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Faithful Harvest – Part 1

What have you been believing God to manifest in your life? What desire of your heart? What promise?

A few weeks ago, on Resurrection Sunday, my mother surprised me by handing me a set of antique flatware that was important to my heart. It was her and my father’s first set as a married couple. Yes, they were inexpensive, and some pieces were missing. But its sweet sunflower pattern was like gold to me, because it was the flatware I remember setting the table with when I was a kid on countless evenings, while Mom cooked dinner.

Over the past couple of decades, I wondered where this flatware was. Mom had bought new utensils and thought the old ones had gotten lost. But it kept coming up in my heart, because the matter wasn’t settled for me in my soul. God knew where it was the whole time: in Mom’s attic. And He watched over it all these years until it was passed on to me.

As I looked through the giftbag of flatware Mom handed to me, I saw that some pieces were missing. At some point, she remembered that they had disappeared years ago, during camping trips, after she repurposed the set to our family camper.  

I believe God sometimes highlights moments like this in an effort to illustrate what He’s doing in our lives-at-large, during particular times and seasons. So, for me, this situation goes beyond handing down heirlooms. I believe it’s about faithfully bringing complete restoration of the natural and supernatural inheritances that we hold dear in our hearts.

It’s about regaining what was once lost (or thought to be), and rebuilding to extend legacy—30-, 60- and 100-fold.

It’s about purposed redemption—past, present and future—and the honor of recompense.

In these ways, God faithfully expands His Kingdom from within us to beyond us.

This kind of gathering—or harvest—of what we’ve waited and hoped for involves receiving specific quantities of specific things to further fulfill purpose. 

We find this Biblical harvest precept in 1 Peter 1:9 TPT, which says, “For you are reaping the harvest of your faith—the full salvation promised you—your souls’ victory!

This precept is predicated on Hebrews 4:3 TPT, which says, “For those of us who believe, faith activates the promise and we experience the realm of confident rest!”

So, friends, we can rest in our Lord as we trust Him and move forward with Him during this faith-driven harvesttime, knowing His redemptive ways will prove faithful.

We see this faithful living and purity of heart in Ruth’s life, even after she lost more than half of her husband’s immediate family and before God brought her to Boaz.

Ruth’s story is a reminder of Psalm 126:5-6 NLT, which say, “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.”

Historically, we are in the midst of Ruth’s harvesttime right now. 

As her story goes, Ruth stepped into her new beginning, her unknown, depending on God in her heart. She experienced God’s rapid increase of manifest blessing through her good work: from 30-fold, as she gleaned barley leftovers behind the harvesters (Ru 2:2, 3, 7). To 60-fold, after Boaz invited her to come closer, where she gathered an ephah (two-thirds of a bushel) (Ru 2:14-17). Then to 100-fold, when she married Boaz and was well-provided for, as she co-owned the fields with him (Ru 3:1, 4:10).

So, Ruth’s kind of harvest required actions of faith, maturity, right timing, increasing quantities and completed work (Ru 2:23). 

Just like in Ruth’s life, as we sync with God, we can experience rapid increase of benefit through the harvest-work He has laid before us until the promises of our faith are made manifest (Jn 17:4). 

By the way, those missing pieces of flatware aren’t missing anymore. The very day Mom handed me my inheritance-gift was also the day Holy Spirit led me to complete the set by finding and ordering the missing pieces online.

And it’s just the beginning.

So, friends, what pieces are missing in your life? What will God shift in your favor to bring a redemptive recompense? What will the two of you faithfully complete as you keep a holy heart and co-labor with Him in His way? 

Pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord, 

Thank You for Your mercy of redemption to restore what was once lost. Thank You for enriching me, by Your grace, for my benefit and that of Your Kingdom. Thank You for bringing me to a place of confident rest to believe for and receive the harvest of my faith as I actively co-labor with you to completion (He 4:3, 1 Pe 1:9). Thank You, Lord, for giving me eyes to see and a heart to obey as I “…keep coming closer and closer to you, Lord Yahweh, for your name is good to me. I’ll keep telling the world of your awesome works, my faithful and glorious God” (Ps 73:28 TPT)!

In Jesus’ Mighty Name.

Amen.

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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His Plans or Mine? by Guest Writer Carol B. Ghattas

As a natural list maker, I am proud to say I’m very good at making plans. As a Christ follower, I have also worked to make sure my plans are His plans. In over fifty years of the process, I can honestly say it’s still a work in progress.

