As I sat to write I had no idea what I was going to write and then I heard the old Rolling Stones song play in my head. I hadn’t thought of that song in literally in years. The song lyrics say, “time is on my side”. Then I felt a prophetic anointing rest on me.

Here is what I believe I am to write to so many of you. You have felt that it’s too late, that your time to be used in a more dramatic way has passed, that circumstances hindered you from stepping toward your dream.

Rejoice my beloved what you thought was just every day life and you had given up . Know this you have not lost one second. I have used everything to mold and shape you Remember John the Baptist he spent his entire life preparing for a very short ministry.

Hear this?  Your time is near, get ready to celebrate. I am about to redeem it all. Is not my name REDEEMER? In the crucible go life I have been preparing you.

• Zechariah 4:10 (ESV) “For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice,”

Yes, time has been on your side. Look at all you have learned? Reflect on what you have learned and then step forward…

In Matthew 13 we find Jesus speaking to the multitudes as well as his disciples about the parable of the seeds.

He tells his disciples that they have been given the ability to understand the parable. Think for a moment you have been given the privilege and honor to understand and to know the ”MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM”.

• Matthew 13:10-11  “And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” 16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear”

Of all the billions of people that have lived and are living today you have been chosen to know him and his ways.

• Philippians 3;10  “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection”

• Acts 22:14 (Amplified Bible) And he said, “The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, [and to progressively understand His plan with clarity and power] and to see the Righteous One [Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and to hear a message from His [own] mouth.”

Think for a moment and then shout for joy…

I just sat down to ask the Lord what was on his mind. A number of years ago I realized he already knew what was on my mind. Though I do pray about all the things my life touches I perhaps am learning to spend more time asking Him what’s on His mind.

As soon as I sat I heard come and sit at my feet. Immediately I thought of the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10.

It’s the story how Martha is busy serving and Mary is sitting at Jesus feet. Martha goes to Jesus to convince Him that Mary should be serving and not sitting, That’s pretty funny that Martha tries to convince Jesus that he needs to straight out Mary. If we are willing to admit it there are times when we pray and we try and convince the Lord to “enlighten” other people to what they should and should not be doing.

Martha is busy, busy serving and this is a trap we all can fall into. We can get so caught up in busyness that just like Martha we get distracted.

Here’s the account in Luke 10:

• 38-40 “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

Christmas is such a beautiful time of year. Yet it can easily become the season that we fall into  the Martha trapdo this and do that. Perhaps as we approach 2021 we can all purpose in our hearts to follow the response that Jesus gave to Martha.

Luke 10:41-42 “And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

How true is that? We get caught up in doing and doing we can easily be ensnared with being worried and troubled by even the smallest thing. We need to break the cycle of “habitual living”.

We need to follow the counsel of Eli who gave these instructions to Samuel when Samuel was hearing God call him.

1Samuel 3:9 “ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.”

A short period of time goes by and this occurs in verse 10.

• :10 “Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”

It takes desire and discipline to learn how to stop the busyness of our lives and sit with Jesus and say, “speak”, for your son, daughter is here and we are willing to listen and then to live out what is being said to us.

A good word for 2021 - “Come sit at my feet”.

It has been less than a week that our “Homeless Shelter” has been open and already my heart has been broken on 2 different evenings. I serve from 11:00pm to 7:00am. For the most part it is quiet until about 6:00am. It is during this time that these extraordinary people will often wake up to use the bathrooms and sometimes they just can’t sleep. Our guests will often begin talking to our  staff. The other time they will talk is in the morning just before they leave.

As they share it often brings tears to your eyes. When you truly listen to these precious people it’s hard not to break down as they share their tragic stories. As I listen I can feel the Holy Spirit working on my heart. He continues to place more compassion, grace and mercy into my life while continuing to remove an attitude of judgement amongst other carnal attitudes and opinions.

You have to wonder how we would have responded and where we would be today if the circumstances that occurred in their lives occurred in our lives. While they are talking there is also another voice taking the opportunity to speak. One thing I have heard very clearly that I have heard before is, “put away your rocks.” 

In John 8:2-5 we find the story of how the religious leaders brought a woman to him who was caught in adultery and they wanted to stone her.

• 2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”

If you remember the story Jesus bent down and started writing something on the ground. I wonder what awe was writing? It says they continued to ask what he would do. Then he said to them:

• Verse 7 “So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 

Jesus continued to write and then they one by one began to leave.

• Verses 8-9 “And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.”

Essentially they put away their rocks. May I encourage each of us to allow the Holy Spirit to take us to a deeper place where we don’t even pick up our rocks…

Musing: Giving your life away

I truly hope you have discovered the joy of giving your life away. If Jesus came to serve shouldn’t we do likewise?

