Key of David
I want to repost this because it shows through the picture that Christians are standing with Jewish brothers and sisters and today I have also had a new awakening about the “Key of David”. David was a man of prayer, he wrote most of the Psalms and they are first and foremost prayers. To have the Key of David is to have a “heart like David” and whose prayers show us the deeper way into a “praying relationship” with the Almighty!!!
…the one who has the Key of David, who, if he opens something, no one else can shut it, and if he closes something, no one else can open it…”
We all know what keys do, they either open or close and lock something. In this scripture from Revelation 3:7-13, the reader is told that there are “one(s)” who have a key of David and they can choose to open something which then cannot be shut or they can close soemthing which then cannot be opened. So the power of “opening and closing” is given to the one with the “KEY OF DAVID”.
What is this key and how can we get it?. The name David means “beloved”.…one who is loved! As we read the rest of this passage, we are told that this one
has little power, has obeyed God’s message, and has not disowned God.
The…
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For Such a Time as This
Can you believe the news coming out of Washington….Can you believe the weather we are experiencing…what if God is behind all of this as a way to “prosper us not harm us, to give us a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). I think that is exactly what is happening and I could not be more joyful. I just got word that Iran has rejected the U.S.’s negotiations on halting nuclear production for 10 years, citing that our demands are “excessive and illogical” (for more info read Joel Rosenberg’s blog). Praise the LORD!
This comes after yesterday’s warning by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. stop our negotiations and freeze any deals with Iran over nuclear production. Our own President not only ignored him and refused to see him on this visit but also had his Cabinet not attend this Congressional session and speech. But behind the scenes I have first-hand knowledge that many Orthodox Jews and Christians were fasting and praying in support of PM Netanyahu; believing in his dire warning. They saw this stand of PM Netanyahu as a reflection of the Esther story (and this week is Purim- celebration of the Esther story) when Mordecai warned Esther: “Don’t suppose that merely because you happen to be in the royal palace you will escape any more than the other Jews. For if you fail to speak up now, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from a different direction; but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows whether you didn’t come into your royal position for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:12-14)
Bible Believing Jews and Christians are uniting and we ARE going before the King of Heaven and OUR Mighty God is listening and acting and moving in our behalf against our enemies. That is apparent with the announcement of Iran rejecting this lame attempt by our government to appease and appear as a friend to Iran, and causing us to be in alliance with an enemy that want to see not only Israel destroyed but the U.S. They froze us out! Praise God!
Oh, yes, I mentioned the weather, these unprecedented freezes and unusual weather are signs from Heaven above that there is a “heavenly shaking” going on in this Nation. Unfortunately “signs” disrupt the lives of both the righteous and unrighteous and many suffer, so I am so compassionate about what people in the east have had to endure. God loves all in this world but His plans for a righteous remnant to survive and thrive will prevail. May we be on our faces praying for all God’s children in the U.S. East coast to come out safely from these weather patterns which are bringing havoc, for American to return to her God-given destiny as a “light for the nations” and for the people of the Middle East to be protected from the plans of rulers whose distorted views bring disaster, rumors of more war, and annihilation of U.S. and Israel.
For such a time as this PRAYER MATTERS!!!!
Key of David
…the one who has the Key of David, who, if he opens something, no one else can shut it, and if he closes something, no one else can open it…”
We all know what keys do, they either open or close and lock something. In this scripture from Revelation 3:7-13, the reader is told that there are “one(s)” who have a key of David and they can choose to open something which then cannot be shut or they can close soemthing which then cannot be opened. So the power of “opening and closing” is given to the one with the “KEY OF DAVID”.
What is this key and how can we get it?. The name David means “beloved”.…one who is loved! As we read the rest of this passage, we are told that this one
has little power, has obeyed God’s message, and has not disowned God.
The beloved of God is a God-believer: one who believes in the living Reality of God’s Holy Presence; demonstrated through the death and resurrection of Jesus (God’s heart),and one who perseveres in following His will; demonstrated by obeying God’s commandments and teachings found in The Bible. This beloved one has the right to use the key of David.
So, today, why don’t you exercise this right God has given you. Open the door of your heart to new possibilities through the love of the Living God and close the door to past hurts and challenges that may have held you back. If you feel you don’t qualify as a beloved, just simply offer up a prayer to be God’s beloved through His beloved Son, Jesus (Yeshua) the Messiah. His Holy Presence is always waiting outside your door for a relationship with you.
Either way God has given you the right to a very special key, now use it!!!
The picture shown is a Jewish synagogue previously destroyed during WWII and restored by the Christians in the community of Decin, Czech Republic.
Fasting on Thanksgiving?!??!!!
