Offense Is A Choice

  We are in the last day of our weekend conference with David Sliker from IHOP-KC.  It has been a very interesting time in the presence of the Lord, a time of refreshing with times of testing mixed in.  It seems that whenever the Spirit of God moves in a meeting everyone gets touched, either with a release from some bondage to greater freedom or a tightening of some religious ideas that could lead to offense.  This will work in all of us at some level in different ways and at different times.  The main question we must ask ourselves is "Do I want God?"
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"And blessed is [he], whosoever shall not be offended in me."  Luk 7:23

This was spoken to John's disciples by Jesus after mentioning the great miracles He was performing that announce who He is. When asked if He is the One Jesus basically said look at the power I'm moving in.  When God moves in power, doubt and offense stand up as well.  Jesus does what He wants to do and we must check our own hearts above anything else.  We are not to judge another mans servant. 

God is moving in power!!!  Let us not stand on the sidelines harboring offense because we think we know the manner an ways in which God is supposed to do something.  Are people set free?  Is the ministry of Jesus magnified?  Is this real? Does the deliverance last or is this a pattern?   And so our questioning goes.  Are you the one we are expecting or is there another?  The questions of judgment always extend toward others while the questions of righteousness always extend toward God.  Instead of asking "Is that really God over there?" maybe we can say "God do what You will in me."

You all have worth in the Kingdom of God because He fashioned You for His purposes.  You exist for no other reason.  He is setting You a place at the table and sending you an invitation to sup with Him, come and dine.  His banner over us is love. Let's receive and give love in Jesus name and leave the rest alone. Offense is a choice, just say "NO!!!".

Bless you all. Amen.

A New Start

I am up early this morning with a sense of great expectation. It didn't begin like that. I woke up around 2am and couldn't get back to sleep. At first it was no big deal, I just lay silently before the Lord, but then the weight of some things began to press on me and I was becoming discouraged and even fearful. I began to pray. Not a fancy or even fervent prayer but more like repeating back to God the "Lords Prayer" (Lk 11). I wish I could tell you that the presence of God swept into the room, a light shone from heaven with a booming voice or an angel came and visited me, but none of those things happened. I ended up getting out of bed and doing a crossword puzzle on Yahoo Daily games. After finishing I logged on to Facebook and began to read the "Most Recent" news. Someone had posted a very encouraging quote from Joyce Meyer. The basic idea is to follow what God has told you above your feelings! Many times we allow how something looks or feels to move us out of our purpose, usually if things become difficult and we can't see the way out, we must  remember that God is the way out, and our situation is never so dire that He can not rescue us. Just as the three Hebrew boys said in Daniel 3:18 "...but if not...", no situation can be allowed to move us. Sometimes we simply have to activate our will to force ourselves into agreement with Gods will despite everything else. Our emotions as well as our thoughts will betray us because they can only process things out of this visible kingdom that is passing, yet our will can fixate on what is not yet seen and push through all contrary thoughts and emotions, this is faith in action.