Tactful Songs (Prov 23-25)

"Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on soda." -Prov 25:20



Things are beginning to get a bit tense. We probably automatically reset our minds on those songs to lift ourselves up. So we sang those cheerful songs among the people in the times of tension. We were lifted up. We thought that the other should feel lifted up as well. We didn't understand why our friend didn't.



We didn't sing a tactful song.



When our friends had a heavy heart, it's not time to break loose from the tension to sing our cheerful songs to break ourselves loose. It's time to stay in the tension to be with our friend in sympathy. It's better to stay with a friend through something than to take a cover away from our friend through a song! We learn how to sacrifice our thoughts and feelings in order to get into our friend's whenever our friend allowed us to enter his. We pull our friend across the chasm to the other side slowly. Avoid the disconnectedness. Slowly our friend will get out of the heaviness of heart.

Tongue Gives Life & Connectedness (Prov 18-19)

"From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits... it's His glory to overlook an offense."

It is our choice to give words of life or words of death. Our words are like food to everyone's mind, that's where most of our brain stimulations come from. We eat food. We eat mind food. We eat spiritual food. It is our responsible to take care of our health by eating right food. It is our responsible to take care of our mind by eating words from the right people. It is our responsible to take care of our spiritual by eating His words, the Bible.

We may think, "maybe we don't need to say anything" to get ourselves out of the power of our tongue. We just become like a lamp hiding under the cover because we aren't willing to give the power in our tongue of life! We became disconnected from everyone else in achieving God's mission because we didn't either gave the life or gave the death through our tongue. In order to give the power of life, we have to become connected with them. The power of our words wouldn't give the death if we aren't somehow connected with them.

"Weak leaders sometimes get so caught up in the vision of where they're going that they forget the people they're trying to lead." Believe it or not, there are some great leaders out there who forgot that they are leading the people not the program. "If you want to influence others, and you desire to get them moving in the right direction, you must connect with them before you try to take them anywhere. Attempting to do it before connecting is a common mistake of inexperienced leaders." -Becoming A Person of Influence

"Discipline your son for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death."

While there's chance, we are called to discipline each other to set our mind on hope. Becoming connected with one another is more than being one of His voices that will help us to understand His puzzle, it is becoming a voice to one's mind. It's not about the spiritual revelation from God, but giving a life. Connectedness. Blood flowing in the Body of Christ regardless of what language, culture, or race we are. We don't want one limb from the Body of Christ to fall off.

Navigate the Answer (Prov 15-17)

"Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed. To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!... The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer... but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence."

As a navigator, we will need to carry the map and the compass with us at all time. To navigate the ship, a destination had to be set. Our destination is to walk from the earth into eternity as we finish our race with faith. To accomplish this, we had to carry a map and a compass. What's a map and a compass? A map is like a puzzle that had to be completed by His revelations through the Bible and through us. While a compass is the Spirit that guides us.

We need many advisers to make an accurate puzzle, to discover His mysteries. It's just like Lisa Bevere wrote in "Lioness Arising":

She thought, "Thank you God, it's finished (the book)! I don't want to write it again." But she suddenly sensed God speak to her spirit, "I'm sorry you feel that way... because I need you to write again." She was befuddled, then He went on, "I'm releasing strategies from heaven. They will be found in my Word. You will not have all of these strategies by any means, but you will have a measure of them. You must write and record what I speak to you so that when my daughter gather, there will be a whole picture. If you do not bring your piece of the puzzle, the picture will not be complete."

God is telling Lisa Bevere that He needs her to write. It's not because God favored her, but because God knew that she will be the voice for Him. Just like how God knew that we all will be the voice for Him. So that we all may get many advisers from His people, us! God is going to see His lion and lionness arising, succeeding!

We got to fight for His insights by taking time to ponder His answer and listen to reproof, so that we may learn how to navigate our voice!

Avoid a Pretentious Wealth (Prov 13-14)

There are two wonderful tips on "how to avoid a pretentious wealth" in the 13th chapter of Proverb! They encouraged us to find our true vision of life.

