Blog Archives - The Remarkable Blog

Happy Valentines Day. Love Series #2 of 5. "The Unworthy SUBJECTS of Love."

2/14/2020

We are the subjects of God's love. You and I are the ones God loves. When the bible talks about God loves the world it does not mean the planet, it means the inhabitants=us. We sing songs about Jesus having the whole world in His hands and loving the world but then He tells us, not to love the world? I thought we were to love what He loves? And hate what He hates?

This statement is remarkable not only in terms of how big the world is, but also how bad the world is. The world is so bad that 1 John 2:15 commands, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.” Yet the same writer, who says the world is so bad that followers of Jesus must not love it, says although the world is so bad, the Father of Jesus Christ loves the world.

Think about that in personal terms. There are people who love and respect you; but if they knew certain things about you, they would change their minds about you.
God knows everything about you there is to know, yet God loves you anyway. This is the true basis for self-esteem. God loves you. Martin Luther said it well: God does not love us because we are valuable; we are valuable because God loves us.

God loves the world. Yet you still will misunderstand the love of God if you don’t know how God communicates His love. The text bears me up. The verse does not simply say God loved the world. It says, “God so loved the world.” That little word so (houto) means “in this manner.” Our English translations obscure this term somewhat: “God loved the world so much,” but it literally speaks of how God loved us, not how much God loves us. The message of the text is this: “In this manner God loved the world” or “This is how God loved the world.”

John 3:16 is about how God says, “I love you.” What’s the answer? Here it is: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son.” John 3:16 does not teach that God loves us so much that He would do anything for us. Rather, it teaches us that God loved us by doing something specific for us: He gave! You cannot know the love of God without embracing it in terms of the gift He gave to communicate His love for us. So, let’s unwrap this text and examine this ultimate Christmas gift God has given to us.

ACTION STEP: Go out and be love with skin on today. Let God love somebody through you. Not everyone has a husband, a wife, a child. Today might be a really rough day for someone. Change that! Change someone's day, their life and their eternal destination--and do it today! Be the subject of God's love and be subject to His leading to bring others to Him so, they can be the Subject of His love too.

Tomorrow~The Love Series #3 of 5 "The Infinite Worth of the Gift-Substance"

New Series~Declaring Love #1 of 5 "The Source of God's Love."

2/13/2020

John 3:16 KJV
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.

For the next few days we are going to cover these five points. We will do one each day

Source
Subject
Substance
Substitution
Story

John 3:16 declares God is a lover. This goes against the prevailing notions of God. Many people think God is angry. We correctly view God as a God of wrath, but we misinterpret that wrath in terms of our humanness rather than His holiness. Thus, we view God as a tyrant, a cosmic killjoy, an angry parent sitting in His heavenly living room with His divine belt in hand waiting for the disobedient sinner to come through the door. Others view God as indifferent. They think God does not and cannot care about the world or anyone in it.

Others view God as temperamental. They view God’s love esoterically and spend their lives trying to earn it. This produces a legalism, which results in either despondency or pride, but never reveals the true love of God. John 3:16 stands against all these misinterpretations of God’s attitude toward us and declares God loves us. First John 4:8 says, “God is love.” God personifies love. If fact, if it has to do with God, it has to do with love.

Mercy is God’s forgiving love.
Grace is God’s undeserved love.
Peace is God’s comforting love.
The will of God is, God’s unerring love.
Providence is God’s caring love.
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s proven love.
Sanctification is God’s nurturing love.
Heaven is God’s rewarding love.
Eternity is God’s unending love.

The Old Testament makes it clear God loves Israel. It makes this point so regularly and dramatically that you can misread it to say God loves only Israel. That’s how Israel itself read the Old Testament. So, this statement recorded in John 3:16 absolutely must have blown Nicodemus away. It claims God does not love just certain groups, races or nations. God loves everybody. God doesn’t exclusively love Christians. God loves the world. What a truth!

Romans 5:7-8 says: “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God loves the world.

ACTION STEP: Stay with me for the next few days and determine in your heart to know the true depth of God's love for you and for every single person that He created. Really think about these truths and allow them to change you from the inside out. We can all use a little more Love and God has enough to go around.

