Month: January 2025

⁵ YOU, O LORD, ARE FORGIVING AND GOOD,
    ABOUNDING IN LOVE TO ALL WHO CALL TO YOU.
⁶ Hear my prayer, Lord;
    listen to my cry for mercy.
⁷ When I am in distress, I call to you,
    because you answer me. Psalm 86

Just some scriptures to close out this week, the first two are psalms of David, fleeing from his enemies and praying for God’s mercy upon his life.

Psalm 18

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

(It’s interesting that though Saul sought David’s life he wasn’t counted among his enemies.)

This beautiful scripture from Job was quoted by Andrew Whalen recently on Elijahstreams. He spoke of the Change that is coming, a Change for good and blessings for the people of God. Declare it over your own life, speak God’s future over yourself.

May the Lord bless and keep you this weekend. Immanuel, God is with us.

³ Commit (Literally ROLL) your works to the Lord [submit and trust them to Him],
And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance]. Proverbs 16:3, Amplified Bible

² A person thinks all his ways are pure,
but the Lord weighs motives. (Check your motives, wrong motives can be a hindrance)
³ Entrust your efforts to the Lord,
and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16, God’s Word Bible

The same verse in three different versions of the scripture, perhaps God will speak to some of us more through one of these different texts. We all do something and of course we want it to be successful, but perhaps we should involve God more in what we’re doing. God may be calling some today to give over the reins to Him and allow Him to direct the coach for a while. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything but to make sure that He’s the one directing and we’re following His lead. The Father always knows best, although the Flesh strives to remain in control. Take some time today to ponder these scriptures and affirm to God that you need His input in every area. He is more than able to help us when we’ll let Him.

^5-8 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life! Proverbs 3 The Message Bible 

May God bless and guide you today as you seek His direction.

²³ Then you will know that I am the Lord;
    those who hope in me will not be disappointed.’ Isaiah 49

Immanuel, God is with us.

 

⁸ Keep me as THE APPLE OF YOUR EYE;
    hide me in the shadow of your wings
⁹ from the wicked who are out to destroy me,
    from my mortal enemies who surround me. Psalm 17

Psalm 17 is a Prayer of David for deliverance from his enemies and he uses an unusual little phrase in his prayer, ‘Keep me as The Apple of Your Eye’. David was continually pursued by enemies from within his own people (Saul) and by the Philistines and many others. David doesn’t just send up another prayer to God for His help, but speaks to Him in an intimate way.

⁸ Keep me as the APPLE OF YOUR EYE;
    hide me in the SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS Psalm 17

David didn’t just ask for God’s help again and again, he wanted to know God’s presence with him. He felt the need to be CLOSE TO GOD in all the trials and tribulations he faced in his life. The Scripture tells us that, ‘God is Love’, 1 John 4:8 and Love needs find someone to confide in. God is a God of Relationships and each of us can move beyond just asking for our needs to be met, to asking God to know His love in a personal way for ourselves. Relationship always takes time, but good relationships are so rewarding, some of the most precious and important things here on earth.

Some other scriptures which speak of ‘US’ BEING THE APPLE OF GOD’S EYE.

God told Israel (who never had His indwelling Spirit) how they should live so that He could bless and care for them.

⁸ For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches THE APPLE OF HIS EYE— ⁹ I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Zechariah 2

A warning for all those today who seek to hurt and harm the people of God.

³⁷ ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, HOW OFTEN I HAVE LONGED TO GATHER YOUR CHILDREN TOGETHER, AS A HEN GATHERS HER CHICKS UNDER HER WINGS, Matthew 23

Some of the Lord’s words as He drew near the time of His crucifixion, once again an expression of Love for His people before His ultimate sacrifice and such a cruel death.

May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

¹³ Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— ¹⁴ to FULFILL what was said through the PROPHET Isaiah: Matthew 4

³⁴ Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. ³⁵ So was FULFILLED what was spoken through the PROPHET: Matthew 13

LOOK FOR THE MILESTONES GOD HAS PLACED IN YOUR LIFE!

Heaven put PROPHETIC MARKERS in the Lord’s life to confirm this is the one who was prophesied about, the Messiah. On a quick search of Matthew’s Gospel, written mainly for the Jews, it states that, ‘this or that’ was Fulfilled some twelve times, according to the word of a Jewish prophet. Heaven still gives signs to God’s children today that we’re on the right track and that He’s with us. We could call them Divine Reassurances scattered along our paths!

