Warrior of The Word - His Word in My Mouth

 

Jeremiah 1:9

Then The LORD reached out His hand, 

touched my mouth, and said to me: 

"Behold, I have put My Words in your mouth."

Matthew 10:20

For it will not be you speaking, but The Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Acts 2:4

And they were all filled with The Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as The Spirit enabled them.

2 Peter 1:21

For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

    The Lord is still speaking to those who will listen to and obey His Word. He is still calling us to "Come, hear what I am saying; do what I am calling you to do." And we respond, "Yes, Lord".

The Fountain of Living Water - Names of God

 

Jeremiah 2:13

"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The Fountain of Living Water, and they have dug their own cisterns - broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

Here God is not speaking to the world in general, He is speaking to, and about, His own people: His elect, His chosen. The people He has called to be His people. 

In forsaking God, God's people had turned their backs to and their faces from hearing The Word of God. In so doing they (we) have also stopped obeying The Word of God and are content to do their own thing. We are bringing God's judgment on the house of God in our disobedience and disregard and unthankfulness. 

We must repent of our wickedness and return to a faithful walk with God. We must allow His Holy Spirit to change our hearts and strengthen our desire to have God active in our daily lives. We must seek His face with all of our hearts that His Word may fill us completely and there be nothing left of the selfish desires that have taken us from Him. We must pursue His grace that we might be covered with it, that sin would no longer be in God's houses. 

These broken cisterns with which we have surrendered ourselves to and surround us are the idols and icons of our wickedness. With our eyes turned from God and having looked to the left and to the right, after being instructed not to do so, we have wandered far from righteousness and dallied in unrighteous behavior. 

We must clean out God's house and remove the idols from His altar. We must not tarry in doing so, lest we provoke God even more and He rain judgment upon us. We must seek His face, confess our evil deeds, ask forgiveness and turn away from, stop participating in, such deeds/actions/activities/beliefs. 

When God says in His Word not to do something and we do it, that's a sin against God. When God says to do certain things and we don't, that, too is a sin against God. Both of these need to be repented of (confessed to God that we may be forgiven by Him and turn away from the wickednesses we are doing and turn to Him to obey Him, follow Him, live in Him). 

The Fountain of Living Water can only live in unbroken cisterns (unbroken wells). When we are broken by worldly pleasures, then there is no room for a Savior to enter into and live in. We have filled our hearts with rubble, with trash, with selfishness and self-centeredness. 

We have pasted astrological signs on the walls of our hearts. We are focused on the night sky and not on He Who created the heavenly points of light. We have sought out other gods to worship: gods who cannot see, cannot hear, cannot answer prayer, cannot heal, cannot fight for us; gods who are created by men who refused to give themselves to The Only Almighty God, and in doing so have turned untold numbers of people to their wicked ways of living. 

We are God's people but we are not living like God's people. Now is the time to clean house. Now is the day we turn back to God in repentance that we might be renewed, replenished and refurbished in our hearts, in our minds, in our spirit and in our lives. 

Come back to Jesus. Come and be filled with The Living Water that He is. 

 JUST AS I AM

Names of God & Christ - Jeremiah, Lamentations

 

JEREMIAH

Jeremiah 2:13 MAQOR CHAY MAYIM

Fountain of Living Water

Jeremiah 10:16 YAAQOB CHELEQ

The Portion of Jacob

Jeremiah 17:13a MIQVEH YISRAEL

The Hope of Israel

Jeremiah 17:13b YHVH MAQOR CHAY MAYIM
The Lord God Fountain of Living Waters

Jeremiah 17:15 TEHILLAH

My Praise

Jeremiah 23:6 YHVH TSEDEQ

The Lord Our Righteousness

Jeremiah 50:34a GAAL

Redeemer

Jeremiah 50:34b YHVH TSABA

The Lord of Hosts

LAMENTATIONS

Lamentations 3:24 YHVH CHELEQ

The Lord Is My Portion

Lamentations 3:38 ELYONE

Most High

I Am Your Deliverer

 

NATSAL HALAH

(naw-tsal haw-law)

I AM YOUR DELIVERER

Jeremiah 1:8, 19

"Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says The LORD.