Tomorrow- #2 "The Unworthy Subjects of Love"

RESET Series #7 of 7 "Repentance brings a Reset."

2/12/2020

Acts 3:19 (NIRV)
"So turn away from your sins. Turn to God. Then your sins will be wiped away. The time will come when the Lord will make everything new."

Because of what Jesus Christ did for us we can cast off our old nature and put on a new nature. We are no longer a worm we are that butterfly. We can become what we were always meant to be. There is a better life available to us than the one we are living here on earth. This is why Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. We can have Heaven on earth and unlike Jacob it can be a reality not merely a dream. We don't have to go to sleep with our head on a rock to get a Holy Ghost download. We simply need to get our head in the Word of God and stand on Jesus Christ our solid Rock!

ACTION STEP: Just like Jacob in this "RESET Series" you and I can get a reset. We can get a new name. We can have such a nature change we literally go from a trickster to a Prince. Jesus Christ changes everything.

I hope you have enjoyed this series of messages that I shared while in Denver, Colorado. I pray that if I am in your area you will be able to join me.

I will be in Philadelphia, PA on February 27-29 for AWAKENING with Pastor Teresa Verdecchio, Founder of EPIC. Here is the link to register: https://www.newdestinyofphilly.com/epic-women

March 27-28, 2020 you can register for Arsenal here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arsenal-5-fold-ministry-conference-2020-tickets-80701100163

Then on April 3, 2020 I will be with Pastor Deborah Swecker near Elkins, WV. More information coming...

RESET Series #6 of 7 "Revelation brings a Reset!"

2/11/2020

John 1:47-51 (NKJV)
“Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit! Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me? Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

You are going to truly learn today, if you don't know already--God is the God of "RESETS" in our lives.

We have been in the Old Testament, but let's look today at the New Testament.

Come with me to John 1. After Philip met Jesus of Nazareth for the first time he spoke to him about his friend Nathanael. John 1:46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

John 1:47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “Israel” was the name given to Jacob by God. If “Jacob” means “cheater,” then “Israel” means “a noble person who prevails with God.” In essence, Jesus is saying to Nathanael, “You are a true son of the man called Israel.” To say it that way would remind Nathanael of the story of Jacob.

John 1:49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

John 1:51 He Jesus added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

What is Jesus referring to? He’s referring to Genesis 28, the history of Jacob’s ladder. In the New Testament, Jesus is the ladder to heaven. In Genesis 28 God was at the top and Jacob was at the bottom. In John 1 Jesus the Son of God is at the bottom of the ladder. What does it mean? It means that in the person of Jesus Christ, God has come down the ladder to join us on the earth.

Jesus Christ is himself the stairway that leads back to heaven. If you want to go to heaven, Jesus is the stairway, he is the ladder. John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jacob’s ladder is Jesus Christ himself. He came down from heaven to earth so that we might have a way to go from earth to heaven. Now that Jesus has come, we know that God can never be far away from us. He is with us and he will lead us all the way to eternal life. Matthew 28:20 And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Your difficulty and discouragement are part of God’s preparation for greater things to come. You may feel that there is no one with you, but God is with you.

Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. A new dawn is going to come. God will fulfill his promises.

Jacob’s ladder reaches all the way down from heaven, down to the bottom of the pit of your condition.

With God it is never too late, you are never too far gone for a "RESET." He is sending His angels to you, if only you call upon Him. Just as Jesus could have called the angels from heaven to help me the day He hung on the cross--today you and I can call upon them to help us. Jesus Christ built that ladder. He is the ladder.

ACTION STEP: Call upon the angels today. Tell them to go get your money. Tell them to intercept your loved ones and bring them back to Christ. Whatever you need? Call upon Jesus and He will hear you and answer you. Go ahead--Hit the RESET button in your life!

RESET Series~#5 of 7 "Recite Scripture for a RESET."

2/10/2020

Genesis 28:20-22 20 (NKJV)
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

Today, I would like to draw your attention to the benefits that are directly linked to reciting the scripture for a RESET in our lives.

