I could hear geese honking above the dense Oregon fog…Immediately, God said, "I'm going to teach you to hear My voice." Little did I know how much I needed Jesus.
Jesus simply wants us to trust that He’s working all things together for our good. He’s working all things for our good in the way He knows is best and that will bring us the most joy…
Trusting and resting in Jesus’ love – And I will dwell in the house of the Lord, my Prince of Peace, forever. No place like home…☺
Rest In Your Love – Martin Nystrom
I will rest, I will rest in Your love, Jesus.
God bless,
Mark
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:13
Most of the time when I’m in a tough situation (like a sudden fear temptation), I don’t know how God’s going to deliver me, but, in my spirit, God tells me to concentrate on Him, to let His peace dwell in my heart, that He’ll work it for my good, to realize He’ll never leave me nor forsake me. God may remove the situation or He may give me the peace and joy to go through it. He changes my perspective or releases me from the circumstance.
Satan will try to make us believe that we won’t triumph. That’s what he does. Don’t believe his lies!
Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ and who maketh manifest through us the savor of His knowledge in every place.
2 Corinthians 2:14 KJV
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us spreads and makes evident everywhere the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him.
2 Corinthians 2:14 AMP
Yep, that’s our God. One way or another, He always causes us to triumph. That’s what He does. You can believe it. ☺
God bless,
Mark
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14 AMP
Today’s a new day and the beginning of a new week in Jesus. Isn’t it wonderful that His mercies are new every morning. He keeps moving us forward in His love. Forgetting what lies behind, He encourages us to keep looking forward to all He has in store for us…That makes me happy. ☺
Happy Monday, everyone!
God bless,
Mark
There’s such a great need for God’s peace today, to let His peace reign in our hearts…
It seems like I’ve felt like I’ve had to defend myself for most of my life. It caused me a lot of stress and anxiety. Several years ago, Jesus told me to stop defending myself, that He would take care of me, and that I could rest in what He was allowing in my life as He lead me further into His will. Wow, I can’t tell you how much peace His words brought me.
My wife and I were discussing something the other morning and I could tell she was losing her peace. When I saw that we couldn’t resolve her matter, Jesus showed me that what we really needed was His peace that passes understanding, and that we needed to let Him work things out.
When one of us recognizes that we’re losing our peace, we remind each other of it and let Jesus bring us back to His peace, His rest, His joy.
Over the years, God’s been teaching me a lot about peace. Having chronic health issues, panic disorder and anxiety disease really emphasized my need for His peace.
Through our friend , Linda K., God showed me how to test the spirit behind any topic. If something’s causing me to lose my peace, God reminds me to stop thinking about that matter, to take that thought captive to the obedience of Christ. He reminds me that He’s in control, to return to His peace, to get back under the shadow of the Most High by letting go of the topic or concern, to cast my care on Him.
And he (Jesus) will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6b
Test the spirits, precious people. If something’s got you upset, ask Jesus to help you get back to His peace. Stay in the shadow of the Most High. Cast all your care on Him and watch The Prince of Peace calm you down and take care of you.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD (The house of the Prince of Peace) for ever.
Psalm 23
God bless,
Mark
The thing I (Mark) had a hard time learning was to stop focusing on the problem – I was raised to focus on what was happening, the problem, first. The temptation is to focus on the problem, thing or situation that’s trying to get me to fear, to take my eyes off God, to not trust God. I needed to learn to focus on God, first. This is the first part of victory in the Lord.
Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn (Edits mine)
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Oh no, not a flat tire! Oh no…”
Wait, back up. “God has said He’ll work all things together for my good so, somehow, He’s going to work this flat tire for my good. Thank You, Lord, for Your promises.”
God bless,
Mark
Any more, when I begin to get “careful” about something that comes up during my day, God reminds me of the scripture in Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing, Mark.” What a blessing the Bible is to my life.
