Mountaintop and Valley Experiences

If you could sing as much in the valley as you do on the mountaintop, or praise the Lord as much  in the valley as you do on the mountaintop, after a while it may seem like there are no valleys.  It seems like most every believer would love to live on the spiritual mountaintop continually.  Living on the mountaintop, so to speak, is great; hardly a care in the world, everything seems to go super great, very few problems, things seem to run smoothly for the most part, yes it is a time to recuperate and be rejuvenated in your walk with the Lord.  

But I think the problem that many believers could face is, if we are in this mountaintop situation too long, we can get very complacent and proud and arrogant and even start taking the Lord for granted.  Our walk with the Lord will be affected possibly very negatively and we will have a hard time growing and an easier time conforming to the world and its system.  I think people get far more sincere in their prayer life and in their walk with the Lord, in general, when they spend time in the spiritual valley.

In the spiritual valley, so to speak, is where I think we will grow the most spiritually.  It is where we realize how desperately we need the Lord, remember this, “unless the Lord build the house, we labor in vain that build it.”  In my way of thinking, unless the Lord build the relationship, or the marriage, or the ministry, or the business, or the city or whatever we try to accomplish, we labor in vain that build it!!  Without the good Lord guiding and leading us, we will never be as effective as we would be with His help.

Maybe that’s why the Bible says this in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in Adonai with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”  We need to be very careful who and what we listen to today and ask the Lord to teach us and guide us into all truth and to bring that truth back to us when we need it!!

I remember one of the times I felt that I was in a spiritual valley, I remember how hard I prayed and how fervently, I was like a desperate man seeking answers that I desperately needed at the time and I was in this situation for twelve to fourteen years before the answer came and I felt I was set free again.  I have never pressed into the Lord like I did at that time in my Christian walk.  My prayer life seemed different plus my walk with the Lord was truly affected in every way because I may have had an urgency and a stronger desire for the things of the Lord at that time.  

When I truly got committed to the Lord about forty years ago, I was so excited and so full of joy, I was witnessing to most everyone I met.  Then I became very miserable, in a spiritual valley experience I was going through which lasted a very long time, I guess I thought I would never come out of it.  One day I felt that the good Lord spoke to me and that spiritual battle was about over, praise the Lord.  

I have been through others since  that and I can say they are no fun, although in the end, they help if you allow them to, because when you see them as experiences to help you grow instead of the Lord giving up on you and being angry with you, just wanting to hurt you, then you will see things altogether differently.  Many people, when they are chastised or going through a test, think that the Lord is angry with them when just the opposite may be taking place.  When Job faced the test that he experienced he wasn’t guilty of sin at the time, so we may not be either.  

I think you got the message!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you all have a super day.

God’s People Young or Old

Let me start with this, if you are lost, God doesn’t need to find you.  If you are lost by straying from the straight and narrow path that leads to God’s kingdom, the Lord is aware of it.  You may feel separated from Him because of your sin and the choice you made to indulge in it, but it is not that God has to find you, He knows where you are at all times.  I know when God walked in the garden, he made this statement in the book of Genesis, “Adam, where are you?”  But don’t kid yourself, God knew exactly where he was, He just wanted him to come out on his own.  God loves you, but your sins, if that is the case, have hidden his face from you so that He does not hear.  God does not change by turning, He is the same yesterday, today and forever and He is not a man that He should lie!!

Read what it says in Isaiah 59:1-2, “Behold, Adonai’s hand is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. Rather, your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.”

Sinning without true repentance, through a change of heart and mind will always separate us from the Lord, just like before we became believers.  If we walk in sin, we have made our paths crooked and we will have no peace, we will walk in darkness and not light and we will lose our strength, because we will lose our joy.  God’s word says that the joy of the Lord is our strength.  We may seek light, but all will seem like darkness.  If we continue in sin with no repentance, we will continue to stumble in broad daylight and become like the dead in desolation.  

But there is good news, just like the Jews received good news when they were walking with hard hearts, for the Gentiles there is also good news.  The good news is that even when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, He loved us so much that He willingly laid down His life for us, no one took his life.  He shed his blood for us and became the sacrificial Lamb of God, praise the Lord, who takes away the sins of the world!!

Think about the prodigal son, after he repented and went back to his father’s house, he said I am not worthy to be called your son, but then how did the father respond?  Please read Luke 15:22-24, “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it! Let’s celebrate with a feast! For this son of mine was dead and has come back to life—he was lost and is found!’ Then they began to celebrate.”

