Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "wake". There are different words translated wake and we will look at two of them. The first one is found in Joel 3:9:

9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: KJV

The phrase "wake up" here is the Hebrew word "uwr". Strong's Concordance says: To rouse oneself, to awake, to incite, to stir up, to be excited, to be triumphant. The Amplified Bible says this:

9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare war! Stir up the mighty men! Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.

We know that our 'warfare' isn't with flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12), but we war against spiritual forces that are set on stealing the Word out of our hearts and replacing that Word with lies, human reasoning and negative reports. We win this war by rejecting and replacing the lies with the TRUTH (John 17:17 - the WORD)! It takes work and determination to keep ourselves 'stirred up'  so that the enemy cannot get an advantage over us! The next 'wake' is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10:

9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. KJV

This is the Greek word "gregoreuo". Strong's Concordance says: to keep awake, to watch. Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: to watch, to give strict attention to, to be cautious. As you and Kristine continue to seek and follow God's plan for your lives, family, careers, home, and everything involved with them, make sure to continually keep yourselves awake and stirred up! Remind yourselves of past victories, just as David did (the lion and the bear), and fully expect the "unexpected" blessings to open up for you! You have  FAVOR and God has the PLAN! He is RARELY early, but NEVER late! His timing is PERFECT! Here is Hillsong Young and Free with "Wake":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

I was planning on getting back to word studies this week, but I want to share one more "Mystery" with you instead! This one is from Day 343 and is called "The End Of The Story":

"What is it," asked the teacher, "that makes a story good or bad, happy or sad? What if I told you the story of a man hated by his own family, sold into slavery, taken to a foreign land, thrown into prison for a crime he didn't commit, and forgotten by man and, it seems, by God. What kind of story would you say it is?"

"A sad story. A story of injustice and oppression ... a tragedy."

"But the story is from the Book of Genesis. And the man is Joseph. And he will end up being released from prison, given a position of great honor, saving Egypt from famine, and being reconciled to his family. Now would you still say the story is sad and tragic?"

"No. I would say the story is one of triumph."

"And you would be right," he said. "The parts of a story are not all of equal weight. A happy story with a tragic end is not a happy story, but a tragic one. A tragic story with a triumphant ending is not a tragic story, but a triumphant one. You can never judge a story by its beginning or middle, or by its parts before its ending. It is the ending of the story that determines everything that went before it. Always remember that. The nature of the story is determined by its end ... so too the story of your life. You can never judge your story by your current circumstances or problems. And as long as you're on earth, you haven't seen the end of the story."

"So then one can never know what kind of story you're in."

"Not so," said the teacher. "If you're a child of God, the end of the story is revealed."

"Which is ... "

"Victory, restoration, triumph, blessing, joy and glory. And it is that end that makes your life a good story, a wonderful story. Therefore, when you look at your life, see everything in the light of that ending ... every problem, every defeat, every sorrow, every failure, every evil ... they're only the components of a story of triumph and glory. Fix your eyes on the end of the story. And press on to the end. For it is that end that makes your story and your life ... a great one."

The Mission: No matter what you're going through today or in your life, believe, look to, and live in confidence to the end of the story.

I LOVE this message! Some of the greatest victories, and some of the greatest accomplishments, have come up out of failure and disappointment! Many people give up and quit when the going gets tough, and they never see the victory. I KNOW that you and your family are NOT the quitting types! As you continue to be diligent in getting to know JESUS more, I believe that HE will continue to show Himself strong in your lives, making for more triumphant  victory dances! Here is Hillsong with "This Is How We Overcome":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

Before we get back to some powerful Words, I want to take this week to share  from Joseph Prince's "Grace Inspirations" devotional! 

Romans 4:16  Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all…

God’s grace is His undeserved, unearned and unmerited favor. And because it is undeserved, unearned and unmerited, all of us qualify for it. But how do we walk in it?

Just as a password gives you access to a computer program, faith enables you to walk in God’s unmerited favor. Now, faith has nothing to do with what you do or what you can do. Faith is simply believing and declaring what God has done and is doing for you.

When you believe that the favor of God is on you because of Christ’s finished work, His promises of provision, healing and restoration become sure to you. They are not just sure to the Jews, but also to you and me because we are “of the faith of Abraham”.

