With all of the uncertainty that exists these days, we can trust in the steadfast love of a good God and rejoice in His salvation through Christ. We can sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with us.
May this song, written and performed by friends of the ministry encourage your heart and faith during this time of uncertainty! God is good. He’s in control. He pursues us with a steadfast love.
“And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” ~ Acts 13:52
There’s a continual filling of the Holy Spirit that is available for those who trust in Jesus. And when we are filled, joy accompanies it.
I wonder aloud “Could the measure of my joy indicate how much and how often I am being filled by His Holy Spirit? The disciples in the book of Acts were continually being filled. Am I?
I believe that we experience full joy when we are filled by His Holy Spirit. The two go hand and hand. May I forever be identified with the believers in this verse and be someone who is continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit!
There’s revival in the secret place. There’s a daily invitation that comes with a house key awaiting our response each morning. The presence of the Lord is home, we can turn the key knowing we are unlocking a love that takes us as we are and doesn’t leave us the same. The rotation of the key marks an exchange- beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, praise for heaviness, peace for anxiety. The exchange takes the frailty of our humanity and overflows the strength of His Holy Spirit into every fiber of our being. As His children, we are called into the secret place, where The Father’s arms are open awaiting our embrace- there’s a fire in his eyes that glances upon us with the utmost love and compassion. Every turn of the house key symbolizes the sweet surrender and submission to whatever the Lord may seek to reveal in the stillness of that moment.
The more we abide in the Father’s heart, the more our hearts cry out for more of all that He is, the more our hearts break for what breaks his. The more we entangle ourselves with the Father, the more we mimic his ways and embody His character- my prayer is that this will always be known as our utmost honor and the greatest pursuit our lives will ever know. The Father uses intimacy to equip us- intimacy propels us into action. As sons and daughters, we must relentlessly seek to embody Christ so much so that the enemy trembles at our every waking day, the very steps we take the second we rise up should cause the enemy to tremble. As we dwell in His presence, hallelujahs become like arrows pointing in preparation for what’s to come. This starts by the simple acceptance to the invitation, our hands turning the key for the Father’s heart.
“My heart will not be afraid even if an army rises to attack.
I know that you are there for me, so I will not be shaken. Here’s the one thing I crave from God,the one thing I seek above all else:
I want the privilege of living with him every moment in his house, finding the sweet loveliness of his face, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace. I want to live my life so close to him that he takes pleasure in my every prayer. In his shelter in the day of trouble, that’s where you’ll find me, for he hides me there in his holiness. He has smuggled me into his secret place,where I’m kept safe and secure—out of reach from all my enemies. Triumphant now, I’ll bring him my offerings of praise, singing and shouting with ecstatic joy! Yes, listen and you can hear the fanfare of my shouts of praise to the Lord! God, hear my cry. Show me your grace. Show me mercy, and send the help I need! Lord, when you said to me, “Seek my face,”my inner being responded,“I’m seeking your face with all my heart.”” Psalm 27: 3-8 TPT.
~Kristen Kinley
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Kristen Kinley is a junior at App State studying early childhood development family and children studies with a minor in nonprofit management. She is involved in New Life Ministry at Harvest House and is also participating in AFM’s summer leadership program in Zimbabwe. If you would like to help her in her fundraising, you can do so at this link: KRISTEN KINLEY.
“But an angel of the Lord spoke to Phillip saying, ‘Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza’…So, he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch…Then the Spirit said to Phillip, ‘go up and join his chariot.’” ~ Acts 8:26-29
Phillip had a divine appointment. Think about this account in its geographic and cultural context. Phillip is with Peter and John returning to Jerusalem from Sebaste (Samaria). Based on the text, it looked as if he was resting (“get up and go”) and an angel of the Lord spoke to him. His immediate response was obedience. How many times do we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit telling us to do something and we just sit there and debate “was that the Lord’s voice or just my own thoughts.” Or better yet, we debate with the Lord, “Next time Lord, I’m just too tired right now. Can I just rest a little longer?”
But Phillip’s response was immediate obedience. Now granted, the first voice he hears is from an angel of the Lord. So, I’m sure that got his attention. But there have been those times when I know that the Lord has asked something of me and I debate and try to justify non-action.
Think about what the Lord was asking him. “Phillip, get up now. I want you to walk 100 km out into the middle of the Judean desert. I’m not telling you why. Just get up and go!” If I’m honest, I think my response might have been a bit more delayed, but Phillip’s wasn’t. He gets up and he leaves for the desert.
