Finding the Manna in Our Lives

Manna and Quail
"The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:1-3

When the going gets rough and we are going through the tough times – pressing forward to where God wants us to be, we will be tested on our faith. Will we continue to push forward or will be be like the Israelites and want to go back to Egypt where the going is good? As I read this, I sensed that when we are led into the desert, it may be common to grumble, complain and wish to be back in the good ol days! The Lord wants us to dig deeper in our faith and trust that He WILL provide for us all we need. We see this as God provided quail and manna to His people in the middle of the desert. God does the same for us in our desert, for He will not abandon nor forsake us, for He will take care of us, especially when we are in the desert. We are to go out into the desert willingly, so that we can find and gather the manna He has for us. What lessons can we learn? What is it that He wants us to learn in the middle of the desert? He will have us go out to find the manna in our lives, we just need to look. Let us not wish to go back to Egypt and out of the times of testing, the times of sifting, but to look at what does God want us to find (the manna) in this experience. Are you willing to find manna in your desert experience? Gather those experiences, those lessons that God wants us to keep! Even in the darkest times, God Provides. (Jehoval Jireh)

Questions: Are you in the desert? Can you begin to look around and see what God wants you to learn in this experience as the manna in your life?

Basket Riding

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew? "The man said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known." (Exodus 2:11-14)
 We are not to take our destiny into our own hands, but wait for God to launch us off to our destiny at His perfect timing and His perfect location. We are to ride in the basket of faith down the river of the living water! I see the same reoccurring theme here as with Abraham and with Joseph! God had given them a vision of their destiny and they were impatient and took it into their own hands and did an “Ishmael”. When God gives us a vision, it is very important to not only store it in our hearts but to wait for God’s perfect timing, to have Him launch us out. We are not to take the vision, even though it is God inspired,  and to take things in our own hands, then try to make it happen in the physical world. God needs to be the director and orchestrator of our lives. I see this for me and the Prayer & Healing Ministry that I am involved with. I  know the plan and vision that God gave to me about where we are headed, but it is not up to me to “create it” and seek out opportunities to make it happen. If I did, then I am doing it in my own strength and effort and it would be doomed to failure! This is what happened to Moses. Like I had mentioned earlier in my Lego block illustration, I can prepare myself by doing my part but then God will come in and do His part and launch me off in HIS PERFECT TIME. He will bring those opportunities to me and all I have to do is be ready. We cannot take things in our own hands, but just be prepared and be ready to accept those opportunities that He brings our way. It is NOT about us making it happen by going out and finding the opportunities on our own. We are to be like little baby Moses in our reed baskets, being launched down the stream in protection and comfort by God – to a destiny that was created by God to fulfill His purpose. We just need to rest and await our destiny at the right place and right time. I am grateful to see the vision of me being in the comfortable basket and being launched on the living waters to the destiny that God has intended for me! What a wonderful ride  it is!

Question: Are you basket riding? Are you willing to go down the river and trust that God has it all in control?

Man Forgets - God Sees

The Eye of the Eagle
"The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him." Genesis 40:23

We may be forgotten by man, but never by God! The words from Genesis 40, really stuck out in my mind, “he forgot him”. Isn’t that so common, that we can be forgotten or overlooked by man but we are never overlooked by God. How often have we done a task that took lots of time and effort, with the end result that nobody noticed?! That has happened to me and I am sure to you too. When you feel unappreciated or neglected and that can lead to a number one “pity party”. We can so easily want the approval of man, to get the acknowledgement of others, but what is important here is that God sees us! We should always play to the audience of one – for Him. Have we done the best in His eyes? We know that God “sees” because of His name, that was spoken in Genesis and that is El Roi (the God that Sees). I remember once that I had a lady that worked really hard on a seminar on the topic of health and fitness. We worked on getting the publicity out and she was ready for her presentation. We got there to the site and there was only one woman that was to take her class! She was devastated and wanted to leave. I pulled her aside and told her, “what about the one?”. I taught her about being flexible to what God wanted her to do and when we debriefed later, she said that the one area that she had the most difficulty in, was teaching in small intimate groups – for she was way better at standing behind a podium speaking. Now, didn’t God just orchestrate this? We pushed all the chairs in a circle and she had to facilitate instead of teach. That was the lesson she learned and she was forced to face her fears! She did well, and it taught us both a valuable lesson. We may think that we are forgotten, but God does not and often has a way better plan! God sees us when nobody else does. This is like the amazing eye of the eagle, which can focus on a specific area at an incredible distance. The eagle can narrow his vision down to seeing a fish in a stream while flying in the heights. That is our God, He Sees and knows everything we do.
Question: Are you feeling unappreciated or neglected? There is one that sees everything you do and that is the Lord that Sees, El Roi.

