Comfort: Straight from The Comforter

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. "  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

This verse has been on my mind for almost a week now.  I've had a tougher than usual last week, and I've been struggling through it and leaning on the mercy of God.  God has taught me through my mistakes and pridefulness, and made me bowed down before Him.  The Holy Spirit cuts to the heart, then comforts the heart that has been broken and yielded.  In the past, The Lord has been gracious to discipline me if I ever become distracted away from Him, and recently He's again renewed me to Himself.  I now have a greater focus on Him and His heart, and He's delivered me from the threats of evil that the enemy would have me believe.

I've been humbled in my disciplining, and God took me to a point where I knew that transparency between Vanessa and I was necessary.  I was led to confess my struggles and pet sins to her.  Confession is a part of healing and a command of God (James 5:16), but it takes a willingness to bare all to others.  In the past this has been a big weakness of mine...

So, I shared with Vanessa my struggles and the healing began.  It is God who does the work, but there is an effect added when we can build of off the experiences of others.  This process was also humbling, but afterwards I felt so much better.  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord" for His pure, effective version of counseling.  Vanessa uplifted me so much through her comfort.  I knew she was able to do this, only because she herself has been receiving comfort and mercy from God in those same areas of struggles.  When God takes us out of a trial, He expects us to share His love and comfort with others.  Once Vanessa had been comforted, she became such a support for me.  Praise Jesus for extending His hands of spiritual healing through the willing hearts of others.  And for a wonderful wife, of course...(Proverbs 19:14)

Confirmations below.  God gave so many signs and synchronicities that validated this message of comfort.  Below are just two.

11/23/14:  I was reading on The Quickened Word and there was a recent post that I was reading the comments for.  I read the very same verse (the one above) that had been brought to my remembrance, in the comments section of this article.  God is so faithful.

11/25/14:  A Rick Warren devo popped up in my email.  These somehow make it through my gmail filter every 3 weeks or so.  And today's mentioned a particular verse about comfort....yes, the same segment about comfort!  Here it is:

“God comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things.”

This is verses four through six, and it's a much different translation...I kind of like the variety.  Verses 5 and 6 were a great addition, as they expounded on the things that I had just lived out with Vanessa.

Seeds are for Sowing

A few days ago Vanessa and I were out doing groceries and the Lord directed us to a particular African American lady who looked to be about 50.  She was taken aback and didn't seem to want prayer, but as we walked away, she caught up to us and asked, "What church do you go to?"  As it turns out, she needed prayer for a few things...she'd been through a lot.  So for twenty or so minutes, we listened to her story.  I know she was touched by having people, who'd been sent by God, that were willing to listen to her and empathize with her.  She said something along the lines of, "I've heard of this kind of thing happening to people, but it's never happened to me!"

Anyways, she kept talking about "sowing seeds".  She meant this mostly financially, with seeds being donations to God or to ministry, but the phrase struck us.  We felt God was using this kind woman to witness to us, as well as vice versa!  Praise God that He blesses the ones doing the blessing, too.

Anyways, since we talked to this lady there have been so many little signs pointed to sowing seeds recently. Confirmations below...in hindsight, the Lord gave confirmations for our "seed sowing" Grocery store experience both before and after the event itself.  Like I said in the Revelation Post, insight from God is outside of a definitive point in time and thus can relate to past events, the present, and the future.  In hindsight, God prepared us for the "seed" messages before we received the first one.

11/19/14:  My neighbor Jim needed me to level His garden.  It's barren now, as winter seeds have not yet been sowed.  Symbolically, oftentimes God makes the level path for us and allows us to "plant" His word in the minds of others.

11/21/14:  The Lord gave me a vision of Vanessa holding a piece of corn.  I thought of workers in the harvest field.  More on this later...

11/22/14:  The Lord gave me a vision of the United States, and I saw that He was planting trees in several specific areas of it.  These trees were deeply rooted in His truth and under His care.  After talking to Vanessa I realized the significance to her of those places where trees were planted, based on her past.  But God is sowing seeds meant to last, and He is coming full circle and allowing those who are being crucified with Christ (it's a process!) to revisit past events with a pure heart.  He is allowing us to do similar things again from a place of purity, even though in the past these behaviors were selfishly motivated.  In the past, sowing the seeds of these actions reaped destruction, but now these same behaviors are sowing "a harvest of righteousness" on behalf of God's Kingdom.  Once matured, these seeds can grow into mighty trees and be a light to the darkness around them.  Glory to God!

