Kingdom Vessels

Peter is keenly aware of who he is and firmly believes though Jesus knows him, He doesn’t know the half of what he has done, thought, is capable of so he wants his hands and his head washed along with his feet. Ephesians 6. He thinks this is necessary but once Jesus applies the water of the Holy Ghost to those feet. and wipes them with Truth, the towel that girds His loins, that’s all he needs.

Jesus is the arrow prepared in disguise to conquer God’s enemies once and for all and to set the captives free. We are free indeed.

Parents have lost sight of their intended roles and goals. God made the father the priest of the house to train up and raise the children in the ways of God. We talk about how children are to be a blessing but parents are to 1. fear the Lord and 2. delight in His Word THEN THEIR CHILDREN SHALL BE MIGHTY. All of the savings bonds, t bills, certificates of deposit, insurance plans, college savings, Jack & Jill , debutants, etiquette classes, martial arts won’t help. It is God who will make your seed mighty (verse 2) if you walk upright, set a right example in HIM.

All things working together for good is working together in God, aligned with His Word, Purpose, Divine Will, Sovereign bc ONLY GOD IS GOOD! Mark 10:18

Christ was a habitual prayer warrior. He still has to pray. He ever lives to make intercession for us. Here he goes to “His altar”, the Mount of Olives where He is pressed in agony until His sweat bc blood and returns to the earth to cry out as Abel’s did. He asks Father kneeling in prayer to take the cup from Him. We all want the cup of sweetness, the coffee with cream and sugar, the fancy tea, the sweetened concentrated juice. What about the bitter cup, the Isaiah 51 cup of trembling, sacrifice, agony, self denial, pain and death? That’s why the disciples James and John could not drink, could not sit on the right and the left. Just remember that whatever you are going through, “THOU ART WITH ME, THY ROD AND THY STAFF THEY COMFORT ME”…you are not alone…Lo, I am with you ALWAYS and the bitterness of the cross bc the sweetness of our salvation. It’s always worth it!!!

Jacob and Esau meet in peace. They have each been through trials and hardships. There was a long term bloodlust between them. Esau comes with 400 men; Jacob quickly arranges his concubines and wives so that his least favored are exposed first. His love Rachel is next to him. Despite Jacob’s treachery, they come, not discussing old wounds…but love conquers all. They run, embrace, kiss and cry. Each having more due to the grace of God and needing nothing from the other. It’s a praise reunion of an ALL SUFFICIENT GOD. They split, like Abraham and Lot but God gets the altar and the glory!

Isaiah is restless and discontented day and night bc he earnestly, ceaselessly seems the Lord and His righteous judgments, decisions that will teach us to live right. His restlessness is so pervasive that it carries him through the night and over into the day bc he has yet to attain his goal of finding the only One who fulfills, the Only One who satisfies and quenches the thirst.

God gets the Glory in all things. He loves it when we give, but He is the Righteous One, Jehovah Tsidkenu. Ezra 9:15. All of our righteousness is as filthy rags Isaiah 64! Righteousness proceeds from sacrificial love Who is Christ Romans 3:22 thru his death and resurrection and is imputed to us. Though we give, God provides the seed, the grace, weighs our character, the harvest produced but the thanksgiving redounds to the source, to Him and not unto us be the glory. The thanksgivings are made unto Him. He gets the glory out of everything done in heaven and on earth Again, we are but unprofitable servants!

We are created, nurtured, called, destined, purposed, kept ALIVE TO SERVE OTHERS! John 13, Matthew 25…

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears is the same God yesterday today and forever. In life we pass through dry, parched places in our lives, relationships, jobs, ministries, sin but God takes note of our pain, collects our tears and renders the bitterness and sorrow a productive harvest. Our tears water dry lives, refresh those dead in sin and turn them into Oasis like the desert Hagar was in, the 400 year Israelite captivity, the godly sorrow of David over adultery and the sins of his sons, the unexpected traumatic losses of Job and anguish of Mordecai. Yet, the God who provides turns it into a watered garden, pools of water, miraculous reproduction of seed bc HE IS just that good. He has promised never to leave or forsake you! Hold fast to your profession of faith… be not weary in well doing…there’s an abundant harvest on the way. A harvest of souls Isaiah 54!