Paths, Crossroads and Destinys

Path
A trodden way
A track specially constructed for a particular use
A course, or route
A way of life, conduct or thought

Crossroads
A road that crosses over another road
A place of intersection of two or more paths
A central meeting place
A place of decision

Destination
A place to which one is journeying or to which one is sent


There are many paths in life. Paths that people travel everyday. On these paths, we follow people, people follow us, we pass people, and people pass us.

On these paths we come to crossroads where we stand next to many people making decisions at intersections toward the next path. Any yet we often fail to connect.

People are funny when it comes to communication, connection and comfort. If you don’t believe me get on an elevator and just watch. They are like statues. They barely breath, and when you do speak to them most offer a very short respond, and some just a head nod.

Not me … I refuse to remain on planet earth and fail to connect. I want to enjoy life, people and relationships. I want to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right people. Which means that I may have to connect with someone new to move forward.

I recently heard someone say, when God wants to do something new in you life he connects you with people. Then they turned, and said, but when the Enemy wants to do something in your life he also connects you with people.

This is a truth, however, most people get in fear of connecting with the wrong people (fear of the enemy) and fail to connect at all, missing divine appointments.

Fear paralyzes people and keeps them from doing anything or going anywhere.

Fear of connecting with the wrong people, can hinder you from connecting at all. God has created men to fellowship first with him and then one another. He has created men to have relationships on many levels. And the number one attempt of the enemy, is to keep men separated. He does not want men to connect especially men that are In Christ, because he knows that unity commands blessing.

People are reaching out, but they are not always connecting. Face-book, Twitter, Match sites, coffee shops, conferences and seminars. These are all paths people travel daily, and yet often fail to really connect. Some may communicate briefly, like those in elevators, but never really make that connection.

We are amazing people. I hear people everyday talk about how God is always available, how he has time for us. I hear these same people say, “We need to learn to be like God.” Then yes, the same people … seem to never have time to connect.

Recently I had someone call me who talks about the need to connect regularly. They even set up representatives to aide in connection of their organization. But when they called they did not have time to talk. Amazing! Remember they called me to connect. I was available and ready to connect. They were not! That connection can not become strong until our relationship becomes a priority on both sides.

The representatives for this organization also never seem to be available. And certainly do nothing to connect in the sense of reaching out. All this tells people is the system that is set up is not working, and it frustrates those who really desire to connect.

People have to choose to connect. They have to choose to be available.

To connect you must show up, you must be available.
I understand that we are active people. I also know there are but 24 hours in each day. However, if we want to connect, we have to find time. It has to be a priority, just like connecting with God in prayer is a priority … “You know the God who is always available, the one who always has time, the one who is always ready to connect with you.”

When it comes to connections you must be sure that you are connecting with those whom are interested in your vision, or to those whom already have like vision. You also, need to connect with those who are willing to walk together in agreement. You need to find out if you are headed the same direction. Are you are the same course, the same route? If so there may be a possible connection.

Sometimes we come to crossroads, and that crossroad becomes a central meeting place. You have been on a path, someone else has been on yet another path, and now you are standing together at the same crossroad. As each of you gaze into your future to see if possible you are headed the same direction now.

There are times when you are traveling a path, another person is traveling another path and then one day BAM, you are at the same intersection in life. Now it is time to find if you are headed the same direction and need to connect.

Timing is important when it comes to connection!

At these crossroads [central meeting places], you can choose to communicate and locate, or you can just stand off and go your own. But if you will take time to communicate you may find that you need to connect and walk together.

You may find that each of you have something that the other needs. And together you can be great … together you can get to your destination (end vision) more quickly and successfully.

This happened to me once while I was in mission school. A gentleman walked into the class room and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “he has something you need.” Since I had never met this person, did not even know his name. I sorta of pushed it off. Thankfully, the Spirit of God is constant and kind, so he spoke again, the very same message. But now I was presented with a need, the need to connect. How? How was I to connect with this man, and why was I connecting? What did he have that I needed?

I had some choices to make, I could reach out to connect or just remain disconnected to someone whom God said, had something I needed. I could reason everything out. I could ignore the leading of the Holy Spirit and this person that was standing at this crossroad in life with me. I could allow fear to paralyzed me, or I could move forward in faith, attempt to communicate and make a connection. And that is what I did! I stepped out of my comfort zone and into faith. I stepped out against all the reasoning and fears.

During a break in class I made my way over to the gentleman and introduced myself. I then explained to him that I wasn't sure what our connection was, but when he walked into the classroom I felt as if we were to connect.

His respond was amazing. He said, you know as strange as it may seem, when I walked into the room, my eye caught on you and the Holy Spirit said, “she has something you need.” AMAZING! BAM, a connection!

In this case our connections and supplies were in the arena of prayer. We each had a supply of prayer that the other needed for future ministry endeavors. And out of this came also some wonderful times of fellowship, as he was able to spend time at our home while he was in the states (he was stationed in a foreign mission field).

My supply for him, was prayer, fellowship and a place to stay when needed.
His supply to me was in prayer, fellowship and as he stayed in our home, he offered much confirmation concerning our future ministry endeavors.

Each of us had been on a path. Our roads met, and so did we, connection was made. Connections that aided both of us in reaching our destinations.

Pay attention to people while you are traveling along life paths.

• Be sensitive at crossroads.
• Get rid of the fear of connecting.
• Stop reasoning out everything.

If you plug in to the wrong source … all you have to do is unplug. If there is an explosion. God will be there to you pick up the all the pieces and bless every part.

My Hat off to Ravenhill Part 2

John the Baptist and the Fire of God
Part 2
Taken from a sermon
By Leonard Ravenhill

You’ve heard me say this and I say it again, I am scared that when I get to the judgment seat and there are a billion people looking on me that God will say to me, "Son I had many things to tell you, but you couldn’t bear them. You weren’t grown up enough."
-- A man leaves his son millions of dollars. He puts a caution in the will, he says,
"You can’t spend a dime of this until you are twenty years of age.
This money is all tied up until you have enough sense to use it." --
I believe Almighty God is saying that to the Church today. We’ve toiled, rather we’ve trifled with gifts of the Spirit. We are far more interested in the gifts of the Spirit than with the Holy Spirit Himself. And God has treasures beyond our comprehension.

So John moved the people. They say, "What shall we do?" The publicans cry out. They are a bunch aren’t they? Stony-hearted rascals. And yet with the conviction of the Spirit they cry out, "What shall we do?" And John gives the answer in verse 16, he says, "I indeed baptize you with water, but One cometh after me, I am not even worthy to carry His shoes. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire." Or with Holy Ghost Fire.

We talk about the baptism of the Spirit - it’s really the baptism of Jesus. There’s nothing you can get this side of eternity that didn’t come through Jesus Christ. My dear old principal used to call the coming of the Holy Ghost upon us, "The coronation gift of Jesus."

"His fan is in His hand. He will thoroughly purge His floor. But He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. And many other things did he…" I wonder what they were. I wish He’d left a list, don’t you?

