The Lord is leading me deeper into the theme of being led by His Spirit. I had quite a few aha moments last week when I started to read R.T. Kendall's "The Sensitivity of the Spirit - Learning to Stay in the Flow of God's Direction." Boy, does this man have insight! He brought out quite a few things that I had never even thought about before. I would like to share some of them with You also.

One thing that I needed clarity about was God's presence with us. He says in Hebrews 13:5, "I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] nor in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]"

God has sworn to us His absolute faithfulness. He has promised to be with us all the time and everywhere. But yet, when we start to think about it, there have been times when we pray and ask for His help... and nothing! We seem to hear nothing, we seem to get no leading. How can it be when He has promised to be with us everywhere all the time? Is He failing us?

No, He is not failing us... we are failing to hear. Psalm 66:18 says: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." God, through His Spirit, indeed, is everywhere all the time. He is omnipresent. He can't leave us. So, His presence is with us everywhere, but His special presence - the ministry of the Holy Spirit - has left us when we regard iniquity in our hearts.

What has been shocking to me, is the realization of HOW sensitive the Holy Spirit really is! I had taken Him for granted. I believed He was leading me all the time... but I was deceiving myself.

No wonder Ephesians 4:30 exhorts us, "do not grieve the Holy Spirit" and 1 Thessalonians 5:19 exhorts us, "do not quench the Holy Spirit." I believe we quench the Holy Spirit when we do not yield to His promptings. I believe we grieve the Holy Spirit when we do not honor His personality.

Holy Spirit's personality is described in Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge]."

When Paul wrote the letter to Galatians, it was all they had to go with. They had the books of the Old Testament but the teachings of the New Testament were not yet available. Here Paul teaches the Galatians HOW they could recognize whether they were led by the Holy Spirit or they were led by their flesh. Galatians had to learn by experience. They had to do what the Old Testament taught them - to worship and praise the Lord in order to enter His presence, and to fill their hearts with the Word of God that was to show them in the right direction. In matters that were not clearly written down in the Old Testament, they had to go by the hunch. Galatians had to learn to discern whether they were being led by God's Spirit or they were being led by some other spirit or their flesh.

If Galatians could do it, we can do it even more so. Whenever we are not manifesting the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, we are grieving the Holy Spirit... which means, He has withdrawn and we are on our own.

I admit, I have been so used to believing that the Holy Spirit is in control all the time and leading me all the time that I have made decisions thinking it was the Spirit of God... when in reality it wasn't. I have so "felt a leading" in a certain direction and followed it, only to later find out it wasn't God. Also, I have had times when I had no idea I was being led by the Spirit of God. Only later I was revealed it. Apparently I was walking in the Spirit and thus also manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. It has not been an easy journey to learn to truly discern the voice of the Holy Spirit... but I am tenaciously keeping at it. I know I have got a lot to learn, and even more to change in my habits, but it is worth all the time and effort. We are living in difficult times and learning to hear and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit is, to my opinion, the most important thing we need to cultivate.

What I am learning now, are the ways I can grieve the Holy Spirit... and when I do (not obeying the check in my spirit), I can be certain that I am no longer in the receiving end of His guidance. I am also learning HOW incredibly sensitive the Heavenly Dove is... and that He does not accommodate to MY whims and temper (I wonder WHY!? ;-) I think I have expected Him to come when summoned! Hmmm.... HOW wrong have I been!)... but in order for me to hear from Him, I have to accommodate to His personality.

My huge aha moment came when I read how R.T.Kendall compares the personalities of a dove and a pigeon. I can see how - unconsciously - I expected to be accompanied by a heavenly pigeon... rather than the Heavenly Dove.

