O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high; I cannot attain to it.” Psalm 139:1-6.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
I am on your side. I am at your side. I am within you. That is My all-encompassing love.
Many people treat Me as if I were far away and they are not sure that they have My attention. And yet the opposite is true. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.” Psalm 139:7-10.
Jonah thought he could flee from My presence and escape notice. “The Word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah 1:1-3. But he found there was no where he could run to that I was not there with him already. He actually did go to the remotest part of the sea, the very depths of it when the crew threw him overboard, and he found that even there My right hand lay hold of him to rescue him and put him back where he was supposed to be. All creation obeys My Word, I appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights without harm. And from the belly of the fish he prayed to Me and found I was there with him, “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head. I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple. Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness, but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD.” Then I commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land. Jonah 2:5-10. And guess where he landed? You know, Nineveh. And this time he did as told and Nineveh got saved.
I AM. Everywhere you are I AM. My presence fills Heaven and earth, My eyes see all in a single glance and My ears hear every sound and every word, even before it has utterance. My love encompasses all. I am love so where I AM love is. You can always reach out and take My hand, even if you are in the remotest part of the earth and sea, even there My hand will lead you, and My right hand (the hand of power) will lay hold of you. You who are My children are led by the Holy Spirit, He is My hand of power within you and upon you guiding you to all truth and giving life to your mortal bodies.
I am for you, with you and in you. I know you full well. “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high; I cannot attain to it.” Psalm 139:1-6.
I have enclosed you behind and before and laid My hand upon you. I reach out My hand to heal, impart blessing, strengthen, protect, and guide you. There is no snatching out of My hand and encompassed about by love the evil one cannot touch you nor affliction come near your tent.
I am very personal to you. I have searched you and know you. I know whatever you are doing, whether sitting, standing or journeying about. And I am taking care of you. I am intimately acquainted with all your ways. I know what you will say even before you say it.
I planned you from before the foundation of the world, I formed you in your mother’s womb, “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.” Psalm 139:13-15. My loving eyes are constantly upon you. “Your eyes have seen my embryo; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” Psalm 139:16.
I ordained days for you—I consecrated them and set them aside for you. A life of good deeds I prepared for you in advance in Christ Jesus that you might walk in them. Ephesians 2:10. But the wicked cut their lives short and many live way below their ordained path. For I make your feet as hind’s feet for scaling the heights and those who wait on Me soar with wings like eagles.
You do not want to cut short your ordained days as the wicked and foolish do. You do not want to miss the good deeds I prepared for you in advance in Christ Jesus that you might walk in them.
Follow Me, follow My Word, follow Jesus and My Spirit will lead you in right paths for My Name’s sake. It pleases Me when you walk in health, prosperity, and divine revelation, it gives glory to a father when his children are fruitful and filled with goodness. Sing with David, “Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4-5. Jesus invited you to learn from Him, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30. He is your teacher; He is your great good Shepherd. He is the Way, the Truth and the life. No follower of His will ever walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
And how do you receive the instruction you need to live out your ordained days and receive your full reward? “Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. His soul will abide in prosperity (3 John 1:2), and his descendants will inherit the land. The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant. My eyes are continually toward the LORD for He will pluck my feet out of the net.” Psalm 25:12-15. Who is the one who fears the LORD and receives instructions and to whom I reveal My secrets and My Covenant? “Fear of the LORD,” is defined often in My Word but it includes a desire to please Me in all you do wherever you are and a hatred for evil, but above all in it having honor and reverence for Me in your heart. It is valuing My opinion and My Word more than that of worldly, ungodly people no matter how rich, famous, or wise they appear to be. It is sanctifying Me in your heart as you walk the way of integrity in reverence for Me and for My Name’s sake.
Jesus came to bring you abundant life. “I am the resurrection and the life,” He told Martha as she bemoaned her brother who had died, “he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” John 11:25-26. Life is in Jesus, eternal life, abundant life, resurrected life. He will raise you up on the Last Day to receive your glorified immortal body, but there is more. Much more to this.
