God Encounters /A New Task

We have been talking in the last couple of  post about Ezekiel and the encounters he had with God.  We talked about how God called him to do some pretty crazy things  – read Ezekiel 1-4 if you want to get a picture of his calling and just a small taste of the crazy things he was called to do.  He was called to do these crazy things by God when he realized his dream of going home (he was in exile) was not going to happen.  God gave Ezekiel a fresh dream and a fresh vision of what he was to do and Ezekiel probably did not understand all that was going on in the vision but he moved forward in obedience and trust.  That then leads us to see a few more things that we can learn from Ezekiel’s encounters with God.

Another thing I think Ezekiel learned  is an encounter with God is a private thing. God spoke to all of the Jews in Babylon through the letter from Jeremiah, but God encountered Ezekiel privately. There are some things in life that are done in public and other things in life that are done in small groups and then there are certain things that are always experienced alone. Ezekiel encountered God by himself. God will come to you and call you privately to do some things that others will not understand but you must seek His face during these times and then be sure to follow through.

You can seek the face of God with others but sometimes you must do it alone and that is really what an encounter with God is – it is when you seek His face. The exiles were told to seek God with a whole heart in Jeremiah 29:13: You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Can you say that you are seeking God with a whole heart? Psalm 27:8 tells us this; When you said, “Seek My Face”, My heart said to you “Your face, Lord, I will seek”. Are you seeking the face of God? When you do – you will find Him and encounter Him powerfully and things will change! Dreams will come alive. Passions will arise. Direction will be given!

Why will things change? They will change because an encounter with God can give us new visions or direction for life. Ezekiel got a vision of God in his encounter with Him, and received a two-fold message. First, to warn Israel of her being defiant and second write the predictions about the new Temple of God that would be built in the future. Ezekiel led people to God so that God could do what He wanted to do through them. Ezekiel gave them God’s vision but first Ezekiel had to be in a position to receive the vision from God. Are you in a position emotionally and spiritually to receive a new vision or direction from God? We must have open hearts and attitudes towards God to receive the vision or direction from Him. Are you ready for it?

When you have this new vision then you need to know that an encounter with God may result in a new task in life. Ezekiel had prepared for the priesthood and at age thirty he was at the doorway of his life-long goal. But at the last minute Ezekiel encountered God who had him embark on a new ministry. He would become one of God’s Major Prophets; no longer would he be a priest. Out of his encounter with God came a new task. God has tasks for all of us.  For some God wants to change your task and for others He wants to renew the task he has already given you, but the real question is are you ready for it?

What is a new task that you think God could be leading you into?  What are the reasons you think that?

God Encounters –Joy Comes in the Morning

Today we will finish the posts on Jacob and his encounter with God.  Jacob in his encounter with God  wrestled with God and it changed everything for him.  It changed the direction of his life and even changed his name.  In this post we will continue to look at Jacob and again if you are unfamiliar with him please read Genesis 31 and 32 – if you wish you can click here to read it.  The minimum I think you should know about his encounter is in this paraphrase of the Scripture of Jacob wrestling with God:

Jacob stayed behind by himself and this is where there is real mystery in what happened is written. We know that Jacob wrestled with a man until daybreak. We do not know how this happened but Jacob wrestles with the man. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint.

The man said, “Let me go; it’s daybreak.”  Jacob said, “I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me.” The man said, “What’s your name?”  He answered, “Jacob.”

The man said, “But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it is Israel; you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through.” Jacob asked, “And what’s your name?” The man said, “Why do you want to know my name?” And then, right then and there, he blessed him. Jacob named the place Peniel  because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!” The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip being knocked out of joint.

In looking at Jacob’s encounter we have seen that different motivations drive us to God and for Jacob it was family issues and problems.  We have seen family issues do drive us to seek the presence of God and they push us to seek direction from God about them.  We also talked about the paradox that we must give up the most precious things in order get all that God has for us.  We will encounter God when it seems like everything is lost.  God will also encounter those that seek There are some tough things to learn but if you wrestle with God you will find that God does not want things easy for us but He simply wants us to hold on tight to Him through all we go through.

