Tag Archives: Suffer well
The Potter’s Hand
The Potter’s Hand
(#039 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Why must you continuously kick against the goads? It never works (Acts 9:5) because you are never alone. As you struggle and strain to fulfill what you believe is His will, you automatically presume that because what you are engaged in is “for Him” that He will be with you and will favor your outcome. Yes, it is true that Yahweh is always with His chosen ones. However, you must not get caught in the trap that blinds you from seeing that not everything you claim to do “for Him” is actually for Him. In many instances is really for yourself and others. Perhaps, then, what it means that “you are never alone” actually refers to an even much bigger role He plays in your life than you formerly imagined, one which, until now, you’ve refused to see. Here it is; He is not always with you to favor your outcome, but He is constantly crafting and molding His chosen vessels for honor (Romans 9:21).
The Potter is always fulfilling His plans for His Body, plans that are far more complex than you may be thinking. Your failures and successes are being supernaturally crafted at the Potter’s wheel to affect the entire unified Body; the commonwealth of Israyl (Ephesians 2:11-13). As you yield to the effects of His hands, your pliable heart (a mind once bound only to carnal desire: Ezekiel 36:26) will soon acknowledge that the Potter is always molding His creation into a beautifully crafted temple (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), His Son being the chief cornerstone (Psalm 118:22). As the water (Spirit precipitation) softens you (the clay being molded) in the hands of the Master, allow the process (the spinning wheel) to perfectly shape you into a vessel of honor created for His purpose. Yield voluntarily; obey to the point of death, or the yielding will be mandated by His Spirit (Philippians 2:5-11). Knowing that Yahweh will ultimately have His way every time, isn’t it so much better to wait and hear His voice, rather than to presume and do it your way?
Ultimately, if you have decreed to be doing something “for Him”, and in the end it turns out it was not so, do not despair. The final outcome can be shifted at a moment’s notice to teach you a lesson even greater than the blessing you might have expected from doing what you had originally presumed was for Him. Even if the lesson is painful to learn, it is not a failure! Embrace it with the same joy and gratitude as if what you had set out to do came to pass. He is Sovereign over both the things He reveals and those things He alone knows will take place. Never try to control situations. Take strides but never strive. Let Yahweh be Yahweh; all is well!
Do not be unequally yoked
You may believe the people you hang out with are good friends and trust worthy but we cannot trust our feelings. Rather, we must rely only on the Word of God taken by faith. God’s rewards for us are directly related to obeying His Word, not to how we feel or think about it.
Too many people today are unequally yoked with unbelievers. Partnering with unbelievers is like inviting a thief into your life to ravish your soul.
Before you comment or judge what I am saying please see this video…
Do Not; There are Snakes in Your Midst
(#038 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
What do you make of this beloved? It certainly seems harsh. Nevertheless, do My commands come with options? Do you have flexibility when I say, “Do not?” Does My “do not” mean: “Only once in a while, do not? Only on weekends, do not? Only on Sabbaths and Holy days, do not? Only if you feel like it, do not?”
My will is to protect you and to ensure your increase (Psalm 115:14). My promise is that if you abide in My words you will bear much fruit, which is the only way My disciples can be recognized (John 15:7-9). The harmony I desire for your life will yield an abundance of real fruit, the type filled with sweet juice, which can only be found in Me (Hosea 14:8). What you will harvest if you follow your own plans will be like hollow plastic, a cheap imitation fruit.
The risk you face when you fellowship with darkness, if you partner with one who does not bear My seal, is that My light in you becomes dimmed. Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” (1 Corinthians 15:33) There are realms other than the one you are accustomed to that make up the true reality; and you can be easily deceived because you have become comfortable discerning only what you can see. If you had a glimpse of the principalities that war for your soul, then you would better understand why I Am adamant when I say “Do not!” For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.(Ephesians 6:12)
Trust Me My child; it is not open for discussion. The path to life is very narrow (Matthew 7:14). Partnering with unbelievers is like inviting a thief into your life to ravish your soul. And “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
It needs to be made perfectly clear to you that My Son was always able to differentiate between the souls who were redeemed to hear His voice, and the ones He would need to expose as snakes in your midst; light and darkness beloved. Cultivate His wisdom and you too shall know!
Do You Follow and Obey God?
What?
(#035 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Congregation member 1: We shouldn’t argue!
Congregation member 2: Of course not and we won’t; let’s be like the Bereans in Acts 17 and figure out the truth.
Congregation member 1: Well, I feel like it’s an argument.