Learning To Live In God’s Home
I was brought up in a home where I was taught to worry…about money, our reputation, what others thought about us, etc.
It’s a real mystery. There was a time when I couldn’t trust God, when I didn’t truly know Him. I didn’t have any “trust God” in me. I thought I trusted God, but I didn’t really. I didn’t know He was taking care of me. I was really scared, pretty much full of hopelessness and unbelief. It was a really tough existence of living in a spiritual “no man’s land” calling ourselves Christians but full of confusion and fear.
Then, my wife and I began memorizing pertinent scriptures. If it was true, like so many people said it was, we wanted the Bible to become a reality in our lives and were told that this was one tangible way to get it into our hearts, minds and spirits to put an end to worry, unbelief, fear, and hopelessness.
One day I was aware of something new in my spirit. I thought it was a small amount of “trust.” It wasn’t there and then it was, and it began to grow. How does that happen? How does the Holy Spirit put “trust” in our hearts? Pretty amazing miracle…
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Psalm 23
God’s drawing us close to Him, to the safe, comfortable, secure, joyful, loving dwelling place of the Most High. He’s taking us home to live in His house, forever…beginning today.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.
James 1:4 KJV
And let endurance (patience) have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.
James 1:4 AMP
When I was in elementary school, we had to learn to count to 100, the parts of speech, the alphabet and multiplication tables. We used flash cards over and over until we memorized this important knowledge that we’d use for the rest of our lives.
Ever notice how God likes to repeat spiritual lessons? He does so to draw us closer and closer to Him. God’s work in our lives is so thorough. He desires to grow us up in Him, in His ways, in His understanding, trust, peace, love and joy. He wants us to live with Him. So, to bring this about, He takes us through the same lessons over and over again. That’s what it takes for us to live this life free in Him.
Why does God ask us to let patience have her perfect work so that we can be perfect and entire lacking nothing? Well, first we have to understand what takes place as we let patience have her perfect work? The works of the flesh, in our lives, are replaced with the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians chapter 5 in the Bible). In other words, the fruit of the Spirit is developed in us and takes over our lives the longer we choose to walk and live with Jesus, the longer we let patience have her perfect work in us.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Philippians 1:6
When we become aware of His trust being developed in us, Christianity really becomes fun. You begin to sense that God’s really backing you up. This is when we begin to know we can always rely on God to see us through…And He just keeps growing our knowing. This is when we begin to enter His rest; that secure, loving dwelling place, where we can live trusting Him always…and that’s wonderful, that’s home.
Let patience have her perfect work in your life.
Memorize the Word. No matter where He leads you, stay with Jesus. Keep learning about Him. Let Him teach you over and over again so you can be “thoroughly” full of “trusting Him.” He’s bringing us home to live with Him in His house…☺
God bless,
Mark
he (God) will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee
Deuteronomy 31:8b
I (Jesus) will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Hebrews 13:5c
he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee
1 Chronicles 28:20c
Isn’t it wonderful? God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will never leave us nor forsake us. They’re with us at home, on the road, at work, everywhere we are and go. That makes for a Happy Monday! ☺
God bless,
Mark
Are you impatient? Do you speak a lot of negative words? Does a lot of your conversation center around worry, doubt and fear? If so, you can rejoice because Jesus loves to take our weaknesses and transform them by His glorious light, from glory to glory. ☺
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
James 1:4
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
“Mark, how’s this going to turn out for my good?” Honestly, I don’t know. BUT, I know God says it will. You just need to see it through and let patience have her perfect work.
One of the key’s to maintaining faith is to not say anything negative – See James chapter 3. It’s so true. Simple, right? Impossible? Not according to God’s Word. All we need to do is ask Jesus to help us put a guard over our mouth – The Holy Spirit will be faithful to help you do this.
It’s amazing how much what we say impacts our thought-life. Keep praising and thanking God. It makes all the difference, believe me.
