Jesus is Our Anchor

Scriptural Foundation:

1 Kings 19:11-14 New Living Translation

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  He replied again, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

Reflection:

Have you ever cried out to God desperately and felt like all you heard was an echo? Like standing at the edge of a lake and yelling out hello and just hearing hellooooo back. It has been my observation, that we expect that the Lord will show up and answer us immediately.  Like our social media feeds, that give us instant validation/gratification.  Beware saints that we take the things of this world and try to apply them to the things of God.  In our Bible passage, we see Elijah feeling very alone.  He cried out to the Lord and the Lord did answer, but not in the grand way one thinks He should respond.  Having spent a lot of time seeking the Lord, Elijah comes out just at the right time.  Then and only then does the man of God get specific instructions as to how to carry on in a seemly impossible situation.

I don’t know what challenge you may be facing, but know that God is still on the throne and He will never leave you or forsake you. Cry out to Him and then be still.  Seek His answers, not in the obvious solutions, but in the solutions, that bring you the most peace in your spirit.  The Holy Spirit is leading us all through the peace in our hearts.  It is in His witness there is the true answer.

Seeking Revelation:

Grab your notebook:

• What subjects or topics have you laid before the Lord that you feel is getting an echoed response.
• Take time to dissect each request as it relates to the Word of God. Is what you are asking for and the motive behind that request lined up with the Word? Are you walking out that prayer in the faith? Are your words lining up with the Word?
• If after the last bullet there are still things on that list that seems that no answer has come, then start seeking the Lord on where you should be focusing. Once you get that peace in your spirit, hang on to it, your answer is right around the corner.

Luke 9:16-17 New King James (NKJV)

Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. ¹⁷ So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.

Reflection:

Standing at the gate of the abandoned 100-acre horse farm with an unfocused vision on my heart. The property is worth four million dollars, I only have three pennies, but I think Lord, that is not enough Or a church member has been out of work for several months and the Lord spoke to my husband’s heart to give him $100, but I think Lord that is not enough…. I know you have been there before, but I can only speak for myself.  For years we have struggled to be on the “right side” of the world system’s interest equation.  For years things just have not added up.  It wasn’t until the Lord gave me revelation on our key passage that I started seeing things a little differently.

Say what you want about the twelve disciples, having seen so many miracles yet when given the opportunity to put what they believed into practice, they repeatedly failed. Thank God for Jesus!  He took five loaves and two fishes, resources that in the natural could not feed five thousand plus people, but acknowledging that the spiritual realm supersedes anything here on earth, thanked the Lord for the items. He had an expectation that the Lord to multiply what He could not see.  Saints, we need to stop looking at these stories as fables and have it resonated in our souls that the events of the Bible actually happened.  We need to be able to look at our checking accounts, thank the Lord for the money that is there and start expecting for the Lord to multiply our seed.  In 2 Corinthians 9:10-11, the Word says, Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.  Like the disciples, we are too quick to settle for defeat or mediocrity at best, instead of expecting a miracle around every corner.  Instead we need to look beyond our narrow-minded focus of providing for our immediate families.  We need to start expecting to provide for thousands of needs, with our seemly limited resources.  When you have an eternity mindset then the process of time doesn’t seem like an issue.  So getting back to my 100-acre farm…there is a purpose why that land is on my heart.  For the $100 sacrifice to our brother in the Lord we couldn’t afford to give it and I didn’t think it would make a difference in this life…it is not my job to be enough, it is my job to have faith that God is enough and our actions of obedience is the currency that will bring the manifestation of testimonies to pass.

Seeking Revelation:

Create a notebook:

Different from your main journal, create a notebook that just references your sacrifices and testimonies. Over the years, you can be like David that told Saul why he was going to beat the uncircumcised Philistine, because of his victors over the lion and the bear.  Those victories were bench marks of faith the he could look back on and justify the reason for his courage.  If maintained, this victory journal will cultivate spirit of thankfulness in your life and will become one of your most prized possession. 

 

Scriptural Foundation:

Ecclesiastes 3:11 Amplified Version (AMP)

[God Set Eternity in the Heart of Man ] He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.

2 Corinthians 12:9 New King James Version (NKJV)

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Reflection:

There is a common misconception that by default we are perfect once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Instead of thinking this way, we should look at salvation as the starting line for our faith race here on earth and the Holy Spirit our Helper to navigate us through to the finish line.  As soon as this spiritual gun goes off, the challenges come almost immediately.

On the one side your non-saved friends start calling you “high and mighty”, because you are starting to lose interest in certain activities. Then on the opposite side, some, not all of your church going friends don’t seem so perfect, at times doing and saying things that under any other circumstance would be Biblically classified as worldly.

My husband will tell you, I am the first person to say that I am as plain as apple pie. I don’t know if it is an “emotional defense” mechanism, but I have always down played the challenges in my life – compared to what Jesus Christ went through, I cannot complain.  The lack of chaos and/or drama in my life was a blessing, however at times it felt somewhat isolating.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t for a lack of trying to “fit in”, things just didn’t seem to come together like it did for the people around me.  My subconscious pursuit of perfection just brought me up empty each time.  In Ecclesiastes 3:11 (AMP) – He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.

It wasn’t until I released this misconception that God didn’t call me to be perfect, but to be obedient that I started to make spiritual progress. A scripture that I uncovered early on in my walk with the Lord was 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV) – And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  So if we acknowledge our shortcomings and hand them over to the Lord then and only then can His refining fire start molding us to become more Christ-like.  In hindsight, all my embarrassing moments, my awkwardness, and countless times of rejection, it was God setting me apart for my calling.

Seeking Revelation:

Years ago the Holy Spirit dropped in my heart – “To catch up with the Lord, you have to slow down.” Instead of rushing towards to your goals in life, take a step back and wait for the Lord to direct your steps.  Not only may it save you some time, but heart ache as well.

Step 1: Pull out a piece of paper.

Step 2: Fold it in half vertically.

Step 3: List out goals on the left side of the paper.

Step 4: Wait for God to speak, as he does fill out the right side of the paper.