As we finish I want you to consider this: Seeking God is something you must do alone. Jacob’s wives or children couldn’t help him seek God’s presence. Laban and Esau were not able to spiritually help him. Jacob wrestled alone with God, and prevailed. He saw God face to face. You cannot wait for your spouse to go with you in your journey to God, it is a lonesome journey, and it’s a journey you take by yourself. As Abraham interceded alone for Sodom . . . as Moses interceded alone on Sinai . . . as Elijah alone stood against 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel . . . so you must seek God’s face alone. Are you willing to seek God and are you willing to hear what he has to say to you and change what he isays change?

You will hear this idea a number of times as we go through this series and that is: We are usually surprised by God’s encounter with us. Jacob didn’t expect God’s presence that night. He retreated there to hide because he was afraid after taking his family across the brook and was probably there to pray to God and not wrestle with Him. God will encounter you but will you recognize it?

Jacob was surprised to find himself in the presence of God. Sometimes we go to church, never expecting to meet God, but in the unusual and unexpected places, we are surprised by God. God wants and desires to surprise you with an encounter with Him. He wants to do it right here and now! Consider this verse Psalm 61:2 – “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to a rock that is higher than I” You have to get out of the way and let God come in and change you and that is the problem why many will not – they are too stuck on it being about them. You hear it in all their conversations words like: me, my, and I. You need to cling to Him and get rid of me, my, and I because they are deadly foes of God encounters.

In the end: After the blackest experiences at the lowest times of life, the dawn comes where we understand our encounter with God. For several days, Jacob lived in a dark valley that became progressively darker. The more Jacob manipulated circumstances, the worst they became. Let me say – the same is true for you – the more you try to manipulate people and things your way – the worse they will become. It is only in seeking God and doing things His way where relief is found! Only in the darkest experiences did Jacob meet God and was eventually was blessed by God. When we come to the end of our way, we need to turn to God. He will come to us. There always is a bright shining morning that follows the storms of the night. Hold on till the morning! Hold on tight like Jacob did and you will encounter God. He will change things for you!

Oh there is such great encouragement in Psalm 30 which says: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning . . . You have turned for me my mourning into dancing, You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness”

That is what a God encounter is – it is the joy that comes in the morning. It is not grieving but dancing. It is not being clothed in sadness but in gladness! You might come to God weeping, grieving, and wearing sackcloth but you leave a true encounter with God – you will do it joy, dancing, and clothed in gladness.

Do you have any insights to share on this encounter that I did not?  I would love to hear them!

Risking it all (part 1)

Over the next several post we are going to look at risking it all.

A farmer was walking through his pumpkin patch early in the growing season, and while walking near the road that ran by his farm, he found a one-gallon glass jug. He stood looking at the jug for a few moments, and then, for no particularly good reason, he picked up the jug, laid it near a plant and then he poked a small pumpkin into the jug without damaging the vine and then wondered on his way.

Later when the pumpkins were full grown and were being picked and stacked, he came across the jug again, this time completely filled with the pumpkin he’d poked inside. The pumpkin had filled the jug completely, and had stopped growing; it was the size and shape of the jug. It did not break the jug but just grew to the limits that glass provided. The other pumpkins around it had grown to be full and mature but this one pumpkin was the size and shape of the jug and it was stunted.

Now, what we need to understand is in life there are many people who are like the pumpkin in the jug; they only grow to a certain point or in other words they are stunted because they are living their lives in a jug that holds them back. They have allowed themselves to be held to certain limits because of the jug they are living in. They have never grown to their full potential or full maturity.

For us in life – in order to grow to our full potential and to really be mature we will need to take some risks to get out beyond the boundaries of the jug of life. When you do this you will grow to full maturity and reach your full potential. You might think – I am too old for this or too young for this or too set in my ways – but read carefully over these posts because I think God has something in store for you.

