Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

I would like to share this to increase your faith, not so that I do my alms before men to be seen.

I am in the process of a big transition in my life. The place where I have rented for the past three years will no longer be available for rent in July. My landlady, who is an older woman moved out to help her family back in April, but allowed me to continue to rent through the end of her lease. She called me one evening to let me know that someone had wrote her a check to cover my rent for the month of May. I knew it was God and was so thankful to Him for doing this. I felt I should give tithes on this amount, even though I could really use all that money to cover some bills.

As I'm not sure what the next step in life is, I will be leaving my job when my rent is up, due to not being in the area. All of this certainly is a recipe for anxiety, but the Holy Spirit just keeps reassuring me not to worry.

So a few Sundays back, I put my tithe in the tithe box at church, which not only included my weekly salary tithe, but also the tithe of the money that was paid for my rent. The next day, I went to visit my sister and was going to stop at a store up on that side of town, but the Holy Spirit spoke so clearly and said, “Do you trust Me? Go Home!” I felt such an urgency and quickly changed lanes to get on the freeway that would take me home. I got home, prayed and read the Bible. Asking the Lord, what it was He wanted me home for. I did a few things around the house and then thought I will go to the local store to get what I needed. I decided I should take a load of things to the Goodwill (local charity) on my way to the store.

As I was putting the things into the car, I saw an envelope laying in the back floor board. It said, “Brother Jonathan H. Please use this as the Lord directs or as you need it.” My hands were shaking as I opened it, and counted out a large sum of money. I don't know that I would have found it had I went to the other store. The windows had been open in the car and it could have blown out or someone could have taken it. But the Lord had an appointment for me.

I had already felt to be singing the hymn all that week, “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His Word. Just to rest upon His promise. Just to know, 'Thus Saith the Lord'. Jesus, Jesus, How I love Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. Oh for grace to trust Him more.” That is my cry everyday, “Lord, give me the grace to trust You more.”

Rejoice in Suffering

In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I cannot help, but recall a story from Corrie ten Boom whenever I read this verse of Scripture. If you are not familiar with Sister Corrie, she was a Dutch woman from Holland, who was imprisoned with her family in the German concentration camp during World War 2. They were persecuted for assisting and hiding the Jewish people. During her time in the camp, she was with her sister in overcrowded barracks. They were able to smuggle in a small Bible. One morning, they read this portion of Scripture and Corrie told her sister, "How can we be thankful for all these lice?" Her sister told her that God had a purpose, even for the lice that caused them to have to shave their heads, and be tormented during the night. Sometime later, her sister, Betsy overheard the guards refusing to go into their barracks "because of the lice infestation." Betsy was overjoyed to tell Corrie that God had sent the lice to keep out the guards. Otherwise, they would not have had the freedom to have Bible studies and prayer in the barracks with all the other women.

Many times, we don't see the reason for our trials or infirmities, but we have a commandment from the Apostle Paul to give thanks in everything for this IS the will of God. 

The Apostle Paul was certainly no stranger to afflictions and infirmities. Although he never identified what the thorn in his flesh was, he said that he prayed three times for the Lord to remove the thorn in his side. But the Lord finally answered him by saying, "My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness." Therefore the Apostle Paul could say, Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 This is why he told the Christian church in Rome, "But we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope." Romans 4:3-4

After Paul had suffered a great amount of persecution, in fact, he had been stoned and left for dead, then he and other missionaries went about exhorting and confirming the souls of the disciples that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22  How encouraging is that? That through MUCH tribulation...? But it wasn't only the Apostle Paul who preached these things. James, the Lord's brother, who was also the head of the church in Jerusalem exclaimed, "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, knowing this that trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James 1:2-4 And the Apostle Peter declared, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ". 1 Peter 1:6-7 Where did they get such ideas? Rejoice in suffering. Counting it ALL joy when you fall into various trials. 

Jesus taught us, in the sermon on the mount, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. REJOICE and be EXCEEDING GLAD: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.  Matthew 5:10-12  It is through our suffering of trials, tribulations, and persecutions that we come to the place of perfection in Christ. It is the nature of the natural man to shrink back from these things. It causes us to be uncomfortable. But it is only stretching and discomfort that causes us to grow. 

