Mornings With Jesus

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Several years ago my dad, brothers, and me were playing hide and seek out on my grandma’s farm. It was getting dark and the places to hide were vast and many. 

After the count we all scattered and went our separate ways. I proceeded to scurry underneath the electric fence and circle back around to where we started. I went inside the house, scooped myself a heaping bowl of ice cream, sat down, and watched television! :) 

Technically, we never said the house was off limits, but I certainly didn’t give anyone a fair chance to find me!

Aren’t you glad God doesn’t do that to us?

Granted we do have to search for Him and we do have to scour the Bible at times for the real treasures, but He isn’t sitting back eating ice cream and laughing at us! ;) 

When it comes to seeking in our spiritual lives, this is what I like to call the “oomph factor.”

It’s one thing to attend church once a week, listen to the Pastor rattle off his three points and a scripture and then go home forgetting most of everything he talked about. 

It’s something entirely different to get up in the morning and have the kind of gusto mentioned in the Psalms, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so does my soul thirst for you oh God!” (Psalm 42:1)

What about when Pastor Jim Frease says things like, “Bible before breakfast,” and one takes him to heart with the passion of Job, “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.”
(‭‭Job‬ ‭23:12‬) NKJV‬‬

Listen, the devil hides things from us - he is sneaky, conniving, manipulative, and mean, but the Lord hides things for us! He wants us to prosper in every area of life, but sometimes we have to show some oomph if we want to see things come to pass in our lives.

In other words, He’s not going to do everything for us! :) 

For example, and we have had to learn this the hard way and are still learning it: God uses people to get things done, but if we isolate ourselves continually from the very people God is trying to use to bless us how are we going to receive that blessing?

Another example, God likes to set up divine encounters where we can be the answered prayer to someone else’s heart cry, but if we are always worrying about ourselves, scurrying through crowds with our heads down, self-consumed, how are we to be the answered prayer? In essence, the Bible says, “Give and it shall be given...” The Lord is trying to provide opportunities for us to give, but when we are too “busy,” we miss those chances...

Be encouraged today, God is not a one-stop shop! He has no sign in His store that screams, “You break it, you buy it!”

No, He is full of compassion and He is ok with us failing, falling, and faltering. The key is to never give up, get back up, and seek Him with all your heart!

One last thing for today, here’s a quick test to see where your oomph factor lies:

The Bible says, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭6:45‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Go ahead, give yourself a check-up from the neck up - if the things that are consistently coming out of your mouth are filled with negativity, complaining, doubt, worry, fear, anything that you wouldn’t repeat if Jesus or your Pastor was in the room, then that’s a sure sign that your heart is low on the Word.

Easy fix: Fill up on the Word!

Begin to seek after it with all your Heart! Put God first! Seek Him daily, make it a habit! 

This is something we ALL struggle with so don

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14:13-14‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Wait! What? It seems too good to be true!

Let’s allow scripture to speak for itself today :) 

“Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will [instead] give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will [instead] give him a snake?
‭‭
If you then, evil (sinful by nature) as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give what is good and advantageous to those who keep on asking Him.”
‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭7:7-11‬) AMP‬‬

*Why then am I not receiving what I am asking for?

“You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4:3‬ ‭AMP‬‬

*How do I avoid doing this? In other words how do I make sure my motives are pure?

“So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you, for this is [the essence of] the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:12‬ ‭AMP

Hello Everyone! If you have stuck with me today you can see that I have allowed scripture to speak for itself, and this is how it should be! :) 

Be encouraged today! God’s Word is His will and it’s packed with so many awesome treasures just waiting to be found, but it’s gonna take some tenacity, courage, and digging on our part to glean from it especially when faced with opposition from the enemy. 

Listen, the enemy wants only to steal, kill, and destroy and he wants to have his followers do the same. However, Jesus wants to give life and it more abundantly and wants His followers to do the same! 