We are going to talk about what those boundaries are that keep us in the jug and stunted. We are going to talk about what keeps us from being all God intends us to be. God does not put us in a jug but God wants us out of the jug to grow fully and to maturity. God does not want us to be stunted! Sadly we put ourselves in the jug or allow others to put us there and it is not what God has intended.

In these posts we will look at a woman in the Bible who got tired of living in her jug of life. She got tired of the limits that she had on her. She wanted and desired to be all God intended her to be and she knew she could not be that living in the jug. She got sick and tired of being sick and tired and so then she was willing to do whatever it took to break out of the jug and to have the full life that she knew God intended for her.

Luke 8:43 -48: ⁴³ And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, ⁴⁴came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.⁴⁵ And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” ⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.” ⁴⁷ When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. ⁴⁸ And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

This is a story of a woman who got out of the jug by taking a risk of faith. You see every one of us is like this woman. We are all sick and in of healing from the master in some areas of our lives. All of us in one way or another are trapped in a jug and not growing to our full potential. What we need to do is take a risk of faith like this woman did here. We need to take this risk and become all God intends for us to be.

What are Risks? According to Webster – they are the possibility of loss or injury. There are negative risks. These are times that the possibility of loss overshadows any of the benefits that come from taking the chance.  There are also positive risks. These are times that the possibility of loss is overshadowed by the benefits that come from taking the chance.

What are the risks that the woman in the story took? She was ceremonially unclean and could not practice her faith and she would make everyone she touched unclean and they would have to be purified.

• She risked making crowd unclean – she was unclean because of here issue of blood and touching others even in passing would make them unclean.
• She risked making Jesus unclean – touching even the hem or fringe of Jesus’s garment would have made Jesus unclean.
• She risked telling Jesus it was her that touched him and sharing how she was healed– Now the crowd would know that she was unclean and admitting to Jesus that she made him and them unclean.
• She risked the crowd turning on her – The crowd could have easily turned on her because of making them unclean and they now know that if they touched her they would have to go and be purified.
• She risked the possibility of getting healed – this is the one risk that would make it worth it all.

She had four negatives and one positive – but that one positive overshadowed the four negative.  She had a lot to lose but she had more to gain by taking the risk.  She risked it all to be all that God intended her to be.  Something for you to think about which we will discuss in the next post – why do so many avoid taking risks when there are such great rewards?  Let us not live our lives in the jug!

What is the greatest risks that you have taken in you life?

It takes Courage!

I saw this liked it and wanted to share it:

IT TAKES COURAGE – Author Unknown

It takes strength to be firm,

It takes courage to be gentle.



It takes strength to conquer,

It takes courage to surrender.



It takes strength to be certain,

It takes courage to have doubt.



It takes strength to fit in,

It takes courage to stand out.



It takes strength to feel a friend’s pain,

It takes courage to feel your own pain.



It takes strength to endure abuse,

It takes courage to stop it.



It takes strength to stand alone,

It takes courage to lean on another.



It takes strength to love,

It takes courage to be loved.



It takes strength to survive,

It takes courage to live.


I like this poem but I love what these have to say about courage:

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. – (NKJV)

Joshua 1:3-9
I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you … No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (NLT)

1 Chronicles 28:20
David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 16:13
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. (NIV)

These are some of my favorite verses on courage – what is your favorite Bible verse on courage?

Encouragement by being quiet?

