10/27/2009
I was laying down tonight, and suddenly the Lord began speaking to my heart.
His voice was not spoken in an audible way, but was more of an internal impression into my mind and my spirit inside of me. I felt God's love in a very powerful way. I really felt the heart of God impressed upon my heart tonight.
I usually do not write in the style you are going to read.
I usually write God's words of encouragement to me in third person.
However, tonight it was totally different, and I felt His peace about communicating His words in first Person in this way, just as He spoke them to me.
I know this will be a blessing to you.
It truly has been a blessing to me.
Feel free to pass this on.
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God's heart was very grieved tonight.
He said, "My people have not known Me in many ways."
He kept repeating this statement over and over again.
"My people have not known Me in many ways."
I felt the heart of a Father for his children.
I did not feel the anger of a Judge who has come to pass sentence.
He said to me:
"My people have gone away from seeking Me. I long for them to come to Me, and be with Me, and ask Me for wisdom for their everyday lives. But little do they come to me just to be with Me; often they only come to Me when they are in need of something. But when they think they can handle it themselves, they do not seek My presence or my guidance, because they think this is something they are able to take care of in their own human strength."
He went on.
"When My people do not come to me, and do not seek my presence, and do not open up their entire lives to me, from the 'big' to the 'small', then they find things going wrong in their lives, things being lost, things mysteriously happening to them they do not understand. It was not because they failed to exercise wisdom, but it was because they failed to seek Me and submit their whole lives to me, not just in the so-called 'important' things, but in all things."
He said further, "Even as I said to Jerusalem that I would have gathered them often as a hen gathers her chicks [but they would not], so I say to my children that I would embrace them often, would be with them often in prayer, would make My presence known to them often, but they have cluttered their lives with so many things that their ears are turned away from hearing My voice. Just as a parent calls on the telephone, and their children do not answer, so I have called my children, but they did not answer, because they have not heard My voice."
"When I came looking for Adam in the Garden of Eden, I did not come to him looking to judge him or to find him out. I came looking for him as I had come looking for him every other day before that day, so I could walk with him in the cool of the day in the garden. I came to be with him. So I come to be with you, not to judge you or find you out or to punish you, but rather I come just to be with you."
"My heart longs for you to have every need met, just like any father wants his children to have their every need supplied. But it is greater for you to have relationship with me everyday, and walk with me. Although I healed, I did not come only as a healer. Although I provided, I did not come only as a provider. What I did come as, is a loving Savior who came to establish relationship with you, and to meet ANY need you have, to meet you wherever you are to bring my love to you. So do not focus on Me as being only this, or as only that, but know I care to provide any and every need you may have."
The Lord was also grieved, because we go every day to do things "in His name", but yet we have not taken the time in the day to spend with Him in relationship. He said the greatest thing we can "do for God" is to be with Him in prayer and fellowship. Every thing else flows from that. God said that in II Corinthians 5, He declared His purpose in coming: that He was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting their sins against them. First and foremost, God came to establish relationships with people, to draw them unto Himself. He further said in John 3:17 [following the most famous verse in the New Testament], "for God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
He said this as well:
"My people are satisfied with bread crumbs".
This statement resounded all the way through my being.
God was saying that we as His people have been going to church and eating just a little of His provision for us, and have walked away from the large portions of his bread, satisfied for what we have eaten, because we have not partaken of the kingdom of God in our everyday lives, and Monday through Saturday have lived instead off of ONLY what we have received in church. This is like going to the table at home and only eating bread crumbs, but leaving the entire portion of bread on the table. We have truly been given something wonderful in church, but we think this is all God has for us, when God has provided a whole loaf for us.
Yet we leave it on the table, and get nothing better than what is given to the dogs. When the woman came to Jesus for Him to heal her daughter, she said to him, "the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table". And if we eat throughout our week only that which we have received in church, it is as though we have been given an entire loaf, and are eating only the crumbs of it.
We have become too easily satisfied.
And we wonder why we are so hungry for something more deeply satisfying.
It is because we have chosen the ease of eating only on Sundays.
The Lord also said he is grieved because His people [who should know him] run into situations where they say "I just don't know what to do", but yet He says He has given us His word to tell us what to do, but we are saying that we do not know.
In Psalm 103, he says that He heals all your diseases, and in James 5, He says that if you are sick, call unto the elders of the church for prayer, and He will heal you.
