Jeremiah 12:5       

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan (war) ?  KJV

             Exodus 17 and Numbers 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 20 & 21

If you recall, God’s chosen people lost their patience in the wilderness with Moses and God, constantly complaining and accusing them as they traveled from Egypt to Canaan. God wasn’t doing this right and Moses wasn’t doing that right. A rabble had banned together, stirring up more complaints—complaints against God’s provision. Where were the leeks, melons, and garlic they enjoyed in Egypt—at no cost? Now, no water! They might as well have stayed in Egypt than die in the wilderness. What did God expect of them, anyway?  Even Miriam, Moses sister, slung accusations against Moses authority, claiming equality with him.

And the complaining goes on, right up to arriving at the door of God’s promise of freedom, possessing their own land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Well, not so fast, God. They had just spent 40 years wandering around in the wilderness without proper food or water and now they had to go into this, so called, “promised land” and fight off giants? Surely, God could have done better than this for His chosen…. 

They had not trusted God, or His messengers, Moses and Aaron. Their lack of trust and continuous complaining and accusing finally provoked God, and it ended for them in the wilderness, costing them their inheritance of a good land with a good life.  They died in the wilderness, without ever receiving their promise. Moses died with them for his disobedience when striking the rock when God instructed him to speak to the rock the second time around. Disobedience cost Moses his promise after 40 years of obedience, while the people lost their promise from years of accusing and complaining.

There were consequences…fire, snakes and plague…and for Miriam’s accusation against Moses—leprosy. When Moses cried out for God’s mercy for Miriam, God relented and healed the leprosy after seven days. Both Miriam and Aaron died in the wilderness (Num 20:1, 20:24).

Maybe you have learned not to accuse or blame God, but you have singled out persons, or groups, and go about telling all they are doing wrong, or did, wrong, and how you are suffering because of what they are doing, or did, or how others are suffering because of what they are doing or did. Maybe you even take a glance over your shoulder every once in a while, hoping to see that God has judged them for all the evil they did to you, or others you see suffering because of them.  Or maybe you’re the one laying on the side of the road, bleeding, after suffering an excruciating loss and everyone passes you by without even glancing.

Let’s cut to the here-and-now and get specific: We’ll call this section Lancing The Boil…. We will use God’s word to do the cutting Hebrews 4:12. Out will ooze the stench of infection and the poison.             (Prov 3:11-12 Spoken to me many times over the years!) 

1. Marriage/abandonment/abuse/divorce: Malachi 2:14-17 God hates divorce. Remember, there is no marriage in heaven—no sex—we are as the angels (Matt 22:28-30), we are here to prepare for Jesus as His Bride (Rev 19:7-8). Look at the end of the article for a more complete (not exhaustive) list of scriptures.

My personal take on the subject of marriage after 50 years experience, as well as a trained lay-counselor for over twenty years: Marriage is one of our strongest and most effective character builders. If

you have quit on your marriage because it feels too difficult for you to learn the lessons or it feels like there is something better for you somewhere else—you have missed out on a tremendous opportunity for growth in your character and understanding of your relationships here on earth and with Jesus Christ, our soon coming Bridegroom. I could easily write an entire book on this subject alone.

My encouragement to you is to stick with it and consider how your situation will bring growth and development to your character, a sense of fulfillment and success to your life, as you decide to do it God’s way. Marriage is His plan for us—and between us and Jesus—so He has a pretty good idea how it all works out in the end. The end of a thing is better than the beginning—A word God spoke to me very early on, which I sincerely pondered a number of times over the years regarding my marriage (Eccl 7:8). I am so grateful I listened….

2. Workplace: Peter 2:18-19 Some rock throwing might be done under the guise of “authority”. One might think they are just setting a paid employee straight, wanting to improve production. Whether we are the boss or the servant, always do it God’s way, whether it changes others or not, it will change us. Proverbs 15:1 Talking back, gossiping, spreading rumors, trashing the boss or employees are no, nos. If you are strongly discontent with an employee, let them go and sincerely wish them well. If your work is unbearable, go somewhere you fit in. If there is complexity in either of these choices, do it God’s way. You will never regret it. 1 Peter 3:8-14 Are you getting the picture that complaining is a two-edged sword.

3. Church: Matt 12:24-31– Zech 3:1-2, I will chose pastors over you Jer 3:15,  Obey those who have rule over you Heb 13:17 ; Matt 16:18 I will build My Church….

The following comments come from years of experience, attending a variety of churches when God has sent me a distance on various writing assignments. Here is what I have seen and heard over the past 46 years. God loves His Church. Jesus died for His Church. Jesus (the Bridegroom) is coming for His Church (the Bride). But He says in Revelation He has a few things against some of His family. Let Revelation speak for itself (Rev 3:1-22).