Can you begin to see how much fun the Christian life can be?
God bless,
Mark
I had a pretty severe migraine headache about eight days ago and it’s still making me dull in the head and pretty weak. Since the initial migraine attack, I’ve had some challenges come up. Even though I often have a harder time maintaining my faith after a migraine, the Lord just kept reminding me to praise and trust Him. Sure enough, even though my body and mind were both in disagreement, I kept praising and trusting God, and He just kept delivering me all week long. I’m telling you this to build you up in your faith, and that even though you may feel weak, obeying God by praising and thanking Him in all things can bring great blessings and deliverance. It builds self-control and helps me to not complain which is always a blessing. ☺
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8
Many times, seemingly stressful or harmful circumstances are simply a prelude to God’s mighty deliverance. He’s about to bring us a blessing but we can’t see it yet so we’re tempted to worry. He asks us to have faith that He’ll see us through.
I was going to write about something else this morning, but right when I sat down to begin, I felt lead to write this instead.
The greatest thing spouses and parents can do for each other and for their kids is to believe and act on the Word, the Bible, no matter what’s going on on any given day.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it’s so true. It’s what happened to me over the years. If I believe God’s Word and let it impact my actions, my wife is much happier and has an easier time trusting God.
For instance, if I believe and act as those I believe Romans 8:28, my entire family benefits from it. I do, too, because believing Romans 8:28 stops fear and brings hope. It encourages us.
And, that’s just one scripture, and yet it makes such a huge, positive, peace-inducing impact on us and our families.
God wants to bless the entire family by having us believing and acting out our beliefs by trusting that He’ll back up His Word.
Believing God brought great blessing to the lives of the people in the Bible. This is our time to live out God’s truths and to watch Him bless our believing as well.
Be a blessing to your spouse and children by believing and acting out God’s truths.
God bless,
Mark
It’s so good to simply take a few slow, deep breaths. It can help to still me…
Let (we have a choice) not your heart be troubled (I protect my heart by looking up): ye believe in God, believe also in me (Jesus).
John 14:1
If I don’t do what Jesus asks me to do, I’ll be tempted to doubt and question Him, to take on care and fear. If I don’t “look up,” I may experience a hardening of my heart towards God.
God doesn’t ask me to understand everything that happens on earth. He asks me to trust Him, to look up.
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Luke 21:28
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding (our understanding is limited and finite while God’s understanding is infinite seeing the whole picture).
Proverbs 3:5
Why “Look up?” Jesus knew doing so would help us maintain a posture of trusting Him regardless of circumstances. In other words, “looking up” enables us to “be still,” to not give in to earthly emotions, and fear so that we don’t become full of concern about everything that’s happening around us. Looking up gives us God’s proper perspective. Jesus (not day-to-day circumstances) truly is our Prince Of Peace.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings (bad news): heart is fixed (his heart is looking up to Jesus), trusting in the LORD (the reward for being obedient to “look up,” to keep focused on Jesus, and His will and care for us).
Let’s be still knowing God is in control and that our redemption is very near.
Today, be still. Look up. ☺
God bless,
Mark
Happy Monday! ☺
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds (surpasses) anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7 New Living Translation (NLT)
God bless,
Mark
I was thinking this morning about how far God has brought me in His healing of my heart and emotions, my panic disorder and anxiety disease. Years ago, God brought me to a crossroads in my life. He was about to “fix” my heart. Was I going to continue to let panic usurp what His Word said about trusting Him in all situations, or was I going to step out in faith, believe and let His truth dictate my behavior?
The following is today’s (October 5th) entry in Sarah Young’s “Jesus Always” daily devotional. It’s a blessing…
*******
I WANT YOU TO HAVE NO FEAR of bad news. The only way to accomplish this feat is to have a steadfast heart, trusting in Me. There is an abundance of bad news in the world, but you don’t need to be afraid of it. Instead, confidently rely on Me – believe in Me. Find encouragement in My sacrificial death on the cross and My miraculous resurrection. I, your living Savior, am Almighty God! I am sovereign over global events; I am still in control.
