply to our lives today? Let's answer some of these questions.


John Calvin

John Calvin was a 16th century French pastor and theologian who formally broke away from the Roman Catholic church around 1530. At that time the Protestant Reformation was well under way, having been spearheaded by the German Monk, Martin Luther. When Calvin was only 8 years old Luther nailed his famous Ninety-Five Theses to the front door of the Castle Church, thereby letting Rome know that the fight was on. In many ways Calvin's support of Luther, his support of the Reformation and his formal break from Rome's heresies were steps in righteousness. The Protestant Reformation was arguably, in it's first couple of steps, a necessary response to all of the heretical doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structures of the ever increasingly corrupt Roman Catholic Church (RCC).

But while researching this out one of the things I came to understand was that certain parts of the Protestant Reformation (PR), specifically some of the heart motives of it's leaders along with some of the doctrinal outworkings of the movement in various parts of Europe were huge mistakes. Let me explain. Out of the Protestant Reformation came what we know today as Protestantism . Protestantism ultimately branched out into two groups: The Magisterial Reformation and the Radical Reformation. Look at the following chart...

The Magisterial Reformation (MR) had three branches: Anglicans, Lutherans, and Calvinist Reformists. The Anglicans emerged in England, the Lutherans in Germany and Scandinavia while the Calvinists primarily took root in Switzerland, France and later in Scotland. The one thing that all three branches of the MR had in common was just that.....they had the backings of the magistrates, i.e. secular authorities. This meant that at times these three branches of MR Protestantism would turn to local kings, princes, city councils and magistrates to enforce their religious will and agenda. The Roman Catholic church was already doing this in countries in Southern Europe. The men who were spearheading the reformation in these three branches of the MR were walking in the same footsteps as their Roman Catholic predecessors, albeit on various levels. And from what I can tell, based on my research, John Calvin at times took it to the extreme. For further reading on MR click here.

Just so you know, I am not against God having root in government institutions. I am for that and believe that at one time much of the actions of America's founders were expressed through faith in the formation and functioning of our government institutions on all levels. I don't believe in the separation of church and state except where the state is by majority and through practice inevitably corrupt. In that respect we need to "...touch no unclean thing" so that we are received by the Lord. In that case we need to "...come out from the state and be separate" (2 Corinthians 6).

But what these men were willing to do and ultimately did in many instances was different. The men who spearheaded and maintained the three branches of MR were, according to some historical records, having dissidents murdered, burned at the stake, imprisoned and punished when it was politically expedient. Sometimes their victims were women and children, not just men. They were allowing secular authorities to institute physical, mental and emotional torture and/or death among the citizenry and also in the church in order to squelch anything they deemed as heresy. These were horrible practices when it comes to matters of church discipline and doctrine.

As an example of this, John Calvin supported the findings of the Protestant Geneva Council in Switzerland when they decided that Michael Servetus, a Spanish theologian and physician, be put to death for his views on the Non-Trinitarianism and non-Infant Baptism. While I disagree with Servetus on his views of the Trinity, scriptures make it clear you don't kill people that disagree with your understanding of scripture.

"And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." 2 Timothy 2:24-26

The scriptures are clear on how to handle open practices of carnality, divisiveness amongst brethren, unruly children and people who are false teachers. 

"When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord." 1 Corinthians 5:4,5

"Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that have nothing to do with him." Titus 3:10

"Blows and wounds cleanse away evil and beatings purge the inmost being." Proverbs 20:30

"As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer..." 1 Timothy 1:3

You hand the rebellious and unrepentant over to the Enemy. You put out of the church those that don't respond to repeated warnings of divisiveness. You spank your kids. You command others not to teach falsely when operating in a position of authority. But you don't burn people at the stake or enlist the help of government agencies to push your doctrinal positions, at least not in the manner that John Calvin did. Calvin openly endorsed the execution of Servetus. Historical records seem to support this.

Now at this point I thought it was going to be a slam dunk to tie in some of Calvin's actions with the TULIP doctrine and all of it's deficiencies. When I researched all of this out I was assuming this was an easy conclusion. After all, doctrines and heart motives are clearly tied together. Scriptures are clear on it.