Don’t be mistaken, God and the devil are not equals, not even close! Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven.” (Luke 10:18) He is a defeated, detoothed, de-clawed foe!

However, if he get get your mind off the Word of God and over into the land of doubt and disbelief, he can get you to believe just about anything.

Therefore, it is imperative, especially in these crazy times we are living that we immerse ourselves in the Bible! 

Then we can have the confidence to know that we are walking in Love and will in fact receive whatever we ask for in prayer! 

It really is that simple and if you are struggling with the simplicity of it or if you are struggling with believing it, you just need to spend some more time with Jesus! 

Come on saints! Let’s show the world how good God is by developing an intimate walk with Him! When they see us asking for stuff and then so freely giving it away - thats when they are going to be the most receptive to gospel! 

Keep on asking, believe you recieve it, and walk in love! 

In Christ,

Joshua Scott Zeitz

Once Daniel received the vision, he could have gotten puffed up with pride, went before the King in arrogance, demanded the death of everyone except he and his companions, and took credit for what God alone deserved. 

But he didn’t do any of that. Instead he gave God all the glory, praising Him and thanking Him in a most magnificent way! (Read Daniel 2:20-23) 

Daniel sought first to save the lives of all the wise men of Babylon and then he was brought before the King regarding the King’s dream. 

Daniel made no attempt of hiding the impossibility of the King’s request, but declaring boldly, “But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets…” 

Listen to Daniel’s amazing and humble response to the King:

“But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because my wisdom greater than that of any other living man, but in order to make the interpretation known to the king, and so you may understand fully the thoughts of your mind.” (Daniel 2:30) 

In other words, It’s not about me King! God wanted to make this dream known to you and he allowed me to know it, but I am not the wise one here, He is! 

Wow! There is so much packed within these 30 verses and we can glean so much from how Daniel responded to the situation, how he wisely sought counsel from his companions, how he wisely sought counsel from the King’s bodyguard, how he wisely sought time to interpret the dream from the King and so forth…

However, what I want to draw attention to is how he wisely humbled himself before the King of kings and Lord of lords!

Listen, no matter what you are facing today, God is good and He is good all the time! He desires to make things known to us! He does not hide things from us, but rather for us!

The way to unlock and unveil the things He has for us is by being humble. Humbling ourselves under His mighty hand, under His Word is the key to bringing about His wisdom, favor, and knowledge in our lives!

No matter what you are facing today or in the future, make a habit right now of putting Him first, of acknowledging Him in all your ways, of surrendering your life, your thoughts, to Him! 

And then, give Him all the glory when He comes through and works the impossible in your life! 

Listen, Daniel could have gloated and take credit for the vision, but how long would that pride have carried him? What happens when the next thing arises? The next dream? The next challenge? Who is he going to call on then now that he has spent all his time riding the waves of past successes puffed up with pride?

It is imperative that we live in that realm of humility before the Lord! As Pastor Jim Frease says, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but rather thinking of yourself less.”

Take some time today to seek the Lord with all your heart! Put others first, seek to serve rather than to be served and watch how God shows up in ways you never thought possible! 

He loves to show out on the behalf of the humble!

Until next time when we delve further into the life of Daniel and his companions, please know that I love you all so much!

In Christ,

Joshua Scott Zeitz

“A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; And a man of understanding shall unto wise counsels: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
(Proverbs 1:5,7)

In Daniel chapter 1, Daniel and his three companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah spent much time being prepared for what was to come in subsequent chapters. Remember thus far we have learned that preparation time is never wasted time and a man’s gifts will bring him before great men!

At the beginning of chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams which highly troubled him, to the point that he called for his crew of magicians, soothsayers, and astrologers to make the dream known to him.

However, there was a major twist that they were not expecting. He not only asked them to interpret the dream, but also to tell the King the contents of the dream without him telling them! In other words, he asked them an impossible thing!

The entire fleet of magicians, soothsayers, and astrologers, not able to give the King what he desired, were sentenced to death. However, Daniel heard of the decree of death and sought wisely to speak with the man given the charge to carry out the sentence. 

