Kingdom Surrender

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

It has been a long while since my last post here. But we have started a new year. New Beginnings. “New” word for the year. Last year’s word was “Victory,” which I said very little about during the year. I did live in Victory as God brought me through a kidney cancer diagnosis. My word the previous two years was “Revival.” That word still burns inside of me. I firmly feel that revival is coming, a revival like never before. I am consumed by that hope.

That word, hope, was one of the first works of the year when I started picking words of the year, and this year I am returning to it. I had no idea what my word would be this morning. I wasn’t even thinking about one. A dear friend has sent me, among other things, a deck of cards, “101 favorite Bible verses for Men,” for Christmas. Each card has a bible verse on each side of the card, one Old and one New Testament verse. I decided I would pick a card and write about one of the two verses. Today’s selection is from the New Testament side and the next post will from the Old Testament side.

As soon as I pulled the card and read both sides, I realized I had a “2-fer.” I got something to write about and I had my word for the year – HOPE!

The first time selecting “hope,” I focused on the hope I had in Jesus Christ. I now see the above Scripture in a new light. Scriptures tell us that all who believe in Him shall have everlasting life. He will shower those who believe with immeasurable blessings. But that’s only half of it. Paul prays above that God will fill us with all joy and peace because of our belief. But then he continues by praying that you would abound in that hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Scriptures tell us that we are to share the blessings with others and not hoard those blessings.

Believe in God. Receive blessings of joy and peace (and hope). Walk in it. So much joy and peace, you will abound in it. More than you could use. It will shine from you and thus provide hope to those around you. That’s what Paul is trying to tell us. Not only to live in hope but by doing so, give hope to others.

Be Blessed!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for this special announcement.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV)

Fear not, Part III of my sermon transcription is coming, but I had an encounter with a woman at the Laundromat last night that bears telling. I mentioned the encounter to my wife, but apparently someone else needs to hear it. Why else would I be awakened an hour before my doggie alarm with an urge to sit at my computer and type?

Pat and I, after spending a precautionary week of quarantine, were finally able to take our beach camping laundry to the Laundromat. Much of our clothes, sheets and blankets were sand filled and it would have taken many loads to wash the pile, so we took advantage of the large capacity washers and dryers at the local Laundromat. Unfortunately, one of the heavy blankets was being stubborn and refused to dry. We tossed it into a dryer by itself while we folded the rest of the clothes.

Yep, you guessed it. We finished folding, packed up and left, leaving that blanket behind, which actually was Pat’s daughter’s, the one who contracted COVID, causing our quarantine. We had taken her bedding with us to wash. We had taken everything home and went to get a bite to eat. When we got home from that, I was getting something out of the truck while Pat went inside. She came bursting out of the front door a moment later, as if the house was on fire or something had happened to her daughter or one of the dogs. No, it was to tell me that we had left the blanket behind. I almost had a heart attack, the way she burst through the door.

I returned to the Laundromat. It was difficult seeing into the dryers we had been using because a woman was in the middle of emptying her clothes into the dryers above the ones we had used, and the baskets were partially blocking my view and access. As best as I could tell the blanket was not there. I approached the nearby attendants and asked if anyone had turned in the blanket. The woman who was blocking the dryers overheard me and asked if it was a white blanket, because there was one in the dryer behind one of her baskets. It was the left-behind blanket.

She moved her basket and as I was retrieving the blanket she said, “I guess you couldn’t see around my fat ass.” Now, she was a tall woman, over 6 feet tall, and I would say a little overweight, but nowhere near the way she described herself. My first comment was, “No, your basket was blocking my view.” I paused, then continued by telling her she should never think or say such negative things about herself. It was the wrong attitude. We were each created in God’s image. I thanked her and walked away.

We live in a time where many are unsatisfied with how they look. They try to change what God has created through diet, plastic surgery, chemical treatments, etc. They become obsessed with change. It’s one thing to treat our bodies in a wholesome way and try to take care of ourselves, but many go too far. There’s a difference between maintenance and change. God created each of us in His image, yet no two of us look the same. Even identical twins have discernable differences.

