When It's God It Won't Let Go

from the Elijah List website

Cindy McGill: "Missions Accomplished: When It's God It Won't Let Go"

God is designing our paths—there are things being prepared for us that we have not yet seen and have not been revealed. Our future days are full of hope, power, discernment and peace. He is the God of all hope and the God of all peace. When we can rest in His ability to guide us, we can stay in an attitude of peace and receive the revelation we need for the days ahead.

Our citizenship is in Heaven. I used to picture my seat in Heaven next to Jesus looking like a theater seat, but now I think it's a couch. It is the place to stretch out, knowing that He is in total control. He is able to do things in us and through us that we have absolutely no ability to do. Our job is to cease striving and His job is to accomplish exceeding, abundant things for us, in us and through us.

He is Financing Kingdom Projects

He is financing His Kingdom projects. The resources in Heaven are not limited. There are ideas being birthed to reach the world with the message of truth and God is dispersing the necessary finances to do them. Some have been given assignments of creative things to bring to life, but have been hindered by the perceived "lack of funding." If we will just begin, then the money and people will be in place to help birth it.

It is faith-building to watch God's hands at work, bringing all the pieces together to advance His Kingdom to reach this world searching for truth. Our confidence is strengthened in these times to give us faith for the days ahead.

When It's God, It Won't Let Go

When God is directing us to do something that will build His Kingdom, it won't let go of us. Recently, we completed a documentary on dreams that we had been working on for seven years. We took our cameras on the streets and captured people telling us their dreams and gave them interpretations as we listened to God regarding the dreamer and the dream.

Often the weather conditions were extreme. I remember one year being in the temperature of six degrees on the streets. There were times I wanted to give up, having no money to work with, opposition from people who didn't understand what I was doing, and discouragement when I wasn't allowed access into places where I felt God wanted us to go. I was learning some serious lessons about overcoming and persistence.

But this assignment WOULDN'T LET GO OF ME. Each year I was compelled to keep going, and each year we gained more favor and we found more and more people with TRULY God-given dreams that we were able to capture on film. I remember at one point just sitting down on a couch during the outreach, discouraged and cold. Our camera people were with us and it just seemed like we couldn't go on. I laid my head back on the couch and sighed, and then I heard the Lord say to me, "Don't let another year go by."

I have to tell you, that statement didn't comfort me. It was like, "Lord, I am doing all I can and I am getting so weary." But little did I know that God had all the pieces in place, and within a two month period of time, we had a producer and everything we had need of to accomplish this task—and it was completed WITHOUT OUR EFFORT. I now look back and wonder what would have happened if I had given up because I didn't "see" everything, or if I had let people's opinions stop me from completing my assignment from God.

Hearing the Voice of the Good Shepherd...

...and the voice of another we are not to listen to. Often times we are set back or hindered from moving forward because the opinions of others speak louder than the direction of God. People who don't receive the assignment don't understand the vision. In order to accomplish what God is asking us to do, we must follow His voice and direction above all else.

Consider Noah—a man who walked with God and was asked to do the most unusual thing in a time of impending disaster. Genesis 6 has the account of his obedience to the Lord in spite of peoples' opinions and mocking. Noah walked with God and found favor with Him, and God could trust Noah to do something that had never been done before. Noah received instruction and did EXACTLY what the Lord was asking him to do. I'm sure Noah was a bit perplexed as God asked him to build an "ark" which, to that time, had never been built before. But, what God asked Noah to do he did, and God's plan was carried out as Noah obeyed.

Don't Limit God in the Coming Days

God has things up His sleeves to surprise us. We are in a time of incredible revelation and creativity being released. Being one with the Creator makes us the most creative people on the planet. Demonstrations of God's Kingdom are going to astound the world. It is the GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH with signs, wonders, miracles; signs in the heavens and wonders on the earth.

God is making His voice known and the Holy Spirit is fueling us to make it happen. Dream big and keep pressing on. The biggest results require the biggest risks. God is cheering us on to greater things. The Kingdom of God is not a boring Kingdom, and He is looking for people who will let Him create through them.

