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

It is difficult to say just how critical our connections with other people are. Our paths cross with those from many backgrounds and we are naturally drawn to some more than others. Since the field of acquaintances over a lifetime is vast, it is a good idea to have a basic rule for governing those to whom we will join ourselves.

Read Second Chronicles, chapter twenty-one. When King Jehoshaphat died he left silver and gold to his children but, to his firstborn, he gave the Kingdom—his eldest child became king. Jehoshaphat was a righteous though not perfect king. His legacy should have meant more righteous leadership for the throne of Judah. Instead, his firstborn son “strengthened himself” by murdering his brothers and sisters as well as others connected to Judah’s leadership. In verse six the new king is compared in wickedness to kings of the Northern Kingdom, specifically Ahab—“for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.” To have Ahab’s daughter as wife is to have the influence of Jezebel near—not a good connection. The next verse explains something of how it is that those who insist upon blatant rebellion against the Lord, even to the extreme as in the case of Jehoshaphat’s son, are not destroyed on the spot: “Yet the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever (v7).” The covenant—because of the covenant; protection from the Lord belongs to His people and that protection is so often extended that we may not even realize. The people you choose to associate with are important—your selection is important; one day, those associations may prosper or impoverish you, may cause success or great heartache, even loss.

Here’s the point. Take each association, relationship and covenant before the Lord. Ask Him—then wait and listen. He often impresses His people to cut bonds; if so, cut them, don’t delay. In your heart, make the decision; and then, because the process will take time, ask wise men and women to oversee your walk away from those connections. Righteousness exalts.

Amen.

2 Chronicles 21, New King James Version
2 Chronicles 21, New Living Translation
Proverbs 14:34

We are living in the last of the last days. Difficulties increase at a heightened pace and the ability to reason with, or make sense of, the tack chosen by some as their means to a supposed end, pushes everyone involved to a lower place on the human scale.

The world is shaking. Those who cannot have their way shake more today and make more noise tomorrow, their reality fear-driven. Principles from a loving God are “out the window.” Strife is preferred as a whirlwind that wears down the human spirit—meant  to be that way by an influence from behind the scenes.

But we are not shaken! We are now receiving an unshakable kingdom! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and we diligently release gained wisdom without delay! “The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits (Daniel 11:32).” The enemy-destroyer is Satan but the Lord is Champion and Deliverer; He has prepared His people in advance and we are now proving His Word, given ahead of time for “this time.”

We also realize there are many things over which we have no control. Those things will continue to spin the facts, make it emotional, create confusion, and pull as many as possible into the problem. However, this is where we specialize; in prayer, we take our positions as those “who are on the Lord’s side” to usher in the whirlwind of the Lord. The Lord comes as a whirlwind; His wind is judgment against the act and mercy for the one responsible, both leading ultimately to salvation.

Today, pray into every whirlwind-situation:
1) The Lordship of Jesus Christ, the miracle of deliverance and the will of God for each life – separately, and separate from the situation.
2) Uncovering of deception, declare “a way of escape” for each one, established with a posture of faith that does not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:5).

Amen.

Job chapters 38-40

We sometimes invest years of our lives in something, or someone and later realize the investment is flawed because the relationship, career, or perhaps a philosophy or doctrine is outside of the will and plan of God. Discovering the error we reach for speedy resolve, expecting the Lord to move mountains to heal our trauma and deliver us from evil. He does.

The Lord always moves on our behalf, His ways beyond anything we can ask or think; but also, He allows discipline to work through the opportunity—salvation from ourselves. The heart that invested heavily in the wrong thing will do it again, possibly sooner than anyone might have imagined. The flesh side of triune man is just that way, and the soul is remarkably cooperative; but the spirit, like a spotlight searches the inner depths of the heart to reveal the root cause of mistakes or motives (Proverbs 20:27).

The Lord reaches to deliver you; and in His Kingdom, where deliverance is the norm, time is on your side. So use this time of waiting for your situation to be healed or resolved. Feed your spirit. Wait for the Lord. He is beside you and behind you. You will also find Him just ahead of you—your mistake before was that you did not really set the Lord before you. In fact, you took that position for yourself and did not believe Him, but rather trusted in your own strength to accomplish.

Time is on your side. You did not get into this mess overnight, so what makes you think the exit is quick? If you merely refinance the mistake, you are still stuck. Instead of a refinance you need to re-invest: Change your mind from trying to receive His will for you from the world; instead, learn to receive everything from the Kingdom—His is the Kingdom, and He has gone ahead of you so that you may receive an unshakable Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is not shaking. The Kingdom is steady, dependable. Just receive it; receive His unshakable Kingdom!

Receive.

Amen.

2 Peter 3:9
Proverbs 20:27
Psalm 16:8-11
1 Chronicles 29:11-13
Hebrews 12:28, The Message

“The wicked prowl on every side
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.”
— Psalm 12:8

Much of what we have come to understand about the time in which we live – its meaning in an end-time context, and its specific meaning for the individual – is perceived intimately in each heart, on the basis of personal revelation of God’s Word.

One aspect of an end-time perspective is that evil and wicked men will increasingly prey upon regions and nations with a vengeance, as though the final contest between good and evil were being weighed once and for all, for all time.

That portrayal, in fact, explains precisely the hardship our world is experiencing; and, despite the reality of the hardship “of every side”, the Believer has sufficiency in every way—more of the Lord in our lives and more of His Word proven in our hearts so that we rise above it all to stand in stark contrast to even the darkest of settings. We excel ito exalt the Lord… “among the sons of men!”

Remarkably, our warfare is accomplished by the simplest of truths—the words of the mouth hold death and life, and the thoughts of the heart rise to determine the outcome. The earth is the Lord’s, along with everything it contains. Satan is god only to those who follow his lead but the Believer is possessor of wisdom’s warfare—purity sees as God sees.

Amen.

2 Thessalonians 3:16
Proverbs 18:21
Proverbs 23:7
2 Corinthians 4:4
Psalm 24:1
2 Samuel 22:27
Psalm 18:26
Titus 1:15

There is a tumult in the nations. The psalmist wrote that humanity’s railing against God and His Son-King, and against His rule from Mt. Zion, has been with us since ancient times. Those who despise or ignore the Lord and His righteous decrees are enraged, plotting vain (empty) things in an attempt to de-throne Him. They cannot succeed. Yet for those who know the Presence of the Almighty God and the joyful sound in His camp, who take their stand with Him and with His ancient Jewish people, are blessed: “Blessed are they who put their trust in Him.”

So we pray today: O God, we put our trust in You, we hope in You; in You we strengthen the boundaries and borders of Your choosing. As we pray, we move mountains spiritually; as we pray, we recover all! We declare restoration of that which has been taken, recovery of that which seemingly is lost. We say NO to death, NO to destruction, inviting instead the Presence of Almighty God, the LIFE-GIVER, to rule and restore. As we pray we usher in a covering and a wall of protection for those in danger. Throughout the lands of the north and the south, east and west, we call forth our SONS—we call them up and out; we call them to safety. As we pray we usher in the song of rejoicing, the song of the Redeemed. We look up and see that redemption is drawing nigh! We pray for all those in authority, especially for those who rule in righteousness and by the Word of the Lord. Now, therefore, we call forth the company of those who know God, the valiant ones—those skilled in rescue, possessors of exploits and might, who outwit the enemy of Life; we turn this battle, restore Life, and bring the prophet’s reward to those who believe.

Amen, so be it!

Psalm 2