"Watch your life and doctrines closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers as well." 1 Timothy 4:16

"If any man will do his (God's) will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." John 7:17

I quickly came to the conclusion that because Calvin was involved with some of the things previously mentioned that it would be easy to tie it into the TULIP Calvinism that is ascribed to his name. But then I read this (Click Here). Dr. Richard Muller, Professor of Historical Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary states that Calvin never directly or openly advocated two of the five points of TULIP.

Therefore the point of this post will not be to try and track down the source of TULIP. It's irrelevant at this point. God will judge the source. The point is to evaluate TULIP which has become foundational doctrine in many churches today. Some say TULIP came from John Calvin. Some say it came from the Synod at Dort as influenced by Calvin's ministry. And some are claiming that TULIP was created after Dort. I don't want to take the time to find out.

So at this point I am going to break off from focusing directly on John Calvin and the Synod of Dort. We are going to focus on the TULIP itself because, regardless of the source, it does exist and is taught in every Presbyterian church on earth, many Baptist churches, non-denominational Bible Churches, and even indirectly from the pulpit in many Charismatic churches.... whether many of the Charismatics and Independent Bible Churches recognize it or not.

TULIP stands for the following:

Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints

Broken down a little further into layman's terms, this is what Calvinism teaches. Click Here and Here to read it for yourself.

Total Depravity - Man is totally sinful apart from God. Man's heart is evil and he is a slave to sin. (Agree)
Unconditional Election - God chooses some people to be saved and others to not be saved, not based on anything he sees in them, but solely based on his Sovereignty which is unexplainable. (Do not Agree)
Limited Atonement - Jesus died only for the elect. (???)
Irresistible Grace - When God saves a man there is nothing the man can do to reject salvation. You can't resist the Holy Spirit. He saves you and there is nothing you can do to reject God's election. He has saved you whether you like it or not. (Click Here for my response to that one. )
Perseverance of the Saints - You can't lose your salvation. Once Saved, Always Saved. Same as Irresistible Grace. (Sin Away Saints!!!!)

OK. As I stated from the beginning, the Tulip Era in the Ottoman Empire was symbolized by indulgence. In the next post or two I am going to show how adherence to TULIP in 4 of it's 5 facets promotes arrogance, undermines the Fear of the Lord, drowns out the voice of God, makes believers unproductive in the Work of God and gives some believers a false sense of security about what it really means to be saved. Like the Tulip Era of the Ottomans, I am going to show you how 80% of TULIP doctrine makes people indulgent in their own self-will and self-desires. Stay Tuned!!!

Blessings,
JEB
http://www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com/.

Nick, Cecil and Calvin

In October of last year I started to suffer from some form of chronic fatigue and I wasn't sure what was causing it. Everyday around the early afternoon it was all I could do to fight the urge to lay down and take a nap. Since we moved down to Merida I have been able to start getting up very early in the mornings to pray and write so I figured maybe my body was simply adjusting to a new schedule.

But there was one other physical symptom I was having that was causing me to question if my immune system was fighting something off that it had never before. I noticed that every time I took a hot shower I would get these tingling sensations all up and down my forearms and lower legs. It literally felt like I had ants crawling all over my limbs. When I would get out of the shower and dry off the tingling sensations would slowly disappear. I thought maybe I was having a blood circulation issue with my body along with the fatigue. I didn't know overall what was wrong with me.

Finally, one day I spoke with an American lady who has lived here in Mexico with her family as a Christian missionary for 13 years. She told me that she had been through the same experience when they had moved to Merida (minus the tingling arms and legs) and that through the course of time had learned that she had parasites in her body from some external source like bad food, city water, poor sanitary environments, handling cash money....something. She advised us to take Vermox. This product is sold in every pharmacy, Wal Mart, Costco and grocery store chain in Mexico.

Although I did not realize it at the time, I had been exposed to parasites through some source like those mentioned before. They had developed so badly in my system that when I put my skin under hot water the parasites and amoeba would start moving around inside my arms and legs. It was so bad that I could barely make it through the afternoon without sleeping. They were literally robbing my body of nutrients and causing me to "gas out" way before I normally would in the normal course of my day. Once we took the Vermox we started to feel a noticeable difference within the hour. But for me personally, because my case was so far advanced compared to Christine and the boys, it took me about a week to slowly recover from the lingering affects of the damage that the parasites had done to my body internally. It was as though I has experienced some tissue damage on some level and my body needed some time to repair itself.