11/23/14: Went to the Quickened Word website and read a word called, "EMPTY VESSELS WILL POP UP, OUT AND OVER".  Several messages here...this website has taught me so much.  Firstly, the image on that page shows corn turning into popcorn.  This goes back to the vision of Vanessa two days prior!  We need to scatter the seed (word of God) generously.  In those who we are able to spend more time with, we should also sow this seed!  In addition, a seed cannot be sown unless it is "empty" and dies to itself (John 12:24).  What a confirmation from the Lord that we are sowing His seeds in our ministry!

11/22-24/14:  Vanessa and I also want to get into gardening as a means of self-sustainability.  These events seem to have a physical prompting to them, in addition to the spiritual message.  Let's start planting seeds!  Vanessa has since started planting buds in the garden, which has coincided with all this.  "One thing the Lord has spoken, two things I have heard"... (Psalm 62:11)

It's up to believers to allow God to do the work of death to self.  Death to desire, death to priorities, death to others.  We need to let Him in and let our egos fall down and die.  Then we can plant seeds in His Kingdom and do His work.

Snapshot: True Fasting

I have been seeing lots about fasting recently.  Seeking the Lord about it, I turned to this passage:

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

    and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

    and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

    and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I..."

Isaiah 58:6-9

This is fasting.  Fasting is denying oneself and satisfying the needs of others.  Fasting is to be spent on behalf of others.  Fasting is a journey onwards to being "moved with compassion" (Matthew 14:14).  On a spiritual level, fasting in itself cannot leverage us closer to God.  It cannot automatically push us into His presence.  We must be receptive and hungry for God...regardless of what we do, let's follow this command:

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  1 Corinthians 10:31

Neither feasting nor fasting is much in itself; God is Spirit and the flesh profits nothing.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Revelation: What Was, What Is, What is To Come

A few days ago Vanessa and I were looking through our journals and realized that the insight God had been showing us each day related to three time periods--what was, what is, and what is to come.  That is, all three relations to our present time were revealed each day.  I've been making daily encouragement notecards for Vanessa by asking The Lord to give me insight on her behalf, and He often speaks through visions.  We realized while looking at these past cards that I received three visions most days.  The first typically addressed the past, the second the present, and the third, typically the future.

All time's events and all creation points to God's Son Jesus.  The first vision received was usually a look into the past that revealed God's faithfulness and guidance despite our mistakes .  The second vision was more of an in time navigational command, giving insight into what had been on Vanessa's heart that morning.  In this way God confirms the meditations she's had by Him in the morning, and our faith is built .  Praise God for being timely, and powerful enough to call us to live in the moment!

The third vision often related to a future promise of God.  It gave hope for the future, and insight into what that future God-shaped pathway might birth.  These third visions all revealed "in part", and bring us closer to fulfilling our calling and seeing face to face (1 Corinthians 13:9).

God come to us where we are at, and accommodates our conception of time.  He goes back for us, so that we can remember Him, He lives in us, so that we can live for Jesus, and He anticipates ahead in time for us, so that His Son can find faith on the earth when He returns (Luke 18:8).

All three visions testified to Jesus, and they were alao prophetic because they gave God-inspired insight.  We need to take on God's view of time, and know that Jesus is the beginning and the end.  We should ask God for insight into His promises, hope to accept them and faith to move into them.  We should believe Him when He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30).  Let's be conscious of the beauty in both God's timeliness and timelessness.

When God Relents

A few days ago I was feeling depressed.  Sometimes I fall into fear, which God allows so that I cling to Him.  If I focus on Him, I rebound back, but those times of feeling oppressed are never fun.

Anyways, that afternoon I began noticing a sharp pain in my back when I inhaled.  It was noticeable when talking and inhaling normally, and pretty painful if I breathed deeply.  I wondered why I had this pain, and went down struggling into more doubt and oppression.

