"Turn Aside And Draw Near"

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn."

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."

Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."

Moreover He said, "I am the God of your father--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Exodus 3:1-6
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I keep coming back to this moment in the life of Moses where he meets with God. It is the moment when he turned aside to check out the flame of fire from the midst of a burning bush. In the process of turning aside he meets with God who tells him to take off his sandals because the place he was standing was holy ground.

Every time I think about this moment where Moses saw the burning bush and turned aside from his day to day to check it out it reminds of my need to do the same. It reminds me of my need to always respond when I see God at work by drawing near to find Him in the midst and to see what He has to say.

As Moses drew near God spoke to him about his need to remove his sandals because the ground he was standing on was holy. Moses not only responded by turning aside to check out the bush but he also responded by removing his sandals and acknowledging the authority of God and His presence in what was taking place.

Today as I read this it reminded me once again to always do the same. It reminded me that God is more than able to draw men close in any way that He chooses and that it is His authority that we as His people need to acknowledge as we draw near in response to His call. This was a life changing moment for Moses and if you and I will do the same it with also radically change how we live our day to day as well.

We need to turn aside and take the time to meet with God. Every time He draws us close either in word or deed we as His people must respond by drawing near, taking our sandals off, and listening with ears that hear. And what I mean by that is this -- If He wants to share something with you He will find a way to get your attention. Sometimes its with a sign, a wonder, or even a miracle and sometimes it with a verse from the word that says to your spirit, "Draw near."

No matter how it happens when He draws us near to meet with us we must respond the same way that Moses did. We must turn aside from our day to day and give Him, not only our attention, but the reverence that He is due as the Great I Am.

Turn aside and draw near today! Don't forget that when He calls your response like Moses should always be, "Here I am."

Runaway Fish Prophet, Part 1

Water lapped against the side of the boat, and the line of passengers slowly moved forward. He glanced over his shoulder. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following him, watching him.

Still nothing there.

He'd been doing this a lot lately.

Jonah took a couple more steps forward. A greedy looking sailor looked him up and down, obviously sizing how much money he was worth before spouting off his price.

"That much?"

"Do you have the money or not."

Jonah held up his hand. "I got it. I got it." He gave the man the money and stepped onto the boat.

He glanced over his shoulder one more time as he walked onto the gangplank.

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Jonah clutched the side of the boat. A blusterous wide tore threw the sails, and he tired to keep his balance. He had been awakened from a comfortable sleep to find this. All around him, men still heaved cargo into the angry waves below.

God had found him.

Based on Jonah 1:1-6

"Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me." Psalm 139:7-10

I seem to quote these verses a lot. Sorry guys.  :)

It doesn't matter what we do to try to dissuade it. God's will will be done. He may have to get someone who is willing to do it. He may have to steer us back on coarse. But He will find someone. Question is, will that someone be you?

Don't avoid Nineveh.

Say what now?

Nineveh. Don't avoid it.

Come again?

Jesus didn't avoid hell. He went there directly for us. He stormed those gates, marched into the depths of that crap hole, and took back the right to our souls.

Jesus didn't run away. Why should we?

If we really want to do God's will, that means we don't run from the things that make us upset or scared. Jonah was trying to get away from the presence of God, and he ran away. He got on that boat to try to out run God, but it's not possible to get away from God. He sent a storm to overtake Jonah's boat to show Jonah that.

Guys, God is everywhere. We can't get away from Him. So if He asks you to do something, it will be like a fire in your bones until you do it. Don't run away from God's call. Don't make Him send a storm after you to get you to listen. If we want to follow in Jesus' footsteps, don't be afraid to follow Him.

V. Joy Palmer

"Foggy Window Oportunities"

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

And Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:1-6

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When I saw this picture the other day I had a thought, and so, here's the thing, and I'm going to get straight to the point. A child always, always, always takes every opportunity to express themselves, even if it is with a foggy window, a lop-sided heart, and an I love you design. How about you? Do you, like this child, take every opportunity offered to you to express yourself to the Lord? When was the last time you couldn't resist the urge to spontaneously express your love for the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit?

And there it is. There is my thought for the day. Take time today to give Him your, "I Love You!" Make sure there is a foggy window opportunity in your life each and every day and that you take advantage of it!  The same way a little child takes each and every foggy window to leave their mark in is the same way you and I, as a child of God, needs to be with our expressions of love for Him. We should never let one pass us by and we should like a little child take every opportunity to tell Him how much we love and appreciate Him. We too should be leaving our mark on the world with our expressions of love for who He is in our lives.

God Bless!

"Come And See"

Psalm 66:1-5

Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!

Sing out the honor of His name; 

Make His praise glorious.

Say to God, "How awesome are Your works! 

Through the greatness of Your power,

Your enemies shall submit themselves to You.

All the earth shall worship You.

And sing praises to You; 

They shall sing praises to Your name."

Come and see the works of God; 

He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men!

Lord, my hearts desire is that we, as Your people, would continue to come and see Your amazing works and that as we do would boldly proclaim Your praises to all the earth! Help us, Lord, to stir up a hunger and a thirst for You and Your awesome works in the hearts of the people of this generation.

Let us come and see You in the midst of all Your awesome works and, Lord, give us a heart to sing out the honor of Your name!

God Bless!!!

Staff of Snack Time Devotions

Do You Have Your Armor?

"Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering that you are." 1 Peter 5:8-9

Do you ever get so busy that you just forget who the enemy is? With the constant bombardment of information that we receive from the TV and our phones, it's no wonder that we get distracted. We tend to forget that, mixed in with all these distractions, are so many little attacks.

They are the little things that we are so used to seeing, like the billboards that we see on our daily commutes, the ones that make us envious of the family that gets to go on that cruise. How about the ones of the perfectly sculpted man or woman that put our self esteem to a new low?

Does that roaring lion strike when you are strong and fully devoted, or does he wait until your concentration slips? When you are too distracted to know that he is right behind you? Our enemy knows what he is doing, he has had thousands of years of experience.

"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

God knows what we go through. He knew before we were even born. He has warned of these attacks, and He wants us to stand strong against them. He even gave us armor!

"This is why you should take God's whole armor; then you can resist when things are at their worst and having done everything, you can hold your ground. Stand, then, with truth as a belt fastened around your waist, with righteousness covering you as a breastplate, and with shoes on your feet, ready to bring the good news of peace. Besides all these, take faith as the shield with which you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take salvation as your helmet, and the Spirit's sword, which is God's Word. Pray at all times in the Spirit, using every kind of prayer. Be alert and keep at it continually as you pray for all the holy people." Ephesians 6:13-18

Are you truthful? Righteous? Do you bring the good news to people? How strong is your faith? Do you wield the Word like Jesus did in the wilderness? Are you always praying?

No wonder we are always under attack. Do you do all of this? I know that I don't. No wonder so many new Christians walk away, we soft-sell Christianity to be just, "Believe in Jesus and you will go to Heaven. Better to be safe then sorry." How unfair to those new believers, they have no idea what they are getting into. It shouldn't surprise us when they fall, not if they walked into this war unprepared.

Genesis 4:7b "... Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you..." Are you ready for it?

Sam

"His Touch"

His touch ... 'Then He took the child by the hand,' His words  ... and He said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise," and immediately she was raised to life and those that brought Her before Him were overcome with great amazement. Mark 5:41-42

How about you? Are ready to be overcome with great amazement? Will you allow His touch, and His words to work the miraculous in your life? Do you have a need that requires His amazing touch? If so ... get ready because you to can...

Step 1. Take your need directly to Jesus as the source of the help you need.

And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.

Step 2. Don't be discouraged or begin to doubt if things begin to happen to distract you from your goal to place your faith in Him!

But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.  Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. ------------And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace."
   While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher."

Step 3. Trust Him and believe in the Word He speaks to you!
 
   But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well."

Step 4. Don't pay attention to or mind what anyone else thinks or proclaims. Trust Him! Get into a place where it is you and Him.

   When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, John,and the father and mother of the girl.
   Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping."
   And they laughed Him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.

Step 5. You in a place with only Him and your need will always result in step number five. His touch and you overcome with great amazement and receiving your miraculous answer!

   But He put them all out, took her hand and called, saying, "Little girl, arise."
   Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.
   And He commanded that she be given something to eat. And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened. Luke 8:41-56

God Bless!!!

We Need Family

It was madness.

Within hours, his lonely little camp of one had exploded into a bustling camp of two hundred and growing. Not that he minded. David was grateful that he wasn’t alone to wallow. This rag-tag only group confirmed what God had spoken over him through the prophet Samuel.

“David!” He turned towards the voice shouting his name.

And froze.

His father stood about thirty feet away. He had tears in his eyes, and a sword strapped to his side. David could see all of his brothers – even Eliab was there! The normally hard set lines of his face were turned up in a smile, and he had a gleam of remorse in his eyes.

His family was here.

David realized he hadn’t moved. Without thinking about what he was doing, he ran towards them. He looped his arms around as many of them as he could. Emotion closed up his throated and choked him. After all this time, after all the ways they had ignored and belittled him, he had to say exactly how he was feeling, seeing them here for him.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Based on 1 Samuel 22:1-2

You guys may remember that last week I did a blog set in these two verses with a bunch of my favorite Psalms. While I was writing that blog, these verses popped out to me. I never found it weird that David’s family came and found him. I mean, if I was in David’s situation, I know my family would be standing there behind me like a poster of unlikely heroes in an action movie.

That’s not how it was with David’s family.

In 1 Samuel 16, David’s father, Jesse, didn’t give David the time of day. He didn’t tell him that Samuel was there to anoint one of them as future king.  None of them even considered that that David could be the one God had picked to be king.

In 1 Samuel 17, Jesse sent David to see how his other sons were faring in the war. When David got there and defended God, his brother Eliab was angry at him, an accused him of just sneaking down to see the battle.

In 1 Samuel 18-22, he marries Saul’s daughter, Michal, moves into/near the palace, and starts a life serving the king with his new family away from his old family. That is, until he has to run for his life without his new family.

We have no reason to believe that David’s family would support him during this time where Saul was bad-mouthing him and plotting to destroy him. But they overcame their differences. They stuck together. They supported him and God’s call on his life.

“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8

David’s family eventually came to this conclusion. They realized that God had ordained and picked David, and that they needed to support him. Can you imagine how happy he was when they showed up to support him? I tried, but I doubt I gave it justice.

Point is, if you’ve got family who is really, truly following God, then support them. Love them. Provide for them and help them. It’s important. We all need our family to be there for us in the hard times.

I love this song about family by Sanctus Real. God bless you guys!

 

V. Joy Palmer