The Strangeness of a Prophet

I was sitting at Super One Deli this morning early and the thoughts of how strange prophets were kept going through my mind. Of course when that happens, one must write it all down. Here is what I came up with to peak your thoughts.

When you see a person in your church who

1. dresses in an unusual way, or
2. says very different things and
3. has an unusual way of acting to communicate, or express himself,
you can guess this might be a prophet.

Most prophets have been abused somehow or other. They are oftentimes abused by the religious people in the church. They are misunderstood by their families and can even be abused by them. An example of this would be the father who expected his son to be a football player, but the kid turns out to be a delicate child who writes and creates poetry so the father rejects him.

The Bible is full of examples of strange prophetic people. Abraham was a prophet who was fearful. He heard God's voice (that was really strange in his time). He was also a very fearful man who allowed his wife to be placed in a harem to protect his own skin.

Jacob was a prophet. He was so conniving that he wrestled with the angel of the Lord to get a blessing when he was already blessed.

Elijah wore camel's hair and a leather belt. He dressed just like a caveman in a time when people did not dress like that. He also did unusual actions like his exposure of the prophets of Baal.

David took his clothes off and danced in his undies before the Ark of the Covenant. He also wore an ephod and went before the mercy seat even though he was not a priest, nor was he from the tribe of Levi. Strange!

Isaiah and Jeremiah both did weird things like lying on one side, pointing toward the city, walking around in their undies, walking to a river miles away to put a piece of cloth under a rock and many more other strange actions.

John the Baptist dressed just like Elijah and ate weird food. He walked around hollering for people to make way for the kingdom of God.

If you run into someone today who does not seem to fit in the box of "Normal Christianity," stop and consider that this person may just be created by God for a special purpose, and their life might be saying something to you that God wants you to know.Be nice to a prophet today... God will love you for it.

Walking in the Wilderness

Ah, Lord, you are so clever. I thank you so much for all you do for me.

I am so grateful today, dear bloggers. I have walked through a long hard wilderness. I am not complaining. It is just difficult to feel so parched and dry when you want to get on with what you are doing and being for the Lord. All wilderness walks are for a purpose though.

Remember the Israelites? They also went on a wilderness walk, one that lasted for forty years! Wow, everyone who was complaining and full of unbelief died in the desert! That is what is to happen to us when we go through the wilderness. We do not literally physically die, but we die to self and get rid of the bad attitudes.

I received a wonderful word from the Lord years ago about this very thing. He wants us to die to self. Complaints are always against him even though we may not think that they are. When we groan and moan, we are really saying that we do not like where God has us, or what he has provided for us, or what he is doing in our life right now. It is the exact opposite of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. If we all just took that to heart, we would find we had less trouble in our lives.

Anyway, as I said, I have walked through this wilderness for a long time. I hope that the flesh has died and that I am near the boarder of this wilderness. I sure feel as if I am. God has used little things here and there to show me that just maybe it is around the corner that I will step into a new and better walk with him. This will be a walk with Jesus at the helm, and I will have my eyes fastened on his glorious face.

Be blessed today, loved ones.

Awake, Church, Awake!

How sad that in God's kingdom we still have so many fragments of flesh hanging around. I never could see it myself. Were we not impregnated with that perfect and incorruptible seed which is to grow within us just as it grew in Mary 2000 years ago? Are we not supposed to be walking in love, seeing the heart and Jesus in everyone rather than wearing our protective quills and armor of damning words?

Oh, dear God, please help us. Please get the church to a place where we are walking with you instead of walking with our own thoughts, desires and ideas!

I pray for the mouths to be shut, the hearts to be open, the fear to die down, the peace to come and the love to rise up. May it swell like a huge Tsunami and wash over the church today... those who are walking in love and those who are not walking in love! Go get 'em, Lord.

The Rest of God

I went to the Osteopath the other day and he talked to me about relaxing. My body will not heal unless I am in a state of relaxation.... hmmmmmm.... The Bible says "rest." So naturally I looked up the word rest in the concordance.

Rest = to settle down, to colonize, to desist, cease, give rest, to make quiet, to cause striving to desist!

Thinking about rest led me to think about the Scripture in Psalm 46:10 that says to "be still and know that I am God." I looked up the words "be still."

Be still = to slacken, forsake, idle, be slothful, be weak, relax, withdraw, let go, to be quiet.
This be still is related to a Hebrew word rapha as in Jehovah Rapha. Rapha means to mend, cure, heal, repair, to make whole!

Wahhooooo! In order for us to get well, we need to learn to come before the Lord and be quiet so that he can love us and touch us and cover us with his hand and his glory. I do believe that I am learning and changing. god has been working and working to move me from being driven, works oriented and always striving to a person who can sit idle and begin to know that he is God. That is a miracle!

Now in case you are wondering why that picture for this blog, I will tell you. I have some CDs of the sounds of the forest and some sounds of water with some lovely soft music added to it. I love this picture that I found somewhere and it epitomizes to me the beautiful sounds that I hear on those CDs. Although you cannot see any water, the bridge kind of hints that there is water flowing under it. I could spend all day in this beautiful place listening to the sounds of the forest and God's beautiful creation.

Thank you, Lord, for all you are teaching me... Help me to learn to be still in your presence.