Let us start with this story I came across: There are several men in the locker room of a private club after exercising. Suddenly a cell phone on one of the benches rings. A man picks it up and the following conversation ensues:

“Hello?” “Honey, it’s me. Are you at the club?” “Yes.” “Great! I’m at the mall 2 blocks from where you are and I saw a beautiful mink coat and it is absolutely gorgeous!! Can I buy it – it is only $1,500.” “Okay” “Thanks and Ahhh, and I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the 2011 models. I saw one I really liked. I spoke with the salesman and he gave me a really good price of $60,000 … and since we need to trade in the BMW that we bought last year… well can I get it”  “Okay” “Great! Before we hang up, something else and it might seem like a lot all at one time, but I was looking over our finances and…well, I stopped by to see the real estate agent this morning and I saw the house we had looked at last year. It’s on sale!! Remember? The one with a pool, English garden, acre of park area, beachfront property and it is only $950,000 which is a magnificent price, and I am sure we can buy it if we cash in some stocks… can we please get it” “Okay” “Thank you for all this, sweetie, I am so excited. I’ll see you later!! I love you!!!” The man hangs up, closes the phone’s flap and raises his hand while holding the phone and asks to all those present, “Does anyone know to whose cell phone this is?” I’ll bet someone wished that man had kept his mouth closed. There are times when it is best that nothing is said.

Sometimes the best communication we have is when there are no words. Words sometimes are not the best way to communicate and encourage – actually words can get us in trouble. There are times where no words are needed at all and sometimes we need to learn when to be quiet and sort out the things going on in our heads before we speak because we do not want to be known as “Someone whose mouth is always open and whose mind is always closed”. There is also the old saying, better to be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.

So what the thing that we need to see first is that sometimes the best way to be an encourager is to simply not say anything at all.

Look and think about these two verses from Proverbs:

Proverbs 10:19 – When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is wise.

Proverbs 21:23 – The one who guards his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble

If we seek to be wise, we must learn to hold our tongue more often, or bite our tongue. Sometimes we try to be encouraging with our words and we blurt out the first thing that comes to our minds and instead of saying something encouraging, we end up saying something that is hurtful or certainly not the best. In those cases we always wish that we would have been wise and held our tongue. In other words we don’t just blurt out the first thing that comes to us because it is probably not going to be a word of encouragement. Normally when we blurt out what pops into our head it comes out as sarcastic or maybe cutting and does not sound genuine. For me – I have learned that the quicker I respond to someone, the greater the danger of using reckless words, and saying something harmful which will hurt the other person, and possibly hurt and/or ruin the relationship.

How about you, have you ever found yourself wishing you would have encouraged by being quiet?  Have you ever wished you held your tongue?

More tomorrow along these lines tomorrow…….

Thinking before we speak

Sometimes it is best we guard and think about what we say instead of just talking which can be seen in this story.

It was his first day on the job for Tom who was a new clerk in fruits and vegetable department of a super market. A lady came up to him and said she wanted to buy half of a head of lettuce. He tried to convince that it was not a good idea but she persisted so he said, “I’ll have to go back and talk to the produce manager.”

He went to the rear of the store to talk to the manager, not noticing that the woman was walking right behind him. When he got into the back of the store, he said to the manager, “There’s some stupid old bag out there who wants to buy half a head of lettuce. What should I tell her?”

Seeing the horrified look on the face of the manager, he turned saw the woman and then said, “And this nice lady wants to buy the other half of the head of lettuce. Will it be all right?” Considerably relieved with the result of Tom’s quick thinking, the manager looked at Tom and said, “That would be fine.”

Later in the day, the manager talked to Tom about his quick thinking but poor use of words. He then asked, “Where are you from Tom?” Tom replied, “I’m from Toronto, Canada, the home of beautiful hockey players and ugly women.” The manager looked at him and said, “My wife is from Toronto.” Tom responded, “Oh, what team did she play for?”

This leads us to the fact that we need to always need to think before we speak. When we think before we speak, we will save ourselves a whole lot of heartache and pain and we will more encouraging to those around us.

Proverbs 15:28 says, The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, But the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

Do you notice the word ponder here? Rarely do quickly spoken words have any thought behind them and therefore they rarely have any encouragement in them. If we would just think about our words before we open our mouth we would get in a lot less trouble and we would be all the more encouraging. This is such a simple principle but practiced so seldom.