Here is a man with no financial backing.
He has no program.
He has the favor of nobody.
He has the Roman army against him.
He has the religious army of the Jews against him.
He has the Pharisees against him.
He has the Sadducees against him.
He has no money (he doesn’t need it) and
he doesn’t have a miracle ministry -- It says very clearly: "John did no miracle" -- Nobody ran after him pleading: "Have mercy on my son he is a lunatic." Nobody cried, "Unclean, unclean, unclean" or "open my eyes," or "I’m deaf," or something. Nobody said that.
He never unstopped deaf ears.
He never opened blind eyes.
He never cured a withered leg or withered arm.
He didn’t raise a dead man -
He raised a dead nation. SINGLE-HANDEDLY.
God has had this man in the school of silence. He’s been talking to God and walking with God and weeping before God. He’s lived with Jeremiah. He’s lived with the prophets. He knew what Isaiah said that one day a man should come in the wilderness crying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Isaiah 35 says that highway shall be called the way of holiness, and that a wayfaring man, though fool, need not err therein.

"He shall baptize you with Holy Ghost and with Fire." God always works with the minority. You’ve got a wonderful list in I Corinthians 15 of people who saw Jesus in His resurrection power. And then it ties the knot at the end of the cotton and it says He was seen of 500 brethren at once. And I am convince in my spirit it was those 500 to whom He says, "Tarry ‘til ye be endued with power." How many went? 120! 380 of them never bothered. It’s always like that. God uses a minority.

There’s only a few people want to go outside the camp.
There’s only a few people that want to die with Him.
The only freedom that lepers had was to walk outside the camp. It was a place where all the sewage of the city went. It was a place where they threw dead bodies and dead animals. It was a stink hole. And the Holiest man that ever lived went outside the camp that you may go inside of it! And Yet you have to whip some people to church almost. If I went to the church they go to I’d want whipping too. Isn’t it tragedy, almost blasphemy to go to a meeting and you say, "Oh, boy that meeting was cold"? "The meeting was so dead." How can you have the living Christ in a dead meeting. Or put it the other way, How can you have a dead meeting if the living Christ is there? How can you go out? After all, our business is to know about eternity, is to talk about a time when there is no bonds and no other stuff materialistic, it’s all vanished. We are going to a Kingdom that knows nothing of these material things, and yet, we are so slack and so careless about the eternal things.

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation army., just about got kicked out of the Methodist church. That day he walked outside and put his arm around his wife’s shoulder, and said, "Darling we are going to raise up an army." "From where?" "We’ll take all the cast off, or drop outs from the churches, we’ll go to the gutter." And he wrote a wonderful hymn:
Thou Christ of burning cleansing flame, send the fire. (We ought to learn that.)
Thy blood bought gift today we claim, send the fire.
Look down and see this waiting host, give us the promised Holy Ghost.
We want another Pentecost, (I am not sure if we do, but we need it.)

To make our weak hearts strong and brave, send the fire.
To live a dying world to save, send the fire.
Oh, see us on Thine alter lay our lives, our all this very day
To crown the offering, now we pray, sent the fire.

Again, "make our weak hearts strong and brave." The only way you can get dross out of gold is put it in a crucible. Today they put it in an induction crucible. You press the button, the heat comes up, the gold sinks to the bottom of the crucible, and a man sits there with a sieve and he takes the scum off the top and throws it out and throws it out. He is there half an hour, then he quits. "Are you tired?" "No." "Why do you quit?" "It’s pure." "How do you know?" "Because I can see my reflection in it."

Doesn’t Malachi say, "When He comes, He is a purifier of Silver?" Who shall abide the day of His coming? Dear God! We talk about one year revival. If we have Holy Ghost Revival, maybe you won’t sleep for the first ten days of it. God will do such a refining, such a purifying, maybe not on your husband or your wife, on you. Fifty years ago the most popular chorus was,
"Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity,
Oh, Thou Spirit Divine, all my nature refine,
‘Til the beauty of Jesus is seen in me,"
The refiner sits there,
He has me in the furnace and He heats it, and He heats it,
and He heats it - and it feels like hell sometimes.
He throws out what He doesn’t like: my pride, my ambition, my secret lust,
my temper, my unforgiving spirit, my stubbornness (we don’t think
much of that, but stubbornness is as the sin of witchcraft in the Word of God.)
He purifies until He looks in me and sees His reflection. He won’t be satisfied with less. He doesn’t come to make me a great preacher, or a great writer, or a great singer, or a great organizer. He comes because He wants to reflect His beauty in my life. Gentleness and meekness and holiness.
The self-life goes out.
Self-interest goes out.
Self-glory goes out.
Self-seeking goes out.
Self-righteousness goes out.
Do you think it’s easy? We have lived with it so long that we like ourselves. And God long ago stopped liking us. And the Scripture talks about the Word of God being a mirror. You know, when revival comes He holds the mirror up and you see yourself.

Remember the old story of Cromwell? An artist begged could he paint him, and Cromwell had a great big wart on his chin. And the artist painted him minus the wart. When he went in he said, "What do you think?" Cromwell answered, "Paint me wart and all! It’s part of me." "Lord paint me, but don’t show me my wart. Don’t show me I am basically selfish, full of self-interest and full of self-seeking,
I am full of pride,
I am full of anger,
I am full of bitterness,
I have an unforgiving...
don’t show me that I am as ugly as the devil." The smart boys today tell you that your trouble is that your self image is so poor, you have such a poor image of yourself. No, your trouble is that you’ve too good an image of yourself! "Paint me wart and all."

He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. William Booth put up his slogan, "Blood and Fire." Studebaker, the carriage and auto-maker, stood in New Castle, Pennsylvania one day, in the late 1890’s. He was saying good-bye to a young man who was the most brilliant university orator in America. His name was Brengle. Studebaker shook hands with him and said, "Brengle, I wish I was as sure of becoming the president of the United States as I am that you’ll become the Archbishop of Canterbury." Studebaker and this fellow had been buddies in college. Studebaker, poor soul, all he did was become a millionaire. This young man with his oratory, went and laid it at the feet of Jesus.

He got to London and to the Salvation Army head quarters tired out; it took four weeks to get there by boat.
"Well, who are you?" William Booth asked. "I am Doctor Brengle." "Doctor Brengle?"
They didn’t need doctors; their theology wasn’t sick.
"What have you come for?" "I heard the Holy Ghost is here. I’ve crossed the Atlantic, I want to be filled with the Holy Ghost. I don’t depend on my theology, my learning. I have a lot of scholarship,
but I need Fire,
I need Fire,
I need Fire!"
William Booth said, "You’ll get it.
Tomorrow morning at five o-clock, you’ll polish the shoes of fifty students."
And none of them had one leg. A hundred big high-top boots! And not spray polish. But Dr. Brengle later said, "It is there God taught me a lesson of patience."

They did not open the door and say, "We were waiting for a talented man like you to teach on the book of the Revelation. We’d like you to lead the prayer meeting tomorrow morning." They said, "Stick your nose down there." Brengle did. And he waited on God and God filled him with the Holy Ghost.

Later, a deaf person was asked after one of Brengle’s meetings why she had come to the altar if she didn’t hear the message. She answered, "Because I could see what I never have seen in a preacher in all my life." "What was it?" "I saw the beauty of Jesus in him while he was preaching. I don’t know what he was saying, but I knew there was something in him I did not have!"

