You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. —Isaiah 26:3

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things… —Isaiah 40:26

The people of God in Isaiah’s time had blinded their minds’ ability to see God by looking on the face of idols. But Isaiah made them look up at the heavens; that is, he made them begin to use their power to think and to visualize correctly. If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in nature and will realize that it is holy and sacred. We will see God reaching out to us in every wind that blows, every sunrise and sunset, every cloud in the sky, every flower that blooms, and every leaf that fades, if we will only begin to use our blinded thinking to visualize it.

The real test of spiritual focus is being able to bring your mind and thoughts under control. Is your mind focused on the face of an idol? Is the idol yourself? Is it your work? Is it your idea of what a servant should be, or maybe your experience of salvation and sanctification? If so, then your ability to see God is blinded. You will be powerless when faced with difficulties and will be forced to endure in darkness. If your power to see has been blinded, don’t look back on your own experiences, but look to God. It is God you need. Go beyond yourself and away from the faces of your idols and away from everything else that has been blinding your thinking. Wake up and accept the ridicule that Isaiah gave to his people, and deliberately turn your thoughts and your eyes to God.

One of the reasons for our sense of futility in prayer is that we have lost our power to visualize. We can no longer even imagine putting ourselves deliberately before God. It is actually more important to be broken bread and poured-out wine in the area of intercession than in our personal contact with others. The power of visualization is what God gives a saint so that he can go beyond himself and be firmly placed into relationships he never before experienced.

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Journal DJR

Good morning Lord,
Visualization. Powerful stuff. It’s an ability you created us with and it is used by all people. Some for good, some for bad. Most don’t even know they are doing it. But we can use it as a tool and cultivate it’s use. It seems to me to be a neutral and powerful tool that can be used to bring me closer to God and his ways … or farther away from Him. How do I make sure I’m using it right and not being used?

Good question. If your foundation and your source is right then you can build and use the tools I’ve given you for good. If your foundation is wrong, whatever you build will be wrong and good tools won’t change that. The foundation of the first two commandments, Love God and Love neighbor, will never get you in trouble. When you visualize thru those lenses, you will see things that others dont see. Look for me in situations. Look for ways to love me and love people and you will find them. Look for the good and you will find it. If you dont consciously look for the good you will naturally float along and see plenty of bad. So stay curious, looking for me and looking for good. I am good and am looking for those who are looking for good, and who want to be part of my agenda on the earth … like Isaiah.

Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

Visualize that we (in heaven) are looking for team players to promote our agenda:

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chron 16:9.

The everlasting God…neither faints nor is weary. —Isaiah 40:28

I am already being poured out as a drink offering… —2 Timothy 4:6

If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. —Philippians 2:17

Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ‘Well done.’ ”

It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet. God’s purpose may be to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Are you ready to be sacrificed like that? Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket— to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted— not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work while maintaining a saintly attitude, because they feel such service is beneath their dignity.

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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord, Being in the background, doing menial or un-noticed work only works for me when I’m connected with you. When I lose that clear connection, I tend to resent doing menial things. So I guess the key is to stay connected and be ready for anything you send. The large and the small, the strategic and the menial.

Connected with me is the best way to live. It’s the way I live … and the way I lived when I walked the shores of Galilee. I’m always connected with Father and Holy Spirit .. and as many of you as accept that invitation to our connection. As you stay connected with me, you can say with Paul. I can do all things, thru Christ, who strengthens me. Phil 4:13. When you lose connection, you lose the strength to withstand all pressures. That is when men have fallen back on their own strength and built structures to maintain their power. It’s an ugly thing. My people connected to me with my power (Me) flowing thru them … That is a beautiful thing. My essence is Love. Love manifests many ways but here are some clues:

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Cor 13)

If those things are not flowing in your circumstances … check your connection. When something seems to be missing in your life … it’s me. Look how fast the Father was there for the prodigal son who realized that something was missing. We are here for you, just like that.

The love of Christ compels us… —2 Corinthians 5:14

We have been made as the filth of the world… —1 Corinthians 4:13

These words are not an exaggeration. The only reason they may not be true of us who call ourselves ministers of the gospel is not that Paul forgot or misunderstood the exact truth of them, but that we are too cautious and concerned about our own desires to allow ourselves to become the refuse or “filth of the world.” “Fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ…” (Colossians 1:24) is not the result of the holiness of sanctification, but the evidence of consecration— being “separated to the gospel of God…” (Romans 1:1).