As we look back over these RESET series, we saw that reciting scripture impacted the life of Jacob, the trickster/deceiver. He realized in making a vow, that if God was with him, he would be successful in the mission. That decision prompted him to give back a tenth to God=a tithe.

Giving a tithe is being in covenant with God and then, God fulfills All His promises.

God is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

Perhaps you are wondering now as we near the end of this series, if you are a starter, carrier or finisher as a child of Abraham? Where are you in the journey? You know that whom God calls he equips. You know that what God promises he fulfills. But, sometimes you wonder?

The Battle is literally between our Brain and our Spirit. Who is directing your life? The Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit, not our mind. It is a spiritual knowing when we hear the voice of God and the more you recite God’s Word, the more you and I can hear his voice.

God only speaks His word.

If your reciting and your vocabulary doesn’t line up with the Word of God, then I encourage you to start reciting specific scriptures to RESET you mind and life.

Reciting scriptures will bring healing in your body, emotional well-being, financial security and healthy relationships. Another scripture that reinforces the power of the Word of God and instructs us to renew our minds is, Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

It’s time to RESET! Recite the Word of God starting today.

ACTION STEP: If you had to live without your Bible for just one year, could you recite enough of the Word of God to see God working on your behalf? Father God giving you instruction or encouragement? The only word we truly have is the Word we have hidden in our heart. What we put in--comes out. What is the first thing that comes out of your mouth when you are under pressure? When you are mad? When you are hurt? That is what is in you. If we want to change what comes out? We must change what goes in. Simple? Yes. Easy? No. Possible? Always.

RESET SERIES #4 of 7 "Review the spoken Word and get Reset"

2/7/2020

Genesis 28:14-17 (NKJV)
“Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep[a] you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

This week in the Reset Series I have expounded on our need as Christians for a “RESET”. We started with #1 “Run FOR a RESET not from it”, #2 Remember why you need a RESET, #3 Rest your head on the ROCK for a RESET!

Today, we will focus on "#4 Review the spoken Word and get RESET."

Here is the interpretation of the dream: "GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE CLOUDS AND REVIEW THE SPOKEN WORD OF GOD and God will give you a RESET!"

Let’s view several key points found in Genesis 28: 14-17:

God’s promises to Abraham are reaffirmed. Read Genesis 28:13. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. What was the promise given to Abraham? We need to know these promises because they are to us too! They are still ours today.

1.The Land. I will give you this land. Genesis 28:13b I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.

2. Children. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. Genesis 28:14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. Ladies and Gentlemen this includes us. We are descendants from Father Abraham.

3. Blessings. Genesis 28:14 All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. If you reside in the United States of American and if the truth were told, you and I don’t go without much, if anything. We are a blessed people because we are descendants of Abraham and because we adhere to the Word of God.

4. I am with you. Genesis 28:15a I am with you. Realize you are “never” alone. God is with you. Take heart today and realize there are more for you than against you.

5. I will watch over you. Genesis 28:15b I will watch over you wherever you go. Remember God never sleeps or slumbers.

6. I will not leave you. Genesis 28:15c I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. I don’t know if you have earthly faithful friends and family, but rest assured that God IS Faithful!

God met Jacob at his point of his need. For every thought of failure, he had that night, God spoke to him and assured him.

Jacob was having feelings we all have at times. Here are just a few:

1. Shame & Betrayal. Thoughts of shame of betraying his father. Genesis 28:13a “There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.”

2. Loss of homeland. Genesis 28:13b, “I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.”

3. Insignificance. Thoughts of feeling insignificant. Genesis 28:1, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.”

4. Loss of family. Genesis 28:14, “Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth.”

5. Fear of the future. Genesis 28:15a, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.”

6. Fear of Failure. Genesis 28:15c, “I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Jacob now receives the very same promise God gave his grandfather and his father. In addition, God promises to be with him while he is in Haran, and to bring him back to the Promised Land.

In every situation of life God is already at work before I get there. So many times, I tend to limit my thinking to the fact that God is with me as I go through life. He’s not only with me now, he’s already way up the road ahead of me. While I am struggling with the problems of today, God is providing solutions for the things I am going to face tomorrow. He’s already there, working in situations I have yet to face.

