Let Your Flag Fly High

Let Your Flag Fly High

Consider the nations of this world says the Lord, and the pride that they place in the flag of their country. They are not ashamed to declare who they are, and what they stand for. Many are even ready to give their lives for the sake of that flag.

But you are a citizen of a better country. You carry a flag that is far greater than any other in this world. And when you show that flag, you display to the world that you are under allegiance to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

So why boast in the natural, my child, when I have given you far more to boast about in Me? Why rely on the natural powers of this world, when you have at your disposal the greatest power in the universe?

Be bold in Me and let your flag fly high for all the world to see. For when you do this you declare to the world that you belong to Me. And when you step out in faith to make me the master of your destiny, you release all the power of heaven to act on your behalf.

So stand up tall now and speak out boldly in My Name. Declare who you are in Me, and watch the forces of the heavenly realm break forth to act on your behalf. Watch as My power goes forth to work in your situation, to bring change and cause to come into being the things that you have desired and believed for.

And when others look at you, and they see My flag flying from the mast of your ship, they will take note that you are blessed by Me, and favored by Me. And they too will seek to know Me, for they will see My power manifest in your life.

VISION - The GREAT SEPARATION

VISION - The GREAT SEPARATION - Sept 24, 2009
-by Dianna de Valle.

As I was in a quiet prayer time this morning The Lord began to
show me a vision of a great pot that was being stirred. This large
and very full pot was made of clear glass so that it was quite easy
to see the contents inside. As the pot was being stirred the
contents were churning and swirling wildly around and there was
no definition or distinction whatsoever between any of the ingredients.
Then, the stirring began to slow down and continued to slow until
finally it stopped. As soon as it stopped, there began to be a
faint line appear in the middle of the pot which quickly grew wider
and wider and clearer and clearer. After every particle in the pot
had ceased to move, there remained three pronounced sections.Â
A top section and a bottom section with a very distinct middle
section that was so crystal clear it looked like pure glass. There
was absolutely not one single particle to be seen in that middle
section. The ingredients of the pot had all very definitely either
settled to the bottom or risen to the top.

As I began to ask the Lord about the meaning of this vision He told
me the following:

Right now in all of creation, there is a great stirring going on. It is
a stirring that will eventually affect every single ingredient in the
pot and leave no ingredient untouched or unturned. Every particle
WILL be stirred. This includes the government, the media,
pop-culture and celebrity, the education system, the financial
institutions and economy, the church and religion, and every single
person's individual life. Every single particle must be stirred
because once the stirring is over then a great separation will begin
to occur. At that moment each and every person will make a
decision on where they stand in My Kingdom. That decision will
determine whether they rise to the top where I am, or sink down to
the depths of eternal pain, loss, and frustration. There has never
been a separation this pronounced, and it will be such a defined
separation that there will not be ANY question about it. For too
long there has been no line and no separation and people have
been able to be right in the middle and walk with one foot in both
sides without having to really declare and determine where they
stand. The stirring has begun so that there will no longer be a
middle section. Everything is being forced to churn. Those who
were on the bottom, those who were in the middle, and those who
were at the top are being forced to churn so that in the end there
will be only be two sides and each will choose whom they will serve
and where they will stand for eternity.

As I have processed and meditated on this I have the following
thoughts to share:

There are both good and bad sides to this of which we always
knew were coming, but our complacency in the body of Christ has
kept us from fully grasping the scope of it all. The good news is
that some who are steadfastly stuck in the darkness are going to
be broken free in the churning and they will have a new opportunity
to see the light and the truth and be made free! Those whom we
have so earnestly prayed for who seemed hopelessly lost are now
being churned!!! The bad news is that those who were in the middle
and wanted to walk dangerously close to the line so as not to
have to choose, are now being forcibly churned this way and that
and will be faced with a decision.

So where does that leave us as the Body of Christ? Well, if we
had a foundation built upon rock and not sand, and roots that were
deeply and firmly planted, and a mind set upon the Spirit and not
the flesh, then we don't have to worry!!! Yes, we may experience
the effects of some churning and shaking, but that is good for us
sometimes, lest we get lazy and complacent and forget our Great
Commission. But our firm roots and foundation will keep us
securely fastened and able to withstand the wind and the
waves. Once the hurricane is over, we will go outside and clean
up the debris and press on!!!

