Blog Archives - The Remarkable Blog

Prepare to say, not just see in 2020.

11/14/2019

Everyone has said for years, "In 2020 the church will have perfect vision." Well, the church has seen a lot already. The Hebrew year of Pey is a time to "Say" what we've been seeing. Moses spent his first 40 years learning Torah before he was able to spend his last 40 years transmitting it. Many will find this next season of Pey similar to Moses’ journey. Where you have spent the last season learning and storing up God’s word, you will now spend the next season teaching it and leading others in how to live it and give Him glory.

Declare the Impossible IS Possible!Despite the cliche use of 2020 as “Perfect Vision” this is not the year for vision setting, so much as it is the year for vision declaring.
“I am God your Lord Who lifted you out of Egypt.
Widen your mouth and I will fill it.”
(Psalm 81:10).

The mouth has a certain size.

How can one stretch it beyond its natural parameters? And why does it say, “I am God, Who lifted you from the land of Egypt?” In the book of Exodus it reads, “Hotzeisicha—I took you out,” not, as the psalm states, that “I lifted you.” So, what is the connection between these two verses?

The word for Egypt, Mitzrayim, connotes restraints or borders, a narrow place. We must realize that every day of our life, God not only releases us from the shackles of Egypt (“takes us out”), but gives us the opportunity to break through an even higher and more subtle level of limitation (“lifts us”).

God gives those who love him the ability to go beyond their personal physical limits and even beyond nature. This is alluded to by the expression “widening our mouths.”

We widen our mouths when we praise God, learn Scripture, pray, and communicate positive messages to others, we complete the world. In this way we fulfill our purpose in coming to this world, by transforming nature and making the world a better place in which to live.

This next season we are invited in a special way to go beyond what we believe is impossible and to make the world whole. God is asking us to lift the world out of its Egypt, out of its narrow mindedness. It’s no longer an issue of boldness of faith but of conviction in speech!
Faith must be put into action or it is dead.

For as the body without the breath of the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. – James 2:26

ACTION STEP: Open your mouth and begin to say what you have seen in the past. God breathed into man and he became a speaking spirit. We are to speak God's will on the earth, God's will be done in peoples lives. Will you begin to lift people out of the shackles of Egypt (a type of the world and sin), with your prayers, your words and your shouts of praise? Today is the day to say! Get your roar on!

Eternity and your part in it.

11/13/2019

“Life may be short but Eternity is long so, let's start preparing for it now.”
Anonymous

It’s no surprise in the Decade of the Mouth "Pey" (see prior Blogs), that Prayer would be a critical component. We must open our mouths and say what God wants said.

God always has a purpose for whatever He does, and if He reveals something to us, we can be assured that He does so for our own good. Only a foolish man would ignore what the infinite wisdom of God that He chooses to reveal.

We can hardly widen our mouths for God to fill it, if we have neglected our time of prayer with Him. This year write with your pen as well as your mouth. Write your dreams down. Then, get a good book and the Bible and begin to interpret your dream. Say what you have been shown. Either pray it into existence or pray that God will intercede and it will not occur. Open your mouth and say what you desire in your heart. God put those desires there, if they are Godly; and if they are not godly, root them out and cast them down.

Many people are more anxious than necessary about the times we live in. We are called to rest in Christ’s peace, no matter how dark the days grow. Do we not have His confidence that as sin abounds Grace abounds more? Does not Our Lord give us the gift of prophecy that we might know what is to come and so, prepare for it with all faith and conviction? (John 14.29). Yes, we do and we can, by opening our mouths.

As Christ’s Apostles in the earth, we each carry his authority as priest, prophet and king, to transform and take dominion of the world around us, as it is in Heaven. Jesus is returning the King of kings and we need to open our mouths and exercise our authority and kingship here on earth as it is in Heaven.