Enjoy Your Own Backyard

During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well," Rachel said, "he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes." Genesis 30:14-15

What started all this birth competition between Leah and Rachel, was envy. It was about looking at what another person had and wanting it. It is the grass being greener on the other side and doing everything you can to try to achieve it. It even came down to the using of herbs, the mandrake. I did an extensive search on this mysterious plant. The root resembles a person because the bottom root is separated into two and looks like human legs. It has fragrant purple flowers and leaves, that were used to line beds for the sweet fragrance it gives off and it was a way of enticing one to enter the bed and procreate. It was later used as a symbol of fertility. This root was mentioned as having an aphrodisiac tendency and made one sleepy. It is used in witchcraft. To sum it up, it is a form of witchcraft because it uses a plant as a means to a human purpose – trying to make something happen in the spiritual to become a reality in the physical. It is a good lesson to see how one can want something in life so bad that they become fixated on it and they try everything they can do make it happen. I think of women that want to get married and they try everything they can to meet “the one”. They look for love in all the wrong places, and they focus on “not having”. It is looking at the glass "half empty" rather than the glass being “half full”. Their eyes have strayed so far away from God that their focus on God has changed to a focus on themselves. I have learned that God has everyone exactly where He wants them to be and that we may not understand why, but He has a greater plan. Embrace your singleness and see the joy in it and not the negative side. Embrace where you are at – bloom where you are planted. God knows our hearts and desires, so we pray and ask, trusting that He will provide but it has to be in His time and not ours. Don’t live life always looking at the other side of the fence but enjoy your own yard. It truly is a wonderful place to be, for God has placed you there, so enjoy it. Enjoy His gift! 

Question: Are you looking at the grass on the other side of the fence and thinking it is a better place for you? Can you begin to refocus your vision as to where God has you now, and celebrate it?

When God Calls, GO!

But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you  may go."But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it."  So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" "I will go," she said.( Genesis 24: 55-58)

We see the same "calling" in Genesis 12 when Abram got the call from God to leave his home, everything he knew as familiar and to go to a place unknown, because God called him. Abram heard the call and he followed God's call, not knowing where God was taking him. Here is another example of “I will go” and it is spoken from Rebekah when her parents wanted her to stay a little longer but she knew that if she was called, to a life unknown, to a husband she did not know, that she needed to go now and leave everything behind. Do we also have the same obedience? To leave our comfort zones?  To leave everything behind when we sense God calling us to an unfamiliar place? We may get called to do something small, and it may be scary and uncomfortable. An example of this is a time when I was eating at a restaurant and I sensed God was telling me to watch a young man at another table. I watched him with an elderly lady and the glow and light of Jesus was so bright. I was amazed to see this light and joy, fill the space around him. I knew there was something "different" about him and that there was such light, peace and joy that was coming from him. Then, he bowed his head and prayed with the older woman. "That's it, he's a Christian and that is the light of Jesus shining through him!" I then sensed the Lord telling me to tell him that Jesus' light is shining very brightly through him and that God has a purpose and plan on his life that this light is to go into this dark world and touch the lives that are living in darkness. “Are you kidding, Lord?” I felt so small and uncomfortable and decided to pass it off. “Nah, He can’t be asking me to do this!” Then I got it a second and then a third prompting. "Okay, I will do it" I thought and then I went to their table and felt so foolish and uncomfortable .  I introduced myself then I delivered the message. They smiled and I found out he was a Christian at a familiar church in the neighborhood and the lady was his mom. I shook their hands and then left to get back into my car. I sat and prayed – thanking God for using me and having me get outside my comfort zone to deliver what He wanted me to do! He may call us to do something small, but it will certainly be uncomfortable and may be challenging. The question is, will you go? Will you do it – even if it is uncomfortable. I am grateful that I heard the call and did what he told me to do. I still don’t know why I was told to do this but God sure knew!