The crucial thing that we must be aware of and focus on is that
this stirring is a HUGE opportunity for us to affect eternity and
build The Kingdom of God by saving souls. It is not enough for us
to just make it to the top! As the pot is being stirred and we are
swirling around we have an opportunity to reach out and grab those
that we see flying by. That is the people that God puts in our path
every day. Our purpose in being on this Earth can be boiled down to
two things: The Great Commission of Mark 16:15 and the Great
Commandment of Matthew 22:37-39. We must ask ourselves if
the MAJORITY of our time and energy REALLY is (not just in
theory - not just intending to be) being devoted to these two things.
If not, then we are burying our talents (Luke 19)!!! We have each
been given talents by God that SHOULD BE BEING USED for His
purposes. Too often, we either bury them, or use them for our own
gain. This has to stop. We must be found actively using our talents
for building of The Kingdom through fulfilling the Great Commission
and The Great Commandment. Otherwise, we will not be found by
Him doing that which we are called to and will therefore not hear
"Well done, my good and faithful servant". We all have different
gifts, callings and talents and we must prayerfully seek how
God has intended those to be used in our individual lives AND
THEN ACT UPON IT. We also must spend (waste) less time
looking at everyone else's gifts and talents and wishing we had them
AND/OR spend less time thinking we know how everyone else
should be using their talents while ours are conveniently buried! Let
us be found bringing as many people as we can to the top with us,
for that is what LOVE would do! God is Love and if we claim to be
in Him with His Spirit then we also will be Love.

Philippians 3: The whole chapter

~Dianna de Valle.

Divine Intention

Divine Intention
Alice Smith

One day, years ago, I was in the mall with my children when I saw a young teenage couple sitting on a bench making out. They were completely oblivious to the shoppers walking around them. People were so distracted by the couple’s unusual behavior that they lost sight of what they were doing. All the while, I was trying to distract my young children, who were gawking at this inappropriate passionate behavior.

Lovers do not express their intimacy in public, they relate to one another in private. The same is true of our love relationship with the Lord Jesus. He has not chosen to relate to as as His business partner or His servant; He has taken us, for better or for worse, as His Bride. Jesus desires to commune intimately with us because He loves us and longs for fellowship with us. Don’t answer the call of your bridegroom from a sense of duty.

Remarkably, His heart is filled with secrets that He wants to reveal to us. “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them” (Ps. 24:14). What we receive in prayer, in our secret place with Jesus, the lover of our souls, we will live out in the everyday world. The love we feel in private will in appropriate ways be manifest in the open.

This close relationship the Lord longs to have with you is not based on your worthiness. So resist the impulse to wait until you feel worthy to come to Him, because you never will be worthy of His wondrous love! It is not a matter of the mind but of the heart. For it is in your heart that God has placed His Spirit to bridge the chasm your sin created between you and your heavenly Groom.

Jesus, in wooing you, is destroying all your other lovers—self being the biggest of them all. He is jealous for your total affection. A kiss is a very intimate transaction. Jesus wants to impart His love to you as He kisses you with favor, love and grace. Once you find yourself successfully snuggled in the arms of your heavenly Bridegroom, you will be lifted out of self and centered in His purposes. Your heart will beat in sync with His. Your thoughts will be His thoughts and your desires will reflect His. You will have less concern for His meeting your needs and more concern for your meeting His needs.

Does God have needs? In one sense He does. Our self-limiting God has arranged the universe in such a way that He has chosen to be “codependent” on us. Jesus is looking for worshipers and intercessors. He has chosen to “need” us. And because He has, He will also equip us to fulfill His expectations with regard to this relationship. Amazing!

It is often said that the longer a married couple lives together, the more they look alike. The Father’s plan is for us to grow into the likeness of Christ (see Rom. 8:29). In order for us to be conformed into His image we must once and for all determine that we will not be conformed to the world (see Rom. 12:2). Your time spent in the prayer closet with Jesus will cause you to favor His likeness and people will begin to see His glory reflected in you.

