When you place your trust in Jesus Christ you are adopted into the house of God. Do you fully grasp what the adoption into God’s family means for you? The God who created all things, upholds all things, who stills the torrent of nature that swirls around you and who rules over all men now looks upon you as His own child. “How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.” Psalm 65:4  God is the super-sufficient provision for your every need. There is great blessing and provision for those who dwell in the house of the Lord. No matter what circumstance you find yourself in you are never forgotten by God. Find peace for your soul as you cling to the hope that is only found in the provision of God.

Hope is brought to bear upon our helplessness by the mighty hand of God. The cravings that we yearn to satisfy, by the mysterious grace of God, are completely satisfied in Him. “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” Psalm 34:8 Have you tasted the blessed provision and refuge of God? Once we have experienced the true and pure satisfaction found in fellowship with God nothing will again satisfy you. The desire of your sinful flesh will strive against your will to proclaim to you that your needs will be satisfied in everything. But God but your hope for yesterday, today and tomorrow must be grounded in that blissful relationship with God for eternal satisfaction. Once you have placed your faith and hope in Jesus Christ to restore fellowship with God you will be able to say, “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water… For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 63:1,7,8

What does it mean when a shepherd king says that the God of heaven and earth is his shepherd? David knew very well what it was like to be a shepherd from all the days and nights spent tending his fathers flocks. Did David have a greater grasp of God’s nature because he already had a shepherd’s mentality or has the shepherd’s heart within him allowed him to grasp a finite part of the infinite God? What was David to his fathers sheep and the people of Israel? David was the help, hope and protection to the  sheep of the flock and the nation of Israel. What is God to us? He will ever be our help, hope and protection every moment of every day.

When Psalm 23 talks about green pastures and quiet waters what is portrayed? We tend to think of the green pastures and the quiet waters as places of peace and quiet where we can relax. What do animals need to thrive? Every sheep needs good food and lots of water. The green pastures and quiet waters are places that cause the sheep to grow and thrive but the bountiful resources will also draw predators to attack the sheep. The Lord enables us to thrive with all we need but we are not excluded from danger; in fact God will allow us to find rest in the midst of the enemies that are hunting us while we eat and drink.

Does the picture of a feast in the midst of an enemy that only seeks your destruction astound you? God is able to do abundantly more than we can imagine and we must trust in Him to endure. We will be renewed and restored in the midst of trouble and calamity because the Lord is our shepherd. When the enemy encloses all around us we will not fear because God is with us. We will find ourselves in deadly peril but God will always be present to protect and rescue us. We will thrive in the midst of danger only because of the power and love of God. It is amazing how we are not involved in the work of God to redeem us: He provides, He protects, He leads, He restores, He guides, He casts fear away, He comforts and He anoints. Stop striving and trust that God will bring you into and out of any calamity you may face because He is God.

When the Israelites were faithfully following God they were given everything they needed. Whether it was water or victory in battle God blessed the people. When the people turn away from God and do not receive a blessing does that mean that God doesn’t love them? When in my life I do not get something is that a sign of a loss of favor with God? Thankfully I know that my salvation is based not upon anything I did but on all that Jesus Christ did. The grace that was extended to me was not based upon anything that I did. There are times when I am disobedient but my value in God’s eyes never changes because of Jesus Christ my savior.

Numbers 22 gives the first half of one of my favorite stories in the Bible. You have the people of Israel heading towards Moab and Balak, the king of Moab, sends word to Balaam desiring him to curse the Israelites. The first messengers from Balak were denied by Balaam because God forbade him from cursing the blessed people of Israel. Balak sends more distinguished heralds to Balaam to convince him to come and curse the Israelites. God allows Balaam to go to Balak but only allowing him to speak the words that He tells him to speak. As Balaam sets out on his donkey God’s anger is kindled because he is going and the angel of the Lord goes and stands as an adversary before Balaam. The donkey that Balaam was riding saw the angel of the Lord and three times turned aside and each time Balaam struck the donkey because it was not going where he wanted. God allows the donkey to speak and she questions why he is hitting her. What would you say if a donkey you were riding started talking to you? God then opens Balaam’s eyes to see the angel of the Lord with it’s sword drawn blocking his way. What thoughts would have gone through your mind if you were in Balaam’s situation? Balaam received a poignant reminder to follow God’s command to only speak what He tells him to say. Chapter 22 ends as Balaam arrives in Moab with Balak.

What kind of man was Balaam? He believed in God and prayed to Him but he was not an Israelite. I wonder where he came from. It is amazing to see how there are people coming in and out of the story told in the Bible who know who the true God like Melchizedek and Balaam. God is so much bigger than what we perceive of Him.