When he gets there, he finds this Ethiopian eunuch sitting in his chariot. And not only does he find him sitting in his chariot on this desert road, he finds him at the precise time that he is reading from the prophet Isaiah about Jesus. Talk about the Lord teeing up an opportunity to share Christ! And that’s what he does, he shares Christ and the Ethiopian eunuch responds in faith.
As I meditated on these verses this morning, I came away with a few things I believe the Lord was revealing to me about himself, myself and his heart for the Nations.
Trust Me Always and Completely
When the Lord asks you to do something, there’s a purpose. It’s either for your good or the good of someone else.
I Am Love
In this account in scripture, we have the Lord asking one of his children to get up from resting and walk 100 km or more to save this guy who the Jews would have considered unclean and an outcast not worthy of entering the Lord’s presence.
My Plans are Precise
The Lord knew the exact time that Phillip needed to leave the villages in Samaria in order to cross paths with an Ethiopian eunuch who was reading a specific portion of Old Testament scripture that was preaching about Christ. He ordered everyone’s steps precisely so that Christ could be preached to this Eunuch and another one of His children could be added to the fold.
When I Ask, Obey Immediately
If Phillip had delayed, he would have missed the opportunity to share Christ through the scripture that the Eunuch was reading out of Isaiah. He might have missed the opportunity all together.
Join me in the Harvest
The Lord is always active calling sons and daughters to Himself. He uses His people by the leading of His Spirit to do this. If we don’t listen and obey, we miss out on the opportunity to partner with him in the Harvest.
Position Yourself First and Foremost to Listen
I believe the Lord has gifted me as a strategic thinker and planner. The thing that has always been my greatest strength has also been potentially my greatest weakness. If I don’t slow down to listen, I can plan the Lord right out of what I think He is doing. What if I lived more like Phillip? What if I positioned myself to listen and respond? How would my life and ministry look differently, if I woke up each morning, settled my heart and simply asked “Ok, Lord, what would you have me do today?”
“Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word..” ~ Acts 8:4
A great persecution had broken out. Everyone except for the apostles were scattered (Acts 8:1). They literally had to flee for their lives. The natural response would have been to hide and just keep quiet. But God does not ask of us the natural response in the midst of trials. He ask of us the Spirit led response.
Psalm 23 says “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all of the days of my life.”
In the midst of Life’s toughest trials, we can rest because we have the voice of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct. We’re not left to our own faculties. The voice was telling Phillip to proclaim Christ to the new community that he found himself surrounded by. The voice was telling the Apostles to stay in a heavily persecuted area while everyone else fled. The voice of the Holy Spirit provided stability and direction in the midst of the chaos. There’s a stability in a life that is submitted to the Lord and to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Don’t you want that life?
“The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts. I myself will go also. Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and pray before the Lord.’” ~Zech 8:21-22
Zechariah calls us to pray for a spirit of hope & urgency to prevail. He calls us for continual prayer that is seeking the Lord’s face & will. He encourages us to join united together in prayer- in the work of extraordinary prayer for *revival.* You hear many people talking about revival nowadays, throwing the term around loosely. But you see very few people who have a heart that is *burdened* for revival.
My question for you is: Are you devoted to asking and praying for the Lord to give you a BURDEN for revival?
I challenge you today. Gather a group & begin to pray to the Lord to give you a burden for revival. Pray together that the Lord would reveal His will to you & that He would pour His spirit upon you. Do this daily, weekly, as much as you can. & when you begin to feel the Lord’s prompting, go into the streets, to the nations, proclaiming & preaching the Kingdom of God at hand. Then watch what happens & how the Lord will use you to set the captives free & revival breaks out.
Spirit-directed prayer opens the way for blessings of the Kingdom of God to come upon the earth with healings, deliverances, salvation, holiness, compassion for the poor & oppressed, & the fruit of the spirit. Above all, God is glorified, worshiped, and praised.
We know that the ultimate battle has already been won (Col 2:15) but we also know the Lord left us work to be done until He comes back to us again. (John 14:12) The battle of this age in time is won in prayer.” — @merippetoe.
“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. NO soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the One who enlisted him.” ~ 2 Timothy 2:3-4
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We are called to be Soldiers of the Gospel and to take His name to the ends of the earth. Soldiers are mission-minded with one objective that they carry from the very one who sent them. Soldiers are active and they are obedient. They are attentive and they are loyal to their Commander. And it is NOT accidental that God’s Word calls for His disciples to be likewise.
