Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas and the sovereignty of God

Dear Friends,
I hope this letter finds you enjoying this season of celebrating the coming of Christ. My purpose in writing is to wish everyone a wonderful Christ-filled Christmas and a blessed New Year. I also would like to share a couple of thoughts the Lord has brought to mind again this year. I pray this will encourage you.

Christmas and the Sovereignty of God

It is not likely that Joseph and Mary, though devout in their faith, had pondered the need to go to Bethlehem for the baby Jesus to be born. For a young lady eight or nine months pregnant to make the journey of 70 plus miles would be difficult in the least. I am sure the decree from Caesar was not a cause for rejoicing, but caused some consternation considering the trip they must make at such an inconvenient time.
I'll get to the point: God used the decree of a pagan emperor to fulfill His purposes. He used Caesar to get Mary and Joseph where they needed to be in order that prophetic destiny would be fulfilled.
It is often the inconvenient detours of life that position us for the fulfilling of God's purposes in our lives.

Look at Joseph in the Old testament. The pit, Potiphar's house, and the prison all served to position Joseph for the fulfilling of his God given dreams. The detours of God will always bring us into alignment with His purposes.

For Joseph and Mary just walking out the chronos (regular time) in obedience to the emperor the chronos became the kairos (God's appointed time). And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us... John 1:14a

In Romans 8:28, 29 God has promised to bring redemptive purpose out of everything that comes into our lives. As many of you have heard me share before, it was because of an IRS office being closed when I was going there to deal with a tax issue, that I met a man who became a mentor and my life was changed.

I don't know what you may be going through this Christmas, but God has good plans and He is able to take the mundane, the inconvenient chronos and turn it into kairos. He is able to bring redemptive purpose out of everything that comes in our lives and He is very creative. Who would have thought the pagan emperor Caesar would be used of God for the Bread of Life to be born in the "house of bread"?

It is my prayer for you that you will have a wonderful Christmas and that you would experience an ever increasing awareness of His presence in your lives in the coming year. I appreciate you, so much. May God richly bless you.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us......
In His love,
Herb Dean

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

No man can serve two masters

Dear friends,
I pray that you are well and growing in the knowledge of the Lord. We are living in a time when we must hear our Lord. As we look around us we see many who are suffering. There are few of us who have not been impacted some way by falling financial markets. We might ask, "What in the world is going on?". I'd like to share a few thoughts about what the Lord is doing. I hope this will minister to you wherever you find yourself.

No servant 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. You cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16:13

Years ago I found myself in debt with more going out than coming in. I was using credit cards to make up for the shortfall which only exacerbated the problem. One day in the midst of a financial crisis, the Lord lead me to take out my credit card and look at it. I heard His voice so strongly in my Spirit that it could not have been clearer if it had been audible. He said, "Where is your trust? Is it in Me or in that little plastic card?" I was grieved and convicted. I cut the credit card up and repented that day. I was not set free immediately from debt; it was a gradual process. It says in Proverbs that the borrower is servant to the lender. It's like the enemy having a lien on God's property. Debt can be a cruel master. So what is the application for our present time? I believe God's asking His church, "Where is your trust? Is it in me or is it the stock market, your 401K, your bank account, your credit card, or the U.S. government?" Our government seems to think if they throw enough borrowed money at the problem, it will fix the economy. It never has, nor will it. In fact it kind of sounds like what I was doing.

Here are a few thoughts I think we need to consider:
1. It is time to set our priorities in order. I think in America we have tried to serve two masters and now
the debt is being called. It is time to examine our hearts. Have we allowed mammon to be our master?

2. It is time to develop a kingdom mindset. For years I have been talking about a shaking coming. the Lord gave me Hebrews 12:26-29 years ago and I believe there have been times of shaking in my personal life, but this might be the big one. We are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken. Only those things properly related to the kingdom will endure the shaking. We see the housing market shaking; we see the financial markets shaking; we see major manufacturers shaking. Some are enduring personal shaking. The church is undergoing a shaking. Everything that is not grounded in the kingdom will be shaken loose. Jesus was talking about our physical needs being met when He said "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you." As I have written before there is no recession in the kingdom of God. There is no depression in the kingdom of God. This world economy is bankrupt. The economy of heaven is unshakeable. God's stock has never gone down.

3. The shaking is a time of transitioning into the kingdom. There is great hope as we come through this time of shaking. The apostles said that it was through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God. If we cross reference Hebrews 12:26-29 with Haggai 2 we see the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former. The earth is going to be filled with experiential knowledge of the glory of God.

4. This is a time of the testing of the heart. Few things test the heart more than the possibility of losing everything. It is in those times that we see what is really important. Jesus calls riches ungodly mammon and contrasts that with true spiritual riches.

5. Finally the testing and the shaking is for the purification of our hearts. Something pure is something without alloy, without impurities. The shaking not only reveals our hearts, but shakes loose those things which can be shaken. God is calling for purity of heart in His people. Years ago I heard prophecies of a great revival which would have four stages of restoration:
a. Intimacy with God Trouble will either drive us to or from God.
b. Purity Hearts pure toward Him and one another
c. Unity
d. Power Unity is the place of the corporate anointing. Acts 4;24-31 and Psalms 133.

We can rebuke the devil all we want and place blame any number of places, but I truly believe this shaking is from the Lord and it will do us good if we get ourselves grounded in the reality of His kingdom. We pray that you will be encouraged and strengthened in this time of great transition. Be blessed.
In His love,
Herb Dean