There are primarily 3 issues that are consistent wherever He sends me: gossip and slander, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit’s work and resistance against a servant of God and their  vision and assignment from God.  (There are many wonderful things going on in Jesus Church, but here, we are dealing with a specific issue that God is asking us to pay serious attention to. If you read my book Voices Crying in the Wilderness, A call to prophesy, you will see the amazing revelation God gave to me regarding His love for His Church, and my love for His Church also. I have never attended a church I didn’t like…it would be like telling Jesus He didn’t know what He was doing.) 

4. Family/friends  A friend must show himself friendly Prov 18:24; mother-in-law against daughter-in-law Luke 12:53 Familiarity breeds contempt. Definition: Idiom—extensive knowledge of or close association with someone or something leads to a loss of respect for them or it. Coined by Geoffrey Chaucer  1300s. Stay loyal, stay faithful, stay respectful, keep confidences to yourself….

5. Neighbors: Matt 22:35-40, Mark 12:31 love your neighbor as yourself, who is my neighbor? Luke 10:25-37, Exod 20:16-17, Prov 3:28

6 Government: Rom 13:1, Matt 22:15-21-render to Ceasar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which belongs to God. Governments are put in place by God Rom 13:1. God raises up kings and puts down kings Dan 2:21-22. This subject is so volatile at this point and so expansive, I will only say…if you are calling out to Jesus to come…to return for His Church…for His Bride…understand that when He returns all will not be well on the earth. Be prepared. (Rev 22:17; all of Chapter 22!)

7. Yourself: You shall have what you speak Job 3:25; You are fearfully and wonderfully made Psa 139:14. I knew you in your mother’s womb Jer 1:5;  I knew you before the foundation of the world Eph 1:4-5 You did not choose Me, but I chose you John 15:16. *I loved you first 1 John 4:19-21

Speaking evil of yourself is deadly: I’m…too tall, too short, not smart, too fat, too skinny, unloved, not respected, lonely and so on. These thoughts will program and control your mind, emotions and life’s direction. Matt 12:36-37 This applies to all the above….

             Don’t lose heart, now. You can do this. Don’t click the x yet. Read on. Remember your promised land. Jer 29:11 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. Don’t procrastinate, go in and possess your promise. God will help you slay your giants. Don’t look back, whether you are the accused or the accuser; whether you are the complainer or the one complained against. Let go and leave it all behind. Keep your focus on Jesus, He is always moving forward, and shut down the complaint department. Be quick to get off the merry-go-round of complaining, accusing (Rev 12:9-11) and trying to figure it all out, and give the victim mentality the boot!.  Get up quickly, move ahead and leave the junk behind.

End of Part II OUCH!

Part III FALL OUT—Taking a look at the damages…

1.  Marriage: Genesis 2:24, Eph 5:22-29, Matt 19:4-6, Col 3:18, 1Peter 3:7, Hebrews 13:4, Eccl 4:10, 1Cor 7:2-5, Prov 6:27, 29, Hebrews 13:4, 1Cor 6:9-10, Exodus 20:14, Proverbs 6:26, Proverbs 23:27-35, 1Cor 6:18, Matt 5:32.

(Part IV we will use His Word again to cleanse and heal the wounds, so keep looking forward! There is hope and healing in sight!)

THROWING ROCKS Part I

             My family moved many times over the years as my father’s work frequently took him a distance from our home for many months at a time. My mother’s way of supporting my father’s work was to move us all closer to where his next project took him so that he would have a home to come to after 12- and 16-hour days of strenuous labor. At that time, my father was a logger on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada.

This move took us to a small island off the west coast. Accommodation was limited on the island when we first arrived. The only housing available for a family of five was a converted chicken coup. Maybe that’s what triggered the somewhat hostile reaction to us three kid’s intrusion into the small community and the one room school.

We walked to and from school each day. Perhaps a mile or so. There were two brothers that also walked the distance with us. Well, I can’t say they walked with us, as they walked behind us and threw rocks at us, taunting us and laughing at us. I didn’t understand this rock throwing business. We had never done such a thing to others, nor was it done where we came from. Every day these two brothers followed us, throwing rocks as they had the day before. One day a gentleman came along in his ox cart. He pulled up beside us and beckoned us into his cart, glancing a good scowl at the rock throwers as we clattered on down the road to the little schoolhouse. The rock throwing and name calling came to a halt soon after our ride with the gentleman. Perhaps he had something to say about it to the brothers or their folks. We did move from the converted chicken coup shortly after to a very nice, large home near the ocean.