Soldiers face death daily; they go through hardship and they endure suffering for what they believe in. They live a life on the battle field and aren’t oblivious to their surroundings. Some of us today are living a life in the middle of war as if we are on vacation: completely careless and ignorant to the spiritual warfare around us and the mission that is set before us. We need to WAKE UP to what is happening NOW! We can no longer sit back and watch as the world is starving and thirsting to know Jesus Christ when we are the ones with the GOOD NEWS! If we don’t tell them, who will????
With that being said, a good solider of Christ is one that is willing to risk it all like a REAL Soldier. Following Jesus costs your life...are you willing to risk your life for the gospel? Are you ready for the battle ahead? Will you obey the very One who is sending YOU? It’s time, soldiers, to be ready for battle and obedient to the mission laid in front of us TODAY! — @carlyorcutt
A Blog by Rob Buck (joy-in-the-journey.com)
Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? (Galatians 3:3 NIV)
It’s taken me decades, but I think I’m beginning to get it. As believers in Jesus Christ, the only way we’re to live is in the flow of the Holy Spirit. We’ve been indwelt by the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ and our life is to be a life of continuing to recognize our spiritual death and depending on Christ’s life within.[1] Any other way of living is a dam against the flow of the Rivers of Living Water within us.
Abiding, walking in the Spirit, depending on Jesus are not just nice suggestions, not just good ideas, but vital to living life the way God intends. After all, Jesus tells us that apart from a life of remaining in Him as our nourishing vine, what we do is worth nothing. I’ve grown tired of wearying myself out doing things to please God in my own strength. It’s a sobering thought to hear what Paul says about our attempts to please God by our own feeble efforts:
I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly. (Galatians 2:21 NASB)
It’s a cool spring morning. The trees are blanketed in leaves and the birds are chirping. The breeze is crisp. As I look down toward the barn, where the hens are scratching, the winter rye is still emerald green.
I recognize the Lord’s nearness. This is not necessarily a feeling, but an acknowledgement of the truth. The Lord Jesus indwells me by His Holy Spirit. He wants me to abide in the flow of His Spirit. This means being about what He wants and not what I want.
He’s all I need. He’s my Great Reward, my One Thing, my Pearl of Great Price. I declare these things because I know they are true, even when I don’t feel them. I also recognize that in spite of the way others might treat me and regardless of what I do or don’t do, the Creator of the universe wants to be with me. He delights in me and was willing to die to be with me forever.
These truths are stunning. Allow them to wash over you and settle into the deep parts of your heart. The eternal truth are greater than our thoughts feelings.
As I walk forward, believing these truths, yielding to Christ in me, longing for what He desires, isn’t this walking in His Spirit?
A humming bird hovers at the feeder a few feet away on the other side of the back-porch screen. Several birds begin to sing melodious songs back and forth. An impatient hen squawks for a nesting box down in the coop.
Lord, guard me from discouragement. I want to focus on you and not on circumstances, but times are hard. A good friend has brain surgery in a couple of hours. They found cancer on Wednesday.
Yesterday, another friend lost a nephew suddenly of a heart attack. He was a young man with a wife and six children. Members of my own family are going through deep emotional pain.
Lord, how do we make sense of it all? I call You near for the comfort of Your presence. You bring joy to my heart.
It’s raining now. Freshly laid zoysia sod soak up the drops. A red headed woodpecker pecker is so long it has to hang under the feeder as it pecks some seeds.
Lord, how do I stay in the flow when I leave this serenity and turn my attention to tasks? Love must lead in the midst of duties. Please keep me from doing anything apart from your leading. I wait upon you as a waiter attends a table. Please teach me how to be attentive to your nearness and your desires.
I’m called away to do something. As a work, I remain conscious of the Lord’s nearness. May every word and deed bring glory to my Savior.
Eating strawberries now. I praise you, Lord, for taste buds and for a wife who cut them up for me and poured on cream. You’ve given me so many things to enjoy! May I rejoice in Your nearness as appreciate life’s moments.
It’s raining harder now. My bride brings me extremely fresh eggs and oatmeal with cinnamon.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law (Galatians 5:16-18 NASB)
Lord, as I seek to walk only by your Spirit, I ask you to show me quickly when self rises up. I know when I insert my-self in any situation the flow of your Spirit in my life is blocked. My flesh is opposite to your Spirit. I never want to hamper what you want to do, so please guide me in bringing self desire, self dependence, self achievements, self glorification, self defense, self whatever to your cross where self was crucified with you.[2]
[1] Galatians 2:20
[2] Romans 6:4-11