I think, if most of us go back to our 2020 list of goals or plans, probably 99 percent of us can say they were a bust. 

So, what do we do when our plans go bust? Do we still trust God? Were our plans not His? What happens when God upsets our plans?

After all, didn’t God see that we had great aspirations for 2020? For me, things had been looking up. I was expecting a stellar year in my life, ministry, work, and family.

How could a global pandemic, civil unrest and governments in turmoil really be part of His plan for our good and prosperity?

And what does all this mean in relation to our faith? 

My go-to verse for this situation is a favorite. It’s Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV, which says:  

“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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

It helps me to think about when this verse was written: Was it during a great time in the lives of the Jewish nation? Hardly. They were a people who had just been taken into exile. Everything they knew and loved, including their most precious Temple, had been destroyed by a pagan nation. They’d been forced to walk from their homeland to a foreign one with a foreign language and gods. So, how could the God who had brought their ancestors into the Promised Land say that He had their good in mind after allowing them to be forced out of it?

I believe the answer lies in the fact that we don’t serve a fast-food God, but one who has the whole of time in His sight.

I believe God is saying, “I’m with you even in the midst of the mess, but you’ve got to trust me over everything else.”

Only when we trust God’s plan over man’s, will we be able to call on Him with the confidence that He hears our prayers. Only then can we see Him in the midst of a pandemic, because we’re looking for Him, not earthly solutions.

So, as we sit longing for more stability and an end to a global pandemic, wondering when life will return to normal, we must remember that…

GOD MUST BE OUR FOCUS and nothing else matters.

As I write this post, I look out my window and see a gentle breeze moving the dried, winter-broken leaves of the trees outside. Maybe you’re feeling like one of those browned leaves, hanging on by a thread to the branch. Yet, anytime we see the leaves move, we know the wind is there…just like His Spirit; and that gives me hope.

How did you feel the breeze blowing in your life in 2020? I encourage you to write it down, so you don’t forget. And remember, the winter may last a while longer, but spring is sure to come.

God is here. He’s not MIA. He never was in 2020, and He won’t be in 2021. He’s got plans. He’s known them from before the beginning of time, and He is working them out. You can see it if you take time to think about it. 

God didn’t leave the Israelites in Babylon forever, but it was more than a fast-food run — seventy years more, to be precise. If you think about your age right now, you may be saying, “I don’t have seventy years to wait!” Well, maybe not, but you do have today to trust Him. That’s all He’s asking.

Friends, keep living in your season of change. That’s what He told the Israelites to do: build houses, have children, seek the good of the land in which you live. That’s all any of us can do.

I choose to trust God and do good, knowing as I do, He will make himself known to me and answer my prayers. He has the same plan for you, and it’s a good one.

So, what will you choose? 

God’s plans are the best, so we can rest in Him.

Grace and Peace to you.

Carol B. Ghattas is a veteran in cross-cultural ministry, a popular author, blogger, and speaker on Islam, missions, and Christian living. She served with her late husband for more than 30 years on mission fields among Muslims. To find out more or connect with Carol, visit her blog at lifeinexile.net.

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Ascended Mountain – Part 2

Ascension Day commemorates Jesus’ ascension to Heaven on the 40th day that He ministered to His disciples after His resurrection (Mk 16:19, Lk 24:51, Ac 1:9-11). This Holy day is usually held on a Thursday and will be officially celebrated in several countries this year on May 13th.

Ascension Day is not an official federal holiday in the U. S. But many Christians, especially Catholics, are faithful to acknowledge and celebrate it.

It is a wonderful time to thank God for the invitation and provision to live an ascended life with Christ on earth and beyond. Of course, this kind of life is done in active submission to His gracious Spirit and Word by faith.

Recently, our Lord revealed to me, during quiet time, that He has many of His proven leaders on the mountaintop right now, who have been prepared secretly and are now ready, willing and able to fulfill divine assignments with Him. These are assignments that have been revealed and promised years ago and have felt like a long time coming. 

God has come alongside these high-performance individuals, who went deep with Him in intimate devotion during past years of intense persecution, to help them hit their mark and go long in this now season of super-abundance to help others.

These transformed, titan-like leaders, who were developed by God in the hidden place, are now refreshed, filled and equipped by Holy Spirit to be launched farther into their destiny to impact nations with His explosive grace-power.

