Friday, October 27, 2017

THE COOL OF THE DAY: WALK WITH GOD

Praise the Lord everybody!! for He alone is worthy to be praised! I want to thank the Lord for allowing me to live to see Him moving and confirming His word in these last and evil days. These are truly exciting times that we live in as God's word comes to life right before our very eyes.

The time to seek God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is now while He can yet be found. God is asking us to give Him more now than ever before. He wants more than our scheduled devotions and our time on the prayer line, more than our Sundays, and our weekly prayer services. God wants that time when we're riding the train or bus on our way to work or school, or just out walking and enjoying the fresh air. God wants to be included in our activities of daily living.
God's word tells us in Genesis 3:8-9  8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

God wants to walk with us in the "cool of the day" when we are just relaxing and "chilling out", that time when we are usually talking to ourselves, making decisions and plans for the day and the future. He wants to be in on those inner conversations we have about our jobs and our relationships. It is obvious from the previous verses that God was used to just walking with His creation in the cool of the day, fellowshipping with him and was greatly disturbed when that bond was broken by the fall of man.

Prayer lines, church services, and devotions are great, but God wants to re-establish that bond with us that He had with Adam and Eve in the beginning, before man's fall. Genesis 5:23-24 states  23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Genesis 6:9 states 9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

leviticus 26:12 states 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.

It is apparent from these Old Testament scriptures that God desired to walk amongst and be one with His creation, especially those who were obedient to His statutes and sought His face diligently. In the New Testament God by His spirit dwells in all believers who have accepted His son Jesus Christ. A dwelling is one thing, to walk with is quite another. To dwell means:     1. To live as a resident; reside.
2. To exist in a given place or state: 
               
The building I live in is a large multi-family building with many families living together but even though we dwell together in one building I barely know the other residents and we rarely even say more than "hello" to each other. God wants to do more than dwell with us, He wants to walk with us and be involved in every part of our lives. God wants to listen to our daily concerns and give us advice on how to handle whatever life throws our way.

It's always the cool of the day now when it comes to my relationship with God, we talk everywhere about everything, not just about what I want or what I need.
Open up to God, He's a good listener.

              God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall


Tuesday, October 17, 2017

SOMETIMES GOD NEEDS A WARRIOR!!


Praise the Lord everybody! the Lord our God is truly worthy to be praised! I can't thank Him enough for what He has done and is still doing in my life. God is truly loving as He demonstrates to us every day, but then there are those times when God requires a Warrior to carry out His will.

The Bible is littered with the accounts where He has raised up men of God to be warriors. Elijah for one, he was zealous for the Lord, in 1st Kings 18: 36-40 we see an example   36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.
40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

Elijah was a man of God, and like all men, he had his moments of frailty and doubt, like when he ran and tried to hide from Jezzabelle, (see 1st Kings chapter 19) but he was able to call on that inner warrior when he needed it, as we see in the previous scripture.

In the old testament, God needed men to be warriors in the natural, like David and Samson. Today He is looking for natural and Spiritual Warriors, as His word tells us in 6:12 Ephesians  12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

We have to be ready to do battle in the spiritual realm, always wearing the full Armor of God. Peter Had that warrior spirit and it was never more evident than in John 13:7-9  7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
This to me is the sign of a true warrior, Someone totally sold out to the cause, who is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty. Peter was that guy, "If just washing my feet is going to help us be closer then wash my hands and head also" in other words "I want it all, all that I can get." Peter was a true believer, no turning back and like every man he had his moment of fear and doubt, where he denied Christ but he came back stronger than ever after the holy ghost had come upon him.
Paul is another example of a  true warrior, God even used him to write about the full armor of God. When you read the epistles of Paul you can feel his warrior spirit. As in Romans 1:18- 32 where he lays down the law to a Roman Empire that at the time condoned all kinds of debauchery and sexual immorality including homosexuality also in 1st CORINTHIANS 4:14-21(NIV) he states 4 I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. 15Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the LORD. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. 18Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19But I will come to you very soon, if the LORD is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?

Peter and Paul were men of God who meant what they said and said what they mean. They didn't worry about pleasing men, A warrior cannot be a people pleaser but must always be a God pleaser. Peter on the day of Pentecost preached in Acts 2:36  36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Peter didn't pull any punches and sometimes as men and woman of God we have to be warrior strong, pulling no punches when God requires us to be His warriors. A soldier carries out his orders, trusting that his leader knows what he's doing. In the thick of the battle as with God, there is no time to hesitate. God always has "a ram in the bush" ready to carry to carry out His plan if we falter. God calls on His warriors because He knows He can trust them to deliver.

We all have that inner warrior so when God calls on you for that seemingly overwhelming assignment, let your inner warrior come out because sometimes God needs a warrior.
 God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall 


Monday, October 2, 2017

GOD KNOWS WHO I AM

Praise the Lord everybody! Let everything that has breath Praise His holy name! God is taking me through something right now, something painful but at the same time, it's a good thing for me in the long run. In this walk with Christ, I have learned that some learning experiences will come with pain attached.

Sometimes God will assign us a task that we think is above our "pay grade," in other words we have a Moses moment, as he had when he spoke to God in Exodus 3:9-11
9 Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
10 Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

Like Moses, we feel not only unworthy but also ill-equipped for such a task. We not only begin to question our hearing but we may begin to also question God's judgment. The enemy seizes the moment and starts to plant the seeds of fear and doubt. Just as God told Moses not to worry and that He would surely be with him, God wants us to know the same thing. God  tells us in His word Jeremiah 29:11(NIV) 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future

God wants us to have the spirit of David when He gives us these seemingly insurmountable tasks, David when facing Goliath ran to his task in 1st Samuel 17:45-47(NIV)  45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

God wants us to trust Him as David did when we face our Goliaths, with faith knowing that God has our back, knowing that He would not send us on a mission to fail. He tells us in His word Philippians 4:13 13 I can do all things through Christ[a] who strengthens me. He tells us that we are "more than conquerors" in Romans 8:37. God wants us to stop asking Him "who am I" and turn it around and declare "who I am" in Him, by standing up in faith and walking in our calling, God wants us to trust in our gifts, He knows what He has invested in each of us and He wants us to put them on display, not for our glory. but for His glory. God wants us to go from "WHO AM I" TO  "I AM". To quote Joel Osteen "I am who God says I am!!" I will leave you with this,
2 Corinthians 2:14 (KJV)

14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

  God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall