The Devil's Test

The other day while I was reading to my son we began the book of Matthew. And again to keep things "spicy" I have been reading to him from the Message version. Well we made our way to Matthew Chapter 4. where Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit to begin His ministry. Where Jesus begins to walk out the creation of the New Covenant. Up until this point Jesus had done no acts as King and Savior of the world. Yes he as a young boy ministered to people. For He knew the scriptures from birth. But He had not yet begun walking in the fullness of His calling.

As I began the chapter it hit me. Just what the devil was trying to do.... Before I go on let’s take a look together at verse one.

Mat 4:1 MSG  Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it.

Before Jesus could begin to carry out the creation of the New Covenant He had to pass the "Test." It was imperative that He pass this “Test” from the beginning. That is why the Holy Spirit sent Him! When I read this I was reminded of the last time God was in His creative mood. I was reminded of Adam and Eve. So let’s talk about them for a minute.

By all means take the time to go back and read the full story of God and how He made the world and man. But for now we will focus on what Adam and Eve had with God.

Gen 2:8-9 NKJV  The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.  (9)  And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Gen 3:8a NKJV  And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day...

WOW!!! They were given the best of the best! They were the created image of the Godhead. And in that had unhindered access to God. For we see that God would walk and talk with them throughout the day. We also see that God often spoke with Adam. And in Gen 3:8a we see how it was a common thing to have God "walk" in the garden with them.... WOW!!!

Now in the garden they also had the "Tree of life." Though when the devil came to tempt them he used the "Tree of Knowledge" to trip them up. It is often said that if they would have eaten of that tree life they would have lived forever.

In this beginning the devil was also ready to "Test" what God had created. He was ready to bring a deception that would last into this age. The seeds of temptations are ever present from day to day. Each of our "forbidden fruit" may look different from each other, but the temptation nevertheless is still the same. We all know what temptation looks like. Though when I was in bondage to sexual sins I begin to say that I was "addicted" to porn. That’s about the same as saying "I am addicted to eating snow." Both are completely ridiculous. The truth of the matter is that when the devil came with his temptations I willingly bowed to them. why? because what Jeremiah said is true:

Jer 17:9 NKJV  "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

The depravity of my heart, my flesh was feasting in its own filth!!! There is no "addiction" in "temptation"!!!

So where does this leave us? How in the world are we to turn from temptations?... Yes, the answer is as simple as Jesus.

When the devil came to Jesus ready to give the "Test" again he came with a boldness as never before. For he had won in the beginning of the world, and with ever man since the first. He came with a fighting record of "mankind 100% knockouts with 0 losses." That is why Jesus had to begin His ministry there. That is why Jesus had to begin the creation of the New Covenant there. Jesus had to be the one to defeat the devil and his temptations!!!

Mat 4:11 MSG  The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus' needs.

This is the first hope, and the first promise in Jesus! That in Him we can stand pure and holy and leave temptations when they come!!! Now notice how verse 11 says " the Test was over. The devil left." It is for this reason James says this:

Jas 4:7 NKJV  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

We are told to "submit" to God for a reason. Because victory is found in Him! That victory is found in Jesus! For He from the beginning (of the New Covenant) defeated the devil! Turning to Jesus in the midst of temptation is how we "resist" the devil! This is same kind of "turning" that we learn at the beginning of our walk with Christ. For we must "repent" of our sins. That is a turning from them and turning to Jesus. So when we apply this "turning" from temptations of the devil will not only leave you he will "flee" from you!!! Why? Because when you turn away from him and his temptations and turn to Jesus the devil sees Jesus too and the victory He secured from the beginning!!!

It is why in Hebrews we are told this:

Heb 2:16-18 NKJV  For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.  (17)  Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  (18)  For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

Jesus is able to "aid" us because He truly knows what it is like to be tempted! But more than that He truly knows how to defeat temptations! Though He comes to "aid" us, and not deliver us from temptations. We must do our part in the mix. We cannot sit back on the couch watching a scandalous show and say "God I am tempted right now, please take this temptation away." No, we have many biblical examples that teach us otherwise. We have looked at one already. In that we must turn from temptation and turn to Jesus. We also have another example from Genesis 39. When Joseph was tempted by the Pharos wife. He finally turned tail and ran! Again the biblical example to "turn" from temptations and run to Jesus! There are many biblical examples that show us our need to be active in the fight. But our core victory is Jesus!!!