After hearing about why the King was so angry and sought in haste to kill everyone in the magic school, Daniel implored of the king some time in which he and his three companions could reveal to the King both the dream and it’s interpretation. 

Listen to what Daniel and his three companions did: 

“Then Daniel returned to his house and discussed the matter with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, in order that they might seek compassion from the God of heaven regarding this secret, so that Daniel and his companions would not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.” (Daniel 2:17,18) AMP

Notice Daniel and the three didn’t run to their books, their scrolls, or rely on their learning in any manner. Instead, they ran to God, the One who can make all things possible, and sought His help, His compassion! 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge…

The secret was then revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night! What an awesome God we serve!

In Christ, 

Joshua Scott Zeitz

“A man's gift maketh room for him, And bringeth him before great men.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18:16‬ ‭KJV‬‬


Oftentimes, the Lord will mold us and make us in the secret place. This molding process can be quite painful at times and it can seem to last forever.

It’s during these times when the Lord is preparing us for what is to come. If we will allow Him to do His work, we will come out on the other side stronger, faster, and better equipped to do that which He has for us! 

It’s during these times when it may seem, feel, and appear that we are of little or no value in the Kingdom of God, but do not
be deceived! God is not mocked! Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. :) 

Listen, if we will let the Lord have His way with us during these times of pruning and molding, remaining in the refiner’s fire, we will be given many opportunities to sow awesome seeds in times of famine and drought!

When everyone else around us is focusing on this or that, the Lord may have us doing things, that in the natural may seem counter-intuitive, but make no mistake about it, He is good and He is good all the time! He is purposeful!

The things we do in times of lack will either set us up for great success or cause us to miss opportunities of great harvest.

It is imperative that we learn to be like Daniel...to continue to grow in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in the very face of what may appear to be impossible odds! 

I know it may seem like I am speaking in riddles, but if you are in a season right now where it feels like you are being ripped through a keyhole backwards, you will relate! :) Take heart! Be encouraged, the Lord is the author and finisher of our faith and He will never leave us nor forsake us!!!

Stay in the fire! It’s here where our character is being built! It’s here where our souls are being renewed! Keep allowing the Word to wash over you daily! 

In Christ,

Joshua Scott Zeitz

The intro to the Daniel Series! 

Pastor Jim says it all the time, “If you lose your why, you lose your way.” And so I wanted to take a moment to let you in on a piece of my why...

My older sister tells me stories of how I was given alcohol as a very young child as a means of encouraging me to walk.

I have 3 siblings (that I know of) - we all
had the same drug-addicted mother, but different dads. 

There would be times when she would leave my younger brother and I locked in our room all morning long while she slept off the night before. We urinated and deficated on the bedroom floor.

Sitting for hours sometimes in nothing but our diapers, we would rock back and forth against the door chanting, “let me out, let me out.”

I do believe she loved us in her own way, I mean she even gave us all Christian names, she wasn’t purposefully trying to abuse us, but her drug addiction caused her to neglect us.

When I was 3 or 4, the police showed up and took me and my younger brother to an orphanage for abused and neglected children. That was literally the name of the place.

Fast-forward a few years within the “system,” and after having gone through various mental, physical, and sexual abuses my brother and me were adopted. 

Fast-forward several more years and I am at a youth retreat with my older brother and our adoptive mother. Up until this point, I had done a very good job at bottling and plunging down all the abuse from my early years.

I came forward to receive Jesus as my savior! I wept. My brother wept. My mom wept. Up until this time our relationship was a rocky one and she had high hopes that this would be the catalyst to turning that all around.

After that weekend retreat was over, I lay on my bed thinking of the events that occurred. The more I thought, the more I realized the extent of the decision I had made and I didn’t like it. 

That night I made the decision to turn my back on Jesus, on Christianity, choosing rather to follow the things of the world. 

