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^{11 ‘}For I KNOW THE PLANS I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘PLANS to prosper you and not to harm you, PLANS to give you hope and a future.’ Jeremiah 29

We said earlier this week to NEVER FORGET that, ‘GOD IS FOR YOU’. Jeremiah gives us confirmation of this when the Lord spoke through him to Israel after they had been carried off into exile to Babylon for seventy years. God had warned Israel again and again to stop sinning against Him but they refused to listen and so they were taken away from their land and homes. But in their exile God still acknowledged that they were His people and that He had only GOOD PLANS, mentioned three times in one verse, for them. GOD STILL HAS HIS PLANS FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US, TO BLESS US AND HELP US. God was trying to encourage the exiles in a very difficult situation, so He gave Jeremiah this word for them. Your circumstances may appear to be one way, but God is ALWAYS ABOVE THE CIRCUMSTANCES. Take heart and look to Him, He’s faithful in every situation.

The enemy and our circumstances may conspire to make us think that God has forgotten us, but that simply isn’t true. So long as we’re willing to go God’s way in our lives He’ll always be there to help and support us.

’Get ready for a MOMENTOUS APRIL for we the people’. This was the title of a word by Johnny Enlow on Elijahstreams last night. I believe it is a parallel word to God’s children today to the word God gave Israel through the prophet Jeremiah.

28 The wicked flee though no one pursues,
    BUT THE RIGHTEOUS ARE AS BOLD AS A LION. Proverbs 28:1

This was one of the introductory verses last night. God doesn’t want us cowed down by our situations, He wants us to rise up in faith and do exploits in His Name. One of the Lord’s Names is the ‘LION OF JUDAH’, we serve a mighty God and He has important PLANS for all of us in these days. Never lose heart, God is with us.

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

¹⁹ So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. ²⁰ Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,’ he said, ‘and then I will come with you.’

‘Go back,’ Elijah replied. ‘What have I done to you?’ 1 Kings 19

Elijah didn’t exactly encourage Elisha to follow him, but the younger brother took some necessary steps which completely closed the door on his previous way of life. He told his parents, those who’d loved him and raised him, what he was going to do. He also burned his plough and sacrificed his oxen and blessed those who were part of his life. We could say he left those around him, ‘good standing’. My sister has a saying, ‘bad endings make bad beginnings’, so always try to leave the people around you on good terms.

²¹ So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the ploughing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant. 1 Kings 19

I know a prophet in this land, who is finishing his last day in work today, to go into full time ministry. This will certainly involve changes and no doubt some challenges, but I believe God has a call on his life and wish him every success in all that he puts his hand too.

What should we expect when we close the door to our old life and step into God’s calling for our future. Most times I think the call of God will be much more far reaching than we realise. Elisha went from having twelve yoke of oxen to, ‘pouring water on the hands of Elijah’. 2 Kings 3:11 He became the personal servant to the national prophet of Israel. Close association with those God has chosen to put us beside, may be the only way to enter the call of God upon our lives. These relationships should be very precious in the life of a young believer!

Change of pace – Elisha moved from an agrarian calendar with definite seasons of sowing and reaping to following the prophetic calling of God on Elijah’s life and later his own. He never returned to the plough, that door had been firmly closed.

David Pawson, an English Bible teacher and prophet, now at home with the Lord, had a similar choice to make in his life. He’d graduated from Cambridge University, but was working on a dairy farm. He felt God was calling him to full time ministry but was looking for some confirmation. I believe it was one his fellow workers who told him that he, ‘‘wouldn’t serve behind the plough, but behind the pulpit’. God confirmed his calling in that one short phrase.

³ Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? Amos 3:3

Of course the really important question is how can we walk in agreement with older leaders and with the Lord Himself. We must keep in step/in unity with those around us, but more importantly with the Lord. This process may mean great changes of attitude. Moses and Elisha both had to learn humility, but they were heroes in the Bible narrative of God and His people. May we also step into all that God has called us to with boldness in the days ahead.

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

²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay,
    BUT THE RIGHTEOUS GIVE GENEROUSLY;
²² THOSE THE LORD BLESSES WILL INHERIT THE LAND,
    but those he curses will be destroyed. Psalm 37

GOD IS FOR YOU AND FOR US, NEVER DOUBT THAT.

Some further verses in Psalm 37 to ponder and draw encouragement from.

David repeats things in the verses of this psalm, it’s as if the Lord is underlining what’s being said here.

GENEROSITY IS A MARK OF THE RIGHTEOUS, but the wicked don’t repay their lender.

²⁵ I was young and now I am old,
    yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
    or their children begging bread.
²⁶ THEY ARE ALWAYS GENEROUS AND LEND FREELY;
    THEIR CHILDREN WILL BE BLESSED.

The GENEROSITY of the righteous will be a blessing through the generations, good will come to their children because of it.

