Overlooked Furniture

There were different pieces of furniture in the Tent of the Tabernacle of Moses.  We are familiar with most: The Ark of the Covenant is the one most people know, The Table of Shewbread, mostly known because of David, The Golden Candlestick, speaking to us that God is our supplier in all, however we tend to overlook one: The Golden Altar of Incense.

For time purposes I wont belabor the fact the Golden Altar of Incense was made

Looking at this piece of furniture in relation to the others located inside the tent, we see it was the highest piece in the actual tent.  This points us towards Christ’s ministry of Intercession as His highest ministry now in behalf of the Church in the 2000 years of the Church Age or Dispensation of the Spirit.   We know from reading the Scriptures the Golden Altar of Incense had four horns upon the four corners which spoke to the power, authority and kingship of God. 

But I want to focus on the burning of incense upon the Golden Altar.  This represents the prayers of the Saints ascending up to God, through our Savior Jesus, who offers them as a sweet savor unto our LORD.

However that is often where we leave it.  If we fast forward to Luke 1:1-23 for we know the Old Testament is only a foreshadowing of Christ in reality or our New Testament, we see Zacharias ministering at the Golden Altar of Incense.  Why is this important?  Zacharias received the revelation of the forerunner of the Messiah while he ministered here.  In the same way, the Church will be made ready for the Messiah’s second coming as it enters into full ministry at this piece of furniture, the Golden Altar of Incense or Prayer.  We need to recognize just how important this piece of furniture is in God’s mind.

Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of Prayer” (Matthew 21:13) and the Bible teaches us we are to pray in the Spirit (Jude 20) and to pray by the Spirit (Romans 8:26).  The true incense will arise from the heart of the believer, ascending into the Heavenly Sanctuary.  What makes it a sweet savor unto God is Christ our intercessor whom our prayers pass through.

When we send up Incense to the LORD, our entire nature and being must be involved.  We must be saturated with the fragrance of a Prayer Life, and the fire of the Spirit will cause our Incense to ascend.  God does place a high premium on prayer.  Have you been to The Altar of Incense lately?

Insight to Our Shepherd

The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  Psalm 23:1

We are all familiar with this scripture and some even quote it most often when we are faced with an impending situation for which we are not sure the direction we should go.  In this we are, at the very least, verbally acknowledging we need Christ to lead and guide us.

While studying the Old Testament Shepherd, I discovered many remarkable things about this very common, but often lonely and despised craft.  The Shepard was usually alone, and was left with the sole responsibility of protecting the entire flock from wolves, bears, lions, and a host of pitfalls, traps and situations, all while many different sheep would often stray, as if they knew better the way to go than the Shepherd.

What was the Shepherd’s recourse?  How did he maintain His flock and teach them to stay close to Him?  We know about the rod and the staff the Shepherd carried.  One was used to ward of predators, and the other was used to pull back a sheep from and impending dangerous cliff or pitfall, or simply to bring the sheep closer to the Shepherd when the sheep strayed too far.

Every so often, the Shepherd would have a sheep, which despite repeated warnings and continued being reined in, the Shepherd would take the sheep and break its leg.  Sound harsh?  No doubt it was painful for the sheep.  But then the Shepherd did something amazing.  He would place the sheep over His shoulder and carry the sheep.  The sheep, which no doubt felt every step and jolt the Shepherd made as He walked the rugged hillside, would learn to sync up with the Shepherd, to minimize his pain.  He would even become so in sync with the Shepherd; his heartbeat would beat in rhythmic cadence with the Shepard.  Once the sheep healed, he was let down to romp and play again, but he never strayed to far from the Shepherd, who demonstrated He how much He truly loved the sheep.

Does this reflect events in your life?  Have you strayed a few times?  Has our Shepherd broken your leg and placed you over His shoulder, placing His heart next to yours? 

The sooner you sync up with His will, the sooner you will be whole and well.