It seems as though I am seeing this in Christians everywhere I go. Most believers today, spiritually speaking, are infected with one or more of three bad doctrines that, like internal parasites, are robbing them of wisdom and power to keep them from the full measure of God's purpose in their lives. Everyone gets them at one time or another. It's just that people often don't realize what they have when they have it. And they become accustomed to low levels of energy without understanding that this is not God's purpose for their lives.

The Parasites I am referring to are Nicolatinism, Cessationsim and Calvinism. And they are affecting most main-line Christians denominations today. Charismatics, Pentecostals, Baptists, Presbyterians, Non-Denominational Bible churches, Lutherans, ......you name it. These three parasites  of Nick, Calvin and Cecil are getting after all of the main line Protestant Christian denominations in one form or another. Some have all three in their internal systems. Some have only two. All have at least one. And they are all sucking life right out of the church to such a degree that at times the church is hardly recognizable when held up to the light of scripture.

Now before we dive into these three doctrines, I want you to know that I am not trying to throw anyone under the bus. I know that many churches are effective in God in one form or another. But in my years with the Lord I have come to understand that the Body of Christ functions in three ways:

• As a Family
• As a Body
• As an Army

Family, Body, Army. God's people are to come together and function in all three roles at various times and in various ways. But it has been my observation that due to the three aforementioned doctrines, most congregations barely make it past the first stage of being a family. And those that get stuck in this stage and never function as both a body and an army end up becoming a dysfunctional family. Being a family is just that, caring for each others personal needs.

"Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Gal 6:2

We have experienced that through our church here in Merida over the past year. God has given us a family. People have made themselves available to us on a personal level and visa versa. We have spent time with others, eaten dinner together, walked through malls together after lunch at Chili's, given each other rides to the store and other places, offered to babysit others kids, played at the park together, helped each other financially......but that is about as far as it has gone. This stage of the church's life is about bearing the burdens of others, mostly physical. We have seen it and are grateful for it as God has given it to us. But it is not the fullness of what we are called to as Christians. There is more. Much more.

We are to go from being families to being a Body. Body life is about functioning within the realm of God ordained, God governed giftings.

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received, faithfully adminstering God's grace in it's various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

Prophecy, counsel, tongues and interpretation of tongues, healings, signs, wonders, miracles, apostolic teaching, the Spirit baptism, prayer and intercession for others, hearing God in dreams and visions.........This is what I refer to hear: The Charisma anointing that carries us into the supernatural. This is what we are talking of here. Not just water baptism and the doctrine of repentance and the pastor preaching against fornication.

We have experienced some of the prayer part with others and we have been able to share some brief testimony with others here and there. But all in all this is where the parasite Doctrines mentioned above really begin to do their work. This is where we see Cessationism, Calvinism and even Nicolationism starting to kick in. This is where the problems start in most churches, either in what they believe in or what they will allow to be apart of the lives of their members.

Because of this cutting off at the knees at the Body life stage, most of the time the church never really has any comprehension of what it means to function as an Army. I say army because at some point in time, as God's people are called to be raised up, we should be contending with demonic principalities. You can't contend with demons and take ground from the enemy praying only ten, twenty or thirty minutes a day. You just can't. You can't take ground from the enemy unless you are mature enough through spending sufficient time in Body Life like the things just mentioned.

We are ultimately called to make known to rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10)  and destroy the works of the devil.

"The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." 1 John 3:8

All things were created by Christ and for Christ and in him all things hold together. In Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in Bodily form and thus, we have been given fullness in Christ who is the head over every demonic power and authority. Jesus has disarmed all powers and authorities, triumphing over them by the cross. Now, as we are in Christ through Relational Faith, we tread on snakes and scorpions, both individually and corporately. Read Colossians 1:15-18 and Colossians 2:9,10,15. That's exactly what it says.  These verses, along with Ephesians 3:10 basically form a declaration of War by God against Satan's kingdom.