³⁰ The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
    and their tongues speak what is just.
³¹ The law of their God is in their hearts;
    THEIR FEET DO NOT SLIP. Psalm 37

GOD REASSURES US OVER AND OVER OF HIS LOVING CARE FOR US IN THIS PSALM OF DAVID.

More than conquerors

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8

Paul repeats it again in his letter to the Church in Rome. God is for us!

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

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Luke 5

I read or heard somewhere that a DISCIPLE is ONE UNDER DISCIPLINE, which may not be a very popular concept in western society today.

Webster’s definition of a disciple is “a pupil or follower of any teacher or school.” A true disciple is not just a student or a learner, but a follower: one who applies what he has learned. (Quote by Rev. Stan Smith, Union University)

¹⁰ A little while, and the wicked WILL BE NO MORE;
    though you look for them, THEY WILL NOT BE FOUND.
¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land
    and enjoy GREAT PEACE. Psalm 37, psalm of David 

Psalm 37, a psalm of David, is one of my favourite psalms, though I usually tend to focus more on the opening verses. However, today I read verses 10 through 20 and was impressed by the statement that the wicked will be no more! We can take this as a religious statement or we can believe that God is actually going to do this on the earth. David spent most of his life fighting enemies, both outside and inside the people of God and lost the right to build the Temple of God because he’d shed blood. Solomon on the other hand was blessed by the Lord with a reign of peace. Like the words of David in Psalm 37, Solomon and Israel were blessed with GREAT PEACE AND PROSPERITY!

⁴ “But now,” Solomon said to Hiram, “the Lord my God HAS GIVEN ISRAEL PEACE ON EVERY SIDE; I have no foreign enemies or internal rebellions. ⁵ So I am planning to build a Temple for the Lord my God, just as he instructed my father that I should do. 1 Kings 5, The Living Bible 

Solomon lived a very different life compared with his father David, he was blessed by God in everything; incalculable wealth, also great wisdom and learning. So much so that leaders of nations came to sit at his feet to experience the blessings and benefits God had bestowed upon His people.

Could God be about to bless the Church in a similar way today? David had a long struggle and fought many battles, but eventually God gave His people peace on every side. Their enemies simply stopped harassing them and left them to serve God in a GOLDEN AGE OF ISRAEL. Again, could we be about to enter such a time today?

¹² The wicked plot against the righteous
    and gnash their teeth at them;
¹³ BUT THE LORD LAUGHS AT THE WICKED,
    FOR HE KNOWS THEIR DAY IS COMING. Psalm 37

Scripture tells us that God has a day when He will judge the wicked. David’s psalm tells us that the wicked don’t cease their wickedness, but God deals with them.

³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰ You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Genesis 41

How did Joseph adjust from being in charge of a prison to being in charge of the whole nation of Egypt? Joseph had a lot of unexpected adjustments, major changes in his life. Thrown into a pit by his own brothers, sold as a slave to strangers, placed in a house with a scheming seductress and then sent to prison while completely innocent. After all of this Joseph was again plucked out of A PLACE OF CONFINEMENT and sent into Pharaoh’s palace. Joseph had LONG PERIODS OF MUNDANE SERVICE, but he always kept busy, better than moping, and God gave him success in every place He sent him.

I believe that we, the Church of God, have been in a place of confinement for the last four or five years. The enemy tried to close down the world during the Covid pandemic, but now the prison doors have opened and are opening wider! Hallelujah

After they had been in custody for some time, ⁵ each of the two men – the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison – had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. Genesis 40

God made a vital connection for Joseph when two of Pharaoh’s chief servants were put into prison for displeasing their master. Joseph interpreted their dreams correctly and asked the king’s cupbearer to remember him when he was restored to his position in the palace. Genesis 40:14 The connection had been made but God’s timing wasn’t yet right and Joseph had no choice but to remain in prison until God spoke to the ruler of Egypt through his dreams.

Joseph’s life was changed again in an instant, this time to his great advantage. We have entered a new season and things will never return as they were before. Change is always challenging, but the Church of God must continue to walk out what the Lord places before us. WE MUST GET RID OF THE PRISON AND SLAVE MENTALITY, AND TAKE OUR AUTHORITY AS KINGS AND PRIESTS IN THE NEW DAY AHEAD. May the Lord grant us grace to change and step willingly into all He’s called us to do and be for Him and His Kingdom.

May the Lord bless and keep you and make His Face shine upon you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

¹⁴ Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’

He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – BE CONTENT WITH YOUR PAY.’ Luke 3

John the Baptist’s preaching must have ‘carried quite a punch’, because even the tax collectors and soldiers were asking him what they should do. (Both groups would use their authority to extort people’s money.) It seems like everyone who heard him was brought under strong conviction TO REPENT. Of course John’s calling was to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, Israel’s long awaited Messiah.