"Easy come, easy go, but steady diligence pays off." -Prov 13:11 MSG

"One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth." -Prov 13:7 ESV

Many of you are probably familiar with "Alice in the Wonderland", where Alice is a character who went into a trippin' world called Wonderland. At first, she thought that everything was merely a dream. But after a while, she found that her trippin' world wasn't trippin' at all. Awake, she finally mustered up a courage to take a stand. Like Alice, we may view some people under the influence of drugs as all trippin', while unbelievers, like Alice, may view us Christians as trippin' as well. Alice once viewed herself as trippin'. After the talk with Absolem, she finally discover her reality. She then realized that all of her memories weren't trippin'! They are her actual memories in the Wonderland, which is real! Their talk goes like this:

Alice said to Absolem, the caterpillar, "Why are you upside down?" "I've come to the end of this life," he said in a cocoon, "transform". When Alice didn't want Absolem to go, he told her that he had to go because Alice had to figure things out on her own (with God, I added) to discover her true vision (I had to pause the video to capture those words for they excited me!).

In fact, ever since Adam and Eve ate the illegal fruit everything had been upside-down! It's easy for us to find an easy way out such as marrying a wealth guy. Cheating our way up the ladder to a success, which may leave us crushed easily as the way we came up. "Easy come, easy go". We love to find an easy way, something fast! But this verse shows us that "steady diligence pays off." Alice once thought that she should agree to marry this wealthy guy to please her mother and to settle herself down for a secured life. But after a tough lesson through her Wonderland (like how we may learn our tough lesson through seeing the unseen kingdom as we grow in Him), she learned that she had to discover her true vision. She fought her way out of the scheme to find her true self! Now she's starting a true vision of working with her almost father-in-law to start an innoviative business, which she plans to expand it into China and Hong-Kong! What a big dream!

We may be like Alice or Absolem. If we live under the pretentious wealth like Alice almost did, then we may need someone like Absolem to help us discover the reality. But God's the only One who can bring us into the "Wonderland" so that we may see the spiritual world and discover what's our true God-given purpose being on the earth. If we know someone like Alice, then we may be like Absolem who may direct Alice to discover herself in what non-believers may call a trippin' world by telling her that she's starting to be more and more like Alice, go on!

A Just Weight of Gut (Prov 10-12)

"A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight."

God hates it when we are cheating or lying, but He loves it when business is aboveboard. The word "aboveboard" came from the difficulty of cheating at cards when the hands are above the table. When one cheats at cards, one doesn't share the credit with the cardholders he/she is peeking at in order to win. But it is a stumbling block to a true success. It's like climbing up a ladder rather than stepping up a stair. Wise is the man who steps up the stairs so that he may not fall, foolish is the man who climbs up the ladder in haste so that he may fall and crush his skull!

"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad."

Suppose the man decided to keep his business aboveboard, what should he do with his anxiety? He couldn't predict what would happen if he decided to play all of his cards. There's no other choice, but have his guts to play! Where did his guts come from? No one may answer, but we all know this: it's a step into the unknown. Without a step into the unknown, we will never exist! We are born to make a step into the unknown just as we first came into this unknown world out of our mother's womb. That's who we are!

Are we tired of living or stepping into the unknown? The good news is that God created us to create cheerful words to others. God created us to encourage one another, to give credit to others, to boast about others! Even Paul boasts about others, about their zeal.

Get ready to carry a just weight of gut up with some cheerful words backing us up.

Carrying Other's Words (Prov 5-7)

"My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck... for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light."

According to Becoming A Person of Influence, scientists dropped a rat into a jar of water that's being place in a total dark place and timed how long the rat will continue to swim before it gave up and allow itself to drown, the result was a little more than 3 minutes. Then they dropped another rat in a jar that had a ray of light shine into it, the rat lasted for 36 hours! I know that it sounds cruel, but this experiment showed that the light gave the rat a lastingly hope! Maybe we feel like we are in a dark tunnel, but we got to believe that we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We will enjoy the sighting when we came out of the tunnel! Always tie the words of encouragement around your neck and keep believing as whoever once believed in you.