Taint the Saints

"They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11:3-4

 Here it is, the famous Tower of Babel that was built from the pride of man! The intent behind the building was to glorify the people and to have it visible for all to see! They wanted to make a name for themselves through their glorious man-made achievement! Today, this tower is a representation of those things in our lives that could build up our pride and eventually lead to our downfall. God loves the humble and not the prideful. He wants us to worship Him, and that was how we were created and it was to honor God in all we do and to build altars to him and not ourselves. Think about the word "pride" and realize, that was the cause of the fall of Satan from Heaven! In Proverbs 16:18 it states that "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall". We all need to be cautious of how pride can slowly begin to take root in our lives and that can start us to build our own tower of pride. Many have fallen to sin, even pastors, when they get puffed up and prideful in the areas of wealth, prestige and power. These elements can taint the saints. We all need to be watchful, for those areas in which the enemy can entice us to open that door of pride in our lives and give the enemy a foothold. These sins will begin to start us building the foundation of our Tower of Babel and we build it brick by brick, until we have created this tower of pride in our lives. We need to guard ourselves and to keep our focus on the Lord and not ourselves. We are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength – not things of the world and that includes our own accomplishments.  We need to decrease for God to increase. When we begin to get puffed up and prideful at what we have accomplished, we need to get down on our knees and realize that where we are today is only because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God be increased and magnified in your life so you can decrease. Help us to remain small, hidden and powerless so God can be magnified and seen.
Question: What tower have you built in your life that glorifies yourself and not God?

Big Task-Big God

Artist: Edward Hicks

That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and their wives. With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal—domestic and wild, large and small—along with birds of every kind.Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them. Genesis 7:13-16
As I read about the task that God had given Noah to do, I was amazed at the obedience and faith that Noah needed, in order to complete God’s task. Noah heard what God wanted him to do, and he did what he could do with his  own human efforts, but that was not going to be enough to get God's task done. There were things that Noah could not possibly do in this task and this is where his faith came in. God walked Noah through this process every step of the way. God gave him the plans on the dimentions of the ark and how to build it and Noah complied. God called for the animals to come to the ark and Noah led them in. It came time to close the door of the ark and God closed the door! This tells me one really good lesson today and this is when you have a really huge task ahead of you, God will do His part if you do yours. Noah relied on God and God did His part and Noah did his! It is a partnership that is built on faith and obedience. When there is a big task facing you, remember that you cannot accomplish it without God. It reinforces the phrase, Big Task-Big God! Nothing is impossible for the God! Question: Are you facing a difficult task that seems impossible? Will you trust God that if you do   your part, that He will do His?  

