Monthly Archives: September 2022

Foolishness if bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him.  – (Proverbs 22:15 NKJV)

The Bible says, “Eli sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:12).  Eli was a priest and he knew the voice of God, but he didn’t always obey it.  Even when he saw his sons doing evil in the eyes of God, he didn’t discipline them and it led to the downfall of the entire family.  Eli lost his priesthood as well as his sons because he esteemed his sons more than he esteemed God.  Friend, when we esteem our children more than God, it ends up giving them a bucket of trouble!

Our tendency as parents can be to want to shelter our children from all of life’s hurts, including the pain of discipline.  But we have to pray and trust God that He will be with them wherever they go.  God expects us to do our part—to “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6 KJV)—which includes disciplining them to know right from wrong.

As a young child, Samuel was committed to be a priest in the household of Eli—which everyone knew was an ungodly household.  But Hannah’s commitment kept him under the supernatural guidance of God during those year.

We can’t always protect our children from the ugliness they will encounter in the world, but we can entrust God with our children.

Dear Heavenly Father, I entrust my children to You.  When I need guidance on raising Godly children, I will look to Your Word, Your wisdom, and the way Your Own Son Jesus was raised.  In His Name, Amen.

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are.  For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  I Corinthians 5:7 NIV

After delivering the Israelites out of Egypt, God instructed them to celebrate seven feasts.  Did you know that these seven feasts actually show us who Jesus is in us?

Passover:  Christ is our Passover Lamb.  Unleavened Bread:  Leaven is a symbol of corruption.  Jesus was without spot and without sin; He had no leaven.  First fruits:  Jesus was the first fruit—He was the first to arise from the dead.  Pentecost:  This feast was marked by the offering of raised bread such as we eat daily.  We are reminded of Jesus coming to be among us, providing us with daily bread from Heaven for our spiritual sustenance.  Trumpets:  This is symbolic of the trumpet that will be blown when Jesus returns.  Day of Atonement:  Jesus is our atonement.  Tabernacles:  During this feast, the people dwelt in tabernacles or booths to celebrate the fact that God had brought them through the wilderness into their own land.  It was a joyous time.  This celebration allows us to look ahead to Jesus’ return.

So, in the Old Testament, they celebrated seven feast days.  Seven is always the number of completions, showing us the complete picture of what Jesus has for us.  Now, when they celebrated these feasts, they actually acted out what Jesus would do in the New Testament—even though they didn’t know Jesus by name!  They look ahead to a Messiah and had a revelation about that, but they didn’t know the fulfillment of that.

Don’t you just love to read both the Old and New Testament and see how they tie together?

Jesus, it is so wonderful to experience the revelations God has for us about You in the Old Testament!  Be real to me.  Intercede for me.  Pray for me.  Live in me.  I want to know Your presence in the most wonderful way!

Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water.  And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.  Exodus 34:28 (NIV)

Some of the most spectacular examples of fasting in the Bible are the 40-day fasts of the great lawgiver Moses, the prophet Elijah, and Jesus.

Things were not the same in these leaders’ lives after their times of fasting, nor were things the same in the lives of the people who were under their leadership.  For the Israelites, the fast of Moses meant the giving of the Law to them.  They lived under a new order of feasts, rituals, sacrifice, and patterns of worship.  And the fast of Elijah resulted in their having a new wave of righteousness in their land—including powerful miracles at the hand of Elisha, the successor of Elijah.

When Jesus fasted, he stripped the devil of all claims he had made. Jesus laid claim to the authority to act upon God’s Word in ways that brought healing and deliverance to people, and because He did, fully sealing that authority on the cross, Jesus was able to pass on to us the authority to act upon God’s Word in ways that bring healing and deliverance to those in need.

What purpose did God have for those He called to prolonged periods of fasting?  I believe it was a call to confront evil—both evil circumstances that are outside a person, as well as the evil influences of fear and discouragement that form inside a person.

The call of God to a prolonged fast is not for everybody.  It is for those whom God chooses and whom God calls for very specific purposes.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the legacy of these leaders whose faithfulness exacted profound change that would be felt throughout generations.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, ‘” Thus says the Lord: ‘I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’” 2 Kings 2:21

Immediately after Elisha becomes the prophet-in-charge, the people come to him complaining about the terrible tasting water.  Elisha takes their plea to God, and then relates God’s instructions to the people: “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it” (see v. 20).  The people didn’t say “that’s crazy,” they just obeyed.

God’s instructions seemed kind of silly, but Elisha was believing for a miracle and he was willing to do his part in the natural to produce the supernatural.  Sometimes I think we just sit around asking for a miracle and we don’t get it because we aren’t willing to do our part in the natural.  But when we listen to what God says and do it, we will see the supernatural in our lives!

So, Elisha throws the salt into the bad water.  But he takes it one step further and speaks to it!  He says, “This is what the Lord says…” (v.21).  So, he did the act and he spoke the Word.  And the water has been pure ever since.

How do I know?  Because I’ve been to Jericho!  And when I was there I said, “I want to go to Elisha’s Springs!” So, we went and I drank the water.  And I’m telling you, that water is so sweet!  After more than 2,500 years, the miracle is still working!

I believe that when we look to God, He will tell us an act to do.  And that act of faith will release the power of God to activate the miracle that needs to happen.  But whatever act God calls you to do, remember to speak your faith with it.  Act and speak the Word of God says!

Jesus, I declare that You have the power to purify whatever is cursed in my life.  Show me an act of faith so that I can do my part to activate the supernatural in my life.