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Manage Your Flock
Torn
(#182 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Woe to you shepherds who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? (Ezekiel 34:2)
Have I not told you that your disobedience will mean your removal? (Jeremiah 23:3-4) You preach and teach of saving the lost; meanwhile your fold, whether many or few, has scattered and wanders aimlessly (Jeremiah 23:1-2). Your heart identifies weak and misguided “sheep,” yet your only sacrifice for them is words. You make no time or personal effort to prove that the words are true. All of your effort ceases because of conflicts in your schedule. Who told you I wanted mouthpieces for the masses? Salvation is Mine, and if you paid attention, you would forego your altar calls and replace them with think-tanks. Imagine many of my chosen people, each with unique gifts and talents, all working together to bring unity. Today’s shepherds will not be tomorrow’s and tomorrow’s shepherds will not be lauded by the masses.
Instead, I raise up murderers, adulterers, prostitutes and tax collectors, while you seek out credentials. More specifically, you seek those who comply with your mindsets. You cry of the freedom found in My Son, while you burden My people with man-made doctrine. You overextend the gifts that I have placed in you, beyond their intended purpose, and take on self-imposed burdens in hopes that they appear holy. You use your church attendance, number of ministries, or “number of spiritual activities” that you make available, as indicators of your commitment to Me. And then you expect My blessings to follow. The more people you impact with your “busyness” the greater you feel is your anointing. I’m not impressed. Seek first the Kingdom was My Son’s admonition! (Matthew 6:33)
Foolishness, I say! Many men want their ears tickled (2 Timothy 4:3) by your emotional speeches. I Am the one who saves; and I don’t need you for that. Stop trying so hard to save the other lost ones when the truly lost one stares at you in the mirror daily. All who have ears to hear—comply or it shall be torn from you.
A good assessment of your shepherding skills can always be determined using powerful questions. Rather than telling someone you love them, ask them if they feel loved by you. And then do the unthinkable; ask them if ever that love has failed them.
When?
When?
(#181 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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In moments of victory the songs come so freely. The ability to rejoice seems so natural. Yes, an overflow of the heart (Hebraically, the “center of intellect”) is what causes me to sing. At the times when the pain seems to overtake me, like a wave I cannot get on top of, the songs become forced. These are the times when I cry out to you Abba. I am expecting a “crossing over”. Is it not what You promise? Am I amiss to believe a place exists wherein my heart would never drown in sorrow?
You tell me of the eternal things and I try to comprehend. The thought of the wife once mine, and the children that now wonder what happened, hinders my ability to see the glorious Promised Land. While I sit in prison, they grow. They grow without me; their bodies take on a new shape; their words become more intelligent. I am missing so much time that can never be recaptured. I do blame myself as I accept the responsibility for why the chastening rod has fallen. But I have changed. Will I be allotted Your mercy like so many others in the past?
These feelings are mixed with a heart that understands that complete surrender to You is what we all must face. This reality won’t change; it only causes me to speak much less. Full surrender of one’s life means it is not one’s life anymore: no complaining, no relenting, no challenging. In fact, You have decreed that it, instead, looks like silence.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
(Isaiah 53:7)
You have called for me to rejoice, praise, and have gratitude no matter what. I believe Your way is right. I believe any other pursuit is vanity. How can one long for the love of his earthly family and yet desire the things of His heavenly Spirit placed within? My heart just does not know how to cross over. I don’t know what it looks like, in a permanent sense, to give into You COMPLETELY Abba. So in my weakness, when I cry out for Your help, I feel I am doing exactly as You are requesting.
I realize it is a journey of the heart. You said, “trust, endure, believe.” Help my unbelief Abba. Help me settle the unknown within, as I confess that I must give it all to You. Help me remember that today is “when” because today is all I have. It’s about believing Your immense love for me. And today Your love for me and for them is perfectly complete. Not believing this is where my joy lies persecuted. Help me know how deep that love is.
Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
Things Left Unsaid
Things Left Unsaid
(#179 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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And Isaiah the prophet went to Sovereign Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you? And Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a distant land, from Babel.” And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah said, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is not an object among my treasures that I did not show them.” So Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts: ‘See, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be taken away to Babel; not a matter shall be left,’ declares Yahweh. ‘And they shall take some of your sons who are born of you, whom you bring forth. And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the sovereign of Babel.’” (Isaiah 39:3-7)
A word for you about our intimacy loved one. Some things I share with you are for your benefit and for your ears alone. When you gain increase through our relationship, don’t shout everything from the rooftops. Some things birthed through the righteous life are, instead, intended to radiate a subtle steady light.