Come on parent, are you living so your children will want something that is in your life, something that is beautiful? Something that they can’t see in school, that they can’t see in a magazine? And they can’t see in church, maybe?

My mother was a role model for me,
my daddy was a role model. The best thing he ever did, he took me to a prayer meeting when I was fourteen years of age. And I remember that night, it comes to me often, often, often.

See, we’ve got the idea that the only reason you have to be filled with the Holy Ghost is you are going to be a missionary. The greatest break down in America is not in brothels tonight, and it is not in abortion, the greatest break down in America is in the home.

It’s not what YOU have to bring to God. It’s what GOD can give you. We don’t have men like we used to have. When Whitefield came from England the population of Boston was 12 thousand and he drew 14 thousand a night without black-topped roads, without restaurants. One man says, "I put my wife on the back of the old mare and I got up, the snow was so deep we struggled up hills and valleys, and finally I got off and just led the horse. And I was soaking wet. There were no pews no shelter, I stood there in the snow and I heard a man who was blazing with God! I never realized till I moved that my trousers were almost stiff with frost, they were wet through and then they were stiff in the frost. We went home. The poor old mare was tired out the next day when we got home, but we turned round and we went back again." Why did they go all that way? Preachers don’t have to do that now. You just get enough money and you get a TV program and poor swell-headed guys think they are turning the world upside-down. And we are as far lost down the pit as we were before we started.

God isn’t looking for organizing. He is looking for agonizing. And he talks about praying in the Holy Ghost. And I want to learn more of that. It’s beyond praying in tongues. And I am not knocking tongues.

What we’ve had in the last 25 years with all the Pentecostal churches we haven’t moved this nation for God. How is it that 120 turned the world upside-down? They’d no money, they hadn’t the screen, they couldn’t throw what they were saying into a million homes.

I am sure in my own heart, what God is looking for is to take total possession
of some men in their spirit, their soul, their mind, their will.

I went a little college, Cliff College. It only had one revival, I wasn’t there. A friend of mine, he was up in years in 1932, and 33. He’d been in World War One. He was a drunkard, a blasphemer, and everything else. A very precious, gorgeous lady lead him to Christ and he fell in love with her, and they fixed a day for their wedding. One day they went to an old Holiness meeting and they were singing, a hymn, but when he came to the stanza:
"Here I give my all to Thee,
Friends and time and earthly store,
Soul and body Thine to be
Only Thine for forevermore."
And he sang it. "Here am I to give my friends." He thought, "She is the only friend I have in the world; we are going to be married in three months. I’ve a house stored with new furniture." And the Lord said, "You want to be filled with the Holy Ghost, it will cost you everything. Postpone your wedding for three years. Give Me all your time. Your earthly store is all the furniture you have for the future, sell it and use it to pay to go to Cliff College."

He went to Cliff College. There were about thirty-five students there, as there were when I went there, thirty-five men. He woke up one morning about two o-clock with a craving for God. Dan Philips, was his name. He came down in his pajamas into the lecture hall , between one and two o-clock in the morning and started crying to God. And he just roared: "Lord, I’m a preacher. Lord I win souls, but my heart is not full of Holiness, it’s not full of love, it’s not full of the power of the Spirit, it’s not full of humility, it’s not full of gentleness, it’s not even full of peace. Send the fire down to this heart of mine." And he cried for about half an hour, and every man in the college left his bed and they were all there in that room in their pajamas crying to God. And the Spirit of the living God came on them. And the Holy Ghost swept through the College for weeks.

He didn’t think when he yielded his life, and his future wife, and all he had in Manchester, the result would be that a whole college revived. We had some of the most brilliant preachers, Samuel Chadwick was there, Joe Brice was there, some of the outstanding preachers of England were there, but it wasn’t through their preaching. It was when a man obeyed God, and tossed the bedclothes on one side and went down in the room that was cold and said, "God I need just the fire of the Holy Ghost, not for tonight, but for all my life. I want to refill my life continually with the Spirit."

It is not enough to be filled with His Holy Sprit ten years ago. I don’t care where you were baptized.
The question isn’t were you filled ten years ago but are you filled tonight?
Are you filled with God tonight?
Are you filled with love tonight?
Are you filled with power tonight?
Are you filled with passion for the lost?
Come on, in God’s name. God is going to bypass us.
You may scream if you’ve gifts, you don’t scream for the fruit. It’s not easy. God will wreck your career. He’ll wreck your life style. But if He does…If you let Him…If He can use you to pour out His revival through, one day the pillar of fire is going to come, and you know what? We won’t need to advertise. There will be such a meekness, such a sweetness, such a holiness, such a gentleness, such a loving kindness – the fruit of the Spirit.

We are going to sing Mr. Hatch’s hymn – a brilliant English preacher, he had a packed church, he had stacks of money, he was the favorite preacher in town. "But one night," he said, "I went into my office, and said, ‘Lord I am not satisfied with popularity, I am not satisfied with the favor of men, I am not satisfied, with my eloquence. Breath on me breath of God.’" And he snatched a piece of paper and he wrote this hymn we are going to sing now.

Maybe you want to meet God in some new way. If you do, why don’t you kneel at your chair while we sing and let others sing it. Kneel somewhere and say, Lord I want something tonight that I’ve never had in my life. I want the destruction of my self-life, my self-interest, my temper, my pride, my fear of man, my fear of the future, my fear of what the relatives will think of me, destroy it.

All hell is looking into this meeting at this moment. All angels are looking in. And Jesus is waiting to see the fruit of the travail of His soul.

-----------
COPYRIGHT/REPRODUCTION LIMITATIONS: This data file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright (C) 1997 by Leonard Ravenhill."). This data file may not be used without the permission of Leonard Ravenhill for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its content with the exception of a few brief quotations. Please give the following source credit: Copyright (C) 1997 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale Texas - http://www.ravenhill.org/

My Hat off to Ravenhill.

John the Baptist and the Fire of God
Taken from a sermon
By Leonard Ravenhill

Luke 3:16

We are going to look into the Gospel as recorded by Luke and the third chapter.

I suppose most of us can quote John 3:16 without looking at it. How many of us can quote Luke 3:16? It’s the other side of the coin, it should be as well known. Well, here it is… in the good King James version.

Luke 3 verse 16: "John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" and in this version, "and with fire:" but the original says: "Holy Ghost fire." Because God is a consuming fire. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of fire. And Jesus said, "I’ve come to bring fire on earth." There is no escaping fire. This is a kind of a cliché of mine, but I still get a lift out of saying it, I believe that tonight the world is going to hell fire because the church has lost Holy Ghost fire, it’s as simple as that.

Between Malachi and Mathew you’ve got
Four hundred years of blackness without any prophetic light.
Four hundred years of stillness without any prophetic voice.
And then suddenly, dramatically, unexpectedly this strange man, John the Baptist, came streaking across a sky that was totally black. The Word says he was a "burning and a shining light." Jesus, the greatest character in history, says, "There was no man comparable to John Baptist." Not Isaiah not Jeremiah not any of those towering saints. He is a very, very remarkable character.