Kendall says in his book: "Pete made this observation: "I sometimes question whether turtledoves should be in the same family because a pigeon has a very good homing instinct - but a turtledove has none." Pete was speaking out of fifty years of experience in raising doves and pigeons, during which time he had observed them carefully. He made the following observations:

1. Turtledoves never fight; pigeons fight with each other all the time. Peter told me that the turtledoves he raises are always peaceful and quiet. Their soft cooing is very beautiful and reassuring. On the other hand, pigeons are belligerent, noisy and anything but tranquil.

2. Turtledoves can't stand noise; pigeons don't mind noise.

3. Turtledoves are afraid of humans; pigeons aren't afraid of people.

4. Turtledoves are not territorial, that is, they do not defend a particular location; pigeons are very territorial and will even bully one another for a special place to perch.

5. Turtledoves cannot be trained or domesticated; pigeons, having a homing instinct, can be trained. Peter assured me, "I could put a red box in the center of New York City and train a pigeon to come to that box."

6. Once let out of a cage, turtledoves will never return unless there is no other source of food. Pete told me, "I once released fifty white turtledoves, thinking they would at least return for food. Not one came back. Friends phoned from all over Ada saying, "Some of your doves are in our back yard." I watched Pete let a dozen pigeons out of their cage. They soared. As soon as he called to them, they returned to him at once. Pete's explanation helps us to understand the illustration of the dove Noah sent out from the ark: "But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark" (Gen.8:9). The dove returned a second time with an olive leaf, but when the waters receded, the dove "did not return to him" (vv.11-12).

7. A turtledove will mate with only one other dove. "Doves mate for life," says Pete, "but pigeons will sometimes have more than one mate."

At the end of our discussion about pigeons and turtledoves, Pete added, "A pigeon could never be the symbol of the Holy Spirit.""

This really made me think. The author brings out the differences between pigeons and doves in order for us to realize HOW sensitive the Heavenly Dove is. He will never accommodate to our whims and tempers, we will have to learn to accommodate to Him, if we desire His presence and guidance.

The author also says, "It is my view that the genuine presence of the Holy Spirit is not as common as we may want to believe. It is also my fear that many of us have run slipshod over this matter and have forgotten that the Holy Spirit is a very, very sensitive person."

I know I have to go deeper into the Word and find out the Truth about the Holy Spirit. He is a person and He has a very gentle personality. If I want His presence, His wisdom, His anointing, His leading, I need to learn to accommodate Him... after all, I now am the Temple of the Holy Spirit. James 3:17-18 says:

"But the wisdom from above is first of all pure (undefiled); then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate, gentle). [It is willing to] yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity). And the harvest of righteousness (of conformity to God's will in thought and deed) is [the fruit of the seed] sown in peace by those who work for and make peace [in themselves and in others, that peace which means concord, agreement, and harmony between individuals, with undisturbedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts]."

Years ago the Lord started to teach me to achieve and keep the peace - the fruit of the Spirit. He taught me that peace meant His presence. When I lost peace, He taught me to stop everything else and get into His presence, spending time with Him until I once again was filled with peace. I have obeyed most of the time... but also, I have been so busy that I have continued in my haste, instead of dropping all and drawing back into His peace. Of course I have made some real blunders due to my disobedience. It is not a suggestion to learn to cultivate peace, it is a command. It is the only way the Lord can minister to us. If we do not have complete peace, the Holy Spirit won't be able to talk to us nor lead us. Holy Spirit can only come to where there is complete peace. God is seriously calling on us to return to Him - to His wisdom and His ways - and to rest in Him, allowing Him to cleanse us and wash us of all worldliness... which will bring us salvation and victory in every situation.

Lets not disobey Him. He is inviting us to learn from Him and not from the world. He is inviting us to come apart, to be His. He is promising us: "In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength." (Is. 30:15)

I wish You many, many blessings... and patience to cultivate and keep the peace at all times,

Hey, I'm still in the Psalm 105. It seems like it is pretty hard to move forward from here. I read further... and again I feel the Lord nudging me to go back into this Psalm, and dig deeper by reading and meditating on it, so He can reveal the hidden secrets... or may be they are just hidden from me, though in plain sight for everyone else!? Whatever the case, I'm back in it, sensing the Lord speaking to me.