Man often fail to recognize My true intention. The unredeemed heart of man is wicked and deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). And even after a saving encounter with Me, a great majority tend to nurture “the old sin nature” and will neither appreciate, nor understand My revelation. Therefore, you must be careful to discern the purpose of My intimate moments with you; are they private or to be publically shared?
Listen to Me loved one; so much of what I reveal to you will never be acceptable even to those who call themselves brothers and sisters in the faith!
I speak things of a Kingdom that is not of this world, to those who have their minds (hearts) set on things above. Stay quiet at times loved one. Keep some things private; I like having secrets with you. Be still My precious one. Time will reveal to all the depth between us. And yes, you must trust that I also control time as well.
Trouble?
Trouble?
(#178 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Define “trouble” for Me child. Perceive what troubles you, and speak to Me about it. And then consider that it is only your perspective that is truly troubled. Yes indeed, the only real trouble for you are your thoughts that have you convinced My children have any troubles at all. In other words, the cure for your troubles is faith, and the cause, a lack thereof.
This is a new dimension added on the path to your full stature in Me; as narrow as it is. Faith in and of itself, is the substance of things unseen (Hebrews 11:1), and part of that substance is choosing to believe a truth that defies human wisdom. What more defies your own wisdom than this: My children truly have no troubles; that’s correct, no troubles!
When I told you that “You will have tribulation in this world,” was it because I was concerned or worried, or that you should be? Of course not, “I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) I speak to you in a language you can understand; “You will have tribulation.” But, I also speak a spiritual language; “I have overcome the world.”
The flesh (carnal nature) cannot perceive spiritual words, as no flesh can stand in My presence (Romans 8:5-9). If you would put on the spirit-man, when trials come you would have no choice but to declare, “I will rejoice always” (Philippians 4:4) and “I consider it all joy.” (1 Peter 1:6) Listen My child; there is no trouble in My Kingdom and I have purchased you to live with Me in My Kingdom. The only trouble you are having is belief that all I say is truth.
I Am Abba Father. You have no troubles today! Cast your all your cares and anxieties upon Me! Have I not told you to give Me all that hinders you? (1 Peter 5:6-7) Step over, My child. Your inheritance waits for you. I Am love and so it is written, “I can never fail.” (1 Corinthians 13:8)
Your Whole Heart
Your Whole Heart
(#177 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Tell Me My child, what do you think I intend when I tell you to seek Me with your “whole” heart? Do I merely mean to seek Me with your might? Seeking Me with only your own strength will invite problems. Have I not told you, “Not by might nor by power, but only by My Spirit?” (Zechariah 4:6) Seek with the power that comes from My Spirit.
The seeking part is that which will draw you closer. The whole heart (mind or center of intellect) is the circumcised heart that, while seeking, confesses that My commands are not too mysterious or difficult (Deuteronomy 30:6, 11). Can you be bitter and seek with a whole heart? Can you be greedy and seek with a whole heart? Can you never read My words and still seek with a whole heart? Can you lack faith and still seek with a whole heart?
The wholeness comes through correct application of what My Word teaches, especially the pattern of My Words. Have I not told you to “Consider correctly how you listen? Therefore, take heed how you hear: for whoever possesses, to him more shall be given…?” (Luke 8:18) The wholeness comes only with obedience. You must apply all parameters of My word in order for your heart to be whole in the first place. Seek Me as I wish to be sought. Seek without anxiousness, fear, timidity, and with no shrinking back (Hebrews 11:6).
I am not asking for immediate perfection, but rather, commanding that while you seek Me, you do so in a whole and reverent manner. Come in humility, a willingness to learn of My love, and with an expectation to receive what My will has caused you to ask for. Come with a whole mind that sees Me as I Am, and not per personal preference of who you might “like Me to be.” Yes, I Am Abba Father and you will only love Me because I have first loved you (1 John 4:19). Remember this; you can only love Me because I have allowed you to do so. This is the humble part of seeking Me in a wholesome way. “I can only love You because, by Your love, You give me permission to love!” This is a perfectly correct mindset child, and in this you will meet Me, and thus, find yourself.
Who Touched Me?
Who touched Me?
(#176 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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And Yahshua said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Kepha [Peter] and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”
But Yahshua said, “Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.” (Luke 8:45-46)
By faith, and a touch, twelve years of suffering were instantly done away with. How many of us suffer unnecessarily? How many of us long to draw from the power of the One we call Savior? Why do we simply marvel at what is written? Why don’t we live in it instead? How many of us have longed to touch Him physically; to see Him; to listen to His voice; and to stroke His hair with oil? We long to touch Him so He might touch us.