Walking in Faith

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." (Hebrews 11:13-15)  
After reading Hebrews 11 this morning, I sat down and began to meditate more on the word “faith” and what it truly means to me. I wanted to share these thoughts with you today. I memorized Hebrews 11:1 and I often share that verse to encourage others through those difficult and tough times in life. To me, that verse is about having “faith” that God is working behind the scenes in our behalf, even though we cannot see those works with our human eyes. We then have "faith", knowing that it is the Lord’s battle and He is fighting for us. Now, lets take it one step further in this thought process. It is at one spiritual level, to have “faith” to believe in our hearts and mind, that God is fighting for us and that gives us peace in the midst of our challenges. But I think that God wants us to take it up a spiritual level to have us “walk in faith”. To "walk in faith" is to take action in our lives and to walk in the confidence as though what we hope for has already come about. Faith without action is only wishful thinking. An example of walking in faith was Abraham that when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. That, I believe, is faith! It is about not looking back but straining our vision forward to what God has in store for us and then being obedient in our actions. What is our vision based on? Is it of things of this world or are we looking forward to Heavenly rewards and what God has prepared for us? Let us all begin to refocus today on our Heavenly rewards and begin to take action today as men and women of faith. I am blown away with the new awareness that God showed me today in His Word. It is for me to have a focus on the future and on the promises that God has shown me – even though I cannot see them being fulfilled now, and to walk in that faith daily.

Question: Are you walking in faith? What do you need to release in order to get a more faith filled focus?

Nothing is Impossible

“Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

”That is impossible!” is a phrase that needs to be removed from our vocabulary. It is a perception that has been created from our human eyes and from our own thinking. We may see a situation and process it as “impossible” and it is only from our own experiences that we see no options. We may go through our past experiences and see that Plan A, Plan B and Plan C have worked for us in the past but none of these human solutions are going to work for this problem. When we get to this point of trying to figure it out on our own, we need to STOP and realize that the solutions are endless for God. God not only has a Plan D but His solutions are endless! We are trying to come up with the answers with our limited human capabilities. We need to realize that NOTHING is impossible with God. We need to have a greater awareness of this verse also. Notice that it does not say, “nothing is impossible FOR God” but it says, “nothing is impossible WITH God”. You see, it is a partnership and that partnership has to do with God and us. Our part is to go to God in prayer to seek His wisdom, His answers and to give the impossible situation to Him, to deal with. When we do that in partnership with Him, He will transform the impossible to possible! All things are possible WITH God Let us be humbled this morning at the realization that what we thought as impossible, IS possible WITH God but, we also have to be part of this equation.... ME + GOD = Possibilities. Any other equation is not effective nor will it provide results.

Question: Are you facing a situation that seems impossible? Can you begin to trust in God more?

(This is a repeat blog from February 2010,  but I felt it needed to be posted today, for I sense that someone out there is facing what they see as a brick wall and they think there is no way out - the Lord is telling you right now, that there is a way out, and that is to do life with Him!)

Shift Your Focus Outward

"There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong." (Hebrews 5:11-14)

Ever feel spiritually dull? Ever wonder what is your calling? Do you ever find yourself going to more conferences, reading more books, filling yourself more and more? There comes a time in everyone’s life, that your spiritual journey needs to shift from the focus of your needs, your desires, your wants and it needs to turn to an outward direction, with the purpose of sharing what God has done for you. It is like the baby that transitions from drinking from the bottle to eating solid food. Now is the time when we need to begin to look outward, as the salt and light in this world, to tell everyone about Jesus. Everyone has a story and every story is meant to be shared with others. I have encountered so many women that are wanting to be fed and yet they have a story of encouragement that needs to be shared. God has created this unique story in your life and it is not to be kept on a bookshelf gathering dust, but it is to be shared. It is time for you to stop drinking milk from the bottle and begin to share your story about your walk with Jesus so others can be encouraged and learn from you. Everyone has an important testimony within, that is bursting to come forth. I believe that you were put through those those tough challenges in your life so that you were to grow in your spiritual maturity with the purpose of sharing it with others. How will you begin that today? Will you be willing to share what Jesus has done in your life so others can be inspired? I believe that it is a call to wake up and to take that next spiritual step in your life. Everyone has a call upon their lives and it is through your obedience that you will take that next step and to share it. You will be blessed in the process when you see how your story will encourage others.We cannot drink from a bottle forever and there is a turning point in our spiritual lives in which we will be launched into the process of eating solid food and teaching others through our own personal experiences!