A vital relationship with your heavenly Groom is a partnership with a purpose. He desires to fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory (see Hab. 2:14). He does this by filling the earth with sons and daughters born of His Spirit. As His bridal partner, we are critical to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. He wants us, His bride, to be pregnant with His burden for the 3.5 billion people who have never heard Calvary’s love story.

Won’t you seek your Bridegroom today in the bedchamber (your prayer closet) so that Jesus’ burden for the rest of the world can be deposited in your heart? He is waiting for you now.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ALL THE LIGHT OF GOD?

Does Anyone Have All the Light of God?

By Ron McGatlin www.openheaven.com



Brethren, we know little of what we ought to know.
We stand on the brink of the destiny of the ages.
The bright light of the kingdom of God is upon us.
Yet we stumble for lack of the pure whole light of God in a season when the bright light of the revelation of God is being poured out (Isa 59:10).
Why should we still be at the place of immaturity that Paul spoke of in First Corinthians 13 verse 9 when He wrote, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part?”
We stumble in a time of bright light because we have been divided from those who have other parts of the light that we do not have. We walk in only a portion of the available light.
We have gathered in groups around the part of the light that we have. We have not connected to our brothers who have other spectrums of the light of God that we do not have.
Does anyone have all the light of God?
Only Jesus has all the whole light of God. Father in His infinite wisdom has chosen to reveal portions of the light to different individuals and groups.
We can never reach beyond a part or portion of the whole light of God without receiving from our brothers who have other parts of the light that we do not have.
A number of years ago I was discussing a doctrinal issue with a friend. In the discussion, two positions of spiritual truth became evident. My friend strongly held to a certain position. I was trying to explain my position that there was perhaps greater truth and room for some balanced understanding. The discussion had become a bit intense, and it seemed a good time for me to excuse myself for a bathroom break. As I left the room, my friend almost shouted to me, “Well, it’s either black or its white.”

