Anointing of Humility

  When I look through the bible at the many heroes who served and loved God with all their hearts,  one thing stands out to me. They were men and women of great humility. They often did not believe in their own ability to do anything for God. But their total obedience to Him caused them to step out into territories that on their own abilities, would cause them great fear and trepidation. Joseph was such a man, even as a young boy. He was totally obedient to his father, taking  food to his brothers. He loved his God and paid attention to the dreams God gave him. He spoke those dreams to his family who mocked him and cruelly treated him like a stranger instead of a member of the family.  When accused wrongly, he humbly took the punishment in spite of the facts. He continued to love his God, in prison, in rejection, though ridiculed and later forgotten, by both his brothers and fellow prison-mates. He acted  with honor and integrity at all times, as a representative of God’s  household.  Revenge was not in his vocabulary. He could have imprisoned his brothers, withheld food, and had them beaten. Instead he choose to take a higher pathway.  He loved them   in spite of their previous bad behavior, throwing him down a well, selling him as a slave to a caravan,  and then lying to his father about his whereabouts.  Normally. Most red-blooded Americans would  have taken the occasion to rant and rave, then inflict punishment , imprisonment, torture or whatever seemed appropriate. But Joseph loved God above all else. Though he arose to great power in Egypt, he  remained humble before his God. It is a picture of Jesus, who came before His accusers, having done nothing wrong, nothing worthy of death or  even punishment—-and who took all the pain, all the punishment, all the inconvenience and  all the mocking rebukes of carnal men. Even to the high price of dying on a cross. Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Both Joseph and Jesus had an anointing of humility that caused them to rise above the situations they faced, never turning aside, never giving in to anger or vengeance. They were unusual in every aspect.

  Humility is often something we do not like to talk about, because mere mention of it seems to point to the fact that we think of ourselves as being humble people. Most of the time we are not. We are however, learning and growing daily to be more and more like Christ. 

  I have noticed in the scriptures that talk about humility, we have two basic choices. We can humble ourselves and reap a reward and favor of the Lord, or, we can let God humble us as He punishes or  takes us through hard times.  Moses was a very humble man, yet the people he led into the wilderness were not. God allowed them to experience hard times to bring out the humility as they slowly realized who was really in charge of their lives—God.  Numbers 12:3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

  All too often we have the arrogance of heart that produces such irreverent pride, it is revolting to God.  I believe one of the reasons that He gave us all the power of the Holy Spirit, was so that the Holy Spirit could convict us of our sin of pride. The more time we spend in the presence of a Holy God, the more we tend to realize that we are lacking in humility. Nothing we can do or say can cause us to be righteous in His eyes. We need hearts that recognize the greatness of our God, who  see God as the answer to every shortcoming we have.  We have all met some arrogant people in our lives. It tends to gag me when I meet them in  ministry leadership roles. I pray for them, praying that God will reveal Himself to them and that they may realize that their pride and arrogance is objectionable to both God and men. However, the spirit of humility, tends to attract us as we see them sharing the love of God with transparency and love.

  Having gone through major illness this last year, I have discovered many lessons in humility. I watched as the certified nursing assistants did their job with servant hearts, cleaning up their patients, not just because that’s what they got paid to do, but because it was ingrained deeply in their hearts to be a servant to those in need.  They took abuse, extreme discomfort, criticism and a severe lack of appreciation. Yet they were stronger for it.  I am grateful for their loving humble care.  All they wanted was some kind words and an occasional “Thank you!”

  When we humble our hearts before God, we become repentant, and repentance brings revival! We all want revival. We want the next generation to experience intimacy with God and we want them to be able to pass it on to their children. It can only happen when we allow the anointing of humility to flow through our lives.

  Lord,  anoint us for humility, and deliver us all from the need for approval, that we may only love you. Deliver us from the need for words of praise by men, and instead seek your words of encouragement as you did for your Son, Jesus. Matthew 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  Teach us to praise you and appreciate your loving heart.  Let our spiritual beings be anointed with the oil of humility that we may reflect Jesus to all we meet. Its not about us...it’s about Him. It’s not about my desires,...but His. Lord, keep me from the fear of being forgotten, ridiculed or wronged. May you be glorified though my life and behavior!

