Luxurious Living Part Four

What exactly does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God?

It means give your entire attention to what God is doing right now and refuse being distracted by how to scheme a plan about tomorrow. Cease trying to work out your own future and put your destiny in His hands. Learn of Him and He’ll lead you.

Learn to enjoy and appreciate the simple things. Know who your source is and invest your trust in Him.

Psalms 20:5 We will rejoice in your salvation, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions. 6 ¶ Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven With the saving strength of His right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God. 8 They have bowed down and fallen; But we have risen and stand upright. 9 Save, LORD! May the King answer us when we call.

We can put all our hope in God! We can walk with Jesus in the midst of hard times and changes that seem to be going in the wrong direction, and still be at rest.

Luxury of life requires coming to Him!

Sitting around and insisting He come visit you wherever you are at will not cut it. He is worth the seeking.

Have you left all to Come to Jesus?

Are you growing weary of trying to find an escape in your own strength?

It is time to look to the hill from whence cometh your help!

Your real help comes from the Lord the maker of Heaven and earth! Look unto Him and be ye saved!

God is seeking to encourage His people in this hour and breathe fresh hope into our lives.

Come to Jesus and learn of Him for He is meek and lowly of heart and you will find rest for your souls.

Let Him give you true luxurious living.

Let the rhythms of His grace fill your heart and life so that you can walk in the joy that He gives in the journey.

He never promised to remove the hard times altogether, but He did promise to walk with us through them and enable us to find grace to help in our time of need.

He still enables His saints to walk in the joy of His salvation.

2Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

Will you come to Him for what you need?

Are you tired, are you worn out? Are you bored with religion?

Come to Him. He will not reject you.

John 6:37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

Have you been living in sin?

Come to Him. He will forgive.

Jesus is the only answer and the only source of life there is. He is meek and lowly of heart not loud and obnoxious. He will not blast you and beat you, He will receive you.

Come to Him and find rest for your soul.

Luxurious Living Part Three

Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

If we back up and read more of the text leading up to this encouragement to seek first the kingdom we discover something incredibly appealing and challenging about the instruction Jesus offers.

Matthew 6:19 ¶ "Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. 20 Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. 21 It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. 22 "Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. 23 If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have! 24 "You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both. 25 ¶ "If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. 26 Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. 27 "Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? 28 All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, 29 but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. 30 "If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? 31 What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. 32 People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. 33 Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. 34 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Are you picking up on the rest theme in this instruction?

This is such a different way of thinking and living. It is called a life of freedom. When Jesus spoke of freedom in Scripture it was not the kind of freedom that allows us to act immorally anytime we wish. He was speaking of being set free from worry, from the power of sin, from the sting of death, hell and the grave, and from our continual desire to avoid God rather than come to Him.

But to enjoy this kind of living we must respond to the reality that is set before us. We must seek first the Kingdom of God.

Luxurious Living Part Two

Matthew 11:28 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 29 Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30 Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly."

Who wouldn’t want to live freely and lightly?

Do you know anyone that wouldn’t want to trade in being burnt out for being alive and full of joy?

What person in their right mind wouldn’t want to have real rest?

You could be so wealthy that you need not worry about a depression and still find yourself heaven laden, tired, and worn out.
The truth is the more you have the more you are responsible for. That doesn’t mean poor is spiritual, and rich is wicked. Neither one has any virtue in and of itself.

Poor and rich alike experience anxiousness and the need for rest. These conditions are very human and are no respecters of persons. They visit without preference every one that has ever been born into this world and it’s systems.

Jesus comes along and invites us to live a life of grace. He calls us out of the rat race and into the grace race. He invites us to a living Kingdom here and now.

Luxurious Living Part One

Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Jesus came to a people who were under Roman rule, were forced to pay taxes to Caesar, and were surrounded by a pagan culture who knew not God, and could care less about Him.

The Jews were slowly loosing their identity.

This generation even though it lived long ago had a great deal in common with us today.

They all hated the tax system of Rome. They hated tax collectors for they felt they were thieves and robbers. Not many in our day like the IRS and still today tax collectors are undesirable.

There was a separation of classes among the people. The wealthy lived a separate life from the poor and the common people complained of being neglected or ignored.

Our nation just elected a president claiming they want change. The claim was the common people have been neglected because our nation has been run by the rich. We have much more in common with the generation of Jesus than we could ever dream.

The words of Jesus to that generation ring just as true to us today as they did when first spoken.

We need to hear them! I want us to hear them from Peterson’s The Message. This is how Jesus might have said it if He had waited to come in our time.