When I was a child, I often had leg cramps. In the southern United States, we called those Charlie horses. My mother would tell me that it meant I was growing.  It took that discomfort to cause me to grow up into a man. God uses our discomfort and suffering to bring us into the stature of a perfect man - the stature of the fullness of Christ.

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

My brothers and sisters in Christ, learn to embrace your sufferings, the trials that seem so difficult, the moments that feel like they will break you. They are causing you to learn to trust more on the Lord.  They bring us closer to Him. Allow Him to use those moments to stretch you; to bring you into the fullness of His purposes; into His character.

In God We Trust

Recently, I walked out to the street to check the mailbox as I was getting ready to leave home for work. I happened to look down on the street at something shiny. It was a quarter ($0.25). My immediate thought was to pick it up. It was out in the street. No one to claim it. But then my thought was that the local children play ball in the street and may have lost it. I decided to at least pick it up and look at the date on it or see if there was anything significant about it.  I immediately was drawn to the phrase that is printed on every single coin and dollar minted in the U.S.: "In God We Trust".  My mind begin to tell me that God had given me this quarter and I should keep it, but Something else was saying, "Just trust me." My mind said, "but you might need this money down the road.” But the Holy Spirit just kept reminding me to trust Him, He will supply all I need, when I need it. It was a great lesson to be learned. 

We often believe that when we are in need of something, God will give us the money to purchase what it is we need. We seem to think God doesn't have good taste. But if we allow Him to choose for us, His choice is the best. 

The following day, I left earlier in the morning for church than usual and decided to pray on the long drive. As I was praying for my family, my sister called me just at the moment I was praying for her. She was on her way to an appointment where she would receive a little compensation and be able to pay for gas. As it was, she only had a small amount of gas and her low fuel indicator light was on. She passed a gas station while we were talking and decided to stop, but gas was $3.69 a gallon. She only had $3.60. I told her to pray and I would pray and she would find ten cents under her seat. When she called me back later, she had found exactly ten cents under her seat. 

It reminded me of a time when I was traveling back and forth from Alabama to Indiana in 2012 and had decided to leave my job and trust the Lord. I had some money saved up to pay my bills, but I didn't want to be frivolous. I stopped in Tennessee on my way back home and filled up my tank. I went on that tank for almost two weeks before I filled up again. That was very unusual as I filled up at least once a week and sometimes twice. I knew that was supernatural provision. 

The Apostle Paul told the church in Philippi, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19. So many times, growing up I watched as my Mother would be concerned about paying bills or being able to afford groceries, but she would pray and believe God and He always came through and supplied the need right on time. Sometimes, it works out in a way that we don't even realize it was God or maybe it works out in a different way than we had hoped, but even in this, we should give thanks, because "we know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" Romans 8:28 We are called according to His purpose - not our own ideas or purposes.

But We See Jesus

 But we see Jesus , Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Hebrews 2:9

Jesus was seated at the Passover table with His disciples, just a few hours before His crucifixion. Phillip, who had seen the Messiah countless times discern the hearts of the people, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, cast out devils, asked Him, Show us the Father, and it will suffice us. John 14:8.  If ever the Lord Jesus had been disappointed, I wonder if there wasn't some disappointment in His voice when He responded: Have I been so long a time with you, and yet have you not know me, Phillip? He that has seen me has seen the Father; and how do you say then, Shew us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, He does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake. John 14:9-11

In the book of Luke, we find Jesus saying, All things are delivered to Me of My Father; and no man knows Who the Son is, but the Father; and Who the Father is, but the Son, and He to Whom the Son will reveal Him. Luke 10:22  I have observed many fathers who have a strong relationship with their eldest son. Many times, the son will look, as we say in the south - the spitting image of the father. In other words, the son looks like a younger version of his father. They may share many of the same characteristics and traits. The son may know just how a father would handle a given situation, because he's been around his father so long that he can say, "this is how my father would do."  But Jesus wasn't beyond just knowing the Father so well or looking so similar to His Father. Hebrews 1:3 tells us He was the express image of His person. And 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, Christ, Who is the image of God. This was more than just a young man being the carbon copy of his father.  This was God Almighty incarnated in human flesh. 