“This word of the LORD of HOSTS came to me: The LORD of HOSTS says, The fast days of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months are to become times of joy, gladness and cheer for the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.'” Zechariah 8:18-19
First let me say: “HAPPY THANKSGIVING!” For today we, here in America celebrate the survival of the Pilgrims who came for religious freedom and to seed a “new land” with the LOVE OF the ONE TRUE GOD…the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They survived because the Native Americans helped them learn to hunt and plant in this new “wild” land! Brother & Sister helping Brother & Sister….no animosity, only tender care and so they celebrated in the midst of their greatest challenges.
Today, God is calling us to “fast” but it is a different “fast”….on this day of food excesses, lots of family and the greatest blessing, the blessing of God’s Presence himself in our midst. we are called to fast. God calls today to be a day of “joy, gladness, and cheer….a day to love truth and peace”….so here is our fast for today
FAST FROM
Mourning and replace with JOY!
Sadness and replace with GLADNESS!
Depression and replace with CHEER!
The lies of the adversary and love instead this TRUTH – You are God’s Beloved!
Stress and strife and LIVE TODAY & the rest of days left in PEACE
Bought and Brought by God’s Presence!
Happy Thanksgiving Brothers and Sisters!
Deep Water….
“The words of a man’s mouth are deep water, a gushing torrent, a fountain of wisdom.” Proverbs 18:4
Deep water – the place of “deep” is a place far below the surface…a place where vision may be obscured but yet revealed; a place you must dive down to; a place like no other. In this verse the writer of Proverbs is exploring the notion that a fountain of wisdom is found in “deep water”. Wisdom that comes gushing forth from a torrent of words far below the surface of how things seem.
In our world we spend to0 much time floating around and talking “surfacey talk”….talk that is general chit-chat with no real meaning and just idly passes our time. This type of talk is based on “how are things going” ….”did you hear bout this”……”can you believe that….”. To me this is the most boring of conversations. It doesn’t change anyone’s life and often leads into gossip which is a sin and very destructive. Idle chatter floats on the surface of our lives…we need to go to “deep water”.
Jesus not only taught with wisdom but taught from “deep water”. The biblical writer Luke relays the story of Jesus teaching from the boat of Simon Peter in Luke 5:1-11…. “he said to Peter, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered,‘We’ve worked hard all night long, Rabbi, and haven’t caught a thing! But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.’ They did this and took in so many fish that their nets began to tear. So they motioned to their partners in other boats to come and help them; and they came and filled both boats to the point of sinking. When he saw this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Get away from me, sir, because I’m a sinner.’ For astonishment had seized him and everyone with him at the catch of fish they had taken.”
Going into the “deep water” transformed Simon Peter from that day forth. Jesus literally used “deep water” to reveal to Peter his mission for life..to catch many fish (men) for God and to help Peter assemble the team that would help him in this endeavor of heaven. Today this same “deep water” reveals Jesus’ teachings to be as the writer of Proverbs described…“a gushing torrent of wisdom”…wisdom we need to always follow!
I encourage you today to get past surface talk….listen deeply and intently to what people are saying, what is below the surface of their thoughts…draw your words and thoughts from the deep waters of God’s word…these are the real words of wisdom and life. “These deep waters” will help reveal our missions and purpose in this world and help us become encouragers to others like Jesus was to Peter! From the “deep water” will come God’s dream team for the days ahead!
“But intense prayer was being made to God….”
Need an answer to a circumstance….pray; Have a problem….pray; have a hurt…pray; sick….pray; down and out …pray; concerns over another – pray; enemy oppressing you…pray; school difficulties….pray; marriage concerns…pray; worry over children…pray!
As the Apostle Peter went out proclaiming the good news of Jesus death and resurrection and the call to new life in Messiah, he landed himself in prison. But through intense prayer Peter was literally set free! Acts 12:5: “So Peter was being held under watch in prison, but intense prayer was being made to God on his behalf by the Messianic community”. Who is the Messianic community… those who believed in Jesus as Messiah, testified to his death, trusted in his resurrection, and thus flowed in His power – available to every believer who trusts!
Prayer is not a magic potion or a quick solve to your problems but an exercise in developing TRUST and CONFIDENCE in the LORD. When we reject prayer because we think it won’t work we are in shallow water with little trust or faith. Continuing to pray in the midst of extenuating circumstances is to continue to look to God for what He is teaching us! In the midst of this exercise we go deeper in Him and His purposes. Sometimes the solution to the problem is not what we expect or want but instead God exercises us “intensely” to PRAY THROUGH and develop a stronger connection to God than ever before!
As Jesus journeyed to the cross, He made a final stop at His Father’s House, Matthew 21:12-13, cleansed it and proclaimed: “My house will be called a house of prayer” based on the Prophet Isaiah’s call for God’s house to be “a house of prayer for all nations” – Isaiah 56:7.
