Meet Jesus: Blessor Matthew 5:1

April 8, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 5: 1: And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3: Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4: Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7: Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9: Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11: Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

When you meet Jesus, you meet blessing. Pure and simple, He is a blessor, especially of the underdog.

I remember my 50^th birthday. Hey, it wasn’t that long ago, give me a break. So many blessings were received. A business trip to a great site coincided the week before. A group at work attended an NBA game. My youngest son and I attended a hockey game. Family celebrated at home. My oldest son was able to be here, though for another reason. My pastor and others called and encouraged, “Disfutas cumpleaños.” (Enjoy your birthday.)

All of this was in the middle of a horrible and tragic sickness and rapid death of a family member living in my home. While my home was grieving it was celebrating. Daily the situation of the family member became worse. Daily, my Father pulled out another blessing to make sure his son had a good birthday week. While that grief sat heavy, the blessings were rich. In the middle of our mourning, God is faithful to bless us unrelentingly. These verses hold daily and moment by moment meaning.

It is an honor to attend a loved one in the process of death. Yet, it is tough. Receiving special touches from the heart of Jesus give life and strength and blessing for the moments. Appreciate those blessings no matter the struggle.

¡Bendiciones! (Blessings!)

ACT! Find somebody who needs a blessing today and give them one. You may be holding the exact blessing from the Father that can turn the tide of pain for them. Release it.

PRAY! Father, I receive Your blessing from Jesus to me.

Meet Jesus: Served Matthew 4:9

March 29, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4:9: And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10: Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11: Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Angels minister to Jesus, and so should we minister to Jesus with our worship. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he talks of a reasonable or rational service and worship done with presenting our bodies as living sacrifices. This is our pleasure and our part. Our worship of Jesus is to serve Him, to present ourselves totally to His selection for our life. Satan had it backwards. He forgot who was to serve whom.

Josue was determined to follow God this day. Lately, he had been wandering from his relationship with Christ. Over and over events just did not seem to go his way. Something he had read before was now stirring in him. There was something about praising God in everything. He was ready to try it. He was ready to try anything that would restore the warmth of the love of Jesus back in him. As he lifted his voice in the quiet of his room late that night, something broke. He began to weep. He began to praise God out loud. He began to know again the reassurance of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

ACT! Where does Jesus need your active worship? Take action this week on worshipping with real action where He needs you to serve another in the kingdom.

PRAY! Father, Jesus is the center of my worshipful services. Help me connect with the right actions for which You created me. I was created in Jesus for good works of worship done unto You. Enable me, Father, to find those works for which You created me and act on them.

Powerful Healing: In The Dark

August 12, 2012 by Phil Larson

Psalm 16:7 I praise you, Lord, for being my guide.
Even in the darkest night, your teachings fill my mind. CEV

Psalm 16:7 I praise the Lord, because he guides me,
and in the night my conscience warns me. GNT

In the night:

Waking from a fretful rest, this excerpt from the Psalm of healing, breaks through with truth. Over and over my dreams spoke of being robbed of precious items in life. As I woke and pondered the meaning, it impressed me how often that has happened.

Over life and time all of us build. We build families. We build homes. We build playhouses in the woods. We build businesses. We build outreaches. We build. It is our nature and commission of God. When what we build is taken from us due to greed or natural destruction or lack of attention or any other corruption or theft, we grieve the loss. A good man or woman goes on and builds again. A wounded soul pulls into them and wonders why they never prosper.

Lesson of Conscience

This is a lesson from the conscience speaking in the night hours. The conscience is a good source of healing. God speaks into the depths of our heart and minds goodness for our souls. Many times, it is in rest that we take down our defenses and let Him speak the loudest.

For this moment, God is instructing me to insure that I enjoy along the path of what I build and not worry too much about the end. At the same time, He is instructing me to build paths of ownership that allow the prosperity to roll over on my family. There is healing in those instructions. There is relief from confusion over past living and loss. There is hope for the future and there is new strength for today. What was disturbing as I slept was washed in wisdom and a future hope and understanding.

Darkest Night

The Perseid meteor belt lights up our skies at the lake tonight. Watching brilliant meteors hit the atmosphere and burn with broad and long tails is soothing. Not many get to see such life in the night. Most were asleep. Many live around so much bright light of the city that they will never see the show of God’s handiwork in such loveliness. It is there. We just don’t see it. It took me 56 years to stop and watch and my memory will never be the same. There is beauty painted in my mental storage.

A legislator from Louisiana sent me this note. “I believe that God is always there. It is me that sometimes is not.” When He is most brilliant, our busyness and distraction keeps us from seeing Him. When we are in the darkest parts of life, we most often will stop and see His hand. Why do we wait?

Healing?

Want to be healed? Put yourself in quietness and solitude. Listen to your sleeping moments. God is speaking loudly with healthy instruction. You will gain wisdoms to share with your soul and with others.

It is these lessons taught into our conscience and soul that come out when needed in daily living. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak in confident faith and expectant expression of the goodness of God. Healing comes from the deep. It exudes by the touch and hand of the Holy Spirit from vast storehouses into which we plunge our thoughts and pains during the quiet and the dark.

Shortly our lessons will turn to engage power healing. Please understand the path to power is paved with patience and persistence and perception. Rushing into power is damaging in the long run and will cause a more fretful life than the one you already have.

Pray:

Father, talk to me. Talk to my soul. Talk to my conscience.

Allow Your words of life and loveliness to imbed deep into my sleeping and waking thoughts.

All Your insights application to my life.

Help me to see You speak in the dark.

Help me to see You always speak.

It is the dark that allows me to discern the subtleties of Your wisdom and counsel and might.

Holy Spirit, guide me. Speak to me in quietness and solitude as I respect Your gentleness and lovingkindness. Then empower me as a lion to go forth in victory expanding the kingdom of God within my soul and without the expanse of my called influence in this life.