For us today, where is the disconnect? We have been granted greater power and access to His throne after the resurrection, than the woman with the issue of blood (Hebrews 11:39-40).
Why do we marvel at what was, when we have been told what is? We have more and more! (Psalm 115:14) Revelation of mysteries is available which were not known while He walked the earth. Let a man so consider us, as servants of the Messiah and stewards of the mysteries of Yahweh. (1 Corinthians 4:1) The revelation is for your benefit! Are you a good steward? But we speak the wisdom of Yahweh in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which Yahweh ordained before the ages for our glory. (1 Corinthians 2:7) For OUR glory! Certainly, even by chance, one would have reached out to touch Him if He was “physically” present before us. We can still reach out, even now. What is it that we lack that keeps us from Him today? Why the chasm; why the disconnect?
Will you pray with me?
“Abba, why is it so? Why can’t we make it more personal? It is all unseen. Why did You make it so that we must do this all by faith? You have told us that we are greater, those of us who have not seen, yet believe (John 20:29). We accept that Father, yet, there is this longing for the tangible. A touch not only from You, but to be able to reach out and touch You, feel You, and know You. Is it wrong of us to desire this Father? Is it not natural, but rather supernatural, that we long to see You; to be healed by You; to simply know? It is Your choice Father, the ‘how’ and the ‘why,’ and as we submit to Your authority over these things, release Your perfect knowledge over us, the revelation that Your way is perfect. Show us, Abba—show us how to touch You in spiritual ways, so we too may be touched in physical ways. We long for Your presence, the presence that You tell us is already here. Help us see Father. Please come. So be it.”
True Life
True Life
(#174 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:4)
Do not be dismayed at what is missing in your life, for your life is incomplete in your earthly tent (body). Please allow your mind to expand to understand the simple realities of why you can still groan, yet endure; pressure equals growth in the Kingdom of Yahweh. Through the Messiah, you have all you need for life and holy reverence (2 Peter 1:3), but never was that intended to be the end of things. Your yearning is due to the fact that you are a spirit being trapped in an earthly tent. This will not always be; the completion of all things planned for you has yet to be unveiled.
I don’t allow for excuses; As I said, My Son proved that “My favor (grace) is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, then, I [Shaul] shall rather boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of the Messiah rests on me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Listen My child; My point in giving you Scripture is to increase your wisdom of Me, and of My plans for you. Do not be intimidated by the fact that even in My Son, you would still yearn for something more. Did I not tell you that I planned it this way? The impartation of My Spirit, the Spirit that abides in you, is a deposit, a pledge of what is to come (2 Corinthians 5:5). This deposit is more than enough to bring you to the fullness of righteousness (faith in action by faith in Yahshua). However, My full dose is yet to come. There is still work to do.
When My Son hands all kingdoms of the earth to Me, when He has brought to naught all rule and all authority and power (1 Corinthians 15:24), then you will experience My full measure. Until then, you play a vital part in My plan. I need you to achieve the full measure of what I have given you up to now. Faith, hope, and love; these things you must excel at before more is given. Why would I increase your portion when you fail to utilize the fullness of the portion you now have? My Son will have a perfected bride.
Perhaps you should attain to this perfection? Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Yahshua the Messiah has also laid hold of me. (Philippians 3:12) Though many of you disregard perfection as a possibility, today is a new day. Today you can realize it is much more than a possibility; it is a command loved one! (Matthew 5:48) It is the end goal, the finish line, the Kingdom of Yahweh.
The lion (fierce thoughts) and the lamb (fearful thoughts) lying (rest in conscience) together in peace (a settled mind). (Isaiah 11:6)
Me in you
Me in you
(#173 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Listen to Me loved one. How could I not see only but the best in you? Do you realize it is My Spirit in you that I connect with? It is the Me in you that I call out to. When we fellowship, it is My very own Spirit that is in fellowship. And now, it is no longer only My Spirit but your Spirit! Those who have ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit is saying (Revelation 2:7, 2:29, 3:22)! Think of it as Me connecting with Me within you, and you are now able to enjoy the benefits, unless, of course, you do not hear this. Only then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (Matthew 13:43)
It might make sense if you stop to realize that I do all of this for My Covenant’s sake. Like My words teach you in Deuteronomy 7, I Am a Covenant keeper. I will finish My covenanted plans for your life. I Am the author and finisher of your faith (Hebrews 12:2). Of course, I enjoin you to participate, for My Covenant guarantees good fruit with your participation, and bad fruit if not. It is when you participate that I release My gifts called joy and peace. When you lack these things, and therefore suffer, it is only because you fail to participate in the work being done. Non-participation would be as if a wonderful party was going on all around you, yet you choose to sit in in the corner alone and sulk. Everything around tell you, “Get involved, have fun,” yet you decide to stay in the same isolated place.