"I must live with eternity stamped in my eyeballs."
Jonathan Edwards

ACTION STEP: Walk in the light as Christ is in the light. If you don't know how to do that? Read the Word of God and find out. Find a church that preaches the Word of God, then believe it like it like your life depends on it...because it does. Say what you want eternity to look like in your own life. Write your own Eulogy. What will you be remembered for? What will be said of you when you are gone? Will you be in heaven when this life is over? You can know for sure. If you need help answering this question, feel free to reply to this Blog where it says reply.

5780 The Hebrew year of Pey is a Word War!

11/12/2019

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”
(Proverbs 18:21).

Speech has tremendous power. A king rules with his words. An ordinary person also has great power in his mouth. With words of praise he can raise a person to great heights, and with a bit of gossip he can destroy a person’s reputation. Our words create worlds. You might sum up the next ten years with the phrase “Word Wars” and that is precisely why authority, which comes from Wisdom, will become the key to winning it.

How you use your words at home will be how you use them to shape the world around you. Are you speaking words of truth and life or are you speaking words of death and destruction?

There is a difference between conviction and condemnation.

As disciples of Christ we are called to mirror his ways and Jesus certainly knew how to throw down a criticism but he was also quick not to condemn.

How well do your words express the same to those who are listening? Knowing the balance between loving the sinner and hating the sin is called wisdom. Those with their “tooth” in tact should be able to do this with more strength and clarity this season. And the world will need you to!

Knowing God’s nature will not be enough, the church must become it.

If you’re having difficulty clearly understanding God’s position on hot-button subjects like abortion, homosexuality, adultery, human trafficking, pornography, sexual purity, and other mainstream issues which threaten to divide the church and not just our world, then now would be a great time to check your sources. God is not a God of confusion “the spiritual man judges all things” (1 Cor. 2:15). There’s a good chance your answers are not under right alignment with right authorities. Once they are, everything will become clear and you will be able to speak about them in wisdom with love and mercy.

We are entering a season where the Gifts of the Holy Spirit will flourish and manifest greatly across the globe. Those who are mature in faith will receive the wisdom of the Holy Spirit while those lacking in maturity will not.

“The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. …But we have the mind of Christ!

“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification…. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God“ – 1 Corinthians 2:6-12 (emphasis mine).

It will be very important to discern from whom you are being taught as many false prophets AND false teachers have arose among the people since the Great Apostle Peter’s day (2 Peter 2:1-3).

Many men (and women) who have risen to levels of influence within the Church and nations will be silenced by God as he removes his "Wisdom ‘tooth’" from them like Pharaoh. Their years of deceitfulness will be exposed suddenly. Though Wisdom was granted to them they failed to follow her precepts and walk in them. We must have mercy upon those who would repent, but against those who would rise up and chase you to your death, as Pharaoh did the Israelites at the sea, be sure to leave them behind in their Egypt. A new world is at hand.

ACTION STEP: We must exercise wisdom in this year and the nine years ahead. Move ahead with the things of God even if that means leaving others behind. We cannot control people. We do well to be able to control our self and our own tongue. Begin today by immediately obeying the word of the Lord regardless of how seemingly insignificant it may appear. Small decisions can have huge consequences. The difference between Pey and Fey is only one letter, but Pharaoh drown with all his men. Moses and the people of God walked across on dry land. The choice is in our heart for out the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Find out what's i your heart.

Declare the impossible--possible.

11/11/2019

“I am God your Lord Who lifted you out of Egypt.
Widen your mouth and I will fill it.”
(Psalm 81:10).

