“I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth,” Genesis 9:13
This morning I was reminded of a day long ago when I woke up feeling, well . . . . blah!!! That day, I had a headache, no energy, and not feeling really with it. It had been a hard week and it took its toll on my body. That day, and the original post I wrote, came to mind this morning and I decided to share some of it again here.
I remember looking for something to wear and I reached into my closet and pulled out a white shirt (black and white shirts are a standby for me because they usually don’t have to be ironed 🙂 – telling on myself, I know). But, even though it didn’t need to be ironed, I put it back declaring, in my dreariness that day that I needed a pop of color.
As I was going through the drudgery of ironing my pop of color, I wondered if that’s why God made His covenant with Noah and all the earth in the form of a rainbow. After the rains and the storms of life, after the hardships and turmoils, after being tossed about to and fro, maybe we all need that promise in a pop of color. We all need that beautiful and colorful covenant to gaze upon to let us know that despite what we are going through, God’s got this and His promises never fail (Joshua 21:45).
Today, I don’t know where life may find you or what you are going through. I don’t know if you have rain and storms with the possibility of seeing a physical rainbow at the end. I don’t know how your day begins or ends, but God does. I don’t know how it will all turn out, but our Heavenly Father is still watching over His children. He is sovereign, beautiful, and perfect in plans (Jeremiah 29:11), and He does all things well.
Friends, the rainbow is just one of the beautiful reminders of God’s hand and promise in our lives. Never are we left to fight these circumstances alone (Isaiah 41:10; Hebrews 13:5). Never are we left without the assurance we have in our God who is for us (Psalm 56:9; 118:7; Romans 8:31). So today, if you need it, here is your promise in a pop of color.
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“The anointing is me is not as strong as another.”
“I can’t do this.”
“I don’t have enough to work with.”
“I am too small.”
“I don’t have someone supporting me like that.”
Have you ever struggled with the idea of you don’t have enough in you to make a difference or a positive impact? Do you feel God pulling you into an area of faith but the fear that your “little bit of stuff” is not enough and it’s holding you back?
Many people struggle with thoughts such as these. If it’s not big, it won’t work. But God never called us into big things. But, what He did do was call us to step out in faith believing in Him, in where He wants to take us.
There is to be no inferiority complex among God’s people. We are not depending on what we bring to the table. Our dependence is upon Him and what He does with what we bring. God is the one that establishes the work of our hands (Psalms 90:17). God is the one who gives the increase off of what we do (1 Corinthians 3:7). Therefore, it doesn’t matter what we think of the size of what we bring because God is the one working behind the scenes; God is the one who works in it to outsize all.
All He asks of us is to step out in faith and work with what He gave us.
“For who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10). Every great tree that stands tall in the forest started from a small thing; from a seed. Your “small thing” is the seed of your gift that God is waiting for you to plant so that He can cause it to grow. An unplanted seed will not flourish and neither will your gift.
Don’t shun it because you think it’s not big enough. Don’t toss it to the side because you think it’s not good enough and doesn’t matter. It’s not about what you bring; it’s all about what He does with what you bring.
Luke 16:10 tells us, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much . . .” God wants to see what you do with the “least” before He turns it into “much.” Won’t you plant your little seed today?
Little stuff matters. If you don’t think so, take encouragement from these little critters:
“There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:
The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer,
The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;
The locusts have not king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces,” (Proverbs 30:24-28).
You see, it’s not about size or strength, but the wisdom God gives to those who render their little bit of stuff to Him in service. Size doesn’t matter to God because He is the God of increase. What matters most with God is our faithfulness in rendering what we do have to Him and trusting Him to let it grow.
“Little things make big things happen” (John Wooden).
Especially, when God is in it. So, don’t cast it off. Work it!
If looking at a valley of dead bones isn’t enough, then what follows would have blown my mind! God does some pretty amazing things in the Bible and this by far has to be one of my favorite stories that display His complete sovereignty and grace. It’s one thing to hear of people being brought back from the dead and it’s quite another to see the process unfold in such an extraordinary way, even if it is in a wonderful vision.
Can you imagine experiencing that moment with God, and Him asking what is supposedly a simple but not-so-simple question? “Son of man, can these bones live?” (Ez. 37:3). That question must’ve rolled through his mind, stunning him a bit. Awestruck, his response was as I believe mine would have been, “O Lord God, thou knowest” (Ez. 37:3).
At that point, I believe Ezekiel was probably starting to realize in a whole new way the magnitude of this wonderful God we serve. Looking out over the valley that he was drawn to, and seeing the waste of what was once life and trying to imagine them alive? His response was to appeal to the sovereignty of God – “You know!”