Paul told the Galatians that the gospel he preached was not anything he learned at the feet of Gamliel, nor from the seminary or the apostles before him. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:12  When Jesus was standing with His disciples in the Caesarea Phillipi and He asked the disciples what others were saying about Him, they all answered, Some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But Jesus asked them very direct and pointedly, But whom say YE that I am? Simon Peter was bold and not afraid to speak up and say, Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou Simon son of Jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in Heaven. Matthew 16:13-17  Peter had a revelation of Jesus Christ. That's why on the day of Pentecost, he could boldly stand and declare, This is that which was prophesied by the prophet Joel... and later in his sermon tell the others how they could receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He had a revelation of Who Jesus is. 

He commanded the people to: Repent and be baptized every one of you in the NAME of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For this promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2:38-39.  But why would he contradict what Jesus had said only about 40 days before? In Matthew 28:19, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the NAME of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. So why then did Peter seemingly contradict the words of Jesus? He didn't. He had a revelation of the NAME.  

As a child, if someone asked me what my father's name was, I would say, "Daddy". That's what I called him, but that was not his name. And of course that person would laugh at my childish answer, because they knew that Daddy was not a name. And my name was not son. Peter had received the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He didn't need anyone to teach him because the Holy Ghost had already revealed to him Who Jesus was.

The Truth About Christmas

In Jeremiah chapter 10, YHVH instructs us not to learn the practices of the pagans. He goes on to elaborate on how they follow astrological signs and how they go out into the grove and cut down a tree and deck it with silver and gold. However, it is no different than a scarecrow in a cucumber patch. It's deaf, dumb and unable to do good or bad.

Many people have used this scripture to argue their beliefs against the christmas tree. Yet, with a little careful research, we understand He's speaking of carving an idol. So, why is the christmas tree idolatry?

The pagans of long ago were sun worshipers. They believed that every year around December 25th, the sun died and was reborn. We understand, as did they that the shortest day of the year is December 21st. The following day is a new beginning as the days began getting longer and longer, until it climaxes on June 21st.

For hundreds of years, the Roman empire forced the nations that they conquered to recognized the Roman Emperor as the supreme god on earth. Finally, in the third century C.E. Constantine assumed the title of Emperor. He came to study and believe in the fastly growing Christian faith, which for many years had been outlawed by the Roman empire. In his desire to make Christianity the universal religion of the Roman empire, he begin to adopt pagan practices into the christian faith so that other religions would more easily accept the Christian faith.

On 325 A.D., the council of Nicea met and adopted many of the well known traditions of what we now call Christianity. This was the birth of the Catholic church. For those who are familiar with the term “Catholic”, it means universal. December 25th, which had been regarded by many to be the birthday of the Sun, now became the birthday of “our lord”. You only have to read Luke 1:26 and do the math to decide Yeshua (Jesus) could not have been born in December.

The angel Gabriel came to Mary and informed her of her pregnancy in the sixth month of the Jewish year. Whether the year was agricultural and began in April or whether it was the new year at Rosh Hoshanna, she could not have given birth in December, unless she had a premature birth or carried him past nine months.

The traditions of praying to saints came from idolatrous practices of many faiths, such as ancestral worship, praying to idols, etc. The term “Santa” in latin means “Saint”. Decorating a tree comes from the pagan practices of sacred groves and such. YHVH commanded us in the Ten Commandments not to worship idols or have any other gods. In Exodus 23:12, He commands that not even the names of other gods should be spoken by us.

So, the next time you go out to “the grove” to cut down your christmas tree, or you “deck the halls”, remember where these traditions come from. The apostles never celebrated such pagans “holidays”.

Choose This Day

Choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Josh. 24:15

...Today if ye will hear His voice... Ps. 95:7

And He said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow Me. Lk. 9:23

Every morning that we wake up, God sets a choice before us. Will you choose to serve Him, or will you choose to serve yourself and idolatry. If you choose Him, you choose good and life. If you choose to serve yourself and idolatry, you choose evil and death. Yesterday is past and absolutely nothing can be done to change it. Tomorrow is in the future and you don't know if you'll even be a part of it. But today, while it is called “today”, you must make the choice: Will I choose God and life or will I choose self and death?

In Deuteronomy 11:26-27, God told the children of Israel through Moses, “Behold, I set before you THIS DAY a blessing and a curse; a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD you God, and a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out out of the way which I command you THIS DAY, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.” The choice is yours – a blessing or a curse, but it depends on the choice you make. I capitalized the words DAILY and THIS DAY so that you can see the connection. We must DAILY choose right or wrong; good or evil; life or death. So many want to have the best of both worlds or “ride the fence”, as the old saying goes, but you have to choose. You can't choose to love God and love the world, too.