I know I have chosen a strange picture above for the scripture we read in Psalm 81:10.
However, it has double meaning. First, the disciples obeyed Jesus. They did what was impossible. Obedience to Jesus make the impossible--possible. Secondly, the disciples fished all night and caught nothing. But, Jesus asks them to do something in their weakness. Can you image being left-handed or right-handed and fishing your entire life a certain way. Then, long comes a guy and tells you to do everything the opposite the way you've always done things. Cast your net on the other side. If you are right handed then your left hand is much weaker. "Why do something in my weakness?" "Why do something foreign that I have never done before?" Because in our weakness Christ is strong. Jesus wants to show His strength on our behalf. Just obey me and watch what I can do with your life.
Perhaps, they'd been doing something wrong? He wanted to "Right" that. What is the "right" thing to do in your life? Right now? Is there something you've been doing one way that needs changed? Do you need to do the opposite of what you've been doing?

Whatever God is telling you to do? This is the year to do it! This is the year to trust God. Remember the story of the wine running out at the wedding? Jesus' mother said, "Whatever he tells you to do, do it." Well, that pretty well sums it up for us. If we want better than, what we've been having, we need to obey the word of the Lord. (The wine Jesus made from water was better than the wine, that had been served first. This was contrary to the custom of the day.)

Now, I know I wasn't on the scene when the water turned into wine. I wasn't there when they brought in 153 fish. However, in both cases the people involved in the miracle were obedient to do what Jesus told them. In this Hebrew year of 5780 (Pey) we need to make the decision that when the Lord says something, we choose to see it done and say what Jesus says. We must use our mouths as a vessel for the Lord. The Lord put that coin in the mouth of the fish to pay taxes! We are fishers of men! When we make a catch for the Lord, the Lord makes it a win/win. Jesus told the disciple when you get the coin go pay your taxes and mine. He told his mother, "...it's not my time." But, He obeyed his mother and turned the water into wine.

ACTION STEP: Look again at the scripture above. "Widen your mouth and I will fill it." In other words get in agreement with the Word of the Lord. The Word of God will always be a bigger word than we can ever back up, or bring to pass. But, God needs a mouth, a vessel, a boat, a heart, a life, a..... to fill! God needs a vessel to fill. A boat to fill with fish. A fish's mouth to fill with a coin. An empty wine pitcher to fill with new wine. So, OPEN YOUR MOUTH! What are you waiting for? This is the year (Pey) it rhymes with say and it means to say, so say what God has shown you. Say, what God has told you, and above all--do what He says.

The year to say what you've seen that you want!

11/8/2019

I am just a little afire about the whole culture and beliefs of Israel, their long history, the truths hidden in the Torah and the stories, that only the trees and stones could tell--long lost in the walls of the catacombs. I will never know or completely understand all I heard and saw while in Israel, but I want too. I try. In another sense, some things won't leave me. Like the ring of a tree, they are in me and have become a part of me--part of who I am. Like this story.

Baal Shem Tov - Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer, founder of the Hasidic movement started a tradition that on your birthday, you begin to study the psalm corresponding to the year you're living. I am turning 64 years old so, since the Jewish New Year already started (September 29-30) I am reading Psalm 65. [To clarify, If you could read when you’re a few months old, i.e. zero years old, you’d read Ps 1. Thus, you’re always a year ahead of your age.] This is just one of the many things I learned which in turn, lit my fire to study and learn more. I am having the time of my life.

For example, this last decade from 2010 to 2019 has been all about “seeing” what God is saying about you, about your life, about the plans he has for you and for the world around us. It is not so coincidentally conjoined with the Hebrew Letter “Ayin” a picture symbol of an eye and characterized modernly in the number 70. Every year in the Ayin Decade coincides with another letter in the Hebrew Alphabet which was revealed in the early Jewish Talmud as having Heavenly significance, just as the instituted feasts (Rosh Chodesh, Yom Kippur, Passover, the Feast of Weeks. etc.) and appointed times of the Old Testament.