God speaks in unique ways to each of us, that’s His special language for each of us. We can LEARN THAT LANGUAGE and it will develop and change at different times and for different occasions.

More than ten years ago a prophet from the United States told me, ‘Change, change, change, I see so much Change that you’re picking it up on the street’. Some time after that my employer offered early retirement packages and my application was accepted. About one hour after I signed the form to leave my job, I was crossing a road and there on the ground was some change which I picked up. I was crossing from one stage of my life into a different phase.

On the first day of January 2025, DOORWAY to this New Year, Anne and I were out walking and I picked up two coins. At the end of the first week I was walking near a shopping mall and was diverted in my course. Once again there were coins lying in front of me, 2 X 20p, 2 X 5p and 2 X 1p which totals 52p. This was the end of the first week of January, 52 weeks in this year, a very specific total from the coins. THIS WILL BE A WHOLE YEAR OF GREAT CHANGE!

Later that night I heard a prophetic dreamer, Andrew Whalen, say, ‘THE DAY/TIME OF SOARING IN 2025’. My birthday was in mid January and Anne and I went to the coast and walked by surf, before going to a nearby hotel for some lunch. I’d asked for a window seat with an elevated view over the sea and beach we’d walked on. The table we sat at was number 25, (Year 2025) with an ‘eagle’s view’, seeing a long way over beach and sea below. EAGLES 🦅 DON’T FLAP, THEY SOAR. We didn’t do anything, the food was brought to us and we Soared above the view as we ate. Thank You Lord!

Some of us will learn to stop flapping and SOAR IN 2025 (like table 25). We may need to divert first (like the coins I picked up), but God has a path for us and it’s going to involve Change, Good Change. Hallelujah

As I said earlier, God speaks to each of us in our own unique way. May we learn to know that language more in 2025, the Year of Change.

LOOK FOR THE PROPHETIC MARKERS, THE MILESTONES TO CONFIRM YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT PATH. HEAVEN WANTS YOU TO SEE THE SIGNS AND BE REASSURED IN YOUR WALK THIS YEAR!

May the Lord bless and keep you today and throughout this year. Immanuel, God is most certainly with us.

 

² And ALL (No Limit) these BLESSINGS SHALL COME UPON YOU AND OVERTAKE YOU if you heed/obey the voice of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 28 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition AMPC

I like the older translation of this verse at the beginning of Deuteronomy 28, the chapter on ‘Blessings and Curses’. The Blessings shall ‘Come upon You and Overtake You’. It’s interesting to think that the Blessings of God will Overtake those who are living in accordance with His will. Something or someone will release Blessings upon the truly righteous and sooner or later they will Come upon us. The ‘Watershed’, or dividing line, will be those who hear and obey God’s Voice (My sheep hear My Voice and I know them and they follow Me: John 10:27) Religion won’t do it, nor will respectability. The sole requirement is to ‘Hear the voice of the Lord/ Good Shepherd and follow Him.

⁷ Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For WHATEVER A MAN SOWS, THAT AND ONLY THAT IS WHAT HE WILL REAP. Galatians 6:7 AMPC

Whatever farmers sow in the natural, that’s what they expect to reap. They don’t expect to put in one kind of seed and reap something different. However, many people live their lives on this earth doing their own thing (Sowing to their flesh) and expecting God to overlook it and bless them. This kind of thinking is delusional, the verse above tells us that God will not be mocked. He knows our intentions and motives far better than we can imagine.

KEEP THE DOOR OPEN FOR GOD TO BLESS YOU AND THE BEST WAY TO DO IT IS TO BLESS OTHERS.

Don’t think of yourself as small and insignificant, no matter who we are there will always be opportunities for us to bless others in need who cross our paths. Don’t miss the opportunity to sow blessings, for in time we will certainly attract the blessing of God upon our lives as we do. God’s Blessings Will Come Upon us and Overtake Us as we sow kindness and goodness to those around us. God wants to bless us with ABUNDANCE, but devil wants to rob, kill and destroy. John 10:10

Live your life to be a blessing and all the blessings of Heaven will overtake you. God cannot lie, His word is sure.