I recently saw an illustration, where a man had two ladders standing opposite one another, which looked like a V shape. He had one foot on one ladder and another foot on the other. He demonstrated that you can only go so high before you are stuck and must choose between ascending one ladder or the other. Jesus told us, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.” Matthew 6:24 The Apostle James, who was also the Lord's brother said, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8

When the prophet Elijah had brought the prophets of Baal and Israel to the top of Carmel to demonstrate the power of God by fire, he cried out: “How long halt you between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” 1 Kings 18:21 The prophet Joel saw in a vision and declared, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:14 Now is the time to choose. Get out of the valley of decision. Choose to serve the Lord and you will choose life. But if you choose otherwise, it is death. The apostle James also said, “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished bringeth forth death.” James 1:14 The apostle John taught us, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2: 15-17

Consecrate yourself fully to God. Give your mind, will, emotions, plans, thoughts, everything that you possess over to Him and He will not disappoint you in any way. Choose His way for you.

It Is I

 

 

 

 This sermon, entitled, "It Is I" was preached on Saturday morning, May 03, 2003 at Mount Zion Fellowship in Jerusalem, Israel.

Text was taken from Matthew 14:22-23.

Hidden Manna

 

This sermon, entitled "Hidden Manna" was preached on Saturday evening, April 26, 2003 at Mount Zion Fellowship in Jerusalem, Israel. After the morning service, and afternoon fellowship, i had went back to the apartments I was staying at in French Hill. I laid down for a nap, but my sleep was disturbed in the spirit. I went down to the basement and began to pray in the Spirit in an unknown tongue. The Holy Spirit began to interpret to me what I was praying and it was the revelation for the sermon that was preached.

While I was laying in bed, I could hear a voice in my spirit crying out, "Help me, I can't get free". That evening, a lady visited our service. She was from England and had been bound by an unclean spirit of alcoholism. She testified that the Lord delivered her, that evening.

Don’t Turn Back to Egypt

 

This sermon, entitled, "Don't Turn Back to Egypt" was preached at Mount Zion Fellowship in Jerusalem, Israel on Saturday morning, April, 26, 2003.  The picture is of myself and Sister Paracleta, a nun from Nigeria who lived in Jerusalem. She was a big part of our fellowship during that time. We were sitting by the place of the Nativity in Bethlehem. 

Sermon notes: 

Don't Turn Back to Egypt

I Corinthians 10:1-14

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and [how] I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Exodus 19:4

God brought the children of Israel our of Egypt by mighty signs and wonders.

Had they went through the land of the Philistines, they could have been in the Promised Land in lest than a week.

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the go, that God led them not [through] the way of the land of the Philistines, although that [was] near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: Exodus 13:17

But god took them the way of the wilderness lest they see war and turn back to Egypt.

Sometimes God takes us through the wilderness, and doesn't show us what's up the road, lest we see the battle and turn back.

He uses our circumstances to mold us to fit His purposes in our life:

• Joseph down in the dungeon for three years

• Moses on the backside of the desert for forty years.

• Gideon, hiding down in the winepress from the Midianites in preparation.

• David down in the pasture being trained by the Spirit of God to reign.

• Jesus tested in the wilderness

Can't we trust the leading of the Holy Ghost?

God brought the Israelites out of Egypt in a short time, but it took Him 40 years to get Egypt out of the people.

God brought us out of sin, but sometimes He works overtime to get sin out of us.

He brought us out of man's traditions, but it's more difficult to get that mentality out of us.

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you. II Corinthians 6:17

Remembering Egypt

The older generation had to die out. They remembered Egypt to well.

The only thing the older generation could ever think about was the leaks, the garlic, and the cucumbers.

They didn't remember the taskmasters whip across their backs. They couldn't remember the mud pits they stomped in day after day, after day.

Fasting is not sitting around thinking about food.

God was willing to wipe out every last one of them and raise up Moses' family, but he interceded for the nation and so...

The younger generation couldn't remember Egypt, so God chose them.

There was not one feeble one among them, so there carcases must have just fallen by the wayside.

Joshua and Caleb had another spirit. Not a spirit of turning back, but one of moving forward.