  J. Johnson

Sand Castles

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a sensible man who builds his house on the rock. Down came the rain and up came the floods, while the winds blew and roared upon that house—and it did not fall because its foundations were on the rock. “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not follow them can be compared with a foolish man who built his house on sand. Down came the rain and up came the floods, while the winds blew and battered that house till it collapsed, and fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27 (JBP)

  Have you ever been to a sandy beach and built a sandcastle? I used to do that as a child and then watched the waves come in with the tide and wash away all my efforts until the beach once again was flat. God has called each believer to be kingdom builders. We are to build His Kingdom. However, we have been at play, building with the wrong materials and building what we want to build. God expects much more from each of us. He wants us building on the Rock, Christ Jesus, and He wants us to build something that will endure the storms and waves. What have you been building.

  I was recently disheartened when I read the facebook comment of a young Christian who has slowly become satisfied with the “freedom” she had found in the contemporary church. Coming from a traditional church, she later found herself in  contemporary church with a worship team who led rocky music,  coffee in the foyer, and the comfort of casual dress. She suggested “Close your eyes. God is in heaven rocking out too.” While we are so busy making ourselves comfortable in God’s house, God is grieving that we are building church sand castles. He knows the hard times ahead, the storms and the waves. While His desire is that we follow His commands, His suggestions, His divine agenda—we continue down our merry path of comfort with our sand pails and shovels in hand, totally unaware that change is coming. It is time we stopped pleasing ourselves and got on our faces seeking God with sincere hearts. If we find ourselves caught up in the thrill of entertainment, or the tradition of doing what everyone else is doing, we need to stop, repent, and find the altars once again. If we think we can bring revival on our own terms, we are wrong. Revival never comes because we have found just the right new song, or the new hip sound. It comes when God’s people suddenly see themselves as God sees them, and they are moved to deep repentance. Repentance is never fun. It causes us to root through the closets of our life and dig out all the junk we have hoarded there. Our lazy spirituality caused many of us to fill the rooms of our life one by one with junk we have called valuable and needed. We no longer have room for Christ. We want our way. We want our stuff. We want our comfort zone. God sees it all as trash. If we are to move to a place of sincere repentance, it demands we change, clean out our lives, and face the reality of what we have become. How many people who call themselves Christians, spend little time reading the Word of God, little time praying, little time at church, and little time serving God in their community. They may give as little of their time, talents and resources as possible. Do you refuse to tithe? Perhaps you’ve convinced yourself that this is an Old Testament concept, when Christ clearly taught us that we are to tithe. I suggest you restudy what Jesus taught in Matthew 23:23 He acknowledged that the Pharisees  were busy tithing on the little things like their spices of mint and cumin, while neglecting more important things. He tells them tithing is important but so is justice, mercy and faithfulness. Hoarding what God gives to us is wrong. We need to be givers, not hoarders. James 4:17 tells us, “If anyone knows the good they ought to do, and doesn’t do it, for them it is sin.” In fact it is a form of rebellion. How often do we go to church, hear the Word of God preached, yet return home doing nothing about it. Our spiritual foundations are shoddy sand. We are about to experience great loss. Danger is ahead in our future. But when we build our spiritual foundations on the Rock, when we recognize our need for more than just comfort and beauty, and we dig deeply in the resources of God’s Word, we discover safety, security, strength and a future that lasts long beyond the wind and the waves. Sand castles may be fun to build, but they always end in ruin. Those of us who have built on solid foundations need to teach the younger generation how to build. Safety is not in size and numbers, not in music styles, not in the comfort of coffee or potlucks. It is found only in the things that will last. Even Solomon recognized the fleeting satisfaction of earthly pleasures after building and having all the things his heart desired—all was vanity. (Ecclesiastes 2:11) Spiritual strength comes with Christ as our Rock, with repentant hearts, recognizing that in us dwells nothing good. God wants us to be His temple, and He wants to dwell within us through the power of His Holy Spirit. He wants our ears attentive to His voice and obedient to His commands. It may mean that we have to break with traditions. It may mean that we surrender our time, our talents and our resources to His will.

  In our opening scripture you may recall that two families were busy building their homes. They may have been equally beautiful, but something was seriously wrong with one home. It was in danger of falling flat at any moment. In the times we live today, we cannot waste our time and resources on building on a risky foundation. It is pure foolishness. We are neglecting the reality of the coming storms. God demands holiness, and he abhors neglect. We must assess the results of what we have built. In a recent programs “Holmes on Homes,” Mike Holmes inspected the shoddy work of a contractor who was adding an addition to an existing structure. There was so much wrong, he was forced to tear it all down and rebuild from scratch. When our foundation is wrong, we need to change, demolish the structure and rebuild with the plans of our Master Builder. Don’t build castles in the sand. Do it right! Your temple and how it is built is an example to the next generation. Build it on prayer, on the Word, on yielding all you have to the Master Builder. Matthew 7:24-27 "These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. 26-27"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards. (TMB)  J. Johnson

