The Lord Takes Note

Malachi 3:16
Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.

What incredible, precious blessing and comfort is promised to those who fear God and fellowship in His presence. It is amazing to think that The Lord takes note of the times we have delighted in recounting His testimonies and promises. He pays attention when we come together and encourage one another in His Word. Not only can we enjoy our hearts burning within us with joy as we fellowship but The Lord is actively listening and sharing in our joy! HALLELUJAH!!
They spoke often to each other! They delighted in reminding themselves and each other of the goodness and faithfulness of God. Their conversation was not about their own righteousness or the life of others. They did not give their words to criticism or complaint nor did they glorify a man. Their conversation was not earthly but heavenly, it was not fleshly but spiritual. They spoke together of The Lord and His testimonies, His victories and His provisions! It wasn’t something they only mentioned in church or when they were asked to teach, rather it was the joy of their heart and the outpouring of their personal meditation. They gloried in The Lord! They were looking unto Him, their creator, the author and finisher of their faith!
It is precious that we can share our burdens with one another and confess our sins to one another. Confession and transparency are important, hard conversations are absolutely necessary and vital to healthy fellowship. But let the conversation always come to Christ! May we always get to HIM and HIS great Salvation and the beauty of HIS Holiness! It is vitally important to share one another’s burdens… But we do so with hope! We do so with HIS JOY! We talk to one another of JESUS CHRIST! Our Saviour who has forgiven each one of us MUCH!! Hallelujah! Bless His name! Thank you Jesus!

Matthew 12
35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Oh, may our hearts produce good fruit for our creator. May we pour out in conversation and conduct the good fruits of HIS Life, HIS Spirit and HIS Word! Let us encourage one another brothers and sisters! Share Jesus with each other. Enjoy HIM together! That is where He is most greatly glorified!
Oh may we learn to be careful with our tongues. May our conversation be always in God’s presence, with His listening ear in mind. May we speak with JOY and may we speak with reverence.
The Lord is listening and He is taking notes!

You Are The Light

Matthew 5
13” You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its saltiness, how shall it be salted again? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

YOU ARE the salt and light! God the Father, by His Son Jesus Christ, has set His Light, and His Testimony upon His people! This is an incredible truth to meditate on. God Almighty has set HIS Glory on HIS people! Jesus Christ is The Light of the word but now He is that same Light within His people! You are to be a vessel for His Light that the darkness cannot comprehend or overcome! Hallelujah!
However, the salt can lose its saltiness, the light can become covered and you can choose to walk in the flesh instead of The Spirit. Just as Jesus is the Light so He is the salt! There is a weighty responsibility upon you to maintain that saltiness and to let that light shine! There is a vital need to abide in Christ, to maintain His abiding in you. We are to maintain His saltiness, we are to LET our light shine.
There is a secret place where we can abide under the shadow and care of The Almighty. NOTHING can harm us there! NO ENEMY, NO DARKNESS can enter that place! We are commanded to abide there! But we can choose to leave. We can be distracted, we can be negligent, we can focus on self… May we be ever so careful to abide; to maintain our saltiness; to let our light shine forth out of our hearts, conversation and conduct!

Isaiah 60
1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

YOUR Light has come, now it is YOU who must arise and shine HIS Light!! The glory of God has risen upon you! Oh give that much thought!! HALLELUJAH!!
Oh may the world look at us and understand that we have been with Jesus!! (Acts 4:13) He is so worthy to be glorified in our conversation and conduct! May we praise Him in our actions, may His testimony be our reputation! May we bear MUCH fruit, shine ever so bright and be a precious flavour of Christ… As we are careful to abide in Him.

“Brethren, the Master will take care of the great lighthouse of salvation, but it is our job to keep the lower lights burning to guide men safely to Him.” – DL Moody

Faithful With Very Little

Luke 16
10 Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
…
13 No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

Faithful is not a title we can claim for ourselves but a characteristic only others can attribute to us. Faithfulness, like love, is proven in action and not bound by fluctuating feelings. Faith without works is dead as love without faithfulness is dead and both are proven in the very little.
The “very little” things are often overlooked or despised. They are thought little of, easily missed and easily forgotten. They are insignificant to most people and beneath others; unglamorous, inconvenient moments of servitude for which no praise or thanks is given. Faithfulness is proved in little minutes and moments of life, in the unseen and unnoticed parts. It is a daily, moment by moment discipline/battle. It would be easy to stop, most people would understand, even encourage you to take it easy and relax!
On the other hand the flesh in me is eager to prove an ability to be faithful in the “much”. The idea of promotion to something greater appeals to my ego, but spiritually, that is to miss the mark entirely. The great vastness of God’s immense love is proven and demonstrated in the very little, consistent daily details of our lives! “His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23. There is great wonder and awe in knowing God spoke all creation into existence in six days but that same voice still faithfully holds all things together and it is in the menial task of caring for each and every sparrow that we get a glimpse of the vastness of His omnipotent love and omniscient care. To have the opportunity to serve our Saviour in the “very little” is far greater testimony of the majesty of God than any notoriety or momentary significance. His tender mercies, loving kindnesses and compassions are seen far more clearly in the very little things that we do for others in His name.
The greatest honour for a man is to be found in faithfulness to God in the least of things. Oh may we be so in love with The Lord that we joy to serve Him faithfully and joyfully in the very little.

