Meditations – Page 184 – Cross Culture Church

Meditation: October 6

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.” Lamentations 3:21

The immediate challenges of our day oftentimes cloud our view from seeing the faithfulness of God throughout the years. Living in the immediate alone without any reference to the past will make us feel as if we must take matters into our own hands. God has given us the gift of memory to reflect upon His goodness directed towards us even when all hope seemed to be lost. We are then able to feast through reflection, on His faithfulness. Whatever may appear as an impassable mountain standing before us, God is there with His wisdom and His strength awaiting our request. He will first settle us in our difficulties to know that He has knowledge of our present state. Then He will provide for us the wisdom to see all things from His perspective. If this is one of those obstacles that should not be or is as a test of our faithfulness to Him alone, in time, we will have provided for us the right answer and resolve. He will keep us in perfect peace if our minds are steadily focused on Him knowing that our God is greater than our circumstances.

05 Oct 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: October 5

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”2 Chronicles 7:1

The prayer of King Solomon in the dedication of the Temple was heard in heaven. He had listened to God in completing the task to which he was assigned. He was chosen by God as King of Israel, and now prayed a prayer of dedication for what the Lord had allowed him to participate in doing. It is a glorious thing to be a part of God’s work and attentive enough to listen fully to His instructions. He did not add nor take away from the specific instructions of God. His obedience to God provided for him the opportunity to place a sacrifice upon the altar. Many things may be offered to God with the intent of warranting His acceptance. But God only answers with fire that which is acceptable to Him. Are we placing sacrifices on the altar of God without giving Him His proper honor? We must do what He has assigned us to do. Then we can place on His altar our sacrifice. The consuming fire of God will be His response to us that we have given Him, not the speckled or the defiled, but what He is willing to accept.

04 Oct 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: October 4

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” Hebrews 6:19

The waves of adversity will test the authenticity of our faith. Whether we have placed all our trust in God is proven in trying times. Here we cannot rely upon any other person or thing. We have launched out beyond the banks of secure living and now have placed our lives in the hands of the only One who can safely navigate us through troubled waters. It is the emotions that are first under attack. The mind would consider the safety and security of the harbor. Some would think it would have been much better if they had never launched out into the deep. It is only when we consider the Commissioner of the mission that we may rest assured that none of the things facing us along this journey has taken Him by surprise. He is there to protect us and to build within us something of value far beyond what we are at those moments of conflict able to see. To trust the Lord is to love Him with our minds, wills, and emotions. It is to submit what we would otherwise think or feel to Him in prayer that they may also be governed by His Spirit. He will settle us by showing us that He is with us. He will then remind us that the finished product is of far great value than the process required to arrive.

03 Oct 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: October 3

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” Isaiah 66:8

The travailing of the soul, the sound produced out of excruciating pain is the prelude to birthing. God will allow us to reach our breaking point when it appears as if all is lost, and He has totally abandoned us. Then there is the breaking of dawn. A new day breaks forth on the horizon. What He had shown us prophetically confirmed within our souls is brought forth. God is going to do a new thing. He will reveal Himself as He is. No longer must people guess and speculate regarding Him. The divisive opinions of those who mislead will be exposed and opposed. God’s Word and Power will triumph and none will be able to withstand it. Travail is also the intercessory prayer for the lost. When we see the conditions of the world and if our heart is not broken over it, we are not feeling with the Lord what He is feeling. He wept over Jerusalem. We must receive the Spirit of lamentation as we witness all that is happening in our day. He will give us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness once we are able to weep with Him. Children will be born into the kingdom of God. It will be more than a decision to join a Church or any institution. Salvation will come to our houses when repentance and the prayer of intercession have come to our souls.

01 Oct 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: October 1

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12

The dimensions and dynamics of God’s grace are immeasurable. When we think about the severity of our sins in light of His righteousness, we can then agree with Him that all sins are worthy of death. Only when we give consideration to the depth of the offense will we fully appreciate the grace of God provided and extended towards us. He takes what we deserved and separates it from us. Then as we grow in our understanding of what He requires as a means of cleansing us from the stench of the ruin of sin, He can then separate us from it. Forgiveness of sin is the cleansing from all unrighteousness. It is as if the Lord took a large eraser and erased all that was before. Then we are instructed as to how we are to live in order to remain cleansed from what was once participated. Even in the process of learning, He has made provisions through the precious blood of Jesus to cleanse us of all unrighteousness if we confess our sins. He takes our transgressions, that is, our movements beyond His established boundaries, and gives us credit on the part of the One who paid the price for us. What a wonderful privilege! It is ours to take full advantage of the provision provided for us and live a life of gratitude for all the wonderful things done for us through Christ Jesus.