"His judgments are in all the earth." ...I don't think we need to even comment on that! Economies are going down, gas price is going up, terrorism is on the rise, natural disasters keep hitting hard... This is the reality. This is our present life.

And yet, in the very next verse, the Lord confirms to us, His people, that "He is earnestly mindful of His covenant and forever it is imprinted on His heart, the word which He commanded and established to a thousand generations." So, what are our eyes on? Do we keep our eyes on the judgments, in fear trying to prepare ahead of time so that not all will be lost to us! Or, do we dig deeper into the promises of God, KNOWING that they will sustain us through thick and thin! ...what are our eyes on?

And then, who are those thousand generations to whom the Lord swears His faithfulness? Exodus 20:1-3,5-6 sheds some light on it, "Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before or besides Me. You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me. But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep my commandments."

The thousand generations the Lord is talking about, are the generations who love Him and keep His commandments. How do we keep God's commandments? We, under the New Testament have been given the Helper - the Holy Spirit - to do what the Lord requires of us. He has made it much easier for us than it was for the Old Testament covenant people. But still, we too, need to have His commandments imprinted on our hearts, in order to be able to keep them... for it is our hearts that lead us.

Psalms 16:7 tells us, "my heart instructs me in the night seasons." When we are in a tough spot, it is always our heart that leads us. We might know in our minds the right way to act, but we will always react according to what our hearts believe. Whatever has been stored in our hearts will instruct us and lead us. If we have been keeping our eyes on the disasters all around us, most likely our hearts are filled with fear... so, in a tough spot, it is going to be fear that will instruct us. On the other hand, if we have taken the time to meditate on the promises of God, it will be the saving and delivering Word that will come out of us and settle the situation.

Psalm 37:31 confirms it, by saying, "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." In order to be victorious in every area of our lives, we need to have the Word of God deeply rooted in our hearts... so that in a tough spot, it will be the promises of God that will instruct us.

Also, Psalm 37:31 says, "TRANSGRESSION [like and oracle] speaks to the wicked deep in his heart. There is no fear or dread of God before his eyes." Those who do not fear God, do not have the wisdom of God stored up in their hearts... obviously. So, it is the wickedness that screams instructions to them, leading them to evil deeds. Though, even us, Christians, may have areas in our lives that we have not completely surrendered to the Lord and renewed with the Word of God. Those areas still have wickedness, rather than God's wisdom, in the position of leadership.

Psalm 81:12-14 says, talking to God's covenant people, "So I gave them up to their own heart's lust and let them go after their own stubborn will, that they might follow their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! Speedily then I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their adversaries."

We may have areas in our lives that we have not fully surrendered to the Lord. Those are the dark areas that allow the enemy to come in and do havoc. No, we are not our own. We belong to God or to the enemy, the devil. So, also the areas of our lives can belong to God or to the enemy. There were areas in my life where I grew fast spiritually and started to see victory soon... then again, there are areas of my life where I still am struggling and needing help in order to learn to do the right thing. No, indeed, I will never be perfect in this world, but the more I fill my heart with the Truth, the more I allow the Truth to lead my life... the more I will live in victory. It also means that I am able to hear God in other areas of my life.

We root the Truth into our hearts by meditating on it... no other way. We decide what we fill our hearts with... and thus we decide the outcome of our lives. God has promised us that if we follow His instructions, we will be successful... but if we decide to go our own way, we will fail (even people who are prospering financially - apart from God - still have other areas of their lives where they live in defeat). Also, if we decide to surrender just some areas of our lives to the Lord, and keep others to ourselves, He will allow us to do that... but He does warn us that He won't be able to subdue our enemies for us (Ps.81:12-14). The success is eventually in OUR hands, not in God's.