Congregation member 2: Not at all. What can I do to make sure you don’t feel that way and still continue this discussion? You know there can only be one answer, so we can’t both be right, and perhaps we are both wrong. But, let’s find out so we can both honor Yahweh, in all we say, do and believe. Does that sound okay?
Congregation member 1: Nope! I’m not going to fight with you about this.
Congregation member 2: I agree! So how can I assure you that a fight is the furthest thing from my mind, and that I have nothing but love and admiration for you?
Congregation member 1: Jesus is love and that’s all that matters.
Congregation member 2: I agree, Yahweh is love, and therefore His Son Yahshua is love, and obedience to Them is what proves our love. And that’s why we, if we are brothers, should be able talk about such things. I would like us to make sure we are following His ways as commanded. If one or both of us is incorrect, then we can change by seeking His word and making sure, together, that we are on the right path. Doesn’t Proverbs 27 encourage us to sharpen one another? It says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” (v. 17)
Congregation member 1: Yes it does; but I’m still not going to debate this with you. Jesus is love and that’s all that matters. That’s what my pastor preaches all the time.
Congregation member 2: Hmmm, so much for being a Berean.
“Then the brethren immediately sent Shaul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Yehudim. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:10-11)
Brothers and sisters in the faith are called to inspire each other to search the Scriptures daily to find out if what they are being taught is true. Do you?
The Spiritual Battle
The highest calling we have in life from our Creator is to learn what love is and then to love the people who don’t deserve to be loved. In this video I explain why and how to do that.
Ephesians 6:12 We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Revelation 2:10 Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.
Handed Over
(#032 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is Yahweh. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Master comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from the Mighty One.” (1 Corinthians 4:3-5)
How quickly you handed me over,
Not even one question asked.
Turn your back; write him off; trust deception;
Thinking otherwise is too much a task.
“If they have him, he must’ve done something,”
Your words like a noose on my heart.
My captors, they thrive on their scandal,
His blood drips, but they have no part.
They bank on my “brothers” to abandon,
Wicked whispers plead, “Please don’t defend.”
But, no greater love is this,
Than to “lay down one’s life for a friend.”
How quickly you handed me over,
I pray now with new eyes you will see.
They devise to seek, kill and destroy,
I refused to believe you’d agree.
Don’t accept, “He must’ve done something,”
Instead, seek all truth from the start.
There is no truth in my captors,
His blood drips, but they have no part.
I warned you to trust no man (Jeremiah 17:5). They even abandoned the Son of the Most High. And if man would persecute and abandon Him, they will do likewise to you (John 15:20). I, therefore, give you this key to the Kingdom; love them anyway (Matthew 5:43-44). How did My Son forgive His murderers, you and the others? It is simple, I and My Son are One (John 10:30), and I Am love (1 John 4:8)! This love requires nothing in return you see; in other words, it does not seek its own (1 Corinthians 13:5). It is My plan, to love the loveless. Who can resist that? And so you must also forgive those who persecute and abandon you, for you too have betrayed your brothers in this. You also have fallen short of the Divine standard, to love the loveless.
Because your love is possible only because I first loved you (1 John 4:19), there is an expectation that comes with this gift. I demand that My children to understand it. Here is My expectation; because it was a gift to you, you are expected to give it as a gift to others. Do not consider it from the perspective that you owe Me something; instead, consider it from the position of what you were made capable of. I merely want you to understand your own new heart, the heart that has been transformed. You see, your carnal heart, the heart that rejected and despised love, was removed.
My child, I took out your heart of stone (Ezekiel 36:26). All I ask in return is that you appreciate your new heart and use it as directed. Love the loveless; this is a key to My Kingdom. Someone might be willing to die for a righteous man, but for an enemy, only the King of Righteousness (Romans 5:7). And now that you have His heart, won’t you join Him?
Love Defines You
It Defines You
(#029 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“For You formed my inward parts [innermost being]; You covered me [knit me together] in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13)
Yes, My child, I Am love (1 John 4:8) and I designed you as a vessel to both create and receive love. It is precisely because you were created in My image (Genesis 1:27) that love is the very thing that defines you. You were literally created for love. I know this because I formed your innermost being. And, I orchestrated everything in your life that would bring you to love’s full expression, and I did so before the foundations of the earth. I saw the pleasure and the joy; and I knew the pain and the disappointment you would experience. It was all My plan. In light of this, you should meditate again on this reality. “I Am love and you were created in My image.”