"The Kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." Matthew 11:12

What this means is that God wants to bring his people to a corporate degree of maturity and strength so that we hear him on an advanced level, ripping down demonic principalities ruling over people groups, neighborhoods, and even cities. That means we need to hear God on an advanced level. But is that happening? Rarely. And most people read what I am saying here and they have no idea what I am talking about. But that lack of understanding in and of itself proves that the parasites of Cessatinionism and Nicolationism are alive and well in the Bride of Christ today. Most churches today are engaged in ZERO warfare. Why? Nicolatinism, Calvinism, Cessationism. Parasite infestation.

Just a note to the reader: As I have gotten older in the Lord I have noticed that if you point out things that are out of order you are labeled by others as being critical or bitter. That is not my intention here. I hope I am not coming across that way. It's just that when you see the same symptoms over and over again in God's people it gets to the point where you realize that these things have turned into an epedimic. It's like a major disease has broken out and there seems to have been nothing done to stop it. That in an of itself should be shocking to us and warrants that the overall conditions of things needs to be exposed.

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body." Ephesians 4:25

In the next three posts I am going to break down all three doctrines and the motives behind them and show you, if you want to see it, how these three man-made belief structures are literally sucking life out of God's people and making them ineffective and unproductive in the calling of God. Strap in and buckle up. I am going to show you things that I gaurantee you are in your church today, whether one or all three parasites. The church in its present form and state is not fully functioning today. And it's not just America. It's Mexico to. I see it down here just as much as I ever saw it in America. The parasites are alive and well in Mexico, Canada, the U.S., ....anywhere and in any country where there is not a sufficient amount of affliction to drive it out with fire on an ongoing basis. These parasites seem to keep growing back in countries where there is no consistent persecution, hardship and suffering of some form. I am going to prove it to you.

Stay Tuned!!!! We are going to peel back the skin and look under the microsope!!!

Blessings,
JEB
www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com.

The Cost of Living in Merida

From time to time Christine and I will have conversations with friends back in the states about what the cost of living is in Mexico. Their are two areas of purchasing in our budget: Necessities and Extras.

Necessities are things like Rent, Utilities, Gas, Car Insurance......the usuals. Then there are the Extras.....things like eating out, Home Depot projects, Bicycles, Trips to the Beach, Extra curricular activities, pets, ......all that stuff.

On a daily cost basis you need less to live here for two basic reasons. One, rent is cheaper and two, you spend less on gasoline for your car because you don't drive as much. Here are our monthly bills, on average:

Rent: $625
Electricity: $175
Water: $10
Cable/Internet: $45
Drinking Water: $30
U.S. Cell Phones: $105
Mexican Cell phone: $20
Groceries: $600
Gasoline (Car): $100
Car Insurance: $30
Private School Tuition: $100 monthly

Basic Expenses run about $1,800 USD or more depending on what part of town you want to live in. We live in Montes de Ame which is a Colonia in the northern part of town where all of the malls and good commercial development is. We are in the part of town that is closest to Progresso, about 20 miles north of us. There are several desirable areas for Expats to live in but most are from the Centro area of the city and outwards more towards the north.

Remember, we are a family of four with two boys. Our sons share a bedroom in our two-bedroom home. We live in one unit of a three unit condo. It's new construction and each unit has a small backyard. We share a wall with one of our neighbors on part of on side of our home. Sound travels through concrete and steel so we have to be careful how much noise we make. In homes here you have to buy your own stove, microwave, refrigerator, washer/dryer, .......anything that has moving parts. Some landlords will provide A/C units in the bedrooms and living area if they can raise the rent. If you provide your own A/C units the cost is less for rent obviously.

The "Extras" of life are flexible on a month to month basis. Depending on what amount of provision the Lord allows us, we try to budget for about $300 in additional expenses monthly. This includes sowing projects for Christine which she gives as gifts to friends, trips to McDonalds for the boys, eating out at places like Chili's or Los Trompos, alms and offerings, ........We generally have a budget for these things and it can fluctuate.