We don’t tend to think today that Contentment in our circumstances is anything important or meaningful, but the apostle Paul made a powerful statement in his first letter to his spiritual son and successor, Timothy;

GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT IS GREAT GAIN. 1 Timothy 6:6

⁶ [And it is, indeed, a source of immense profit, for] godliness accompanied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of inward sufficiency) is great and abundant gain. 1 Timothy 6:6, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

(ARKEO – The Greek verb to be Content, primarily signifies to be sufficient, to be possessed of SUFFICIENT STRENGTH, TO BE STRONG, TO BE ENOUGH FOR A THING!)

Two further scriptures in this context, one positive and the other negative.

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and BE CONTENT with what you have, because God has said,

⁶ So we say with confidence,

⁹ I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. ¹⁰ So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. NOT SATISFIED (Or CONTENT) with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. 3 John

This man Diotrophes had to be Number One, First in all things. He wouldn’t welcome John or the other brothers because they would threaten his status. Sadly there are many who still ‘love to be first’ and their own egos rob them of peace and contentment and endanger the unity of Christ’s Church.

Contentment with Godliness in our circumstances can once again open the way for a fresh encounter with the Lord. Hallelujah 

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

Saint Patrick’s Day just passed on Monday 17th March, but Patrick was a mighty Saint of God and some of his words still survive and have come to us down through many centuries, some 1500 years. They are some of the oldest writings of our faith outside the Bible and worthy of our reading and attention.

I Bind Unto Myself (St. Patrick’s Breastplate)
Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. Deut. 11: 18

I BIND UNTO MYSELF TODAY
THE STRONG NAME OF THE TRINITY:
BY INVOCATION OF THE SAME,
THE THREE IN ONE AND ONE IN THREE.
I BIND THIS DAY TO ME FOR EVER
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation: His baptism in the Jordan river,
His death on the Cross for my salvation; His bursting from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I BIND UNTO MYSELF TODAY!
I BIND UNTO MY MYSELF TODAY
The power of God to hold and lead: His eye to watch, his might to stay, His ear to hearken to my need;
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, his shield to ward; The Word of God to give me speech, His heavenly host to be my guard!
I BIND UNTO MYSELF TODAY
The power of the great cherubim,
The sweet “well done” in judgment hour, The service of the seraphim;
Confessors’ faith, apostles’ word, Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls; All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.
I BIND UNTO MYSELF TODAY
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life-giving ray;
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks, The stable earth, the deep salt sea around the old eternal rocks. (Celtic Christians loved and saw God in nature)
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I BIND UNTO MYSELF TODAY,
THE STRONG NAME OF THE TRINITY:
BY INVOCATION OF THE SAME,
THE THREE IN ONE AND ONE IN THREE, OF WHOM ALL NATURE HATH CREATION, ETERNAL FATHER, SPIRIT, WORD:
PRAISE TO THE LORD OF MY SALVATION — SALVATION IS OF CHRIST THE LORD!

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

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ FOR IT IS GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU TO WILL AND TO ACT IN ORDER TO FULFIL HIS GOOD PURPOSE. Philippians 2

“Ups and downs. Highs and lows. THESE WERE SEASONS OF REAL PROGRESS as well as moments when God painfully made clear to me again why POPULARITY DOESN’T SATISFY, why OTHERS LOVE DOESN’T SATISFY, why MONEY AND THE THINGS IT CAN BUY DOESN’T SATISFY, why FANTASISING DOESN’T SATISFY. Why NOTHING ELSE SATISFIES EXCEPT JESUS and whatever I allow Him to transform in my life to REFLECT HIS LOVING TOUCH ON MY SOUL. (I particularly like these last words!)

AND LITTLE BY LITTLE, HE WAS MAKING A NEW RIFQA OUT OF ME.” Quoted from, ‘Hiding in the Light’, Page 67, by Rifqa Bary. A hidden convert from Islam, aged 12 years.

“I was sitting in my bedroom, finishing my homework for the day. … I can still remember every detail of the precise moment when this strange BUT STRONG INTERNAL NUDGE – BARELY A WHISPER IN MY MIND – SOMEHOW WARNED ME TO TAKE MY BIBLE OUT OF MY BACKPACK AND HIDE IT.

I had been growing more and more familiar WITH THIS GENTLE WHISPER, and I was trying to be better about heeding its timely wisdom. So I ACTED ON IT QUICKLY AND WITHOUT QUESTIONING. I SHOVED MY BIBLE UNDERNEATH A PILE OF CLOTHES IN MY CLOSET.

Later on that evening, … My father, unannounced and saying nothing, picked up my backpack and started rummaging through it, feeling all the corners, digging and tugging. Obviously on a mission.”

Rifqa later raced to her bedroom, ‘with a heart- racing sigh of relief’.

The Lord protected the young convert from great danger, because she’d learnt to obey the Voice of the Spirit. She couldn’t afford to be careless in her new found faith, prompt obedience saved her.

“GOD ANSWERS PRAYER AT THE SPEED OF OBEDIENCE.” Graham Cooke, quoted in blog of Thursday, 13 March.

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

Wishing all our friends a blessed and peaceful Saint Patrick’s Day.