Dream on,
Cindy McGill
Hope for the Harvest
Email: mailto:dreaminslc@hotmail.com?subject=Inquiry

DGen Lesson: Adding and Increasing [Part 3]

[…continued from this post; part three of this series…]


...and to self-control, perseverance;...
+ Perseverance – related to endurance, patience and long-suffering – comes after one learns (and continuously receives grace) to exercise restraint in several, if not all areas of life. That should be the case because it takes a lot of discipline to endure hardship, continue in the midst of trials, and move forward when everything in life pounces on you and screams at you to quit.

Perseverance entails consistency, constancy and commitment. All other characteristics in Peter’s list will amount to nothing if perseverance is not combined with faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. This ingredient is important in the recipe of making every effort to grow. All will become useless if we lose perseverance and give up pursuing God.

...and to perseverance, godliness;...
+ Josiah pointed out that the addition of godliness in Peter’s list serves as a goal, an end that the character of perseverance aims for. We need to persevere toward godliness. But I added that we also need godliness in order to persevere… toward godliness [yes. It is paradoxical but I believe that’s how it works].

The pursuit of godliness in our lives gives us focus on what is really important – knowing God and being conformed to the image of His Son. Godliness is the vertical component of our life, relating to God, spirit to spirit.

...and to godliness, brotherly kindness;...
+ Of course, loving God should not just be manifested in our personal relationship with Him. Peter puts brotherly kindness in the mix so that the overflow of our love relationship with the Father is evidenced by our love for our fellow man. Brotherly kindness – when we relate to those around us the way the Lord would have us do – is the horizontal component of our life.

In the same way that godliness should not be a stand-alone character in a Christian, brotherly kindness should not be a separate trait in those who profess to follow Christ. Living totally for the Lord without the benefit of receiving and giving love to others would be incomplete if we don’t live for others and love others out of our love for God.

I found it funny, nay amusing, that on one of my one-on-one sessions a particular Famoso Guerrero was caught speechless, rather tight-lipped, when we discussed this part of the passage. In fact, his silence said more than what little he spoke at the time. But I continued to tell him that brotherly love should not be limited to those who are biologically connected to us (our siblings) but also to rest of mankind, who are our brothers and sisters in God's huge family.

Perhaps Guerrero was getting some insights from the Lord at that time about a particular brotherly (or sisterly???) relationship. I'll never know. He wouldn't tell me... even to this day.


… to be continued …

DGen Lesson: Adding and Increasing [Part 2]

[...continued from this post...]


...and to knowledge, [add] self-control;...
+ You know the Spider-Man adage that goes, "with great power, comes great responsibility"? Well, if knowledge is power, then one needs to exercise great responsibility in the form of self-control when handling knowledge.

As with any other form of power, knowledge -- the acquisition and application of it -- can be abused and misused. It can give a person a puffed up ego [1 Corinthians 8:1]. It can be a source of pride and can therefore lead to one's downfall.

The exertion of self-control over our accumulated information, facts and learning is intended to keep us sober in our estimation of ourselves. We are not the source of knowledge after all but merely conduits of it. And it is God who gives us the ability to receive wisdom, understanding and knowledge.

I believe Peter also urges us to practice self-control in other areas of our lives, not just in handling knowledge. There is a serious need to practice self-control in our speech, in our conduct, in our thoughts, in the way we filter what comes into our minds and what goes out of mouths. Without self-control there is no order in one's life.

As Christians -- as followers of Christ -- we can't just do whatever pleases us and still represent Jesus. If we truly want to let our light shine, we have to have control or exercise control of what little darkness there is left within us. God's word helps us stretch our self-control muscles. The Bible shows us how to do that.

We need to read the Bible -- everyday -- to have the knowledge needed to control our wayward human nature.

This is why adding self-control to knowledge keeps us from abusing what we know, and adding knowledge to self-control makes us better at keeping the bad stuff at bay.


...to be continued...

DGen Lesson: Adding and Increasing [Part 1]

I had a wonderful time discussing 2 Peter 1:3-13 during my one on one sessions with the guys under me in the cell group, and my co-cell leader. It's amazing how such a few verses can bring out such rich revelation from the Lord. Here are some of the things I was able to discuss with the guys...

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness...
+ All that we need for our physical life and spiritual life has been given by God. Everything. There is no lack.

...through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness...
+ Our availment of all the things God gave to us for life and godliness is limited by how much we know Him. If we only have a 10% knowledge of God, we can only avail of that much of the things He has given us. We are limited in how much we received from God by what we know of Him. If we don't know Him as Jehovah Rophe, our Healer, we will never be able to avail of His provision for healing. If we don't know Him as Jehovah Shalom, our Peace, we will never get to know His peace that passes all understanding.