Praise God that Jesus didn’t just stop with defeating temptations! No, He went on to the cross and set us free from sin and death! Where in Him we find new life! See just as Adam and Eve where thrown out of Eden for their sins, we are treated right the opposite! Jesus is the door in which we must pass to Eden! When we pass through His blood we are cleansed from our sins and made eligible to walk in a new life in Him. Where we are given the fruit of the “tree of life.” We through Jesus are given everlasting life!!!! WOW! What redemption we have in Him!

Just as I said it is as simple as saying that Jesus is the answer. For in the beginning of the world the devil did come and through temptations did win a victory that has lasted to the beginning of the new creation. Jesus came to give us life, to set us free, and give us freedom. And He did it from the beginning! We are a new creation in Christ, and therefore the old man has passed away and the new man is alive in Christ!!!

Your Brother in Christ
Grace and Peace be with you
Nate Cook, Setting Captives Free Team Member
www.SettingCaptivesFree.com

And Jesus said to me:
Eze 3:10b-11a  "...Receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears, and go, get to the captives..."

“God in five easy lessons” That's not what He says!!!

When I put my son to bed we have our bed time routine. Part of that is to pray and read the bible. and in doing this I thought I would spice it up a bit. So I have been reading to him from the message version. Well the other night while reading these few verses ministered to me.

Heb 8:10-13 MSG  This new plan I'm making with Israel isn't going to be written on paper, isn't going to be chiseled in stone; This time I'm writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts. I'll be their God, they'll be my people.  (11)  They won't go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons. They'll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great.  (12)  They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.  (13)  By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.

This ministered to me because for the last several weeks God has been speaking to me about how simple things are in His kingdom. It seems like my Way of Purity students have this illusion that freedom is this some far off thing that they hope to one day achieve. That beating this sexual bondage is such a big deal that it “must” take a long time. that they have to learn a new way to beat sexual sins. That their sin is a one-of-a-kind deal, and therefore requires a “process.” This same kind of idea or mind set flows throughout much of the body of Christ over different things.

With this in mind when we see in Heb 8:11 that God doesn’t require us to be schooled by anyone but He will teach us Himself. It goes to show the simplicity of His kingdom. I really like this “buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons” there is no laundry list that we can follow to walk with God. There is no magic formula that gets us there. It all comes down to Jesus and His work on the cross!!! Jesus says this:

Mat 22:37-40 NKJV  Jesus said to him, 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'  (38)  This is the first and great commandment.  (39)  And the second is like it: 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'  (40)  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Then He said this:

Joh 15:13 NKJV  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

That is exactly what He did!!! He laid His life down for us!!! that is how He showed us He loved us. and we see that the first and greatest command is to love our God with all of our heart. that is what Jesus called us to lay down our life (following His example):

Luk 9:23 NKJV  Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

“Follow” Him where? To death! It is said of Jesus:

Php 2:8 NKJV  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

So when we see Jesus saying this:

Joh 14:15 NKJV  "If you love Me, keep My commandments.

We see him saying to love Him like He loved us, to the point of death!

That is the simplicity of it all. there is no magic wand we can wave to set us free. there is no laundry list of things we must do. And there is no need for the “God in five easy lessons” to be bought. There is only a need to love Jesus with all our hearts, and follow Him to death.

Your Brother in Christ

Grace and Peace be with you

Nate Cook, Setting Captives Free Team Member

www.SettingCaptivesFree.com

And Jesus said to me:

Eze 3:10b-11a  "...Receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears, and go, get to the captives..."

Be a David to Someone Else

So I thought that I would try and begin posting blogs again. it has been some time since I have had the time to sit down and write what God has been sharing with me. though by His grace I am finding the time again… praise the Lord.

Though with that today I am posting something that I have written to my fellow mentors/ministers at Setting Captives Free. I hope you will find this a fitting word for you to. Whatever God as brought you through is the foundation for ministry in someone else’s life…. With that here is what I wrote:

I love it when the Holy Spirit speaks to us when we read His words. I never thought that reading the bible like a story book would be so rewarding. But I guess that’s what I get for underestimating the word of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit J… as I continue to read through the bible I am continually struck in awe of things that I never thought of or had never seen before. So this week I would like to share with you something that came to my mind as I was reading in 1 Samuel.

We all know the story of David, and Goliath that is told in 1 Samuel 17. But even though I am sure most of you have been taught this since your days in Sunday School please take the time to read this story again in full from the word of God. There is nothing like getting the story from the original “teller” of the story J.