John the Baptist appears in the wilderness. It was not only
a wilderness geographically,
it was a wilderness morally,
it was a wilderness politically,
it was a wilderness religiously.
You see, you go back in the Scripture and you read about Ezrah and Nehemiah. They established a governership over Israel made of a hundred and twenty priests and rulers. These priests and elders ruled over Israel. Four hundred and fifty years they dominated that nation. I say: this was a jungle, theologically.

In 170 BC there was a man with the strange name of Antiochus Epiphanes. You need to look up his name and his relatives. He took over Jerusalem, he polluted the temple, he made the Jews sacrifice to idols, he built a statue of Jupiter where the the altar of the burnt offering should have been. He burnt the Scriptures publicly. He prohibited the worship of Jehovah. And all this horrendous stuff went on. In 37 BC came Herod the Great. He betrayed the nation to the Romans, he fostered immorality, he massacred the noble people, he built that magnificent temple that was standing.

Now with this horrendous background of murder and rape and debauchery and suffering and agony, John Baptist steps on the stage. A remarkable character.

You see, today we try to organize. We try to get a bunch of people together. God never did that. God takes individual men. He takes Moses to the backside of the desert. John the Baptist was in the wilderness until the day of his showing forth.
Jesus, the Son of God who had left the Glory, spent thirty years in training
to minister!
John Baptist thirty years in training.
The apostle Paul at least thirty years.
Moses at least forty years;
and we want to go to Bible School six months and come out like a super prophet! It’s the time factor that kills most of us. Tell me how much time you spend alone with God and I will tell you how spiritual you are.
Not how many meetings you go to.
Not how many gifts you have.
Not how many sermons you preach.
Not how many records you’ve made.

Tell me what time you spend alone with God...
and I’ll tell you how spiritual you are.

The Word here tells me about this remarkable man, John the Baptist, that he was in the wilderness until the day of his showing forth. Going forth at the command of God Himself, of course.

He was in the wilderness, of all places. It says he had his dwelling among wild beasts, ferocious things. The remarkable thing to me, as I read this again today, is this: he had no role model. Elisha had Elijah. Joshua had Moses as a role model. Timothy had Paul as a super model in front of him. And right through the Scripture you find these men that have lived with some giant and they’ve become like him. But this man has no model before him. What did he do wandering on the rocks? "He ate wild honey," it says. And he was with wild beasts… and he was a wild man.

Luke chapter 3 gives you a kind of run down on the awesomness of this man’s ministry. Look this first verse.

"… the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Ceasar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip the tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests,"

That’s about as refreshing as a mouth full of sand, isn’t it? What in the world do you do with it? Except it gives you a framework. "Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests," that’s illegal. They could only have one high priest and they got two. Then came "John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Boy, that’s a dirty thing to preach these days. Who preaches repentance? There is an old hymn that says, Repentance is
"to leave the sins I’ve done before,
and show that I in earnest grieve,
by doing them no more."
Repentance is more than saying, "I’m sorry." Repentance is mental. It’s something in my mind, I’m going this way and I turn that way.
When I’m going this way I’m saying,
"God is in the wrong and I am in the right."
When I turn around I say,
"God is in the right, if He sends me to hell He is in the right."
That is repentance. It’s not just repenting for the sin I’ve done, it’s repenting about the motive that made me do the sin. It’s going past the fruit to the root because if the root of corruption is there, there is going to be fruit coming out that is wrong. Romans 6 talks about having your fruit unto Holiness and it’s talking there to regenerate people, not people that claim to be filled by the Holy Ghost.

John goes out, stands and ministers there. And they come to him. He is a success any way you count it. Geographically - they come from the North and South and East and West. He is a success socially. They came from all levels of society. . He said to the multitude that came to be baptized, "you generation of vipers." Isn’t that pleasant? Do you know anybody who’d dare stand up in the First Baptist or the Last Baptist Church tomorrow morning and say, "You generation of vipers. I’m sick of talking to you." Uh? They would sure take a love offering for him, wouldn’t they? To get him out of town! "Oh generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" He was not only condemning their sin, he was saying, "there is a gate, and when you get through it, it is eternal wrath from God."

We have forgotten about the wrath of God. A friend saw a bumper sticker and you know what it said on it? "Jesus is coming and He is as mad as hell." Sacrilege? No. II Thessalonians 1 says, He is coming in flaming fire in judgment on this world. In other words, He’s as mad as hell. May be it is a bad way of putting it, but it’s the truth. You see, we are all looking for "gentle Jesus meek and mild." The attitude of the average Christian today is relax and be raptured. But He is coming with flaming vengeance on this world. There is a time when His Spirit’s forbearance runs out. There is going to be a day of the vengeance of God. And when God gets angry you’ve no idea what it is. Like a thousand volcanoes exploding. He has appointed a day in which He is going to judge the world
and the poor blind world doesn’t know much about it,
and the poor blind church doesn’t think much about it now.

Let me look at this in Exodus 32. "Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended." It was a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

If you were in London going past where the queen lives and somebody says, "The queen is at home," you would wonder how does he know. Well, because when she is at home the flag is flying, when she is not at home it’s not there. I believe the sign of God’s presence in a sanctuary is the pillar of fire. It’s the living vibration of an Eternal God who stands in the midst and does something you can’t explain. God is beyond definition. I cannot explain Him. I can experience Him. I know when He touches me as I am alone in the night, two or three o’clock in the morning. I know when His Living Presence comes into my office in a special wave of anointing.
But notice He did not come until they went outside the camp!!

There are very, very, few occasions when God Almighty has revived dead denominations. The men who stirred their generations had to go outside the camp. Doesn’t it say in Hebrews 13:12 that
He went outside the camp?! That’s fine, but when it comes to verse 13
you go outside the camp and bear His reproach. Maybe before long God will bring a cleavage somewhere in this city, I hope He does. And you will have to get outside of the camp. You will have to leave your group, and you will have to go join a people who have the anointing of God. They may be poor, and have no stained glass window, and beautiful choir...

I am impressed with this, you may not be, but I am. Verse 9: "It came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle.... And all the people saw the cloudy pillar." Wouldn’t it be wonderful...? Imagine if you could answer your child as one of those Israeli mothers would. Her little boy wakes up at night and says,

"Mommy, sometimes I think of those days we were in Egypt, I think about that terrible journey we made and I wonder what’s going to happen." She puts her arms around him and says, "Darling, you see that? That pillar of fire over there? That’s the holy place. Our Holy God brands it with His presence of fire."

Doesn’t it say in Hebrews that God makes His Angels ministering Spirits, and His ministers flames of fire? We’ve got snowmen in the pulpits with icicles hanging all around. If ever the fire comes there’ll be some melting!

I say again, this man John Baptist has no pattern before him. I believe this man walked up and down amongst the wild beasts, and there he is, he doesn’t eat much. Some big flies, you know, a bit bigger than these horrible things that eat my garden up, grasshoppers. Big, big things, he caught them, put them on a rock and roasted them. Three times a day he had locust burgers. Nothing else to eat except locusts and wild honey. And yet the people come near to hear him. I’ll say it again, for my comfort if not yours: You never have to advertise a fire. Whether it’s spiritual or a physical fire. The most self advertising thing in this world is a fire.