Are you worried about tomorrow? He’s already there. How about next week? He’s already there. What about that job, relationship, sickness? Fear not. He goes ahead of you, clearing the way, arranging the details of life, so that when you get there, you can have confidence that God has already been there before you. Deuteronomy 31:8, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Suddenly Jacob woke up from his sleep. Genesis 28:16-17, “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it. He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

What was it that Jacob discovered? He discovered the omnipresence of God, that God is everywhere present all the time. God is everywhere. Wherever you are, there God is. And wherever you are, there is a stairway to heaven reaching down from God to right where you are.

When the sun sets, God is there. When you go through affliction, problems with your job, when children are sick, when you are betrayed, when your marriage is rocky, when dream fails God is there.

To further Illustration today’s point, In the book called ‘The Hiding Place’ portrays the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her deliverance from a Nazi prison camp. The book speaks about how Corrie and her sister hid Jews in Holland, were eventually arrested, and sent to the Ravens Bruck Concentration Camp. Corrie’s sister became very sick and Corrie tried to encourage her not to give up. As they sang Christian songs and recited Scripture, the prison guards came in and beat them. Amid that unspeakable degradation, Corrie and her sister witnessed for Jesus Christ. However, in early 1945, through a clerical error, Corrie was released from the prison camp. A few days later all the women her age were put to death. Corrie survived and served the Lord. Corrie Ten Boom said, “I’ve been going all over the world, with one message: There is no pit so deep that the love of God is not deeper still.” Even a Nazi prison camp can become Bethel, the house of God, and the gate of heaven. God is everywhere but most of us meet him in the while we are in the Pit not the Palace.

ACTION STEP: Today, do you find yourself in a Pit? I urge you to stop and ask God to show you the greater meaning of your “Pitstop”? Why are you there? What are you to learn? What are you to teach others? There is no such thing as a missed opportunity, God is with us 100% of the time whether we acknowledge it or not.

If you have not read this book, "The Hiding Place" I highly suggest it.

See you Monday as I continue my series on "RESET", where we will take a look at #5 of 7 Recite Scripture for a RESET."

Rest your head on the ROCK for a Reset#3 of 7 Reset Series

2/6/2020

Genesis 28:15 (NKJV)
“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
Get our head on the Rock and it will speak."

In his dream, Jacob saw a stairway or ladder descending from heaven to earth. Jacob sees this stairway resting on the earth right where he happened to be. On the stairway, Jacob saw the angels of God going up and down the stairs.

God had never spoken to Jacob before. God spoke to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac. He heard about God from his father and grandfather. He was raised in their faith and believed their faith, but he had never had a personal experience with the God. The amazing point is that God now speaks to Jacob at the moment of his desperation.

Now that he is running for his life, now that he is leaving the Promised Land, now that he has disgraced himself, now that he finally reached the bottom, God speaks to Jacob.

C.S. Lewis said “God whispers to us in our pleasure and shouts to us in our pain. Pain, he said, is God’s megaphone to rouse a sleeping world.” Now God moves to rouse Jacob even while he sleeps.

Not many people in the Bible saw angels. Jacob is one of those lucky few. What are the angels doing? They are taking messages from earth up to heaven and messages from heaven down to earth. They are heavenly couriers who report to God concerning the situation on the earth. They also carry out God’s will: Answering prayers, giving guidance, providing protection, fighting for the people of God, fending off the attacks of Satan.

Today God’s angels are around you.

At the top of the ladder stood God himself. Just think about that. Jacob at the bottom, God at the top, a stairway filled with angels in between.

Listen, there was a reason why Jacob was a cheater. He cheated because he thought God was far away from him. He thought of a God in heaven having nothing to do with man’s day-to-day affairs.

To Jacob, God was too big to ever be concerned about someone like him. Jacob viewed God as entirely great, but so far from the earth that God had no time for the details of human life. We all feel that way sometimes. “I know God loves me, but in this big world how can God have time to care about me?”

That’s how Jacob had lived for all these years. He cheated because he thought God either didn’t notice or didn’t care or was too busy to help him out. So, Jacob consistently took matters into his own hands.

