Dear friends,
I trust this note finds
you well. I would like to revisit something that I shared a long time ago
because the Lord has laid it on my heart really strongly. I sense that there are
many who have received a word from the Lord in times past. They have held onto
that word because it brought them hope, but they have never seen the fulfillment
of the promise. There are those who are at the point of giving up on what they
believed God had told them. I pray today that this word will encourage you to
hold fast to the promise of God. Be encouraged today; the Lord is good and He is
faithful.
A number of years ago I was sharing about "rhema" words with the church
where I was pastoring at the time. I told them that when they received a word
from the Lord that the word would be tested. I said that circumstances would
align themselves against that word and sometimes it would look like just the
opposite was happening. Later as I was recounting what I had taught, I was
gently rebuked by the Holy Spirit. The Lord said to me that the word of the Lord
is not being tested. It is the word that tests the heart. A verse came to mind
that I had memorized many years ago: "The words of the Lord are pure
words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. You shall
keep them, O Lord, You shall preserve them from this generation forever." Psalm
12:6,7 If it is a legitmate word from the Lord it is not the word that
is being tested. It is the receiver of that word who is tested. Yes,
circumstances may align themselves against you; it may seem the opposite is
happening but the test is yours.
As I pondered on what the Lord had said, He showed me other passages I was familiar with that validated this truth. Joseph had received some dreams he knew were from God. He would rule over his family. He received that dream as a teenager and went from the pit to Potiphar's house as a slave, falsely accused and thrown in prison, forgotten in prison and eventually to the palace. He was promoted at age 30, but it was probably at least ten more years before his family bowed before him. The psalmist said this about Joseph,"Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. Psalms 105:19 Joseph waited approximately 23 years for the fulfillment of his dreams.
We could look at Abraham who waited 25 years for the birth of Isaac
not considering his own body which Paul described as dead, or impossible for
him to reproduce in the natural ( but God). I thought about this as I've been
writing and I'll put this out there for your contemplation. God instructed
Abraham to sacrifice the promise. I think sometimes the promise and the desire
for the promise obscures our vision of the Promiser. I know when I surrendered
to the call of the ministry there were no open doors for a long time and there
were times my desire to preach obscured the one's whose word I was to proclaim.
I had forgotten that my primary call to ministry was to the Lord. Anything that
we cannot lay on the altar of God becomes an idol. Someone once told me that the
greatest test of faith was to put the promise to death at the command of the
Promiser. Abraham was tested , but his faith had grown to the place that he knew
he would come off the mountain with the Promise even if God had to raise him
from the ashes of the altar. It may seem that your promise has been put to
death, but take heart, God is able to raise it from the ashes of the altar. I
thought about the seeming contradiction and it reminded me of an old joke about
a person struggling at the altar. One group was shouting "Hold fast" and another
group was shouting "Let Go". Sometimes both are necessary.
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the sower going forth
sowing his seed. The word "seed" in the Greek is the word "sperma" from whence
we get the word sperm. The seed contains the DNA of the plant from which it
originated. As the sower went forth sowing, the seed fell on different kinds of
soil. Some fell on fallow ground or pathways and was eaten by birds. Some fell
on stony gound and sprang up quickly and withered away because it had no root.
Others grew, but were choked out by thorns, but the one who received the seed on
good ground, these were the ones who heard the word and understood it. In Luke
it says they kept the word and with patience bore fruit. This is what I want you
to hear; it was not the seed that determined the harvest. Jesus called the seed
the word of the kingdom. All of the seed had the same potential. It had the DNA
of God. It was the condition of the soil that determined the harvest. The seed
tested the soil. The seed, the word of God, tests our hearts.
When we receive a word from the Lord we have what is necessary for
faith. For faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word (rhema or
spoken word of God) Romans 10:17 The word is the seed, our heart is
the soil, and faith is the response. James says that the trying or testing of
our faith produces patience. You may have been waiting a long time, but do not
give up; it is a great work that God is working in you as the old song says "It
will be worth it all." One of my favorite Proverbs says, "Hope deferred
maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life."
Proverbs 13:12. May the Lord bless you richly.
In His love,
Herb Dean