Proverb 4:23 note from my youth pastor bookmarked in my old Bible. Positive things about me from the Deaf Academic Bowl team 2005 taped in my scrapbook. And some "Thank You" cards taped on my wall. What about you?

In fact, most of us would list half of our strengths as our weaknesses. It's much easier for us to list our weaknesses. Is it true for you?

Increase our faith in ourselves and in others. "Say to wisdom, 'Your are my sister,' and call insight your intimate friend." Say to Jesus, 'You love me' because the Bible says so! Yeah the Bible says so! Have hope in one another.

Guard Your Heart (Prov 3-4)

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." - Proverb 4:23

With Psalm scratched off, my youth pastor back then replaced it with Proverb before handing us a note. My brother and I got it and I've been clinging to this verse ever since. Even the note is still bookmarked in my old Bible.

Even with his small action of handing us the note, I have seen how it impacted my life so much. Whenever I'm angry, "guard your heart" came into my mind. Whenever I'm thinking such malicious thoughts, "guard your heart" came into my mind. Whenever "Above all else, guard your heart" came into my mind, I recalled the reason: "for it is the wellspring of life."

Do you want to make a big impact? Do you want to stop the aching?

"People come here and say, 'I am hurting so badly. Can you help stop the aching?' One of the most important things we tell them is, 'You need to get involved with serving someone else's need. As you serve, watch what God does to your need.'" Dino Rizzo learned that we need to go out to meet others' need to allow God to meet ours. "After we had prayed for a while, God spoke quietly inside my heart. He said, "Dino, if you will take care of people outside the walls of this church, I'll take care of filling it.'"

Gollum's 'Precious' Kills (Prov 1-2)

"To understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."

In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Gollum challenges Bilbo Baggins to a riddle competition; Bilbo wins the competition by asking the riddle, "What have I got in my pocket?" which Gollum cannot answer (although it's not a riddle "according to the ancient rules"). The answer was the One Ring, which Gollum had lost and Bilbo had found. After discovering that Bilbo had the One Ring, which Gollum called his "Precious", Gollum flew in a rage. Bilbo inadvertently discovered the Ring's power of invisibility as he fled, allowing him to follow Gollum undetected to a back enterance of the cave system. Bilbo thought about killing Gollum, but the pity overcome him when he saw how Gollum had a split personalities known as "Slinker" (good one) and "Stinker" (bad one) by Samwise Gamgee, Bilbo's friend.

Although Bilbo inadvertently found a way out, the entire series of the Lord of the Ring shows that Bilbo is the chosen one. He is the carrier of the Ring. The Ring came into his hand because it is his destiny to pass it down to Frodo so that he would complete the task! Bilbo's huge mistake was his greed. He began to struggle with a little of split personalities that increased every time he puts the Ring on his finger and went invisible. The power of invisibility takes him closer to the Eye, the most horrid character in the book!

Just like Bilbo, we may mishandle the authority that God gave us. As the result of mishandling, your life will waste away. For us to understand His guidance, we must keep "the fear of the Lord" with us as we keep hearing and learning Scripture.

Frodo listens. He used the Ring when needed with cautious, not for any "unjust gain".

"Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors."

Bridle Your Tongue (Ps 39-40)

"David said, 'I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.' I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse. My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: 'O Lord, ..."

David decided to hold his tongue when the ungodly was around him. He had to hold it even when it makes him a mute. He had to. He held his tongue. It burned hot in him. It increased! Then he spoke! He spoke not to the ungodly, but he spoke to the Lord.

It was hard for him to hold his tongue for it makes him feel like:
"But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth. I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes."

"Surely a man goes about as a shadow!" David said to the Lord. Oh yeah! Believe it or not, but it's as if we go about as shadows when we have to bridle our tongues! But do you know what happen when you bridle your tongue as you sink in the "quicksand"?...

The Lord responded by drawing David up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, out of the net, out of everything. Then the Lord shall set his feet upon the rock, upon the level ground. As if the Lord "reset" David's alarm code and took care of it. PEACE OUT!