“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you…” (1 Peter 4:12). If we do think the things we encounter are strange, it is because we are fearful and cowardly. We pay such close attention to our own interests and desires that we stay out of the mire and say, “I won’t submit; I won’t bow or bend.” And you don’t have to— you can be saved by the “skin of your teeth” if you like. You can refuse to let God count you as one who is “separated to the gospel….” Or you can say, “I don’t care if I am treated like ‘the filth of the world’ as long as the gospel is proclaimed.” A true servant of Jesus Christ is one who is willing to experience martyrdom for the reality of the gospel of God. When a moral person is confronted with contempt, immorality, disloyalty, or dishonesty, he is so repulsed by the offense that he turns away and in despair closes his heart to the offender. But the miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst and the vilest offender can never exhaust the depths of His love. Paul did not say that God separated him to show what a wonderful man He could make of him, but “to reveal His Son in me…” (Galatians 1:16).

Journal DJR
Good morning Lord. So I’m not to think it strange, the fiery trials that may come my way as in 1 Peter 4:12. How then am I to think of them? I can think I am privileged to “Fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ…” (Colossians 1:24). But to be honest, that thinking seems to be too far a stretch for me in the midst of a trial. How about an attitude of “Curiosity?”

Curiosity is a good first step. I can work with that and it won’t shut down your ability to hear my voice and move to those next levels of thinking. Staying curious requires that you have not already come to a conclusion or judgement about an issue. Curiosity is a good starting place for hearing my voice or feeling my nudges. Then it is up to you to be obedient. That’s when the faith kicks in. You dont even need faith until you hear me tell you something which isn’t “logical” … like step out of the boat, or something out of your comfort zone, like, “go pray for that person.” So live curious and connected and ready to obey. It’s the way I lived. It’s the best way to live.

Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16

Who are You, Lord? —Acts 26:15
“The Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand…” (Isaiah 8:11). There is no escape when our Lord speaks. He always comes using His authority and taking hold of our understanding. Has the voice of God come to you directly? If it has, you cannot mistake the intimate insistence with which it has spoken to you. God speaks in the language you know best— not through your ears, but through your circumstances.

God has to destroy our determined confidence in our own convictions. We say, “I know that this is what I should do” — and suddenly the voice of God speaks in a way that overwhelms us by revealing the depths of our ignorance. We show our ignorance of Him in the very way we decide to serve Him. We serve Jesus in a spirit that is not His, and hurt Him by our defense of Him. We push His claims in the spirit of the devil; our words sound all right, but the spirit is that of an enemy. “He…rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of’ ” (Luke 9:55). The spirit of our Lord in His followers is described in 1 Corinthians 13.

Have I been persecuting Jesus by an eager determination to serve Him in my own way? If I feel I have done my duty, yet have hurt Him in the process, I can be sure that this was not my duty. My way will not be to foster a meek and quiet spirit, only the spirit of self-satisfaction. We presume that whatever is unpleasant is our duty! Is that anything like the spirit of our Lord— “I delight to do Your will, O my God…” (Psalm 40:8).

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Journal DJR
Good morning Lord, Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons … or doing God’s thing with man’s power, That is the result of not being connected and hearing your voice. Two ways that I wind up doing a good thing for the wrong reasons revolve around the operative words, “should” and “ought.” Those words (for me at least) are shrouded in guilt. The guilt drains the joy out of the good thing that I go ahead and do so I’m left with an empty feeling. I wonder if it erases the spiritual blessing that only you would see also.

Whatever is Not of Faith is Sin (Rom 14:23)

Paul could have amplified that and said that the faith needs to be in me and what I make clear to you. You can have faith in your country or your leaders, even religious leaders and still miss the mark. Like the Pharisees.

It seems so simple. Just get connected, hear your voice and your heart and live out of that. How did I miss it for all those years? But also so easy to get disconnected, listen to my own thoughts or pick up some shoulds and oughts, and find myself sick and tired and missing the delight.

“I delight to do Your will, O my God…” (Psalm 40:8).

Thanks for promising to never leave me or forsake me. You’ve never let me run amuck for too long. And I’m always welcome back… like the prodigal son. Lord help me to get and stay connected faster and stay disconnected less and less.

If there’s a guilt feeling attached to it, or driving it, skip it, no matter how good or godly the issue seems to be. That’s not my way of relating with my kids.

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? —Acts 26:14