We have to know Him more so we can know what else is included in the all-the-things-He-has-given-us-for-life-and-godliness package, and know how to avail of them and use them. Josiah used the analogy of a medicine kit -- everything is already in there but we have to know what it has in there and know how to use those.

...Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises,...
+ This is part of package. This is part of everything we need for life and godliness. And the more we increase in our knowledge of God, the more we will increase in our knowledge of the promises He has made to us. Promises which He will definitely keep. Promises like "I will never leave you nor forsake you [Joshua 1:5]." Promises like "I know the plans I have for you; plan to prosper you, not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future [Jeremiah 29:11]." Promises like "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you [John 15:7]."

...so that through them you may participate in the divine nature...
+ The package God gave us, our increasing knowledge of Him, and the certainty of the promises He made to us, are there to help us partake and share His divine nature -- that of holiness, love, compassion, graciousness, etc. He has promised to sanctify us and make us holy... it enables us to participate in His nature of holiness. He has promised to make grace abound in our lives... it enables us to partake in His nature of graciousness and be gracious to others. He has promised to change us from glory to glory... it enables us to grow and radiate in the fullness of His glory.

...and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires...
+ Those very same promises also enable us to avoid the evil in the world by the killing off of our selfish, carnal and wicked desires. When we receive His promise of sanctifying us [making us holy] through the Holy Spirit, it also enables us to avoid the unholy things that we have the natural tendency to do. His promise of providing a way out of every temptation enables us to escape the corruption in the world. It means that our resilience against the world, the devil and the flesh exponentially grows when we grow in our knowledge of Him -- we are helped in our flight from evil. And there are many more promises in the Word that give us authority and power to overcome the world's corruption.

...For this very reason, make every effort...
+There is a reason why Peter includes this statement. The Christian life is not a passive life. We are not supposed to be sitting down and let God do everything. He already did everything, but God's Word always urges Christians to action with words like "fight", "run", "take", "go". "Make every effort" is no different.

Although God is in control of everything, and Jesus is the the Author and Finisher of our faith, and the Holy Spirit is the One who brings spiritual growth, every citizen of the Kingdom is still required to do their part in getting to spiritual maturity. This is a choice every Christian must make. No one can do this for you -- not your father; not your mother; not your pastor or cell group leader, not even the Lord. This is about choice. We either decide to make every effort to grow or don't make an effort at all. No one can make this effort for you.

...to add to your faith goodness;...
+ We all have a measure of faith given to us when we receive Jesus' Lordship in our lives. The more we feed our spirit, the better that faith grows. But why add goodness to it? Well, the guys spoke to said that goodness is the way we show our faith. The Bible does say that faith without works is dead. Faith is useless if it is kept within with no manifestation outside. That's why we need to let our invisible faith translate into visible actions -- more appropriately, through good works.

...and to goodness, knowledge;...
+ Josiah pointed out that we need knowledge in order to know what good thing to do and how to do that good thing. Ronnie, on the other hand, said that the way we know God affects the way we do good things, which to me means either you don't know God and the good things you do become religious acts, or you do know God and the good things you do become an act of worship to Him.

Knowledge gives goodness focus. Knowledge gives goodness direction. Knowledge gives goodness purpose.

. . . to be continued

End Time Signs

[Something I found at BibleProbe.com. Better to issue the warning than be accountable for not doing so.]

End Time Delusions: According to bible, in the end times, expect widespread deception, counterfeit miracles, and the appearance of false prophets. Each of these evils will contribute to an atmosphere that will deceive an untold number of people throughout the world. The Antichrist, possibly a charismatic Muslim with a fake Jesus as a sidekick, will convince his followers he is the answer to the world’s problems. Paul tells us that those who become caught in the Antichrist’s web of deceit will be guilty because they freely choose to enjoy evil while denying the truth.