Joshua 1:8 commands us, "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then YOU shall make your way prosperous, and then YOU shall deal wisely and have good success."

I so love Psalm 1. It tells us exactly what we need to do in order to succeed while the whole world around us is crumbling, "BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where the sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather. But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night. And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity]."

I believe we all want to be blessed, happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable. Well, it is available to every one of us! But there are conditions we need to fulfill, and they are: we are not allowed to take counsel from the ungodly, nor are we allowed to follow their advice and plans. We have to call sin what God calls sin. When the world calls something right, but God calls it wrong, we have to agree with God. Even if the whole world allows themselves to sin, we have to reject it. Our blessings and prosperity, even our health and safety, depend on it.

I recently read a great quote by Creflo A.Dollar, "Sin attacks confidence and makes cowards of men." Isn't it so true!

God is judging the world for its sin - big time! - but He is NOT judging His people with the world. Sure, He judges sin in our lives too, but He does not condemn us with sin. Though, still, in order to be blessed, we have to get rid of sin in our lives... and we better find out what God calls sin... for even if we sin, not knowing that God calls our actions sin, it still reaps the wages of sin for us... which is death in this particular area.

Although God's judgments are being pronounced all over the world, we have to keep our eyes on God, KNOWING that we are NOT of this world, we are of His kingdom (Col.1:13). We are living like ambassadors in this world. We are apart from it and different laws apply to us. When the world proclaims that economy is going down, we have to make a choice: do we choose to go down with the world's economy, or do we choose to prosper, being faithful and obedient to the Lord. The choice is 100% up to us. No, we do not have to go down with the world. We can choose to find the promises of God that promise us safety in storms, food during famines, prosperity right within declining economy, healing from sicknesses, strong marriages in the age of divorce, boldness and courage when the world trembles in fear... and stick with the Truth, expecting the Truth to lead our lives... not the facts.

The harvest we reap in our lives is in exact proportion to the contents of our hearts. Whatever we fill our hearts with, is going to bring in the matching harvest. Matthew 12:35 describes it, "The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things."

It might take some time to start seeing the good harvest popping up where bad seeds have been sown previously... but the sooner we start relying completely on the Word of God and sowing the seeds of the Word, the sooner we will start reaping the good harvest. The Word that brings about change in our lives, is the Word that has taken root in our hearts. That is the reason the Bible continually tells us that in order to succeed, we need to meditate on the Word of God. It is not logos (the Word we know with our minds) that brings forth change, it is rhema (the Word that has come forth with a revelation, the Word that has taken root in our hearts) that brings forth change.

While the judgments are active in the world, it is the time for us, the body of Christ, to stand up and receive what the Lord has put ready for us. We have lived too long in a defeat. It is time to, "ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you - rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!" (Is.60:1) God lets us know that we are to shine and be radiant right in the midst of the increasing darkness. Darkness is no news to God... He has made provision for us to prosper right in the midst of it. For next verse declares, "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and dense darkness [all] peoples, but the Lord shall arise upon you [O Jerusalem], and His glory shall be seen on you." Wow! Think about it!

Many, many blessings to You,

I wanted to bless You in a very special way in the beginning of the year of 2008, so, I decided to pick some wise, encouraging, uplifting, life-changing quotes for You. Do go through them and pick the ones that speak to Your heart... write them out for Yourself and keep them in front of Your eyes... allowing them to lift You up when You feel down... to turn You to forgiveness and love when You feel mad... to keep You going strong when You feel like giving up.

Life can be a struggle... but hey, this is our life, we should make the most of it! It is not what we go through that determines our success in life, but how we react to it. Every day we have a new choice to make, shall I choose to give thanks and rejoice... or shall I allow the circumstances to dictate how I feel! We can't always choose our circumstances, but we always CAN choose our attitude. It is one of the most powerful forces in our lives.

So, dear friends, here is my gift for You in the beginning of this new year - the quotes! Lets decide to make this year better than the previous one.