I was resting on the couch at that time and felt compelled to visit the Quickened Word website.  I clicked on a recent article subtitled as, "God is comforted when He relents".  As I continued to read, the article said that relent means to, "exhale deeply".  I realized the connections with God's relenting and my own back pain.  In hindsight, He gave me this minor problem to really make a point and drive home a lesson for me.  He is good, and He wants us to learn His law.

"I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me."  Psalm 119:75

It was a testament to God's faithfulness that He gave me breathing problems.  Our discipline is designed for a future victory, so that God's grace and mercy can deliver us into truth once again.

In this case, God was telling me that He wanted to relieve me from my oppression.  I realized that He wanted to help me overcome...no, He wanted to overcome for me!  He desired that I stay more sensitive to Him.  The fear I fell into was a form of discipline, but the Lord was telling me that He desired to teach me in softer ways.  He was relenting and having mercy on me!

After I realized His loving view of my situation, I understood the point.  God does not delight in stern discipline or our anxiety, but He can cause it if we wander too far.  We need to stay in the fold, and stay under the protection of the blood of Jesus.  He reminded me of this point thanks to the Quickened Word article and my back problems, and once I learned the lesson, I asked Him to take the pain.  Like that, it was gone.  He really does bear all our diseases.  Nonetheless, we need to be delicate to Him, and discerning enough that we accept whatever God wants to show us.

Following Guidelines vs. Following God

1.  You shall have no other gods before Me.
2.  You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4.  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5.  Honor your father and your mother.
6.  You shall not murder.
7.  You shall not commit adultery.
8.  You shall not steal.
9.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10.You shall not covet.

Why are these commandments in place?  They are restraints against the sinful, fleshly nature of humans.  They instructed the Israelites to come out from sin.

In the new testament, Jesus showed a better way.  He did not abolish the law-- instead, He said that "not the least stroke of the pen" would ever disappear from these commands (Matthew 5:18).  Instead, He showed us how to fulfill it!  Love for God is the fulfillment of the law.  When we love God, we will have His love for our neighbors.  God doesn't command us to love like the world does; He wants us to love like He does, because He first loved us (1 Joh 4:19).

God wants us to seek His face.  That's the best way; that's the ancient path.  The Creator is more important than created guidelines, even if He created those guidelines.  If we seek His face, we will fulfill the law as Jesus did.  Jesus raised the standards when He came, but He also gave us the Spirit to enable us to love!  Yielding to His Spirit will lead us to completely obey His commands, and not be distracted by the devil or the flesh.  The Spirit will preoccupy us with Jesus to the extent that we leave the letter of the law far behind.  With Him, we will fly to higher ground, and become passionate about God and passionate about His passions.

If we walk in the Spirit and stay filled with the Spirit, we will not be tempted to "just" follow the Ten Commandments.  We will become more than conquerers over the sinful nature.  We won't be concerned over the law or it's gray areas.  Instead, we will be distressed over possible insensitivity to His leadings and flee from sin of all kinds!  Let's earnestly follow God today.

Synchronicity: The Ancient Paths

In the last post on synchronicity, I described how God pre-arranges our lives to meet His conditions.  This can be observed by the occurrence of deja-vu that I believe is used by God as a confirmation.  For me, deja-vu occurs when I am set up into God's will, and current situations trigger a pre-ordained memory.  This happens because, in God's eyes, I am in the right place at the right time, traveling through the joy set before me (Hebrews 12:2).

Let's yield to the pathway that God has set out for us.  Let's familiarize ourselves with how it feels to please Him, so that we know when His presence truly goes before us.  Let's have no schedule or priorities outside of the things God approves.  Let's worship The Lord our God, "and serve Him only"  (Matthew 4:10).

"This is what the LORD says: 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'" Jeremiah 6:16

There comes a time when we need to pause, see our lives through discerning eyes, and seek God for distinctive direction.  The verse implies that, if we ask for the good way, we will be directed to it.  If we ask, God will show us where to walk.  Rest follows as we go along this ancient path, even though it leads us into new territory.  Our path is an ancient one, because it was formed by the Creator before time began.