Think miracles.

Think Great Commission with the power of Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which was given 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection (Ac 1:8, 2:4; Mk 16:20). 

Are you one of God’s titan-leaders?

Dictionary.com defines a titan as “A person or thing of enormous size, strength, power, influence, etc.” or “… a two-stage, liquid-fueled…intercontinental ballistic missile…designed for launch from underground silos.

Interesting, too, is that titan is the root word for titanium, a lightweight and noncorrosive metal alloy used in the production of strong, heavy duty, high quality aircraft and ship parts, as well as in surgical repairs for fractures (Dictionary.com). The scientific sign for titanium is “Ti,” which has an atomic number of 22.

The number 22 is also the Biblical reference for personal revelation.

So, by coming more into God’s truths, God’s titans have been delivered from issues that once weighed them down to then help others take up their positions to soar and sail through their God-ordained missions of life. 

Think Peter, who received and preached Christ’s truth to the point of seeing miracles manifest after denying Jesus three times (Ac 2-3, Jn 18:15-27). Because, like Peter, these leaders have been made lighter and freer in Christ, they are able to express and lead others into the true power and authority of God by sharing His Word and Spirit to free them from any catch-22 disorder so they can move onward in life (Ac 3:1-10).

Isaiah 22:22 AMPC says, “And the key of the house of David I will lay upon his shoulder; he shall open and no one shall shut, he shall shut and no one shall open.”

Just as Nehemiah was given permission to return to the land of his ancestors (Jerusalem) to lead a supernaturally-powered rebuilding of city gates and walls with God as an act of worship, so too will God use His titans to complete projects that have weighed heavily on their hearts (Ne 2, Ps 122:3 MSG). 

God is sending them out to work, produce maximum value and finish jobs for Kingdom’s sake (Jn 17:4).

I love what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:4 ESV, which was that “…he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but…we will live with him by the power of God.”

So, friends, the way to this higher power is through humility. 

Throughout scripture, we see that high places point to God meeting His appointed leaders with provision for miraculous work.

Acts 2 reveals the story of Pentecost, which occurred 50 days after Christ’s resurrection in the Upper Room, 10 days after His ascension and on the same day that Moses received God’s written Word on two tablets after he ascended Mount Sinai 1470 years earlier (Ex 24:12, 31:18).

Acts 2:2-3 in the TPT version say, in reference to the Upper Room experience, that “Suddenly they heard the sound of a violent blast of wind rushing into the house from out of the heavenly realm. The roar of the wind was so overpowering it was all anyone could bear! Then all at once a pillar of fire appeared before their eyes…”

Friends, what Kingdom assignments will you fulfill by God’s miraculous dunamis power of atomic proportions (2 Co 13:4, Strong’s #1411)? What strategies has our Lord revealed to you on your mountaintop sanctuary as He has equipped you with His very life and breath for your assignments (Matt 4:4, He 4:12, Jn 20:22)? 

Whatever it is, go forward in Him and with Him to do the work of His Kingdom, always remembering that Jesus is alive and is the same yesterday, today and forever (Jn 17:4, He 13:8). His faithfulness reaches to the skies (Ps 108:4).

As His titan-leaders, if we remain submitted to our Lord, we can’t miss, even as we launch out into “the remotest places on earth” (Ac 1:8 TPT, 2 Sa 22:22).

This is God’s reward of expanse in Kingdom-building (2 Sa 22:20).

And for all of this, we thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ Mighty Name. Amen (2 Co 1:20 NLT).

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Ascended Mountain – Part 1

Friends, we serve a resurrected, ascended, seated and glorified Christ, who constantly intercedes for us from Heaven and is with us on earth in Spirit to empower us.

Who could ask for more?

The same Christ who makes Himself known to us and instructs us in our valleys is the same Christ who meets us on the mountaintop to set us above our enemies.

It’s where God, as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, brings us to the end of our suffering and lifts us overcomers to a new beginning as His strong leaders.

It’s where God’s provision of refreshing, understanding and strategy meets His faithful climbers to bring rest, definition and expansion (Josh. 15:5).

It’s a vantage point as God sees and releases His fresh vision and new wine to us. 

A pinnacle of truth, where our souls align even more with His reality of reconciliation.

A place to know Him beyond tombs of darkness and to begin new Kingdom work in His glorious light (Ps 97:11 TPT). 

