We speak about what we know. We talk about what we understand and have experienced. The things we read in scripture which are most unclear to us are things we have not seen or heard, known, understood or experienced. These are things with which we are not familiar. Some have experienced things others have not. We have seen mute tongues released and souls released from demonic oppression and spiritual bondage. There always remains yet far greater understanding known to God & His Messiah. Still, even Paul was familiar with distinguishing between spirits and he wrote about such discernment, even as he had experienced and was familiar with these things. And we also see examples and instances in the life of Jesus and His apostles in all these things. Let us seek the LORD of glory, and eagerly desire the most excellent way.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
1 Corinthians 12:7‭-‬11

When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
Mark 9:14‭-‬29

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” Genesis 15:6,8

Nothing can demonstrate its full quality until it is put into use.

Just like hope is not a feeble wish, rather a confident certainty of what is to come, and a heart anchor which keeps one connected to what is most dear, so too faith is not a sterilized stainless steel hood ornament or emblem to sit back and admire, rather it is a precious ore mined from the deepest recesses of God’s design and intended for the holiest use in all its raw power to be picked up and put into active effect in the battles of life for extinguishing darts and grappling with unimaginable foes of self and Satan by the power of the One Who placed it there.

And so we pray and ask God for mercy

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-‬12

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

This is why even apologetics and evidence, which are apparently such good tools in themselves, have no power to salvation.

And we also know that the kingdom of God is not of talk but of power.

And so we pray that God will move in power to transform hearts.

And we recognize that there are also deceiving signs and wonders, and that the heart is deceptive above all things and desperately wicked.

And so we humble ourselves daily before the LORD of mercy, and we come boldly before the throne of grace for mercy to help in this great need for Him to open hearts and eyes to the saving Truth of JESUS.

“If you are the Son of God…”

Everyone who hears doubts is at the very least momentarily touched by the substance of that doubt.

JESUS is so firm in faith and in Who He is that doubts are annihilated. In the account of Satan’s wilderness temptation the attempt to interject a doubt about who JESUS was does not even seem apparent. This is because it was so completely demolished by JESUS, the WORD, that those attempted doubt accusations barely even survive the encounter. And so we see that after two attempts, the accuser does not even come back with another doubt.

“The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.“

“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

“Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Matthew 4:3‭,6,9,10

There are many teachers and many prophets, many true and many false. We are strongly exhorted to discern between truth and error.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:34

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. Hebrews 8:11

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16 – 17

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. 1 John 2:27

Consider this word and consider how God speaks to us, His people, always Today, always in the present, always in the Now.

Here is a principle we can easily miss…consider how this is so prevalent and apparent that it is almost always missed.

We know that God’s WORD is solid and cannot be changed. We also know that He walks with His people ever in the now, never bound to the past.

We who are strict constructionists often hold staunchly to the letter, to strict and rigid readings and renderings of covenants and constitutions.

God is the same yesterday and today and forever, and in this He always is, has been and ever will be the God of the living, that is the God of the Now, not the God of the dead or what was or will be but what IS. His very name is

I AM.

So consider this.

God says

Do A

His people hear Him as always speaking in the present and always counter with a different multiple choice answer. They do B instead of A.

That being done, God in this new NOW, says do B. Once again, His people, hearing Him in the present saying do B, say now we want to do A or C. He says do B. They do C and some try to do A.

This is what happens.

God speaks in the Now, in the midst of the present circumstances with His instruction which involves our best. He said you will be taken to Babylon. That is what was certain to happen and it did. God’s instruction to His people is always faith and peace in the given situations. Are you hungry, give thanks. Are you in trouble, pray. Are you happy, sing songs. Are you being captured and moved to another land? Serve me there. Have you disobeyed and returned against my instruction? Stay here where you are and serve me here.

This is how God deals with His people who are ever wanting to do other than what God has placed right in front of us, right where we are.