I remember getting home between one and two o’clocka morning in England.
I said to my wife, "Sweetheart, one of the big mills in town is on fire, let’s go. It’s nearly two o’clock, there’ll be nobody there." Everyone in the city woke up with the same idea, so they all went. We couldn’t get within three blocks of the place. I said, "Sweetheart, we’ll go ‘round..." We went around in our little car, you know, those tiny little things. Well, we got half way down the street it was so fierce we could not even stand there, the fire was so terrible in it’s majesty. This huge mill burning.

I wonder how many of us have really seen a man who is on fire for God.

When the Holy Ghost came in the upper room, how did He come? Did He come as a dove? -- When Jesus received His baptism the Spirit came as a dove upon Him. There was nothing in Him to purify. He comes to us in fire because we need purification.
I remember a night in Gillingham, east of London. We rented a church. I’ll tell you who came, if you’ve read "God’s Smuggler," he talks in there about a man called Uncle Hoppy. Well, Uncle Hoppy "hopped" in the meeting that day.

He came in the most broken down automobile I’ve ever seen. He was nuts,
pardon the phrase, but he was sanctified nuts. He came in clothes that were almost
worn out. He bought all his clothes at the Salvation Army. This old car
came wheezing up the street, rheumatism in all the wheels and asthma in
the motor. It was sobbing and groaning as it came up the hill... but he was giving
thousands of dollars away to missions!

He stayed with us for a half night of prayer.

I’ll never forget that night of prayer. There were surgings of blessings. There were times when God so came in power, I was afraid to open my eyes. We started praying at nine o’clock. Between one and two in the morning we were going out. There was an old lady at the back, sitting in a wheel-chair; a white-haired lady. "Oh, brother," she said, (she didn’t know any of our names,) "Wasn’t it wonderful!" I said, "It was." "One of the best... I’ve been in many prayer meetings, this was one of the greatest, most powerful. Wasn’t it wonderful?" I said, "Sure, I said that." "Did you feel anything different about one o’clock?" I said, "Yes, I felt a hand or something came… I felt a quickening in my spirit." "It was just then." "Just then what?" "You didn’t see it?" "No, no, I was with my head down praying." She said, "A tongue of fire came down on the head of the first, went to the next, went to the next, went to the next, right to the end. It was awesome." No wonder everyone of us felt a wonderful insurge of the Life of God... Or the power of God, define it as you will.

You see, there is a great deal of difference between revival and evangelism. I am so sick to death, I hardly read any reports of meetings that come to me. Everybody is getting half of America saved. If you add all the lists of people saved, everybody in America, the whole population has been saved and filled with the Holy Ghost about six times over in the last ten years. And yet we are as dumb and as dead and as damned as we were when we started off.

You want to know what preaching is? Study this third chapter in the Gospel of Luke, and when you’ve read that read the twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles where Paul is standing before a heathen king in a pagan court and says, "God called me to preach." And He summarizes what preaching is:
it’s to open the eyes of the blind,
to turn them from darkness to light,
from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified.

People come to the altar, yes, but meet them at the door and ask what happened. "Oh, ah, ah, ah, ah. I confessed my sins." There is not one evangelist in fifty in America today preaching salvation. They are preaching forgiveness. "Just come and get forgiven." That is not salvation. Jesus came to do more than forgive us our sins.
He came for something more,
He came to rescue us from hell,
He came to rescue us from sin and sinning.
Not just our past sin, but to stop this damnable business that makes God so sad. "He that is born of God does not" N-O-T "does not commit sin." You say it’s impossible not to sin. It is possible for us not to sin.

What happened when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost? What does it say? They were pricked in their hearts. After that Stephen preached. And when he preached the same thing happened. Peter on the day of Pentecost says to the men he had ran away from: "You crucified the Lord of Glory. You killed Him." Stephen says, "You murdered the son of God."

That is preaching. When Nathan the prophet went to David, he didn’t say, "You know, some of you are guilty." Did he? He said, "Thou art the man!"

Oh, people say, "I’d love to go to a Holy Ghost church." Would you? Will you love to hear somebody say, "Hey fellow, listen, last night you committed adultery. You embezzled some money this week. You’ve got a spirit of hatred which God says is as bad as committing murder?" Again, Jesus came not to save us just from sins, but from sinning. When they heard these men, they were pricked in their hearts.

I go back into the third chapter, verse 7, he says, "Oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruit meat for repentance." And quit saying "we have Abraham to our father." Isn’t this nice. He called them vipers and now he says, "God can do as much through stones as through Abraham. Don’t boast of Abraham; if God wants He’ll turn those stones into children to worship Him." That’s pretty much exhausting their theology, isn’t it? In verse 9 he says, "The ax is laid unto the root of the trees, every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. And the people asked him,…" He didn’t ask them! They were so conscious of guilt, they felt as though they had some serpent or scorpion stinging them. They didn’t dare look back because of their sins. They didn’t dare look forward because of judgment. They didn’t dare look round about them, somebody might come pouncing on them. And so they cried out.

This is revival!

It’s not singing some sentimental chorus, then giving the invitation: "Would you like to come? Jesus is waiting, wringing His hands in heaven, He would be so upset if you don’t come." Jesus doesn’t care a hill of beans whether you come or not. He’s done everything He can do for you. You have to do the rest. He is not going to whip you into submission. He is not going to demand, though you sing, "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." It’s on your side to do it. But notice who they were.
Verse 10 The people asked him, "What shall we do?"
Verse 12, "Then came also the publicans to be baptized, and said unto him,
Master, what shall we do?"
Verse 14 the soldiers, they were Romans, they lived in a pagan society,
they’d never seen a man on fire for God. They’d never seen a priest
who didn’t care a bit about his trimmings.

Remember how this man was born. His father Zacharias went into the temple and as he got there to the altar, there was an angel on the right side… And he says to him, "Fear not… your wife is going to bear a son." And God does a miracle to raise that child up. Zacharias did this once in his life only. There is a line behind him of at least two thousand priests, all waiting for the one time in their life when they’ll go in long white garment and enter into the Holy Place. Which is awesome. When he gets in there, there’s a marvelous person by the name of Gabriel: "Fear not. I have a message from God for you."

If you haven’t had it, if you walk with God, one day you will go to a meeting and you’ll think God Almighty is talking to nobody in that congregation but you. Why is He singling me out?
Because you have the ears to hear which you didn’t have before.
Because you have a hunger for God you never had before.
PART TWO

-----------
COPYRIGHT/REPRODUCTION LIMITATIONS: This data file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright (C) 1997 by Leonard Ravenhill."). This data file may not be used without the permission of Leonard Ravenhill for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its content with the exception of a few brief quotations. Please give the following source credit: Copyright (C) 1997 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale Texas - http://www.ravenhill.org/

Thoughts That Came As I Prayed For A Friend Of Mine

As I listened to a friends heart recently. I found these words coming to surface.