This parable relates to how kind and compassionate and loving our heavenly Father really is!!  You see, God had a plan before He created the world as we now know it, to forgive those who would repent and put their trust in Him.  The blood sacrifices were set up by God in the Old Testament whereby the only way sin could be atoned for was through the shedding of blood.  Please read Hebrews 9:22, “And nearly everything is purified in blood according to the Torah, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

     

If you are a born-again believer and you know that you haven’t sinned and still feel like you’re separated from the Lord, then I would like to encourage you also.  God’s word says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”  Please read Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her nursing baby or lack compassion for a child of her womb? Even if these forget, I will not forget you.”  I know that this is talking to the Jews, but there is no distinction between God’s children that have put their trust in Him.  The word of God says no one can snatch you out of His hands.  

Think of Job’s situation, after all that was said and done, he was blessed abundantly, praise the Lord.  What you are going through may be just a test to see how you will respond.  Let me throw this in, God knows how we will respond, but many times we don’t know even when we think we do, and neither does the enemy of our souls.  Remember when Jesus said, “you will all fall away,” to his disciples in the book of Mark and Peter said, “even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you,” and all the other disciples said the same!!

Please read Mark 14:27-31, “And Yeshua said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I’m raised up, I will go before you to the Galilee. Peter said to Him, ‘Even though all fall away, I won’t!’ And Yeshua said to him, ‘Amen, I tell you, today—this very night—before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.’ But Peter kept insisting exceedingly, ‘Even if I must die with You, I’ll never deny You!’ And they all were saying the same.”

They all fell away, so be careful what you say it may come back to bite you.  Let me throw this in, God chastises those he loves, please read Hebrews 12:5-14, “Have you forgotten the warning addressed to you as sons? My son, do not take lightly the discipline of Adonai or lose heart when you are corrected by Him, because Adonai disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He accepts. It is for discipline that you endure. God is treating you as sons—for what son does a father not discipline? But if you are without discipline—something all have come to share—then you are illegitimate and not sons. Besides, we are used to having human fathers as instructors—and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? Indeed, for a short time they disciplined us as seemed best to them; but He does so for our benefit, so that we may share in His holiness. Now all discipline seems painful at the moment—not joyful. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble! And make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be pulled out of joint but rather be healed. Pursue shalom with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Enough said, I pray this has been a help and a blessing and an encouragement to you. May you all have a blessed day!! 

Backsliding

Oh, how many of us need to be revived once again.  Oh, that a true Holy Ghost revival would take place and shock us out of are complacency.  How many of you would like to return to the old days when you first got started with the Lord, when everything was fresh and new and so exciting?  A time of real refreshing, and peace and joy, a time of a real thirst and a real hunger for the things of the Lord.  When things seemed to run at a slower pace, when reading the word of God was a priority along with praying and rejoicing and praising and witnessing?  When conviction was acted on immediately and not put off.  A time when the blessings of God just seemed to flow to the point that you just wanted to burst forth with praise and adoration, when you just couldn’t hold back from shouting and praising God!!

It may be weeks, months or years since you have experienced these things in your walk with the Lord or maybe you never have.  Lately you may have grown a little weary, a little tired and maybe a little unresponsive to the conviction of the Spirit of God.  Instead of being transformed by renewing your mind in the word of God, you may be starting to conform to the ways of the world, and its deceptive practices are setting in, pushing the things of the Lord in the background, so to speak.

Only you know where you are in your walk with the Lord.  Maybe with the busyness of life, with its trials and tribulation and even persecutions you are being worn down and very discouraged.  I am not writing this to stand in judgement of anyone, I do not walk in your shoes nor do you walk in mine, we are all in this race together.  How we start out is very important, but I think how we finish is even more important.  I am typing to encourage, help and bless all who happen to read or hear this message!!

I think that there are multitudes of people, including me, who need to be revived and renewed in their lives for various reasons.  I think we need to make this known to the Lord through prayer, not that He isn’t aware of it, but I think He likes to hear it from us because I think our concerns, concern Him and it is a way to fellowship with Him.

Please read what it says in Revelations 2:4, “But this I have against you, that you have forsaken your first love.”

Has this happened to you?  Have you forsaken your first love, setting Jesus aside and walking along side of other things that you have made gods  
in your life?  Gods can take on many forms in our lives, so we need to be very careful.   

I think this is the remedy for our backsliding, please read verse 5 in that same chapter, “Remember then from where you have fallen. Repent and do the deeds you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your menorah from its place—unless you repent.”

True repentance is needed, that comes by a change of heart and mind, turning from your sins and turning to the Lord and His way of thinking which you will learn by studying His word and hiding it in your heart that ye might not sin against Him; and seeking His kingdom and not conforming to the things of this world!!  

Everyone that this message is speaking to, needs to repent and return to their first love.  I think these verses say enough, have a super day and may the good Lord bless you with His perfect peace, love and joy, and health and happiness.  While you are at it, give the Lord a shout of praise and thanksgiving for He is worthy!!