And it can draw an army.

It did for Jesus.

They were called His disciples and apostles.

Saints.

His forgiven ones. 

Redeemed.

Made even stronger in Him as they devoted themselves to Jesus for worship that included faithful actions of service.

Matthew 5:1 AMPC reveals that Jesus, “SEEING THE crowds…went up on the mountain; and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him.”

They seemed to understand the song of ascent in Psalm 121:1-2 TPT, which say, “I look up to the mountains and hills, longing for God’s help. But then I realize that our true help and protection is only from the Lord, our Creator who made the heavens and the earth.”

Jesus helped His disciples ascend to help others ascend—by walking out the Great Commission empowered by Holy Spirit, as He instructed them after His resurrection (Ac 1:1-10, Matt 28:18-20, Judges 4:9-10).

Acts 1:2-3 TPT reveal that “Just before he ascended into heaven, Jesus left instructions through the Holy Spirit for the apostles he had chosen. After the sufferings of his cross, Jesus appeared alive many times to these same apostles over a forty-day period, proving to them with many convincing signs that he had been resurrected. During these encounters, he taught them the truths of God’s kingdom.”

A study note for Acts 1:3 in the TPT Bible says, “Spiritual fruit and power” are the signs to the world that we have been spiritually resurrected.

Therefore, it’s important that we are progressively active in our faith, like the apostles and even like Deborah, who once sat and ruled as a judge, then sent Word for others to march into battle, then got up and went with an army herself to fight from victory (Judges 4:5-6, 10).

So, friends, “Who, then, is allowed to ascend the mountain of Yahweh? And who has the privilege of entering into God’s Holy Place” (Ps 24:3 TPT)?

The truth is God’s born-again believers, whose confidence is in God because of the finished, gracious work of our Lord Jesus. By His powerful grace from on high and from within, we can live out our redemption process beyond resurrection life into an ascended life, just like Jesus and His leaders. 

The way there is to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior and His truths as commands for life, as we trust and obey them.

To live an ascended life with Christ is for our benefit and the benefit of His Kingdom-at-large, because He can be in more places than one by His Glorified Holy Spirit in us as we devote ourselves to serving Him.

1 Timothy 3:16 TPT tells us, “For the mystery of righteousness is beyond all question! He was revealed as a human being, and as our great High Priest in the Spirit! Angels gazed upon him as a man and the glorious message of his kingly rulership is being preached to the nations! Many have believed in him and he has been taken back to heaven, and has ascended into the place of exalted glory in the heavenly realm. Yes, great is this mystery of righteousness!”

In Matthew 13:11-12 TPT Jesus explained, “You’ve been given the intimate experience of insight into the hidden mysteries of the realm of heaven’s kingdom…For whoever has [spiritual knowledge], to him will more be given and he will be furnished richly so that he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

So, friends, pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord,

Thank You for dying on the cross for me. Thank You for Your resurrection and ascended life. Thank You for the promise of Your second coming (Ac 1:11). Thank You for Your Holy Spirit inside of me. Help me to serve you honorably as I devote my life to You. I trust You, the Name above all Names, to lead me to lead others. Show me the way, Lord. 

In Jesus’ Mighty Name.

Amen

Friends, may we always remember that our “…help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth” (Ps 121:1-2 AMPC) as we co-labor, rule and reign with Him.

And now I pray “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ep 1:17-18 NKJV).

To God be the glory.

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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God Our Avenger – Part 2

I love how King David celebrated what surely felt like final victory over all his enemies, including Saul. David sang unto our Lord in 2 Samuel 22:48 NIV, acknowledging that God was the One who avenged him, who put the nations under him.

David must have felt a tremendous relief as God brought completion to this stage of his kingship process, because David, who feared God, was now proven obedient (Ps 34:7).

Herein lies a secret of God’s vindication.

When we follow God to complete obedience, He releases His vindication on our behalf as well as His vengeance on our enemies.

In other words, we need to obediently follow God into 2 Corinthians 10:6 AMPC, which says, “Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete.”

Friends, God has no problem releasing vindication and punishment simultaneously to individuals and nations (De 32:43 AMPC, 1 Pe 2:14 AMPC).

Hebrews 10:30 AMPC says, “For we know Him Who said, Vengeance is Mine [retribution and the meting out of full justice rest with Me]; I will repay [I will exact the compensation], says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge and determine and solve and settle the cause and the cases of His people. [Deut. 32:35, 36.].”

