Is your life anchored?

I can remember when I was a young boy fishing in my rowboat, and I would get so focused on fishing that before long I would look up and not even recognize the shoreline.  Why? Because I was not anchored, thus allowing the boat to drift wherever the current led.

Three times in the book of Hebrews it is written, "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts," Hebrews 3:7, 3:15, 4:7.  His voice is in His word…His voice is the soft whispers of the Holy Spirit…His voice is available to us all. Whether we are intentionally listening is up to us.  Why is this so important? Because it is the word of God that anchors our lives and keeps us from drifting from the truth.

"Since all this is true, we ought to pay much closer attention than ever to the truths that we have heard, lest in any way we drift past them and slip away."  Hebrews 2:1 AMP

Drifting away from truth doesn’t begin the moment sin is acted out. Rather, it begins long before, when one isn’t intentional with anchoring his or her life daily in the word of God. The drifting occurs without even realizing it.  The enemy does not appear to us blatantly trying to steal, kill and destroy our lives, but rather, he is sneaky and cunning, and his goal is to have us slowly drift from the truth.

How can we be confident?

The word of God needs to be engrafted in our hearts in order for our lives to be anchored.  Hebrews 5:13-14 puts it so well, "For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word… but solid food belongs to those who by reason of use (consistent reading) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

We must daily be in the Word of God so that we can be confident that our anchor is securely fastened.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:1-2 NIV              

For His Kingdom,
John Bevere

P.S. When you read the Bible, come with an open heart and ask the Holy Spirit to anoint your eyes to see and your ears to hear, and to give your heart understanding.

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Has God spoken promises to you that haven't come to pass? I want to let you know it is natural to struggle with that. You may ask, how and when will God's plans and promises come to pass in my life? Sometimes, you might even try to make those things come to fruition in your own way. Abraham was very familiar with this struggle...

Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his free wife. The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God's promise. But the son of the free wife was born as God's own fulfillment of His promise... Sarah represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother... you are children of the promise... "Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman's son." ...we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.Gal 4:22-30

Attempting to fulfill something God has promised but hasn't yet released you into is not obedience, it is striving. Striving brings a weight, burden or heaviness that God hasn't positioned you to carry. Now is the time to stop striving. The true promises and plans of God won't be fulfilled in your strength. In His timing, God will produce something far beyond anything your strength or ability can create.

What are the areas of your life that God has specifically given to you? Those are the areas where there is grace, provision and blessing to labor in. You are in obedience when you cultivate those areas because it is good stewardship.

Are you willing to wait to see God's promises and plans come forth in His timing and His way? Settle this within yourself now and the Lord will renew your strength and you will enter into the true peace of God.

Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 NKJV

For His Kingdom,

John and Lisa Bevere

"God is not silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The second person of the Holy Trinity is called "The Word."
-A.W. Tozer

There are two groups within the church today. The first are those who seek God for what He can do for them; while the second seek Him for who He is.

The second group can be directly compared with the example of Moses. After some time in the wilderness, God basically gets fed up with the Israelites and their attitudes and tells Moses that he can lead the Israelites up into the Promised Land. God even says He will send an Angel to drive out all of the enemies, however He (His presence) was not going!

Imagine if God had given that invitation to the children of Israel. They would have gladly packed and gone into the Promised Land because they had even been willing to go back to Egypt without God to escape the desert discomforts. But take a look at Moses' response in Ex. 33:15, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here." Wow! We have to remember where "here" was. It was the desert; the place of hardship; a land void of comfort or pleasure! There was nothing of beauty in this place, yet Moses declares, " I would rather have Your presence in this uncomfortable land than a land of abundance and beauty void of Your Presence!"

What was his heart cry? God's presence! He desired the Lord Himself more than His promised blessings. He prized intimacy with God above any treasures. This must be our heart cry and encourage others to have this same attitude.

God bless!

jb

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"I want the presence of God Himself, or I don't want anything at all to do with religion...I want all that God has or I don't want any." – A.W. Tozer

I have discovered that there are two major groups within the church. The first are those who seek God for what He can do; while the second seek Him for who He is.

Those who seek God for only what He can do for them can be directly correlated with the children of Israel. While Israel was in oppression in Egypt they cried out to God for deliverance. God heard their cry and sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt. Imagine the scene when Moses arrived to free them from bondage. Here you have been oppressed for generations and the deliverance you have craved is before you.

Moses leads them out of Egypt with abundance and health and the people are rejoicing and ecstatic to finally be out from under oppression. But soon they come to the Red Sea and with Pharaoh's army behind them they begin to grumble. They actually say to Moses, "For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness" (Ex. 14:12). Whoa! Their desire for whatever was in their best interest overrode their desire to fulfill God's will.