Murmuring and Complaining

Joshua and Caleb didn't have that spirit of complaining.

• Some people are never happy with what God gives them.

The waves of the Red Sea hadn't even settled from drowning the Egyptians before the people were already complaining.

“Moses, why did YOU bring us out of the wilderness to die? Would to God we had died in Egypt.”

They complained about the waters. They complained about the food. They complained about the quail. They complained about Moses. They complained about everything and with many of them God was not well pleased.

Joshua and Caleb weren't the only ones under the cloud. Moses wasn't the only one eating the manna. Aaron wasn't the only one eating quail.

They all ate the same spiritual food and drank from the same Rock that followed them through the wilderness.

...for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45

Always Looking Back

When Moses went up into Sinair, Dathan began to stir up the people. He begin to sow seeds of discord that Moses wasn't coming back.

He even convince the Holy Priest of God to make a golden calf to lead them back to Egypt.

They were constantly looking back.

People who aren't really filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost will look for any excuse to go back to Egypt.

Follow the Fire

The children of Israel had to learn to follow the fire.

If the fire moved on South, then the children of Israel had to take up there tents and possessions and move South.

If the Fire settled at the base of the mountain, then the people set up camp there.

We can't get ahead of God. We have to learn to follow the Fire.

There were probably times that some of the people resented the Pillar of Fire, because they had grown tired of wandering and didn't want to back up and move on.

Keep following the Fire.

Follow the Example

Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should lust after evil things, as they also lusted. I Corinthians 10:6

“Mistakes were made to be learned from, not repeated.”

God allows us to make mistakes so that we will learn from them and move on, but not repeated them.

Zimri committed whoredom with a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and Phineas was zealous for God and killed him with a javelin.

Not only did he commit fornication, but he was brassy about it.

People often get that brassy spirit on them that they're going to do what they want to do, no matter who sees them.

 

And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? Exodus 17:7

After all the signs and wonders God had shown them, they still wondered if God was with them or not.

It's time to come out of our comfort zones.

Once you've left Egypt, allow God to take Egypt out of you.

No matter how rough the road, “Don't turn back to Egypt.”

Deeper Things of God

This sermon, entitled "Deeper Things of God" was preached at Mount Zion Fellowship in Jerusalem, Israel on Saturday morning of April 19, 2003. This first song, Take Us Higher was written and being sung by Sister Nancy Bergen. After, she and I sang together, "What God's Doing in Me" which was written by Sister Ruth Heflin, the founder of Mount Zion Fellowship in the mid '70's. 

These are the sermon notes:
 

The Deeper Things of God

Proverbs 30:19-21

No matter how many lives went down into the grave by war, holocaust, famine, disease, etc. Death still cries out for more lives.

The womb that has never borne children cries out to bear children.

No matter how many homes have been destroyed by floods or how many beaches have disappeared because the ever enlarging ocean, the waters still seek to cover more land.

Thousands and thousands of acres of forest have been lost to fires, yet fire longs to devour more. It's never satisfied.

These all seem like negative aspects of desire for more, but there is a positive aspect.

As true, Holy Ghost filled believers, there must be a cry in each of our spirits for more of God. Not just a head knowledge, but it must run deep in our spirits.

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts: all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me. Psalm 42:7

Where there is a deep calling out to the deep, there is a deep to respond. If there is a craving in your body for sodium, then there is sodium to fill that crave.

Boy with sulfur deficiency... eating the erasers off pencils and petals off of bicycles because of the crave for sulfur... His body knew where to find the sulfur.

Before there was ever an Earth hanging out in space, there first had to be a space for the Earth to hang in. Before there was ever a fish swimming in the water, there had to be waters created for the fish to swim in. Before there was ever a tree in the Earth, there first had to be an environment for the tree to survive in.

So, if there's a craving in your spirit for the deeper things of God, then there are deeper things of God to attain.

Before God was God

There was a time that God was not God. In order for God to be God, He had to have some to worship Him. In order for Him to be a Creator, He had to create something. In order for Him to be a Savior, something had to first be lost. In order for Him to be a Healer, something first had to be sick.

There was a deep longing in God to be worshiped, but He existed alone with His thoughts. There were no cherubim nor seraphim to give Him praise. So, He created them.

But the cherubim had no choice but to worship Him. God longed to have someone worship Him by choice.