This coming year, 2020 in the Greco-Roman calendar, coincides with the Hebrew year 5780, 80 being part of the “Pey” (rhymes with “pay”) decade that will begin at Rosh HaShana this September 30, 2019. Just as 2019/5779 was a continuation of the last ten years in the “Ayin” decade of the seeing eye where God invited us to “see” what He is saying, this year and the nine years to follow will be an invitation to “speak” what God has shown us in the last decade. “Pey” is the Hebrew letter for the number 80, a picture symbol of a mouth. Discerning when to speak and when to be quiet will be a critical component during the next decade if we are to see the Kingdom of God growing in our lives and our world through our declarations of faith. “Ayin” gives insight, but it is the “Pey” (mouth) that gives insight expression. Wisdom is the key.

The mouth is the expression of the breath. Through our mouths the breath becomes vocalized. The main channel through which breath is exchanged is through the mouth, thus the mouth becomes a powerful expression of the Breath of the Holy Spirit. It can also become a powerful expression of our own breath. In the Hebrew alphabet “Pey” follows “Ayin,” which emphasizes that sight precedes expression. Those who have spent a great deal of time seeing what God is saying should have no difficulty in the next decade also expressing His thoughts in word and deed. Conversely, because the eyes are more emphasized than the mouth, those who are blind will speak blindly, an unceasing mindless chatter due to blind consumption.

ACTION STEP: Stay tuned all next week and tell your friends to subscribe. I will be sharing on this new year. Do not be deceived as many it is not a year of 2020 Vision as the deceiver would want us to believe, so we watch and say nothing! This is the year to SAY what we have already been shown by God! Say what God has shown you that will come to pass. Align your mouth with with the wisdom of the sons of Issachar. More next week. Pass it on. Say something!

Red cup victory.

11/7/2019

Being a West Virginia University Alumni my memories of a "Red Cup" are not the same as most people. It's been years since I was a student. The "Red Cup" experience was all new this morning! I got the VICTORY! Free coffee for a year!

Well, I'm sure I got your attention now. Whether you hate Starbucks or love it, free coffee for a year is a real steal! I missed the promotion last year. They always run out of the "Red Cups" early. Each store only gets so many. I've been adjusting to Time Zones so I've been getting up early. I Googled nearest Starbucks to my location and was shocked to find one within running distance, only 1.2 miles away. In my PJ's off I went flip flops and all to find me a Starbucks. Halt! It was inside Fairmont State University Falcon Center. I had to park and walk in the rain to the University. No drive thru. But wait! Hark! I must still be dreaming. There was a Chick-fil-A too! Worth a walk in the rain. Okay, I am a bit excited. Chick-fil-A is my favorite restaurant. It really is the little things in life.

Is this Blog ever going to get spiritual? Yes. God cares about the little things in your life. It's really not about "Red Cups" and "Chick-fil-A", it's about Him. The God who made the universe cares about the little things. He cares about you and I. Holding my cup in hand, looking at the details I realized it said, "Merry Coffee", not "Merry Christmas." Expected in the world in which we live. But God, was saying most of the world doesn't know about the cup. (Mat. 20:22)

Commercialism is everywhere. Word spreads so fast. As I stood in line I ask the Barista if they had any "Red Cups" left. "Only about 20" she answered. The girl in front of me said, "Red cup?". I shared with her the deal. She got the "Red cup", smiled at me and said, "Thank you, I didn't know." I shared my knowledge with her about the "Red cup". It was that easy. She bought it. She made the choice. It cost her.

What if sharing Jesus Christ was as easy? It is. We've got the greatest news in the world. Through one man sharing with twelve it caught on all over the known world. Times have changed but Jesus is the same.

ACTION STEP: Get out there and share the "Good News" it's the best "Red Cup" deal in the world. The great exchange. His righteousness for our sins. Eternal life rather than hell. "I'll take it!"

Time change challenge.

11/6/2019

I can honestly say I do not know how many different time zones I have been in this year? Ghana is 5 hours ahead of us. Tel Aviv is 7 hours ahead. Dallas is 1 hour behind. Yerevan is 9 hours ahead. Those were destinations, in between there were at times up to 6 hour layovers in different time zones, such as Paris and London, and they are an hour apart. I came home and it was time to "Fall Back". Truthfully, this year it made no difference to me at all. At 3 AM I think it's morning anyways.