Solomon in this Proverb tells us the righteous people consistently think about what they are going to say before they say it. The righteous measure their words carefully. Why do they do this? Because they understand once the words are out of our mouth we cannot put them back in.

There is such wisdom in thinking before we speak, because If we hold our tongue and think for a second we can ask ourselves, “is what I am about to say going to be said need to be said and is it going to be said with love and consideration for the other person and can it be said a better way?” If you cannot think of a better way to say it, the we must follow the modern day proverb that all of our parents taught us, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” In other words, the wise understand that you bite your tongue and keep your mouth closed until you think of a better response which reflects God’s commandment to speak in love to others as we would want them to speak to us.

How are you at thinking before you speak?  Is there a technique you use in thinking before you speak?  Anything else you wish to add in to this?

Enjoying Life and Boundaries

I discussed enjoying life in the last post and in this post I want to expand on how we can enjoy life and not complain.

How do we really enjoy life?  Here is one way:

Obey God’s commands – De. 4:40

If you obey all the laws and commands that I will give you today, all will be well with you and your children. Then you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you for all time. – NLT

John 14:23-24 23 Jesus replied: If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them. 24 But anyone who doesn’t love me won’t obey me. What they have heard me say doesn’t really come from me, but from the Father who sent me. – CEV

To really enjoy life you need to know your boundaries. God’s commands give us a boundary. That way we know where we can and cannot go and what we can and cannot do. To know what your boundaries are is to know freedom. Do you understand that – let me say it again – to know what your boundaries are is to know freedom.

God is big on giving man freedom and boundaries- freedom to manage what He has entrusted to us, and with that then the boundaries are there to protect us from evil. The boundaries in the Garden of Eden were not set for the purpose of limiting Adam but to let him know what his freedom was. Adam got into trouble when he questioned those boundaries and so do we. God had provided everything Adam would need for life. He  entrusted Adam with responsibility to manage and work the Garden. God gave him freedom in that freedom came responsibility. God made us to express ourselves creatively through our work and he gave Adam that opportunity.

Each of us, in order to really be happy, must have freedom and boundaries in our  lives. Whenever you are hired for a job, you must have the freedom to make certain decisions in order to enjoy the job and be effective at it. You must have the authority to manage things within your area of expertise. You must also have limits within your area of responsibility. You need to know where those limits are and stay within them and in doing so will be enjoying what is it you do and you will be effective at what you do. The boundaries make you more effective.  In then making the connection back to God we need to understand that both freedom and boundaries are always under the umbrella of God’s authority in our lives and when we live in them we are able to enjoy life and be effective in it.

So to enjoy life,what we need to do is  live freely in the boundaries that God gives us. To know those boundaries you must know his Word and that is why imperative that you read the Word of God to learn what your boundaries are and to find the freedom that comes in the Word of God.  Are you doing that?  Do you know the boundaries that God gives in His Word to give us freedom? 

When you know who God is and what His commands are, it make a difference in life.  When you know where He has set the boundaries then it really should keep you from complaining. All of this should also help you to really enjoy all you have been blessed with in this life but does it?

So what do you think today?  Do you think that boundaries give you freedom?   Do you think complainers (us) are out of God’s boundaries when we complain?

Helping God Out?

When you look at the lineage of the Messiah you will see that He will come through the seed of Abraham but the question then is which of the two sons of Abraham will the line be passed.  Those who have been around the the Christian faith know the answer but take a moment to consider this. 

There are two places where you can read about which line the Messiah would come through.  One is in Genesis 17:17-19 which says: 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” 19 But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him and then in Genesis 21:12 we read: But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.

What we see  here is the lineage of Jesus. He is coming through Abraham and Abraham has two sons – which is he going to come through and why? Abraham’s response in Genesis 17:18 show that by this time, he was quite content with Ishmael as the promised son. He believed that Ishmael is the one that is promised. In 13 years, Abraham had grown quite attached to the boy. But God definitely rejects Ishmael and states that Sarah will bear Abraham a son and that this son will be the one with whom God will establish His covenant.