When things around you or in the world seem to be spinning out of control, come to Me and pour out your heart. Instead of fretting and fuming, put your energy into praying. Come to Me, not only for comfort but also for direction; I will help you find the way forward. Moreover, I take your prayers into account as I govern your planet – in ways far, far beyond your understanding.
Don’t dread bad news or let it spook you. Instead, keep your heart steadfast and calm through confident trust in Me.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.
Psalm 112:7
Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
Isaiah 40:10
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Pslam 62:8
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
*******
It’s amazing that God can fix a heart like mine. It’s such a tremendous blessing that Jesus works in our lives to bring us His rest and peace.
God bless,
Mark
Remember, precious people of God, to not let fear run off with your emotions. God desires us to be steady, full of faith in Him, standing in the peace He makes available to us through the Spirit.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
Lyric by Ed Mote
In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
Lyric by Keith Getty
In the Bible story of David and Goliath, Goliath represents “fear,” and having learned that God is faithful to those who rely on Him, David is now full of God’s faith; “But I (David – Put your name here) come to thee (satan and fear) in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.”
1 Samuel 17:45b
Fear will always attempt to defy (resist or refuse to obey) faith, to tempt us to walk in unforgiveness, to be jealous, to lose hope, to despair, to hate, to strive, to lose peace, to stop us from looking up.
40 And he (David) took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine (Goliath).
41 And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.
42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
43 And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.
45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
46 This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.
1 Samuel 17:40-47
This is our time to live as David – and all the other faithful men and women have done throughout time – lived. When the “Goliaths” of the end times seek to defy our God, run at them praising God, singing songs and speaking words of faith, saying the scriptures out loud, remembering that God rewards faith, and look for His favor in all situations, and take down “Goliath” in the Name of the Lord of Hosts.
Our faith and trust in Jesus’ Name scares the devil and his cohorts to death, everlasting death. Turn the table on fear. Consume it with faith in the Name of the God who was with all those mentioned in the 11th chapter of Hebrews.
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psalm 1:1-3
To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
Isiah 61:3
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand
Lyric by Keith Getty
Praise be to Jesus, our Prince of Peace! Rest in His love and care for you.
God bless,
Mark
I turned on the radio this morning and the program began playing a recording of the Las Vegas shooting. Immediately, I turned it off. Why? Because listening to the playback brings fear and fear’s companion is torment. Satan knows it and that’s why he loves fear. I’m telling you, you will not make it in the end times if you keep giving into fear. You can’t let it in the door of your heart. Take it captive to the obedience of Christ.
In the Bible’s book of “Numbers,” 12 men were sent out to spy out the promised land – note that the land had been promised to the Israelites just like God promised He would never leave us nor forsake us. Ten were fearful and tried to convince the others in the camp of the Israelites to be fearful as well. Two men didn’t give into the fear and said they could take the land because God “is with us.” Joshua and Caleb knew God would give them what He promised them.
Fear has torment. When fear tries to steal our faith, we have the tendency to start acting like God is no longer with us, that we need to take matters into our hands. Fear does this to us, it always lies to us. It’s why God tells us, over and over again in His Word to fear not.
God commands us to stay in faith, to act like He’s still with us. It’s why He tells us to “look up” when these things (fearful events that overwhelm the unsaved who don’t know they can have “faith” in God) take place. Personally, to end fear’s torment, to break its grip on my life, I had to stop practicing fear by practicing faith in God and what His Word says. I had to stop talking and thinking fearful words and thoughts. We must all do the same.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Psalm 42:5
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
1 John 4:18
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 41:10
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Luke 21:28
Be still, and know that I am God:
Psalm 46:10a
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,
Colossians 3:15a
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an evil report…
6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
8 If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
9 Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
Numbers 13:30-32; Numbers 14:6-9
Joshua and Caleb believed God. Practice faith, and teach others to do the same. Put an end to fear’s torment by looking up. Let (it’s up to each of us to guard our own heart) the peace of God reign in your heart.