My words of encouragement, the reason I speak life and peace over you, are because My Son permitted it to be so. I accepted His sacrifice once and for all. What He did for you enables Me to ensure My Covenant with you. I have sealed My Spirit inside of you, and this is what is continually made to grow in you. Yes, I will continue to advance inside of you, with or without you, but beware of resistance; it can be very painful for you. I implore you to get out of the chair and come from the corner and join the party. Don’t you know by now that the party goes on into eternity? Get up! Dance, rejoice, and enjoy! I Am inside of you and I demand that you give Me glory. You can expect all of My precious gifts after that.
I have so many gifts for you My child. Rejoice, I say rejoice!
Empire of Dirt
Empire of Dirt
(#172 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“For what has a man profited if he gains the whole world, yet loses his own soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
It’s not the effects of worldly profitability that brings the potential curse, but rather, the mind that seeks out worldly wisdom in order to gain the effects. Worldly wisdom is, and will always be, that which is scoffed at by the true sons and daughters. Yahweh Himself laughs at the folly of such an endeavor (Psalm 37:13).
You have begun to register a prevailing pattern into your conscience, one that keeps you on the narrow path. Within comes first and then without! “Everything is a thought first, and then the physical manifestation comes!” Your mind-life produces your physical world. It is the power to create, and yet, you must look at what you have created. If you were to ask, “Does my physical life and all of its possessions fill my soul?” you should be able to answer, “Why yes, of course!” Yahshua Himself would have said such. He knew that His earthy afflictions, and how He would handle them, were a sign of His mental position.
And so Yahshua has asked you, “What have you given in exchange for your life? What have you possessed (mentally grasped and held) within, and what has it produced without?” Life itself is the entirety of your conscious activity, and it was intended to be abundant at all times (John 10:10). Your life was meant to be abundant in the way of peace, joy, love, faith, power, praise, and the ability to transfer these into the minds of others. “You are My witnesses,” say’s Yahweh (Isaiah 43:10)! You are intended to reproduce Yahweh, through His Son, by His Ruach, into the consciousness of those around you. You are so much more than a fish on your bumper and a “WWJD” on your wrist.
Life is in the mind loved one, and these writers would be hard pressed to believe that you could actually say that your physical world proves that you have become completely engrossed in the life Yahweh intended for you. Yes, this is a judgment call, and it is one you should have already willingly embraced as your own personal litmus test, measuring your chief priorities of life. Set aside your empire of dirt and learn of the Kingdom of Yahweh. It is THE Kingdom of transformed minds!
New Wineskins
New Wineskins
(#171 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Throughout the 16 attributes of love, you have been reminded again and again that you cannot fail at any of them and still succeed at love. You have also been shown that there is NO SUCH THING as human love. All love is from Yahweh; all else is an imposter. Each of the devotions ended with the same verses from John: I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another… (John 13:34-35)
It’s time to unveil what is “new” about this new commandment to love! In a later letter, John sheds some revelation on this “new” thing.
1 John 2:3-8
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the LOVE of Yahweh is PERFECTED IN HIM. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Brethren, I write NO NEW COMMANDMENT to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. [The Old commandment was the simple reminder that the LOVE of Yahweh is perfected in you when you obey Him]. Again, A NEW COMMANDMENT I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. [The new commandment is that you COULD NEVER LOVE UNTIL YAHSHUA SHOWS YOU HOW! And more so, you cannot love until His Spirit invades your mind [heart] and roots out every last bit of you (self, ego)].
“What does that look like; when will that be?” you might ask.
· When the Messiah is formed in you (Galatians 4:19)
· The Messiah in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)
· When you have the Mind of the Messiah (1 Corinthians 2:16)
Loved one, we are approaching the season when the declaration of Isaiah the prophet will be fulfilled. It is happening in you even now! “I have made you hear NEW THINGS from this time, even HIDDEN THINGS, and you did not know them. THEY ARE CREATED NOW and not from the beginning; and before this day you have not heard them, lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’” (Isaiah 48:6-7)
The culmination of this process is Galatians 2:20 when it is finally the Messiah who lives in you and not you who lives! No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:16-17)
Wine in the Hebrew means “vitality or spiritual essence;” and skin means “that which contains.” New wineskins means new vitality contained within! New love contained within! The Messiah formed in you; the hope of glory; the mind of the Messiah. All things will be made new loved one. All things made new!