Christ Inside of Me

Recently I completed reading the Bible from cover to cover, and as I pondered what to study next, I could hear the LORD directing me to the Tabernacles.  I started with the Tabernacle of Moses and really began to pick apart all the intricacies and particulars and how they pointed to The New Testament Christ.  What I didn’t expect to see also was how much it pointed towards me.

What do I mean, Am I comparing myself to CHRIST?  Absolutely not.  However you cannot discover His heights, and not come to recognize you lowliness.  You cannot not experience His Glory and not feel your wretchedness.  You cannot be moved by His Love for you, and not be overwhelmed by your lack of a giving spirit, and desire to be so stubborn.  No studying Christ and His relationship to the Old Testament Tabernacles will clearly give you a better understanding of why we so desperately need Him.

So what am I to do with these new discoveries in my Spirit?  How do I combat the emptiness I feel inside?  Where do I find peace when my best just wasn’t good enough?  I believe the song-writer hit it “dead on the nail” when he penned the words to an old Hymn of the Church when he wrote, “At the Cross, At the Cross, Where I first saw the Light, and the burdens of my heart rolled away.  It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day!”

Those words have never rung truer.  No words have resonated so deep in my soul.  Nothing has come close to reverberating in such a pulsating way as to create a rhythmic beat in my Spirit.  What is it you ask?  The Heartbeat of Jesus!

I challenge you today, to catch the beat.  Hear the sound of His rhythm.  Feel His heartbeat next to yours.  And you will see Him like you have never seen Him before.  Every sound will become a melody, every quiet moment a whisper of love in your ear.  Every situation, a chance for Him to show His strength, and every blessing an opportunity to reinforce the love He has for you.  Can you hear that?  Quiet yourself.  Listen.  Be still.  That which you feel, inside of you, the lub dub, lub dub, lub dub.  That’s Him, inside your heart, saying LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU!

(Side note:  After writing this I broke out into spontaneous praise!)

The Baby had to die so the KING could Survive

Scripture Reference 2 Samuel 11- 2 Samuel 12:1-19

As I came to the close of 2012, I, as many others do, spent time reflecting back over the events of the past year.  Like many others, I would come to a particular situation or series of events and would say to God, “Why did this happen, and why did it have to happen the way it did?”  Has anyone else done this?

Having no one else to go to, I turned to God, for that is all He wanted me to do anyway.  He then began to reveal to me other events which took place.  Events I did not see or recognize for I was overly focused on what was happening to me.  In other words, I was missing out on the bigger picture.  Then, He spoke a Word in my Spirit. 

For two years I have been repeatedly drawn back to studying David, for his early childhood, throughout His Kingship.  As you know David, was a great man, and did many great things, however he still had some issues.  One, referred to in our scripture reference, tells us the story of David and Bathsheba.  Now most of you know the story so I wont bore you with the details, but please note, David did all he could to save the baby.  He fasted, prayed, wore sackcloth, sat in ashes, and more.  He did all the “right” things, however the baby still died.  You see God judged the sin he had committed, with the death of the baby.  David had to learn to fully depend upon God.  In doing so, the King, survived and went on to be Israel’s mightiest earthly King.

What am I saying to you?  Sometimes you have to go through some things and they still have to die.  But in their death, if you learn to trust in God fully, the King in you will survive.  Who knows what you are destined to do next!

Heading for a Storm

I recently took a trip, and as I was preparing to leave, I viewed the weather report.  It informed me I would be heading directly into a storm and the severity would be great.  So I had to make a decision.  To go or not to go.  Sure I had friends and family telling me not to go.  I even had people begging me to pull over and quit driving mid way through.  The storm slowed me down and I even stopped by the side of the road to help some people out, who were no longer moving but crashed into the ravine.

This ever happen to you?  I bet it has.  Whether you were the one stopping or the one in the ravine, we have all driven into a storm.  Such is life.  Here is what God showed me.

I set out, knowing I was headed into a storm, but I declared to my family and friends my GOD was all powerful and He would protect me!

Even though my progress was hindered in my travels, I still felt compelled to help those in worse situations along the way.  It was no longer about when I would get there, but that we would ALL get there at some point.