I tell you that when He died, you died in Him to sin, and when I raised Him from the dead, I raised you up with and in Him and seated you with Him and in Him in Heaven. You are already seated with Him in the Spirit for you who have joined with Him are one Spirit with Him. And if the Spirit by whom I raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He is giving life even to your mortal bodies now. A life in the Spirit while still in the flesh. Just as Jesus had. You who live and believe in Him will never die. He is not talking of your mortal tent that houses your soul and spirit. He is speaking of the spirit and the soul, which do not die the death if you are in Christ Jesus, in the Lamb’s Book of life.
Lazarus’ fleshly body died and his spirit and soul moved on to Me but Jesus brought him back into his earthly tent and raised him up since he had died prematurely for his ordained days. The same with the twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus. And if you recall, My servant Paul wrote that when I took him up to see My Kingdom, the third Heaven, he did not know whether he was in or out of his mortal body.
Your body is merely a vehicle for your spirit and soul to remain on earth in physical way. You have to leave it behind to go back to the dust from which it came when you go into My Kingdom. Flesh and blood cannot inherit My Kingdom for it is perishable and all in My heavenly Kingdom is imperishable. There is no corruption or aging in My heavenly Kingdom.
Now, I want to answer a question that many of you have about your lives on earth. It is how do you know if you are doing My Will? How do you know you are living the days I ordained just for you?
Examine yourself on five points and you will know without a doubt whether you are doing My Will for your life or not.
1. Are you doing good works? Jesus told you that none is good but God alone. So are you doing God works? Jesus told you that you who believe would do the works He did and greater works. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed of the devil. He came to undo the works of the devil. I have prepared a life of good deeds for you in advance in Christ Jesus that you might walk in them. Look at Jesus’ life and see what He did. He had compassion and saw to people’s needs. He taught them and healed them. You can share My Word, bring others to salvation and help those in need of assistance as I bring them across your path. People are all around you, you have many opportunities to do good deeds for others. If you are doing good deeds, no matter how small or large they are, you are walking in My Will.
2. Are you fruitful? Jesus is the vine and you are the branches and the mark of a disciple is that you bear much fruit. I blessed Adam and Eve to be fruitful. What is the fruit of which I am speaking? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5:22-23. Examine yourself and see if this is the fruit of your life. You will know them by their fruit. If this is how others would describe you, then you are walking in My Will.
3. Do you do the one thing necessary? My Son told Martha that one thing was necessary and what was that? To fellowship with Me by listening to My Word and sharing your life and thoughts with Me. Luke 10:41-42. Do you read, hear, study, speak and meditate on My Word? Do you spend time with Me in prayer? If you do you are doing My Will.
4. Do you rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give constant thanks? This is My Will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. If you are doing this you are on the narrow road that leads to life and you are doing My Will.
5. Do you control what you say and what you let your mind dwell upon? I tell you that “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.” James 1:26. I direct you to take every thought captive for Christ and to think on blessed things worthy of praise. Death and life are in the power of your tongue and I ask you to choose life that you and your descendants may live the life that is life indeed. I have made Jesus the High Priest of your confession, that is, of the words of your mouth that are in agreement with His. You will give an account for every idle word you speak. This is very serious. Use your words as I do and speak to accomplish a purpose. Send out your words to heal and deliver, as I do. Do as I told Joshua if he wanted good success in his life, speak My Words and make sure yours line up with Mine.
If you can say that you are doing those 5 points, you are a doer of My Word and are blessed in all you do. If you have to say you are not doing one or more of them, then it is time for us to get together and do it together. I am present as your Helper by My Spirit in you and on you. Let Me complete the good work I have begun in you. You really can do nothing without Me that bears fruit unto life eternal anyway.
I love you. I am on your side, I am at your side, and I am in you and with you forever. Life is really only about My all-encompassing, all encasing, all embracing love. And it is yours in Christ Jesus, your Lord, My gift of love.