Multiplication, God's way!

     Wine has been around since the beginning of time.  We find it first mentioned in the Book Of Genesis.  It has been both enjoyed, and abused.  Jesus's first recorded miracle is that of changing water into wine.
     By faith, believers readily accept the account of the wedding at Cana as the start of a life of walking in healings, miracles, signs and wonders.  Whether it was by a prayer offered up, or the command of His word; the molecular value of H2O turned into the sweetest wine that the party's host had ever tasted.
     Can you wrap your head around that?  Molecular change!  I guess it would be just like the time when man was fashioned out of the dust of the earth.  Only, on a less complicated scale.  Yet, what do I know? since I find it hard to get cooking recipes right.

     The other miracles of molecular change recorded in the gospels are those of food replication.  You remember, the taking of a few loaves of bread, and a couple of fish, and then feeding thousands of dusty,weary,hungry travelers after a lengthy sermon.  How does that happen?  It is so hard for our minds to grasp the idea.  So sadly, we then dismiss the reality of it.  Because it is our hearts, and not our minds that accept things by faith. Yet, when we hear of such truths in our own day.  It begins to stir our faith once again.  Recently, a good friend of ours, a winemaker no less, shared with us her amazing story of multiplication God's way.

      2011 was not a good year for the wine country of California's beautiful Central Coast.  More than usual rain, and a harsh cold snap, were not good to the vines and budding grapes early in the season.  Growing the spectacular vintages that this area is known for around the world, takes that special combination of rain,cool, heat, soil, and lots of hard work.  Grape yields this year by a general consensus in the industry were off by between 40 to 50% !  That is not good news were you need lots of product as well as sales to survive.

     For a small winery like our friends', it takes both hardwork and faith to get through each year, and come through with a good profit.  Facing dismal prospects, and the flurry of negative news that was echoing through this verdant valley, they thrust forward with trust in God.  As harvest drew to a close and the process of getting the sweet scarlet liquid into the rows and rows of oak barrels for it's hibernation to become wine; the vinter noticed a curious trend.  One that was running against both expectations, and the realities  all around them.

     Last year was one of the most productive for this little winery.  They produced over 1300 gallons of wine., a banner year.  Which was again their expectation for 2011, that was until the temperatures fell, and the rains came.  Based on that reality, they had readjusted their plans allocating only enough barrels to hold the projected vintage.  But, as the liquid concoction was being poured into the oak casks, she took note that though the harvest was less they had a problem.  They were running out of barrels to store the liquid gold.
     They filled up all of the barrels that they had on site for this years crop, yet they had NOT run out of wine.  Then came the scramble to get more barrels because of this happy, yet unexpected predicament.  They were able to get a hold of some more, and then began to fill them up.  First one, and then another, and then another,etc; all of them able to hold 65 gallons of the fermenting grape juice. 

     Now they did not necessarily call upon God for a miracle like that of Elijah and the widow.  But, what they do, and do faithfully is live for God one day at a time.  They pray and trust in Him for their provision and His favor.  This year, that is exactly what they got! You see when all the other wineries in the area got less harvest, less production, and less barreled  wine; they got more.  With a third of a ton less grapes, they were able to produce more gallons  per ton. In fact, they were able with all of the odds stacked against them to produce the same exact amount of fermenting grape juice as their banner year of 2010!  That is a God who is more than enough.
    
    
     

Broken arms don't lead to death's door.