When on the ancient path, you experience a knowing God.  You experience a oneness with Him that allows you to realize that He knew you from the beginning.  You discover that from the start, He has pre-arranged the fullness of your walk with Him.  His Word becomes ancient yet a new thing, and His everlasting life becomes apparent.

Walking humbly with God along this path is a thing He greatly desires; the goodness of which was revealed in the beginning (Micah 6:8).  You experience peace and blessed assurance.  And you will never forget all His benefits (Psalm 103:2)...one of which is plenty of synchronous confirmations of His love!

Electricity: God's Love

God is all powerful, and He shows Himself in symbolism.  If humans were to cease to praise Him, then even "the stones will cry out"  (Luke 19:40).  Wow!  Glory and Power and Honor belong to God!

"The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.
 Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge." Psalm 19:1-2

Creation is testifying to God's personality, His might and His power. Thunder is, for me, a symbol of God's power.

"After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back."  Job 37:4

The voice of God is thunderous; it is a continual thundering like the "roar of rushing waters".  The presence of God accompanies and surrounds His voice.  This is the Spirit of the Lord manifesting Himself.  God has all power and all creation at His disposal.  And He uses His power to glorify Himself!  He wants us to "taste and see" that He is good.

To follow this analogy, if thunder, alongside electricity, symbolise God's Spirit, then we need to "plug in" to God to stay "charged".  We need to enter into God's glory, with mediation with His son, and refresh our spiritual batteries.  We need to be purified and draw near to the electric love of God so that "times of refreshing" can come to us.

Today God gave me a vision where I was taken into a giant lightbulb.  I instinctively knew that the inner coils represented the Holy Spirit in me.  The inspiration of these coils gave insight, truth, and creative witness.  In other words, the Holy Spirit makes "the light bulbs turn on" and brings together the truth within us.  I saw through the vision that the same Spirit gives many ideas and expresses Jesus in many different ways.  His power works as electricity, and He gives vibrant life to our inner beings.

The empty space within the lightbulb represented close surroundings.  The space around us is within the scope of this part of the lightbulb.  This space was filled with the presence of God.  My body was represented as nearest the inner coil (symbolizing the Holy Spirit within), though other things can come into contact with me, too.

Finally, the glass casing, or outside edge, of the glass bulb represented the fullest extent of our influence.  It represented the people and things we come into contact with.  More than that, this shell represented our spiritual territory.  Akin to a tent, this casing symbolized our outer circle of influence on those things around us.  God wants us to expand our tents (Isaiah 54:2) as a new measure of the Spirit is given.  He wants to give us more spiritual power for His namesake!

From the vision, I understood that the Lord wants His inner light to shine brightly in us.  He wants His presence to emanate through us, for our tents to be expanded and our casing to be pushed out.  He wants to include others in our blessings as He works through us.  As we allow Him to become an all consuming fire, His Spirit will give us new ways to glorify Jesus--new, creative ways to demonstrate God.  He wants us to bring others into the fold and use the power He's given us to feed His lambs.

Finally, nonbelievers outside of our area of influence should see the love of God reflected by our lives.  We need to have His passions and bear good fruit from Him, so that  they can see from the outside the Glory of God revealed, and long to come near it.  It is God's work to draw them in, but it is our work to shine brightly.  And we can obtain more of this electricity, more of this light from God, if we spend time "recharging" our spiritual batteries and getting filled with the Spirit.

Synchronicity: Deja-vu

Another post on synchronicity, this time with mostly real life examples. Often God aligns our current perception of things with memories or dreams from our past.  He does this with precision, which is possible because He's outside of time.  When our current position in time revisits the qualities of an older version of events, deja-vu results.  I think deja-vu is usually caused when present circumstances trigger a similar thing from our past to be strongly remembered.  In short, my opinion is that deja-vu is the result of a sudden remembrance of formerly forgotten moments, in particular forgotten dreams.

If we are saved by God, it is because He pre-ordained it from the beginning.  He had a mission for us since before our creation, and He divulged snippets of this calling to us in these present days.  Dreams are a major way that God inspires us for our future.  Many old testament prophets had powerful visions or dreams at the onset of their prophetic calling.