A bicycle costs twice as much in Mexico as it does in the U.S. Non-necessities in stores like Sam's, Costco, and Wal-Mart generally run anywhere from 50% more to as much as two or three times as much as the U.S. Why? Businesses are required to collect 16% IVA sales tax for the Mexican government. They must also pay 30% taxes on all corporate profits to the Federal Government. That means that they must raise prices to offset these costs. And they readily pass this off to the Mexican people. This creates a chasm between rich and poor as the poor cannot afford most items. Minimum wage in Mexico is $80 Mexican pesos a day. That's about $6.75 USD for eight hours of work or about .80 cents USD per hour. Amazing isn't it?

Most Mexicans live off budgets of about $1,000 USD per month. Some own their homes. Some Rent. The ones that rent usually try to keep their monthly rents around $300 to $400 per month, depending on where they choose to live. Some pay much more than that. It just depends. But most are in that range. The one thing that all Mexicans spend money on is clothes. Most dress well. When I say well I mean they are always clean cut, clothes pressed, very clean, hair is perfect, .......This is very important to the people of the Yucatan, even if they can't afford other things.

We run with about a $2,100 USD budget right now. A single person could live here for $1,000 USD monthly easily, especially if you owned your own home. The Peso/USD exchange rate right now is at about $11.75 pesos to $1.00 USD. When I go to the ATM and take out $5,000 Pesos it costs me about $425.00 out of our bank account in the U.S. We pay for everything in cash here, including our rent. We don't have a Mexican bank account right now because we haven't needed it. When the time arises we will probably move in that direction as we feel led. ATM's are everywhere. Banks are everywhere. Also, with ATM fees, your bank in the U.S., Canada or Europe probably has a partner bank here in Mexico that will allow you to make withdrawals free of charge. We use Bank of America and they partner with Santander Banco here in Mexico for their clients. FYI.

Life is slower here. People drive less, talk more, take longer to eat a meal. When you eat at a restaurant the waiter won't bring you the bill unless you ask for it. Maid service runs about $3.00 per hour, depending on what you negotiate. You can hire your maid to cook, clean, do your laundry, ......And if you have a maid's quarters they will stay at your house if you hire her. You can hire gardeners to mow your yard for $8.00. We don't have a maid or a gardener. I would rather do that myself just to keep my hands busy.

Things for Ladies. Manicures and pedicures for a woman runs about $8.00. That's right ladies. $8.00 USD. Christine had her hair done at a salon once in the past year...The cost? About $8.00 USD

TIPS, TIPS, TIPS. Everyone gets tips down here. In most parking lots there are men with red handkerchiefs that help you back out of your parking spot. They get $0.25 or so for the help. You tip the kids that sack your groceries at Wal Mart. You tip the guy that helps you load those groceries. You tip the guy that washes your windows at the traffic light. And of course you tip waiters. I have been told you tip 10% to waiters in Mexico. Christine and I have logged many years in the restaurant business so I refuse to tip that low. That usually means the waiters always remember us at our usual restaurants and always have a smile on their faces when we come in the door.

Taxis to the airport run about $12.00 USD. Much cheaper than in the U.S. where it may run you $50 plus tip for a twenty mile ride. Drinking Water is delivered to your door weekly for a small tip, usually $1.00 USD. A 5 gallon bottle runs $22 pesos. Propane to run your hot water heater, stove and clothes dryer (if you have one) run about $25.00 per month. City water runs about $10.00 per month. It's unbelievably cheap. I am not sure what trash pick up costs. No one has every sent me a bill. I have asked for one but they refuse to give me one. I have heard it costs about $3.00 USD per month. They pick up your trash three times a week.

The cost of Gasoline here is about $2.85 per gallon at the moment. It is much lower than in the U.S. and most parts of the world right now. We don't drive that much. I rarely fill up my tank more than once every two or three weeks. There have been a few months where I only filled up once in a month. This means you only get your oil changed about once every 9 months or so. You can get your oil changed for about $25 dollars, $50 if you want synthetic oil and need about 6 quarts. Car Insurance runs about $30 monthly depending on the vehicle.

Visas are another expense for long-term living here. Non-Tourist Visas are applied for on an annual basis and are good for a full 12 months. FM3's run about $175 annually per person. FM2's run  around $275 annually. Each FM3 or FM2 is good for 5 years but must be renewed annually.