Embrace what God has created you to be, not what society tells you to be. Job, the most righteous man alive at the time, according to God, was attacked by Satan and wished he had never been born. Don’t let society do that to you.  You are God’s Masterpiece! Lay hod of that truth.

Have a blessed weekend!

PART II: God’s Response to the Sons of Korah Cry for Revival

We ended last time with Psalm 85, in which the Sons of Korah cried out for restoration. That cry for restoration may have been answered in Chronicles, which we will now explore.

In the 1^st six chapters of 2 Chronicles, Solomon is building the Temple to house the Ark. In Chapter 7, Solomon completes the building of the temple and turns to dedicating it and throwing a feast.  Let’s pick up in Verse 12.

^“Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him: ‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.’”

God tells Solomon in Verse 12 that He has “heard your prayer.” God is referring to Solomon’s individual prayer. He then says He has chosen the temple for Himself as a house of sacrifice. In the next Verse, He starts off with “When,” although some translations say “If.” God tells Solomon he has done well in building the temple but then warns of things to come: drought, locusts and pestilence.  I’ll come back to Verse 14 in a moment. Finally, in Verse 15, God says He will be attentive to prayer made in the temple.  He’s now referring to corporate prayer, prayer made by His people from the temple.

Now let’s take a closer look at Verse 14. It is an answer to the cries of restoration. It is a recipe for revival and there are only 4 ingredients: Humility, Prayer, Focus, Repentance.

            “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 

The 1^st ingredient is humility (“humble themselves.”) God is asking for each person to completely surrender to Him. We have a hard enough time surrendering anything, much less everything. That willingness to completely surrender is usually reached at the time of sheer desperation, when we feel that we can do nothing without him. He wants us to take the 1^st step, to act. Then the closer we draw near to Him, the closer He will draw to us.

God called us to an individual spiritual revival at the start of the pandemic. He may not have started the pandemic, but He was in control. We had a perfect opportunity to be humble, admit we needed help and turn to God in prayer, thus drawing closer to God, as we sheltered in place. Kana (kaw-nah) is one Hebrew word for “humble.” It means to take a knee, a perfect position to be in for prayer, the next ingredient in the recipe.

The 2^nd ingredient is prayer (“pray.”) As we prayed individually at the outset, in our isolation, we prepared for when we could once again pray together. We should have been rejoicing as churches were allowed to reopen. We should have come together and begun praying corporately, prayer through communal worship.  We saw earlier how God had told Solomon He had heard his prayer (individual.) Now wants to hear from His people (“if my people …will…pray.”) God is looking for universal prayer for communal healing from His people. It should have been a time for community spiritual prayer for revival when churches were allowed to reopen.

The 3^rd ingredient is focus (“Seek My face.”) If we are actively looking for Him in all that we see, we become focused on Jesus and tune out all the distractions. The intent here is not to actually see His face but to be in a constant state of seeking.  The Old Testament, God tells Moses it is impossible to see His face and live (Exodus 33:19-20.) But Jesus gives us an “out” in John 14:9 when He tells Philip, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen my father. Thus, Jesus is public face of God. In any event, we must constantly seek the Lord’s face, staying focused on Jesus.

The 4th and final ingredient is repentance (“Turn from their wicked ways”.) God calls us to repent, as did the Ninevites in the Book of Jonah. After trying to run and hide, Jonah relents and does what God has told him to do. He walks the streets of Nineveh proclaiming “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” The people of Nineveh believed and began fasting and put on sackcloth.  When word reached the King of Nineveh, he did the same and gave a proclamation that all should fast, don sackcloth, and turn from their evil ways. When God saw this, He relented and spared Nineveh. God is calling us to tur from our wicked ways and ask for His forgiveness.