"They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says The LORD, “to deliver you.” 

    Before He could become our Deliverer, Jesus first had to be delivered to the chief priests. For thirty pieces of silver Judas sold his alliance to Jesus. He did not believe that Jesus was The Messiah, only a prophet who could fill his own pockets. 

    Having conspired with the priests and scribes Judas turned against The One he had been following. He was a wolf in sheep's clothing. That money did him no good at all. He never got to spend it. He didn't even want to touch it after Jesus he saw Jesus being crucified. Judas threw the silver money at the priests and went out and killed himself. Remorseful, yes. Guilty, yes. He had, after all, sold an innocent Man into the custody of the chief priests and their scribes. But unrepentant. Nonetheless, now Jesus had been delivered into the first place He would be judged. 

    Realizing Jesus would not back down from speaking God's Word, nor would He stop causing miracles to happen, and not wanting His blood on their hands, they turned Him over to the gentile (non-Jewish) authority who ruled the land: Pontius Pilate and Herod. Acts 4:26, 27; Matthew 27:1, 2; John 18:28-31. 

    These acts and accusations against Jesus had all been foretold by prophets in days gone by, and confirmed by the apostles in early New Testament days: 

*Isaiah 53:5-12

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. / We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. / He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. 

*Psalm 22:16-18

For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet. / I can count all my bones; they stare and gloat over me. / They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

*Acts 2:22-24

He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. / But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep Him in its grip.

*Matthew 27:2

And when they had bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

    From the kangaroo court where He was judged and condemned, His mutilated body, bleeding from head to toe, carried (with help) the cross on which He would be nailed through the city streets and up the hill on which the cross would be installed. There He would become our Delivered, our Savior, our Redeemer. But deliverance did not end there.

    After Jesus died and was buried in a tomb, He delivered us from death, from hell and from the grave. None of these things have power over they who believe on His Name for their salvation. 1 Corinthians 15:55 “Where, O Death, is your sting?

Where, O Grave, is your victory?” Had Jesus not delivered us from death, hell and the grave, we would have no victory. But He did! and we do! 

    Jesus Christ is our Deliverer. Do you believe? Is Jesus with you to deliver you? He is with me and I am delivered, saved and redeemed! 

MY DELIVERER - Rich Mullins

I WILL SING OF MY REDEEMER - Fernando Ortega

    

God's Faithfulness and Love Are Enduring

 

Psalm 36:5 

"Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies."

Psalm 57:10
"For Your loving devotion reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness to the clouds."
Psalm 103:11
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him."
Jeremiah 9:24
"But let him who boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am The LORD, Who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth--for I delight in these things," declares The LORD."

 

I LIFT MY EYES - Kristyn Getty/Jordan Kauflin/Matt Merkel

Psalm 121:1
"I lift up my eyes unto the hills, where my Help comes from."
Hebrews 13:5-6
"Let your conversation (character and lifestyle) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for He has said, 'I will never leave you, nor forsake you.'

So that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.'

  

GOODNESS OF GOD - Bethel Music

Prepositional Faith - Stand, Ask, Walk, Rest

 

JEREMIAH 6:16

Thus says The LORD, "Stand in the old ways, and see, and Ask for the old paths, wherein is the good way, and Walk therein, and you shall find Rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk therein.'"

    Stand in the old ways. What are the old ways? The Ways of The LORD. He has set them up for us to follow, that we may be blessed of Him and He would be glorified. 

    Psalm 37:1-8

• Fret not (don't worry about stuff, don't get anxious about anything)
• Envy not the evildoers (covet nothing they have)
• Trust in The LORD and do good
• Cultivate faithfulness
•  Delight yourself in The LORD, He will give you the desires of your heart
• Commit your way to The LORD and Trust in Him: He will keep His Promises
• Be still before The LORD; wait patiently for Him
• Reiterates to fret not over the schemes of those who commit evil
• Refrain from anger and abandon wrath 

    Ask For the old paths. Ask God to show us where and how He desires us to walk in His Ways. 