Matthew 11:28 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 29 Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30 Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly."

To a generation that is worried and discontent, Jesus appears and is at rest, and not the least bit anxious. In the midst of chaos, depression, oppression, and a host of other troubles Jesus is living luxuriously, not because He is rich, but because He is truly free.

He is offering the same luxury of living to those who will come to Him.

Luxurious living is not having huge spaces that require hired servants to upkeep. It is not having the finest of clothing and eating the most exquisite meals or driving luxurious expensive cars.

Jesus isn’t promising luxuries in the worldly sense. He comes and offers a life of spiritual luxury that can bring a peace that surpasses all understanding.

Jesus says you can live at rest, be full of life and joy, knowing your needs will be met, no matter what is happening in your world.

Mission or Maintenance Part Five

Jesus said, If salt loses it’s saltiness it is no longer fit for use.

He also said we are a city set on a hill. He said our light should not be hidden.

Mission will demand things of us that just getting by could never produce. Mission drives us towards preparation, intercession, readiness. It equips us for endurance!

2Timothy 2:3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hard–working farmer must be first to partake of the crops. 7 Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. 8 Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Paul had a mission eternal in the heavens. He was passing that mission on to Timothy.

What was it? Bring the message of the gospel despite the opposition, enduring all things for the elect so that they might obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus.

This is why he is telling Timothy to endure hardship as a good soldier.

This will take some serious moxie. This is where courage gets tested. Will we stand with Him even when it is not popular with others that we do so?

Will we keep standing despite the opposition until our culture is changed for the glory of God?

Will we persist with the good news of Jesus Christ despite all of this, or will we tire of it?


What are we doing to change our world?

Are we about our mission where we live?

This is why the early church needed moxie!

They were asked to change the very generation that killed their Master.

They were asked to go to that rebellious and dangerous lot in Jerusalem that cried crucify Him and tell them the good news of His death and resurrection.

That was and still is the mission. Let’s shake ourselves awake and ready ourselves once more for the sake of the mission we’ve been given.

Mission or Maintenance Part Four

The humans in the Wall –E movie were in a maintenance mode. They had left the job of caring for something in the hands of another while they relaxed and fed themselves. They had become self aware and were willing to let others do their work for them.

When Jesus told His disciples to tarry at Jerusalem for the moxie that was coming it was for a purpose. He was giving them a mission. “You will be my witnesses” He said. Now there is an eternally based mission.

Being a good husband can give me a sense of purpose, but I will not be a husband in heaven. Husbandly purpose is temporally based. Lost sinners can be good husbands just the same.

Being a good father, a good employee, or a good athlete, is the same. These things may even bring me reward while I journey through this life and I can appreciate that. I give an account to God for whether or not I was a good steward of these responsibilities. I understand that. But they are still temporary matters.

We as the church have been given something even greater to steward. It is our mission while on this earth. We are called to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to our generation wherever we encounter them. At home, on the job, in school, at work, in the neighborhood, etc.

It doesn’t take moxie to sit at home and do nothing. It doesn’t take moxie to fit right in with everyone else and never challenge the way things are. It takes moxie to make a difference and to speak up for what is most important.

As a nation we have been occupying Iraq for many years now. An evil, cruel dictator was overthrown there. Freedom has slowly been coming to the people. It has required that we have a militant force on the ground there to help bring about that change. Otherwise the enemy would regain the ground that had been taken by the first assault. We have had a presence there to enforce the rights of freedom from tyranny and allow the people to change.

If we had simply gone in and removed the evil ruler and then left Iraq would have quickly returned to it’s former condition. Another evil ruler would have arisen and subjected the people to tyranny once more.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came and waged war on death, hell and the grave. He took on Satan who had held those keys for so long and He defeated him on his own turf.

Jesus came in that first assault to remove our enemy from power over us and set us free. But for that reality to become a long term and pervasive reality in us and our society, the church must return to her glorious mission.

We are called to a higher purpose of life. Sinners are expected to be good husbands and wives, good fathers and mothers, productive workers and talented athletes and musicians. We hope they would be because the other end of that coin produces hardships on everyone. But the fact is even sinners can behave in these areas.

But believers and only believers can bring about the spiritual change needed with regard to eternal life.

Mission or Maintenance Part Three

Have you seen the movie Wall-E? If you have small children, or are just a big kid like myself, you might have watched that movie.

