“It’s disappearing! The glow that Moses had on his face when he came down from the mountain after being with God — well, it’s disappearing! Maybe if the glow disappears, just maybe, just maybe, this God would disappear too.”

Did Moses think the Israelites reasoned like this? Look at what the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:13 about this scenario.

“We are not like Moses, who put a covering over his face so the Israelites would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end” (2 Corinthians 3:13).

Moses did not want them to see the glory end! He did not want this experience to be a passing phase for his people. What would they do when it disappeared? What would they do at the end? Would they still believe? Or would they doubt and complain and rebel?

So he covers his face.

Paul says earlier, “This new way (life in Yeshua) which continues forever has much greater glory” (2 Corinthians 3:11) than the former way which came with glory and then disappeared.

Don’t cover your faces! Don’t put your lights under a bushel! What is in you has greater glory and will last forever! Don’t be afraid that it will come to an end. It will never!

PRAYER: Father, thank you for Moses and the glory of the former house that you gave to him. Now we thank you for the glory of the latter house. May we live as though we are basking in a glory that will endure forever! That enduring glory will be the greatest testimony of an ever-present God who abides with us forever. Triple Amen!

This morning I woke up with a great sense of encouraging the saints today!

NEED A JOB? “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). You know what that really means? He will supply ALL your needs according to the way it brings Him glory! So today say, “Be glorified in my life, Abba.” In so doing, you work with Him to facilitate your blessing!

DEPRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS? He is the lifter of your head. That means he wants you to say, “Abba, I give you permission to lift my head today and help me to look at all the blessings I have and not at what I don’t have.” That way, you work in tandem with Him to bless you with the things that will help you live a fuller life. “But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head” (Psalm 3:3).

DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIPS? “He is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14). That is so comforting! You do not have to strive anymore. Let Him be your peace and speak to the storms in your life, in your marriage, or in your relationships with your children, co-workers, friends, family. Let’s say to Him, “Abba, thank you for being our peace. I accept your peace and I choose to walk in it today. I know you will give me the words to speak to others today inviting them to share that peace.”

Be encouraged today! You are so amazing to God because He has placed His “amazingness” in you! And just think, if you’re reading this, you know for sure that your Abba has you on His mind! So go ahead and be AMAZING today!

I recently heard a young woman say that after she was saved she felt sorry for satan, so she began praying for him.

I can understand that once you have received salvation that you want others to share in that wonderful experience and the amazing love of God. But I encouraged her not to spend any time praying for him or feeling sorry for him. He cannot be redeemed! He was in the very presence of God. He saw God’s face! There is nothing greater than that!

His name means adversary because that is what he is. God put enmity (hatred) between Eve’s seed and the seed of the serpent. Why? Because he knew that if he did not, we would not hate him. We would feel sorry for him! We would think that he means us good! We would court him and believe all of his lies. Adam and Eve did. They believed the biggest lie of all: “God knows that in the day that you eat of that fruit you will know good from evil and be like God” (Gen. 3:5). They were so deceived by his subtle lies that they did not realize that they were so like God that when God chose to come as a man he came as Adam — the second Adam.

We have so much to pray for — let’s pray for those who are falling prey to satan’s lies and manipulation, not for the Father of all Lies whose end is sure!

PRAYER: Father, you are so just and righteous that we trust your sovereignty in the adversary’s eternal destruction. We pray for those who have been beguiled by his lies. Open our eyes so that we may see the truth and not be swept away into a damnation that belongs to him and his angels, not to us — the ones made in your image. Amen.

Hurricane Irene is past, leaving billions of dollars worth of damage and a few deaths in her wake. Hurricane Katia loses speed far out at sea but forecasters believed she could regain strength. Tropical Storm Lee pours torrential rain upon the panhandle states, spawning twisters in its travels.
Fires ravage thousands of acres of Texas, incinerating trees, houses — anything in its path.

The Apostle Paul knew that this time would come. Since The Fall of Man, creation has been experiencing pangs. 2000 years ago, Paul said, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” He goes on to say that, “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23).

Wow! We are groaning! Did you know it? That’s why we ache. That’s why we have pain and disease. That’s why we experience hunger. Our bodies are yearning for the day when we will be whole and complete. And the earth is waiting for that day . . . for in that day, it too will be at peace.

PRAYER: Father, we thank you that the day is coming when all you created will be as you had designed — without flaw and defect. I know that the anguish of this life is just a temporary trial for the enduring and everlasting promise of being in your presence always, never growing tired of worshipping you. We await the day! Amen!

ENJOY “My Redeemer Lives” by Nicole C. Mullens:

ARVE Error: id and provider shortcodes attributes are mandatory for old shortcodes. It is recommended to switch to new shortcodes that need only url

Related articles

• The Groaning of Creation by Mark D. Roberts (trinityspeaks.wordpress.com)

1 Day Before Landfall in Hampton Roads
Of course, today I watched the news reports because now I want to walk circumspectly. Hurricane Irene was a huge juggernaut on the screen–Swirling circles of white, red, and yellow crawling up the East Coast. And she was a Category 3 storm!

These events spoke of what people were expecting:

• My son’s band camp picnic and show demonstration was called off.
• Services at my congregation were cancelled for the weekend.
• Businesses were closing.
• Shelves in supermarkets were almost bare.
• Neighbors were cleaning up their yards making sure that any possible projectile would be stored away.

My family decided to hunker down and batten down the hatches. Then I spoke with others; some going to Charlottesville, some to Petersburg, some to Rocky Mount, NC. It was then that I realized the seriousness of the moment and the impending storm.