God does know, but perhaps He wants us to know that He knows. Right? It may sound confusing but God puts these questions out there to see where our belief lies. To see if we really see Him as the One who is in control of everything, including those things that appear utterly dead and beyond the hope of restoration.
I don’t know personally how it may have looked, but I can imagine the scene in my head. Going about through that place and seeing nothing but human remains here and there. I would have begun pondering all the “what’s, who’s, why’s and how’s” all this came to pass. What battle took place? Who was involved? Why did it have to come to this? How is it that there were none left to bury the dead? There before him, was a mass of unanswered questions covering a sea of death.
I wonder about that scene with the appearance of bodies upon bodies, stacked and scattered throughout. Lives were gone here and there remained nothing but death and dry bones. Nothing to cheer about, nothing to hope for if it were not for that question that came from the mouth of the Lord: “Can these bones live?”
Death in reverse? Is that what God was asking, he must have wondered? Taking an impossible act of nature and reenacting the process in rewind mode? If the question wasn’t enough, how about the command: “Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” (Ez. 37:4). Standing reverently but in utter stupefaction, Ezekiel must have known that he was at a point of no return in his ministry. God was drawing him deeper into the process. “I don’t know about this,” may have been what most would be thinking as they did as He commanded.
What would it have been like? At the spoken command, to hear an unsettling sound. A noise permeates the atmosphere. Rattling began to disturb the quiet of the valley. In a place that knew only demise and decay would now be re-identified as something miraculous. The rattle was with purpose. It meant things were moving into their proper place. It meant brokenness was being made whole. It was the start of a brand new life where there was none before. This was incredible to not only witness but to be a part of!
After the re-attachment of limbs and other skeletal remains, the real stuff transpired. It’s one thing for bones to find their host bodies and reattach themselves. It’s quite another to witness those very bones, and the nothingness that was left, begin to take on a new life. Sinews and flesh began to re-cover the bleached, parched surfaces. All the while, Ezekiel just watches. What would you do? Like a train wreck, as horrible as it may seem you can’t tear your eyes away from it. Under it all, organs started to reform and the life supply of veins maneuvered their way throughout, spreading the possibility for more life.
But God was not done, yet. He was genuinely reversing the life process. The bodies were now formed and covered “but there was no breath in them” (Ez. 37:8). Then, God gave him a new command: “Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live” (Ez. 37:9). Ezekiel followed God’s command and said, “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.” (Ez. 37:10). Before they stood, did they gasp at the feel of air entering their lungs once again? When they stood, did they turn to each other recognizing the “what was” and processing the “what is now?”
To see dead bones live in this fashion would have been awesome and beautiful. Think about it. God showed Ezekiel an impossible situation and did a complete turnaround and restored life where only death resided (compare to Israel’s spiritual restoration found in Ezekiel 37:11-14). It’s as if He had His finger on the hands of some big clock and purposefully began to rotate it backward. Spinning it and spinning it until all the death that once was had to let go and make room for new life to come to the forefront once again. What would it have been like to witness this vision?
Don’t you know? We may have not been bones but what remained of us of what the world stripped away was given a new command in the valley. The valley, our lowest point of life, was shaken and rattled until it stood at the command of God. Our lifelessness was renewed when His Spirit breathed in us freshness untold. Before He had a vision of us, we were surrounded by spiritual death. But then there arose potential out of nothingness. Captured by grace and loved on through His mercy, we received in us His gift of a second chance.
There are a lot of things in that particular vision of the valley that would have left me unsettled but I only had to turn to the One who was commanding the change in me and see the love in His eyes for me. I only had to look and believe as He did that, there is something alive here, there is something that can be raised up for me. We have all been in that valley. Vision or not, many have been to the place of impossibility just to see Him make it possible.
To see those bones rise to new life and live would have been awesome. But to see what He has done in us is far better. I don’t know what it would have been like there but I know what it is like here. The Bible says, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection,” (Romans 6:4-5). Because of Christ, we have received another chance to experience a new life outside of the valley. Just because it appears dead, doesn’t mean it’s so. God can raise up the most impossible of situations.
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A shepherd boy who had been forgotten when Samuel came to call, David was treated as a “less than” by everyone who knew him the most, except God.
God, looking past his outer array saw something special in him. He instructed Samuel to, “Arise, anoint him: for this is he,” (1 Samuel 16:12). Following God’s lead, “Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward,” (1 Samuel 16:13).
