Impressions From the Lord

This week the Lord has impressed me with a number of different things. I have some of those things listed here for you:

1. Forget not all his benefits

We need to remember that we worship our God for many reasons. One of those reasons is "all his benefits." One of those benefits is: he "heals all your diseases." Do you think that promise might be worth something today and the days ahead? I do. He also redeems our life from the pit and crowns us with love and compassion. If any of us really understood just how very very VERY bad "the pit" is, we would be falling all over ourselves to praise our God more each day. Being "redeemed from the pit" is a very big deal that one day we will understand better. For now, suffice it so say that our God benefits us in many ways today and we must praise him for all he does for us daily...

Psalm 103
1Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

2. See from a new perspective: fresh eyes

The Lord spoke to me about this one as well. What this means is that we should break out of our tendency to fall into the daily rut, seeing things just from our perspective in the ruts of life. We need to step outside ourselves each day and see what we have that many people in the world don't have, we need to look at our lives with "fresh eyes." We need to see the food on our table each day from the perspective of all those who are starving in this world. We need to see the roof over our head today from the perspective of all those living on the streets around the world. We need to look at our quiet and peaceful streets from the perspective of all those threatened with violence each day of their lives. In short, we need to "snap out of it" and give ourselves a dose of reality today. We need to BE THANKFUL for everything we take for granted today. Give thanks to him who created all things and who has taken care of you right up through today. Stop worrying about tomorrow and start giving thanks for what you have today..

2 Cor 10:12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. <---we must step outside of ourselves to be wise....

3. Testimony his word is true, he still answers prayer

Every now and then the Lord leads me to offer a bit of my own testimony. Now is one of those times. I want to tell you that my testimony is that the word of the Lord is true. He has proven to me, without a doubt that his word is the word of God and it can be trusted. He has proven to me that there is wisdom in his word that transcends the words of men. If you consider yourself to be a follower of Jesus, I urge you to take a hard look at the bible and prove to yourself one way or the other what you believe about it. Ask the Lord to give you "eyes that see" so you may understand the riches buried in the word of God.

The Lord would also have me tell you today that he still answers prayers today. He knows what you need before you need it but do you believe that he will answer when you pray to him? Remember that a double minded person, a person who waffles back and forth and does not really know what he believes, that person should expect NOTHING from our Lord. Our Lord answers prayer but he expects faith and belief from us:

James 1:6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

4. Knowing..faith
One of the most powerful or I should say empowering things the Lord reminded me of this week is that our faith is a source of power in our lives. Wherever it is that we are in life, if we believe and have faith that our Lord leads and guides us and answers our prayers, then we know that we are exactly where we need to be today to end up with a good or happy ending to this story called "life." Life can be full of doubts for those who do not believe and doubt is an initiative and motivation KILLER. Satan loves to create doubt because he knows that if he can create doubt in your heart and mind, he can take all the wind out of your sails for whichever direction you might want to travel in this life. When we proceed in life based on faith, we KNOW that we are where we are because the Lord placed us there to prosper. The Lord knows the end from the beginning of all things, he does not think like men do. We can KNOW today, that we are where we are because the Lord has put us there. We can commit ourselves to "growing where we've been planted" today because we know it is the Lord's will for us today. "Knowing" something deep down inside brings power, and power carries within itself transformation. If you don't like your current circumstances, pray, then believe, then act each day in faith that the Lord is bringing transformation.

All we have to do is believe which is another way of saying "have faith." Faith comes from the Lord so if you don't have enough now, ask for more. There is power in faith, faith can move mountains and raise the dead. I am convinced that the only limits we have in life are self imposed limits. We shut ourselves down and place ourselves in tiny boxes in life that our Lord never intended for us. As we discussed earlier, we need to step outside ourselves for a moment, we need to get a fresh perspective on life, then we need to pray and step out in faith and never look back.

Over the past 6 or 7 months, the Lord has spoken to me about things like what you read here today. There is nothing outlandish or "special" about anything here, its all basic fundamentals. I have heard the Lord calling us back to be children once again in our outlook. We need to unlearn everything we thought we knew about the Lord and learn again straight from his word like little children. There are many deceivers in the world today, especially in "churchianity" which is masquerading in the world as Christianity. Who can you trust when the foxes have taken over the chicken coup? You can trust the Lord, that's who you can trust. You can trust men only as far as the Lord gives you discernment to trust them. Remember the guidance our Lord gave us about such things:

Matthew 10:16 "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

What you have read here today are the things the Lord has brought to my attention in recent days. Please keep the faith, believe, stay in the word of the Lord. Please continue to pray for all the brothers and for this brother especially who writes to you today. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you and may he grant you peace....brother d.