     Throughout the Word of God, He shows Himself to be the God of healing.  If you look into it, you will find that in some scriptures, one of the actual words used for salvation and healing is interchangeable. The two works of God's grace are so uniquely intertwined.  In His Word you will come to find that Jesus not only paid for your salvation at the cross.  But, He took the beatings so that you could be healed. also.
     There is no more humbling experience than to see someone miraculously healed. When all of man's medical knowledge, and technical experience come to a frustrated hopeless impasse.  It seems that the gentle loving hand of God moves, and His children are healed. Yet, when there is a child involved, faith seems to become slippery, and hope nothing more than a broken net.  It is then that only the peace and presence of God that will get you through the Valley of the Shadow of death.
     Years ago, my son broke his arm.  In the big scheme of things, a lot of children break their arms. For a curious ,rambunctious two year old, it was not necessarily an unheard of event, even if it was one that was not hoped for to happen. It was a simple break.
     He fell down, and hit it just right.  In fact, it was one of those types of breaks where you're just not quite sure that your child did actually hurt himself.  For anyone who has been around little children, you know that their resiliency is amazing!  But, not long after a few tell tale signs, we scheduled an appointment with the doctor to have it checked out.  The physician confirmed our suspicion.  The boy's arm was then cast with the color wrapping of his choice.  Blue, if I remember correctly.  Then, in the appropriate number of weeks, it would be removed to reveal an arm as good as new.
     But, the recovery was not normal.  I don't remember what the actual signs were that caused us to question our son's health during this time.  But I do remember that it was not every long before we were bouncing back and forth between the pediatrician and the orthopedic surgeon's office. The doctor then scheduled surgery to get a better idea as to what the problem was, and why the child was having fevers, and redness on the arm.  What I do recall was the rapidity in which he went from a healthy young tot to a very sickly boy laying days in a hospital bed with his mom constantly by his side.
     Even though the break was not bad, and never punctured the skin, our child somewhere had developed a serious staph infection.  Our very experienced pediatrician had never seen anything like it.  She valiantly tried 3 different antibiotics as each failed to short circuit the spread of the staph in his bloodstream.  I remember how his skin on his hands and feet began to peel, and how he weakly started to curl in a fetal position.  It had come down to the nursing staff pushing the doctors to having him transferred to a major metro hospital 200 miles to the south of us for better care.  Our pediatrician who had to travel out of state for personal business would call in a  daily to monitor the situation, and had asked to be immediately paged should there be a turn either way.
     Our church at the time was in serious prayer mode for this little child as was everyone we knew.  His mom attending his every moment and calling out from the heart to the only one who could heal him from this ravaging attack.  It was in one those deep, despairing, trying moments; that she heard it.  A still small voice from the heart of her being.  As she interceded for her child, as only a mother can, she heard His voice calling back to her.  It simply said, "blow on his belly". 
    Now, for some people this may seem ludicrous and may turn them off.  May I suggest to you that you not let your pride and misunderstanding of God block you from ever receiving from Him when He speaks to you.  She was humble enough, desperate enough, trusting enough; to actually believe that she had heard the voice of the Lord.  She obeyed.
    Initially, nothing happened,  it was still in the hands of faith, hope, and love.  Yet, within 24 hours time, the boy's fever was gone, and the skin was returning to normal. He would be released a day later, with a clean bill of health.  The nurses all told us afterwards in confidence, that he was at death's door and that they did not believe he would be walking out of the hospital. They thanked God for a miracle that day in the childrens' ward.
     His mom's faith in a loving God who at times uses the strangest ways of enacting His will was solidified.  She knows that it was the humble,trusting heart of faith that obeyed His still small voice that brought a little boy home that day.
    

The Middle East: It's all back to the future, again!

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  I believe that old adage to be very true.  Our minds work on many levels, and just relying on the written word is the level on which our brains remember the least.  Imagine that!  That is why I do think that we need words and pictures together, and why television and movies are some of the most powerful mediums of communication on the planet.  But, I am not here to give you a thesis on communication, but on Israel and it's significance in the end of time.
     No, I am not going into a lengthy diatribe on the subject.  There are far too many books out there that you could read on the subject.  In fact, I realize that if you continually follow my Blog you will read and see pertinent information regarding that subject over time. So, this is more like a pictorial Tweet. I am going to show you some pictures, and give you  scriptures, and then let you decide.  After all, that is what most teaching ,and if you like, preaching should do for you.  Bring to to a decision in your heart and mind, upon which you can base all future decisions.  It either, reinforces what you already believe, or causes you to change course.  It's that simple!
     So, here it goes. Ezekiel 38:1-     " And the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man set your face toward Gog of that land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, "Thus says the Lord God, " behold  I am against you O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.  I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws and I will bring you out, and all your army,horses, and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler, and shield, all wielding swords; Persia( modern day Iran), Ethiopia ( Modern day Ethiopia, and southern Eygpt), and Put( Modern day Libya, and North Africa), all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer ( South Central Europe/Armenia area), with all it's troops: Beth-Togarmah ( Areas of modern Turkey), from the remote parts of the north with all of it's troops - many peoples with you.    
   " Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all of your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard fro them.  After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountians of Israel which had been a continual waste; but it's people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them..." I would suggest that you read the rest of verses 10 through 23 to get the big picture.
     The following pictures are of 2 categories that I hope will help add another dimension to the words above, and give you that visual that you need to be impressed by the written words.  The Black and White pictures are of the land of Israel prior to it's founding in 1948.  They span about a 100 year period at the most.  But, please keep in mind that the scenes were the same when Napoleon was there in 1800 and were pretty similar when the Crusaders came in the Middle Ages.  I guess what I am trying to say is the land didn't change a whole heck of alot in the almost 2000 years since the Romans evicted the Jewish people in the year 70.

     The second set of pictures are from our modern era.  They show Israel in the late 20th century.  All taken within the relatively short time from which Israel became a state, and Jews from around the world immigrated there for freedom and security.  I know that if you have an open mind, you possibly see things in a different light? 

   

Let the Spirit flow!

