Step Out And Let God Step Up!

God was about to get the attention of King Ahab and all of Israel. They had turned their hearts to worship the gods that Ahab’s wife Jezebel had introduced them to. God would get their attention with a famine! Elijah Steps Up and declares a word from God to King Ahab, “It won’t rain again but at my word.” Now what?

God leads Elijah just east of the Jordon River to the Brook of Cherith. Where God leads us is paramount to His plan and will for our lives. Then God commands the ravens each morning and evening to bring him bread and meat. God knows how to take care of His kids in the worst nightmare of our lives. Getting to your Cherith is necessary for many reasons. It was there that Elijah would have Peace, Protection, Provision, and Power to sustain him.

But what do you do when the brook dries up? ! Kings 17:7 When you lose your job, you can't keep the lights on, you can't pay the water bill, you can't get out of bed because your so distraught and discouraged in your quagmire of disappointment? Elijah had obeyed God in the famine in going to Cherith, but now God moves him to a place called Zarephath.

God saw a widow at the point of death but had other plans in mind for her and her son. The prophet was sent to show God's love and mercy and greatness in a famine to this widow and her son. We are all still here to offer HOPE in people’s worst dilemma.

As he arrives he instructs her; "Bake for me a cake first." She responds; "All I have is enough flour and oil for me and my boy, then we're going to die." He says; "Don't be afraid, just do what I say." She followed the words of the prophet and brought to him a meal first; sure enough, the flour nor the oil ran out.

Why do we doubt the word of the Lord? Why do we place more confidence in our own system, in our own knowledge, in our own abilities to make things happen? Had the widow ignored the prophet's words, she and her boy would have died. Many will die with their doubts in God's Word, and choose to do it their own way.

God has drawn out for you. "Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. With the same measure that you mete it shall be the measured to you again."(Luke 6:38) Had the widow ignored the word of the Lord, she and her boy would have missed abundant blessings God gave.

She listened and obeyed what Elijah had said and there was feasting around the table for her and her boy and the prophet of God. I know it's an oxymoron to give to God and expect to end up with more in the end. The only place in the bible that God says; "Test me if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing." (Malachi 3:8-12) This widow tested the word of God, and He proved himself to her.

Are you willing to Step Out “at His word” and Let God Step up for you? Have you Stepped Out in tithing and watched God open the Heavens? Have you Stepped out in the ministry He’s placed in your heart? God has a Cherith for each of us. It’s the OPEN DOOR that He has cut out for your life. The job, the marriage, the ministry, the business, the dream, the college, the relationship, the friendship, the place you worship and live. Run to Him, He has a Cherith that only He can create. When you Step out at His Word, watch Him Step Up!

Is My Life And Accident Or By Design?

                                                                                          Danny Baggett 5.5.19       cohjax.com

When Jesus was baptized in the Jordon, everything changed. Are you living under the Open Heavens? Do you know why you’re here on the planet? Are you living with His Favor and Blessings or are you walking out a dull, dreary, dismal, boring, empty and miserable life?

On the New York Times, Best Seller’s list is Rick Warren’s book,” The Purpose Driven Life.” Long before Rick wrote his book, God designed you for a Purpose. You are not an accident. Regardless of what your mom or dad may have told you, God knew all about you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. 

When you realize that God had planned you long before you came into this world, it changes the way you view life. It gives you a new perspective in the way you look out the window of life. Many people go through their days with a cloudy perspective. They guess at what they’re supposed to do with their journey. Some cast their life to the wind because they haven’t come to the truth and knowledge that God is the designer of their life. So, is our life an accident or is it by design?

AIR, When you think of the way God created the universe, He placed oxygen in the air so we could breathe. The air is about 21% oxygen; had it been created 50% oxygen, the next time someone lit up a match we would all be toast! Is 21% oxygen by accident or by design?

TEMPERATURE, God created the sun with a temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit, some 93 million miles away from the earth, just the right distance. If the earth’s temperature were even 50 degrees hotter or colder, all life would cease. Why was the earth not placed twice as far away, or twice as close? Is its distance by accident or by design?

ROTATION, The earth rotates 365 times a year around the sun. Suppose we only rotated 36 times instead. Well, our days and nights would be 10 times as long; we’d be terribly hot on one side and unbearably cold on the other. And life as we know it would begin to disappear. Are the rotation numbers by accident or by design?

When will you hear the knock at the door of your heart? When you say Yes to the master of the universe, the Savior of the World who only came to get you ready for your purpose, plan, and design for why you’re here on the planet?

Realize today that God has created you for a reason. When you dig into the Word of God, you begin to realize that you didn’t choose God but He chose you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit. Being “wealthy” isn’t driving fancy cars, living in a condo on the ocean, wearing diamond rings, and having millions of dollars in your bank account. WEALTH is knowing and believing the fact that God created you for a purpose.  

When you live out His purpose, you will begin to experience great peace and joy like nothing the world can give. Are you ready for His plan, His power, His Peace, His Purpose and being Prepared for eternity? Why not stop what you're doing right now and say, “Lord here I am, I surrender, I believe that you died for my sins, and rose again. Yes, I believe that you will forgive me now and raise me up from my dead life so I can get on with your purpose for my life. I say yes today, right now, and from this day forward, I will never be the same, I receive you as my Lord and personal Savior.  

Never, Never, Never, Let The Dream Die!

God spoke to my heart years ago in a difficult season, “Danny, It’s Better to wrestle with your struggle than to wrestle with the regret that you quit.” That one Rehma word kept me pressing in a crazy season that I didn’t relish.

If you have ever had a dream from God, you will realize that “No Dream” from the Lord comes without doubts, discouragement, disappointments, and delays. I call them the Deadly D’s. Look at Abraham waiting on his promise son Isaac. Look at Joseph while waiting for his dream; his brothers nearly killed him throwing him in the pit then sold him as a slave. Then there’s David who killed a bear, a lion, and a giant and then had to journey through a process by King Saul making 21 attempts to kill him. Go through the whole bible and you will see that every God-given dream will face Setbacks. But those who don’t give up will see a Comeback.

Recently the Lord spoke to my heart. “It’s Better to wrestle with “The Dream” than to wrestle with the regret that you gave up on the Dream.” Thomas Edison teacher said he was too stupid to learn anything. He was fired from his first 2 jobs for being non-productive. As an inventor Edison made 1000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked,” How did it feel to fail 1000 times? Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1000 times, the light bulb was invented with 1000 steps.

Between your Dream and the Development of the Dream will surely come disappointments. How you process those disappointments will determine your success.

Abraham got impatient with God’s process and hearkens to the voice of his wife Sarah. He realized later in life, that God never did forget the dream that he gave him even at 100 years old; God kept his Promise and gave him his promised son Isaac. Friend EXPECT, doubts, disappointments and delays as part of the process.

Any coffee lover realizes that the coffee bean has to be crushed in order to get its fine flavor. Something good happens when we allow God to squeeze out all our doubts, disappointments and impatience to bring out His Best for our lives. God says, “Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

God is always working behind the scenes, even when we don’t realize it. Stick to the Dream! Never let it die what He gave you, and watch His incredible hands show up and prove himself strong. As Mark Twain once said, “20 years from now you will regret more the things that you didn’t do than the ones you did do.”

                                Dannysdevotional.blogspot.com