    Walk in the paths which God has foreordained that we should walk in. Everybody has a story because everybody is on a journey to a final destination. When life begins, death is inevitable. It is how we live our lives now that will impact our soul's eternal location. 

    Rest in The LORD. It is entirely possible to be at peace in our lives when we have the Peace of Christ living and breathing in us. Rest in His Word; it's a comfort to go the Book of Psalms and find Bible verses that can calm my soul when I begin to feel anxious over little things. Rest in His Presence: get down on our knees, if we can still kneel, fold our hands or stretch out our bodies on the ground/the floor, and talk to God. He will make Himself known to the ones who truly seek Him with all their hearts. 

    Yet, with all this wealth of knowledge in regards to following God's Word, many people will still refuse to obey Him. They disregard His Word and His warnings. That's not for us to worry about. Our part on their behalf is to keep praying for them: For their hardened hearts to repent, for them to receive The Holy Spirit and be filled with God's power to accomplish God's purpose in their lives. 

    It is not God's desire that anyone perish. It is God's desire that everyone receive salvation through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. But it's entirely up to each and every one of us to make that commitment to Christ while we have breath. For after death it will be too late. 

    Please do not make hell your final destination. Repent and be baptized in The Holy Spirit now. Acknowledge your sins to God when you talk to Him. Weep before The LORD and receive His forgiveness. Come, says the Bride and The Spirit. Come to the altar, Come to the table, Come and see Jesus. 

I Am Christian's Tongue - Part Two

 

I AM CHRISTIAN'S TONGUE - Part Two

JEREMIAH 15:16

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my Joy and my heart's Delight. For I bear Your Name, O LORD God of Hosts.

    I am Christian's tongue. I can taste the differences in The Word of God. Both the bitter and the sweet land on my tongue before they ever reach my belly where I can digest The Word, which will then flow through me to land in my heart. 

    Not everything in The Bible is easy to take in, nor can it be understood on a mere human level. It is, after all, The Living Word of God and none can begin to understand (taste) until one actually believes God's Word is True an Truth. Before I read it, I believed it. Before I knew It, I believed It. But as I began to read The Bible myself, then I began to taste God's Word and take It in. 

    Some of it was hard to swallow because the taste was so bitter. The judgments of God against nations other than the one He chose for Himself were hard enough, but to know that God will judge His own people tasted bitter at first. But as I swallowed the bitter words of God they became sweet like honey, for my faith in God was growing and as it grew, it changed and it changed me. 

    Some of God's Word is sweet to the taste and strength to the bones from the beginning. God loves us so much He died for us. And in His dying, His blood washes away our sins as if they never were. God conquered death and walked out of the grave a Victor, the first Overcomer. That's honey on my tongue. 

    I am Christian's tongue. My tastebuds taste The Word of God going in and coming back out again. The joy that floods my soul as I delight in The Word of God gets digested in my belly and rises up within me to pour back out of my mouth: in speaking/preaching/teaching The Word of God and in singing/praising The Worship of God. The heartaches and the warnings pour out of me and into the ears of anyone who will take It into themselves. 

    I am Christian's tongue. Discernment is in me. The Word of God is what is best for this body to thrive, for I am a member, a part, of the body of Christ and I have a job to do, too.  Romans 12:4, 5 and 1 Corinthians 12:12. 

    Whether I have the power to bring forth words clearly, with a speech impediment or remain mute, I have a responsibility to share/testify what Jesus has done for me. If God chooses Christian's tongue to remain silent, then He will express Himself in some other way through this body in which I honor Him. 