For the next 5 years I delved into a darkness like no other! There was very little wickedness that I would not allow into my life.

At the age of 19, I sat on an over-crowded jail house floor, strung out, hopeless, angry, feeling alone and mad at the world - at myself, thinking to myself, “how did I get here!” 

I hated the person I had become!

For whatever reason, I decided to read a book. It told the story of a man who found forgiveness through Jesus 

and suddenly,

I was face to face with the One whom I had run from five years earlier! I was face to face with the One who I mocked and made fun of when I was high, strung out on dope...

The same scared little boy screaming let me out, let me out!!!

I was face to face with the Savior, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords ever so gently saying, “Let me in, let me in.”

All I could do was say yes! That day, on that jailhouse floor, I received Jesus as not just my savior, but my Lord!

He radically transformed me, making me a new creation that day!

I’ve made a lot of stupid choices in my life, and even during my Christian journey, but there is one thing that I know for certain: 

God is not mad at you, He is madly in love with you!

I sure hope this has encouraged you! No matter what you are facing today, please know that God loves you with an everlasting Love! 

In Christ,
Joshua Zeitz

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
‭‭(Romans‬ ‭5:8‬ ‭NKJV)

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:24,24

You ever notice how many different hats we wear? You may or may not wear a physical hat, but what I’m talking about are the various roles each of us plays. 

Some of us are parents, siblings, grandparents, employees, bosses, teachers, students, the list is endless. The point is, we have many different roles to play.

You ever find it difficult to switch between them? 

For example, we go to work and we are around different people. We go to church and yet another differing crowd. We go home and we are with the family. We go here, there, and everywhere on any given day, on any given week, and it can be quite overwhelming at times keeping up with it all!

As we endeavor to walk with the Lord, being a light to those around us, how do we keep from becoming one way in front of one set of people and another way in front of another set? How can we become more consistent in our walk with the Lord and in our witness for Him? 

Here’s one great way:

Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

Colossians 3:2,3

Of course, this is easier said than done at times and it is going to take having our minds renewed to the Word. However, if we will, on purpose make it a habit of focusing on things that truly matter on a consistent basis, it will keep us both consistent and focused. 

By doing this, we don’t have to fret about what crowd we find ourselves in because we are always on the lookout for someone to encourage, bless, and uplift in way or another. 

Sometimes this can equate to bigger things like leading someone to the Lord, or praying with someone, but it may also include simply being a listening ear, spending time with someone, offering a hug, a smile, a small word of encouragement. 

Listen, we don’t have to be in full-on ministering mode all the time. We can relax, have fun, kick our feet up, take vacations, enjoy various entertainments, and we can do it all as unto the Lord! Always ready at any moment to give an answer for the hope we have on the inside! :)

By renewing our minds to the Word of God, gaining a consistent eternal outlook on life, and being ready always to give an answer to the hope of Jesus we have, we can wear 1,000 hats and still be a light in each one!

Be encouraged today! No matter what roles you have on the agenda today, you can do them all as unto the Lord. 

In Christ,

Joshua Scott Zeitz

“The steps of a [good and righteous] man are directed and established by the LORD, And He delights in his way [and blesses his path]. When he falls, he will not be hurled down, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand and sustains him.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭37:23-24‬ ‭AMP‬‬

I love Psalm 37 because it reminds us where to keep our eyes, on the Lord, and not on other people, especially ungodly people - those who seem to be prospering in everything, but aren’t living for the Lord.

Listen, when we follow Jesus there are going to be times when we will be tempted to jump out of the fire of God’s Word! It hurts and it’s uncomfortable to our flesh (our carnal desires), but don’t lose hope!

The Bible says in Galatians 6:9 not to become weary in well-doing! If it says not to, then there is a real threat of doing it! :) 

How do we avoid growing weary? By allowing God to order our steps. 

As my Pastor says, “We live in a microwave world, but we serve a crockpot God.”