These are the words to a song that was written by: Pete Townshend ~ Behind Blue Eyes


No one knows what it's like to be the bad man
To be the sad man behind blue eyes
No one knows what it's like
To be hated, to be fated to telling only lies

But my dreams, they aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance that's never free

No one knows what it's like
To feel these feelings like I do and I blame you!
No one bites back as hard on their anger
None of my pain and woe can show through

But my dreams, they aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours only lonely
My love is vengeance, that's never free

When my fist clenches, crack it open
Before I use it and lose my cool
When I smile, tell me some bad news
Before I laugh and act like a fool

And If I swallow anything evil
Put your finger down my throat
And If I shiver, please give me a blanket
Keep me warm, let me wear your coat

No one knows what it's like to be the bad man
To be the sad man behind blue eyes

If we would learn to listen, we could easily find the heart of men/women. Maybe not in the first few sentences, but eventually their heart speaks.

It is true that a person can lie with words, cover lies with words, cover hurts with words, and even just repeat a nice thought out of a series of words. But the heart will eventually speak out, cry out, or scream out what is really in it!

Jesus lets us know that: "... out of the full store of the heart come the words of the mouth." Luke 6:45 ~ Bible in Basic English

The Message Bible reads like this:
"...The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds."

When I see lyrics to songs like this, of which I am not unfamiliar, I am touched with the pain, confusion and bondage of heart and head. As I hear people sing the songs with passion I hear them too, using these same words to try to sort out their own pain, emptiness and confusion as they cry out for help.

Help that a mere flesh friend or tangible substance cannot offer. The best a friend or substance can offer is a temporary fix that leaves you crying out for another and another. The help that is needed comes from a deeper place, and from a higher source. Yet, help that can be found.

David ... like Townshend had pilgrim moments and wrote pilgrim songs. David was a man, a man after God's heart. Men long for the heart of God, and they cry out in may ways consciously and unconsciously.

David's song went like this:

I look up to the mountains;
does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth and mountains.

He won't let you stumble,
your Guardian God won't fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel's
Guardian will never doze or sleep.

God's your Guardian,
right at your side to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke,
sheltering you from moonstroke.

God guards you from every evil,
he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
he guards you now, he guards you always.
Psalms 121 ~ Message

From the abundance of David's heart words begin to form into song.

I remember years ago, before I had accepted Jesus as the Christ in my heart. I would write poetry. Poetry that was both dark and light. Tainted poetry; tainted with hurt, angry, bitterness, emptiness, and every lust, and yet a light moment would spark and rise from the deep.

Psalms 42:7 speaks of deep crying to deep, and the message translation says this: When my soul (mind, will and emotions) is in the dumps I rehearse everything I know of you (God)...

And I would rehearse everything all my pain on paper ... that was the tainted part, and then from the place of the measure of faith that is given all men with which to believe in God a voice would arise and I would jot a portion of light. I could not rehearse much of the light, I did not know much of God who is light. And man can not rehearse what he does not know.

So many times men are crying out, they are rehearsing everything they know of God, but the sad part is this: most know little about him ... and few know him.

Jesus told his disciples in John 8:19 ... Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father (God) also.

Jesus again voices that even his followers did not yet know him in Joh 14:9 ... when he said ... Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Then in John Chapter 16 Jesus, after being revealed to his followers as the Christ (God), the light embodied. He tells them this in verse 2-3 ... They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
Oh, that men might come to know Jesus, the Incarnate Christ, and call upon him in their time of need. Men who are crying out words as Townshend did in the song "Behind Blue Eyes." Men who need scales to drop and eyes to open that the soul (mind, will and emotions could be freed).

As I gaze back over the words of the song from which we opened this thought, I see a repetitive pattern of "no one knows what it's like."

As in the words of this song, I also hear these words often from those who are not looking to Jesus, or those who are looking to him, but have not yet begin to truly know him by giving their time over to his words and their meditations over to him.

If these who had come saying "no one knows what it's like" had known Him (Jesus), they would understand that "He (Jesus) has not only been touched with the feelings of all their infirmities, but also bore them (took them upon himself), that we might be free of them."

And that He (Jesus) has also refused to leave us here on planet earth alone, but has sent us the person of the Holy Spirit (one just like himself) to help us in our times of need, and to aide us in prayer and meditations when we don't know what to pray as we should. Matthew 8:17, Hebrews 4:4-16 (amplified) Romans 8 also John 14-16 Acts 1-4

Oh, that men might come to know Jesus,
The Incarnate Christ, and call upon him in their time of need.

If you have never received Jesus into your heart by faith. If you do not know Him, you do not truly know light, but you can. Light can be known through the person of Jesus. Simply ask him to come into your heart, to reveal himself to you.

Romans 10:9-10 says:
Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation. ~Amplified

But don't stop with that confession. Get to know Him. How? Spend time in his written Word (The Holy Bible), search the scriptures.

Ps 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Ps 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Give yourself to prayer and meditation of The Word. He wants to reveal Himself to you. But you must be willing to invite Him in. Invite the light into your life. He will never force himself on you. Many religions and their followers force themselves on you, Jesus waits for you to choose Him, to choose the true light. John 1:1-14

May you day be blessed and peaceful knowing that someone ..."knows what it is like."

Notes from a Personal Study

Acts 2:14-21

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.


Now let’s focus on the outpouring … and on the blood, fire, and vapors of smoke.

And let’s begin by going to:
Luke 3:15 and going through in detail verse 15, 16, and 17

15 And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;

*these people were looking for the Christ. They were expecting him to come among them. They were checking out everyone that came along … they did not want to miss him.

16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

*John didn’t take advantage of that situation for followers … NO … He said I am NOT him … but when he comes and he will come among you. He is mightier than me … he can do more than I can do. I am no wise worthy of even being his lowest servant, but when he comes among us, He will come with the Holy Ghost AND with Fire.

Notice it does not say:
He will come with Holy Ghost Or He will come with Fire.

He said with the Holy Ghost AND Fire.

• The Holy Ghost a spirit person (just like Jesus)
• The Fire (power) that comes with that spirit person

17 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

Now notice:

1. Holy Ghost
2. Fire
3. Fan

• The Holy Ghost:

The Spirit person, just like Jesus, who comes to aide us (just as if Jesus was here himself), and empowers us to witness.

• The Fan:

Why a winnowing fork? To blow the chaff from (grain) by wind or a forced current of air To analyze or examine carefully in order to separate the various elements. To sift. To separate, sort out, extract the bad from the good. To eliminate anything that is useless., by fanning as with wings. The fan (like wings) comes through and blows winds that separate chaff from wheat, that which is good and useful, from that which is bad and useless.

• The Fire:

Comes and refines us. Makes us fine or pure. Frees us from impurities, dross, alloy, any useless spiritual, sediment. It purifies and it clarifies ... “to clarify, makes things easier to understand; enlightens us; opens our understanding. Frees us from imperfection, coarseness, crudeness; polishes us, and makes us more elegant, more cultivated. Makes us more subtle or precise (accurate in our choices, decisions and actions). Causes us to be more distinct in our thinking and speaking … that we might be more effective in all of our endeavors.
Makes us ready for the Glory.


The Holy Ghost, makes weights and sins easier to deal with.

When His fan is spread … it aides us in dividing what is of him and what is not.

When the fire comes … it changes people, those who are willing to be changed will be.


In the Old Testament … Fire changed the course of peoples lives, it changed ministries and nations.
Ex. 3:1-2 (read)
Moses came into contact with the fire of God.

When he did: God equipped him with power and signs, wonders and miracles.