“The Lord is with us!”
God bless,
Mark
Here, in California, most drivers roll through Stop signs. I mean, after all, everyone’s doing it, why not me, right? Besides, it feels funny coming to a complete stop like everyone will think I’m weird, or something. Well, that’s the kind of reasoning that can cost you around $450 if you get caught rolling Stops.
We get used to living by fear because most people do it, right?
When I was growing up, I saw a lot of ads that had a bully kicking beach sand in your face while he stole your girlfriend. The ad was to motivate you to do bodybuilding or to take karate so you could whoop the bullies in your life.
The devil, and his fear, is the bully, and God wants us to live by faith so we don’t keep being intimidated by fear.
My Bible (Word) tells me God does not want me to live with any fear. It tells me God can always be trusted in all situations. In Deuteronomy 30:15-20, the Word tells me to choose life (faith) or death (fear) every day. From God’s perspective, it’s that critical.
My Bible tells me God does not want me to live with any fear. It tells me God can always be trusted in all situations.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
2 Corinthians 6:17
God’s encouraging me to emphasize the importance of faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us it’s impossible to please God without faith. Wow, that’s serious.
It’s simply incredible to me that God loves us so much that He commands us to live by faith and not fear. He commands us to come away from the fear-inducing ways of this world to walk (live) by faith. He commands us to come out from among them and be ye separate. I really believe this means He wants us to live in all the blessings faith brings into our lives. Contentment, rest, peace, joy, self-control, etc. Having these spiritual attributes operating in our lives is the most valuable thing we can have in this life.
And, it’s just so much fun to live by faith, to experience God backing you up, to have Him reward your faith and trust in Him at all times.
Here are two verses that we must memorize to live by faith, to trust God in all situations.
Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
Proverbs 3:25
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
I can’t tell you enough how important these two scriptures are. They protect your family, your faith, and their truths set you free from fear once they get into your soul. Memorize them, speak them to each other, put them up in your house, do whatever it takes to get them operating in your life. We must be people of faith in order to please God.
Jesus paid the price on the cross so we could live, truly live, by faith.
Choose fear and choose death. Or, choose Jesus, choose faith, and choose life.
“Now therefore fear (respect Him to the point that you do what He tells you to do) the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers (fear) served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (faith).”
Joshua 24:14-15
God bless,
Mark
For so many years, our (my wife and I) conversations centered around fearful, worried, defeated thoughts. Thank God, finally, we got fed up and sick of living that way and, through some teaching we heard, began to keep our mouths shut unless we could say verses that re-programmed us to trust God. Whenever we’d begin to talk about fear, we’d remind each other about scriptures that would help our faith in God grow. Life was so challenging at that point, that we really had no other choice and that, as it turned out, was a tremendous, life-altering blessing. Now, I can see that God allowed my panic disorder, migraines, and all of the other fearful circumstances to teach us how to apply His truths so we could learn how to rest in Him, alone.
Fear is a lie. Fear comes from the devil who is the father of lies…
There are so many opportunities to worry about so many things in life. But, in Jesus, those same opportunities are occasions to exercise our faith in Him and His mighty Word. When fear thoughts approach, fight them off by remembering verses like these:
Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:10
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
Psalm 56:3
LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.
Psalm 84:12
Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
Proverbs 3:25
“You know, Mark, we’ve never been glad that we worried about this or that. Worrying only made our lives more miserable.” Wise words from my wife.
Every day, Jesus is developing our faith. With each passing year, we find that He really has been faithful to us, that we really can trust Him with all our heart. Learning to be content in all of life’s situations is where He’s taking us.
