Small things train us for greater things and reveal how we will respond in both the big and small. When spiritual opposition comes our way, its activity is meant to provoke spiritual disobedience; and with every instance of spiritual opposition there is a level of predictability of how we will respond.

The predictable measure is God’s Word. The degree to which God’s Word is known concerning the source of the challenge and our role in causing it in the first place, and the degree to which that Word is truly settled in the heart of the believer and is therefore “final authority” in the situation, is the degree to which we are realistically able to obey as the Lord leads us through. Ultimately, such knowledge is a predictor of whether we can obey the Lord, or not.

Biblical obedience is not partial obedience. To obey in part only, effectively means we take control of the rest. Disobedience is seldom an outright thing; more subtly, in the part where desire holds onto human lordship in any area, we struggle for its control and predictably disobey the Word. In areas of life where we fear the worst, a divided heart will struggle to remain enthroned.

Knowledge of God’s Word can change that. We are limited by anything we are not convinced God will handle, particularly in critical or life-threatening situations but also in small things. Knowing His Word convinces the human heart of His power to deliver and convicts the heart that doing it any other way is sin.

Small things reveal our heart. To know the Word in small things and to maintain obedience in those matters is to grow up—mature. Practice in small things matures us for obedience in larger things. Someone has said that peace, shalom, will be the greatest sign upon the life of the Believer in the end-times—peace, despite the greatest pressure and multiplied spiritual opposition. Facing opposition, God’s Word sown in the heart today produces the fruit of mature faith—steady, not moved!

Amen.

Matthew 25:21-23
Zechariah 4:10
1 John 4:4

Today we pray for the Kingdom of God to come and for His will to be done. Our hearts strengthen with expectation and every fiber of body, soul and spirit lean into the Holy Spirit’s leading, prepared for the day.

Prophetically we see what is ahead—the Kingdom and the power and the glory of God, realizing we are called to it! While religious men move according to method, those who are Spirit-inspired move with divine prompting, unction and the witness of the Spirit—born from above and developed in the secret place of the heart, prepared for such a time as this!

Many proclaim the folly of trusting the Lord absolutely and obeying Him fully. Despite such winds of human pride, men and women of God do not flinch nor yield at all to pride’s possibility, but with wisdom’s confidence and strength of spirit discern the times and take the day!

Amen.

Matthew 6:10
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Hebrews 11:8
Esther 4:14
Psalm 10:12-13

The man who has experienced God has invested more than just time to gain the connection; such a man is never at the mercy of the man who argues against the experience. Beyond contradictions by those who only pass by, and beyond the arguments of the staunchly religious who know nothing of the Spirit, lies man’s genuine connection with God—alone with Him, we gain understanding and receive answers: “And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.”

Those who remain outside of what God has for them do so through ignorance—they do not know how to understand or experience Him. Jesus taught God’s Word in parables to those who were able to hear, those who stopped to listen; but even those who stopped to listen, those willing to hear, needed the help of simple stories to grasp truths so wondrous and possibilities so loving as those taught by Jesus: “But without a parable He did not speak to them.”

For the one who truly knows God, the method and level of connection is vital: Jesus explained “all things” to “disciples”, apart from crowds who did stop to listen only to return to routine and familiar “things”.

Amen.

Mark 4

The man who has experienced God has invested more than just time to gain the connection; such a man is never at the mercy of the man who argues against the experience. Beyond contradictions by those who only pass by, and beyond the arguments of the staunchly religious who know nothing of the Spirit, lies man’s genuine connection with God—alone with Him, we gain understanding and receive answers: “And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.”

Those who remain outside of what God has for them do so through ignorance—they do not know how to understand or experience Him. Jesus taught God’s Word in parables to those who were able to hear, those who stopped to listen; but even those who stopped to listen, those willing to hear, needed the help of simple stories to grasp truths so wondrous and possibilities so loving as those taught by Jesus: “But without a parable He did not speak to them.”

For the one who truly knows God, the method and level of connection is vital: Jesus explained “all things” to “disciples”, apart from crowds who stopped to listen, but then returned to routine and familiar “things”.

Amen.

Mark 4

Each day the declaration you make before the Lord is important for the weight it carries into the heavens,
words spoken in faith with a specific objective in mind. Specifically, the Lord speaks to our understanding and as we receive His words, we too speak; we speak in declaration of His will, according to that which we have heard Him say.

“And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:19-21, NKJV)

Peter tells us that having seen and heard what took place at the Transfiguration, He was an eyewitness to that event; and that the prophetic word was therefore more sure, KJV) – the prophetic word spoken beforehand was confirmed (NKJV) – to him. And which, Peter writes, “. . . you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place.”

Words spoken to our spirits – from the spirit of God into our human spirits – carry weight because they are God’s words. He determined before you were born to bless and benefit you and He speaks to you today along that same line in order for you to cooperate with what He is doing at any given time. When God speaks, it’s prophetic; and when you hear Him speak, you have received prophetic words from Him. So take heed to what you have heard!

The prophetic word concerning what would take place concerning the Son of God did take place. Jesus was born; He was crucified, died and was buried. He was raised again to life on the third day. That happened. We see now the prophets were clear, and they were correct in the words they spoke and wrote. They took heed to words spoken to them by the Lord. Taking heed, they believed the words; believing the words, they spoke the words… and the words came to pass. That is the pattern.

Amen.

Note: Write out your declaration today. Do not wait. The Lord will do what He has said He will do. Your words speaking the same thing He speaks concerning the most important matters of your family, business, and nation make all the difference. Also, as you discipline your words to same thing He is saying, your thoughts will line-up and your expectations will, too.

We understand a great deal now from what we see before us. Important details of what our lives will look like a year from now are unfolding. Perhaps the most important detail is our refusal to be moved into a stream that does not reflect the Lord in a pure way but contains instead the sullied waters of compromise.

And be glad those in that stream are not choosing for you. Their choices fall below what is acceptable. It is good they are not making your decisions, or are they?

It happens all the time. Your lifestyle is committed, sincere, and disciplined according to God’s Word; you have paid the price to live a godly lifestyle and have remained single-minded with each step and each new territory gained. Then you become involved with someone not in that same class; and for them, it is NOT that you are needed or even wanted, on a personal level, but it is your presence with them that validates what they are doing, on a spiritual level. They are victims of imaginations that the Lord cannot prosper. Do not align with them.

The grace of the Lord is pure, and His wisdom is “first of all” pure; but those who are faking it do not know that. They have impure motives and no intention of settling the issue of His Lordship, of choosing His grace and wisdom.

The methods that you have been suspecting are not just, are not! Those who choose such methods have, at their core, a plan to benefit and even prosper themselves at the expense of you and others. They are not pure – neither they, nor their methods. The grace they claim is not pure but mixed with contempt for that which is pure, as if purity did not give them fair opportunity to choose purity. Do not go with them.

Amen.

James 3:17
Ephesians 1:11