Hear Him!

by Lynette Woods

Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to revelation. For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything kept secret except in order that it may be made known. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear. Mark 4:22,23.

One thing about us humans which is very "natural" and yet of very real concern is our propensity to give our attention and our time to humans instead of, or as a substitute for, Jesus Christ Himself. This is an age-old temptation for us. We just naturally prefer to listen to and worship someone we can see here and now rather than "hearing" and "seeing" the Unseen Invisible One for ourselves.

Was it God or the Devil? Discerning Satanic Hindrances

JENNIFER LECLAIRE

 

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Did God stop you or was it the devil? (istockphoto.com/tumpikuja)

I’ll admit it. There have been times when I thought the devil was in my way and it was really the Holy Spirit preventing me. There were other times when I thought the Holy Spirit was opening the door and it was really the devil tapping into the idolatry in my own heart to set me up for a mess.

I’ve grown up quite a lot in Christ since then, but we are all prone to miss it from time to time. Understanding how the Holy Spirit leads and how the devil deceives can help you follow the steps the Lord has ordered for you instead of falling into the roaring lion's trap.

We can take a lesson from the apostle Paul, who keenly observed the difference between his own plans, the Holy Spirit’s plans and the devil’s plans.

Don't Kick the Anthill

Lysa TerKeurst

"The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception." Proverbs 14:8 (NIV)

I stood at the dirt mound watching ants. They were busy. I was not.

The afternoon had been slow for me. Several of my friends had been invited to the community pool. Another friend was at camp for the week. Even my last resort, the pigtailed aggravation that lived in the apartment below, was busy. "She's napping," her mom had informed me.

I walked away thinking, She's six years old. Only two years younger than me and she still takes naps? That's the awfullest thing a mom could do to her child. And this is the awfullest afternoon ever.

Expect Increased Opportunities

Dear Kingdom Builders: What are you expecting? Are you content with your life or do you desire more? How do we increase and prosper in a time of great upheaval? To prosper we must be able to accurately discern the times and seasons. Part of discerning is recognizing there is a significant difference between the world’s prosperity messages of greed, ‘get all you can get’ and the Gospel message of God’s eternal love, saving grace, and salvation that causes us to prosper. With the shaking of today’s economic system we must realize the Bible has a lot to say about stewardship; saving and sowing money. There is a correlation between how we steward our finances and the prosperity of our personal lives and the health of our bodies. 3 John 2, says, “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” Matthew 6:21 further states, “For where your treasure (desire, money, fortune, relationship) is, there your heart (focus, attention or love) will be also. We must ask ourselves, what or who do I place my hope and trust in? What or who am I seeking in this life? Whose kingdom am I building? What or who do I really treasure? Jesus said in Matthew 13:44, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field”. Are we willing to sell out to this world so we can inherit the unshakeable Kingdom of God?

Timing is Critical

Written by Bill Strom

“A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Mark 1:40-44

This account of Jesus healing the leper early in his earthy ministry is peculiar. It runs against the grain that anyone new in town with an agenda to make a difference would tell people he helped to stay mum about it. Can you image politicians running for office cautioning people in their riding “Now be careful! Don’t tell others what I’ve done for you to make your life better!” It just doesn’t make sense.

The Beer Goggle Effect Is Finally Explained: It's All About Sex

by Jenny Erikson

Because some people have awesome jobs, a group of researchers recently set out to study the beer goggle effect. What is it about that third or fourth shot that makes everyone around you all of a sudden more attractive?

It turns out it doesn’t. It just makes you want to have sex more, which I guess lowers your standards. Dr. Amanda Ellison of Durham University in the U.K. says that, “We still see others basically as they are … there is no imagined physical transformation -- just more desire.”

How To Avoid Spiritual Distractions

A tale is told of a gifted bloodhound in England that started a hunt by chasing a full-grown male deer. During the chase, a fox crossed his path, so he began to chase the fox. Then, a rabbit crossed his hunting path, so he began to chase the rabbit. After chasing the rabbit for a while, a tiny field mouse crossed his path, and he chased the mouse to the corner of a farmer’s barn.

