I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart. Psalm 119:32.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Be careful how you walk, that is, how you live. People often do things or say things in private they would feel ashamed if they were brought out to the light or were shared with the person about whom they were speaking. But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops. Luke 12:2-3.
I know your thoughts from afar and your words before you even say them. I know when you sit and when you stand, when you lie down and when you get up, when you go out and when you come in. And I am watching to bless you, to come to your aid, to see to your needs, to protect you, to guide you, to encourage you, to comfort you, to heal you, and to correct you. My loving eyes never leave you. But neither to the devil’s and they are not loving eyes, they are looking to raise up obstacles, trials, and various evil works against you, trying to see if he has gotten any place in your life.
You are wise to watch your words. Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin. Proverbs 13:3. Death and life are in the power of your tongue and you will eat the fruit thereof. Proverbs 18:21; Proverbs 13:2. If you have been foolish in exalting yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth. Proverbs 30:32.
When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise. Proverbs 10:19.
When did things change for Job? When he put his hand over his mouth. “I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; even twice, and I will add nothing more.” Job 40:4-5. And after I spoke with him, he said, “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:3-6. He stopped being a faultfinder and contending with Me to being a person of faith who sought instruction knowing I would answer and who prayed for his friends. Job 40:1-2. And what happened? “The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold.” Job 42:10. Love had come and fear had gone. Job 3:25-26. When Job opened his heart to Me and let go of the bitter roots and accusations he was able to receive healing and double what he had before. And I blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. And Job died, an old man and full of days. Job 42:12-17. He had enlarged his heart. Heaven had touched the earth.
Continuing our Life Lessons of how to live days of Heaven on earth, we will now continue to look at the miracles I performed at the hands of Paul. “God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.” Acts 19:11-12.
The anointing. The same one Jesus had. The same one Peter had. The same one Lydia had. The same one you have. My Spirit is upon you and I have anointed you. And the anointing destroys the yoke and lifts the burden. I have anointed you with the Holy Spirit and POWER. You are clothed in power from on High. The Holy Spirit in you and on you. But you must open wide your heart to receive all that I want to pour into you by the gift of My Spirit.
Paul had opened wide his heart; he had cleared out all hindrances to My love and power flowing through him. “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11. And the result? “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20.
Paul was captivated and enthralled by My great love for him. “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles.” Galatians 1:15-16. And for each of you who are reading this, the same is true. I set you apart from your mother’s womb and called you by name, you are Mine, and I was pleased to reveal My Son to you. And I have set you with other believers as members of the body of My Son on earth to do the works He did and greater. Do you ever ponder that and know how loved you are by Me? I planned you from eternity and I have put eternity in your heart. And I have revealed My Son to you so that you may be saved and blessed. I have called you to fellowship (partnership) with My Son. 1 Corinthians 1:9. And it was Paul who wrote that to you by the inspiration of My Spirit. He lived in that fellowship, that partnership.
And whether people were preaching the gospel to help him or hinder him he only had one desire: that the gospel be preached, people enlightened, their sins forgiven, and they experience salvation and My love. “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.” Philippians 1:18.
Life or death he did not fear for he knew I was with him forever. “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” Romans 14:7-8. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.” Philippians 1:21-26.
When you are so united with Me that whether you live or die is no longer anything causing you anxiety since you know that either way you are living in and with Me, this is great faith.
And My love humbled him though he had been well known as an intellectual Pharisee of the highest excellence, “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:9-10. And he was grateful, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:12-17.
Least of all the apostles Rubbish, only wanted to know Jesus imitate me as I imitate Christ
What did he write to the Corinthian church? “Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own inward parts.” 2 Corinthians 6:11-12. My heart is wide open to you. I am not rationing the Spirit, it is that you are blocking the full flow.
After planting the church in Philippi, Paul and his companions went to many places, such as Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. They then had such success in Corinth that Paul stayed there, living with Priscilla and Acquila, for a year and a half. I directed him to stay there, telling him, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” Acts 18:9-10. Learn how to hear, know My voice. Know the voice of the Spirit. Your future depends on it.
Paul was untiring in his zeal for Me and for setting people free by the truth. He was very serious about following My Son’s first instruction to him on the Road to Damascus: “And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’” Acts 26:15-18.
Paul did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to Me, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.
And he became a man of power who cast out demons in the Name of Jesus, heal the sick, and raise the dead.
And after staying in Corinth, Paul headed for Ephesus. He passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Paul wanted all people to have the fullness of all Jesus died to give them. Although that was very vast. But Paul prayed in tongues more than any of you and he knew the value of learning the voice of the Holy Spirit. And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And this is still the case with many believers today, though by this time it should not be so. And Paul said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were in all about twelve men.
He laid his hands on them. Paul took of his anointing and put it on them. He knew the Spirit is unlimited and the more you give of what you have freely received the more of the Spirit comes in to fill you and others. Rivers of living water are to be flowing from each and every believer.
Do you remember that I had Moses lay his hands on Joshua to succeed him as leader and put his anointing on him? I told Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall put some of your authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him. Moreover, he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his command they shall go out and at his command they shall come in, both he and the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation.” Moses did just as I commanded him; and he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as I had spoken through Moses. Numbers 27:18-23. And when Moses was taken home by Me and the Israelites looked to Joshua to lead them, I tell you that, “Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.” Deuteronomy 34:8-10.
Be careful who you let lay hands on you and on whom you lay hands. There is power released. Jesus told you who believe in His Name to lay your hands on the sick and they will recover. Be obedient. Your children, family and friends as well as others may be in need of healing and you have it in your hands. Do not turn away from people to give at a later time when you have it now.
I love you. Walk with the wise. They forgive. They are filled with My Spirit. They pray in tongues. But above all, they love with My love.