For me personally, I take deja-vu as quickly good sign.  I feel it's from God's heart of love and designed to comfort, and I believe it's a part of being raised up [above time and circumstances] and set "in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).  If we are set irrespective of time with Him, then it's likely He has given us distinctive times in this life when He has also set us high and provided an anchor of remembrance.  These moments of deja-vu often have been produced by prior forgotten dreams.

When Vanessa and I are doing street ministry, we sometimes meet people who swore that they've seen us before.  For some reason, this occurrence was especially pronounced in Springfield, MO this summer.  We would be walking around, and multiple groups of people would say, "Didn't we just see you?" or even, "Weren't you just downtown?"  In reality, we had never seen these people, nor had we been downtown yet.  This happened most on the first day that Vanessa and I went downtown together, before we had arrived down there yet.  I believe these people were experiencing something similar to deja-vu, and I believe they probably had dreamed about this situation prior to experiencing its physical manifestations in this present world.  Either that, or God planted triggers in their subconscious minds that made them react strongly to seeing the two of us.  Either way, we felt taken aback by this.  God had aligned us with others and caused a pre-ordained re-awakening to happen in them as means of confirming Himself to us.  As we thought about this, we felt blessed!

"Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, from ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass..."  Isaiah 37:26

So God plans things well in advance, from the "what was".  Now, in the "what is", He brings things to pass.  And He gives us a measure of understanding that allows us to secure certain moments in time, and identify them as having eternal origins.  Deja-vu comes in, being brought about by a synchronous merging of present time and dreams, which are often outside of time.  I believe that God uses deja-vu as a marker to reveal to us the security we have walking along His path.  As we walk in His will, deja-vu is one of many devices He can use to bring pre-ordained events to remembrance.

"Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them."  Psalm 139:16

We obviously don't have all the insight into God's book for us, but as we "see in part", God can through deja-vu show us that His purposes and His story here on the earth has eternal sureness.  Through the remembrance, by the Holy Spirit, of previously forgotten dreams, we can know that "The Lord is God" and realize what it means to have been created and narrated by Him.

"I knew you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart for me..."  Jeremiah 1:5

Do not Fear the Lies of the enemy

Do not fear, for Jesus has redeemed us!  (Isaiah 43:1)  Let's be redeemed and have our minds renewed to the life our savior gives us.  We can reign victorious over doubts and fears of our past.  God is good, and He is not willing that any should perish.  God is good, and He has made the light of His salvation shine upon us.

The devil is always lying to God's children.  He instills a mistrust in God, lies about God's personality, and tells us we've fallen too far.  He isn't fair; he's called the lawless one for good reason.  I've found that we can know what's not The Truth if we identify thoughts and emotions that are sent in by the devil.

Often the enemy tries to make us believe we are beyond repair.  If he has his way, he will make us think we are on our way to death.   He tells lies and is the father of lies.  He's also clever.  Believers need to rise up behind the Word and fear not.  We have spiritual weapons at our disposal, and these weapons are mighty for the pulling down of satan's illusions (2 Corinthians 10:4).

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me"  Psalm 23:4

We walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  This is not the valley of death, or else the verse would be worded as such.  We walk along a path of God's truth and Satan's illusion.  As believers, we belong to the One who overcame death!  As a result, for us death is yet another lie of the enemy.

So, we walk along a valley where death impresses itself around us, but does not tangibly touch us.  Glory to God for keeping us safe.  We don't need to despise evil, we just need to identify it and rest in God to conquer.  We can rest knowing the power of God goes before us.  We can be comforted by the rode and the staff, by the Great Comforter, and we can have all our fears taken away.  Praise Him, for the hedge of protection He's surrounded us with!

Confirmed:  After I typed this, Vanessa opened the Word randomly to Isaiah 45:2.  "...I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountain.  I will smash down gates of bronze..."

Praise God for additional insights!  From Psalm 23:4 and Isaiah 45, we can see that God levels our mountains and has us walk through valleys instead.  He smashes down "gates of bronze" and every high thing that points to itself(2 Corinthians 10:5).  The path is made level for us!  However, Satan will make us think we are on the wrong path, and tries to deter us with illusions that point to death.  Wow.  Thank you Lord for discernment and your faithfulness to protect.