What is the point I'm trying to make? Once you are willingly adapted to something, change doesn't bother you anymore. So, stop complaining about the way things are or the way people are, and change yourself. Yes, this can be challenging. But, the key word is willingly. None of those destinations were going to change their time to adapt to me. I had to adapt to the time change. This is my challenge. This is one of the many challenges you and I will have to buck up to, and overcome if we are to be used of God. I know that lady at church drives you crazy because she never keeps her word. What are you going to do about it? Adapt and overcome. I know you run out of money before you run out of month. Adapt and overcome. How? Go work at a Soup Pantry for free. Eat there. Ask if you can work so many hours for food. Take the money you were spending on food and payoff a bill or two. Keep going. One step toward God and He will kill the fatted cow. Your meal will not run dry. Your oil will keep filling vessels. You can sale the oil and live on the rest. Pay off your debt and keep your sons. Adapt and overcome. Step up to the challenge. You got this!

For the most part, my time challenges were less than a day apart. Jonah, Jesus, and Judas, all had totally different situations and challenges they had to adapt to, or overcome, in less than 24 hours. One day, can change your life. One decision, changes everything. We have the power to decide how we will respond to challenges, struggles, personalities, weather, and a mirage of other adversities.

You have got this. If you've got God, you've got all you need--and then some.

What do we do when facing challenges? Firstly, let me say we prepare for them as far in advance as we possibly can. Read your Bible everyday now. Discipline yourself in numerous areas now. For example, once in a while take a cold shower. You never know when you may have to shower with no hot water. Adapt. Overcome. Go without food and water. You never know when there may be a long period of time when you are not able to get food and water. Tell yourself, "No." There will be times a strong, "No", may save your life or someone else's.

ACTION STEP: Use the above list to cultivate a productive mindset and add this to your daily disciplines of reading your Bible, telling yourself no, taking cold showers (lol), and fasting for discipline purposes. Step up to the challenge. Life will not adapt to you. There was only one place in the Bible where God turned back time and it was so a battle could be won. Do your part and God will do His.

Praying for your huge success. See you tomorrow. You can adapt and overcome!
Blessings,
Rena

Taking a day off.

11/5/2019

Yesterday, I took a Sabbath. A real honest to goodness Sabbath. I did nothing. I honored God. I obeyed His Word. It is something I try to do every Monday, but honestly, I'm confessing my sin one to another? I don't always get it done. So, I take Friday off, if I end up working on Mondays. Sometimes, that doesn't work either. After all, Sunday is my workday, I need to be prepared. Before you judge me, which I don't believe any of you would do anyways--hear me out. I love God. God says, "If you love me obey my commandments." Where do you put that? Which one of those commandments is okay to break? Right. None of them.

There it is. Right there under the number four. Four symbolize's rule and reign biblically. On the forth day God created the Sun to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night. We were always taught if God needed rest, so do we. Well, agreed we all need rest. However, we are a sleep deprived and over worked society for the most part. We rarely work eight hours and get six to eight hours of sleep, let alone a day of doing nothing but resting. When will I get the laundry and shopping done?

When I was young all the stores were closed on Sunday. No one mowed their lawn or hung clothes on the line to dry on Sunday. We all went to church and then to Grandma's house to eat spagetti dinner, and homemade bread. Everyone rested on Sunday and visited loved ones. Now, people work shift work and weekends, everything is open, and even if someone is closed, we can still work from home on our computers, iphone and laptops. We can even shop from home.

ACTION STEP: Check out the Ten Commandments. Which ones are you struggling with? There are not big ones that matter and little ones that don't. They all carry the same weight. Our love for God is exposed in whether we obey God or not. So, how much do we really love God? If we love Him, we will obey Him.