In Numbers 17 God settles the grumbling by having Moses place rods into the tent of testimony from the 12 households of Israel. The rod which sprouted was the person who was chosen and allowed to offer sacrifices before God. The only rod to sprout was the rod of Aaron. This rod was kept in the tent of the testimony as a reminder to the people of Israel of who was allowed to offer sacrifice. Following this confirmation God reaffirms to Aaron the role of his descendants as priests and the tribe of Levi as servants to him in Numbers 18. I will be eager to continue reading the story to see if the grumbling subsides of continues.

What can I apply to my life from this story? When I desire to grumble and complain about what I have or don’t have I need to remember God sovereignty. God ordains or allows everything that happens in my life. It is ultimately nothing I do to obtain anything from God. It is just like how God bestowed the priesthood upon Aaron and his descendants. God can do what He wills. That does not make life easy but if I truly believe that God is in control I can rest and trust in His provision.

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister had left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” but the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

My viewing life in all of it’s stress and worry is my Martha. I am consumed with not having a job and what will happen if I do not have a job. How long can I support myself? Will I find a job in this economy? I live in fear of what may happen to my health. Will I stay healthy? Will my body recover from all the trauma?  Will I get sick again? I am a single guy living in a world that depicts sexual needs as the greatest and utmost thing you can obtain. Will I ever get married? Why do girls have to dress so seductively? How does one overcome the sexual temptations that encompass society? Why Lord? Why, why, why? This is my Martha, I am so consumed by the circumstances of life I have lost focus of what truly matters. Is my worth and value found in my money, health, job, friendship, or love?

Now enters the moment where God shows me a different way to live. For Martha this is where she questions the perceived laziness of her sister Mary. Jesus says to her that she is too worried and bothered about non-important things and she is not focusing on what is necessary. This transformation in my life was brought about in the midst of the worries I held so important. As I healed from all of my illness I was forced to slow down my life and in that slowness I was able to hear God. In those quiet moments I was able to as my why questions in life and God answered me. I had a lot of time to look upon my life think about all of choices whether good and bad that I have made through out my life. In light of God’s truth contained in the Bible I was able to look back at my life and by the Grace of God a mighty transformation occured. Not having a job became a blessing that I had not anticipated because I was drawn to study the Bible with a voracity I have never seen before in my life. This abundance of time time feasting in the Bible and getting to know Jesus Christ has filled me to over flowing spiritually. The biblical truth that I have  seen in scripture time and time again but never applied to my life are now impacting me in a renewed way.

Freedom from the bondage to depression, sadness, and anxiety and my transformation to my Mary came hand in hand. If I would have kept my life view like Martha where I was too concerned about everything going on in life whether good or bad there would be no freedom or renewal. My Mary was formed in the development of a daily time of study in the Bible where I sought God daily and I desired to learn about Truth more than anything. I have been living in this state of Mary where I am now so consumed with Jesus that nothing else matters. I have been transformed into a man who now seeks God above all things. I desire to know Him and the power of His resurrection. I find that my life is being renewed physically, spiritually, and emotionally from this life changing encounter with God allowing me to go through life with renewed passion as I seek out what God has for me.

What does this story about my life change from a person who worries about all things around me, my Martha, to one who is fixated on Jesus, my Mary, have to do with you? I am convinced that the only true way that we can find freedom in life is to know Jesus Christ. This post is for the people who are in bondage. I do not care what type of bondage that you find yourself in whether it is to depression, stress, sickness, pornography, drugs, alcohol, or sex. I stand here today and I want to point you to Jesus Christ as your only way out of the chains that hold you. I can tell you that the process to freedom is not an easy road but if you genuinely seek God you can find freedom.

I exhort you to seek God!

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jude 24-25

I enjoy how in Leviticus and many other books of the Bible we are shown a conversation between God and people and then we see the people act. Moses constantly is getting instructions from God and he is being faithful to followthrough. How can I have that kind of followthrough? I think the first step necessary is to have a relationship with God where we are listening to Him. If I keep to busy my life crowds into view too much and I can lose focus on God.

Can I rest in God and believe that He is able to do what I cannot?

I know that it is easy to say that I can rest in God’s ability and provision but I think that faith is developed over time in a relationship with God. I have been through enough to know that God is able. I cling to those memories of what God has done.

When God became angry with Moses did it show in the way he spoke? Why was Moses so unwilling to go at first? Was it the fear of the crime that he had committed?