We must never forget that God is a God of complete justice and that He “reserves wrath for His enemies” (Na 1:2 AMPC).

God even wears garments of vengeance.

Isaiah 59:17 AMPC says, “For [the Lord] put on righteousness as a breastplate or coat of mail, and salvation as a helmet upon His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal [and furious divine jealousy] as a cloak. [Eph. 6:14, 17; I Thess. 5:8.].”

God can use a sword of vengeance to make His point to those disobedient to His Word of authority (Le 26:25 AMPC, Ro 13:1-5). 

And this is not just Old Testament.

Romans 13:4 AMPC reminds us, “For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, [you should dread him and] be afraid, for he does not bear and wear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant to execute His wrath (punishment, vengeance) on the wrongdoer.”

Friends, God does not mess around. He has destinies to fulfill in our lives. And He has ways of getting His point across, even to His people.

Hebrews 2:3 AMPC asks us, “How shall we escape [appropriate retribution] if we neglect and refuse to pay attention to such a great salvation [as is now offered to us, letting it drift past us forever]? For it was declared at first by the Lord [Himself], and it was confirmed to us and proved to be real and genuine by those who personally heard [Him speak].”

This “great salvation” here is described in 2 Corinthians 5:21 TPT which says, “For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.”

2 Thessalonians 1:8 AMPC confirms that God will “…deal out retribution (chastisement and vengeance) upon those who do not know or perceive or become acquainted with God, and [upon those] who ignore and refuse to obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, friends, we want to be on the side of righteous behavior. As such, not following Jesus is not an option. We are to know God’s truth, know our identity in Him and faithfully act on His precepts and strategies.

We don’t have to worry about the opposition along the way, because God assures us that He will release vengeance on our opposition, even in our promised land, as we courageously obey Him, like Joshua and Caleb (Jo 10:13 AMPC)!

It’s when we act in opposition to God’s ways and stop following Him out of cowardice, or for any other reason, that we should be concerned (Jo 22:23 AMPC).

If you follow Jesus and maintain a fear of God, you will see God’s justice and abundance of promise fulfilled (Pr 9:10 TPT, Ps 94:1 TPT). Like David and Joseph, God will make you known, and you will have your say when God brings completion to your kingship process (2 Sa 22, Ge 45).  

So, friends, let’s be encouraged by and trust in God’s truth of Word and Spirit.

Vengeance is actually a time of God restoring order, of “rendering full justice or satisfaction” (Lk 21:22 AMPC, Is 26:9). As such, this is cause for the vindicated to rejoice.

Revelation 18:20 AMPC instructs us to, “Rejoice (celebrate) over her, O heaven! O saints (people of God) and apostles and prophets, because God has executed vengeance for you upon her! [Isa. 44:23; Jer. 51:48.].”

So, don’t give up, friends. Keep moving forward in your divine assignments. Just as God can send His avenging angel to His enemies, He can send an army of angels to help vindicate you, like King David (1 Ch 12:22).

So, pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord,

Thank You for Your righteous justice. You tell me in 1 Chronicles 12:22 AMPC that “day by day men kept coming to David to help him, until there was a great army, like the army of God.” You instruct me, Lord, in Proverbs 12:22 TPT to “Live in the truth and keep” my “promises, and” You “will keep delighting in” me. You say that You detest “a liar.” 

So, Lord, I thank You that You are no respecter of persons and that You say those who fear you lack nothing (Ps 34:9). I ask You to help me keep my promises to You by sending me a great army to help me run my race and complete Your assignments in my life. Strengthen me, Spirit of Grace, to be unwavering and faithful as You are faithful (Ps 26:1). 

Thank You for freeing me from the burden of vengeance and for bringing completion to this kingship process in my life as You have established me to live out divine rulership with You. “…O God, You to Whom vengeance belongs, shine forth” (Ps 94:1 AMPC)!

Pour out Your Spirit on the earth today as revelation-light to pierce the conscience of the wicked as we worship You (Ps 94:1 TPT, Pr 9:10 TPT). Thank You for sending Your Son to be pierced for our transgressions (Is 53:5).

Thank You, Lord, for vindicating “me by Your mighty strength and power” (Ps 54:1).

In Jesus’ Name.

Amen

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.