Response to Maliciousness (Ps 34-35)

"They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft. But I, when they were sick - I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning."

Can you imagine yourself mourning for the others when they are sick even though they mock, criticize or harm you when you are trying to do what is good? "Love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, bless to those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you," Jesus said to those who are listening.

That is what David did! He had to! He loves God and that's probably the only cure to his anguish against those people. Slander them, hurt them, mock them, envy them, offend them, kill them, or any other avenging actions won't help David. He's probably trapped with those kind of thoughts like most of us would. David was different because he acted against all of those thoughts by praying. He tore his clothes off to put himself into the sackcloth and fasted for his enemies as if they were his close friends or family, David probably say this, "I can't do this on my own! My evil thoughts are trapping me. I need to afflict myself with fasting. Help me, O Lord. Look at them and understand my sorrow for You are the Lord of justice. You know everything. You judge them. I need You!"

"They open wide their mouths against me; they say, 'Aha, Aha!' Our eyes have seen it! You have seen, O Lord; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!"

David is man of God.

David's Openness (Ps 31-33)

"For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my inquity, and my bones waste away. Because of my adversaries, I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquantiances; those who see me in the street flee from me. I have been forgottten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel."

David is full of sorrow? David is known to us as a mighty king who had his thirty Mighty Men! David is known to us as a king who will sing, dance, and laugh with the Lord. Is that it? No, David also weep with the Lord as he expressed his sorrow to the Lord. I think he is an all-around emotional guy! He put all of his emotions on the table without hiding anything from God. He is saying, "I'm like a broken vessel!" He is vulnerable! Full of sorrow! Alone!

"For when I kept silent, my bones waste away through my groaning all day long."

David knew that he cannot keep silent, so he had to put his inquities and adversaries upon the table and lift it up to the Lord. He had to keep his openeness. He had to! "For when he kept silent, his bones waste away."

After he opens up to God, he began to praise Him! Do whatever you need to do to open yourselves to God so that He may pour His blessing and love into your broken vessel! Be yourself! Lay face down on the floor to lift up your broken vessel and then jump all around your bedroom when He fills you up. David didn't care what the people would think. Pray and praise in your room like no one is watching!

Cooperating the Authority Not Produce (Ps 24-25)

"To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me... My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins."

Even the greatest Biblical hero had once felt alone, so he cried to the Lord and lifted his soul up. Then the Almighty God took care of the rest when David didn't know what he could do!

"At first, I was overwhelmed by the call, by the heaviness of the load God was asking me to bear. But as I began to walk out this vision, I came to see that I would never have to carry the burden alone. If I would lead others with humility and openly express my heart and passion for these hurting, opressed people, God would gather and grow a large team of individuals willing to put their shoulders under the weight of that burlap sack - full of hurting, rejected, and precious people - symbolizes our servolution, " Dino Rizzo wrote in Servolution and Healing Place Church was amazingly the only church President George W. Bush mentioned in February 2004 among other faith-based organizations who worked to make a difference in the nation.

How may we be like David and Dino Rizzo? Or maybe the question we all should ask is this: how may we be like those mighty men under a leader like David or Dino Rizzo? A lot of us aren't called to be like David or Dino Rizzo, but to be a middle leader who are called to be their shoulders.

Paul Cain usually tell people, "We can only teach you what to do with words. Nobody can teach you how to receive words from God. Those things are the activity of the Holy Spirit in our human experience. We can only teach you how to cooperate with the activitiy of the Spirit, not how to produce the activity of the Spirit."

Why should we try to produce our own authority when God's the only one who plucks David's feet out of the net? God will choose a team. Instead, let us continue to learn how we may cooperate with the activity of the Spirit with willingness as the Spirit stretch and move us.

Bible Toys Proclaim! (Ps 21-23)

"I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you offspring of Israel!"

Can you imagine that our dolls also stood among toys to proclaim His name to us? The "Messenger of Faith" collections includes Jesus, Moses, the Virgin Mary, Esther, and David. After you press the button, it will say the quotes such as "I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." While Moses will recite all Ten Commandments.