How? Moses had tried to do something to help his people with the arm of the flesh in the beginning and it caused death to a man, and trouble to his own soul.

But once the fire came:
He was equipped to deliver the children of Israel.

He was enabled to bring 3 million people out of the bondage.
Now he got them out of bondage, but they still wondered in the wilderness, because of attitudes. The children had murmuring and complaining attitudes, and Moses had an angry attitude.

Thus in the New Testament John come … crying in the wilderness:
*Saying one strong and mighter has come!


When Elisha had an encounter with the fire:
He was enabled to do more miracles than his mentor Elijah.
* A type and shadow of John/Jesus/and the mantle of the Holy Ghost

The fire of God supernaturally empowers us!

Today I am watching and aware that God is changing people’s callings in the sense of empowerment and moving them into their proper position.

He is changing the direction of people’s lives.

He has many in transitions.

He is freeing us to run with this next move of God here on planet earth, by his presence.


He saved us … filled us with the Holy Ghost.
He comes in among us … spreads his wings over us and separates the wheat from the chaff, He rushes through with fire and burns out the chaff and polishes us to receive and reveal his Glory. That others might be saved and likewise changed.


Now recently we have been studying Ephesians 1 & 3, Pauls prayers for the church. Then we went more in depth in Ephesians chapters 4-6 concerning natural changes that are very spiritual and will add to the flow of the supernatural.

Today let’s take hold of the teachings from Ephesians. And also what we have seen in these nuggets and pray for the presence of God to come in among us and bring change to whosoever is of a willing heart, beginning with ourselves.

Let's also prayer, that those who are hard hearted, strong willed, and rebellious. Let's pray that they will become aware of the goodness of God who loves them and wants them to succeed in life.
































Acts 2:14-21

Luke 3:15-17

*expect the presence of Jesus through the person of the Holy Ghost

*be careful not to take advantage of others who follow you because they see Christ in You, but gear them to Him.


Notice:
Jesus comes with: The Holy Ghost and Fire

The Holy Ghost: A Spirit person just like Jesus
The Fire: Power that comes with the person of the Holy Spirit


Not just Holy Ghost and Fire, but also winnowing Fork (fan).

Holy Ghost
Fire
Fan


1. The Holy Ghost:
comes to aide us just as if Jesus himself were here among us, and he empowers us to be a witness and do all the works and more that Jesus did.


2. Why a winnowing fork (fan):
To blow the chaff from (grain) by wind or a forced current of air
To analyze or examine carefully in order to separate the various elements;
To sift
To separate, sort out, extract the bad from the good.
To eliminate anything that is useless., by fanning as with wings.



The Fan like wings comes through and blows winds that separate chaff from wheat … what is good and useful, form that which is useless.


3. The Fire comes and refines us:

Makes us fine or pure;
Frees us from impurities, dross, alloy, any useless sediment, ;
It purifies and it clarifies.
“to clarify … makes things easier to understand … enlightens us …. Opens our understanding.

Frees us from imperfection, coarseness, crudeness; polishes us, and makes us more elegant , more cultivated;
Makes us more subtle or precise (accurate in our choices, decisions and actions)
Causes us to be more distinct in our thinking and speaking … that we might be more effective in all of our endeavors
Burns off the chaff and gets us ready for the Glory


When the Holy Ghost comes:
We have help in dealing with weights and sins

When the fan is spread:
We are aided in dividing between what is good and what is not

When the fire comes:
All who is willing will be changed … all who are not will be dealt with

Overwhelmed

This morning I was meditating on the word "overwhelm". As ministers we see many people overwhelmed with something every single day. Matter of fact anyone with eyes to see can see this as they go about their daily task.

• An "overwhelmed" mother in a department store reacts by lashing out at her young child.
• An "overwhelmed" person signing in at a hotel desk, takes it out their anger on the cashier.
• An "overwhelmed" husband takes out his frustrations on his wife.
• And "overwhelmed" driver causes a collision after having a cussing fit on the freeway.

People need Jesus, and they need to understand the enemies wiles. They also need to be like Jesus, who spoiled principalities and powers making a show of them openly. Jesus was never overwhelmed. He had peace and left peace everywhere he went. Peace that bruised Satan.

As I meditated, I searched the scripture to find that the word "overwhelmed" was mentioned only nine times in the text. I have listed them for you below.

• Job 6:27
• Ps 55:5 61:2 77:3 78:53 102:1 124:4 142:3 143:4

The word "overwhelm" in the Webster defines like this:

• to be upset
• to be overthrown
• to cover over completely
• to submerge
• to be overcome by a superior force or numbers
• to overpower in thought or feelings

Dear friend, God never intended us to live our lives upset, overthrown, covered over, submerged in defeat, overcome by any negative force or host, or overpowered in our thoughts or emotions. And yet, without Christ there is no permanent refuge from these overwhelming issues.

If you are living your life continually "overwhelmed" it is time to surrender your will, and pick up the will of God, to cry out to the Rock that is higher than yourself. It is time to let go and let God into your life. If you have never made Jesus Lord, it is time that you did. If you are an overwhelmed Christian, it is time to relinquish your will over to Him, and pick up the perfect will of God.

It is time to put on Christ. Time to put away the old man and pick up the new one. The one that is at peace; peace with God and peace with men. Might I add ... at peace with ones own self.


Ps 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

The word heart here reads from the Hebrew ... when I am over come with feelings and at the end of my intellect (when I am covered over by darkness and distress) ... lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Phillip Bennett Power says:
When my heart is overwhelmed. Troubles are of various kinds; some are provoking, some are gnawing, some are perplexing, and some are overwhelming; but whatever form they assume, they are troubles, and are part of the wear and tear of life. Overwhelming troubles are such as sweep over a man, just as the mighty billows of the ocean sweep over and submerge the sands. These are troubles which struggle with us, as it were, for life and death; troubles which would leave us helpless wrecks; troubles which enter into conflict with us in our prime, which grapple with us in our health and strength, and threaten to conquer us by sheer force, no matter how bravely we may contend. Troubles that can not be mastered without God. At these times ... lead me to the rock that is higher than I.


Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
The language is very remarkable.

It gives us the idea of a man suffering shipwreck. The vessel in which he has been sailing has sunk. He has been plunged into the mighty ocean; and there he is buffeting the waves, struggling for life, panting for breath, and just about to give up all for lost. Suddenly he discovers a rock towering above him. If he can but climb up to the top of it, and get sure footing upon it, the billows will not be able to reach him, and he will be safe.

Now, the prayer in our text is the cry of that poor wretch for help. He is so spent and exhausted, that he cannot reach the rock himself. He shouts aloud for the friendly hand of some one stronger than himself, or for a rope that may be flung to him by those who are already safe on the rock, if by these helps he may gain it.

Lead me to the rock, cries the poor perishing wretch. "O, lead me, guide me, direct me to it; for I am so worn and spent, that I cannot reach it otherwise. I am at the point to die; and I must sink, and be no more seen for ever, if there is none to help me."

Thus he calls for some one to rescue him from the deep, and to place him on the rock. But what rock? He knows that unless the rock be a high one, he will not be in safety, though he should be on it. The rock, he says, "must be higher than I, or the waves will reach me, and wash me off again."