As God’s people who are maturing, we must recognize we house God’s spirit, the place where PRAYER must reside! To be a place of prayer we have to exercise this gifted connection and TRUST God with the results! Never, ever deny giving or getting prayer because you haven’t seen results in the natural. We serve a Supernatural God whose timing is ALWAYS PERFECT….wait on Him….Peter did and he was set free!
Be a blessing today….PRAY INTENSELY FOR SOMEONE!
…the proof of wisdom…
Wisdom* comes from maturity in God’s people. If God is brokenhearted over us as I last wrote, it is because we are acting like spoilt babies. We must grow up, accept responsibility and turn our realms of influence around. Yet, how do we recognize maturity and wisdom? Not only do we need evidence for our own growth but we need evidence for analyzing people for leadership positions.
Matthew 11:19: “…the proof of wisdom is in the actions it produces”. I certainly want to move in maturity and I also want mature “people of God” in today’s leadership positions. Today’s leaders must move and lead in wisdom and the ways of God. These 10 words that end Matthew 11:19 give us all we need for a leadership analysis in wisdom and maturity.
The evidence or proof comes from two words being joined. When the word “action” is wed to the word “producing”; evidence comes forth of wise and mature leadership.The key word here is “produce” …to bring forward, to put forth for inspection, to deliver, to yield, cause to appear. In assessing proof of wisdom we must ask: “What is the end result of what we say, how we act, where we go, who we go with, etc.
God’s ways which produce wisdom are countercultural. They are not the norm of what we or the world expects. Actually these ten words that end Matthew 11:19 are from a passage in which Jesus describes how great John the Baptist is considered in heaven when in fact in personality, styles of ministry, and outreach for God, Jesus and John could not have been more different. Yet, both were and are considered leaders AND change agents sent by God to shape up the Kingdom of God. Jesus, of course, is our ultimate standard for leadership measure!
Bottom line then is what actions does God expect and what is the evidence that this expectation should produce? Morris Ruddick in his book on leadership, The Heart of a King, gives us eye-opening revelation through his description of maturity: “The foundation to maturity, as well as to ministry-that-endures is found in the paradoxical Kingdom dynamics imparted to us by Jesus. We extend love to our enemies. Ownership increases by sharing. True leadership is the result of serving. Honor comes through humility. Wisdom is found in simplicity. Making your assets multiply will bring promotion. Growth comes by giving to others. We move forward by yielding. Our purpose in life comes through giving up. Perfect love eliminates fear. In our weakness God’s strength is manifested . We bless those who curse us. We receive when giving (pg. 65).”
The actions then we need to look for or produce are actions grounded in love for all, sharing, serving, honoring, humility, simplicity, giving, yielding, giving up fear, letting our weaknesses spotlight God’s strength. They are actions all exhibited and highlighted by Jesus himself. To know his life is to understand what actions our lives should produce. These “producing actions” then supply the proof that wisdom is here and God’s sons and daughters are walking in maturity!
Challenge yourself today to produce “proof of wisdom”….God is counting on you!
*To know more about wisdom read earlier blog…The Call of Wisdom
“…how I was brokenhearted…”
Most people along life’s highway have had their hearts broken. According to Webster’s Dictionary “brokenhearted” is “grieving inconsolably”. When one is brokenhearted their emotions are raw, nothing seems to really matter, no one or no thing can bring comfort and grief seems like a death sentence…life as one knows it will never be what it once was.
Suprise…this blog is not about my or your brokenheart and how God repaired it… RATHER it is about God’s BROKENHEART! Yep, you read that right, this verse is written from God’s viewpoint as relayed by the Prophet Ezekiel. “And those of you that escape will remember Me among the nations where they have been taken captive, how I was brokenhearted through their faithless hearts which turned away from Me, and through their eyes which lusted after their fetishes.” Ezekiel 6:9
Humans are born self-centered and many times we never mature beyond “what’s in this for me?” Goodness, have we ever pondered God having a brokenheart? God grieving inconsolably? We tend to think of God as the Great I AM, the strong tower we hide in, the loving arms that comfort and hold us, the fixer of our problems…again centered on self.
What if today you decided to take a more mature stance in your relationship with God and pondered God being brokenhearted; specifically about “faithless hearts” as the text states the reason for the brokenheartedness. First, we need to understand just what is a “faithless heart”. A heart without faith is a heart without TRUST or CONFIDENCE in the Almighty. It is a heart whose eyes strongly and passionately desire other “fetishes” …”objects believed by primitive people to embody a spirit and exert magical powers to protect its owner, cure diseases, produce attraction, love, etc.”