Not only had he been empowered and anointed by God’s Spirit on that day, but his life has never been the same since then. Because of the anointing in his life, David experienced ups and downs; he experienced victories, and he experienced times of loss. But in the end, he is still known as one of Israel’s greatest kings; as the bloodline through whom our Lord Jesus Christ came, and as a man after God’s own heart, Acts 13:22.
What David gained, Saul lost. As David became empowered by God’s Spirit, Saul was stripped of this anointed pleasure and replaced by something evil, 1 Samuel 16:14. This made David a continual target of hatred and adversity. What started out as a relationship of love (1 Samuel 16:21) quickly turned to envy and hatred after David returned from the slaughter of the Philistines because the women of the city sang, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands,” (1 Samuel 18:7).
Saul knew he was on a downward spiral and as a bird of prey perched to claim his next victim, “Saul eyed David from that day and forward,” (1 Samuel 18:9). Even when David was sent to relieve Saul of the distressing spirit that had come upon him, his life became an endangered treasure as the javelin of hatred whisked through the air intent on taking his life, 1 Samuel 18:10-11.
The LORD was with David. The people loved David. The anointing was on David, but that didn’t mean people wouldn’t try to squash what God was trying to accomplish in his life. David was at times a fugitive, constantly on the run, but he escaped time and again in what I am attributing to the providence of God.
At one point, in a dark cave in the wilderness of En-gedi, David had the opportunity to rid himself of the provocation of Saul once and for all. Yet, David refused to come against anything or anyone who had once been anointed by God, 1 Samuel 24:6.
This did not immediately vanquish Saul’s pursuit of David. Not until Saul perished in the battle against the Philistines did David become free of this enemy who pursued his life, 1 Samuel 31.
Hear this, we may not be aligned to be a great king of Israel or the like, but the Bible tells us, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people,” (1 Peter 2:9a). The anointing on your life makes you and me something and someone special before God.
The rest of 1 Peter 2:9 states, “That ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” Because God has poured His oil of anointing, through the power of His Holy Spirit, upon each and everyone that belongs to Him, we are designed to make a mark for Him in this world.
This anointing will bring enemies and battles, and yes, at times may seem dangerous, yet, “He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God,” (2 Corinthians 1:21). God is the one that has anointed us, and “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
Through Jesus Christ; through the power of His Spirit in us, we have been called and blessed to walk in the power of all God designed each one of us to be. Don’t let your circumstances dictate your anointing. Don’t let the Sauls of your life pierce through what God has divinely appointed for you. David ran for his life yet God’s plan for him never faltered. He was set aside for the Master’s use, and so are we.
There will always be adversity against God’s anointing, but if God anointed you choose today to walk in all that He has blessed you to be. Your anointing may seem dangerous at times, but in the end, it is well worth it. Just ask David.
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“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee,” Isaiah 26:3
Peace is something that may seem far out of reach for most. It is greatly desired and sought after; yet, many will never lay hold of it. Why is that? The answer is because of where it is found. It is found in a made-up mind centered on who He is and a devoted heart that believes in the promises He has made. “Perfect peace” speaks of the character of God at work. Wherever He operates and whatever He delves into is marked by perfection. That means when He established something that He wants to offer to all mankind He does so without there being anything wrong with it. No fault in it whatsoever. And He does here also. As a matter of fact, the only thing that can mar this “perfect peace” that He is so willing to give is how man (the human race) accepts it.
When one’s mind is focused wholeheartedly on an idea, then that becomes the single vision of that person. Once the picture of the mind’s eye is narrowed in one direction, that’s where one will be led to follow. Now imagine a time of being in the midst of arduous and severe trials and tribulations. Where there are sorrows and disappointments that seem to do nothing to encourage one’s focus on God, only working to tear away at one’s faith. Yet, through it all, that person takes a stand within them and says, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).
The person who is able to stir up his faith in this manner as a defense and a shield to his mind, using the focus of God at work in his life and verifying it through His Word, will be kept in “perfect peace.” He has made an on-purpose decision that no matter how bleak and dismal it may seem right now, God is greater than all, and “His tender mercies are over all His works,” (Ps. 145:9). “How is one able to do that?” you may be crying out in frustration. I answer you with Abraham’s example as referred to by Paul in Romans 4:20-21, where it says, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” Simply put, as our verse in Isaiah 26:3 says, “Because he trusteth thee.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” That is including, “perfect peace.” All His promises are in His Word and the one who bases the foundation of all that he believes on that one rock-solid truth will be upheld and kept through the worst of storms.
