I teach a Bible Study on Tuesday called “Empowerment at Lunchtime.” Usually 8 to 15 women, sometimes men, come together to be strengthened by one another so that we can be empowered for to the week ahead. This particular morning, the regular attendees were calling to explain why they could not attend: running errands, sickness, attending a funeral, in the hospital, etc… Needless to say, I thought about canceling the study and not going in myself.  Then I figured I would just go in and get some work done.

As I drove with that focus in mind, I remembered that the reason for the formation of the study was to be a place where people could pull away from their jobs or routines at midday to receive spiritual nutrition. So I went in with a renewed vision because every week, Adonai seemed to send in someone who needed just what was being spoken that day.

About 20 minutes after I arrived, one by one, five ladies eventually showed up (one of them for the first time), and God ministered to each one of us. “You don’t know how that has blessed me!” the first-timer said. “I never knew that!” another sister proclaimed! “Thank you. I am always blessed when I come,” said another.

Father, it is so necessary that we look beyond ourselves — that we look beyond the imminent reality so that we can see the greater reality! That greater reality is that you are at work inside willing hearts! You want to bless, and you want to do that through us! You are not concerned about the numbers or the crowds or the lack thereof! You take great delight in blessing the one or the few! Amen!

The next time you find yourself in a small group, take the opportunity to look into the greater reality — God desiring to work through willing hearts — then bless someone in the group just by telling them, “God loves you!”  The next time you find yourself alone, tell yourself, “God loves me!”

Thank you for my walk with you today, Abba!

My prayer this morning was, “Father, help me to practice your presence today.” On my way from the gym, I stopped by the bank. It was just an errand that I had to run before returning home to embroil myself in the tasks of the day. After seeing a cashier, I remembered that I needed to see a financial rep about my debit card. I cannot say that at that time my mind was on practicing His presence–simply getting out so that I could do all the things I needed to do. There were two reps, both women, and both totally preoccupied with other clients, so I sat patiently, waiting my turn. Finally, a rather tall man walked from behind the cubicle and asked if he could help me. Mind you, I was a bit taken aback because I had not seen him before and then I really had to crane my neck to look up at him from a sitting position. I told him my situation and he assisted me with all my queries. Then he asked me about my congregation! There is nothing I would rather do than to talk about Yeshua and the Messianic vision for end-time revival. We talked for over an hour; he was as eager to hear as I was to share.” There was no debate! There was no skepticism! There was no false pride! Just delight in receiving substance to concepts that were vague to him before. He gave me his card which read “Charles ___________, Branch Manager.”
“I will help many people today,” he said, “but not one will be as memorable as you and the conversation we had today!” Let us be careful how we entertain strangers because we might be entertaining angels unawares! Was Charles an angel? Probably not — but that was a Yeshua Moment, that was a divine appointment — that was an opportunity to practice the presence of the Father. And in that moment, all those other items on my to-do list did not matter.

Abba, bless Charles. You said that you would fill those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. And you used me to either quench the thirst or to incite it. Because you are not slack in what you do, I know that you will give the increase! Give your people moments today to share with a stranger any part of the good news that you deem necessary at that moment. Amen.

I had an opportunity to watch a children’s program, very creative and potentially very powerful. First of all, mind you, each child, ranging from three years old to fifteen was dressed in costume and positioned where he/she needed to be. I applaud the director for keeping a broad-ranged group of at least twenty children on task. As the children performed their best, bringing forth their lines, even repeating them when the director felt the volume was too low, one child continued to interrupt. Even with her mother’s caution, she still blurted out something negative about the play. The children, however, did not seem fazed by her outbursts, but continued to do what they had been tasked to do. Finally, she was taken out to the tune of, “No, I’m in the play. I will be better!” By no means is this little child the enemy, and that is not what I am supposing. But I believe Abba was revealing to me how, in our spiritual lives, we play with the enemy; we coddle him and tolerate him because we do not want to confront. He is bent on sabotaging. You know, greater than that–he came to steal, kill, and destroy! He wants to destroy our lives that are played out on this stage of life. He wants to intimidate us and make us fearful of his theatrics . . . all the while stealing our witness. Like the other children, we need to remember what we have been assigned to do and know that the Director patiently waits for us to imitate Him.