OVERWHELMED - Big Daddy Weave

COME TO THE TABLE - Sidewalk Prophets

TASTE & SEE - John Mark Pantana

HONEY IN THE ROCK - Brooke Ligertwood & Brandon Lake

    

This is Christmas, Too

 

Matthew 2:1-2

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.

Matthew 2:16

Then Herod, when He saw that He was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

    As Christians, we celebrate the birth of Christ with joy and festivities. We give each other presents. We read aloud to our families the Christmas story from the Bible. But do we continue to read aloud when it comes to the other factors in the birth of The King? 

    The wise men were two years into their search. They did not show up to the stable to see the baby King in the manger. They found Him in a house (Matthew 2:11). They knew The Word so well that they were looking for the star before the star appeared. We know this because they were wise men from the east. 

    When we go back to the Book of Daniel (Daniel 2:17, 20), we read of the rudiments of education of which the wise men of that time were required. It is God who gives wisdom and knowledge. Should any of us desire such, it is to God we must go to obtain it. As King Solomon did when God approached him (1 Kings 3:5, 9). 

    Thus we know the wise men not only knew The Scriptures, they had more than a basic education. They were learned men: learning was their way of life. Having read The Scriptures, they believed The Scriptures and were searching the night skies looking for the star that would rise which would show them where the new King would be born. Once it appeared, they began their trek across continents to reach Him. But it took them Two Years to get there. 

    No one who comes to Jesus is ever late getting there. Every heart that truly seeks to see His face will find Him. "Ask and you will receive; Seek and you will find; Knock and the doors will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7. 

    But in their search for Christ, they met people along the way who sought to kill the new King (Matthew 2:3-8). By this Mary and Joseph were residing in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:11). This is where the wise men found Jesus. To a house in Bethlehem, to The One who was Born King of the Jews, they brought their gifts. Gifts which would pay tribute to Him as King (gold), honor Him as King (gold) and anoint Him as King (myrrh). These gifts would be used immediately.

    For when the wise men did not return to Herod, the nasty king ordered all the young children two years old and under to be killed. Hundreds of babies and toddlers met their deaths at the hands of an unwise man. Parents had their infants yanked from their arms and slaughtered in front of them. The blood of innocents filled the city streets in Bethlehem and in every nearby coastal town (Matthew 2:16-18). 

    This, too, is Christmas. Sadness. Mourning. Weeping: an unending, heartbreaking tearyness which flowed from the broken hearts of the people whose children were dead. Another prophecy fulfilled, albeit a sad one. (Jeremiah 31:15). Not everyone was able to rejoice at the birth of The One who had been born King of the Jews. 

    As stated, the gifts the wise men gave to Jesus were used immediately. Because the order was about to go  out while they were still residing in Bethlehem, the young family needed to leave in a hurry. They left in the night, under cover of darkness and fled the country (Matthew 2:12-14), taking the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh which we understand helped them on their journey. For they left immediately after the wise men's visit to their home. 

    So, now I ask you, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? Where is that is born King of Kings? For even now some still search for Him. To know The Scriptures is to know The Word; to know The Word is to know Jesus. The wise men from the east knew the prophecies of The Scriptures at that time. They came searching for He who had been BORN King of the Jews. This is a King who at His birth was already a King. All other kings were made kings or they may have been born into the position by reason of lineage. But Jesus was the born King. Lineage had nothing to do with it. He was King from the beginning, from before time/all through time/after time. 

    As He stated in John 8:58, Jesus told the people that He is I AM (Exodus 3:14). And they wanted to kill Him then, but He faded into the crowd. John 1:1-3 tells us Who this King is. He is King before He is born. He is Ruler. He is Sceptre. He is Governor. He is Jesus and waits for you to seek Him out and meet with Him. 

    Revelation 3:20 " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." We don't need to wait for Him to come and find us where we are: He knows where we are. He waits for us to answer His knock on our hearts. He waits for us to open the door of our hearts and invite Him in, that The Word may dwell in our hearts. 