Right now you could be signing with relief believing that doesn’t pertain to God’s people today. One could argue, we are certainly not primitive peoples and we are not drawn to carry or look for magical fetishes. With that huge breath of relief leaving your body, you could rationalize this passage comes from another day and time in the past. God obviously has gotten over His brokenheartedness and is back reigning on the throne… afterall, this is a passage from the Old Testament and we have God’s son, Jesus, who came and fixed everything.
REALLY?! I sense we have come once more full circle and this passage is EVEN MORE REVELAVANT today as it was in Ezekiel’s time! As I stated above, our society is very self-centered and not God-centered. When a marriage falters, we seek divorce to cure our unhappiness; when our health suffers we run to doctors, hospitals, clinics; when our emotions are challenged we dive into prescription drugs telling ourselves it is only until we can handle it; pain, also is handled through drugs; unplanned pregnancy for many results in a trip to the clinic and we look the other way because afterall it is their body not a child; state run foster care for children unwanted and abused; government dollars for loss of income; state welfare for … the list goes on and on, you get the drift.
WHEN will we learn that these are today’s human fetishes – solutions that are not magical and they are NOT making our world a better place or our lives better? When will we cry and mourn that WE are breaking God’s hearts with our self-centered solutions? We MUST become God-centered and realize that God’s sons and daughters are made to stand strong in adversity, seeking God’s own heart for divine and yes, even supernatural solutions; trusting Him with complete confidence (a faithful heart) that God, Himself will be The Way and Make a Way for the solutions to our delimmas.
Let us resolve today to come into a maturity that is God-centered, to seek His ways and solutions like never before, to be a REMANENT that “strikes our hands together and stamps our feet and cries out, NO MORE…We will NOT be faithless hearts BREAKING the VERY HEART OF GOD”!!!
God, Father Almighty, hear our cries and begin to see us and move on us today as children who desire to be the “consolers & comforters of Your Heart”; those who change their lives from a self-centered approach to a God-centered life of maturity.
We are looking to You and our desire is to let our mature attitude begin the mending process; don’t let us fall out of the brokenness of Your heart….
The Joy of the LORD is Your Strength…
According to Scripture, our strength comes from God’s joy (Nehemiah 8:10) But what is “God’s joy” and how does this provide us with “strength”? According to my bible dictionary, “joy” is a positive attitude or pleasant emotion; a delight, and is produced by the Spirit of God. …joy looks beyond the present at our future salvation and to our sovereign God who works out all things for our ultimate good, which is to become as His only begotten son, Jesus, the eternal heir and King! This type of joy is apart from mere happiness which is based on surrounding circumstances and this type of joy is our help even in the most difficult of days…even in the midst of sorrow!
Strength is defined as ability to exert force or ability to resist attack; capacity to resist stress, strain,etc; physical, emotional or mental resources. Obviously to wake-up and move through our days we must have STRENGTH! So God tells us in this scripture that “His Joy” is not joy we manufacture but HIS…and its purpose is to provide us with STRENGTH; the physical, emotional, and mental resources needed to overcome the negative forces that threaten our ability to function to our best capacity.
So just what is “God’s joy”? To arrive at that answer, we would need to know what is God “positive about and delighted with” since those are attributes of “joy”. I believe the answer to God’s joy is His creation; the creation that God birthed and brought forth. “God saw everything he had made, and indeed it was very good (Genesis 1:31).
God’s joy is the same joy a new mother and father feel when the baby they have so longed for arrives. Joy envelopes the couple as they hold the precious gift they have created together.
The reality is YOU are one of the positive, delightful aspects of God Joy! When God formed you in your mother’s womb, You were His Gift to the World. God formed you to be a gift that brings God delight and positively impact the rest of creation.
However, the prince of this world, satan, the one we gave dominion to, the one who hides and works in darkness and negativity, tries daily to destroy God’s perfect gifts to the world. His tools of the trade are discouragement, sickness, depression, disease, unworthiness, etc. When these negatives don’t work, he will resort to corrupting the blessings of fortune and influence by making it self-serving fame…you get the picture. Just because people have money and worldly things doesn’t make them necessarily blessed by God UNLESS they use it for the work of the Kingdom!
So here is my daily prescription for moving in the Will of God for 2012…daily as you enter rest or upon waking….pray…..
- Almighty God, Adonai, Holy Father, there is only One True God, the God of Jesus the Christ and I affirm you are my one and only God.
- Cleanse me, wash me from all unrighteousness today…from myself and from others
- The JOY of THE LORD is my strength…I will be strong today because of Your Joy, Father…help me to walk in it as Your Son, Jesus, did by the Power of the Holy Spirit!
- May my feet move only on the path You set before me and shepherd me on!
keyofzion 