Abba, thank you for your patience with us. Forgive us for not recognizing the enemy and for allowing him to wreak havoc in our lives. Help us to submit ourselves to you, resist him, and then watch him flee from us! Thank you, Abba, for your grace and the power to tread upon all of his work! Amen!

I always think that Shabbat is a time where we can really interact with our Heavenly Father. After all, everything we do on that day points to Him. He is the reason we assemble ourselves. On this particular Shabbat, I had a million things going on. I had to complete several tasks before I even went to service. En route, I was thinking about all the other things I had to do once I got there. I was even thinking about the things that I had to do afterwards! Driving to the service, I purposed to be present when the worship team sang “Enter My Rest”; then, I knew, I could shake off the shackles, at least momentarily, and really enter His rest.

Then the Lord showed me that I do not have to be in any special place to enter His rest. I can be at home and enter in. I can be in my car and enter in. And guess what, I can have a mile-long to-do list before me and still enter in. Sure it will take discipline — where I do not allow the things that I need to do rule my life. My greatest task, which should become my greatest joy, is to make sure that Abba is the center of my life, that He is the plumbline by which I measure all things. Abba has shown me that we can still do what we need to do for family, friends, job, and ministry and still live in the rest of God. It will take discipline, but we can do it.

Abba, thank you that your rest is not a time zone; it is not a place. I do not have to drive to get there. But I can enter your rest at anytime because you have ordained that for my life. Amen.

Question: Can you enter His rest anywhere at anytime?

Application: Try taking a deep breath, breathing in the Ruach (Spirit) and just focusing in on the Father when you get overwhelmed. Let Him know that you are overwhelmed. He can handle the news.

My niece and her husband came over today to rake my leaves. If you have ever met my dog Boomer, you know that he feels slighted if he is not allowed to be outside when others are. I could hear him from inside, barking, whining, using whatever tactic he knew would soften my heart. Well, I let him out but did not chain him. Mind you that I should have been a little more vigilant because Boomer has run away twice on my watch, much to my husband’s and son’s chagrin.

As I was caught up in conversation and gathering stray leaves (You guessed it!), Boomer had an opportunity to disappear from my sight. So I called him, realizing that my husband would not be very pleased if I had to repeat Boomer’s disappearance story a third time! So I searched for him, calling Boomer’s name so as not to alarm him if he were in earshot. I called several times — this is not looking good, I thought. I walked a few more paces, growing more alarmed with each passing moment. Then he sheepishly appeared from the neighbor’s house. I grabbed him by the collar and proceeded to chain him.

“Look at you acting like God with that dog!” my niece said. “What?” I asked. “You know if you trust him like that he will run away,” she answered. “Is that bad?” I asked, wanting to hear her response. Well, to those of us who NEED to be on lockdown, we will think it’s bad. That’s just the nature of free will,” she finished.

I know that free will can be a blessing and a curse to us — but Abba gives it to us, no matter which choice he knows we will make. Thank you, Abba, that we are always within earshot of your voice! Call us! Yell for us! Beckon us to come if we stray! It does not matter if we return sheepishly with our tails between our legs — what matters is that we return. Even though at times we may need a chain, I know you would never chain us; you love us too much to lessen your divine nature within us.  Thank you for not just acting like God with us, but BEING God.

QUESTIONS: How has he been God in your life? Do you wish that God could put you on lockdown? Did you know that having the ability to make choices is a divine trait? Have you protected that trait nobly?

As I was coming home this morning from my workout, I noticed the the storm clouds rolling in. In the distance, the ashen grey sky was becoming more pervasive. The wind was totally undressing the trees and their leaves descended in a final arabesque. I looked at the sky and noticed that the dark clouds were not totally successful in their mission, because, in the center, the sun refused to surrender to the cloud cover. Its rays stretched through the clouds, making the center ones luminescent. It seemed as if my home, in the distance, was the center of the pyramid of rays.

Of course I thought of our walk with our Father. All too often we EXPECT a ray of hope in the midst of an impending storm of trouble in our lives . . . and we want that ray to fall upon the things that matter to us. Sometimes we will see just the storm clouds and never see the ray. . . that is not to say that it is not there; sometimes we will just not see it. I believe Abba wants us to know that as clearly as the sun was there behind the clouds, He is there. It will be by faith, more often than not, that we will see Him.

Abba, your word says, “When the son of man comes, will he find faithfulness in the earth?” Let it be our faith that you find, Abba, despite the rain clouds. Amen.