Private School Tuition varies from school to school. Most private schools here are bilingual. This means that half of the classes are taught in English, half in Spanish. We home schooled both boys this past school year but are switching gears for next year. We just enrolled Joseph in Calvary Christian School this week. The application fee was $200 USD. The monthly tuition is 11 payments of $100 USD monthly. This is very inexpensive for private school education. The downside is the classes are larger. He will have 27 students in his class next year. We made this decision because one, he needs the social interaction and two, he needs the experience socially to accelerate his growth in Speaking Spanish. Joseph's best friend from church goes to this school so hopefully it will be a blessing for him. Many of the teachers are Americans and most everyone in the school is bilingual or working on becoming bilingual, both students and teachers, Mexicans and non-Mexicans.

Oh, and the Weather.....Different than any place I have ever lived. I grew up in Texas where it is very Hot. It's not that it is hot here in Merida....It's that it is hot about 8 or 9 months out of the year, not just 5 months like in Texas. And it is always humid, even when it doesn't rain. We have basically had no rain in 2011. I have seen it sprinkle twice this year. That's it. Nothing accumulating. Everything that is not being watered with a water hose, isn't extremely drought tolerant or doesn't have roots extending 15 feet under ground is completely dead right now. The last time we had a good rain here was about 6 months ago. Yet it always feels extremely humid here, even when the wind is blowing out of the south. It's very odd weather. If you don't like the heat, well, you won't like it here. We drink water all the time and when we don't we feel extremely tired.

The rainy season starts in mid-June and runs all the way through October/November. During this time you get rain almost every day, sometimes twice a day. It usually rains for about twenty or thirty minutes and then blows on through and the sun comes back out. That's when it really feels like a sauna. But come November, it gets noticeably cooler, especially at the beach where the winds are always blowing pretty hard. The temperature at the beach is also consistently about 8 to 10 degrees cooler, especially in the winter months of November through February. These are the months where you hardly have to turn on A/C and your electric bill goes way down.

This is a little glimpse into our lives and the cost of living in our city. Hope that helps.

God Bless,
JEB
www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com.
jayblackshear@yahoo.com.

Are you sure?

When our oldest son Kevin was in grade school we used to help him study for his spelling tests just like most parents. We would give him the word and he would spell it and we would either tell him "correct" or "try again." What I learned in this process was that at times Kevin would spell the words correctly but then would not be confident that he had done so. What I started doing was asking him if he was sure that he had spelled the word correctly? I would ask him, "Are you sure?" Then he would think about it and most often come to the conclusion that he had in fact made the right decision. He became confident that he had spelled the word correctly, that he had made the right decision.

The Lord does the same with his people. Let me explain. In the second half of Acts 20 we find the Apostle Paul giving departing instructions to the Ephesian elders. He recounts some of the details of his ministry and then later gives them prophetic warning about ravenous wolves that would come against the flock. But sandwiched in there in verse 22 he tells them....

"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there." Acts 20:22

Simple enough. He's going to Jerusalem. He's been told to do so by the Lord. The Spirit of God is compelling him to. However, if we keep reading into the next chapter we find something interesting happening. Paul and his companions eventually find themselves in Tyre in Acts 21:3,4. There we see this happen:

"Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem." Acts 21:4

Interesting isn't it?  In Acts 20:22 Paul says the Spirit is compelling him to go to Jerusalem. In Acts 21:4 we see Christians, through the Spirit, urging Paul not to go to Jerusalem. At this point we have a divine contradiction. Why? Why is this happening? I think it is very simple really. I think the Lord is trying to solidify Paul's resolve to endure all things. The Lord knew that when Paul arrived at his destination he was going to be severely tested by the plots of the Jews. And, I believe that in his own way the Lord is asking Paul, "Paul, are you sure this is what I have told you to do? Are you sure?"

Upon arriving in the city Paul is detained and beaten by the Jews in the temple, arrested by the Romans, brought back before the Sanhedrin, held in prison for further questioning at a future date, threatened with assassination and transferred under armed guard to Caesarea for a trial before the governor Felix, detained in prison for another two years, brought to trial again before governor Festus who succeeds Felix, brought to trial again before King Agrippa and then later transferred by ship under armed guard to Rome to eventually stand trial before Caesar.