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love 1 John 4:18

Every day we find ourselves face to face with frightening experiences. Sometimes it comes when we have to make decisions we are unsure of. We want to choose right. We want what God wants in our lives. Voices from every side come trying to redirect our steps and choices. We feel pressured to go one way or another. This brings us to be intimidated. Intimidation is one way Satan tries to strip us of our spiritual authority which is rightly ours through faith. Jesus  overcame Satan’s of authority in our lives. Satan wants it back. It’s up to us to choose wisely, by recognizing the work of Satan in our lives. Jesus restored out authority and taught the disciples that divine authority was now our right. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

  Fear is a reaction to the things in our lives that may bring pain or punishment. Sometimes we experienced them once before and we don’t want to go through that again. The pain was too great! I have discovered that fear can push you to deeper depths in God. We know that the Word of God teaches us that there is no fear in love, and we do not have to be slaves to fear. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,  Father.” Rom 8:15 NIV When you are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell your human vessel, the temple of God. The Spirit makes us part of God’s family. When we find ourselves in trouble, we can call on Him….”Daddy,          Father”… and He is always there to help us in our time of need. Children who live in a healthy home trust in the protective care of their father. We are part of God’s special family. When we love God perfectly, there is no need to fear anything that would come against us...not cancer, unemployment, the future, and even death itself. Love trusts and fills us with peace. There is no torment in love...only in fear. Sometimes it is guilt that causes fear to flood our emotions. Forgiveness takes away that fear. How often have I heard new believers say they felt like a huge load was lifted when they experienced God’s forgiveness.

  What do you fear? If there is something you fear, you give power over to it. But, if you feed your faith, your fear will starve to death. How do we feed our faith? By spending time with the One we love—in the Word of God, in prayer, in fellowship, and by surrounding ourselves with other believers whose love for God results in positive living and a clear focus on who is really in charge. When we choose to fear God, being in total awe of Him, rather than fearing Satan and his tactics, we learn God is greater than anything Satan can throw at us. Spiritual leaders discover that there is no place in their lives for fear if they are to fully serve the Lord. Their lives are motivated by love and flows out to everyone they influence. Their love for God raises the faith level around them. If we are to believe the promises of God, we must trust His Word. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Romans 8:35, 37

  Sometimes we allow the fear of possible failure to keep us from ever trying to do something challenging.  Satan uses this fear to keep us from fulfilling the call of God in our lives, and keep us trapped in a cage of fear. We could lie down in frustration and fear, or we can claim our freedom in Christ. Taking that first step of recognizing what is happening, will lead us to spiritual freedom in Christ Jesus. Too  many Christians discover at the end of their lives that the fear was just a ruse of the enemy to keep us from winning the lost to Jesus Christ. The moment we open our mouths and declare the powerful Word of God, the enemy is sent on the run...just like Jesus did against the attacks of Satan in the wilderness. We can go boldly forward without fear, in perfect obedience and walk in complete victory. Remember the promise:  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed John 8:36

The Word of God teaches us not to fear. Isaiah 41:13 For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Thank God we can therefore walk in confidence, no matter what comes our way. We do not need to fear and in fact, we need to choose not to fear. There is One who is holding our hand, who sees the road ahead of us, who knows how to destroy dangers and who prepares the way. He has promised to help us...and His help is all we need. Our own efforts will fail, but His help will overcome, and take us to new levels of spiritual confidence. There will always be times of spiritual resistance. We can expect to come under attack, but God is faithful and He will enable us. He has given us weapons of spiritual warfare and we can go forward as good soldiers, in confidence, knowing who it is who stands beside us. There is no need for fear or cowardice when the King of Kings has already given us the victory over the enemy. We need not fear the challenges of life nor even the challenges of death. In either case, the Lord holds our hand. Are you afraid today? Has the enemy caused you to step back from being the bold Christian God wants you to be? In the same way I was with Moses, I'll be with you. I won't give up on you; I won't leave you. Strength! Courage! ….Give it everything you have, heart and soul…..Strength! Courage! Don't be timid; don't get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take." Joshua 1: 7, 9 (TMB)

   J. Johnson

Send us your prayer requests:  email us your requests:

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Dear friends,

Please continue to pray for us as we seek God’s future for our lives. Praise the Lord! We are so thankful and so appreciate each of you who take the time to pray and write. Your financial gifts are so important and needed. We are facing many added bills at this time as Joyce fights her battle with cancer, your cards and notes are so encouraging. God bless you all! God is faithful and we anticipate great things in the future……Serving the Master!  David and & Joyce Johnson

Update…..Joyce is now finished with all cancer treatments. Thank you for praying. She still needs strength and is slowly getting back to ‘normal’. We wish  all of you the blessing of the Lord and lives filled with the unfailing love of God.