I remember being alone in the other room and thinking that if it was not black or white, then it must be gray, and that did not sound good to me. I began to pray and ask God “Is it really black or white?” Instantly the reply to my question burst into my heart; my heart was flooded with light as God simply and profoundly spoke as only He can do and said, “NO, ITS A RAINBOW.”
The scripture about God is light and in Him is no darkness (black) at all, came to my mind. With God it is not black or white; it is all perfectly clear.
Like the light of the sun, the whole clear light of God can be divided into all the colors of the rainbow. Yet when the whole light is together, it is perfectly clear light; but when broken down through drops of water in the sky or through a prism, the clear light is diffused into colors of light.
Black and white is a term that relates well to religion and natural-mind legal interpretations of scripture. Bright clear light and beautiful colors of the rainbow relate well to the light of scripture revealed by the Spirit God.
Considering the parable of sunlight, if we have a part of the light but not the whole light, then we become as a color or colors of the divided light.
We probably all have seen a color wheel with the three pie shaped primary colors of red, yellow and blue equally spaced within the circle and the many blended shades in between each. The absence of all color is black or darkness. The presence of all the colors in balance produces white or clear light.
Think of the color wheel as the revealed light of God. Each of us who have received revelation from God but have not received all the light of God has one or more sections of color. We may have red or blue and not yellow and so on.
Revelation of the light of God comes by the Spirit.
Revelation of God is truth that is alive in us by the Spirit of God. A truth revealed by the Spirit is beyond believing, it becomes absolute knowing.
We may believe a lot of things, but we really KNOW only the part or portion that has been revealed to us by Spirit God into our spirit and soul. The revelation may have begun with hearing or seeing with the natural senses, but until it becomes Spirit revelation it is only belief at best. However, when the Spirit reveals it and makes it light from heaven, it becomes alive within our spirit.
There is also direct revelation that is often in response to prayer or waiting in God’s manifest presence. Direct revelation does not begin with a natural input but is planted in our spirit by the Spirit of God. The directly revealed input will not disagree with an accurate understanding of scripture. However, it probably will not agree with our intellectually discerned interpretations of scripture.
Great problems have arisen causing much disorder and separation among believers because we have not connected with and received from brethren with other colors.
As ministers in our color group we have light in our area of revelation. However, people come with questions and needs in other areas of spiritual life experience. We need answers and are not good at saying I don’t know. Rather than come together with those who have the needed color of light to provide the answer, we turn back to the black and white understanding from the tree of knowledge.
Men of the past have gone to the scripture seeking to discover truth of God with their natural-mind intellect and reason without revelation from the Spirit. Intellectual discernment of the scriptures without the revelation of the Spirit is darkness. It will never agree with true revelation by the Spirit.
In this way we have filled in portions of our color wheel with darkness instead of the true revealed color from God. Every gifted person or group who is not spiritually connected laterally with others with revelation is probably a mixture of light and darkness.
Thus gifted men and women of God continue to live in and proclaim mixture. Only when we come together in love by the Spirit can the light in one shine upon the darkness in another bringing us nearer to the whole clear light of God. We do well to proclaim only the part revealed to us and not fill in our color wheel with teachings derived from intellectual interpretation of scripture.
We need true discernment that comes from intimate relationship with God. We need to hear God by His Spirit within us to discern light and darkness. With true discernment we need not fear the darkness in our brothers while we receive their color of light and perhaps remove some of their darkness with our revealed color.
God is Spirit. Father God is Spirit. Christ Jesus is Spirit that became a man. Before He became a man, Christ Jesus was Spirit with Father in heaven. They were Spirit, and they were Holy. Actually, they were as one Spirit. Is it then not correct to say Father and Son were Holy Spirit?
How many God’s do we have? In the white Spirit fire of the heart of God they are one. Jesus made it clear that He and the Father are one. Only as Spirit God flows outward toward man and creation are the manifestations of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit evident.
Christ now dwells in His body (temple) on earth as a “live-giving Spirit.” While at the same time He is seated at the right hand of the Father. In First Corinthians 15, verse 45 it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. First Corinthians 6, verse 19 reads “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”
Knowing in part and prophesying in part will be done away when maturity has come. The pure real love of God by the Spirit is the maturity of Christ in us. The subject of First Corinthians 13 is love, the God kind of love that only comes by the Spirit. Verse 10 says “But when that which is perfect (mature) has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
Love is the progressive reality of maturity (perfection) in the kingdom of God.
God’s love is only available by the Spirit of God.
Love is the greatest foundational reality of the kingdom of God. God is love.
The kingdom is held together by love.
Faith works by love. Wisdom and power flow through love.
God’s love produces unity.
God’s love flowing by His Spirit can re-join all the colors of the rainbow back together into the whole clear light of God as brethren with the different colors of God’s light become one together.

GOD, GIVE US PROPHETS!!

GOD, GIVE Us PROPHETS!!
-by Paul Holdren.

The simultaneous use of the words "prophet" and "ministry" almost
seem like a veiled attempt to tame the untamable nature of the
prophet. The word "prophet" speaks of unconventional methods
and means. In this context the word "ministry" seems to imply the
use of conventional methods and means.

Prophets are unpredictable, while ministries have become very
predictable. Ministries are typically planned by men, while
prophets are ordered by God. Prophets have thrown themselves
prostrate before God in order to be stood up by God to forever be
set apart for God's purposes.

Prophets hear only from God. Therefore, they can speak for God.
Prophets have been touched by the hand of God. Therefore, they
know the power of God. Prophets have been positioned to see from
God's perspective, observing the world's system as it really is. For
it is corrupt in nature with nothing of eternal value to offer. Prophets have seen the glory of God. Therefore, they know the call to be holy.

Prophets have trembled before the holiness of God. Therefore, they
will not tremble before men. To revere God is to fear no man - be it individuals or institutions. Prophets walk differently, as they hear a heavenly music. Prophets talk differently, as they hear a heavenly voice. Prophets act differently, as they desire the clear and effective communication of the word of the Lord.

Peer pressure has no appeal to or influence upon the prophet.
The prophet is more concerned about God's reputation than social
acceptability. Prophets have sacrificially thrown themselves on the
altar of God as an offering. There to be consumed by the fire of God
as a sacrifice and filled with the Spirit of God as a sanctified
vessel. Prophets have been consumed by the Holy in order to be
empowered by the Holy.