30 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 30

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2

The strong language used by Paul was to express how he directed his will to block out all information that would in anywise compete with the knowledge of Christ that he had attained. This knowledge would serve as the filter because it was the highest level of knowledge ever made available to mankind. He was not limiting what was being made known to his intellect. He was in addition speaking of his experiences. His entire life was to be governed by the dimensions of Christ yet to be known and the deep meaning contained within His death on the cross. There are so many distractions in this life competing with our knowing the things that are most essential to life. Many will major in minors and minor in majors. But none of their information can produce anything that produce a permanent resolve to their challenges and survive beyond this life. To know Jesus is to have eternal life. To know Him as crucified is to identify with His death, thus possessing resurrection life. As with Paul, we must determine to close the door on all that would appear to be objective knowledge and bring it into subjection to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

29 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 29

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“For with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light.” Psalm 36:9 (KJV)

Darkness conceals while light reveals. Things are further darkened by darkness while they are illuminated by the light. The Lord speaks His Word in order to guide us through life. His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We are guided through those dangerous places where the enemy of our souls is lurking with the intent of killing, stealing, and destroying us. We are not walking alone because when we walk in the light we walk with Him. We see together and move in sync with one another. What we see enables us to see more. What we experience together is preparation for what lies ahead. The light that is before us now will lead us to greater dimensions of light. His light is the light of life. A fountain of living water continues to flow in our direction keeping and preserving us. What awaits us is far greater than what we had to abandon. All that preceded was mere preparation for what the Lord has yet to show us. We can trust His guidance and rest in His peace. We must not allow anything to get us off track but know that He knows the way that we must go. And when we safely arrive, we will appreciate every winding curve along the way.

28 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 28

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.” Psalm 3:5

Sleep is like a form of death. When we sleep, we are no longer in control of our thoughts or body. All is as if it is in the grave without a conscious thought but trusting that at the proper time we will awake. Our dreams take to places we had not traveled before. It is always our desire to have a peaceful rest, thus a peaceful travel to the place that our dreams would take us. Our prayer is that God would protect us when we have no defense. There are the terrors of the night; invaders who may come and interrupt us and invade our homes; calamities over which we have no control; all the things that could happen in the night. The morning of our awakening is like our resurrection. The Lord has sustained us through the night!

As we trust God to keep us through one night in order to see a new day, we must also trust Him for the midnight’s of life’s experiences. Whatever we are going through in life, we go through it because we are in the darkest of night. But there will be the dawning of a new day when we will awaken fully to the light of His glory and never again lose sight of day. We will step into our dream of Him and see Him as He really is. The Lord will sustain us unto a new day!

27 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 27

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14

The Apostle Paul uses the language of an athlete competing for the ultimate prize. The intermediate victories are not be become the level in which he was to settle, but his eyes were upon something much greater. They may be used as a means to lead him there, but ultimate prize was the fulfillment of the upward call. This has more to do with becoming someone than getting something. He qualified to enter in to the competition of becoming all that God had called him to become. And out of his becoming, he was enabled by the Holy Spirit to do all that God had called him to do. We too have been called by Almighty God to a standard of spiritual excellence. It is a standard of living out and giving a full and clear expression of the life of Jesus Christ upon the earth. The world is in desperate need of knowing Christ and He can only be known through His Church. He was aware of his imperfections and areas where improvements were needed. But also open for God to reveal to him any blind spots that he at that point was not able to see. His was a matter of progressing in Christ towards the ultimate goal that was before him. To be found in Him, not having his own righteousness or self-justification of deeds, but totally yielded to Christ. We must set this as our goal as well. He has called us to reach up in order that we may reach out and touch the world with His love and power. This can only happen when it is all of Him and none of us.

26 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 26

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” 1 Peter 2:7

What man often finds as most useful, God rejects. And what man rejects God accepts. The material used by God to build lives, community, and His Church is not what we in the natural would always consider. He builds with character. He makes sure that what is being erected can support the winds of change and the waves of adversity. The example is a house built upon the sand. Even though the structure is elaborate and is a thing of beauty. It has no foundation and eventually the inevitable would come to test its strength. The strength of a structure is its foundation. And no other foundation can be laid other than Jesus Christ. The accuracy of the establishment of Christ in the life of the believer will keep him stable in the most difficult of times. Christ is often rejected or redefined because the majority of people do not see any use for Him as He is. They attempt to either fit Him in as they please or eliminate Him altogether. Yet He is the only One we can turn to when we are forced to acknowledge how little we really know. He is able to heal and to guide, but He must be in place before our minds are able to acknowledge how much He is really needed. When we understand that we need Him, then we discover what held us together even when we thought it was ourselves. He has become the chief cornerstone among those who worship Him because they realize that in Him we live, move and have our being.