The best Year of Your Life!

It’s a new year, with new opportunities and possibilities. Where is Your focus? What is important to you? What are your spiritual priorities in life? What are you doing for eternity? What are you doing now that will truly matter 150 years from today? What do you spend your efforts on? Will it last? What do you think about most of the time? God… or stuff…?

The enemy of our souls wants to distract us from what God would have us do. Some years ago, I came across this article that serves as a reminder to realign our priorities.

The Devil's Convention

by Richard J. Enrico
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else.
We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent countless schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then, borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work six or seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work."

"Over stimulate their minds so they cannot hear that still small voice.  Entice them to play the radio or CD player whenever they drive. Have them keep the television on at all times, and their computers going constantly."

"Have the DVD and CD  and MP3 players running. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-Christian music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill their coffee-tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards.

"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogs and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services, and false hopes."

"In their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion.
"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be depending on their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause."
It was quite a convention in the end. And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.
Has the devil been successful at his scheme?

It’s up to you to take control of your spiritual life. The Word of God teaches us that we are to be lights in the darkness. But too many of us are like the foolish virgins who were awaiting the marriage with their lamps and oil, but they carelessly failed to prepare for the long wait. They needed more oil. They needed to trim their lamps. They were at risk of being out in the darkness with no fire in their lamps.

Fill your vessel with fresh oil. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit in the scriptures. When a person is born again, the Holy Spirit draws us to Christ. He comes along side us to teach us and to help us be bold witnesses. He sheds light on the Word of God and helps us to understand it. In the parable of the 10 virgins, the wise ones had vessels filled with extra oil. The oil in the lamps was insufficient. As we move into a new year, we need to be sure our lamps are filled and we are also prepared with extra oil. If we only have enough oil for our lamp, we risk darkness and burnout. How do we get all this oil? By seeking the Holy Spirit’s fullness. Don’t be satisfied with just a little dab of oil. Bring your empty vessels. Fill them at the altar. Our failure to prepare for the midnight hour will result in sadness, rejection and darkness. We do not know what this year will hold for any of us. For some there will be job losses. Other may face medical crises. Some may lose loved ones. But when our vessels are filled and ready for the midnight hour of our lives, we will have light in the darkness and not be caught unprepared. When the times of trial and testing come, we can e ready to face tomorrow. We can cling to the promises of God: "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path". - Ps.119:105

We all have good intentions. So did the 10 virgins—but in reality only five were really ready. Only five went in to the wedding feast. Only five had made preparation. What are your plans for the coming year? Is your lamp filled? Is your extra vessels also filled in anticipation of the midnight hour? Have you trimmed your lamp so it will burn brightly in the darkness? This year can be the best year of your life or the worst. The choice is yours. Find your way to the place where fresh oil is found. For Jesus, it was Gethsemane, the place of crushing, For you, there is a place where you must also find the oil, and it may take a crushing to bring out what you need for the midnight hour. There you will find the anointing oil, and the enemy will flee. If you are a wise virgin, you will seek the Holy Spirit’s fullness in your life—your vessel. He will not fail those who are sincere and intentional. Those who just try to get by with the bare minimum will find themselves stumbling in the darkness. It was at midnight Jesus was taken before  Ciaphas. It was at the midnight hour that Paul and Silas prayed and praised God in jail.

Let your light shine brightly...1 “Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see.
For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you.
2 Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth,
but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you.
3 All nations will come to your light;
mighty kings will come to see your radiance. Isaiah 60:1-3

J. Johnson

 

Praise reports and prayer requests…..

Pray for revival!  Pray for those who are struggling with forgiveness,  anger and doubt.

Pray for the Johnsons as they seek a new place of full time ministry...a church that needs strong leadership. Pray for grieving families who have lost loved ones....Pray for Evangelists, Missionaries, and Teachers. . Pray for US Army Chaplain Steve Maglio.

Pray for those needing a healing touch in their bodies:) Jeanne Deike (cancer-stage 4)  Dave Barth (cancer),  Joyce Johnson (healing from cervical cancer...radiation) Pray for those dealing with chaos, anger, abuse, temptations and carnal sinful habits.  Pray for the nation, for the President, for our service men and women, for Israel, for Christians in Muslim countries, for the unsaved,  and don’t forget to Praise and thank  the Lord! Put on your armor! And get your lamps ready…..