But Jacob is wrong.

Look at the message of the dream: Genesis 27:15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. God is telling: “Jacob, I’m nearer to you than you think I am.

Although I am in heaven and you are on earth, there’s a stairway that reaches from me to you. And my angels are constantly watching over you. When you travel, my stairway travels with you.

I was with you in Beersheba.

I was with you when you tricked Esau.

I was with you when you deceived your father.

I am with you tonight.

And I will be with you in Haran. (Haran means parched-dry-in Hebrew mountaineer rough place to climb or can’t breathe, or catch your breath…) Everywhere you go, I will go with you.”

This is a message about the nearness and promise of God to a messed-up Jacob.

In his brokenness and loneliness God is reassuring Jacob that God will be with Jacob.

ACTION STEP: God is nearer than you think. He wants to be in your life. Father God wants to be just that--a Father to you. Run to your Father God like a child. Give Him your broken life--He is a repairer of broken things. Now, get some rest. Lay your head on Jesus Christ the Solid Rock!

Tomorrow Part 4 of 7- Rest your head on the ROCK for a Reset!

Remember why you need a RESET~#2 of 7 Reset Series

2/5/2020

Genesis 28:11 (NKJV)
“So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.”

Today, I am focusing this Blog on remembering why we need a “RESET." Jacob was quick to run from his circumstances, but never knew that his journey would be stopped. In Genesis 28:11 we read these words, when he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Remember, no one can run from God. Today, if you are sitting here with the sun setting down on you, you have nowhere to go, you see no light for the future, God has a plan for you. We know that God is omnipotent and omnipresent, you can run but, you can’t out run God.

Now, on the evening, as the sun sinks over the western horizon, Jacob stops for the night. He’s come to the outskirts of the city called Luz; a place unknown to him. (Close to Bethel=bread but close doesn’t count). Jacob was filled with fear. Jacob made his bed. In the gathering darkness, Jacob rests his head upon a rock, (the corner stone, the solid rock on which we stand.) The same rock mentioned in Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” For further scriptures on the rock, see, Psalm 18:2, Isaiah 51:1 and Deuteronomy 32:4.

I imagine he had a hard time sleeping that night, thinking about what happened. He left behind an aging father whom he cheated. He thought of the shameful deceit. He remembered waving goodbye to his loving mother. He thought of Esau and he would have been filled with the fear of death.

As the stars came out, and the strange sounds of night filled his ears, Jacob realized that for the first time in his life he was truly alone. Homeless, penniless, helpless, and alone. Jacob got what he wanted, but that night he would reflect on the terrible price he paid--for the thing he wanted so much.

He drifted off to an uneasy sleep. While he slept, he had one of the most famous dreams in history. Genesis 28:12-13a- He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it; above it stood the LORD.

Action Step: Can you identify where in your life you are needing a RESET? Being close only counts in Horseshoes and hand-grenades. Just because we are in God’s house (Bethel) does not mean God is in us, any more than standing in a garage makes us a car. If you are having a hard time sleeping, get in the Word. Ask God to show you your blind-spot. Then, as He shows you something, be quick to repent.

Tomorrow, we will look at point 3 of the 7 messages on RESET. Until then what is God bringing to pass in your life at the start of 2020? Please share in the comments section of the blog and if today’s blog spoke to you, would you consider sharing this blog with a family member or friend who needs to hear it?

Run for a RESET, not from it. #1 of 7 RESET SERIES

2/4/2020

Genesis 28:12-13 (NKJV)
“Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac…”

This week I am taking the opportunity to share with you from a recent “Reset” Woman’s Conference held in Denver, Co, and hosted by Loua Clair. Here I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker; but more importantly I had the opportunity to serve, share and socialize with Women of Faith. So, that being said, let’s look into God’s Word and see who had the opportunity for a Reset. The Conference focused on a Christians walk with God, and discovering if you are a Starter, Carrier and Finisher of the faith that is found within you. Truthfully, we are all called to identify when we need to RESET and the start again.

The teaching focused around the life of Jacob; you know the trickster/deceiver. A teaching based on Jacob’s dream that encourages us to trust God at difficult times of our life. God is with you.