     We were having a night of silent prayer, accompanied with beautiful worship music.  We are usually there for an hour or two, every other Sunday evening at the Church.  It's a time of quiet reflection, and praise to God for all that He is, has done, and will do in the future.  Our purposeful intent in this time in the Spirit, is for our hearts and minds to uplift Him in whatever situation we may currently find ourselves.
     At the close of the evening, we come together from the various areas of the sanctuary.  We take the last remaining moments to share as a group, and voice the feelings, burdens, and thoughts that we might have had on our hearts during this time.  We use it mostly as a time to vocally share our prayer requests with one another.  Doing as the Bible asks us to "bear one anothers' burdens", and "pray one for another".  In these moments, God's presence seems to seal our earlier offerings of deep heartfelt worship.
     Various members of the team spoke, each sharing a concern that they would like us all to agree with them in prayer for for victory.  Then, one woman spoke up in an assured voice.  She directed her statement to a believer, whom I will call Hannah.  She told her that," God was going to fill her with the Holy Spirit to the degree that she had wanted for a long time".
     Hannah was a little shocked, but then was overcome with excitement, sprinkled with a bit of trepidation.  You see, Hannah was a devout believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.  And she wanted the fullness of God more than anything.  She had sought the Baptism in the Holy Spirit for decades.  She had come to similar moments like this many times before in her journey in Christ.  Each time to only come away not obtaining that overflowing presence of the Father's promise that she so earnestly desired.

     At various times in her past, people had prayed for her to receive the promise.  Most having a specific form or model of " how" a person should receive this gift,then pressed her into their mold.  Instead of simply ushering her into His presence to simply receive Him.  Yet, with each "failure" so to speak, there was being built up inside her an invisible wall.  Doubt, the enemy of faith, was being created in her heart.  A feeling/thought pattern that she may never be able to receive what her spirit longed for, for so long.  Yet, through all of the trials, and years, she had never lost the desire of her heart to know God fully.  That someday she would receive the gift that she had so valiantly sought.  So, here she was once again, faced with the hope and the promise, yet still having a spiritual track record of not obtaining the prize.
     The group being led by the lady who spoke, were united in faith for Hannah.  Believing that tonight was her night!  Praises rang out to God.  We asked Him to grant our friend the desire to know Him more.  Hannah was simply asked to receive what the Lord had promised as a gift, by faith, and to speak any words that He might be sharing on her heart, whatever He would put in her mouth to speak.  As you might have guessed, after a few minutes, nothing happened.
     May I share with you some insight at this moment?   There are times when Christians operate not by faith, but rather out of hope.  Which can easily be sidetracked, or even derailed because we base it on our current condition, or our past experiences.  Faith is based on God's Word, and His character alone!  Sadly, for our sister, she had had past experiences that were very similar to this moment in time.  So, in her heart that invisible wall had to be torn down, before she could obtain her victory.  This is in no way an indictment of her condition, but is meant to help others, and shed light on somethings that sometimes hinder all of us in our Christian walk.
     So, back to our story.  As you remember, prayer and praise was going forth for our sister to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and her spiritual language.  Suddenly, I felt a prompting, which I shared aloud.  " Hannah*", I said "  I see that you have already received this gift in your spirit, but there seems to be a blockage in releasing it in you.  I see you like a bottle of champagne, and the cork just needs to Pop! So speak out the joy and words in your mouth!"  Within a moment of those words leaving my mouth, she literally exploded with joy!
     This middle-aged woman seemed to be filled with electricity and emotion that burst forth like light in the darkness.  She laughed, she cried, euphoria seized every ounce of her being.  And then out of her mouth came a language that she did not know, faster than the tongue seems to have the chance to form syllables.  Interspersed with the loudest, "Praise the Lord's" that I have heard in a long time.  She knew that she had received her personal gift from above.  Joy had seized her, and His name is the Holy Spirit.  As we all observed, and would later testify, this was one of the most exuberant cases of someone being filled with the Holy Ghost as we had ever seen in our lives.
     Hannah slowly melted to the floor; shedding tears of happiness, and laughter full of praise.  Her spiritual language melodiously pouring across her tongue.  I can truly say, that the only time that I have seen such a state of euphoria before, is seeing a child on Christmas morn.  I believe that it wasn't just Hannah that received a blessed gift that Sunday evening, but the group as a whole.  Even in a Spirit-filled Church, we can become stale to the things of God.  In pursuit of ever more of the wonders of His grace,and power; we become bored with what is presented so simply before us, this, awesome and treasured gift given for all who believe. 
     There was a great lesson that we learned by observing another of His children receive Him as a little child.  We must always, always, remember to both come to Him in joy of anticipation, and in that a child has for a parent.  No wonder Jesus taught in Matt 19:13, Mark 10:13, and Luke 18:15; that we needed to be like a little child to enter this majestic Kingdom of His, and His everlasting presence.