    Those who seek Him to destroy His Kingship will fail in their endeavors. Those who seek Him to honor Him as King will find Him. They, we, merely have to open the doors of our hearts and invite Him into our lives. Are you ready to meet Jesus? He's knocking on your heart right now. 

THE GOSPEL - Ryan Stevenson

The Lord Is Ever Present

 

Psalm 139:7-10

Where shall I go from your Spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. 

Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

2 Chronicles 16:9a

For the eyes of The LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. 

Ezekiel 1:15-21 speaks of the four wheels within wheels, covered with eyes, that goes where The Spirit goes. 

Jeremiah 23:24

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? said the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? said the LORD. 

Hebrews 4:13

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.

Job 34:22

There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.

Revelation 6:16

And they said to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb."

Colossians 1:15-17

The Son is the image of The invisible God, The Firstborn over all creation.

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.

God even sees us when we are being created in our mothers' wombs. He is with us from the beginnings of life to the end of life.

Psalm 139:13-16

For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well. 

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be. 

Nothing Else - Cody Carnes 

Storm (All Around You) - Jon Thurlow @Forerunner Music

Spirit Lead Me - Michael Ketterer 

Sellout (Blood Money)

 

Thirty pieces of silver. The value of a man's life. One Man in particular. Blood money given to a different man. 

        Zechariah 11:12,13 

Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

                            Matthew 26:14,15

Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.

                            Matthew 27:9,10

Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet (Jeremiah 32:6-9) was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on Him by the people of Israel,and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord had commanded me."

                            

    Judas, who had been chosen by Jesus to be one of "the chosen", the twelve men whom Christ had called by name to follow Him, was not a faithful follower. He had his faults, namely, money. He sold out this Prophet he followed from town to town for thirty pieces of silver, the equivalent of four days labor. 

    *In Roman terms it would have been the equivalent of four denarii; in Grecian terms it would have equaled four drachmas. It is the shekel referred to from Genesis to Zechariah. It is the penny, the denarius, mentioned in Matthew 20:1-16. It is a day's wages. This is how the Jewish leaders determined the correct price to pay to have Jesus betrayed. 

       Yet Jesus called him, "Friend" (Matthew 26:50). That must've cut into Judas' heart, but it was too late. He had already betrayed Jesus by a kiss on the cheek. While we know Judas was sorrowful for what he done to his Friend, we can only surmise about whether or not he was repentant. For neither sorrow, nor remorse, nor penitence is repentance. 

        But we should not be hasty in judging Judas. We, too, have blood on our hands. We, also, have traded the riches of knowing Christ better for the wealth of a bag of holes. Instead of reading our Bibles on a daily basis that we might gain strength and wisdom from them, we squander our days. Instead of kneeling prayer over The Word of God, we might read a passage or two and hope for the best. 

        Whatever we have set our sights on and our hands to do instead of seeing and doing what we are supposed to be doing is the thirty pieces of silver we have been paid to look the other way, instead of at The Way. We have looked to the left and looked to the right on this narrow path in which we attempt to walk: our eyes have seen and our hearts have wandered. We have become faithless sellouts to our Faithful Leader.  

        We need to get back to the altar and lay down our pride, humbling ourselves at the foot of His cross. We will repent of all our wickedness and set our face to seek Him out. We will fall prostrate before Him and He will lift us up. 

        Even if you can't get to church, you can get to the altar. It is a sacred place where a person meets God. In Old Testament times, an altar was built after a person had met (communed) with God. Many altars were constructed to burn a sacrifice on. Though it is not necessary for the Christian to burn a sacrifice, it is necessary to lay the sacrifice God wants from us on the altar. 

        Where is your altar set up that you meet with God and lay your sacrifice on? Some have set up a small table or chair on which to lay their open Bible and pray there. Some go out into an open area, open Bible in hand, and speak with God there. You'll know your altar when you see it, if you are listening to The Spirit direct you. 

    

Resources:

*1. TruthSaves 

Talking To Jesus 

Sweet Hour of Prayer 

Lay It All Down