As a result, God will hear from heaven, forgive our sins, heal our lands. He promises that He will do all these things, not some of them. We know this because each of his promises are connected by a single word: “and.” In fact this verse is an if-and proposition. Each of the ingredients are likewise connected by the same word. The verse starts with “If,” then each of the following propositions are connected by “and:” “If my people will . . . humble themselves AND pray AND seek My face AND turn from their wicked ways” It’s an all or nothing proposition. If we do all those things (humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways,) then He will hear from heaven AND forgive our sins AND heal our land.  He is waiting for us to make the first move, hold up our end of the deal. Then He will fulfill all his promises.

We will next discuss God’s present call to action.

Part 1 – A Cry for Help

I presented a message on January 12, 2022, titled “Revival – A Call to Action,” at Corpus Christi Christian Fellowship, Corpus Christi, TX. I subsequently posted the video to my blog, “kingdomsurrender.com.” It is now time to transcribe that message into a written series. I will use the outline from that message but expand on it as I transform and write this into a blog series. This blog is Part 1 of that effort.

I’m confident that few would disagree that our nation, and our world is a mess. Pandemics, racial divisiveness, political discord, religious battles, gender issues are prevalent. There is violent disagreement everywhere. Things keep getting worse.  Maybe we need another Awakening or a Revival. But which one?

Let’s start with some definitions. An awakening is an act of waking from sleep or a moment of becoming suddenly aware of something. A Revival is an improvement in the condition or strength of something, an instance of something becoming popular, active or important again. The Hebrew word for revival is chayah, which means to bring back to life or restore to a previous condition.

Over the years, many have used awakening and revival interchangeably, but they are different. In the Kingdom realm, an Awakening applies to a nonbeliever who answers God’s call to salvation. A Revival applies to Believers who’ve strayed or turned away, but are revived, and return to their faith. The people of the Bible thumping fire and brimstone days of Revival tents used the words interchangeably. Realistically, those tent revivals were probably attended by both non-believers and believers alike. In other words, just as the Awakenings that swept over this country (4 or 5, depending on how you count them,) they may have started as awakenings to call nonbelievers to faith, but many were brought to the revivals by believers, or there were believers who came on their own, but got caught up in the excitement and became revived. Both benefited from those events.

We need a revival – AGAIN, just as in the days of the Old Testament, and every so often since then. The Sons of Korah are credited with writing 11 of the Psalms. The Sons of Korah are descendants of the surviving relatives of Korah, a leader of the rebellion against Moses and Aaron. You may remember the story of Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On in Chapter 16 of the Book of Numbers. They led a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. As a result, most of their families were swallowed up by the earth and another 250 followers of the rebellion were consumed by fire. Personally, that would have been enough warning for me but the next morning the remaining people who sided with Korah continued to rebel.  God sent a plague among them. Before Aaron stepped in with incense and stopped the plague, another14,700 people had died. God resolved the issue by telling each of the tribes to bring a rod from their leader and place the 12 rods in the tabernacle. Whosever’s rod sprouted leaves the next morning would be the chosen leader. Aaron’s rod was the only one with leaves the next morning.

In Psalm 85, verses 4-7, the Sons of Korah cry out for restoration. They write:

             “Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.”

We’ll pick up next time, as we begin to explore God’s response to the Sons of Korah.  Be Blessed!

Several times throughout the Gospels, Jesus Christ pulls the disciples aside and gives them “the rest of the story,” explaining parables, giving further insight into instruction, etc. In Matthew 13, Jesus speaks to the multitudes in parables. Afterwards, the disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables, and He answered: 

“Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says; ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets, and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matt 13:10-16) 

Today, I’d like to do the same with respect to the events surrounding our trip to Lebanon, KS,

in March 2021. You can refer to posts I made beginning in Feb 2021 through March for greater detail.