"Believe it or not, we've had adults call in and say they bought the dolls and have used them as tools to reach out to their friends about the Bible," Mr. La Roe said. The Messenger of Faith dolls will be spread around the world and parts of the U.S. through chartible organizations such as Samaritan's Purse, which was led by Franklin Graham. As of now, Samaritan's Purse is distributing over 16,000 free dolls around the globe. (www.Bibletoys.com)

Well... I once used a Santa Claus on the harley davidson to make the people around me smile! It sang, "Born to be Wild" and it goes like this:

"Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway

Lookin' for adventure

And whatever comes our way

Yeah Darlin' go make it happen

Take the world in a love embrace

Fire all of your guns at once

And explode into space

I like smoke and lightning

Heavy metal thunder

Racin' with the wind

And the feelin' that I am under

Yeah Darlin' go make it happen

Take the world in a love embrace

Fire all of your guns at once

And explode into space

Like a true nature's child

We were born, born to be wild

We can climb so high

I never wanna die

Born to be wild

Born to be wild"

We enjoy those dolls don't we? I do! When I carried this Santa Claus on the Harley Davidson on the metro, I enjoyed seeing how it delighted the passengers and one of them took his camera out to take a picture of this Santa Claus! But let us be the Santa Claus and let the Harley Davidson be God's hands that have carried us through many adventures, let us sing!

We are like God's dolls, He delight in us when we stand in the congregation to praise His name!

A Tent for the Sun (Ps 19-20)

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge... in them He has set a tent for the sun."

Beside meditating His laws (the Bible) day and night to be like a strong tree planted by streams of living water, we need to see the sun. God doesn't want us to look for Him, but He wants us to see Him! So He "has set a tent for the sun". The darkness cover the earth and the trees, the multitudes. But if we remain in Him, He will arise a tent for the sun through the Words, He said, "In them". God's calling us out of the kingdom of darkness to reveal us in areas of our life where we are part of the plan and purpose through the Word.

By the Word, we shall find the way to the true joy of being with Him emotionally where we may break our hearts for what breaks His. Let us walk among the earth as He searches our heart to reveal our motivation by how we build up His kingdom not tear down by what we say, by the attitudes of our hearts, and by our actions. When we are ready to enter the tent He has set for the sun, we shall know how to weep with Him, dance with Him, laugh with Him, suffer with Him, rest with Him, and do everything with Him as His wife.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart." ESV

"The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy." MSG

Different Types of Support (Ps 16-18)

"For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall."

We all receive different types of support. Some of us may have a lot of friends, some of us may have few friends. Maybe some people say that "A friend to all is a friend to none". We don't know if it is true, but we all know that we all differ individually according to our temperament.

Thirty Mighty Men were with David. Elisha was with Elijah. The people of Israel was with Moses. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were alone (but they probably have the team of prophets to visit once a while). Every nations were with Solomon. Everyone deserted Jesus when he went to the cross, except for the few. I don't know how many people are with you or me, it may depend on our temperament, on who we are.

BUT when we are supported by God, we leap over a wall! When God is the one who supported us, our temperament won't matter, who we are won't matter because God's with us. When you are supported horiztonally by the people, you go horiztonally. When you are supported vertically by God, then you go vertically!

Long Eyelashes! (Ps 11-13)

"His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of man." Grinning, I decide that David would decide to have big eyelashes after the women at (re)vision conference asked him this question: Do you want to have a hairy face or a foot long eyelashes? My bad!

Few months ago, we had our first women conference at National Community Church called (re)vision where women came to connect with each other to talk about influence, community, and discipleship. Those weird-good MC asked all of us those questions, most women choose to have hairy face over a foot long eyelashes! With a foot long eyelashes, one could not turn well in the bed, walk around, or even kiss a man! A hairy face most have chosen!

The eyelid is a skin that covers the eyes, which also contains sweat glands and hairs, the latter becoming eyelashes as as the border of the eyelid is met. After death, it is many cultures' custom to close those eyelids, the eyes are probably scary if left open.