It’s about a robot assigned to clean up earth while humans are on big luxury space ships cruising around in space having their every need catered to. They are to travel luxuriously until earth is cleaned up and organic life is restored. Wall-E runs into a few distractions here and there and gets a little side tracked when a girl robot lands on earth named Eve. Eve’s mission is to see if life can be supported again on earth. Meanwhile humans are cruising around the galaxy forgetting their mission because they are lulled into complacency by their surroundings. Several generations later all the humans are overweight and having to be helped around from place to place because they eat, eat, eat and relax, relax, relax. Inactivity has cost them greatly. When Eve discovers a plant on earth and arrives at the luxury ship demonstrating the need to return and get busy rebuilding, the robot who has been caring for the humans all this time tries to keep them from engaging their mission.

You will have to watch the movie to get anymore. It suffices to say that when people lose their sense of mission it affects them profoundly. But when they rediscover it those who get their sense of security from catering to them will fight against finding mission again.

This has happened to churches in our day and time. Mission gets lost in the every day living because everyone is just trying to get by from day to day, or they have had their mission redefined to something a lot more temporal than what Jesus had in mind.

So how does a church get it’s sense of mission back? How does an individual get their sense of mission back? There are two words we should consider this morning. Mission and Maintenance.

Mission implies that there is something to be done to actively change things. Change for the present and for the future.

Maintenance implies that all that needs to be done is whatever is required to keep everything just the way it is.

Every church is operating in one or the other of these two mindsets.

The humans in the Wall –E movie were in a maintenance mode. They had left the job of caring for something in the hands of another while they relaxed and fed themselves. They had become self aware and were willing to let others do their work for them.

Mission minded Christians are doing the work not expecting others to do it for them.

Mission or Maintenance Part Two

It was moxie the disciples received on the day of Pentecost when they were different not for the sake of being different, but because of the power and the life they had received. They were different in a crowd that could have turned on them just as they had before on Jesus.

It wasn’t that long before that Jesus had been crucified because of His mission. These same disciples being bold on this day had before hid themselves for fear.

But on Pentecost they switched from being afraid and hidden, to being bold and in the open.

These once silenced and scared disciples were now loud and at large. They had come into their mission and were given the moxie of Holy Ghost to see it through.

They discovered their mission was to magnify and testify of Christ right there in hostile Jerusalem where not long before the multitudes cried out crucify him to Pilate with regard to Jesus. The same hostile leaders still ruled in the temple.

Have you ever asked yourself, why am I alive? Why do I exist? Why do I live here where I do? Why am I in this job?

Is your only purpose or my only purpose to be a good father or mother, son or daughter, worker or athlete, or musician or dancer?

Those can all be noble endeavors, and they have their place in life. They all find mention in the Scriptures, but they are not the prevalent message of it.

It is possible for an individual and even a church to get caught up in things other than what God says is their primary mission.

Being off mission produces saints who are too self aware to be Kingdom minded.

Saints who search out conferences and congregations that cater to their perceived needs in life.

We tend to busy ourselves with whatever we think provides us with significance and meaning, the question is what that something will be.

What have we or what will we allow to take us off mission?

Mission or Maintenance Part One

Last Sunday we heard a message about moxie. Harry did a great job setting the hook in us regarding whether or not we have moxie. He likened moxie to courage, boldness and determination.

He told us how in this day of difficulty it would require moxie to stand amidst all the bad news we are hearing and be able to stand on the Word of God. It was an uplifting, encouraging and challenging word we received.

Today I want us to consider something else that requires moxie.

We can be determined to live above the bad news of our day and so we should. We should always be thankful as a people because God is with us.

We can be determined to have moxie when we are competing in the work place for a position, or in sports. People will exhibit moxie when they sit at a table and play a game of poker even if it is just for fun.

But what about being on mission in life? Without moxie mission falls by the way side.

I am so thankful that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ never went off mission.

Luke 19:10 "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

I marvel at the idea that all of us who have received Christ Jesus have the blessing of eternal life through Him. Likewise all who have not believed in Him are eternally dead and will be judged.

So there are truly only two spiritual classes of people in the world today, those who are alive spiritually through Jesus Christ, and those who are dead spiritually because they have not yet believed.

This is the reality of cultures throughout human history and thankfully there have been disciples who embraced that reality and set out to do something about it.

They did something about it not because it was popular or easy but because it was necessary. That takes moxie.

Convinced Part Four

John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

The reason sheep know a shepherds voice is they spend time with him.

Shepherds would sing and talk to young lambs in order to familiarize them with their voice. This way if a stranger came along and tried to get the lamb to leave the fold it will not recognize the strangers voice and would run away.