PRAYER: Father, bless your people and the entire East Coast! According to meteorologists, we have not been battered like this so massively since Hurricane Gloria. I thank you that we serve a God at whose voice the winds and the waves obey! Bless your people, Father.

Be ministered to by Hillsong as they sing “Still” based upon Psalm 46:

ARVE Error: id and provider shortcodes attributes are mandatory for old shortcodes. It is recommended to switch to new shortcodes that need only url

Why He made you in His image? And then why He put you on this earth?

A THEORY
Scientists say that one day the sun will burn out. I believe them! Their hypothesis directly relates to the answer to each of the questions above.

THE EVIDENCE
When God made the heavens and the earth, they were perfect (Genesis 1:1). I think we can all agree on that! Then evil rose up in Lucifer’s heart; he wanted to be like God (Is. 14: 12-15). This happened long before Adam and Eve were created. So God cast the adversary down from the heavens he corrupted into the earth, which became formless, void, and dark because of his presence (Genesis 1:2). In other words, the adversary brought chaos upon the earth. It, too, was corrupt.

THE PLAN
To redeem that which had been perfect, God devised a plan. I can imagine He said, “I am going to give this earth to humans (Genesis 1:26) [THIS IS WHY HE MADE YOU]. It does not belong to the adversary; I made hell for him and his angels. I will make my humans in my image and my likeness so that they will KNOW . . .
that the earth belongs to them;
that I have given them the authority to take control of it;
that I sanctioned and signed this deed to the entire earth.”
And He wanted us to have the power to subdue and cultivate the earth and to resist the evil that has been cast into it.
[THIS IS WHY HE MADE YOU IN HIS IMAGE]

To assist, God makes a temporary light for humans (Genesis 1: 3-5) — the sun so that we would not be perpetually afraid of the dark.
This was not his original plan, but now it becomes the plan for redemption of the heavens and the earth.

OUR MISSION — Should we choose to accept it.
God says, “Occupy until I come.” Adam is not able to hold out, although he was in the image of God, so God sends the Light of the World to give man greater hope of subduing the earth and his enemy. He redeems us. Our mission is to hold out until the world is redeemed. If we hold out, the earth is ours and iniquity will not rise up a second time [THIS IS WHY HE PUT YOU ON EARTH].

THE PROMISE
One day the sun will burn out because the book of Revelation tells us that at the end of the age, there will be no need of the sun, for the Son of God will light the heavens, the earth, and the entire universe.

PRAYER: Father, you trust us to partner with you in the redemption of the world. Wow! Do we feel special? Yes! Do we feel loved? Indeed! We have missed it, and you have been patient. The world is so topsy-turvy! The reason: we have not been occupying until you come. We didn’t know that we were this important to your whole plan. Thank you for not giving up on us . . . for not destroying us and starting with a whole new batch. We love you. Thank you for giving earth to us! We will hold out and subdue until the Light of the World lights heaven and the whole earth with his glory. Amen!

“The one who sits on the throne says, ‘Behold! I make all things new.’” (Revelation 21:5)

Enjoy “Who Am I” by Casting Crowns!

ARVE Error: id and provider shortcodes attributes are mandatory for old shortcodes. It is recommended to switch to new shortcodes that need only url

You’ve seen at least one of the following movies, I’m sure — “Freaky Friday“! “Big”! “17 Again“! and now “The Change-Up“! In those movies, someone exchanges his/her life for another, whether willingly or unwillingly. Before there were any of these movies, one of the biggest universal change-ups of all times ocurred and we could have missed it — even those of us involved in the change-up may have missed the magnitude of it. Let me cut to the chase:

Yeshua was made like Adam so that we could become like Him. — A CHANGE-UP!

ADAM

• made in the image of God — “God created mankind in his own image” (Gen. 1:27)
• had God’s nature — “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness” (Gen. 1:26)
• created to live forever — “…for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Gen. 2:17)
• had free will . . . “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;  but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil“ (Gen. 2:16-17)
• in that free will he chose to disobey God rather than embrace him — “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Gen. 3:6)

YESHUA

• was/is God — “Who, being in very nature, God” (Phil. 2:6)
• made like Adam —  “being made in human likeness” (Phil 2:7)
• as a man he submitted to death — “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death” (Phil. 2:8ab)
• as a man he died — “even death on the cross” (Phil. 2:8c)
• he had free will
• and in that free will He chose to be obedient to His Father

Isn’t it wonderful that when Yeshua came He did not say that he was making us like Adam! He was making us like Himself! The first Adam is not our lot! That’s what I was! That’s not what we are aspiring to. I don’t want to know anything else about the first Adam or to become what he was. I want to manifest the 2nd Adam.
DON’T MISS THE CHANGE-UP. HE DID IT! WHEN WE ACCEPTED YESHUA’S ATONING WORKING IT WAS DONE IN US. Now our job is to live it!

It’s not Freaky! It’s divine!

It’s not Big! It’s gargantuan!

It’s not 17 again! It’s like God again!

We were not put on earth to learn ABOUT God. We were put on earth to MANIFEST God!

PRAYER: Father, we don’t really know what you have called us to. You want us to be great . . . because You’re great! What a great day to be able to say to someone, “You want to know what God looks like — look at me.” We just don’t know how amazing we are!  Help us not only to live what you have called us to but to see it through your eyes! Amen!

Let’s join the Women of Faith as they sing “Trading My Sorrows”:

ARVE Error: id and provider shortcodes attributes are mandatory for old shortcodes. It is recommended to switch to new shortcodes that need only url