	The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching….” Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!” — Acts 5:27-29

The bloodhound had begun the hunt chasing a prized male deer for his master, but wound up barking at a tiny mouse, all because he tried to focus on more than one thing. As humans, we’re equally guilty. We set so many expectations for ourselves that we often never meet even one of them.


The disciple and apostle Peter knew this struggle well. On the one hand, he had expectations of obeying the authorities’ commands to stop preaching Christ. On the other, he knew his obligation to God was much more important. So he made the decision to obey God rather than the authorities.

How Do You Know When God is Speaking to You?

By Allen White 

Photo courtesy of melter.

“I believe that God is directing me to __________________.” How do you handle that in a small group? Whether the group member feels led to quit his job, move to another state, or end a relationship, how do you help your group member discern the truth?

From the very beginning, God has been in relationship with people. Today, we’re not walking in the garden with God in the cool of the day or getting inspiration to write new books of the Bible, but God does speak to us. The question is how do we know that it’s actually God and not wishful thinking or indigestion? Here are some tests for what you might be hearing:

1. What does the Bible say?

When God's Timing Is Taking Too Long

by Joyce Meyer

We all want good things to happen in our lives, but too often we want it now...not later. When it doesn't happen that way, we are tempted to ask, "When, God, when?" Most of us need to grow in the area of trusting God instead of focusing on the "when" question. If you're missing joy and peace, you're not trusting God. If your mind feels worn out all the time, you're not trusting God.

The tendency to want to know about everything that's going on can be detrimental to your Christian walk. Sometimes knowing everything can be uncomfortable and can even hurt you. I spent a large part of my life being impatient, frustrated and disappointed because there were things I didn't know. God had to teach me to leave things alone and quit feeling that I needed to know everything. I finally learned to trust the One who knows all things and accept that some questions may never be answered. We prove that we trust God when we refuse to worry. 

Abiding in the Presence of the Lord

Rick Joyner

We discussed in a previous Word for the Week how discernment may operate through impressions, which is where we start to feel in ourselves what someone else is dealing with. One reason many prophetic people suffer depression is because they pick up on so much spiritually around them that they think it is their problem and fail to distinguish this as the gift working. Just because we feel depression does not mean that we have depression, but we may be feeling what someone close to us is dealing with. If we inquire of the Lord about these feelings, He will lead us to the truth about them. As we mature, we will learn to distinguish what we are picking up from others, or other situations, and what is actually in our own hearts.

That being said, many prophetic people are of the melancholy temperament that can be prone to depression. This is something no child of God should be subject to, and we can be free of it. There are reasons for depression that we do not have to be subject to. All who know and serve the Lord should resolve to not be subject to depression. Of course, depression may be the result of chemical imbalances, but if this is the case, let’s get it right. We cannot see the world or people as they are if we are looking through the eyes of depression. This is a serious hindrance to prophetic revelation that we must overcome.

Is it Wrong to Question Your Senior Pastor?

by Mark Altrogge


The pulpit does not make pastors infallible.

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:10-11)

Why were the Bereans more noble than those in Thessalonica? Two reasons: 1) They received the Word with all eagerness. 2) They went back home and examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul and Silas preached lined up with the Word of God.

Choose Your Part

“Then the king said, ‘Bring me a sword.’ So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: ‘Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.’ The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, ‘Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!’ But the other said, ‘Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!’ ” — 1 Kings 3:24–26

In the opening chapters of the book of Kings, King Solomon is granted one wish. In this original genie-in-the-bottle moment, God appears to Solomon in a dream and invites him to ask for anything. King Solomon chooses to ask for wisdom. He places wealth, health, and immortality on the back burner, so that he can best serve God in his role as the king.

Immediately afterwards, we read the famous story about two women who approach the king about a dispute over a baby. The first woman claims that the other woman stole her baby after the woman accidentally killed her own child when she rolled over the baby during the night. The second woman denies the claim and insists that the living child is hers. King Solomon’s new gift of wisdom is demonstrated to the nation as he cleverly discerns the truth by offering to cut the baby in two in order to give both women half. As Solomon anticipates, the true mother is revealed when the second woman pleads with the king to give the whole child to the other woman rather than put the child to death.