Jesus doesn’t abandon us. No way. He’s in perfect control. We’re not going down, and we’re not going under. No, instead, in His all-knowing way, Jesus is making us anxious for nothing.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:10
When we refuse to give into worry, we are seeking God by exercising our faith in Him, in His care of our lives, our hearts, minds and souls.
God bless,
Mark
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:36
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
My wife’s mom had become a slave to this world, she was super-driven, and, as a result, had a lot of strife in her life. No one was going to come between her and what she wanted to acquire in this life.
In many ways, I was a lot like that…And, I didn’t even know it.
One day, after we’d found out that mom had brain cancer, I was sitting in her living room with her. We were alone and she looked up at a living room wall that was tastefully decorated with a lot of items she’d worked hard to get. Mom was a gifted decorator and as she looked at that wall, and then around the room, she said something that totally caught me by surprise. She said, “None of it matters.” It was such a relief to hear her words and to know that mom was about to be relieved of so much worldly weight, so much heaviness.
Wow, coming from such a driven person where everything she’d worked so hard for MATTERED, it was quite a shocking statement. As it turned out, my daughter, Faith, led mom to ask Jesus into her heart just before she passed. God had revealed to mom that what she thought mattered, really didn’t and it was an honest moment that began an unloading of the weight that had weighed on mom’s heart, mind and spirit for most of her life.
What matters? What have I been enslaved by? What has this world taught me to carry that shouldn’t matter to me? Lord what am I carrying that I need to cast onto You? What “matters” can You set me truly free from? Please show me how You can lighten my life and spirit. Please set me free, Lord. I want to be like You, free.
One of the most blessed things Jesus has shown me is that He answers prayer. Nothing new, right? But, the type of prayer I’m talking about today is the one where I ask Jesus to show me anything that’s weighing on me that I’m not even aware of. Some “thing(s)” matters and I don’t even know it, consciously. In fact, the only way I find out about something that matters to me is by the Lord revealing it to me. It’s like I’m blinded to the “matter” and then He opens my understanding to it and shows me that He can relieve me of the weight of the “matter.” It’s so cool to be able to just pray for Him to help me with “matters” and then to rest knowing that I’ve asked Him for His help. Then, out of the blue, one day, He just shows me some thing and then relieves my spirit of the care of that thing. It’s an amazing relationship that’s a real, tangible, true blessing. What a Savior we have.
Go ahead, ask Jesus to show you what “matters” to you, some thing that’s weighing on your mind, on your life, on your spirit, and then watch what happens.
It’s really fun and amazing. He’s so faithful to answer that prayer. It makes me so happy when He surprises me by showing me how I can be set free from some thing that doesn’t need to matter to me any more. I don’t understand exactly how He does it but, somehow, He takes the weight of the matter from me and I can actually feel it happening. Incredible. But then, that’s our wonderful Jesus…He’s simply incredible.
God bless,
Mark
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not (without reproaching or faultfinding); and it shall be given him.
James 1:5
Jesus is ready to help us throughout the week. All we have to do is ask for His help with whatever it is that we need.
The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace
And I put the Name of the God of the children of Israel on you and bless you in Jesus’ Name, the Name that is ABOVE every other name.
Taken from Numbers Chapter 6
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
God bless,
Mark
The Storm King by Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn
Below is a youtube excerpt from Jonathan’s longer teaching. By the way, you can purchase teachings in their entirety (can be downloaded for about $7) at Hopeoftheworld.org.
Simply search Jonathan’s site for the youtube teaching excerpt number. For example, under the above youtube link teaching, it states, The Storm King #2106:
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But you can never, you can never plan it, so storms will come. The question is, “What are you going to do when the storms come? What do you do?” You may be in a storm now. What do you do?
There’s all kinds of storms in life. There are storms of financial problems. Emotional problems that become a storm. Opposition, people against me can be a storm. People talking about you…You get stormy. You know, a storm of losing a job, or a moral failure – there are so many kinds of storms. It takes away peace if you let it.