Kingdom Prayer for the Nation #2

Kingdom Prayer for the Nation #4

Kingdom Prayer for the Nation #5

Kingdom Prayer for the Nation #6

Kingdom Prayer 7:14 Mar 13, 2021

You can also go to my message of Jan 12, 2022, here: https://cccf.sermon.net/embed/main/21919744 .  

For now, here’s a quick summary.  Through a Super Bowl commercial in Feb 2021, God sent us to the Center Chapel in Lebanon, KS, to pray for the healing of our land. As the commercial about a small chapel in Lebanon, KS< played, I felt this sudden sensation that I was to go to that chapel and pray for the healing of our nation. At that time, my wife and I had been praying 2 Chronicles 7:14 twice a day (7:14 am and 7:14 pm, to coincide with the verse number.) We had joined a group, Unite 714, at the outbreak of the pandemic, who advocated praying this verse twice a day.  We travelled to Lebanon and on Mar 13, 2021, we prayed twice, once at 7:14 am and later that day at 7:14 pm, starting with 2 Chronicles 7:14. After the morning prayer, I asked God to give me a sign that He had heard our prayer. He answered that evening after the second prayer by causing 6 buds to sprout on a dormant tree which appeared dead from a deep freeze that had passed through the area the month before our visit. I explored the meaning of 2 Chronicles 7:14 in the first part of my message, “Revival – A call to Action” (mentioned above,) and end with the testimony of the 6 buds, buds that should not have been on that tree in mid-March (sub-40-degree temperatures) in the middle of Kansas.

But that was not the only thing that happened on this trip. There was too much to say in the short 30-minute time I had been given. Now is the time for the rest of the story. There were several other events that occurred on our trip to highlight God’s hand everywhere. I am forever grateful that He had allowed me to be aware of all these things. 

1. I wondered, “Why Kansas?” in the middle of winter, 1000 miles north of us, when we could have just as easily prayed for the healing of our land in Corpus Christi, TX. That question was answered when I saw the buds. Such an occurrence would not have been unusual here in Corpus Christi, even in March.

2. The morning of March 13 dawned cold, wet and dreary. There was a huge storm over Colorado, and it was heading our way. The front edge of it was already pushing through. Pat’s car is controlled by a keyless fob. She had placed her keys on a pew in the tiny chapel as we prayed that morning and she accidentally left them there. After praying, taking pictures, etc., we returned to the car and fortunately Pat reached for the handle first. When the doors didn’t unlock, she realized her keys were in the chapel. Had I reached the handle first, the doors would have unlocked, and her keys would have been left behind. I would have reached the doors first, but something caused me to pause and look back towards the chapel and the tree that would later bud. God didn’t want us to leave those keys behind.

3. We had 12 hours to wait before returning for the evening prayer at the chapel.  I had done some research the night before and noticed there was a Walmart in a nearby town, some coffee shops, and several interesting places to see. So, after leaving, we headed to the first spot, the town where I thought the Walmart was. As we approached our destination, Belleville, KS, I realized two things. First, Walmart was in another town, not Belleville, where we were heading. The other thing I realized is I was heading towards my grassroots, so to speak. One of the themes I had been talking about through my Revival series was the need to get back to the basics, the grass roots. Kansas is filled with town names from other places: Lebanon, Long Island, Orleans, Cuba, Jamestown, Belleville. My grassroots? I was born in Belleville, IL (Scott AFB). God was confirming my conviction of returning to our grassroots.

4. We had initially intended on leaving very early Sunday morning, but the weather had turned for the worse. It was raining hard where we were, and weather maps showed a wide band of severe thunderstorms all along IH 35 from north of Wichita to San Antonio and it wasn’t moving any time soon. We decided to take a nap, wake up at midnight and evaluate the situation. I found that the band of storms had moved west of IH 35 and narrowed some. So, we left, drove through about 45 minutes of blinding rain on unlit country roads, but soon after reaching the highway, the rain slowed considerably.