He says serve me here. We want to leave and go elsewhere. He says go, we want to stay or go somewhere different. We disobey and come back where He told us to leave. He now says stay, so then we want to leave after the assassination, after we lose our job, after the grass turns brown and the vine withers.

I AM says remain in me
God says serve me wherever you are moved, wherever people take you.
Do they put you in prison? Serve me there.
Do they force you to walk a mile in their shoes? Keep walking with them.
Are they opposing you? Pray for them. Are they cursing you? Bless them.

I AM YOUR GOD I AM
I AM YOUR HEALER
I AM HERE
I AM THERE
I AM THE GOD OF NOW
I AM THE SAME
I AM SPEAKS NOW
TODAY, HEAR MY VOICE
YOU STUDY MY WRITTEN WORD
NOW HEAR MY VOICE TODAY

LISTEN AND OBEY NOW

I AM

WTW 2022
29 August
Jeremiah 29

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. Jeremiah 29:17

What is punishment?

When we look at the big picture, all the details begin to appear less significant in their own tiny ways and all become more a matter of the whole.

As individuals, we people become enraptured by creature comforts and consistency, stability and what we are used to as well as health, our homes, freedom, possessions, independence, luxuries, apparent control, order and worst of all the proud and selfish claim to rights and ultimately greed which is Idolatry under the new covenant. (E55)

What then is punishment?
What is judgment?
And what is discipline?

What are these 3? What constitutes these things? What distinguishes them? Fattened and luxuriant cows consider anything less than spoon fed living to be a horrific plight. Arrogant prosperity preachers and adherents consider anything other than grand possessions at their beck and call to be a torturous travesty, if not unspeakable demonic attack. While the righteous saints of God count all as loss compared with the glories to be revealed.

Where, then do the bludgeonings fall?
Where, the stripes and flogging?
The experiences of disciplines and punishments and judgements are determined and known by God and only in seeing through God’s eternal eyes, only in understanding as He knows can any recognize truly and see things as they are, face to face.

…

I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. For they have not listened to my words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29:18-19

WTW 2022
20 August
Jeremiah 20

God’s Best Ending

Sing to the Lord! Give praise to the Lord! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked. Jeremiah 20:13

Most modern readers and viewers love good endings. Apparently this has not always been the case, such as in the era of Greek tragedy. For today’s chapter though, it is hard to imagine how the verse 14-18 ending could be better than the verse 13 ending which rises triumphantly in praise from the depths of the chapter’s real life tragedies. But after verse 13 the outlook plunges even deeper than Job’s.

Heavenly Father,

Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, we pray and ask that You would grant us mercy and grace, favor that we can recognize Your best endings and strength, wisdom and daily guidance to show others your goodness and paths of righteousness.

In Jesus Name,
Faith

…

You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!” All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.” But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten. Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause. Sing to the Lord! Give praise to the Lord! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked. Jeremiah 20:7 – 13

…

What if I stumble
What if I fall
What if I lose my step
And I make fools of us all
Will Your love continue
When my walk becomes a crawl

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is HIS NAME?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is NY NAME forever, THE NAME you shall call me from generation to generation. Exodus 3:13‭-‬15

Then JESUS came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in THE NAME of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18‭-‬20

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at THE NAME of JESUS every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that JESUS Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9‭-‬11

Faith Proverbs Read Along
Summer 2022
3 August

Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.
Proverbs 10:19

Powerful. Selah. Chapter 10 marks the place to really slow down, one deep truth at a time. One key word here is: Prudent. Let’s chew on that. Ponder it. Learn it. Also note and ponder this other truth shared here which may seem odd, yet it’s truth is so worth remembering: Wisdom is not the same as absolute truth. Men love logic and apologetics. God loves relationship. The two do not always align. *People have more value than words, and relationship is more weighty than discussion.* Finally, no one can talk away sin for wickedness is not corrected by mere words. Selah.

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Listen here, and if you want, ask for more.
There is even more where this came from.
https://bible.com/reading-plans/11910/day/6?segment=0