Though I would like to point out a few things that caught my eye.

In the story leading up to this point David was sent by his father to his brothers. Who were with Saul on the front lines ready to engage in battle with the Philistines. Though they have yet to go into this fight as Goliath kept coming out. And every time he did he struck fear into the hearts of the men…. so that’s the short version J.

With that in mind let us look at what David began saying at this point:

1Sa 17:26 NKJV  Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

Take note, that David is now speaking on behalf of God’s people, and His plan for them…. He is in awe that they fear something that is encroaching on God’s people. Then he says:

1Sa 17:32-37 NKJV  Then David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."  (33)  And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."  (34)  But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,  (35)  I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.  (36)  Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God."  (37)  Moreover David said, "The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"

If you keep reading just a bit you will see where Saul puts his armor on David, and tries to send him out like that. David soon takes that off and falls back on what God has taught him to do his whole life. He went to what seem like a primitive weapon system. He picked up some rocks and used his sling to kill the most feared warrior the army had yet to see. He used God’s plan to fight and not man’s.

Here is where the meat gets good… we have all (probably) see and heard that we all have giants in our life that we will either face now or later… and yes that may be true but that’s not what I want to look at now. let’s take a step back. Saul and his army are out to fight the Philistines when they find themselves in a world of trouble that they were not prepared for. their giant, that they had to face was much bigger than they thought. So what did God do? He sent them help. That’s where David comes in. now notice how God had been training David his whole life for the fight he was about the embark on. God had showed up many times in David’s past to show His great power and strength. David knew God’s delivering power!!! He had seen it and tasted it first had. And therefore his faith was strong in the Lord. Where his fellow brothers could barely stand in the sight of this fight.

Now let us look at this from a mentoring perspective. When I was still in bondage to porn and self gratification that giant was too big for me to face alone. I tried and failed many times.  Though when I began my bible study here at Setting Captives Free my eyes were open, and the Lord began to speak to me. I began to learn and walk with Him again. though as you all know the fight is still on at times. That was where my mentor my “David” came into play. See God knew my fights. He knew my heart, and how I needed someone. so He sent me my mentor…. See brothers you are someone’s “David”!!! You all have seen and tasted the delivering power of God! You know what it like to see God work in your life. A work that has set you free from the mouth of the lions!!! God has trained you and taught you how to fight! that is why He has picked you and sent you the front lines of the battle! Because there are those who come and need that person to stand in faith with them, fire those deadly shots (in prayer) to the enemy, and cover them while God (through Jesus) does the delivering work in them!

Just as God had trained you in this fight, let me encourage you to stick to what God has taught you. just as Saul tried (even in good intentions) equip David, so the world or fellow “good hearted” people will try to “equip” you. we often see this through psychology, and therapy techniques. People often say that us (ministers) are not trained to handle a real problem like sexual addiction. Then they say we need to be trained by them. we need to put on their “armor” for the fight. but that’s is not at all how God deals with things! NO! He has taught you and trained you for this mission. He has given you all you need to walk in victory with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  So let me encourage you to quickly throw off the “armor” of this world (even if offered in good intentions), and follow what God Himself has taught you.

Let me encourage you as you continue to be obedient to Jesus in this call to ministry. I know it can get tough at times. And life can get crazy, but know that you are all a living example of what Jesus can do in a man’s life. You are a living testament of Jesus! that is nothing to take lightly! You have the flame of the Holy Spirit and the power of Christ in you! and your knowledge of His work in you (and others), has grown a faith in you that must be shared! The amazing thing is that you all have answered the call! So be encouraged and lifted up. For you through Christ are a “David” for other men.

If you have time, and would like to share your thoughts on this, or anything else you might read as you read 1 Samuel 17 please feel free.

Be blessed, and be bold for the King!

Your Brother in Christ

Grace and Peace be with you

Nate Cook, Setting Captives Free Team Member

www.SettingCaptivesFree.com

And Jesus said to me:

Eze 3:10b-11a  "...Receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears, and go, get to the captives..."

Practice what He preaches

All,

I would also like to share something that jumped out at me while I was feasting. Last night while reading to my son this verse caught my eye:

Mat 7:24-27 NIV   "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."”