Are you going through a sunset experience in life much like Jacob, and need a RESET?

Maybe, you had great expectations in life but now your dreams are shattered, you are far away from the promise and you are seeing the end of the day.

In your dark nights God is still there. God can turn things around because every sunset is an opportunity to RESET.

Please see Genesis chapter 28. Stop and go read the passage then, rejoin me in the teaching, you’ll have the opportunity to hear two messages. I one will be sharing the one I am exegeting and the one God is speaking directly to you. That’s Right! I will speak to you; and our Father wants to speak to you.

Jacob leaving his home, running for his life. He left home quickly. It wasn’t the beautiful send-off he wanted.

He is on a long journey, 800 KM/497 miles from Beersheba to Haran. It was a journey backward in time for Jacob, backward because he was retracing the steps of his grandfather Abraham who came from Haran to the Promised Land many years ago. Abraham left behind him a settlement of people. So, it was natural that Rebekah thought of Haran for a safe haven for her youngest son.

It was far enough where Esau wouldn’t follow him, yet there was family there, Rebekah’s brother, so Jacob wouldn’t be alone. Rebekah’s plan was simple. She was sending him to a safe place for a few months until Esau’s anger passed away. Then she would send word for Jacob to come home. In the meantime, she hoped that her son would marry one of her relatives in Haran and eventually return home. It was a good plan, and in fact it came to pass, but not exactly as Rebekah envisioned.

Running from His “RESET” left him alone and lonely. When we run from what God has for us we end up with a hard-enough head we can sleep on a rock. That’s exactly what we will find out tomorrow, that even when we end up between a “Rock” and a hard place—God can meet us.

ACTION STEP: Ask yourself the hard question: “What am I running from?” Is God trying to get my attention? Pray this prayer and then meet with me all week to look at the other six points about getting a “RESET” in your own life.

“God help me to run to you not from you. Help me to lay my head on you. Help me to see into the Spirit realm and realize you are for me not against me. I ask you this in Jesus Name, Amen.”

Praise Shatters Anxiety

2/3/2020

Paul said that when we hit the "rejoice" button and replace worry with joy-filled prayer, "...the Peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4: 7).

Joy will calm your anxious heart and allow you to receive the promises of God.

Things looked bleak for the children in George Mueller’s orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. It was time for breakfast and there was no food. A small girl whose father was a close friend of Mueller was visiting in the home. Mueller took her hand and said, "Come and see what our Father will do."

In the dining room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, but also there was no money in the home’s account. The children were all standing around waiting for their breakfasts, and Mr. Muller said to them, "Children, you know we must be in time for school." He then lifted his head and prayed, "Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat."

Immediately, they heard a knock at the door. When they opened it, there stood the local baker. "Mr. Muller, I could not sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn’t have any bread for breakfast, and the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2:00 am and baked some fresh bread and here it is." Mueller thanked him and gave praise to God.

Moments later there was a second knock at the door. It was the local milkman whose milk wagon had just broken down in front of Muller’s orphanage. He offered all his milk to Muller and the orphans so he could have his wagon hauled to the nearest repair shop.

Way back in 1970 a military chaplain named Merlin Carothers wrote a small book called Prison to Praise. Today it has sold more than 17 million copies in 53 languages. It challenges readers to thank and praise God in the midst of difficulties—and it’s full of testimonies of everyday people who experienced miraculous breakthroughs when they obeyed this simple principle.

What Carothers wrote 40 years ago is still relevant today: "The very act of praise releases the power of God into a set of circumstances and enables God to change them. Miracles, power and victory will all be a part of what God does in our lives when we learn to rejoice in all things."

ACTION STEP: Ask God through the power of the Holy Spirit to help you learn to rejoice in all things. By faith lay down the weight that you are carrying and ask God to be the Father you so desperately need to "just take care of it" for you because you are His child. Then, just watch what He can do.

Tomorrow we will start looking at "RESET" the last message I shared while in Denver, Colorado. Tell your friends to "SUBSCRIBE" to RPMDaily.net and get this in their email daily. Thanks for helping to get the WORD out!