Jesus served:

• Matthew 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Yes, I know there are seasons in our lives that we might not be serving but there are also seasons that we are being called to serve. 

Paul served:

• Philippians 2:17 Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

Have you heard the Macedonian Call? It is calling to each of us.

• Acts 16:9 “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Can you hear “Come over to Macedonia (name your location) and help us.”

Have you heard that you are in needed as Jesus told his disciples that the donkey for him to ride on was needed?

• Luke 19:31O “And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ 

Are you looking for joy? Perhaps we need to consider:

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

Giving your life away is our calling…

For the past few years the Holy Spirit has been emphasizing our identity as sons and daughters of God. While this has been essential to our understand who we are It is also important that we remember we are also priests.

When you think of a priest what is the image that comes to your mind? I normally picture a person wearing a clergy shirt. Every minister that wears a clergy shirt has daily reminder that they have been called to serve in the ministry. I know when I have worn my clergy shirt I am aware everyone knows who I am  and what I represent. You can feel all these eyes on you and truth behold you are much more aware your conduct. You are aware of your attitude and actions. There is no hiding of who we are

In 2 Chronicles 29 Hezekiah starts regaining at 25 years old. One of his first under taking was to assemble the priesthood and have them  reopen the temple and to remove the “rubbish” out of the temple.

• 2 Chronicles 29:3-7 “In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He summoned the priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple. 5 He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary. 6 Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned the Lord and his dwelling place; they turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors to the Temple’s entry room, and they snuffed out the lamps. They stopped burning incense and presenting burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel.”

To be honest taking out the rubbish is an ongoing thing in our lives.

Hezekiah makes it clear his expectations He tells the priest not to neglect their duties as priests. I am hoping all of us might feel the weight of being priests and thus living our public and private lives in a manner fit for the priesthood.

“2 Chronicles 29:11 (NLT) My sons, do not neglect your duties any longer! The Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him, and to lead the people in worship and present offerings to him.”

Yes, we are priests:

• 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;Revelation 5:10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

• Revelation 5:10 “And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

If our final destination is to be priests who are kings and we will reign on the earth we should be practicing now.

In the words of Hezekiah:

• “2 Chronicles 29:11 (NLT) My sons, do not neglect your duties any longer!

When you and I don’t get the answer we wanted how does it affect our attitude. Perhaps one of my favorite stories in the Bible is when 3 very young men “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego” (believed to be between 14-17 years old) were faced with a life and death decision. Literally, it was a life and death decision. 

In the story Nebuchadnezzar, wrote a decree that everyone had to bow and worship a statue of him or be put to death. Imagine you have been taken captive and moved hundreds a miles from your home and then you are faced with the decision to compromise your very core beliefs and live or hold onto your convictions and “die”.

Here’s the story:

• Daniel 3:14-18 “Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

• “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

I love their response to the threat, “But if not… let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

So I am considering how do I respond when God doesn’t answer my needs, I mean real needs. I know this worship is more than singing songs. It’s a surrendered life.

This is Jesus’s response to facing the threat of death:

• Matthew 26:39 “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Yes, worshipping God is expressed when “our will” is overruled by His will…

Jesus’s declaration (ours)?

• John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

• Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do Your will, O my God” If I my add even when His will is different than mine.

What if God chooses not to answer?

Have you ever felt like God didn’t know/see what you are going through? You can feel lonely, discouraged, hopeless, depressed, overwhelmed, lost in a wilderness and a host of other feelings and emotions. 

Here is an unchangeable truth - our God is not blind. He sees everything…

There is a story in Genesis 16 where Abraham and Sarah decide since she can’t have children that they would have children through Sarah’s handmaiden Hagar.

What a disaster trying to fulfill a prophetic word through human reasoning. Hagar runs away and finds herself in the alone in the wilderness. Sound familiar? When we feel like Hagar we can withdraw and go to a wilderness place.

• Genesis 16:6-8 “And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.” Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

I just love those 2 questions. Where have you come from, and where are you going?”  She answers “She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” But God has a spring in the wilderness that we can drink from.

Yes, your Father sees everything and he has a word for all of us in times of great pain and despair. When we read the word to Hagar I wonder if we would like what God speaks to Hagar.

• Genesis 16:9-10 “The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”

Though this was a great promise she still had to return and be subject to Sarah and her harsh feelings toward her. Often the promises of God are birthed in turmoil.

So Hagar says this:

• Genesis 16:13-14 ‘Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi (Lit. Well of the One Who Lives and Sees Me) ;[g] observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Our Father “lives and see us”. He is the God who seesand he has a well of living water for all of us to drink from in every circumstance.