The point is. Throwing rocks at others hurts. It intimidates and causes confusion in other’s lives. God showed me something about rock throwing today. Do you know that complaining is a form of rock throwing?

God, our Heavenly Father, wants us to see some things differently. He is calling us higher to a holiness we have not yet known or understood. Hopefully, this message brings lifechanging revelation to our spirits and brings greater revelation of the nature of our amazing God. Amen.

The story of the two brothers randomly came to my mind as I waited for God to provide me with the complete revelation of what He was increasingly, unfolding in my understanding. He was putting His powerful finger on a subject He wanted us to pay serious attention to.

I could not devise this message on my own, it was so complex to me. Where do I ever start with this, Lord?  Then in a moment, for no apparent reason, the story of the two brothers came to my remembrance. Suddenly, the whole mishmash of notes and insights I had assembled over the months made sense.

Holy Spirit has called me to talk to us all about complaining. It is not at all what one might think. It is not at all what I thought….

***Watch for Part II to IV before the end of Feb/23.  Comments and questions welcome.

January 28, 2017

Epiphany:

I love revelation knowledge: The light bulb turns on and you see something in the light that was once hidden in the darkness, or just something that you believe but remains a bit cloudy. Awesome! This revelation knowledge brings understanding. The Bible tells us “In all your getting, get understanding.” (Prov. 4:7, Prov. 16:16) My first almost 40 years in my Christian faith I asked constantly that God would give me understanding. And guess what? Revelation knowledge became a daily occurrence.  It wasn’t until He sent me out into the fray that I began to ask fervently for His wisdom.

OK…how do we get “revelation” of things we normally just take for granted or are satisfied that if God said it, it must be true? Receive His Holy Spirit. Bottom line. Before we have the Holy Spirit (Who guides us to all truth John 16:13) we read our Bibles and attempt to gain as much knowledge as we can from what we read. BUT when we invite The Holy Spirit to come into our lives and fill us with His amazing power and presence the lights begin to turn on, click, click, click and beyond knowledge, He gives us understanding (Luke 24:49, Acts 8:14-17). Revelation stirs and established our faith.

Now you know how I, and you, receive revelation knowledge….epiphany, insight; so now I can proceed to share with you my most recent revelation.

Each morning just after I awake I read one chapter of my Bible (NKJ version). I generally ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything to me that I need greater understanding for, and every so often He shows me something that leaves me in awe for days and years. This morning I didn’t ask, but as I was reading my one chapter the light came on and I saw something I had not seen before. I was reading Acts chapter 13 (Acts 13:28-37), and suddenly “saw no corruption” leapt off the page and struck me between the eyes. THE LIGHT WENT ON! My mind suddenly leapt from scripture to scripture that I had read over the years….

Enoch ascended into heaven, not experiencing death at all (Gen 5:23-24) (After 365 years on this earth, Enoch earned a miraculous exit!); Elijah “went up” (2Kings 2:1-12)…thus the mocking of the children to Elisha “go up thou bald head, go up” (2Kings 2:23); Jesus raised many from the dead as He ministered, of course the most famous to us is Lazarus, all of whom eventually returned to the grave and their bodies decayed (they saw corruption). When Jesus rose from the dead 500 saw Him. God raised up Jesus from the dead and He continued fellowship with the disciples for 40 days until He ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:1-3). The many that came up out of their graves at His crucifixion (Matt 27:50-53) eventually died again and “saw corruption”. THE ONLY ONE THAT DIED, CAME BACK TO LIFE AND ASCENED INTO HEAVEN WITHOUT HIS BODY DECAYING OR “SEEING CORRUPITON” WAS JESUS! HE LEFT THIS EARTH IN TACT, WHOLE AND WITHOUT DECAY, EVEN AFTER DYING A MOST HORRIBLE DEATH FOR OUR SINS. ACTS 13 CONTINUES IN VERSE 38

Acts 13:38-39

38 I want you to know, my very dear friends that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. 39 He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.

(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Amen.

In order for Jesus to be Lord of the living and the dead it was essential that He must taste death. It is written also that He descended into Hell and took away the keys of death and Hell (Eph 4:9-10, Rev 1:18). Hell, by the way was created by God for Satan and his angels…NOT MAN! There are many accounts of those who have died and visited either Heaven or Hell. Heaven and Hell are destinations. The book 23 Minutes in Hell is quite a reading if you are up for it. Just a note: Jesus came from Heaven. If you are interested in more you might also read my epiphany regarding Rogue One. Amazing….

Read 1Cor Chapter 15.