Imagine ourselves as the children being tested by His eyelids! What did it looks like to choirmaster of David when he wrote this? Here is what I think: we are the children clinging to His foot long eyelashes like a roller coaster until we are strong enough to let go. One... two... three here we go! We leap. We land onto His eye. We stand between eyelashes dizzy and overwhelmed.

Store Up Your Healthy Fat (Ps 9-10)

"I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds... that I may recount all Your praises."

After Paul's radical obedience, he went into the prison with Silas. But they stored up their healthy spiritual fats that they are able to pray and sing hymns to God. Then the earthquake came to shake and the prison gates came wide-open! After three tragedies, Job recalled that he came naked from his mother's womb and God filled him with those blessings. So with the healthy spiritual fats, he arose and tore his robe and shaved his head to fell down to worship God.

Those people store up their healthy spiritual fat within their circumcized hearts, so they were able to outlast many people! Creating a habit of listing what we are grateful for daily before the day begins may be a great idea. Job would rise early in the mornings to offer burnt offerings for the numbers of his children continually in order to cover his children's sins if they would sin. When he continually rise early in the mornings to recall God's blessing he is storing up the healthy spiritual fats.

What do we recall in the mornings, in the evenings, and in the nights? Are we storing up our healthy spiritual fats or unhealthy spiritual fats in our heart? If we are storing up our unhealthy ones, then let us fight in our 'Battlefield of the Mind' (Joyce Meyer).

Be Agitated in Silence (Ps 4-5)

This morning I had a restless morning when I couldn't read or do anything much because I was agitated by such thoughts. So I had to sit in the dish chair staring up the ceiling hoping that one of my roommates won't wake up until I finally decided that I got to push them away, so I did. Then I grabbed my Bible and started to read:

"Be angry (or 'be agitated'), and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord."

I was grateful that this verse encouraged me to "stay in my dish chair" as I struggled with my agitation!

"Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray."

Be Like a Tree (Ps 1-3)

"On His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither."

If you are reading this, then you just did your meditation about the Word as you read the verse just above this sentence or more. So now, we are officially like trees planted by streams of water! If we keep on reading, we will began to yield our fruits so that the world may see for the Words are Ruach - Spirit of God breathing. The more we take our roots in the Word, the more God will breath upon us with His glory.

When God breath upon us with love like a hurricane, we will be like 'a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy'. It is when we will begin to sing the song of "How He Loves" when all of sudden, God took away our pains by His glory. We couldn't escape even though His glory is way too big for us to handle! Our souls' jaws are wide-open, dumbfounded! Hey, don't tell me that you can't see the forest for the trees.

Revival Up the Mountain (Micah 4-7)

"It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountains of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem"

Revival isn't simply an evangelistic event, it is about God's outpouring power upon His people to draw them to Him. It is the time when the people will go to God, lay down before Him for hours and hours. Fully surrender to Him. It's when the chains will be broken, it is when their lives will be healed, it's when their eyes will be opened, and the Christ will be revealed (from "You'll Come" lyric).

In "Steps to Revival" by Pat Robertson, he states that the steps came from this verse: "If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." -2 Chronicles 7:14 RSV

Those steps are: humbility, prayer, seeking God's face, turn from our wicked ways, unity, and perseverance. The verse included humility, prayer, seeking God's face, and turn from our wicked ways but in order to have the revival in the land, we had to do it together as His people and wait as He will hear and answer in His own time.

He promised that He will hear from heaven and heal the land! He didn't want to just forgive our sins, but he want to heal the land! Unbelievable! We need to turn to seek His face as we climb the mountains toward Him as we allow Him to teach us His ways so that we may turn from our wicked ways. Go to Him!

Causes of the Limited Glory (Micah 1-3)

"I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam."

Israel is God's children, and now the glory of Israel had to be hidden in the Adullam. Why did their glory had to disperse into Adullam? It is a place where David went to when he was expelled from the court of King Saul to be gathered together in distress, this cave is told to be large enough to hold 200-300 men. Some would go there to be gathered together in distress, or in debt, or when everyone was discontented. Because King Saul was jealous of David, he had to escape to the cave of Adullam to hid himself, so his association was limited to 200-300 men just like how God limited the glory of Israel.