Keep this verse in mind as we look at the beginning of this sermon (the sermon on the mount.):

Mat 5:29-30 NKJV  If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.  (30)  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

This is as you already know is the verse that talks about radical amputation of all things that hinder us or cause us to sin. We can see that if we “put into practice” the act of radical amputation (meaning being active in our fight), then when the storms of sin and temptation comes we can stand firm on our Rock. We can rest assured that Jesus our Rock will hold firm and we can draw our strength from Him and His word.

I hope that your days is blessed, and that you find a new hope and breath of life in Jesus.

Resist to the point of shedding your blood

Just like all men I too get tempted. I wish that I could be completely and totally free from all temptations/sins (this we can only keep hope for when Jesus returns).

The other day while I was feasting I was lead to this verse in Hebrews:

Heb 12:4 NIV In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

 

This was an eye opener for me. As I had to ask myself do I always resist temptations? The answer is no. Then I had to ask, if I do sin, how much more could I have fought to remain pure or free from sin? From reading Heb_12:4 we see that some (primarily me) have not fought/resisted temptation/sin hard enough. I often say "it's just too hard, I am not strong enough to resist." then... I sin. This is showing just how weak my flesh is (or truly how strong the lust of the flesh can be). We should be disciplined enough to resist even to the point of shedding our own blood.

I then was reminded of Jesus, and when sweated blood.

Luk 22:42-45 NKJV  saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."  (43)  Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.  (44)  And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  (45)  When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.

Though we are not told he was being "tempted" we can clearly see that His flesh was putting up one "hell" of a fight. So often my flesh seems to put of a fight to strengthen me to sin (Gal_5:16-17). We are even told in Rom_13:14 to put on Jesus, and make no room for our flesh to fulfill its lust. So when we see Jesus (in prayer) bringing His body into subjection/discipline (1Co_9:27) and resisting what His flesh wanted to do even to the "point of shedding blood" we should be encouraged and lifted up to see such an example of victory. Looking to Jesus here, we see just how to resist even to the point of blood.

I also want to take a quick look at what Jesus was doing the whole time. Please take a look again at Luk_22:42-45. We see that He went to the Father in prayer. So many times I find that when my flesh/sin/temptations spring there little ugly heads up "prayer" is that last place I want to go. But we find that there in prayer we can be and are strengthen to endure to the point of blood... one last look at His prayer. Notice how even after He started praying He was in "agony?" This did not cause Him to stop praying, no it drove Him to pray even more earnestly!

We have seen that though we are tempted we must not just sit there, and take it. Nor should we stand there and just try to say "no" I will not sin. We have seen that we are to be active in our fight against it. That we are to resist to the point of blood.

Every night I read the bible to my son. Here recently I have had the desire to read Judges to him. It is there in those times of feasting that I often hear their Father speak to me too.  Well the other night we read Judges 3, and this jumped out at me.

Jdg 3:1-2 NIV These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (2) (He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had pervious battle experience.)

And again from the Message version.

Jdg 3:1-2 MSG  These are the nations that GOD left there, using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite wars.  (2)  He did it to train the descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art of war.

As I briefly mentioned above in Galatians 5:16-17 our flesh and Sprit war against each other. We also know that our enemy wars against us too. So when I read this verse it hit close to home with me. I thought it a wonderful thing to see that our Father wants to, and will teach us the art of warfare in our fight against sin/temptations. But He goes about it a bit differently then I would expect. I often have been taught in a class room setting. I would first learned the task, then went outside to apply hands on training, then maybe, just maybe I might get to use it in real life.  But our God has allowed us our enemy to remain to teach us the art of war. What we get is the "in your face, real life" fight as our instruction/hands on application..... But this should not get us down, or discourage us. No it should lift us up and encourage us. For during those time our Jesus is ever close to us. For it is Him who is our strength. We saw in Luke that it was an angle that strengthen Jesus, how much more is our strength when it is the Holy Spirit Himself who is with us?

Heb 13:8 NKJV  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Seeing that Jesus is the same always we know that just as He delivered the enemies of God's people into their hands, He will deliver our enemies into our hands. Let this be a hope to us.

Knowing this and seeing how He fought for God's people, leads us to ask how are we to fight?

Eph 6:12 NKJV  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Again in the Message version

Eph 6:12 MSG  This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

Then if our enemy is not of flesh and blood then how do we war?