Once again God is merciful and splits the Red Sea and brings them across on dry ground and destroys the most powerful military on earth. Now they rejoice and are exuberant!

You will see throughout their time in the wilderness this roller coaster. The Israelites are happy and thankful as long as God is doing what they want when they want it and unhappy whenever God isn't doing what they want when they want it. Their core motivation is evidenced by their behavior and words under pressure; it's all about them, their comfort. Unfortunately this is the attitude of many believers today. As long as life is good, they rejoice and serve God, but when trials come they complain. We must move beyond this attitude and seek God for who He is!

God bless!

jb


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When we seek God diligently, He will always give us a glimpse of where He wants to take us. In our earthly mind, we see that glimpse of our future and we plan our steps accordingly. It's similar to crossing a room. We see where we need to go and we take the quickest and easiest way to reach our goal. But God has different ideas in mind.

Think of David. He was prophesied that he would be the next King, was taken into the King's Palace, made the armor bearer, and then spears started getting thrown at him. His next years were spent in the wilderness evading Saul's army. Or what about Joseph? He dreamed of a great future. God was going to make a great leader out of him. His father, mother, and brothers would even bow down to him…then he spent the next seventeen years going from a pit to slavery to a dungeon before finally being brought into his destiny.

Why does God take us through these wildernesses when it would be so easy to just walk us into our destiny? Because it is through those wilderness experiences, the trials, the crucibles that we gain the character needed to handle the call of God on our lives. We must never forget that the wilderness is not God's judgment on our lives, it is Him preparing us for a fresh revelation of Him!

God bless,

jb


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"The greater perfection a soul aspires after, the more dependent it is upon divine grace." – Brother Lawrence

A deceptive thought process is present in our modern church. It has been conceived and brought forth by an unbalanced teaching of grace. Most often grace is referred to as an excuse or cover-up for a life of worldliness. We've all heard people say, "I've really been struggling with this sin issue for months, but thank God for His grace!" This type of attitude is used as justification for self-seeking, fleshly lifestyles. Too many Christian groups have overemphasized the goodness of God to the neglect of His holiness and justice. This swing to the extreme left has caused many to have a warped understanding of the grace of God. Thus, many have received the grace of God in vain.

The grace of God is not merely a cover-up. Yes, it covers, but it goes beyond that: it enables and empowers us to live a life of obedience. John says, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17 NKJV). Jesus introduces the dimension of grace that will impart the ability of God within us that will free us from the dead formula of the law.

Often I hear believers bemoan the harshness of the law, then express their relief that they are under grace and not such a rigid lifestyle. Well, I also rejoice that I am no longer under the law, but it is not because I find God's standard of holiness more lenient now. The opposite is true. For I have found His standard higher under grace! As Christians, we have a responsibility to encourage people to live at this higher standard and understand that grace empowers us to live what truth demands of us!

God bless,

jb


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"Unless he obeys, a man cannot believe." – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Have you ever heard a message that proclaimed that all who receive Jesus are now His friends? Hopefully you now realize God is not a cheap, group friend. Jesus didn't come as Savior so everyone could join His "born-again club." He is looking for relationship with those who love Him as He has loved them; here we find His friendship. This is confirmed by His own words in John 15:14, "You are My friends IF you do whatever I command you." Now, when you hear the word 'if' there is always a condition. For example, if you hire an employee and tell them that you will pay them $2000 upon completion of a job and they don't do it would you still pay them? No! It's conditional.

There are parameters placed on friendship with Jesus. He did not say, "You are all My friends if you believe I am the Christ." Rather He said, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you." The power "to do whatever He commands" is found in the fear of the Lord. It's talked about in the book of Psalms, "Friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who fear Him." We need a healthy, correct view of God in order for Him to bring us in close as friends and share the secrets of His heart.

God bless,

jb


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"The best of it is, God is with us." – John Wesley

There is a call coming from the heart of God and with each passing day its intensity increases: "Why are you satisfied without My presence; why do you remain distant when you could have intimacy with Me?" This is the greatest invitation that has ever been given to you. You can have a deep, fulfilling relationship with the creator of the universe. In fact, He is longing to have intimacy with you even more than you are with Him!

God is willing to communicate with you non-stop. The question is, are you listening? Realize, it's not always words that God is using. Don't you know that communication can be done by more ways than just verbal? In fact, my wife can give me one look and I can write pages about what she just said! Why is that? I have developed a relationship with her and cultivated it for more than twenty years. I know how she communicates. God wants you to know how He communicates and this puts the responsibility on us to develop that relationship of intimacy with God. James puts it beautifully in James 4:8, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." This is the most profound invitation of all time, what is your response?

God bless,

jb

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