Why not Ishmael? Because Ishmael represented man’s effort helping God out. In Ishmael, Abraham could boast, because he was able to produce a son. But by the time Isaac came along, both Abraham and Sarah were humanly beyond their ability to reproduce. They could take none of the credit. All the glory went to God. God’s delay with Abraham and Sarah brought them to the end of themselves so that His grace got all the credit. If our proud flesh can grab any glory for itself, it will. That’s why God waits until we come to the end of ourselves many times to meet our needs – so we do not take credit.

Again, this is true of salvation. If we think that we can contribute anything to our own salvation, we’ll take the credit. If we think we came to Christ by our own free will, we’ll boast in our wise choice. If we think it was by our faith, we’ll boast in our great faith. If we think it was by our rational ability, we’ll boast in our great intellect. But if our salvation depends solely on God, and if God chose those who were foolish, weak, and despised, then no man can boast before God as Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 1:27-31.

We can’t take any credit for our salvation if it is totally of God and not at all from us. In our flesh, we can produce an Ishmael and its good enough for us, but God doesn’t work that way. He wants to bring us all to the end of ourselves, and then He gives us Isaac as a free gift, so that we bow before Him, lost in wonder.

So when it comes to the lineage of Jesus he could not come through Ishmael who was of the flesh but had to come through Isaac who was of the Sprit and miraculous. We can see in in two places in the New Testament that Christ came through Isaac. We see it in Matthew 1:1-2 which says: The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: It is also seen in Luke 3:34 which says: the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor.

So for us we need to make sure this Christmas we are worshipping the one who came through the Spirit and miraculous line. We also need to make sure we are not trying to help God out in our flesh but allowing God to be God and do His God thing! Too often we want to help God along like Abraham did with Ishmael.

What is one way you have tried to help God out in life?

(I will be out almost all day so I will respond when I get a chance)

I Dare You!

Today I want to simply Dare You :

I DARE YOU!

I dare you to take positive risks for God.

I dare you to share your faith.

I dare you to read your bible everyday.

I dare you to pray everyday for other people as well as yourself.

I dare you to be a man or woman who daily takes risks for God!

I dare you to commit to being successful for God – You can do it.

I dare you to be passionate about God and the things of God.

I dare you to have clear goals and follow through with them.

You can do it – you can be someone great for God today.

Take the risk – I dare you.

What Risks Are You Going To Take Today?

Act First and Pray Later?

So do you speak first and pray later? 

Look at these verse:  13 Then a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.” 14 David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, for otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom. Go in haste, or he will overtake us quickly and bring down calamity on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

So we have in these verse the news of Absalom stealing the hearts of the people making to David.  So then we have David who said right away to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Let us inquire of the Lord.” Is that what verse 14 says? No, instead of praying and asking God how to handle the situation – David screams “Everybody run! Flee! Get out of here because we are all going to die if we do not”!   What this reaction does is shows how things are slipping for him spiritually.  What we know about David and his is life is this: whenever David is successful in his life it is when  he seeks God first and whenever David fails and struggles in life is when he goes on his own. We are the same as David is – when we go without God – we will fail – whenever we go to God – we will be successful.

Listen closely to this:  You never flee or run into the will of God as David tries to do. You will find the will of God by actively taking everything to God in prayer and by seeking out his Word and by gaining godly counseling. Know that when you are the most eager to act, is when you will make the most painful mistakes if you are not prayerful. We have got to take the time to think through and pray through everything so that we do not make the painful decisions.

What we see here is that has David hit the panic button. It is panic all around the palace. How do you react when sudden tragedy or surprise comes your way? Do you stop and pray and then act or speak? Or do you act or speak then pray and ask God what was the right thing was to do? Too often – many of us act or speak then pray and ask God what we should have done rather than pray to find out what we should do or say. Always pray first and speak or act second.

Any thoughts here?  What is something that I can be praying about for you right now?