The scripture states that Christians are to be "kings and priests"
(Revelation 1:6). However, the contemporary Christian is more like
the traditionalist of Ezekiel's time than like the New Testament
descript. Contemporary Christians tend to be predictable
traditionalists merely tweaking the methods and means that they
have been taught and trained to use. Typically speaking, the
contemporary Christian is too busy to spend time with God in order
to bask in His glorious presence, too busy to study the word of God
in order to know the mind of God, too busy to have altar time with
God to be consumed by holy fire, and too busy running from the
demands of God to be running with God, knowing the miraculous
will of God. Many contemporary Christians lack the vision and
passion to build the Kingdom of God. Rather, they build the
"Chapel of Self".....

Leonard Ravenhill, 20th Century Revivalist - "Oh God sends us
prophetic preaching that searches and scorches! Send us a race
of Martyr-preachers - men burdened, bent, bowed and broken
under the vision of impending judgment and the unending hell of
the impenitent..."
"Preachers make pulpits famous; prophets make prisons famous.
May the Lord send us prophets - terrible men, who cry aloud and
spare not, who sprinkle nations with unction zed woes- men too hot
to hold, to hard to be heard, to merciless to spare…"
"We are tired of men in soft raiment and softer in speech who use
rivers of words with but a smidgen of unction. These know more
about competition than consecration, about promotion than prayer.
They substitute propaganda for propagation and care more for their
church's happiness than holiness..." (-From 'Why Revival Tarries').

Ezekiel was the priest who became a prophet. His call from God
to prophetic office is worthy of our examination, as our place in
history cries out that God send prophets. His vantage point as
a prophet is worth taking note of, for the conditions of the nation
require the prophet's insight and perspective. His methods of
communication should be studied, as the world needs to hear
and understand its destitute rebellious nature and the impending
judgment of all unrighteousness. His calling of the nation to
repentance is worth remembering, for it is a fearful thing to not
have grace cover the nation's sin. His promise of restoration is
worth remembering, as it was given by Jehovah the covenant-
keeping God.

-From "The Wedding of Purity and Power" by Paul Holdren.

YAWNING OUR WAY TO OUR JOURNEY'S END?

Yawning Our Way to Our Journey's End?

By James Ryle www.truthworks.org


"If you knew that I was after the best, then why did you do less than the least?" (Matthew 25:26, The Message).

Sooner or later we each will have to face the moment of truth -- when our lives are measured in the light of eternity. There is an abiding reality within the depths of our souls that stirs us to pursue that which is good and true, that which is virtuous and noble. By divine instinct we shun death, disease, and destruction -- for we were not made for these things.

And though this fallen world is marred with the ever-encroaching presence of evil, our hearts are up-linked to more heavenly pursuits. We were not made for failure, but success. We were not designed to malfunction, but to excel. We are not at ease settling for that which we know is less than our best. But, then, why do so many seem so ready to surrender to mediocrity?

Maybe we've lost our vision -- our view of nobler things. Maybe our leaders have failed us, and thereby granted us license to sell our own selves short. Or maybe the friends with which we converse have inadvertently coaxed us into joining them in living a somewhat diminished life. After all, one of the easiest things in life to do is go along with the crowd.

Maybe we've become content to yawn our way to our journey's end.

Still, this doesn't change the sobering reality that one day we will stand in the Presence of Love Himself to answer for the loveless choices we have made along the way. "If you knew that I was after the best, then why did you do less than the least?"

Perhaps you are not in a place where you can give your best just yet -- but can't you at least do more than the least? It's a place to start.

And after all is said and done, you might end up not only surprising yourself with just how far and how high you go -- but, who knows, along the way you just also inspire the rest of us snozzing lugs.

JOHN FENN – WORD 3

JOHN FENN – WORD 3

Hi all,
This last of the series installment is coming to you early due to travels to a conference Labor Day weekend. I shared last week how a self-oriented Christian makes emotional decisions rather than spiritual ones.

