November 18, 2016

 

Before we get back to where we left off in the 23^rd Psalm Adventure, let me comment briefly on the continuing fallout from the presidential election.  I’ve never been a fan of the mainstream media and this time was no exception.  Their distortion and deliberate manipulation of the news to make it appear that Jezebel (in the form of HRC) was going to win was par for the course.  Add to that the millions of votes cast by dead people, illegal aliens and animals, and the left-media was absolutely sure they had this thing in the bag.

 

What they forgot to count on was the fact that once God has made a choice as to who will lead our nation, all the conniving, manipulation, and attempts to distort the facts by those who want a different outcome, naysayers don’t get to make the choice.  What most folks on the left failed to take into account was the fact that the voter turnout by believing (and agreeing with God) Christians was probably at a historic high.  The prayer movement across the nation, spearheaded by friends like Dutch Sheets and others, galvanized millions of Christians into prayer, intercession – and voting!  There was no way that God wasn’t going to hear that kind of prayer and intercession on behalf of the nation.  The election of a Jezebel spirit to lead this nation would have been its total undoing and destruction, and the Lord intervened!

 

Despite the left-media’s attempts to skew the election results, as of this writing, the total vote count is 62,972,226 for Trump and 62,277,750 for Hillary.  Thus Trump won the popular vote.  For the Electoral College, the final tally was Trump, 306, and Hillary, 232.  The difference in the Electoral vote as published in the news media is accounted for by the fact that states, whose electoral votes had originally been projected for Hillary, actually went to Trump.  Thus God gets the final word in every way!  And God’s people have the stage set for a historical move of the Spirit!

 

OK, time to get back to our Psalm 23 Adventure.

 

Didn’t mean to get so wordy with all of the stories in the last couple of Coffee Breaks, but what we need to realize is that if there is any major purpose to our being led in the Paths of Righteousness, it is to ensure that we as a people are transformed into naturally supernatural believers who know how to function supernaturally natural.

 

That said, let’s take a look at some more principles as they relate to this walk.

 

7.  We must respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading and directives in training and equipping us to manifest the attributes of Kingdom Living.

 

Matthew 6:19-34:  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

 

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

 

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

 

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

 

That’s a mouthful!  Let’s see if we can get to the core of what Jesus is saying.

 

Unredeemed human nature seeks to acquire and acquire and acquire “stuff” – houses, lands, cars, clothes and lots of money.  The reason for this need to “get” is rooted in the Fear of Death.  The subconscious logic behind the constant need to acquire more and more things is that the day might come when a person “won’t have enough.”  If they don’t have enough, they might starve, or they might be stuck without the provision of a home or clothing or the ability to go somewhere for help – the subconscious excuses really can go astray!

 

What gets lost in this maelstrom of subconscious human reasoning is the fact that you are NOT your source!  GOD is your source – TOTALLY!

 

I have a bone to pick with a lot of “prosperity teachers” because they have lost a sense of balance in teaching the fact that God wants us to prosper.  God DOES want His people to prosper and become “the head and not the tail.”  In fact, the Scripture plainly tells us the following:

 

Deuteronomy 8:18:  But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

 

You see it don’t you?  It is He that gives you the power to get wealth.  But this power to get wealth is not so we can use it however we like.  God’s objective is to demonstrate His Covenant.

 

The demonstration of His Covenant comes in our wise use of wealth.  We use it to profit and expand the Kingdom of God.  We use it in ways that assist other people without simply giving handouts lacking in responsibility – the way so many government programs do.  (And I won’t go down that path today!)  We use our wealth in ways that bring Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

THAT, folks, is how we lay up treasures for ourselves in Heaven “where neither moth nor rust corrupts, and where thieves do not break through and steal.”

 

When Jesus talks about the light of the body being the eye, He is talking about what we focus our attention on.  Are we focusing on getting rich for the sake of getting rich, (and that’s the essence of Mammon) or are we focusing on the Kingdom of God?

 

This is why Jesus says that we cannot serve two masters.  We cannot serve the Beast system with all of its “get, get, get” mentality and at the same time serve the Lord Jesus Christ and His purposes and destiny for us, along with His desires.  Jesus “gave, gave, gave,” and that’s a foreign way of living to the world around us.  There’s no issue with getting, so long as we are giving proportionately as Holy Spirit directs.

 

Now Jesus takes it the next step.

 

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

 

Get it?  What happens when you have lots of clothes, or lots of food, or many homes, and the Lord instructs you to give it all away?  Are you going to fret and stew over not having enough?  Are you going to start worrying about how you are going to live if He commands you to give everything you’ve got?

 

Let me share a couple of quick stories as illustrations.  This first one is personal.