But what had caused that kind of limitation?

The jealousy of King Saul caused the glory of David to be limited. Just like how the jealousy of God may cause our glory to be limited when we began to take our pride in stride as we forgot all about Him! When we die to ourselves as in decreasing ourselves, God will increase us.

"God has occasionally left me without the ink of the anointing, and I have had to scrape and scratch to leave any impression upon my hearers. Past experiences have made me desperate for the anointing. If I don't agonize in prayer, I agonize in preaching - and the congregation isn't too far behind. What then is meant by "anointed preaching"? I believe it means preaching that God sees fit to bless; preaching that produces true penitence in the heart of the sinner." -Ray Comfort

I love this quote, it shows us that God is the only one who have that authority to bless those certain people He wanted to bless through our preaching, writing, blogging, twittering, or even chatting! But it is our responsibility to keep the Spirit flowing (our anointing from Him) through us to certain people He wants to flow by praying.

"Watch and be on alert for people who will try to take advantage of you. They will be motivated by selfishness and a sense of desperation without regard for your rights, space or boundaries. You must stand your ground and not be afraid to say NO; not just from a position of self-perservation, but because your real need is to stay in the flow of My Spirit and to respond only to My leading, says the Lord. Obedience is the key. Be strong and resolute." -Marsha Burns

Pray: Father, may You show us all how to follow Your leading so that we may remain in Your anointing as You choose to bless the others through us. We need the wisdom to discern what's invading our spaces and boundaries and learn to remove them or say NO to those intended or innocence intruders. And please show us if we are also invading the others' spaces and boundaries as their Christian sister/brother, preventing them from responding to Your leading. We acknowledge our human errors. Thank You for taking care of us faithfully, Lord! And for faithfully forgiving us. In Jesus' name, we Agree!

YA'LL ROCK for praying this!

The Dry & Dying Field (Joel 1-3)

"Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished... Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly... and cry out to the Lord."

God wants to pour out His Spirit, but He wants us to want it as well. So He encouraged us to come together to fast for the dying and dry harvest, so that God may be the answer to our prayer by providing us grain, wine, and oil.

"Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied."

He wants to pour out His Spirit and more and more. But He is waiting for us to want them like how He wanted to give them to us. And when He will give us the grain, wine, and oil for us to harvest them, we will also need to pray for the laborers because He will pour out His Spirit upon us more than we thought He would!

"Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." - Matt 9:38

We are all called to be His bride who will delight to have Him as our Provider. He wants to provide us as our Husband in what we will ask Him for. Like His Wife, we all should use our charm as we ask Him just like a wife would charm her husband to give her what she needs or wants. We need to call together a fast and charm Him... and even pray together to charm Him to be our Provider. As our Husband, He wants to receive our supports through fasting and prayer as His wife. Let's us be His supporter!

It's Not My Speciality?! (Amos 5-9)

Amos thought that it is not his speciality to be the prophet, but God called him out of the herdsmen and out of a dresser of sycamore figs to be a prophet!

"I was no prophet, not a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord tooke me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'"

Amos didn't say that he was a prophet, but he said that he was not and yet he prophesy! It was because God called him out of herdsmen to be! God decided to give His message to whoever will be willingly to be His mailmen, and He delivered His message. It is as simple as that! Even Jeremiah once had to wait for 10 days before he could deliver His message (Jeremiah 42:7). God may hold His message until a specific date and He may deliver it to a mailman, sometimes He want to send it through another mailman. Sometimes He want to ship His mail differently, sometimes we had to wait with our tracking number to see where the mail is going until we finally see the box in front of our door after our tracking number tells us that it's on the way. So the mail arrived at Johanan, Jezaniah, and all the people's door and they got the message from Jeremiah as His mailman after those ten days of waiting.

Maybe you are waiting for a mail to be delivered to you by someone, or you could even be called to deliver just one message of His out of 20 years! Who knows?! Amos was called out of his simple life to be a prophet.