2Co 10:3-4 NKJV  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  (4)  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

This brings us back to our original look at resisting to the point of blood. Our enemy is the devil. It is through him that our flesh was tempted into becoming fallen. Now we have a flesh that desires the ungodly things. It wars against the Spirit. We have tongue that is set on fire by hell (Jas_3:6). It seems that every where we turn there is a fight. Oh how that can get discouraging!!!! But let us not lose hope. Let us turn our eyes to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith! Let us begin to live in the Spirit so that we may remain strong in the fight of our lives. Let us turn to Jesus so that we may be taught the art of our warfare.

Psa 144:1-2 NKJV  A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle— (2)  My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.

Again in the Message version.

Psa 144:1-2 MSG  A David psalm. Blessed be GOD, my mountain, who trains me to fight fair and well.  (2)  He's the bedrock on which I stand, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight, The high crag where I run for dear life, while he lays my enemies low.

WOW!!! Not only will Jesus teach us how to fight against sin, He is our strength, our hope, our source of life, and our victor who destroys our enemies!!!

In the example that Jesus showed us in Luke, we saw that He turned to the Father in prayer, so we too must turn to Jesus in prayer. He must be the one in whom we "run for dear life" so that He may "lay my enemies low."

Men, brother! I know more than anyone just how hard it is to remain pure and free from sin. This fight against sin/temptation is an ongoing battle in my life. That’s is why I find such strength in His word when I read that He will teach me how to fight, knowing that if I remain in Him He will deliver all my enemies into my hands. Let me encourage you to begin obey this:

1Th 5:17 NKJV  pray without ceasing,

Learn to live in prayer, learn to run to Jesus in prayer, learn how fight in prayer! Follow the example Jesus has showed us and find a new strength to fight against sin/temptations to the point of shedding your blood.

Now there are times (for me all to often) that we do and will sin. And we know that when we sin we must go and seek forgives. Think about this for a minute..... What enables us to be forgiven of all our sins? Jesus' finished work on the cross!

Php 2:8 NKJV  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

We know that our payment for sin comes only through the blood Jesus shed for us. So when we sin, not having resisted to the point of blood, then go back to the Father to seek forgiveness, what are we doing? We (mainly I) are requesting again, and again the use of Jesus' blood to cover where we could not resist (in the flesh) a passing pleasure.

Oh what grace we truly have in Jesus!!! For He knows (and Knew) that we so desperately needed Him and His finished work on the cross. It was in the Fathers love that He sent Jesus for us. It was in Jesus' love that He was obedient even to the point of death. This was all done so that we might have life (free life) in Jesus. This was done so that we might be reconciled back to the Father, and be one with Him as Jesus is.

Let today be the day that we begin to stand strong in Jesus, having a new hope and vigor to remain pure. That we will fight against sin/temptations with all that we have. When it gets tough, and we begin to feel "agony" that we would press in even harder to Jesus. Having done all we could to stand (Eph_6:13) and be obedient to Jesus (out of love) even to the point of shedding our blood, even to point of death.

Dew of Heaven

when i was reading to Ian tonight. we read Gen 27 when i read to him i try and find little things that stick out to me. well tonight this verse stuck out to me the most.

(Gen 27:28 NKJV)  Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine.

as Isaac blessed Jacob he said "may God give you the dew of heaven." my heart leaped as i too want the dew of heaven to fall in my house, in my life, my marriage, my son's life, in my life, in my whole world.

though this is short it is sweet. so i pray that i take the time to seek Jesus, that He (as my Father) may bless me with the "dew of heaven."

Mountain Top

(Gen 22:14 NKJV)  And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

the other night i was reading to Ian before bed. when we came to this part it jumped out at me. and what really hit me was this

"In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

in the mountain of the Lord it shall be provided. several things come to mind. one of course is Jesus. on calvary mount it was provided for us. He shed His blood to pay for our sins. God provided on His mountain.

another thing that comes to mind is how many times do we say something like this "it was a mountain top experience ?" when we feel close to Jesus we always seem to call it being on the mountain top. so when it says "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided." we find that God requires something from us. looking back in the story Abraham was about to sacrifice his son. but he was stopped because he showed great faithfulness to God. and there he found a mountain top experience . i am not saying that every time we must sacrifice something to have this "mountain top experience ." the sacrifice has already been paid, but there are times that God requires us to give up something of ourselves in order to remain obedient to Him.

so let me seek out the Mount of the Lord. let me seek out Jesus on the cross, for there i find the sacrifice and the grace to remain in Him, and He in i.