I had the opportunity to host a radio show with Duke and the Gang. I love the fact that Duke, Pastor Chuck, and Ven can talk about the things of God for three hours — that’s how long the show is. Yes, it really is! Tonight we touched on something that has been resonating in my heart and spirit for a long time. In II Timothy 4:8, Paul says that God will give the crown of righteousness to “those who love His appearing.” My question is do we really LOVE his appearing. That means “Do we want Him to come more than anything else?” I know we think, “What about the lost? What about my family members? What about the Jewish people who don’t know him yet? What about that remote tribe?” Here is the point: when seeing Him and wanting Him to return becomes the goal, the focal point, THE mark of the prize of the High calling, then our desire for the salvation of the lost is motivated by that goal, and that focal point will propel us forward to do all that we can in our lifetimes to bring it to fruition. That’s where Paul was! He traveled the way he did because seeing Yeshua was His goal. He witnessed the way he did because he loved the Lord’s appearing. He debated with great minds about the Messiahship of Yeshua because He wanted Him more than he wanted anything in this life.

As I drove home from the radio station, I thought of the immensity of God’s heart that says, “All you have to do is want ME and all your other wants will fall under that umbrella. You cannot really want people saved to the nth degree apart from wanting Me because that is what I want.” That’s the cry of our Abba’s heart! When we want what He wants all of our wants will be realized especially since He gave us the reason & the impetus to want in the first place!  Believe it or not, we cannot “out-want” God!

Abba, forgive us for our ignorance. We did not even realize that wanting you to delay your coming until we saw our loved ones saved was a presupposition on our part that we know better than you do. We did not know it was pride. Thank you for your heart, your love, and your great patience with us. Help us to get about the business of longing for our heart’s desire above all else — our Bridegroom’s appearance. We love you! Amen.

Today marks the end of Shabbat. It is the first day of my 30-day walk with the Father. It was so easy to see you today, Abba: We sang songs to You. We gave our gifts to You. We broke bread and fellowshipped with one another. We had conversations about You all day long. But I saw you in a deeper way as well.

A man today talked about how God deserved praise — more praise than the shouts given at a football game. He had a deep awareness of the awesomeness of our Father — very much like Moses who descended the mountain to discover that the Israelites had erected a golden calf and called it the God who brought them out of Egypt. Imagine Moses’ deep pain when he realized that the God with whom he had communed on the mountain was being replaced by a god of metal. Imagine this man’s inner travail when he realized that athletes get a more rousing praise than the one who is the Author of Life. This man tried to hold back the emotionalism — his body responding to his words, his emotions chorusing, with his spirit, the greatness of God — but in his voice the Only True God sanctioned the truth of His words. Our God is worthy to be praised! He alone is God! He alone deserves praise!

I saw you today, Father, wanting your people to know your worth, wanting your people to praise you — for you knew that the praise was not solely for Your benefit . . . but for us — we need to praise You. When we do, we are most human and fulfill the reason for which You created us. And when we do, we are most divine — interacting with the holy. Thank You for allowing me to see You today, Abba.

I believe that God interacts with His people on a daily basis. He desires to do that. Sure, we should see Him when we open our eyes, or dress ourselves, when we arrive at our destinations safely, and greet our family & friends. Yes, these are miracles we take for granted and we SHOULD give thanks to God for them. However, if at the end of the day, we cannot pinpoint a certain moment where there was a Yeshua-experience just for us, we have missed Him. I am going to start a series in which I detail those Yeshua Moments in my life and I hope you do the same. Let’s practice His presence. Let’s consciously choose to see Him in everything, everywhere! Here’s the point–“The more we focus on what He IS doing, the more of that He will do in our lives. If we focus on what He is NOT doing, He will NOT do anything–and it is not that He is Not doing anything, but that is all that you will see.” So let’s practice the presence of our God for the next 30 days and record them so that our spirits can be alive in Him. Let’s help to build one another’s faith and awaken our spiritual pores to the living Presence of our Abba. Come on! Let’s walk with the Father!

Do you believe that you are the only one who can worship Adonai the way He wants you to? Well, you are the ONLY one who can be you! No one can worship God the way you can — so WORSHIP Him! Paul said this in Ephesians 3:8, “Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ…” Paul realized that he was the only one who could do what Paul could do because he was given the grace to do it. You have been given the grace to do only what you can do. I encourage you to DO IT! Be empowered as you do YOU!