May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

⁵ But there they are (evildoers), OVERWHELMED WITH DREAD,
    FOR GOD IS PRESENT IN THE COMPANY OF THE RIGHTEOUS. Psalm 14

⁵ Terror shall grip them, for GOD IS WITH THOSE WHO LOVE HIM. Psalm 14, Living Bible (TLB)

^5-6 NIGHT IS COMING FOR THEM, AND NIGHTMARES,
    FOR GOD TAKES THE SIDE OF VICTIMS.
Do you think you can mess
    with the dreams of the poor?
You can’t, for God
    makes their dreams come true. Psalm 14, The Message (MSG)

Different renderings of this scripture from Psalm 14, bringing out the same Truth in various ways, that God is with the Righteous and the poor and needy. I believe the rendering of the Message Bible is particularly fitting at this time, ‘NIGHT IS COMING FOR THEM AND NIGHTMARES’. God is moving against the enemy forces in this dark world as never before. He is exposing and rooting out corruption in every place and we, His people, must be prepared to stand with Him. God is going to Shake everything that can be Shaken and that may appear frightening, but He knows what is hidden in the darkness and needs to be exposed.

3 There is A TIME for everything,

    and A SEASON for every activity under the heavens:
²         a time to be born and a time to die,
    A TIME TO PLANT AND A TIME TO UPROOT,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    A TIME TO TEAR DOWN AND A TIME TO BUILD,
⁴     a time to weep (For the Enemies of God) and a time to laugh (Celebration for His People), Ecclesiastes 3

It’s so important that we know God’s Times and Seasons and cooperate with the work of His Spirit in the Season we’re living in.

²⁰ and (Daniel) said:

The time of Nightmares has come for those dedicated to the Babylonian system, God is removing it. Many Christians, though suffering hardships, still believe in that system and even strive to maintain it, but God is going to remove it for good (literally). So make sure you’re standing with God and welcoming the new day and the freedom He’s giving us. Hallelujah

May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

⁵ who SATISFIES your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103

God is a God who SATISFIES and He does it like no one else. David wrote Psalm 103 and he declared that God SATISFIES our desires with GOOD THINGS. Everything in creation, everything we can enjoy here, has been made by God. It was all His Beneficence (the act of doing good or promoting the well being of OTHERS), He designed it all for mankind, but the devil has usurped it for a time.

⁸ Let them GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HIS UNFAILING LOVE 
    and HIS WONDERFUL DEEDS FOR MANKIND,
⁹ for HE SATISFIES THE THIRSTY 
    and AND FILLS THE HUNGRY WITH GOOD THINGS. Psalm 107

The enemy has used the media and false religion to poison people’s minds today and blame God for all their troubles, but His word shows the true nature of His character. The psalm above speaks of His ‘Unfailing Love’, ‘Wonderful Deeds’ and how He SATISFIES those who thirst and hunger, those in need. But most importantly the psalm tells us to GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HIS UNFAILING (My iPad keeps prompting ‘Unconditional Love’ which is also true). Remember to say THANK YOU for the good things in life and for God’s Unfailing Love to you today.

¹³ He strengthens the bars of your gates
    and blesses your people within you.
¹⁴ He grants peace to your borders
    and SATISFIES YOU WITH THE FINEST OF WHEAT. Psalm 147

A third quotation from the Psalms declaring God’s goodness to His people. ‘Protection and blessing’ for Israel and choicest grain to SATISFY their appetite.

Psalm 23 may be the best known and most quoted psalm and it speaks of God’s blessings for His people, even in the midst of many enemies.

23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want. (Derek Prince said any further word would have limited this!)

¹³ When Jesus heard what had happened, (death of John the Baptist, Jesus earthly relative) HE WITHDREW by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  Matthew 14

Jesus wanted some time by Himself after learning of John’s execution, but the demands of the crowd were incessant and they followed Him. In fact the next part of this chapter deals with the miraculous feeding of the five thousand men besides women and children, so Jesus was surrounded by needy people. However, later in the chapter we see Jesus once again withdrawing from all people.

²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. Matthew 14

Jesus made His own disciples get in their boat and depart from Him. We don’t know what He told them, maybe something along the lines of, ‘I’ll be along later.’ Then He dismissed the crowd, probably quite insistently because this time they left Him.

