Name Change

December 18, 2008

“… his mother called his name Jabez, saying, ‘Because I bore him in pain.’” (1Chronicles 4:9b)  From birth, Jabez was marked with a name that literally meant – he will cause pain. But Jabez didn’t follow this sad prediction for his future. According to the next verse Jabez called on One who could change the negative prophetic pronouncement over his life. He asked God to change his nature: “Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying -

Oh, that you would bless me indeed,
And enlarge my territory,
That your hand would be with me,
And that You would keep me from evil,
That I may not cause pain!” (V.10, TNKJ)

In the Bible, a name and the nature of the one who carries the name are linked to the destiny God intends. The change of nature Jabez received was a transfusion of the will of God replacing his mother’s careless action when she named him at birth. In effect, God changed his name by changing his nature. From that point on the name Jabez was changed spiritually to mean blessed, enlarged, and kept by God from evil and from causing pain! Even if the name is right but the nature is wrong, God will do the work, if asked. There’s no limit to the possibilities, even the miraculous, when it comes to fulfilling a God-given destiny – no limits whatsoever! All things are possible.

Amen.

Required of Heaven

April 27, 2008

Treasure is stored in our hearts; we are containers of what we believe about the Lord, about ourselves and about others. To the extent what we carry is also God’s heart for a matter, we bear the weight associated with His divine plan. This weight we refer to as “burden”—again, stored in the heart—and in matters of the Kingdom of God, there is no higher calling, no greater task, than to carry the burden entrusted to us by the LORD.

In this all are called. Jesus Christ “holds all things together by the Word of His power”, yet we are given responsibility to vocalize and ‘live out’ that Word, applying it as His earth representatives; otherwise, Heaven’s end finds no earth-connection and the divine plan, though complete in everyway, is plundered by the enemy of God, Satan.

God has appointed His watchers. As earthen vessels who contain God’s treasure, like Moses, we maintain Heaven’s rod of authority, extended over the valley where the fight takes place. We insist upon the will of God while absorbing contempt from the very ones at risk—an added though predicable weight, modeled for us by our Lord. Accusation and contempt are Satan’s ploy to persuade us to give up and leave everyone, even the one whose heart accuses, to enemy devices. Accusation is offense, designed to make us quit.

Here’s the argument: According to the book of Proverbs, our lives must be based on Truth as God has already spoken it; otherwise, wrong beliefs rule as surely as right ones do, and thought patterns inconsistent with the Word of God are recognizable to the powers of darkness—they come swiftly to visit accordingly. The one who is spiritually dull has no idea the fruit of his own actions, looking instead for someone to blame. In such cases, truth is watered down and the spiritually lazy remain ignorant of God’s Word, except to read occasionally, as though recreationally, for passages of solace and ease of conscience.

Here’s the measure: King Saul was insolent, petulant, given to self grandeur, and ungrateful; he despised the innocence of one sent by God, pouting and glaring in mental retaliation; he was self-deceived and thereby bound all in his house. Like Saul, to have no idea day-to-day of humility’s way, and in a moment call on heaven’s best without a hint as to what the Lord requires, desires or limits, is to risk curse rather than blessing, evidenced in a striving mindset, producing inescapable poverty.

Bottom line, the Lord is limited in what He can speak to a man who will not renew His mind to the Word of God, though the man considers himself fit by his own standards, presuming upon God while ridiculing the very ones “burdened” and charged with protecting against destruction. In the natural sense, you can never out-give a “taker”.

If I do not believe according to the written Word I will not gain a supernatural solution, only natural ones. If I believe according to my own word, routine and priority, my solution is skewed and each day adds weight—adds burden.

Thankfully, the Lord is not willing that any should be lost; He sends the burden-bearer who will not relent, but continues announcing truth: God is not blessing flesh apart from the dominion of the spirit; He is not blessing whim or brilliant plans that refuse counsel. There are many voices, including the voices of all these, each perfectly ‘tuned’ to flesh lusts—they are mammon gods and belly gods that speak as reverently as the true voice.

Without God’s Word daily—strongly planted in the heart—all voices sound the same and the outcome is predictable: Since the treasure is wrong, the fruit is wrong and will not survive the presence of the Lord. At issue is not the one charged with carrying the burden; at issue is the eternal weight of the one being carried. The requirement of heaven speaks, and the presence of the Lord comes. When He comes, He settles the issue. His is the last word—always.

Amen.

Ps 119:9-16
Ps 119:9
Ps 119:10
Is 10:26-27
Nu 11:17
Heb1:1-4
2 Cor 4:7
Luke 18:1
Da 4:17
Pro 1:20-23