END TIME SIGNS 1. False Bible teachers would be money hungry. They would be smooth talkers, have many followers, and slur the Christian faith (2 Peter 2:1-3) See some at: Fakemessiah.com 2. Homosexuality would be increasingly evident at the end of the age (2 Timothy 3:3) 3. Earthquakes would be in diverse places (Matthew 24:7) 4. Stress would be part of living (2 Timothy 3:1) 5. Many wars would erupt (Matthew 24:6) 6. People would forsake the Ten Commandments as a moral code, committing adultery, stealing, lying, and killing (Matthew 24:12) 7. There would be a cold religious system, in denying God's power (2 Timothy 3:5) 8. Men would substitute fantasy in place of Christian truth (2 Timothy 4:4). This is so evident at Christmas when the birth of the Savior is lost behind the myth of Santa Claus. 9. Deadly diseases would be prevalent (Matthew 24:7). The worldwide increase in AIDS deaths is almost inestimable. Over 160,000 Americans die of cancer each year. 10. The fact that God once flooded the earth (the Noahic flood) would be denied (2 Peter 3:5-6). There is a mass of fossil evidence to prove this fact, yet it is flatly ignored by the scientific world because of its uncanny implication. 11. The institution of marriage would be forsaken by many (1 Timothy 4:3) 12. There would be an increase in famines (Matthew 24:7) 13. Increase in vegetarianism would increase (1 Timothy 4:3-4) 14. There would be a cry for peace (1 Thessalonians 5:3) 15. The possession of Jerusalem would be at the center of international turmoil (Zechariah 12:3) 16. Knowledge would increase (Daniel 12:4) 17. There would be hypocrites within the Church (Matthew 13:25-30) 18. There would be an increase of religious cults/false teachers (Matthew 24:11 & 24) 19. The future would seem fearful to many (Luke 21:26) 20. Humanity would become materialistic (2 Timothy 3:4) 21. There would be many involved in travel (Daniel 12:4) 22. The Christian Gospel would be preached as a warning to all nations (Matthew 24:14) 23. Jesus said Christians would be hated "for His name's sake" (Matthew 24:9) 24: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:25-26). 25: Youth would become rebellious. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy (2 Timothy 3:2) 26: Men would mock the warning signs of the end of the age saying, "for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2 Peter 3:4). The Bible even reveals their motivation, they love lust (verse 3). They fail to understand that a day to the Lord is as a thousand years to us. God is not subject to the time that He created. He can flick through time as we flick through the pages of a history book. The reason He seems to be silent, is because He is patiently waiting, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance. Reference: "Nostradamus: Attack on America" by Ray Comfort Ray tends to believe that the Holy Bible and possibly the occult was the source for Nostradamus' prophecies. Nostradamus was probably reading Scripture at a time the Catholic Church forbade anyone other than clergy to read it.

Pray This Way

Kathi Pelton: "The Power of The Father's Prayer"
[from the Elijah List website]

"Our Father, Who is in Heaven, holy is Your Name; Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4

Over the past couple of months, I have found myself beginning each day by praying the entirety of the "Father's Prayer." I have to admit that I have never done this in my entire Christian life. I have prayed the prayer occasionally, but never daily with such a sense of the power of the Holy Spirit backing up these Words. Although I do not know, I would not be surprised to find out that many of God's people around the world are being led by the Spirit to pray these words.

Holy Is Your Name

"Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.'" Revelation 4:8

It is so appropriate that the first line of the Father's prayer is the echo of what is heard in Heaven both day and night, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty..." As Jesus taught His people to pray, He knew the sounds of Heaven and taught us to come into the unity and the sounds of His Kingdom as we approach our Father. As we pray this first line, "...holy is Your name..." we are joining with the angels in raising an anthem of "Who He is."

In our schools here in the USA, the day begins with the Pledge of Allegiance to our nation, and in Canada each Monday morning the national anthem is sung by the students. So, as God's people, we can begin our day with our "pledge of allegiance" or singing the anthem of Heaven that shouts "Holy is Your Name."

As I enter into each new day, I want to declare that He alone is Holy, that He alone is God Almighty, and that He was and is and is to come. Even now my Spirit is rising up as I write this, declaring, "Holy is Your Name!" There is great power in this statement alone. It is an acknowledgement of His Holiness, His might, and His Name being the name above all names.

Stop even now and begin to let your spirit join with the voice of Heaven and say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." I believe this is the most powerful statement we can make. It must be, since the four living creatures never stop saying it! May all His living creatures, in Heaven and on Earth, begin to say both day and night, "Holy is the Lord."

Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done

"...Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven..."

As God's people we long to see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven. My greatest desire, above every other desire, is to see the desires of God's heart accomplished in the lives of His people. Though I live with many personal desires, each one of them are laid down at the feet of Jesus and submitted to His desires alone for my life.

Recently, my family took a foster baby into our home. He is a six-month-old, adorable baby boy. Our entire family has fallen in love with this little bundle of joy. Our five teenagers have become the source of his constant entertainment. Though we have less sleep (way less!), less free time, and less energy, we have gladly exchanged these things for the beauty of his little smile, the sweetness of having his little fingers stroke our faces, the tenderness of kissing his cheeks, and the adorable giggle that he releases when we act funny.

But, here's the dilemma: There's another daddy and mommy who love him too and are longing for his return to their arms. In my natural thinking, it would make sense if God gave him to us for adoption since he would be raised in a Christian home, but God understands things in ways that I can never understand or figure out. It just may be God's will for him to return to his birth parents.

Each morning (and sometimes numerous times throughout the day), I pray the Father's prayer over him, "Your Kingdom come and Your will be done..." By doing this, I submit my desire over to His perfect will, knowing that His will carries wisdom that my desire alone will never comprehend. I believe that as God's people do this in every area of their lives, it is a pleasing sacrifice that invites Him to entrust us with the deepest desires of His heart.

Our Daily Bread

"...Give us this day our daily bread..."

As many in these days face economic struggles, there is a reality to the prayer for our "daily bread." Although I believe that this verse is speaking of provision of our daily needs, I also believe that it speaks to the daily needs of us spiritually, emotionally, and in every way. This year, it's often been daily comfort that we needed to eat of.

For our family, 2008 has been an especially tough year as we have faced numerous deaths, the greatest financial struggle of our married life, unexplainable delays and trials that have stretched us and our faith beyond anything we have ever experienced. But God tells us not to worry, because our daily bread will be provided...this is a promise to us. Let's look at this promise in Luke 12:22-34:

"That's why I'm telling you to stop worrying about your life - what you will eat or what you will drink - or about your body - what you will wear. Life is more than food, isn't it, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky. They don't plant or harvest or gather food into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. You are more valuable than they are, aren't you? Can any of you add a single hour to the length of your life by worrying?

"And why do you worry about clothes? Consider the lilies in the field and how they grow. They don't work or spin yarn, but I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. Now if that is the way God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and thrown into an oven tomorrow, won't He clothe you much better - you who have little faith?

"So don't ever worry by saying, 'What are we going to eat?' or 'What are we going to drink?' or 'What are we going to wear?' because it is the Gentiles who are eager for all those things. Surely your Heavenly Father knows that you need all of them! But first be concerned about God's Kingdom and His righteousness, and all of these things will be provided for you as well. So never worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

As God's people, we struggle with the worry that will come and hit us without advance notice. It is hard in those moments to feel very excited about the faith that we have been called to walk in. But here's the truth: Faith is not a feeling - it is a posture and conscious decision that we make for our lives.

We must daily submit our flesh and it's feelings to the truth that our spirits know. When our family lived as missionaries for a number of years, it rarely "felt" good to not have a weekly paycheck to depend on, but once again, it was not a walk of feelings but rather a walk of faith. Our faith came from the promises of God as we just read in Luke 12. God will give us our daily bread.

Forgive Our Sins

"...and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us..."

We have been forgiven of so much! The longer I walk with God the more I realize how much I have been forgiven. It has been like the peeling of an onion. I now see the truth of the sin behind some of the things that seemed permissible in my youth. The good news is that I am not condemned in any of these things because of the merciful forgiveness that flows from God. I understand the words that Jesus speaks about the woman in Luke 7, who washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair:

"For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." Luke 7:47

Jesus was quick to love and quick to forgive, and I want to be like Him. Whether it was tax collectors, prostitutes, or fishermen - He forgave their sins and poured out His unconditional love upon their lives. We must do the same.

Last week my husband and I were at the memorial service for his best friend's father. During the service, this man's sons got up to speak about coming to the place of forgiving their father for not being everything they needed him to be when they were young. Do you know how they came to this point of forgiveness?