In Genesis - the story of Abraham, Isaac, and the ram - He declares His name is Jehovah-Jireh, God who provides, and in Philippians, He says He supplies all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
In Philemon, he tells us what to do if someone stole from us.
In Song of Solomon, he tells us how to have better husband/wife relationships.
In Ecclesiastes, he tells from a rich man's point of view about priorities in having things.
In Psalms, he teaches us how to praise Him.
In Proverbs, he shows us wisdom of life and of godliness.
In I Chronicles, he shows us the emphasis of families through their genealogies.
In James 2, he shows us how to treat everyone the same.
In the Gospels, he showed us his entire life while on earth.
In Daniel 1, he shows us how three youths can be trained by his wisdom in many areas of life.
All throughout the Bible, He shows us different people in all kinds of different situations, and how they learned to trust and obey God, so we would have knowledge of what to do for every situation in our lives. He wants us to draw near to Him so we can have relationship with Him, and so He can guide us in our everyday affairs.
He spoke it again, "My people have not known me in many ways."
We think of God in one or two facets of His divine nature, but God longs for us to yield our entire lives to Him so that we can find blessing and power in all those areas of our lives, not just in the ones where we think only God can handle it.
Joshua made the mistake of assuming everything was okay after Jericho, because here was this great big city they overcame by God's power, and there was little old Ai, which was nothing in their sight, but because there was sin in Israel's camp, and because Joshua did not seek the Lord for guidance, Israel was beaten back by this "little city" because they did not trust in the Lord, and they ended up losing 36 soldiers because of it.
We go into situations every day uncovered, not having prayed to God for guidance in the day, not having submitted our will unto His, not having spent time with Him. And we wonder why things fall apart in our lives. Once again, he said to me, it was not because we DID make wrong choices, but it was because we did NOT make the most important choice of all - the choice to submit ourselves totally to God, and to get His blessing over EVERYTHING in our lives.
In Ezekiel 37, there is the story of the valley of dry bones. All of the parts were there - the bones, the sinews, the flesh, and so on. Everything was ready and looked good. But God had not breathed on it. Then when he DID breathe on it, everything came to life, and they stood and became a mighty army.
Many of us have all our ducks in a row, and all the preparations are made.
And we wonder why things have not come together and happened for us.
But we need to have God breathe on us. That is all our life is waiting for.
When God breathed into man's nostrils, Adam became a living soul. [Genesis 2:7]
When Jesus breathed on the 12, the church became alive by receiving the Holy Ghost [John 20:22].
All you need is for God to breathe on you and touch your life.
But think about how close you have to be for someone's breath to touch you.
He also said, "you have left your first love" in the book of Revelation.
But "your first love" is not a feeling, nor a dedication, nor a commitment, nor a task.
HE is your first love. Return unto Him.
He says that if you return to Him, you will begin finding great successes in your life.
If you will connect with the vine, all the nutrients and growth and life will return to the branch.
Things that were previously hard will begin to come easy to you.
You will find yourself [for example] succeeding at jobs, losing weight, having better relationships, getting along better in this life, getting promotions from God, perhaps launching out into your own business, and making wiser choices as you trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledging Him, and He will direct your paths.
He said that things which have turned to sand will begin turning to gold as you seek him.
He never promised us a world without trouble, but he promised us a way out, as he said "in the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world". We are going to face problems regardless, whether we seek the Lord, or if we don't seek the Lord.
The difference is that those who seek the Lord will be prepared when trouble comes.
The difference is that those who seek the Lord will be able to deal with trouble.
The wise man and the foolish man [from Matthew 7] both went through the same storm. But the wise man listened to God and built his house the right way, and he was prepared when trouble came. Trusting in God does not exempt you from life, but it does give you a way to deal with life when it does happen.
He said that people will ask, "how will I do this? how will I find time to pray?"
But the Lord said that as you make the effort, he will make the provision, and not to worry about it.
God says you have been seeking after all these things in your life, but instead focus now on seeking Him, and that which by your own efforts and plannings have failed [after much preparation] will now by His hand succeed before your very eyes, for He says, "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."
God is not judging nor condemning anyone.
He is not speaking as a righteous judge or as an angry Deity.
He is speaking as a loving Father who dearly misses His children, who longs to see good things in their lives because they trusted in Him and took time to be with Him.
I say it once again as He said it to me:
"My people have not known Me in many ways."
We must no longer be satisfied with bread crumbs.
It is time to move on to eating the bread itself.