My examples included the children of Israel who saw the same lack of water and food Moses did, but they complained and griped while Moses made a spiritual decision to look for supernatural provision in God.

Today I had promised to share results of emotional decisions, and then how to get out of the pattern of emotional decisions and back to spiritual decisions. I'm trying to teach and perhaps provoke towards healthy introspection for us all, so take it in the humble spirit intended, realizing that time and space prevent the full development of thought. There are 4 results listed below.

First result: Stop/start spiritually
Emotionally made or soulish decisions are not based on the bedrock of destiny in Christ. But Christ lives in us so he is continually stirring us to grow in him, causing a tug of war within.

Peter comes to mind as the gospels present him as the master of the stop/start. On the one hand he boldly proclaimed "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!", but then denied him 3 times. He would alternate between the brilliantly bold; "Lord, if you are, tell me to walk to you on the water" in Matthew 14, to over the top; "Let's build tents for you and Elijah and Moses" on the Mt. of Transfiguration.

Like Peter, these people are their own worst enemies, often alternating between self-loathing and 'feeling good' about their life and where they are - until another crisis happens and down they go again.

Second result: Socially alone/lonely
The stop/start ramification of one's spiritual life gets to be just too much for people they know. The unpredictability is fatiguing to those around, and all too often friends move on or potential friends back away.

It leads to social isolation or at least loneliness even when surrounded by people. The Bible is full of people like this. Lot, Abraham's nephew, made the emotional decision in Genesis 13: 5-9 to move to the well watered plain around Sodom so he could make more money, rather than a spiritual decision to stay away from the place. We find him in Genesis 19 all alone with no friends to help, locked in his house in Sodom, his front door being attacked by the mob wanting to rape the 2 men (angels) in his house.

II Peter 2: 7-8 tells us that Lot was righteous, he had a walk with God, but that his soul was 'vexed', literally 'tortured' in the Greek, by the lifestyles of those around him. Yet he chose to place himself there.

I often find those who have made emotional decisions have their walk with God but are emotionally and spiritual 'tortured'. Yet they are either clueless that they have done it to themselves, or they know it but choose to stay there because it's familiar and 'safer' than launching into the unknown new territory with God.

Samson also comes to mind as an emotional decision maker who was all alone. He chose to love Delilah (Judges 14:3), the Philistine girl who was outside the covenant of Israel rather than an Israelite girl. He went back and forth between emotional and spiritual decisions, ending up all alone, powerless with his eyes punched out in a metaphor illustrating how emotional decisions weaken and blind us. Ironically his final spiritual decision resulted in the collapse of a building on himself, and the death of himself and those within.

Another example is from Luke 15, the prodigal son. He made an emotional decision to take the money and run, and when he came to the full ramifications of that decision - all alone, hungry, feeding (unclean) pigs, the text says in verse 17 that he "came to himself", and saw his situation stripped of the imaginings that led him to make the original emotional decision. He sized up his situation rightly, and returned home.

Third result; Inconsistent life
People who habitually make emotional decisions have some area(s) of their life that are very inconsistent.

We should be moving from inconsistency towards consistency, as 'self control' or 'patience' depending on the translation, is one of the fruits of the spirit/Spirit in Galatians 5:22 and one of the character traits of a growing Christian listed by Peter in II Peter 1:5-8.

Consider Paul's teaching in Ephesians 4:14 on, about how inconsistency, or being 'tossed to and fro' is childlike. If you examine the rest of the chapter within the context we are talking about here, you'll see he is talking about leaving emotional and self-oriented decisions in favor of spiritual and outwardly oriented decisions, bound together within the glue of relationships with others.

Put on the new man in Christ not living like you used to - put away lying by telling the truth, put away explosive anger and holding grudges by loving, let him that stole get a job so he has money to give to others, clean up your language so you speak praises and grace, walk in forgiveness, are just a few examples.

Fourth result; Not a giver
When Jesus comes back and separates the sheep from the goats, he says in Matthew 25 the giving he is looking for is the giving of self, time, and practical things as well as things which involve money: I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me water, sick and you visited me, in prison and you visited me, naked and you clothed me. All involve money, but also time and resources, the larger issue being the relationships which promote giving in any form.