It was when they became men and fathers and began to realize how we all fall short, even when it is our deepest desire to be all that our children want us to be. When they were able to forgive their dad, they began to see all the beautiful gifts that he possessed. Prior to the point of forgiveness, all they could see were his failings, but after forgiveness they saw what an amazing man they were privileged enough to call "Dad."

Forgiveness is a gift that we give ourselves, because when we forgive we set ourselves free. My husband loves to say, "Unforgiveness is like eating rat poison and expecting the rat to die." This is such a true statement. We have been forgiven much so we need to love much. What a great act of love...to forgive someone who has sinned against you!

Even while dying on the Cross, Jesus was forgiving the ones who hung Him there as they divided up His clothing, "Jesus kept saying, 'Father, forgive them, because they don't know what they're doing.'" Luke 23:34

Deliver Us From Evil

"...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

This is such a powerful verse to pray. This is a prayer for God's "keeping grace." I would rather be kept from sin and evil than to have to be forgiven for it! There is so much evil in this world and temptation that is put before us each day that we must ask God to lead us away from it. I am sure if you were to talk to other brothers and sisters who fell into sin in their past, you would discover they needed God to deliver them from temptation, because that came before the sin (evil). I would bet that none of these people desired to fall into sin. None of us want to either, so this simple prayer is important as we walk out our Christian life.

This is a prayer that we should be teaching our young people as they begin to face the many temptations that will dance before them to allure them into evil. Not even Jesus was kept from temptation, although He never gave into any of it. Not one of us is beyond temptation, but we can ask God to keep us from being led into temptation.

Final Thoughts - Thanksgiving

"...For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen."

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name."--Psalm 100:4

As I have been beginning each day with the Father's prayer, I have also been reminded of another verse to enter each day with. Psalm 100:4 exhorts us to enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. I want to enter into each day with thanksgiving and praise. Thanksgiving is the key to open the gates, and praise is the way to go through His courts.

I also want to encourage each of you to enter each day with thanksgiving and praise. As we pass through our U.S. holiday called Thanksgiving, let us mark this day with the beginning of a year that we release thanksgiving each and every day to our God. As our nation enters into a new era with a new President, let us open up the gates for the King of Glory to come in with thanksgiving and praise.

"Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty - He is the King of glory." Psalm 24:7-10

Kathi Pelton
Light Streams Ministries
Email: jkpelton@sbcglobal.net

- - - - -

ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250

We Teach

This is part of the Great Commission. And we are all called to do it. Some may be more anointed for it than others, but that doesn't make that an excuse to not teach. It's the same with evangelism. It's the same with healing, and preaching. We're all called to do it regardless of the levels of anointing.

So, we teach. We teach the young to mature. We teach the lost the way to salvation. We teach children to obey their parents; wives to submit to husbands; husbands to love their wives. We teach humility to the arrogant. We teach self-control to the willfull. We teach people to praise and worship in spirit and in truth.

We teach.

Without the passing on of what the older generation knows to the younger one, there will be much more than just culture, education and heritage that will be lost. The greatest price that will be paid for the lack -- and, God forbid, absence -- of instruction is the loss of vision. And the Bible says that without vision, God's people perish.

We teach.

The Elisha generation are a fledgling batch of prophets, preachers, teachers, apostle and pastors in the making. They are presidents, governors, engineers, nurses, businessmen, policemen and artists in seed form. We teach them so they can learn what we have learned from God through our own mentors and leaders. We teach them so they can stand on their own two feet, then onto our shoulders and see much farther than we ever saw, go farther than we ever went, and reach higher than we ever reached.

We teach.

We pass not only the baton to the Joshua generation but also the vision the Lord has given the Moses generation. We pass on the wisdom and the discipline. We pass on the courage and the faith. We pass on the pursuit and the perseverance. We pass it on through teaching.

We teach.

We serve by teaching. We serve by imparting. We serve by rebuking, correcting, instructing and training. But all this is useless if the Timothy generation do not receive from the Paul generation. No amount of teaching can ever penetrate a heart shut up by pride and apathy. Our words cannot reach a mind set on things other than Kingdom things. But we still teach.

We teach...

...not because it is easy, but because it is essential. We teach not because it is a chore, but because it is a calling. We teach not because it is wanted, but because it is needed. We teach what we know, what we have received from the Lord in the hopes that the vision will be caught and catch on.

We teach.

We have to.

We must.

We need to.

We will.

We are.





We teach.