Ruth was a Gentile widow who put her faith in God’s grace. She believed and declared that God’s favor would lead her to the right field in which to glean, where she would find favor in the owner’s sight. (Ruth 2:2) Because she depended on God’s unmerited favor, God not only placed her in wealthy Boaz’s field, but also in the genealogy of Jesus! (Matthew 1:5)

Ruth’s faith in God’s favor opened up a whole new world for her. She went from poverty to supply, widowhood to marriage, and from being childless to having a complete family. She also became a respected member of the community. (Ruth 4:13–15)

If Ruth, a Gentile who was under the old covenant, enjoyed God’s favor, how much more will we who are under the new covenant of grace enjoy the blessings that the unmerited favor of God brings! In fact, because God sees us in the Beloved today, we enjoy the same favor that Jesus has! (Ephesians 1:3–6)

My friend, when you believe that you have the same favor that Jesus has, a whole new world will open up to you—a world where all of God’s promises are “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ! (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Thought For The Day: When you believe that the favor of God is on you because of Christ’s finished work, His promises of provision, healing and restoration become sure to you.

I really love that we can EXPECT certain things because we KNOW and UNDERSTAND not only Who JESUS is, but who WE are - IN HIM! Everything GOOD comes into our lives because of JESUS! We now have the RIGHT to be God's very own family because of JESUS! ALL things are possible for us because of JESUS! SO, here is Hillsong with a very old song called "All Things Are Possible"!

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian! 

I'm going to do something a little different this week! We have been going through The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn for our Wednesday night services and it has been outstanding! As I was preparing for a word, I felt led to check the titles of the different mysteries and Day 362 just really stood out. I'm going to share that with you here!

THE TIME OF KNOWING

The Teacher led me to the Chamber of Books and removed from one of the shelves a large ancient-looking book in a brown binding.

     "Look through it," he said. So I did. "How long do you think it would take you to learn everything that's in this book in depth?"

     "In depth? Maybe three months."

     "And what about all the books on this shelf?"

      There were many books. I did the calculation in my head. "Maybe ten years," I replied.

     "And how long to learn what's in every volume in this bookcase?"

     "I would guess eighty years."

     "Now look at all the bookcases in this chamber. How long do you think it would take you to learn everything that's inside every one of these volumes?"

     "Many lifetimes," I said.

     "Do you know why God gives us eternity?"

     "Why?"

     "Because the purpose of our existence is to know God. And so it must be eternity. For eternity is the time it take to know God ... So never make the mistake of thinking that you know everything there is to know about Him. It's when you think you know, that you stop knowing. And if it takes an eternity to know God, then how much is a lifetime of knowledge next to how much there it yet to know?"

     "One eternitieth," I said, "one infinitieth ... next to nothing."

     "No matter how much you know, there will always be more ... there will always be so much more. No matter how much you know of Him, you've only just begun. And that's how you must always come, as one who doesn't know the half of it, which will always mathematically be the case. So you must come as a little child, as one who knows there's so much more to know, and for whom everything is new. Even the apostle Paul, who knew more of God than anyone else, even he wrote, 'That I might know Him.' If he could say that, how much more we. So never stop seeking Him. Never stop pressing on to know Him ... and to know more of Him ... and more than that. For eternity is the length of time it takes to know Him ... and a lifetime is just the beginning of eternity."

The Mission: Since it will take an eternity for you to know God, there's so much for you to discover. Seek to know Him today as if for the first time.

Psalms 23:6; 27:4; 63; Matthew 18:3-4; Philippians 3:10

This really hit home with me! Philippians 3:10 has always been one of my favorite verses, especially from the Amplified Bible. I knew that if Paul maintained a burning desire to know God more, there MUST be so much more to learn, and I MUST have the same attitude! We have been sharing this blog now for 6 1/2 years now, with 335 words! I KNOW that some of the words we've covered mean so much more than what I originally knew to share! I have an idea that we may be covering some of them again, with a deeper understanding and a broader application! What a great adventure it has been and I hope continues to be for you, too! Here is Hillsong with a song that I really like called "Running" because that's what we will continue to do! Run after all that He is!

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!