Daniels and Elijahs part 1

I've been meaning to write this for a while, so I'm excited to share this one with you. When people think of Daniel, I'm guessing their first thought is: Daniel in the Lions Den. But I'm putting Daniel and Elijah side by side today in specific things they did that changed the course of History! They both were amazing men of God, but in this particular study that I did, I did my best to not put these men on a pedestal. I wanted to look at their stories and learn from them. So what I looked at was in 1 kings 18. In this story Ahab was king and a really evil on, in the Bible it said that he had no regard for his wickedness. He sacrificed his own son. It wasn't a big deal to him, so God brought judgement and caused a famine. God still provided for Elijah though.
With Daniel, The Isrealites were in captivity to the egyptians, again this was a judgement for their outright disobedience. Both of these men are God fearing men, BUT they are polar oppisites!! One seems to be very sure of himself, and sure of God. (Elijah) he will say something and not question, he talks like he knows everything... and he was very boastful in God.
Daniel however appears almost weak. He gets visions and becomes so faint he can't even stand. He talks with God with his face almost stuck to the ground. Elijah however would raise his hands to God telling God what he expected God to do (ok, that's what it sounds like)
But in the story of Elijah, during the drought he was told to show himself to the king who had been seeking to kill all of the prophets! So eventually elijah does show himself and tells this king that its his fault for this famine. ... it doesn't sound like he was scared of him at all! Id be shakin in my boots right about then!
Anyways so he gets all of isreal and all the prophets of Baal together and tells them that they need to repent. Turn to back God, cut it out.That's step one:repent!!

Then he gathers some four hundred or so of Baals prophets and tells them to build an alter to their god while Elijah does the same. That's Step two:building an alter to God, which today, Jesus was the sacrifice for our sins.

Then Elijah after making the alter and soaking it in water prayed for everyones hearts to turn back to God. There you have step three praying for hearts to turn back to God.

After he prayed that, God showed off, (that's so awesome when God does that,I love it!) And completely engulfs the soaking wet alter! Yea! Even the stones and dust were gone. Hah! Take that! Lol. So then everyone is really scared now, and fall on their faces,repenting.

Next elijah has every prophet of baal killed. And that is our fourth step: get rid of the evil in your life. (Don't kill anyone) I'm saying, get that devil off your back, the blood of Jesus covers you and has set you free! you have the authority in Jesus' name.

Next Elijah tells king Ahab to go celebrate and have a feast. A what? We've been in a drought for how long?? And u want me to use what I have to throw a party?? Yes a feast, and go quickly before the rain over takes you. Rain?? What rain? Man, your off your rocker! There's not even a cloud in the sky! GO quickly!!! fine, fine, I'm going (okay, that's not likely how it went)that's step five: have some faith!!! And act in it!

Elijah didn't stop there. Besides this incredible act of faith, he bowed down to God. It was an act that symbolized him listening for God. And seeking a sign in which he knew he ccould depart from there. He sends his servant up to see a cloud... something, anything n the sky to indicate rain was coming. He didn't do this once or twice, or three times but seven times! Basically he didn't stop praying/meditating on God until he got the answer he needed. That's our sixth step don't give up on God, for if you do not faint, in due time your reward will come: if you do not give up!

So then after this his servant sees the cloud and elijah up and books it all the way to Jezreel ... which just happened to be 30 miles away. Oh yeah and he also ran faster than the kings chariot and got there before him. Nothing but the power of God could have gotten him there that fast. That's farther than a marathon!! And he was not exactly training for this, nore was he EATING for this. In fact, all he'd been eating was bread!!

So are you in a drought? Are you hardly making it? Try doing what Elijah did. He followed God, repented, prayed for hearts to be turned back to God, got rid of the evil around him (and in your life), acted in faith, didn't give up, continued to act in faith. And then rain finally came. Have you repented? Have you acted in faith? How about throwing all the evil out of your heart/mind/body?

Psalms 55:22 - cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain you, he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved!!

True reverance of the Lord

Proverbs 2:5 Tells us that Understanding the fear of the Lord is finding knowledge and wisdom!