²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside BY HIMSELF TO PRAY. Later that night, HE WAS THERE ALONE, Matthew 14

THE LORD HAD TO FIGHT FOR SOLITUDE AND SILENCE ON THE MOUNTAIN. He firstly had to separate Himself from those closest to Him and that may be the most difficult. Even after he dismissed the crowd He still climbed the mountain, He removed all chance of a random encounter with people.

The Lord knew He needed that time alone with His Father and engaging with heaven. He had to pour Himself out and meet the needs of a huge number of people but though He gave them His time and energy, He wasn’t permanently deflected from His own time of peace and inner strengthening. Jesus met the demands of those around Him, but withdrew to be alone, to be still and listen.

It’s very easy for us, ‘to run on empty and sometimes not even be aware of it’, but that’s a bad place to be in. The Lord dismissed those around Him, both those close to Him and the more casual ones in the crowd. Jesus knew that He needed to be refreshed and refuelled to keep fulfilling His calling. May we also CARVE OUT OUR OWN TIME to be still and be refreshed in His presence today.

May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

Gracious words are a Honeycomb, sweet to the soul. Proverbs 16:24

A card within a card and a message within a message. Perhaps a bit like Samson’s riddle at his wedding, when there was honey in the lion he’d killed.

A lady sent me a birthday card last week, thank you Maggie if you read this. The card was of a cricket scene and there were eight players visible on the pitch. This was prophetic for me, although I can’t go into full detail just now.

Eight is the number of ‘New Beginnings’ and the Lord has been speaking to me about CHANGE COMING throughout this year of 2025. We need to be ready to EMBRACE THE CHANGE IN THIS YEAR. Things will not be the same, nor will Old Wineskins carry what the Lord is about to release. We must be willing to EMBRACE CHANGE AND FLOW WITH WHAT GOD IS DOING.

The picture of the eight men playing is also prophetic to me because last week I crossed into my eighth decade, seventieth birthday. I believe that the decade ahead will be very different from anything before, as I said Change is coming!

But it’s interesting that there was a small card within the main card. It’s as if God was speaking prophetically and at the same time reminding me to speak graciously to others, especially His children. I believe that many times in the year ahead I’ll be sharing  or thinking to myself the words on the little inner card. God is always speaking to our character, like any good parent He loves to see Himself in His children.

Gracious words are a Honeycomb, sweet to the soul. Proverbs 16:24

God may have spoken to you recently, but has He more to say than you first thought? Is there a message within a message for you, especially if you don’t feel satisfied with what you’ve received?

May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

¹² He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Genesis 28

Jacob first met the Lord at Bethel (means house of God) when he was fleeing from his brother Esau and his home in Canaan. His mother Rebekah conspired with him to steal Isaac’s blessing from his elder brother, Esau.

The first time Jacob met the LORD he was asleep and God spoke to him in a dream. How many of us are literally or figuratively asleep when we first meet with God.? Much of the church has been asleep in our own time and God has been applying pressure through different means to awaken us. It’s dangerous to be asleep when we have an enemy looking for someone to destroy.

⁸ BE ALERT AND OF SOBER MIND. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

The next time we hear of Jacob and Bethel is after his sons Simeon and Levi have taken revenge on Shechem, son of Hamor and all their men for violating their sister. Jacob was worried that the Canaanites and Perizzites might join forces against him and destroy the entire family, but God met with him once again and reassured him.

35 Then God said to Jacob, ‘Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.’ Genesis 35:1

Jacob told all those with him to get rid of their idols and they obeyed him. We asked the question yesterday, ‘Are there doors we need to close for God to be with us and bless us?’

⁵ Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. Genesis 35

God protected Jacob and his family as they set out for Bethel. Many times God protects us and we may not even have been aware that He has intervened on our behalf but after Jacob obeyed God He met with him a second time at Bethel.

⁹ After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob,(literally he deceives) but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel. (means he struggles with God).’ So he named him Israel. Genesis 35

Jacob knew a lot more about God on his second encounter at the place he called Bethel. We should be grateful that God cares for us enough to protect us, even while we’re asleep, but how much better to stay awake and alert and give the enemy no opportunity to harm us. God blessed Israel with a new name to mark how different he’d become before him. May we also grow in character and maturity as we walk out our lives before Him.

May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.