December 7th, 2009 - Hannah and her prayer

I've been enjoying the matter of prayer, specifically with regards to God's administration. While we need the prayer of fellowship and intercession, often we forget about God's need and focus on our needs in the current situation. I was touched that in order to touch God's heart, we need to put ourselves in between God and His need. When we do this, then God must go through us to get what He wants. Often, this is why God puts us in situations; the problem is that we often become consumed with our immediate need which issues out of the situation. The need becomes supreme. The Lord desires for us to see our need in the context of His economy. A beautiful example of this (which was brought out in the Thanksgiving conference) is with Hannah. Hannah had no children, while all the other wives did. It even says that God shut up her womb. Hannah prayed for a child again and again, even desperately, to the point that Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk. Not until Hannah saw her need in view of God's need was her prayer answered. Hannah promised to give her son to the Lord all His life. This son, Samuel, was one who stood for the Lord at the end of the age of the priesthood and into the beginning of the age of the kingship. He was one who was very useful to God. And, this one came out of a sister praying for her need, but not just for her need. She prayed in realization and revelation, praying for her need in the context of God's economy. Again, when we put ourselves between God and His need, He will flow Himself through us to meet His need. This type of prayer is not a mere performance, though; it requires revelation and a seeing of a vision. Lord, meet Your need through us!

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November 22nd, 2009 - Eating, enjoying, assimilating

Last weekend, we had a conference here in Bellevue - the subject was eating God. It was a speaking that was basic, fundamental, and at the same time so fresh and encouraging. There were many good points, but one of the major points, spoken in the first message and reiterated again and again through the conference, was this:

We have to realize the importance of eating in God's economy. God's economy is based on our eating. Actually, when we come to the Lord regarding problems, He is looking for a way to get us, through this problem, to eat Him. Many of us know this, and many times we dutifully do "morning revival", read our Bible, etc. But, why is there sometimes no change in our being, not over months, but over years and decades? The revelation in the conference was with the matter of digestion and assimilation. If we eat, but our being is not open to the food, there is nowhere for it to go but back out. If this is the case, the food eaten has no way to benefit our body or to cause growth. We end up having spiritual "indigestion", leaving no way for Christ as our spiritual food to get into our inward parts. What needs to happen? Opening. Our opening our whole being to the Lord gives Him a thoroughfare within us and affords us proper digestion and assimilation. I enjoyed this prayer, "Lord, I open my whole being to You." Our simple opening, not even knowing or analyzing our true situation, allows the Lord a free way to supply our spiritual being with whatever it needs for growth. This is a salvation to us, it carries out God's economy, and it benefits the saints in His Body. Praise the Lord!

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November 10th, 2009 - Enjoying the pie

I really enjoyed something a brother said at a home meeting the other day. He said, "Have you ever gotten ahold of a slice of pie that you really, really like? Once you get it, you want to sit down and take time to slowly savor each mouthwatering bite. But then, you get a phone call which you have to take. As you listen and converse, you're eating the pie, and when the phone call's done, you look down at your empty plate and realize that you don't remember anything about the pie you just ate. Often we're like this with the Lord - we *intend* to spend time with the Lord, but other things come in. Those other things cause us to miss the enjoyment of the 'pie.' In that case, we're eating the Lord, but we're not really enjoying Him. We have to give Him time where He can have our undivided attention."

Amen!

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November 8th, 2009 - Switching on

A portion I enjoyed from the Life-Study of Galatians:

When you need light at home, you do not pray for light - you simply go to the switch and turn it on. Likewise, if we would receive the supply of heavenly electricity, all we need to do is go to the "switch," our regenerated spirit, and "switch on." However, very few of today's Christians practice this. Instead, many pray to be gentle, patient, humble, or loving. From years of experience I can testify that this kind of prayer does not work. You may pray again and again for the Lord to make you patient or loving , but you may not receive anything of the Spirit. Christians may pray for many things, but they do not "switch on" to receive the divine transmission. Sometimes even after I had learned the secret of switching on, I still prayed in a way that was not effective. I am sure that many of you have had the same kind of experience. Our need is to turn to the Lord, open to Him, and receive His supply of the Spirit.

I repeat, it is not God's intention to make you a good person. It is to make you His son. Ephesians 1:5 says that God has predestinated us to sonship. God's intention is to make us sons. In Galatians 4:5 Paul says clearly that Christ has redeemed us that we might receive the sonship. Verse 6 says, "And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!" The Spirit of God's Son is the reality of sonship. First, God sent His Son to be our Redeemer. Then God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. Now God's desire is to supply us continually with the Spirit.

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October 29th, 2009 - The beauty of the Midwest

Last weekend, Ruth and I got the chance to go to Columbus, Ohio to visit my brother. The fall leaves were really beautiful, and it was good to spend time with my brother and the saints there. One night, we went to a pumpkin festival in a small town names Circleville. During the festival, the whole town basically shuts down so the fair can run along its streets. There are pumpkins (largest was over 1,600 pounds), parades, and lots and lots of food. Deep-fried Oreos, deep-fried pumpkin waffles, pumpkin dumplings, pumpkin ice cream, sausages, hot dogs...you get the picture. You can only try so much before you're totally sickened. It was very intriguing to get a slice of small-town life - the parade with their senators, various orders, beauty queens from pageants around the area, festival sponsors. On our way out, we stopped a bit and listened to some live music. They were performing under a marquee which said "The Greatest Free Show on Earth." Eventually, people started dancing to the music, just having fun. It was quite entertaining.

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