God wants to change the face of His Church once again through a revelation of His goodness - God is
in a good mood - do some experiential research and see for yourself!
Taste and see that the Lord is good - Psalm 34:8
A place for a cool drink of encouragement. A respite for those weary from the journey.
Oak trees are known for their strength and endurance. Known to live more than 200 years while acquiring diameters of nine or more meters with heights up to 30 meters; it is not much wonder the oak trees were historical landmarks for the Hebrews. Their strength and endurance provided places for meeting places, burials and worship. And although God meets with His people wherever they are, there are appointed times and places He has frequented throughout Scripture and the oaks are one of these.
Now the LORD appeared to him (Abraham) by the Oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day; Genesis 18. It is here Abraham and Sarah receive the announcement of a son. Here, Abraham ministers to God, God blesses Abraham and then Abraham ministers to the lost world. It was not enough for Abraham to be a blessing to the Lord and his home he must also seek to win a lost world. And here under the oaks of Mamre God shares with Abraham His plans...
The Angel of the Lord came and sat under the oaks that were in Ophrah while Gideon was beating out the wheat in the wine press- Judges 6:11-12. The plain (plain = Strong’s #352 oaks or other strong trees) of Tabor is also mentioned as a milestone in Saul’s life. It is here Saul is anointed King by the prophet Samuel.
The Valley of Terebinth or Oak is famous for the David’s victory over Goliath.
Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, (Strong's #352 strength, anything strong, oak or other strong tree) the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
All of God’s people are to be His trees (Psalm 1:1-3) planted by the Lord that He would be glorified as they abound in the fruits of righteousness.
Provide for a selah, divide your day; pause under the oaks, minister to the Lord, and wait for His response. He has a plan for you to be fruitful that He might be glorified. Pause, and listen...
I guess you could say I am a late bloomer when it comes to things of the Lord. I have been involved with the church in one manner or another all of my life. I had read my Bible and believed the stories were true but never thought how they applied to my life other than the basics; 10 Commandments, love one another, the Good Samaritan and a few others. But mostly my convictions were caught up in relativism. I had no absolute truth and my image of God was skewed.
All of this began to change one Sunday as I sat in my bedroom reading The Sacred Romance (Curtis & Eldridge) when for the first time in my life I felt how much God loved me. I had moved in with my fiancé. It didn’t seem to matter that we were living together, the kids were gone, no one to set an example for and it was a matter of convenience after all, he worked second shift and I left at 5:00a.m., how else would we ever see each other? But that Sunday when God revealed how much He loved me and that it mattered to Him that I was living with my fiancé I began to make changes in my life style that would be pleasing to God. A relationship began.
Then in 2002 on a Saturday night while on retreat I met Jesus. Events that had wounded my heart and scarred my life from my childhood and teenage years were immediately healed. I felt like never before. I had gained what Ravi Zacharias refers to as ‘appreciation love’. It became more than God loved me or I loved God. There in that chapel I surrendered all of my life to God because all of my life was given to me by God that night. I came to realize Jesus is the same person He was yesterday, and is today and will be tomorrow. And furthermore, He didn’t just love me, I mattered to Him!
Later that summer God placed a woman from my church in my life. As she gave her testimony one Sunday I felt God shove me saying, " sit up and pay attention to her!" She spoke of how God had literally rearranged her entire life; things that were once all important to her no longer had value and how she spent much of her day reading the Bible and listening to God, it still wasn’t enough, she wanted more. She was captivated with God. I wanted to be captivated with this God who had just given me new life. Being 51 years old I figured I had more than half of my life in but I determined to give God all that was left! After receiving some deliverance in January of 2003 my life began to change dramatically and expeditiously. God dumped my file box and healed my body. To be more explicit He has healed multiple illnesses that had plagued my body for years, from low blood sugar, fibromyalgia, allergies, over-reactive airway, and arthritis in multiple areas and in dumping my file box He
has purged my relativistic thinking, replacing it with truth.
There is so much more I could include from the last six years but more recently I graduated from the first year of the School of Ministry at MorningStar University. Over the course of that year I developed a yearning to not just share Jesus but to promote Jesus; hence, this blog and the links on this site. I figure this blog will reach far more people than I can in my short 24 hours a day.
I pray this reading at JacobsWell has been an encouragement to you and an inspiration for your journey with Jesus.