Being in the flock is important for a lamb it is the safe place to be while learning the voice of the shepherd. The shepherd is among the flock talking, and tending to his sheep.

If a lamb were to stray from the flock it would be at risk from wolves, and other predators. But while it is with the flock it has protection until it learns to rightly hear and follow the voice of the shepherd.

One thing is for certain, until we learn to hear for ourselves and become convinced we are not very likely to achieve much if anything in the kingdom.

We won’t have much to stand on in faith because it is through the release of grace that comes with hearing God that we are enabled to take a stand. The reason we are witnessing so much wishy washy Christianity today is fewer and fewer believers are hearing from God like they should. They are not becoming convinced.

What is hearing God for yourself worth?

What time are you willing to give?

What would you be willing to give up?

How much prayer and study would you be willing to engage?

How connected to other stronger believers would you be willing to be?

The first step to turning your life around in this area is to become convinced you need to be able to hear God for yourself.

2Timothy 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

Like Abraham, Paul had heard the Lord and had become convinced in God’s ability to keep His promises.

We too can enjoy the peace and the freedom that comes with hearing God and having confidence in His promises for our lives, if we will make the investments required to position ourselves to hear.

His sheep know Him and hear His voice and another they will not follow.

It always begins with right relationship to Him. Sin and rebellion block our consciences from being free and clear to hear. If there is un-confessed sin in our lives it will hinder us from hearing what God wants to say to us. Let’s pray that God by His grace and mercy will begin to speak to each one of us clearly.

Convinced Part Three

What have you clearly heard God about? Once you are certain you’ve heard him you become convinced and hope is shed abroad in your heart as a result.

You begin to act as someone who already has it. You carry yourself differently, you hold your head up and there is a skip in your step.

I remember long ago as a lesson of faith on hearing God I received one of those crazy offers. There was a media products fair being held at the convention center and one company was having a drawing for a DVD player. At that time DVD’s were brand new and having a player was big deal. My friend Jeff was in my office and I told him I was going to go down and register because the Lord told me that it was my DVD player.

Jeff laughed at me. But I told him this was a lesson on faith. I went down registered at the booth and sure enough I got the DVD player. Once I knew what the Lord spoke to me I was convinced and it enabled me to act.

Seem frivolous? It is important that a child of God learn to hear His voice and become convinced because the only way for obedience to arise in the church is for His children to hear from Him and be released to walk n confidence that comes from it.

This generation wants to big things without doing what it takes to become convinced. We decide things by situational ethics. We try something and if it works it must have been God, and if it doesn’t it must have not been God.

Whatever happened to hear God and obey regardless of how it looks?

Whatever happened to, obey is better than sacrifice?

Now there is something we must understand if we are to learn how to become convinced.

Becoming convinced does not come easily because there is an investment on our part that must be made in order to position ourselves to hear clearly and become convinced.

So how do we become convinced about what is ours to own and do as believers in Christ?

We build the spiritual muscle of prayer, meditation, reflection, word study, and being connected with other believers frequently for fellowship and encouragement.

Abraham was a seeker of God. Abraham actively pursued the Lord for guidance and fellowship. He worshipped God. As a result he had relationship with God and heard His voice.

He started out as a moon worshipper in Ur. But when God revealed Himself to Abram he responded and became a worshipper of God. He set the distractions aside and sought the Lord.

We tend to think we can just live busy distracted lives with little time invested in developing in our ability to hear from God and somehow be on fire, fully convinced, believers.
This type of thinking and being is not a recipe for success in hearing God and becoming convinced.

To think we can just summon a prophet to hear for us and then we will be ready is also a common mistake made.

That too is no sure recipe for becoming convinced because we are prone to question whether or not they heard the Lord accurately.

There is no substitute for hearing God for ourselves.

Convinced Part Two

God loves to speak into impossible situations and impart His promise of hope and victory to His children.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a perfect example of this. Jeremiah was the weeping prophet. He was the man who was to tell Israel what she was going to go through because of her sin. It broke his heart.

But in the midst of all the doom and gloom there springs forth a flower of promise in the desert. It is where the Lord says, “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

Wow! In the midst of so much trouble, calamity and expected captivity there comes this amazing promise.

God has always been in the business of breathing hope into His children even when they were being disciplined for disobedience and rebellion.

So how much more can we be convinced of those promises that are sure and steadfast because of the work of Christ on our behalf? It does say that the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ!

There was man in Scripture who demonstrates being convinced really well. We find him in Romans 4:20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness."

Here was a man past hope but yet through faith he had hope. He was far too old to have children yet God made an absurd promise to him that he would be the father of many nations.