POST SCRIPT:

And He’s coming back for His people!  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Doesn’t that just make your heart leap with joy! Come, Lord Jesus, come! Rev 22:7, 12, 16-17, 20. Amen and amen.

Hindsight tells me this all really began in 2001. My husband and I were privileged to host a series of hospitality dinners for our Church in hopes to stir up the pot, so to speak. No pun intended…. These dinners were designed to mix up a rapidly growing congregation of saints (reaching about 900) which had a need to become plugged in and connect with others merely on a social level over good food and lighthearted fellowship. One of these dinners made an indelible impression on my heart.

There were generally about 20 guests each month. A team of six of us prepared a formal, sumptuous, pampered, scratch prepared, five course dinner, pulling out all the stops. That is to say—we were considerably well off and in possession of all the good stuff such as restaurant grade foods with all the trimmings—you get the picture. I am not one to hoard. All the good stuff was given to us by God to bless others.  So that’s what we did with it—and continue to do so. Anyway, there was one dinner that stood out. Six guys from a rehab house showed up. I was quickly impressed by these clean-cut looking men, mostly in their mid-30s, as I recall.  They had a great time and mixed in with ease. Now please understand. This was the first experience I had had with up-close substance abuse—bottom line—drug addicts. I never considered that I would ever be entertaining drug addicts in my home.

These guys did not “look like” drug addicts to me. I was accustomed to seeing such people on the streets of east-end Vancouver, dishevelled, begging, or dropped against a building in a state of stupor. These men were, as I said, all clean-cut and apparently ordinary folk.

At the end of the dinner, while all the other dinner guests made their way about the living room and family room to continue the relaxed fellowship we became accustomed to witness, one man remained at the white, linen covered table. He was softly weeping. I stepped over and sat near him and asked if he was ok. He was one of the guys from rehab-mid-30s. He wiped his eyes and said, “Yes, thanks.” But the tears continued to flow, so I waited. He was looking down at the white linen tablecloth as he sobbed. He lifted his eyes from this thoughtful gaze and looked at me. “I just don’t understand why you would invite me to your home and make me welcome.” He wiped his eyes once more, now able to speak out what had brought him to tears. “No one has ever invited me to their home—ever….” I was speechless. His words gripped my heart, and I knew then that I would never see these souls the same again. It was a God moment. His compassion, mercy and grace flooded my heart for these men that He had placed in our home.. In hindsight—He was preparing us for something we did not understand then…but a time would come when we did understand….

Alison Teed

Hindsight tells me this all really began in 2001. My husband and I were privileged to host a series of hospitality dinners for our Church in hopes to stir up the pot, so to speak. No pun intended…. These dinners were designed to mix up a rapidly growing congregation of saints (reaching about 900) which had a need to become plugged in and connect with others merely on a social level over good food and lighthearted fellowship. One of these dinners made an indelible impression on my heart.

There were generally about 20 guests each month. A team of six of us prepared a formal, sumptuous, pampered, scratch prepared, five course dinner, pulling out all the stops. That is to say—we were considerably well off and in possession of all the good stuff such as restaurant grade foods with all the trimmings—you get the picture. I am not one to hoard. All the good stuff was given to us by God to bless others.  So that’s what we did with it—and continue to do so. Anyway, there was one dinner that stood out. Six guys from a rehab house showed up. I was quickly impressed by these clean-cut looking men, mostly in their mid-30s, as I recall.  They had a great time and mixed in with ease. Now please understand. This was the first experience I had had with up-close substance abuse—bottom line—drug addicts. I never considered that I would ever be entertaining drug addicts in my home.

These guys did not “look like” drug addicts to me. I was accustomed to seeing such people on the streets of east-end Vancouver, dishevelled, begging, or dropped against a building in a state of stupor. These men were, as I said, all clean-cut and apparently ordinary folk.

At the end of the dinner, while all the other dinner guests made their way about the living room and family room to continue the relaxed fellowship we became accustomed to witness, one man remained at the white, linen covered table. He was softly weeping. I stepped over and sat near him and asked if he was ok. He was one of the guys from rehab-mid-30s. He wiped his eyes and said, “Yes, thanks.” But the tears continued to flow, so I waited. He was looking down at the white linen tablecloth as he sobbed. He lifted his eyes from this thoughtful gaze and looked at me. “I just don’t understand why you would invite me to your home and make me welcome.” He wiped his eyes once more, now able to speak out what had brought him to tears. “No one has ever invited me to their home—ever….” I was speechless. His words gripped my heart, and I knew then that I would never see these souls the same again. It was a God moment. His compassion, mercy and grace flooded my heart for these men that He had placed in our home.. In hindsight—He was preparing us for something we did not understand then…but a time would come when we did understand….

Alison Teed