It is not a rock, the top of which just shows itself above the sea, no higher than a man's own body, that will save the life of a shipwrecked mariner. Such a rock may occasion the wreck, but it will not afford any help to the sufferers afterwards; it is a rock to split upon for destruction, not to stand upon for safety.

"Set me upon the rock that is higher than I!"

We have before remarked, that the prayer of David, as a shipwrecked man, is, to be "led to," and set upon a rock, that is higher than himself. The expression seems to imply much. The rock that is higher than he, must be higher than any man; for David was a mighty monarch. He implies, therefore, that the refuge he seeks must be more than any "arm of flesh;" it must be therefore divine. ~ Condensed from a Sermon by Fountain Elwin, 1842.


If you have been "overwhelmed" by circumstances, or daily situations. If the enemy has tried to cover you over with darkness, to smother you out with defeat. If your feelings have been rising higher than your faith. It is time to cry out to the Rock that is higher than yourself. It is time to surrender and allow God to be your refuge.

Jesus is greater than your highest efforts, attainments, desires, expectations, or conceptions. And he is a present help in times of trouble. Oh, the ways of our Lord are so much higher than of ours alone. Might you allow him to speak into your life; Might you allow him to guide your way, to offer you His peace that passes mere understanding? I pray that you will!

When it seems that your ship is crashing, when you are overwhelmed, will you turn the helm of your ship over to Him and allow him to impart peace and give you rest.

Overwhelmed people are very tired people ... and Jesus has said to such:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. ~ Matthew 11:28-30

Are you tired and heavy laden today? If you are ... Come to Jesus ... He is he Rock that is higher!


*photo licensed on creative commons

Marriage Class # 4 Insights

As we have been holding marriage classes we have had many insights and discoveries. Today we will open some of those insights to you our readers.

The first insight that each person needs to remain aware of is this, "no two marriages are identical."Each marriage, just like each person or family has it's own DNA.

When God created Adam he was created unique, Eve also unique and each person there after was birthed with a personal DNA.

And as a man and woman unite in marriage according to bible truths, they become one flesh. That flesh having it's own individual personality, life, and health.

However, with this knowledge of wonderful uniqueness do not forget ... there is also growth and change, and for areas that need to be strengthened, there are tools to aide in such growth.
Tools spoken of in previous blogs, such as The Word of God, CD series, books, and counsel.

I have previously stated and stand upon a certain fact. The fact is that we should not learn how to fight in a marriage, we should learn how to get along. That is a truth that remains as far as I am concerned, and have not found disputes from other Godly Counsel. Yet, allow me to expound on this some today in our discoveries.

Learning to get along verses learning to fight does not take away from needed confrontations. However, confrontations is not going to a person with eyebrows or fist up. It is exactly what it says ... confronting.

To confront: means to meet face to face when there is a contrast in opinions or beliefs. And a confrontation is useless if it is just to blow up and blow off (that would end in warring or fighting), which I have said, we will not be teaching.

A healthy confrontation in a marriage is meeting face to face to discuss the contrast of opinions and/or beliefs in an effort to come to a peaceful understanding and solution. It is a technique in learning to get along with each other, to leave peacefully, healthily, and happy.

As you are growing together not fighting does not exclude opportunities to fight. You will have plenty ... but to fight is a choice ... not only by one, by two or more. Unless of course you just want to beat yourself us ... but that isn't even a fight, it is simply foolish self destruction.

How do you have an opportunity to fight and NOT? Let me offer a few ideas.

Ladies it is easy for you to overload and get stressed at any given time, but (especially during your monthly cycles, or pregnancy). You know when you are stressing. Instead of fighting ... close yourself into the bathroom and get in a hot tub of bath water. Take a breather, and come out better. If baths are not your thing find something that is ... just take a break.

Don't falter under the deception of ... "I don't have time" ... if you don't take time, you are gonna burn it in a an argument, tears, or fight, therefore, YOU DO HAVE TIME. And do not deceive yourself into believing that you are so necessary that you can't leave something alone for 20 or 30 minutes in order to breath, that is control which is stressful in its own right.

In saying this I am not telling you to leave an underage child along while you lock yourself way for 30 minutes (much can happen in a short frame of time), but you can take this time during children napping or early bed times. Maybe, someone in the home can help (the husband should be the first avenue of help), if not pray for him and confront him properly concerning your needs.

Men it is easy for you to get stressed over finances or your job and you too need outlets. But the outlet is not drawn fist or ugly abusive outburst, it is not even silent treatments. Go for a walk, go fishing, clean the garage if you are not a outdoors man, maybe you need a hot shower to relax. Do whatever it takes to avoid wars that cause division and destruction to your relationship.

While you are walking these stresses off ... you also need to pray. Give the problem over to God. Cast your cares on him ... he does care for you and he wants to help. God is a help in times of trouble. The Holy Ghost that he has sent to us her to walk with us on planet earth is even called our helper. You do have help ... but you must learn to communicate in order to get the help you need, and to get rid of the stress that you don't need to be be carrying around.
Ps. 46:1 ~ I Pe. 5:7 ~ John 14-16

There will be times when you as a husband and wife may be talking and suddenly there is a difference of opinion concerning a topic. Is it worth forcing your issue that could break down your relationship? State your opinion. They can state there's ... and let if go. If it is something that has to be handled in the home, it is decision making time.

How do you make a decision upon a matter where each of you have a difference of opinion?
First pray it out and then weigh it out.

Many times in prayer ... the Holy Spirit will cause one or the other or even both to come to the same conclusion. If not, or if you are having a hard time hearing or yielding to the Holy Ghost weigh it out.

As yourself how will my idea work?
How will it help? How much will it cost? Who will it effect people, and will it effect positively or negatively?

Weigh out both sides ... now decide ... go toward the best overall interest.

Maybe you have an even weight on both sides. That can happen. What then?

If there is an even weight ... go back to prayer stages again. This time if you do not come to an agreement. You still go by way of the Bible. Meaning that Ladies, you will submit to your husbands decision. If he has made the wrong choice, God will still honor and back you in the end.

Don't panic anytime you have to submit even though you may be right, God will always honor your submission. Men if you find that you have made a wrong choice ... God also honors repentance, so ladies learn to forgive without being critical and judgmental, as men repent. No one gets to wear a winners belt when wrong decisions are made. They get to re-do and go with a decision that works.

Ladies if your husband has been right, thank them for their wisdom in the matter. Men if you have missed the mark, tell you wife how much you appreciate her as a wonderful help me given you by God. Compliments go a long way in learning to get a long.

Let me tie this up for those who may not understand submission. Some may have read this last section and said, "Well isn't a woman suppose to submit all the time anyway?" Submission thought of in that right is misunderstood. That would be control. Submission does not mean to be controlled. It does not mean that one gets to control. Submission is a humble, complimentary act. One that keeps legal agreements and relationships in good standing.

And yes women are to submit to their husbands from this stance, but the word of God also speaks many times of submitting ourselves (both men and women) in areas. Submission is not for women alone. Submission again is a humble complimentary act, keeping legal agreements and relationships in good standing.

Remember our key text for a good marriage.
Heb. 10:24 ... let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works.