JIMMETS – TELL; HEART & FAITH

Time with Jesus - Sunday, 19 August 2012

Hi all,

Three Jimmets to look at today; it appears that I can get three on a page if the font is small. Please let me know if it is too small. On this occasion I was able to use three of the Scriptures.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Sunday, 19 August 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
	INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	JIMMETS – TELL; HEART & FAITH
Most of us go through a “rebellious phase” while we are growing up. We get to a time in our lives when our parents know nothing and we are almost omniscient. It’s one of those times in our lives when we are beginning to reach out for independence. Now independence is a good thing. We start making decisions for ourselves. We need to get there. No one appreciates a 25 year old still fastened to his mother’s apron strings. But that inevitable phase when we are smart and Mom & Dad are idiots comes to all of us. Modern education is partly to blame. We come home from school, our heads stuffed with the knowledge of what we are learning, only to find that Mom and Dad have no idea what we are talking about. Do you remember those days? I do! So do our children and their children. Those days don’t last all that long. A few experiences in the University of Hard Knocks soon make us appreciate parental wisdom. I recall one sage saying how different his youth would have been if he only had the wisdom of his grandfather! One of the things we tend to do is challenge our parent’s authority. My dad had a wonderful way of dealing with me then. He would say “Listen to me my lad, when you are 21, I’m going to pitch you out! You will be on your own and will be able to do whatever you want. In the meantime, under my roof, you will do as I say!” It worked a treat! So much so, that I used the same expression on my kids. It worked with them and their children just as well! In our dealings with the Lord we have similar experiences. We tend to “buck” His authority. Then He deals with us in much the way my dad dealt with me. In the firsts of the following three Jimmets, we have a sense of His anger toward us when He thinks we are “too big for our boots”. We laugh at it now in much the same way I can laugh at my Dad’s comments. But, as I have discovered, you may laugh with Him but never at Him. He knows us far too well for that! But He will and does discipline us. Notice in Isaiah 45:11, man is challenging what God does. By the time we reach the end of the Jimmet, we know He is in charge and we are not. The second Jimmet comments on the need for God’s people to have a heart of flesh and not one of stone. We begin by looking into our own hearts and finding they are as hard as rock. Against this background, He tells us why we all need hearts of flesh. More than that, He points out that we need a loving heart similar to the one beating in our Saviour’s chest. The final Jimmet transports me back in time to the days of Kenneth Hagin and one or two of the other “Faith” teachers. They didn’t get everything wrong. Mark 11:22-23 was one of his favourite teachings. He pointed out that we only receive from God that which we believe we have received. For me back then, it was revolutionary. I also know that toward the end of his life he distanced himself publically from the “Extreme Prosperity Gospel” which is still in vogue. I don’t want to take sides with or against him or those he criticised. What I must say is that he enabled me to see a little bit further than the nose on my face. I will always remember him as a man of God who taught that which he believed was “God’s honest truth” I’d love to be like that! I know I make mistakes. Lots of them. But I honour his love for Jesus. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			11 This is what the LORD says--the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: "Do you question what I do for My children? Do you give Me orders about the work of My hands? Isaiah 45:11 NLT 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stubborn hearts and give you obedient hearts. 27 I will put my Spirit in you. I will enable you to live by my laws, and you will obey my rules. Ezekiel 36:26-27 GW 37 "This is what the Almighty LORD says: I will also let the people of Israel ask me to make them as numerous as sheep. Ezekiel 36:37 GW 19 When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. 20 And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there." Matthew 18:19-20 MSG 22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, "Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. Mark 11:22-23 NLT	Isaiah 45:11 Do you have authority to tell,              The Lord of Hosts what He has got to do? Have you got some strange and magic spell? A sort of God compelling witches brew? Be aware that there is no such thing. Nothing can resist what I declare. And in My omnipotence I bring, To fruition all things anywhere! I Am your Creator and your Lord. I created all of time and space In My hand I wield a mighty Sword Nothing can oppose me face to face! But I love the creatures I have made. Come to Me, You needn’t be afraid!             Jim Strickland Eze. 36:26-27 Have you ever looked into your heart, And seen how stubborn it can be? I knew all about it from the start. Contaminating all your history. But there wasn’t an alternative. Somehow you just had to learn this truth. If you had a real desire to live, You should love Me while you’re still a youth! One or two have been obedient. But there was a problem deep inside. That is why the Saviour was sent; Knowing that He would be crucified! Love like this can soften hearts of stone; Make a heart of flesh just like His own.             Jim Strickland Mark 11:22-23 Jesus challenged them, “Have faith in God!”            You must be quite certain what you say. It’s not contradictory nor odd; Even mountains do not disobey. When you have this firmly in your mind, Confident that it will come to be, That is when you’re guaranteed to find. That a miracle you soon will see! That which you have spoken with your lips, Will be manifest before your eyes. If you doubt at all, you’ve “had your chips”; And you’ll be accused of Satan’s lies. But, when faith is rooted deep in Me, You will cast that mountain in the sea!  Jim Strickland Written 19th August 2012