But the things is, that’s the whole point here. In this life, you will have these things. But, remember, not only has He overcome it, but remember your peace is not dependent on what’s going on around you. If it is, the enemy’s going to be able to always do what he wants with you.
Your peace is not to be a “fair-weather” peace. When someone says they’re a fair-weather friend it means they’ll be with you when times are good, when it’s fair-weather. But, when the storm comes, they’re gone. We all know people like that. But then, a real friend stays no matter what.
So our peace is not to be a fair-weather peace where it’s only good for fair weather, it’s to be a peace that’s good for the storms as well. You know, sometimes, they have all-weather tires that you don’t have to change. God wants us to have all-weather peace, all-weather joy.
It means we must be weather-resistant.
The way you deal with storms is crucial because every life has them so it’s crucial for your peace, it’s crucial for your victory – It doesn’t matter what the storm is.
And even if He’s in your boat, Messiah, you’re going to have a storm. What that’s telling you right off the bat is, right there, some people preach that He’s going to exempt you from having storms. But that’s not the Bible.
If we look at the life of the Apostle Paul, was he not in the will of God? And, did Paul not have enough faith? And yet, Paul, what’d he say, “I’ve been through this and I’ve been through that. I’ve been stoned nearly to death, I’ve been that. I’ve had all this, I’ve been in jail, etc.” And yet, he was praising God.
Paul was victorious not because he avoided those things, but because he triumphed in them…And he’s the one who writes to you, “Thanks be to God Who always causes me to triumph.” In the storms and outside them, He always does. And that’s the key, how do you do that?
Everything doesn’t have to go fine outside. In fact, sometimes because you follow Jesus, it will go worse outside. People will be against you. The world will be against you. Follow Me, take up your cross. There’s a cost to it Jesus says. But, everything still, in God, is to be victorious. The Bible says, God, Who always leads us to triumph – Not “sometimes.” That means whatever you’re going through in your life, if you’re following God, He’s always going to lead you to victory over it no mater what. Storm, or no storm, He’s always – that’s the world part, that’s the “outside” – but God, His promise is always to triumph, always.
You look at Paul, and here he is in prison, and it’s near the end of his life in the book of Timothy, and he, the man has no regrets. He’s not depressed. He has joy and hope. He says, “I have a crown coming for me, it’s laid up for me, I’ve fought the good fight of faith.” That’s the thing. He had more joy than any millionaire has if they don’t have the Lord.
Now, it doesn’t matter if someone doesn’t follow the Lord, they’re going to have storms, or if they follow the Lord, they’re going to have storms. But, the difference is how you go through it. That’s what makes the difference. The weather’s the weather. But, God is the God.
Thank God, whatever’s going on, one of the key things when you’re dealing with something – things are going crazy – one of the key things that’s kind of hard to first get into your head is that the tendency, the temptation is to focus on all the stuff that’s happening. And the first part of victory is not to focus on everything that’s happening. No, the first thing of victory is to focus on the Lord and not the problem. You have to start with the Lord if you’re going to have real victory over the problem.
So one of the first things to get, the first victory is getting your mind off all the stuff, the fear, the anxiety, and get it onto God despite it. And, just by doing that, you’re already saying, “I am not under the storm, I’m under God.” The fact that I can even let go means that God is more important than the storm.
Thank God you have Yeshua, Jesus, Messiah, in your boat cause if you didn’t, all you’d have is a storm. If you didn’t let Jesus in your life, then when the storms would come anyway, then you wouldn’t have anything. The people in the world don’t like that they’re dealing with the storms, and they’ve got nothing in the boat. But you’ve got that (Jesus), and that’s the most important fact you have.
Galilee is one of the most beautiful lands in the world, and it has storms at the same time. So, the same way, just because you have storms in your life, doesn’t mean your life is not beautiful in the Lord.