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
His original design for your life may not look like everyone else’s. For some to stand with their own earthly measuring rods to compare may have not taken into account the uniqueness that makes you, you. It may look quirky to some, but to God, it looks like you are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” (Psalm 139:14).
You are not a cookie-cutter fabrication of the rest. Nor are you a tired remodel of the “best.” Just the best you is who you are with your offerings to the world. So go ahead and step out in the way He has planned for you. Show them what you have to bring to the table matters. Show them (despite the sometimes judgmental stares) your voice, your calling, and the workmanship He has sown in you with great care.
There’s more than one way to do a lot of things, but there’s only one way to be – that’s you! Show them you.
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“For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us,” 2 Corinthians 1:20
It’s back to school time around here. Each school year starts out brand new. New backpacks, new supplies, new clothes; along with new hopes and dreams with the anticipation of promise lingering in the air. This is going to be a wonderful year!
By the end of the first month of school, children and sometimes parents too, start looking forward to days off, delayed openings due to weather and such. The reality of the daily grinding and horse race schedules overshadows the promise that was once felt. Instead of realigning oneself to keep hold of the promise that was once felt in the atmosphere, we begin to gripe and complain. Looking forward to the end of the school year, or at least Christmas break for some relief becomes the new goal.
Often times, we treat the promises of God in the same manner also.
He gives us this wonderful volume (the Bible), filled with sixty-six books. And in each of those sixty-six books therein is packed with “more.” God has “more” for you than this. Line upon line and precept upon precept tells us how much He cares for us, loves us, and wants more for us. The Bible starts way back in the book of Genesis with promise. And, it goes all the way through to the end of Revelation. How does it end? With promise! “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen,” (Rev. 22:20-21). That’s a promise!
Unfortunately, as it is with the school year so it is in life. In the beginning, when the promise is fresh we are ecstatic. Then, as the everyday issues begin to settle in it starts to wear on the assurance that once was, leaving one to do nothing but constantly focusing on the end. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” (John 10:10). He doesn’t desire for “life” to be something tolerated. Rather, He wants it filled. And with that, there is the anticipation of something better.
Promise!
Promises only work when one accepts it. You can quote it all that you like, but unless it is internalized as a hopeful thing in the life of each of us, it does absolutely no good. Many people can read of the promises but they can’t believe in them for themselves. Only seeing with the eyes but never touching. They never experience the greatness that God wants to do. That’s not God’s intention for you. “For all the promises of God in Him are yea.” That means “YES!” Now, it may be just me but when I see the words “all,” and “promises,” and “God,” and “yes,” I get excited! If you are in Christ, God says yes to every promise that comes with that salvation. Yes!
Won’t you accept it today? Yes!
I don’t have enough space or time here to even begin to list what He has in store for us. And, the half has not been told. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,” (1 Cor. 2:9). The promises are there in His Word. All you have to do is believe it and receive it!
Be a promise accepter today. Go through the Bible, find verses that speak to you right now, highlight them, and write them down or whatever you do to remember a verse, then, lay hold of it as your personal treasure. Let them be your source of strength when life doesn’t feel as “abundant.” Accept what He said anyhow. Step out in faith, holding on to those precious promises for dear life.
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“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” Hebrews 12:1
Lay those burdens down! Give yourself permission to release it, and let it all go. Grab hold of the confidence of His Word, and cling to it for dear life.
This world is raging. Things we’ve never seen before are unfolding at a frightening rate. Hurts are dissimulating families. Distresses are speaking despair into lives. Lay it all down!
Refuse to pick it up today! That fear; that feeling – refuse it space in your world today.
Who does God say I am? What does His Word speak over my life? That’s what I choose to pick up today. That’s what I am choosing to carry with me. Not these burdens. Not these worries. They are hindrances to my progress. They’re deflating my steps.
I want to run! I want to run for You, Jesus! I want to run my race well and effectively. But, in order to run, I have to release some things that’s been holding me down. I must cast disappointment aside. I have to get rid of any sin that’s stopping me from running full speed ahead for the Lord. I have to throw away everything that’s not working for my heavenly good and trust in God the Father who is.
Lay it all down, dear friend, lay it down. The heaviness it holds it’s not worth it. Don’t coddle it. Don’t get comfortable with it. Don’t declare this is how it is now.
No, get rid of it. By faith, be determined. By faith, walk in the confidence of the God who has spoken beautiful things over your life. By faith, don’t just claim His peace – live it, because it’s already yours!
The weight is not yours to carry, but His peace is. Run your race with Him and be blessed.
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