And so you would be without excuse, I have defined love for you (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). I need, or rather, demand that you grasp that you have since created your own definition of love. Nevertheless, My definition remains the only true definition. Love is My emotion; I intimately crafted it to define Me and I do not give anyone permission to alter its attributes. Have I not told you that “love never fails” and that “love keeps no record of wrongs?” The pain you choose to carry is simply because you have all failed one another and likewise have kept records of such. You fail to love like Me because you fail to forgive like Me. First, forgive yourself for defining love by your own perverted standards, and then forgive others for doing the same. It is in this place that I will heal you.
Lastly, don’t be discouraged by your failure to love as I intended, My child. It will happen, for I have given you a new heart [mind] (Ezekiel 36:26) and the capacity to love as I love. Yes, the work has been completed (John 19:30; Hebrews 12:2), the veil torn in two (Mark 15:38). You have been granted full access to My Kingdom of love. Remember, I love you and I have created you to love like Me, for My glory. I will use your pain and redeem you as a choice vessel for My honor. Give in to Me, and let love reign.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
Life and Death – My Dreams For You
It makes no sense to throw a life preserver to a dead man right? How can a person die and still be be born again if he died? I talk about this in this video as we ponder Yahweh’s dreams for us.
My Dreams for You
(#028 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Come and hear, all you who fear the Almighty, and I will declare what He has done for my soul. (Psalm 66:16)
Listen to My voice; I know it will soothe your soul, for this is what I have planned. What desires have I put in your heart (Psalm 37:4)? What passion do you have for My will? You can run from Me, but you cannot hide forever. You cannot ignore your longing for Me indefinitely; it is ultimately inescapable.
Although you may backslide, you will return, for who has resisted My will (Romans 9:19)? I share the dreams you have for your life because they are My dreams for you. I created them specifically for you. I will give you your heart’s desires and not withhold, from you, the request of your lips (Psalm 21:2).
Remember, as My servant, you cannot serve two masters (Luke 16:13). My Son redeemed you and forever changed your future. When you resist your calling, your ego speaks to Me. “I can find comfort in serving another!” That is like putting My Son back on the torture stake. Your ongoing sinfulness is My evidence that, if left to your own devices, you would murder again. In this you indict yourself.
Surrender, My child, to the desires that I have for you. If you do, you will have all you dream of. I Am One whose promises can be tested and always found true.
I Am not like a man that I should lie (Numbers 23:19).
All My ways are perfect (Psalm 18:30).
I will make all things known to you (Ephesians 1:9; 3:5).
I will not leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6).
My love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).
I Am here. Will you have Me?
From Prison to Praise – Sing In Darkness
The End from the Beginning: a Journey into Faith
(#026 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that the Almighty does from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
I worship nonstop and I endure. It’s all about His will for me and yes, the unknown of that is mysterious and sometimes it can even seem overwhelming. I am learning to trust more in the process every day and am comforted by that fact. Yahweh knows the truth of all this you know. Do you know? He has declared the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:10)
“See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh, and this is their vindication from Me,” declares Yahweh. (Isaiah 54:16-17)
I am comforted by the reality that the weapon that now wounds me so very deeply is formed by His hand. Its intent is to heal, and yet, it profoundly does so through loss. My experience has made me know what it means to fix my gaze upon Him. Because Sovereign Yahweh helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. (Isaiah 50:7) Yes indeed, I set my face like a flint, and I determine to suffer well, for my life, my true life, my spirit life, is found in the suffering.
As for blessing those who harm me and praising Yahweh in the process, they are keys to effective Kingdom living. Yes, blessing others and worshipping through pain; that’s what He’s looking for, I am quite sure.
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)
Who Made These Things?
Who Made These Things?
(#023 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17)
Love, peace, joy, contentment, patience, goodness, faithfulness, humility, wisdom, integrity, tenderness, and all other good things come down from Me, the Father of lights. You might be tempted to apprehend these things through your own selfish desires (James 1:14), but do not be deceived (v. 15); do not be enticed to believe they come from anywhere but Me.
What exactly are these things that your soul longs for? Yes My child, ask yourself. And in a sober moment you will realize that they all belong to Me. Each one was created to entice My children to enter My domain, to be as I Am. In other words, to search for the Kingdom of Heaven that is in you. (Luke 17:21) It is very risky to think you can gain access to any of these apart from Me? If you could, if anyone could partake apart from Me, then what did My Son die for, and how are your desires different from the pagans? No My child! These things are only for My children and obedience is the key that releases access to them within you.