Many believers, even well grounded spiritually, still make emotional decisions in the subject of financial giving. If you consider that traditional church has largely replaced emotion for anointing, and brow beating and guilt trips to motivate people instead of teaching them how to establish internal motivation and discipline, is it any wonder most Christians give out of emotions rather than a spiritual decision to discipline oneself to write a check consistently month in and month out?

Barb and I have always held a principle close to our hearts that David understood and lived his life by. It's found in II Samuel 24 when an angel appears to him at the threshing floor of Araunah. David wants to buy the property to build a temple on it (today's Temple Mount), but Araunah offers to give it to the king.

But David wants to pay for it, saying in verse 24: "I will not give to the Lord that which costs me nothing."

That concept is lost on so much of the body of Christ, and as I said, I think this is one area the whole body needs to mature in because so few understand it. I will not give to the Lord that which cost me nothing.

A self-oriented believer became that way through emotional decisions, and because of their stop/start spirituality, loneliness, and inconsistency, have proven they shy away from anything that may cause pain or discomfort. Therefore they won't "give to the Lord that which costs me nothing."

I can only speak through the grace given to me, so lets bring this down to the nitty gritty of our lives. Barb and I support an orphanage in China and missionaries in Panama, $75 each per month, on top of our regular giving. So many times we've eaten out of the freezer rather than buy groceries for ourselves just so we could have the money to keep our commitment to them. That's spiritual decision making. Giving up fresh food or a meal or two out so an orphan has their needs met. I want it to cost me SOMETHING to give to God - and that seems so small compare to what it cost Jesus to give to us, doesn't it?

We have delayed paying our bills because we are used to trusting the Lord for our living and given to someone who freaks when they have to dip into their savings, giving that money to them so they may be comforted while we await more money to enable us to buy groceries or get the car fixed. We've lived this way since we were teens, like giving to a fellow teen $10 who had run out of gasoline while my own car was on 'R', but I knew I'd have it when I needed it for he had none at all.

I can't count the number of times in over 30+ years of ministry people that we've poured our lives into never give an offering, talking about how tight things are for them or how in debt they are, and then turn to someone else and talk about the restaurant they just went to and the upcoming trip they're going to take, or things for their house they bought at the store.

Time after time I just look at them with pity, praying they grow up.

Others are givers, but emotional ones. They'll give when they have extra. They'll give a percentage of a bonus or when they have some spare cash around. They will give when it costs them nothing. But they have a hard time making the spiritual decision of regular as clock work giving.

Remember the poor widow who gave all she had in Mark 12:41-44? Her 2 mites cost her, but she would not give to the Lord merely out of her extra. It's based on the fact we owe God, we love God, therefore we want to give something of ourselves, something we sacrifice to him because he sacrificed so much for us.

We could imagine the Father and Jesus saying "We will not give to mankind that which costs us nothing".

Thank God Jesus didn't say at the decision making Garden of Gethsemane, "Oh, this is going to cost me? Oh, I can't give that much! I need to go out to Zeb's Bar and Grill tonight with Peter and James, and when I feel like it I'll go to the cross."

It hurts
And this brings me full circle, for perhaps you've perceived when I mentioned David's heart and my own lifestyle that I was talking of larger things than mere money. Growing in Christ hurts. When it comes to changing from emotion based faith to spiritual based faith, you MUST give to the Lord that which costs you. Period.

We have repeated teachings in the New Testament about taking up the cross, dying to self, mortifying the flesh, "I'm crucified with Christ". It's going to cost you to move from emotional decisions to spiritual ones.

Remember Lot, Samson and the Prodigal son. They each 'came to themselves' at some point. They sized up their respective situations accurately, and made a decision not based on emotion, but something that would cost them. Lot lost his home & business. Samson lost his life. The Prodigal had to humble himself before his father and family. It will cost you. It doesn't feel good until after you've grown, and then it's WONDERFUL, because you have just that much more Christ formed within, and He feels like peace. (Galatians 4:19)

I will not give to the Lord that which costs me nothing. Welcome to discipleship.

New subject next week!
Blessings,
John Fenn
www.iFaithhome.org