5. After passing Wichita and Oklahoma, approaching the Texas border, I learned there had been several earthquakes around the north side of Wichita and one south of Wichita along IH 35. Checking the timelines, I realized that had we been delayed by an hour, we would have been in the middle of those quakes at the time they hit. I remember thinking that Satan’s tried to mess with us, but his timing was off. 

6. We had many opportunities to witness to others during our time in Kansas. People we met would ask where we were from and what brought us to the area. They acknowledged many had come to the tiny Chapel as a tourist attraction, especially after the Super Bowl commercial, but none had said they came to pray for the healing of the Nation. 

God was everywhere we looked. We were encouraged to see hope in the people and the land we encountered, an experience repeated in a subsequent trip to Tennessee just two months later.  

HOPE! 

There’s a hope that can only be felt if we are alive, and in a position to observe it. We cannot see if our eyes are closed to what’s around us, or if we are isolated in our own lives and homes. We must be in our “learning positions” at all times. We must intentionally seek God’s presence in everything going on around us. The positive in everything, not the negative. It’s in the attitude. That’s what Jesus was teaching his disciples through the parables. Look deeper, go beyond the surface, seek the rest of the story, which would become clear as one observes and absorbs through the lens of faith and hope. 

And that’s the reason we share our testimonies: to give hope to all. These testimonies are not about me. They are about the glory of God, what He is doing in All of our lives, because we are One Body.

Be Blessed! 

“Be still, and know that I am God;”

My last post was over a month ago, Feb 8, 2022, to be exact.  Though I have been silent (on here) since then, I have been far from still. I may be retired but I am not inactive. My ears have been attentive, though I may be half deaf. My eyes have been searching, though my sight is failing. My heart has been open, though it is broken. Despite all that, I am VICTORIOUS, because of He who is inside of me.

I last talked about the upcoming Super Bowl, which played out a week later, on Feb 13. At the end of the day the Rams beat the Bengals. The Rams completed the regular season at 12-5. The Bengals completed the regular season at 10-7. Both teams finished the regular season at the top of their division, but not the top of their conference.  Both the Packers and Bucs had the best records in the NFC (and the NFL) at 13-4, While the Chiefs and Titans had the best record in the AFC (12-5.) The Rams were tied for third in the NFC, win wise with the Cowboys, while the Bengals were tied for fourth with the Patriots and Raiders, with the Bills were in third place (11-6.) The teams with the best records (most toys or weapons) didn’t even make it to the Super Bowl, much less win it. And guess what, on Feb 14, 2022, EVERY team in the NFL entered off-season tied at 0-0. They were equal and will remain that way for 7 months.

We see this same scenario played out over and over in Scriptures. Moses and God’s people outrunning the Egyptian Army. Gideon with 300 men against over 100,000 Midianites. David and Goliath. Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Daniel and the lions. And many other examples. God’s plan at work!

And we see it playing out today, as the Ukrainian forces and people repulse the Russian forces as they battle to protect their land and their freedom. It appears Russia thought it would be a cake walk but have found it anything but. Nobody knows what President Putin’s intentions are. Russia may have superior numbers in terms of people and weaponry, but the heart of the Ukrainian people is huge. God is clearly at work. From a worldly perspective, Russia may eventually prevail, but the victory already belongs to the people of Ukraine.

I have felt a shift underway in my spirit the last few weeks. Not a bad shift, not an upheaval or directional shift. Just a . . . shift.  I expect it may be the Lord about to move in a mighty way. I feel it in the reports coming out of Ukraine. I felt it this weekend at the Men’s Breakfast, Sunday service and even at our Rooted In Christ marriage enrichment meeting last night. It was present when Pat and I had a discussion over a choice “to turn left or right.” I chose wrong, to be transparent.

There is a Fresh Wind blowing. And I’m not talking about the front moving through South Texas as I type. Lift your voice and prayer in One Accord to praise God for the mighty things He is and will do in Ukraine and around the world to fan the flame of Revival.

Be Blessed!