In other words, we tend to want things right now, but God would rather us be properly prepared to receive. Why? 

He wants what is best for us and if we got everything we ever wanted right away without ever having to work for it or attain the character to hold onto it, it wouldn’t be long before it was lost, damaged, stolen, or worse it consumed us! 

Be encouraged, God is for you, not against you! :) 

He wants us to have good things, but at the same time, in our journey to know Him more, we must realize that things are just things, but a relationship with Him is priceless! :) 

Just as growing a bank account, business, muscles, and the like take time, diligence, patience, work, and so too does our relationship with the Lord!

Getting to know the Lord is a life-long pursuit! It never stops! What a joy it is to serve alongside the Master, to do life with Him!

I want to encourage you today! You might not be prospering in every area of your life today, you may even feel like certain areas will never get better, that they are insurmountable, but take heart! We serve a God who is touched with our infirmities! He sees your weakness and He calls you anyway! He sees your struggles and He wants to know you anyway! He sees your mess and wants to know, will you allow Him into that room? The one you have been hiding all this time? 

It won’t happen overnight, it will take work, it will be step by step, but through the power of God’s Word and intimacy with Him, that room can be made new, that room can be used to bring glory to the Highest! :) 

Don’t ever feel ashamed, we are all a work in progress. Allow the Word of God entrance to every area of your life. Keep your eyes on Jesus and know that He is for you always!!! :) 

In our journey to know Him more, in our journey to winning souls to the Kingdom, the more we surrender to Him the better prepared we are to handle whatever life throws at us and the better witness we are able to be to those around us! :) 

Remember, when the fire of God’s Word is burning away the gook and the grime, you are not alone! There is another in the fire! :) 

In Christ,

Joshua Scott Zeitz

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:13-14‬ ‭KJV‬‬

It can be so tempting to measure our so-called success by various things like follow counts, likes on our social media feeds, monies in our bank account, cars in our driveway, clothes in our closet, people in our circles, the list goes on…

The truth is, Life doesnt come with a handy dandy progress bar and unfortunately it can feel at times like we are taking one step forward and three or even five steps back!

Do you remember the parable of the talents that Jesus shared in scripture? 

Notice that the lord of the house didn’t compare the investees amongst each other but rather to themselves.

In other words, the person with one talent wasn’t compared in value and worth to the person with five but rather he was simply expected to do something with his one!

This is how it is in the Kingdom of God!

The Bible says, God says, we have all been given a measure of faith and its not how we stack up after this life to one another that we will be judged by, but rather what we did on an invidiual basis with that which God has entrusted to us!

That’s awesome news!

God is not a respector of persons, but sadly people are! And dare I say it, people within the church very much are!

One of the most dangerous things we can become a part of is comparison Christianity.

This leads to all sorts of offense, bitterness, pride, and inward battles of self-worth!

Listen, today I want to encourage you and I not to get our eyes off the One who truly matters! 

each one of us is on our own personal journey with the Lord and yet each one of us make up the whole body of Christ!

That means that not one single individual is better than or more important than the other! 

This can be hard to grasp at times, trust me I know this! And if we try to guage our success, our progress in the Lord by social media, by the people who either accept or reject us, by our positions in the church, then we are going to be let down big time!

We are going to be continually grasping at straws, grasping at the wind!

Instead, my challenge for you and me today is this: be like Paul and forget those things which are behind and look forward toward the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus! 

What is our highest calling? It’s something we all share as belivers, sharing the Good News with others! Enouraging and loving on others!

These are the things that we should be out doing, Jesus called it the Father’s business while on earth, and its something we can and should all be busy doing!

when we get busy serving others, loving on others, encouraging others, we wont have time to track our supposed progress in the Lord or compare ourselves amongst ourselves - we will simply be too busy doing the Word to notice or even care! 

Be encouraged today! You are who He says you are!!! 

Until next time, remember: what you make happen for others, God will make happen for you! 

In Christ,

Joshua Scott Zeitz