Can a wicked man enjoy peace? Never! I will not allow that man to experience real peace (Isaiah 48:22). Can an adulterer have love? Never! I will not allow that perversion to stain My love. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with [Me]? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of [Mine]. (James 4:4) Can a greedy man know contentment? How could he when greed takes the life of its owners (Proverbs 1:19)? Only the one who prospers in Me will know true contentment. Can a contentious woman know tenderness? It can never be, as she is like a continuous dripping that cannot be contained (Proverbs 27:15-16). My tenderness is for the contrite, which is a blessing reserved for My obedient children.
All things were made through [My Son], and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:3) And He has become the open door that you might attain them. Those who do not know Him, and therefore Me, will never experience these spiritual blessings. They are reserved for My children only. But you cannot stand at the doorway; you must walk through it.
Do you need help? Ask and you shall receive. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Luke 11:10)
Heart Threads – Understanding Love
A very difficult topic to understand in the Bible is True Love. It shouldn’t be because it is extended to us everyday from our Creator. This devotional has helped me figure some of it out more clearly.
Heart Threads
(#022 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what the Almighty has joined together, let no one separate.(Matthew 19:6)
Imagine, My child, if I behaved towards you as you behave towards each other. You once persuaded many souls that I had Sovereignly brought you together, that I had ordained your union. And now you look to find anyone who will agree to your separation. I tell you the truth; although you believe your intentions are justified before Me, I do not condone your desires.
When you fail and disappoint Me, when you do not live up to what I expect from you, shall I turn away from you and withhold My love? Shall My Son also withhold His affections? Have I not taught you that it was the wickedness of your own heart that killed My Son? Are you not being like the wicked servant who demanded to be paid on a trivial obligation, after he was forgiven a fortune in debt (Matthew 18:23-35)?
Cease and repent! I declare that you are not innocent in the matters that plague your relationship. My love is a consuming fire. It will penetrate and soften even the most violent and stone-cold heart. Therefore, I will not tolerate your misuse of My words, saying you “love,” while your intention is to satisfy your “self,” even if it harms the one whom you’ve been joined to. Love does not harm (1 Corinthians 13:7)!
You cry for the love you believe you deserve while failing to love the undeserving. This is not love; love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8)! Go to your quiet place and speak to Me. Acknowledge before Me that you know I only speak the truth to you, then listen. It is only your pride that is injured. I cannot bless a lack of humility. Tears of repentance are what I desire; I require true repentance, a broken and contrite heart [center of intellect, mind] (Psalm 51:17).
Come, and I will fill you with My love, a love that cannot be concealed or withheld from the one I gave you. It is in this exchange that you will then have no choice but to love the one who now wounds you, the one I gave you for life, bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh (Genesis 2:23-24).
Two of You. Take Action!
Two of You
(#020 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:21-25)
It is in love that I come to both of you. Yes, although you are one person, your heart is certainly divided; you often forget what you look like in the mirror. I do not; I see both faces! And it might come as a surprise, but My mature children can see both faces as well. They can spot you through the mask and cannot be preyed upon like My younger sheep. Know this; I Am a fierce Shepherd and will not excuse the fleecing of My flock, especially My young defenseless ones.
Woe to you who praise Me before the multitudes and then steal from My people. And I don’t just mean money, but even more insidiously, the theft of truth. Woe to you “desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what you say nor the things which you strongly affirm.” (1 Timothy 1:7) Woe to you who use Me to market your goods and increase the scales in your favor. Woe to you who use your “righteousness” to ravish My elect.
Who told you My punishment would be immediate? Who told you that My rod only manifests in ways you can perceive? Did you not believe Me when I warned, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, and again, Yahweh will judge His people. It is a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the living Mighty One?” (Hebrews 10:30-31)
Yes, I do desire mercy over sacrifice; however, I judge every wrong, as this is what I promised My Son I would do. And I will not shame His sacrifice as if I were a man and as if He were an animal. Let it never be said that I did not warn you that His shed blood only guarantees your eternity. That’s right, His blood has secured your eternity; but your daily choices secure My favor while you live. As it is written, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2) If you insist on living in sin, being a hearer and not a doer, My chastening is perfect and well deserved. When My right arm moves against you, it will correct your wrongs. Will you not repent and return to Me before then?
“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of the Almighty rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6) Yes, mercy over sacrifice is pleasant to your ears; of that I Am certain. It is your acknowledgement of all that I Am that is in question. If you had, you would be doers and not just hearers.