That's alot of suffering for one trip. And the Lord knew that before Paul started enduring through this succession of events he would have to solidify Paul's resolve to endure all things in the Lord. Paul had to get to the place where he knew that he knew that he knew that he absolutely knew that he was in the right place with the Lord in Jerusalem, even before he got there. Paul absolutely had to be clear in his own heart and mind, even before he arrived, that he had made the right decision, that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding was guarding his heart and his mind about the decision he had made according to the wisdom that was in his heart. He needed to dwell in the supremacy of God's wisdom, his peaceful wisdom.

"Wisdom is supreme, therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have get understanding." Proverbs 4:7

"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving,...." James 1:17

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

"Let everything be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." 2 Cor 13:1

The Lord wants us to dwell in the supremacy of his wisdom. He wants us to know the peace that accompanies his wisdom, the peace that guards the heart and mind against doubt and unbelief once we have made a decision to go with him in a certain direction in our lives. I have often found that when making critical decisions in my life the only real confirmation I and my family received was the peace of God itself. If we are going to walk with the Lord there are going to be times when everyone around us, even trustworthy Christians, may not see the fullness of what God is showing us specifically.

I am not preaching against accountability. We need the Body to help us along. I am not saying go "rogue." But I have to tell you there are going to be times when you are going to have to stand alone with Jesus in the Spirit. Going rogue is when you don't have peace. It's not "rogue" when you are the only one who sees it after you have prayed about something more than once and subsequently have the peace of God abiding in your heart. At that point you are not alone. At that point there is confirmation and we go for it, even when other well-intending believers around us don't see or hear what God is showing us. This happened to Paul in Acts 20 &21.

In my last post I spoke of times in my life when others counseled me against doing what God had shown me to do. At times it was obvious the counsel was "Bad Counsel." But I have to also say that among those moments of "Bad Counsel" there have been many times where God was raising up others to test me like he did for Paul in Tyre in Acts 21. I look back and wonder if, when others where counseling me against making a decision I prayerfully felt led to make, they were not in fact speaking by the Spirit. I wonder if it was God asking me if I was sure that I had in fact heard him, that like my son Kevin, that was how you spell the word.

"It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice." Philippians 1:15-18

We may not know in this lifetime whether, at times, the counsel and/or opposition we get from others springs from false motives or pure motives. Sometimes the Lord does not allow us to discern the hearts and motives of others. Like Elisha, sometimes it is hidden from us for various reasons (2 Kings 4:27).

When I moved to Midland, TX in February, 1997 the Lord spoke to me the first day I was there and told me to not get to comfortable as I would not be there long. Six months later the Lord moved me to Albuquerque, NM where I met Christine. But before I made the move out of Midland I was offered a free place to live and an opportunity to stay. The Lord tested me on my resolve to do what I had been told to do.

After marrying Christine and subsequently getting into management with the Olive Garden in 2000, the Lord opened a door for us to move back to Texas. The Lord had shown me 9 months prior that we would be making this move. When the time came to finalize the details of my transfer with my company they called an offered me the opportunity to stay in Albuquerque and to work in a restaurant where the quarterly bonuses that the managers were receiving were some of the best in the company. I prayed with my wife about it and turned it down. When they transferred me back to Texas the Lord saw to it that I was placed in a similar restaurant where the managers where earning similar bonus money to the ones in the aforementioned restaurant in Albuquerque.

A few years later the Lord began to speak to me that it was time to leave the restaurant business and get into real estate. He spoke to me at various times and in various ways over a period of about six months. When the time came for me to finalize my decision and turn in my resignation the area director, my bosses boss, tried to talk me out of my decision to leave even though he and I had always clashed because I was a Christian walking by faith.

"Did God really say......?" Genesis 3:1

When God speaks to us, more likely than not, we are going to be tested on it at some point in time. The question that remains is, "Are we certain that we have heard the Lord?" The opposition that you get to your decisions may be demonic and carnal like in Genesis 3. Or, it may be Spirit-led questioning as we see in Acts 21. Sometimes we can gauge the fruit of the individual and know which "voice" it is. Sometimes, we can't. But, as Paul said in Philippians 1, "But what does it matter? Whether from false motives or true......And because of this I rejoice."

We just need to know what God is saying to us. And when we know, we have peace. This is what it means to "know the Lord."

Be Blessed,
JEB
www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com.