1 Corinthians 4
2 Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

Luke 18
8 … However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [this kind of persistent] faith on the earth?”

Immersed In God

Exodus 40
34 Then the cloud [God’s visible presence] covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle!
35 And Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud remained upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

1 Kings 8
10 When the priests had come out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Lord’s house,
11 So the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.

Acts 2
2 When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting.
…
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression [in each tongue in appropriate words].

•⁠ ⁠Three different dwelling places of Almighty God. Each one with its own baptism (immersion) of God! Each one filled with His presence and His Glory! Each one with a clear manifestation of God’s delight to dwell among his people. God’s deepest desire and glory is that He can dwell among His people! Hallelujah, What a Saviour! What a Gospel!
•⁠ ⁠None of these experiences were continuous though. They were symbolic of God’s acceptance and delight to dwell in the place prepared! But life and service continued on after these precious moments.

John 16
13 But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all Truth. For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].
14 He will honour and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.

•⁠ ⁠The immersion had come and now there was work to be done. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was to be proclaimed and that’s exactly what the apostles did! The experience of Acts 2 is never mentioned again with longing. The disciples never looked back at the physical experience of the upper room wishing they could have that again, but they walked with a forward focus, proclaiming Jesus Christ, and taught us with obedience, joy and boldness to walk in The Holy Spirit, and to be being FILLED with HIM!
•⁠ ⁠But if we find that we feel empty, if we find that we hunger for more of Him, if we find that we feel a thirst and a dryness, we can do so rejoicing in all that He has given us! If we are thirsty, PRAISE THE LORD, we can drink from the Living Waters! If we hunger, PRAISE THE LORD for we shall be filled!! OH HALLELUJAH! There is never a reason strong enough to ever stop praising The Lord!! So let us continue to bring our sacrifices of praise, for The Lord inhabits the praises of His people! And if we bring to The Lord our songs of praise and rejoicing we shall never leave empty but full of HIM!!

I Shall Yet Praise Him

Psalm 42
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.
6 O my God, my life is cast down upon me [and I find the burden more than I can bear]; therefore will I [earnestly] remember You…

THE QUESTION: Why?! Why are you cast down? Why are you fretting? What is wrong with you?! Why are you looking at yourself, or the enemy, or the storm? “Consider your ways”, analyse/understand your battle. Answer the question accurately and specifically… Why are you cast down?
The question suggests that it is unreasonable to be downcast. Sin is no cause or reason, because we are promised it shall not have dominion over us and, upon repentant confession, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from ALL sin; Satan and his temptations are also no reason to be cast down. God is mightier than the devil! The Spirit of Jesus Christ, who abides in the believer is greater than he that is in the world! Satan can go only as far as God allows. There is no justifiable reason for the believer’s soul to be cast down! We have every reason to look up and wait expectantly in hope!
The implied answer is that we are downcast because we have moved our eyes from looking at our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We have taken our eyes off of all that He is, all that He has done and all that He has taught and promised! And we have started to perceive by our own logic and lean on our own understanding. We have magnified the problem/flesh and not The Lord!
THE RESPONSE: I shall yet praise Him! I will praise Him anyway!! Despite my circumstance, despite the enemy, no matter the storm, I will yet continue to praise The Lord with a set and determined heart of faith and trust. I will not let the enemy, the world or my flesh take me from abiding in Christ, the secret place of The Most High! I will not heed distraction but cling to The Lord, His promises and His faithfulness.
But also, I will yet have a testimony of paise in this situation so don’t be cast down… For praise is coming! Victory is coming! Joy is coming in the morning! A testimony of The Lord’s sustaining grace; providence; provision; goodness and mercy is coming! I will yet praise Him because I know that “surely” I will always look back and see His goodness and mercy following me. His Glory shall be my testimony!
I shall YET PRAISE HIM!! I will remember Calvary! I will remember that victory is already won! I will remember that we have been delivered by a Mighty Hand! I will remember that my name is written in Heaven! I will remember His So Great Salvation! I will remember His complete deliverance from Egypt; His promise to never leave me nor forsake me; His loving kindnesses and tender mercies… I will remember my Redeemer, my Saviour, my loving Heavenly Father and that Almighty God lives within me!! And then I will ask myself… Why are you cast down??

Matthew 28
20 “I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

⁠If we have the faith to really believe that this is true then how/why are you downcast oh my soul, my brother, my sister? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for we shall yet praise Him, our Help and our God!