And, notice something. What’s Jesus doing in the boat? He’s sleeping. Now that’s something. How’d He fall asleep so fast? I mean, some people can sleep through anything. Some people wake up at any point. I’m kind of a mix. I sleep well for a while. But while I’m sleeping, our boys sneak into our beds. And they wait till we’re sleeping because then we can’t stop them. We wake up and there’s a hand over our face or a leg over there. But, I don’t usually wake up and I don’t know how they do it. And then they get up and go to school and they don’t even wake me. I don’t know how that happens. But the Lord is in the middle of a storm, and the boat is rocking heavily back and forth from side to side – and He’s sleeping. Why? Well on one hand, He’d been ministering right before that and ministry can take a lot out of you. When I’m finished ministering on Sunday, no matter what I do, my body shuts down. I cannot stop it. It shuts down and I’m asleep, you know, for a time. But He’s asleep, He was ministering so that’s probably why He’s exhausted. But, I also think that the Lord knew what was going to happen. I mean, God the Father knew what was going to happen and He, also, it was a setup from the Lord just like it is with our life. And so He’s sleeping there and they’re (His disciples in the boat with Him) going crazy while He’s sleeping. He’s (Jesus) unaffected. You know, the boat’s affected. There’s gotta be water coming on everybody, and He’s still sleeping. He’s unaffected. Which tells you something.
In the Lord, if you’re a follower of Him, you’ve got Him in you, you can actually go through things and not be affected by them. His presence does not change through anything. So if you’re always dwelling on the wrong thing, I mean, and in a sense they had the peace of God in their boat in the middle of the storm, but it wasn’t their peace until they stopped focusing on everything else but Jesus.
In the same way, the peace of God is there, but if you focus on a million things, you’re not going to know His peace until you focus on Him.
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God bless you all,
Mark
Hello Everyone In Jesus’ Name, The Name That Is ABOVE Every Other Name:
I’d like to ask for your prayers right now as my family (I suspect all six of us, our daughters and sons-in-law, will be approached with this attack) is under some pretty heavy spiritual attacks. We know God’s faithful and that He’ll bring us through this time, but it’s so great to know others are praying for you. Thanks for your prayers. ☺
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Psalm 28:7
Wow, I’ve been getting really whampoed (a new word Annie came up with a little while ago ☺), spiritually, lately – Very heavy attacks from the enemy of our souls.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Psalm 42:5
What’s exciting about the spiritual opposition is that, through Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s youtube teachings, God’s teaching us that such times mean there are some really good spiritual lessons He’s about to reveal to us. Times of refreshing are just around the corner, new insights, and an opportunity for Him to show us His unwavering love and faithfulness to us. It’s really wonderful to anticipate God’s deliverance when we’re under enemy fire.
For one thing, God brought to us a verse we hadn’t read in a little while.
Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10
While the enemy can often attack us for no reason at all, I’d been making something other than the Lord my joy and, as a result, I’d, temporarily, lost my joy in the Lord. I was so caught off-guard, and confused that I couldn’t think of anything but that God was ripping me off – Yep, this is how satan works. Self-pity came in like a flood and I encountered a lot of discouraging, depressing thoughts.
Whenever I find myself focusing on something I want and am not getting, it’s easy for the enemy to take advantage of me and begin to tempt me with “idol” thoughts that can begin to make me mad at God. Never a good thing…
Just thought I’d pass this experience onto everyone so we can be on the lookout (bolo) for such attacks.
If you have something before the Lord in your life, lay it back down at the foot of the cross. Leave it there for God to deal with. Then, let Him relieve you, once again, of all “care.”
Praise Jesus! What an incredible Savior we have. He’s ever watching over our hearts to make sure we don’t get snared by the enemy’s tactics. And He’s always showing us new things that bring us His joyous victory for every-day living in the Spirit.
So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
Isaiah 59:19
We love you all.
God bless,
Mark