Communion and the Church

11/4/2019

Every church is different because people are different. A church is not a building. A church is people. If you take who you are out of the building it ceases to go anywhere! Here is how I laughing explain to people what a church is. "U R" Inside the word CHURCH you see those two letters "U and R" if you take them out there is no church. You matter. You matter to God and you matter to others. "Ch Ch" is just a sound that a train makes when it is going no where. The church can go no where without you. You make the church work. You are important.

Since people make up the church and no two people are alike, no two churches are alike. Some like loud praise and others quiet, some prefer no instruments at all. The reason I brought this up today is because of communion. I so enjoy communion. We take communion whenever we desire but corporately as a church we take it together the first Sunday of every month. This is the one thing we all as a church have in common--Communion.

1 Corinthians 11:26 (NKJV)
"For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes."

Sitting at the table and eating with family is one of my favorite things to do. It is one of the things I've missed with all my travels. Today, my first day home my thoughts turned to Jesus and how He must want us all home, sitting around the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. All of us together with Him. All of us home. Grateful for my home here on earth and looking forward to my home in heaven I am grateful for the Church. I am grateful for you. Grateful for the family of God. I am grateful for who (U R=you are). We may not all be able to take communion in the same locality, but we are the family of God and we make up the Church and we can share in this until Jesus returns.

ACTION STEP: Take communion today, but before you do search the scriptures about what communion is and what it means. Here is a link to get you started: https://newspring.cc/articles/what-is-communion-and-why-do-we-do-it

Adventures in Israel #5-

11/1/2019

I am so grateful for the people I got to know better and experience Israel. Everyone was kind, helpful and enjoyable. When you get twenty-five people together on a bus (mostly women) it can get messy...but it never did! This trip was a God ordained, God orchestrated trip for sure. We all meshed. We were all there for one purpose, we wanted whatever God had for us; and we wanted the same for others.

Today, we continue to some sights that were my favorites, though in reality they were all my favorites. However, many of you that have heard me speak know that I am infested with the Book of Kings and the Book of Ruth--okay and maybe Ezekiel too. But here are some highlights from the day I got to see the Field of Boaz.

Here are the fields of Boaz. Oh, how Ruth must have loved these fields. Of course we were not there in the gleaning season and weather and rain change everything.

This is the Fountain at the Shepherds Field.

What you are seeing above is the Chapel at the Shepherd's field.

Here above is art depicting the announcement to the shepherds that is locating inside the Chapel of the Shepherds Field.

As we traveled along inside the Chapel of the Shepherd's Field we came upon this painting of the Nativity. I love this one. You could actually feel peace surrounding this artwork.

This is the outside of the Church of the Nativity.

This is the Church of the Nativity, where my friend Crystal Edwards says, "It's always Christmas and never winter." Many of these photos are her's as she had a much better camera than my phone.

Here is the entrance to the Church of the Nativity. Today it requires bowing to enter which I think is so appropriate. Historic entrances include the arched door that has been filled in and a much larger flat door at the top of the photo that has also been filled in.

Once inside the main Church of the Nativity you can see the Byzantine Mosaics which once covered all the walls.

Here are the walls that are being restored inside the Church of the Nativity.

More of the mosaics that are being restored. The colors are magnificent.

Here is the last one for today, the art depicting the Nativity at the entrance to the lower level where Jesus was born.

I pray you are enjoying this week of travels with me. I want everyone to go to Israel now. It will forever change my preaching and teaching, as well as my heart.

Things that happened so long ago are often forgotten. I am grateful for generations that have preserved what remains. May we all, "...tell the story of our Jesus who came from glory," as the ole song says.

I am off to catch a plane to go preach a conference in PA so that's all for today.

ACTION STEP: Please pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. Pray for those that live there and their loved ones. Pray for me that I might preach the word with new boldness and clarity and bring sous into the Kingdom of God. Amen.