So, after the creation of Earth, He created man from the dust of the Earth. And Adam walked with God in the cool of the evening and had communication with the Divine Creator.

But Satan entered into the plans. He had a vendetta against the Most High, because he had been cast from the Heavens for his pride.

All in God's plan, man fell from his position with God. No longer did they have walks in the cool of the evening. No longer was there Divine communication between the two.

Down through the ages, God began revealing His plan to redeem man-kind. Why? Because there was a desire in Him to be a Savior; healer; deliverer.

He did not send a cherub to do this job. This wasn't a job that Michael or Gabriel could handle. He came HIMSELF and not a messenger.

He desired to know the temptations of man. He desired to know the sickness that man is tormented with. He desired to know how it felt to have fellowship as we know it with the Divine Creator.

So the Spirit of God crawled inside the womb of a virgin, Mary and was born in a stable. Not a messenger, but God, Himself.

He experienced all that we have or ever will experience. Just because of the deep longing to know His creation.

In the same sense, there is a deep longing on the inside of every true believer, to know our Creator.

God's desire to be a husband

When God created the animals, He created each of them with a mate, but when He created man, He created him male and female.

So, God looked down and saw that Adam was alone in the garden and had that desire in him for a wife.

So, God put a deep sleep over Adam, reached in Adam's side and took out the feminine part of Adam and created a help meat for him.

On Calvary, when the Spirit of God left Jesus to die alone (because God cannot die), and the Roman soldier came by and pierced His side, it was a type of God reaching into the second Adam and pulling out His Bride.

Because God longs for His mate. The animals had a mate. Adam had a mate. But God didn't have a mate.

1. As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.

2. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

Psalm 42:1-2

Just as the deer has a thirst for water, the Believer thirsts after God. The deep calls unto the deep.

There is something about the Word of God that calls out to His Elect. It draws them.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6

If there is a thirst for God, then Yeshua (Jesus) is the Living Waters to quench our thirst. If there is a hunger for more of God, then there is more of God to satisfy the hunger.

If your mouth is dry and you are thirsty, your body has already begun dehydrating.

So there is a source to satisfy that thirst. Just like our spiritual thirst.

The woman at the well

She came to the well daily, but couldn't come at the same time as the other ladies, because of her sinful life.

So, she comes to the well one day and there sits a man, who asks for a drink. The dialogue continues.

Finally, He tells her to go get her husband. She says she has no husband. And Jesus tells her, “That's right, you've had five husbands and the man your living with now is not your husband.”

Immediately, there was something inside of her that caused her to recognize Jesus to be a prophet, but when He spoke again, she recognized Him as the Messiah.

It was that seed that had been planted in her spirit from the time she was young. Maybe she had sat at the table and heard her father talking about how God would one day send the Messiah.

Maybe she had heard Him reading the Law and the Prophets and now, she is standing at the well, and the Light of God had come and struck that seed planted in her heart and she recognized Him.

What was it? It was the deep calling out to the deep and standing there at the well, the Deep responded.

Reaching Out for More

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:13-14

How do you find more of God?

We reach forth unto those things which are before. We cannot just sit back and wait on God to drop it in our laps like the stork would drop a baby at the doorstep.

We've got to stretch out our arm a little farther than we've been stretching.

We may have to sacrifice a little more than we've been sacrificing.

We may have to fast a little more than we've been fasting.

Or pray a little more than we've been praying.

Read our Bible a little more than we normally read them.

It might cost us a little more than we've paid in the past.

If you're satisfied with what you've got, God can't give you any more. Wallace H. Heflin.

You've gone as far as you're going to go with God until you're willing to pay a greater price. William Branham

How do you find more of God? Press in.

When thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee. Thy face, LORD, will I seek. Psalm 27:8

Seek His face.

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Deuteronomy 4:29

If you seek God with sincerity of heart and all of your soul, you will find Him.

Song of Songs 3

We find that the Bride was seeking the Bridegroom in bed, but He wasn't there.

How often do we go to bed at night, too tired to get down by the bedside and pray. So we just lay there in bed, staring up at the ceiling, expecting Him to just overlook our laziness.

The Bride didn't find Him in the bed. She had to rise up and go about the city and SEEK Him.

God is not hiding from us, in these times, but He wants to see how much we really desire to know Him.

Are we willing to pay the greater price?