[Leadership] People, People!

You will be rejected and criticized whether you do anything, something or nothing. Embrace the fact that people are watching. Depend on Father to bring those across your path for a purpose and a season. If you continue to get your needs met by Him directly, you will not fall into the trap of looking to people for acceptance and approval, nor be vulnerable to manipulation or trying to meet their needs from your soulical resources. You will be able to accept them as they are, and not be forced to categorize them either as a blessing or a curse.

People are unavoidable, don’t be distracted by them .

Stay focused on the task at hand and have a fun week!

Tithing, Giving and the Scriptures [Part 12]

Nehemiah and Restoration of the Law (Nehemiah 10:28-39)

28Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding— 29these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes: 30We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; 31if the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt.

32Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33for the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. 34We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the Law. 35And we made ordinances to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord; 36to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; 37to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities. 38And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms of the storehouse. 39For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers are; and we will not neglect the house of our God.

As Nehemiah and the restored Israelites re-establish their nation, one of the first things they do is re-iterate the tenets of the regulations acknowledging the Lord as their God. This includes the restoration of the tithe (they were not tithing or keeping any of the commandments of the Lord in captivity, previous to entering the land). Again, tithes to the priests was specifically mentioned, as well as the tithes being stored in the temple. Nehemiah even added ordinances concerning payment for specific needs of the temple. (These things may have been more expensive than they were in Moses’ day.)

Supernatural Environment

The supernatural or soulical environment consists of those areas between the natural (that which was created and can be recognized by the natural senses) and the spiritual (that which has the same characteristics as God; holy, eternal, omnipotent, etc.). Most of us spend the majority of our time and thoughts dwelling in this realm. Though this is one realm, it contains many regions. In order to understand our beliefs we can say that the supernatural realm is where the angels and demons dwell, also described as heaven and hell. We can also say that the realm to which our soul relates is the soulical environment. Our soulical senses work just as well (or as poorly) in heaven as in hell.

The most important law that predominates over this realm is that God reigns supreme, and nothing happens here without His express permission, just as in the natural realm.

The supernatural realm can also become a distraction, as many believe that it is the same thing as the spiritual realm. So we often mistake what happens there, and what we see, as being 100% true and infallible. Thus, we can experience visions, manifestations of God, angels and demons, etc., and falsely conclude that there is absolute authority and clarity in them. This can be not only a distraction but misleading and a deception, especially when doctrines are then built upon what we believe God has shown us in this imperfect realm.

WITH PURPOSE OF HEART by Ray Prinzing

“And they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” (Acts 11:22-23)

Barnabas beheld the GRACE OF GOD working in their lives, and he was glad. This is a beautiful, positive approach. He could have seen all the imperfections, how much spiritual growth was needed, worried about the errors of doctrine, whatever else might be common to the beginnings of the Christian walk. But he saw the grace of God, and knew there was a work begun, and viewing God’s handiwork, he knew that the One who had begun in these people a good work, He also would bring it to a successful conclusion in due time, so he only sought to encourage, to exhort them to continue, to follow on to perfection, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

The word ‘cleave’ comes from the Greek ‘pros’ meaning toward, and ‘meno’ which means to remain, abide. What an excellent exhortation, to remain towards the Lord, to abide in a walk that is always directed towards the Lord, to keep Him in the center of our vision, and to remain in that close union with Him. “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth,” (Psalm 16:8-9)

This vital abiding, remaining ever towards the Lord, is the resultant action of our PURPOSE OF HEART. It speaks of the action of the will. True, spiritual depth and maturity come with growth and processing under the workmanship of the Spirit of God within us, but our responsive action to His inworking is the exercise of our will, willing to live out that which He has wrought within. “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself,” (Dan. 1:8). The deliberate, pre-meditated, chosen course of action. It was the action of his will motivated by his heart, his inner state of being, that gave strength to face every test, which followed.

Lord, we will to have Your will in all things. Amen!

[Hedz Up] Patience, Again

Don’t be distracted by the many roadblocks. The journey itself is more important than arriving at your goal. You have not passed this way before, and will not again, so enjoy the gifts Father has for you along the way.

Keep your eye on the horizon, Father will guide each footstep.

Have a restful week!

“Prepare: Practical Christianity” Radio Monday Evening Schedule Change

Monday night’s live program on Practical Christianity will be at 6:00pm est, returning to the usual 6:30pm est timeslot for the rest of the schedule.

You can also access my program through the Program Guide of BlogTalkRadio by searching for “Prepare” or by my name, “Dianne Thomas.”

Currently the Live Broadcast Schedule for BlogTalkRadio is as follows:

Monday 6:30 p.m. est “Practical Christianity: Does What You Believe Work?” Series on the basics of our beliefs, the three realms of reality, sources of authority and our identity in Christ.

Tuesday 6:30 p.m. est “Getting Healed: Becoming Whole Spirit Soul and Body” Series on how to identify your temperament and your wounds, then how to go to God to get them healed once and for all. How to identify attacks from our enemies the world, flesh and the devil and how to overcome them. Fogiveness and giving up our rights.

Thursday 6:30 p.m. est “Knowing God: Developing an Intimate, Supernatural Relationship” Learning how to clearly and consistently hear from God, how to respond, divine guidance in specific situations, praying effectively, learning to minister as the spirit being you are.

Saturday 9:00 a.m. est “Prepare Q & A / Feedback” During this regular feature we answer questions and pass along feedback and comments that are likely to be of interest to the audience in general. All questions are responded to individually as promptly as time permits.

ARCHIVED PODCAST: If you are not able to listen to the live broadcast, you can join the majority of listeners who listen to the programs in their entirety via podcast. There are three ways you can listen to these archived programs: 1) Streaming/online. Once you find the archived progam you want to listen to from the BTR PREPARE Host Page, one of your options will be to play the podcast through your internet connection. [When loading the Host Page, the most recent Live Broadcast will automatically begin playing.] There are multiple formats that will likely be compatible with the programs already on your computer. 2) Downloads. Another option you have is to download the program in various formats, including .mp3, which you can listen to at your leisure on your computer or any compatible audio player (iPod, for instance). 3) iTunes Subscriptions. We are working on setting this up for easier use and hope to announce soon that the podcast is available as a standard iTunes Subscription.