The thing that enabled this man to cling to such a ridiculous promise was the fact that he was convinced!

What was it that Abraham was convinced of? Vs21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

Abraham was not convinced of his own ability to perform this. He was convinced of God’s ability to do what He had promised.

In other words Abraham knew he had heard God and as such could bank on Gods power and ability to perform it.

Convinced Part One

It was full moon evening and I was with the most lovely girl I had ever met. I was just driving her home that night as a favor. I had no other motive than to be a gentleman and drive her home. But as I said goodnight to her the Lord spoke to me clearly and simply said this is your wife to be. I was convinced from that day on.

I said nothing to her as to not manipulate her or to make her think I was insane. But I knew that night that eventually this beautiful young lady would be by my side as my wife.

Despite all sorts of obstacles and situations that would have meant the end of most relationships we married on November 8th 1986. God fulfilled His promise.

I was convinced from the beginning and I never looked for another woman, or questioned whether or not the Lord spoke to me. It was His grace that accompanied His word to me and enabled me to stand even when it appeared it was the most hopeless idea on the planet that she would be married to me.

I was convinced! Convinced is an interesting word. In the English language it simply means: to make certain, to make someone sure or certain of a thing. To persuade fully.

Of what are you fully persuaded?

I get stupid things in the mail all the time and I am sure you do as well. How many have ever gotten that crazy car promotion where they send you a key and tell you it might be the key that will start a new car?

If your key starts the car it is yours to drive home. I have never gone down and tried that key. I have always thrown it away. Why? I am not convinced it will work, I am more convinced it is a gimmick meant to lure me down to car lot to be assaulted by a salesman. Therefore I do not deem it worthy of my time. I give it no serious consideration at all. I do nothing.

Now why is all this so important to us? Simple. We will not do anything we are not convinced of, especially if it appears to be difficult or impossible.

The Bounty of God Part Five

The disciples got rebuked after the resurrection of Jesus because they would not believe the good news reported by those who had seen Him.

Mark 16:14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

That news seemed too good to be true, Jesus is alive? He said He would raise the third day!

But here these high and mighty called ones are hearing the news from lowly women and common followers.

When we received a word, we can sit on it and say, "if it is the Lord it will prove itself." Or, we can say in agreement it is the Lord because it comes from His word, thus we believe it, and will pray it, and stand on it.

If this can’t help you get your praise on then you need to do some serious business with God and beg His mercy to soften your heart.

When we get to the place where we are numb to His promises in our lives and we cannot rejoice at the promise of His goodness then brothers and sisters the truth is we are hardened of heart and walking in unbelief.

We need renewal so we can embrace His bounty. Without a heart softening His bounty will flow and we will miss out because we were blind to it.

You can walk the journey numb and unaware and feeling sorry for yourself, or you can walk the journey alive, aware, and full of the joy of the Holy Ghost.

He has promised us bounty! He has already manifested it among us. You can stand by and wait to see if it will run over you like a freight train to prove itself, or you can rejoice with your brothers and sisters who have already began to see it evidenced knowing full well it is flowing into your life too!

If even in death we do not grieve like the world because of the amazing hope shed abroad in our hearts, how much more should we not be depressed like the world and instead be filled with rejoicing in the hope of His bounty?

That’s why the Scripture can say with all authority, put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, lift up your voice to God! It’s time to ask, to seek and knock!

The Bounty of God Part Four

Now I want to draw our attention to something very important. Psalm 65:11 says You crown the year with Your bounty. It does not say He crowns the year with our bounty.

There is a distinct difference between the bounty of God and the bounty of man.

Now before you say this Psalm can’t apply to your life it’s too general or it applies to Israel or David but not me,

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

He is doing it above and beyond all that we ask or think, to all generations, forever and ever, amen. It is a guarantee!

So this brings me to a very important point that we all need to desperately get hold of if we want to experience this bounty.

Luke 11:5 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 ‘for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 "and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 "I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

This shows us what kind of attitude the Lord is looking for when it comes to us coming before Him to ask His help. He wants us to show we are persistent and determined to have what we are asking for.

The difference between what we know we desperately need, and what we merely want but could do without is that which drives us in persistent prayer to the Father.

When you know you must have it you won’t give up until you get it. If it is a passing fad you cannot endure in your asking.

The things God has set in store for us are there for the asking but it is not a mild mannered passive asking that releases the storehouses of heaven.

The fact is we can receive an amazing prophetic word and nothing ever come of it because we never took hold of it and began to pray it back and believe God for it.