When I was growing up I seriously thought that unless I was scared of and frightened by the very thought of God then I couldn't truly make God happy. And while in some aspects I really was afraid of God, I thought it was kind of messed up that I was supposed to cower in fear of someone who supposedly loved me enough to give me His only Son so I could spend an eternity with Him.
This extreme misunderstanding pushed me pretty far from my loving Savior. The true and right fear of the Lord certianly did not reside in my heart, and neither did any clue to what true fear of the Lord was. I just simply thought that if I lied or sinned I should be afraid of a lightening bolt striking me right then and there! I know I was not alone in this very wrong belief.
My eyes had yet to be opened to the magnitude of His truly incomprehensible greatness! Sure I knew He made the heavens and Earth, but I was still blinded to His greatness, and will not see The full extent of His greatness untill the day I see Him with my true eyes. In Job 38 God repremends Job for talking about God as if Job knew everything, God says how He fashioned the earth and clothed her in garments of clouds, how He made the stars and named the constilations, how He knows the number of stars because HE made each and every one! And Job was not there, who does he think he is talking as if he knows the plans of God?! God simply spoke, and it came into being! And all that, God can fit the universe in the palm of His hand, yet he knows every little detail about you Matthew 10:25-30 talks about how God made beautiful lillys (which happen to be one of my favorite kinds of flowers) and how God loves you so much more than a simple lilly that dies in a day, God has clothed you AND knows every itty bitty detail, down to the very hair and freckle on your body! Godknows you have x amount of split ends and if you're like me He knows the amount of freckles that you couldn't count if you tried. Because Gods very hand formed you and continues to form and fashion you.
So there is more to fearing the God than just knowing How big He is or How much He loves and cares for you. The other part is about knowing how Good and perfect God is. Psalms 25:8 says good and upright is the Lord! And in verse 10 it says ALL the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful to those who keep His commandments. God is so good, He hates sin, He hates evil, and he hates all the injustice in this world! And if you are thinking that maybe God doesn't hate it enough to punish them, then check yourself! Though corruption is all over this planet and continues to go on, it is not without Gods knowledge. And NO God has not let them get away with it. Gods word says that the have not been given light and knowledge. The gift of Knowlegde is prized and those who search after it find it in the Hands of God, in the Word of His mouth. Hosea 4:6 says Gods people die for lack of knowledge. God wants you to have knowledge, and wisdom, God wants you to come to Him for it. And those who don't die. (No, not by some lightening bolt) die spiritually. Die without light ever entering their life.
If you read Malachi it makes a very clear distinction of what the fear of the Lord looks like. Those who say God doesn't see the injustice and that they get away with whatever... there...lack of fear. Lack of respect lack of knowledge of how Great our God is. Nothing is Hidden fromGod, and those who fear the Lord are written down in a book or rememberance, and they are spared. Honor God, Obey God, Trust God, and challenge yourself to obtain as much knowledge of God as you can. The knowledge of God is limitless. Don't fool yourself.
I encourage you, if you've ever doubted that God punishes the wicked, first, repent, and ask God to open your eyes, then go read that tiny book in the Bible, right before Matthew, called Malachi. Its gonna really give you the description of the kind of fear of God, that we are called to have. I am so glad I don't need to be frightened by God every time I fall short. I am excited to be loved and cherished when I feel like I don't deserve any amount of it. It may be true, I don't deserve Gods grace, but God is merciful and amazing to me. And I am so thankful and grateful That He is MY God and nothing will ever change that! :) God says do not be afraid for I am with you. So there ya have it. Don't be scared. But hate what is evil.

That's just what's on my heart right now. Hopefully it sheds some light on the truth for ya :D
Peace out my friends

Taste and See it, for real!

Gods Word tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good! (Psalms 34:8) I find this a really intreguing commandment. It seems to say that God wants all our senses involved when we come to Him. God tells us over and over to "listen and hear my voice pay attention and hear what I say" (Isaiah 28:23) with that said, have you ever wanted to be a food taste tester? You know, sit down and have high end chefs pay you to bring you their fabulous creations while you dine on their food... and get payed to do it? Well, I have. Sounds like a nice job, and I don't know anyone who wouldn't like to do it! (P.s. if you want to hire me to do this please contact me!) Lol. God is the greatest most satisfying abundant thing that you will ever be given and told to taste!

The reward is so far beyond any earthly reward. The reward for taking part in this amazing Bread of life" is so much more than just a "ticket" to heaven, but ONLY if you taste, hear, smell, see, and feel the true goodness of the Lord. Let me remind you, finding God is absolutely not about recieving a reward, and if you go before the Lord with that mentality you will be unable to find Him. What I am trying to convey to you, is that God made us with five senses, not just for our daily life, but so we can truly experience God as He really is! We were made for the Lord, but we were not made as drones that cannot think/feel for themselves. God has opened up Himself to us, and for so many of us we have only experienced God with one or two senses.

I want to encourage you to savor God, savor the flavor, take it in, soak it up, when ou read Gods Words don't just skim through it, savor each flavor, each morsal! Smell it, breath in the Word of Life, come before God asking to be able to experience Him with every sense He gave you to experience Him with.

When Jesus being human, could experience God so much to the point where he said they are one, and even saying he wants US to be one with God JUST as He is, that's when you know we were created to know God more than just reading about Him in a book, or hearing about Him in a Sunday service! God said we are able to do anything we set our minds to. (Genesis 11:6) If God said that "nothing will be impossible for them" He wasn't excluding anything, God is not man that he lies! So I want to encourage you to set your mind to experience God justas He enabled us to experience Him. Search after Him as if there was nothing more important, because the reality is, THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT! When we can come into the full presence of God, we walk out with the glory of the Lord shining upon us. (Isaiah 60:1)

Want to be satisfied? Want to help others be satisfied? Taste and see all that God is, all His goodness, and share that abundance with everyone you know! (John 10:10)