What if we knew we were headed into a storm of life?  Well we do, the Bible says, "I send you out as sheep amongst wolves" Matthew 10:16.  Now if that's not a storm, then what is?  What if we learned to not be so concerned with "self" and became more concerned with the whole reaching the destination?  "Brethern if any of you is caught in a fault, you who are Spiritual (stronger at the time) go to him and help restore him (so he may be with ME in the end) Galatians 6:1

Now I know what you are thinking, "Brian, it just isn't that clean and dry cut!" ANd maybe I am reading my bible wrong but it says, "Come unto me all you who are heavily laden and burdened  and I will give you rest!  Matthew 11:28  It also says, "Lo I am with you ALWAYS, even until the end of time." Matthew 28:20.

So what did the LORD say, which I feel He is speaking unto the body of Christ even now?  "If you will simply know that I, the LORD, will see you through, and know I, the LORD am with you, and know there is nothing, I the LORD, cannot take care of, then you can face life's storms, and not fear, but know you will make it, if you just trust in ME!

Partial Obedience is Disobedience

Scripture Reference:  “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: (Genesis 12:1-4a)

We all know the story well.  Then Abram, later changed to Abraham, was instructed by God to go forth into a land…. God would bless him…and Abram went!  What a mighty story of faith and obedience, right?  After all Abraham became the father of many and his seed is now like trying to number the stars or the grains of sand.  He enjoyed a blessed life and is listed in the Hall of Fame of Faith!

I don’t doubt for one minute that Abraham was a blessed man.  He let his nephew Lot chose the land which he would go into, when their camps broke out in strife.  He was able to go and rescue Lot when Lot was carried away captive.  He was able to plead for Sodom and Gomorrah when it was about to be destroyed, which helped Lot to escape with his life.  Yes indeed Abraham was blessed!

However is that all the Spirit is trying to teach us here?  Look closely.  A number of the “troubles” Abraham had, involved Lot.  You see Abraham did what God said, but he, you and I are missed something.  Did you see it in verse between verses one and four?  God told Him to “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred…” God did not say “take Lot with you”.  He told Abram to leave him.

You see even though Abram did as the LORD said and showed great faith going to a land he was going to be shown, He failed in the fact of getting away from his kindred.  And subsequently his nephew Lot, was the source of many of his troubles.

Partial obedience, is disobedience.  Disobedience to God is a sin.  Sin, according to God, must be punished.  Yes you may be blessed, but could you be even more blessed with your full obedience?

"All they want is my Money!"

“You know, seems like every time I go there, all I hear is how they want my money.  How I should give what I spent a week or more slaving for, they want me to give all I can to them.  And what’s worse, after I do give them some, they have the nerve to ask for more!  Doesn’t anybody else give them their money?  What about Bob?  Didn’t he just buy a new car?  And how about Sally?  She is always going out somewhere.  Why can’t they ask for more of their money and leave me alone with mine?  I tell you if they say one more thing about my money, well I’m gonna….”

Does this sound familiar to you?  Have you maybe even uttered these words yourself about someone?  Well the fact of the matter is, this is a common sentiment.  I often encounter this from people who I am asking to join me.  But people always go and they always give their money, and sometimes even put some on a credit card!

Now I know what you are thinking, especially the Pastors, “Where and who are these people?”  Well you know them and you see them every day.  Matter of fact you may very well be one of them.  But you say, “I don’t even go to church!”  Well I wasn’t speaking of the Church, I was speaking of the local shopping places.

What?  Didn’t you notice how they are always asking for your money, even the last dime!  Heck they even ask you to put some on a brand new credit card, which they will give you for free!  The signs, the sales, even the way the store is laid out, all is intended to say one thing, “We want your money!”  But isn’t it odd how the only time we complain is when the church says, “Give the LORD what is His already”? 

LORD, during this gift-giving season, let us be mindful of the real reason for the Season.  Let us remember whose birthday it really is.  And let us first give you a gift, worthy of a KING!