 

When I was teaching broadcast engineering in the mid-1980’s, Della and I were doing OK financially, but really “just making it” with raising the younger of our children who by now were either in junior high or high school – and any of you parents know that when your kids are in their teen years, money flows out the door like water.  Unless you have a lot of money or very high incomes, there’s just not a lot left over at the end of each month.

 

One of my engineering students came to me one day and told me he was going to have to drop out of the class.  He was only about six weeks away from graduating and had been a star pupil.  He was married and had a 1- or 2-year old baby.  When I asked him the reason, he told me that they couldn’t make it financially and that he needed to find work.  Their rent was due and he didn’t have the money for the rent plus cover the other expenses they had.  His rent was about a thousand dollars.  I told him not to drop out but to sit tight – that the Lord would come through on his behalf.

 

[This might have been a secular school, and I was teaching under the auspices of the University of Alaska, but made no bones about sharing the Lord and spiritual principles as part of my engineering courses.]

 

When I got home that night, Della and I were sharing this young couple’s plight with each other.  We both had a quickening in our spirits to get a cashier’s check for the young man’s rent and take it to him.  The catch was that our rent was due within the next week.  We didn’t have enough money at the time to pay our rent, and if we took a thousand dollars from our account, it would leave us nearly broke.

 

Nevertheless, we had learned that when Holy Spirit quickens you to do something, and that “something” leaves you in a state of immediate want or need, you still do it.  This is an exercise in believing and knowing in the core of your being that, as my Dad used to say, “what God orders, He pays for!”  When the Lord gives you specific instruction to give, and – in the natural – that giving leaves you in a precarious position, you still do it!

 

We took the cashier’s check over to the young couple.  It was a testimony to them, and it was an experience in watching God meet our needs as well.  That event caused the young couple to make their own commitment to the Lord.  Less than 48 hours after that act of obedience, I received an unexpected financial bonus that enabled us to meet our needs as well.

 

The end of that story was that the young man graduated at the top of the class.  He had a job in broadcasting waiting for him when he graduated and went on to become one of Alaska’s premier morning radio hosts.

 

My second example comes in the form of a soldier who was caught in the midst of enemy crossfire in Vietnam.  For the sake of this story, I will simply refer to him as Kevin.  Caught in a situation where his buddies were dropping all around him, he prayed, “Lord, if you get me out of this alive and out of this war alive, I will do whatever you ask of me, I’ll go wherever you tell me to go, and I will serve you with everything I have.”

 

We’ve all heard of “foxhole stories” before where people in crisis make promises to God, and then when the time comes, forget all about their commitments to God.  For reasons no one could explain at the time, the crossfire suddenly stopped and everything became quiet.  Kevin waited for a bit before he and his remaining buddies were able to get out of there alive.  Eventually, he returned home from Vietnam, alive and in good health.

 

Here’s where things get interesting.  Not long after returning from Vietnam, Kevin learned that he had inherited great wealth from an aunt who had passed away while he was in Vietnam.  He found himself the possessor of millions of dollars, multi-million dollar homes, a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce, yachts – you get the picture.

 

Two years into enjoying his life of luxury, he Lord tapped him on the shoulder and reminded him of the promise he made in Vietnam.  Up to this time, Kevin had pretty much forgotten his promise to the Lord, and was simply in cruise mode.

 

When he heard the voice and quickening of Holy Spirit, he woke up with a start and said, “Lord, I made a promise to you, and I’ll keep it.  Whatever you ask of me, I’ll do.”

 

The response he heard in his spirit was, “Sell all thou hast and come and follow me.”  He shared his story with our friends about three years later and told us that it took him two years to liquidate everything.  He sold off the houses, the cars, the yachts, gave away the tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars he had, gave away all of his personal possessions down to the clothes on his back and a couple of extra changes of clothes which he carried, along with his Bible, in a backpack.  He began hitchhiking all over the nation as the Lord directed him, knowing that he was on a specific mission.

 

Our friend, Dave, was working with Hitachi at the time and traveling all over the nation, selling and designing large computer systems and servers for major corporations.  One day, driving between Spokane and Yakima (Washington), he saw Kevin standing by the side of the freeway with his thumb out in the universal hitchhiking sign.

 

He stopped to pick up Kevin.  Kevin said to Dave, “This is a meeting that God has ordained.  He knew that you were going to come this way today and he positioned me in such a way that you would stop and pick me up.”

 

If I said that Dave was astonished, it would be an understatement!  Kevin continued, “The Lord sent me to you with a message that you’ve been pondering over, and you need a confirmation of that message.”  By now, Kevin really had Dave’s attention.

 

“OK, I’m listening,” he said.  “Sell all thou hast and come and follow me.”

 

Dave was frustrated to the nth degree.  “Whaddaya mean, ‘sell all thou hast?  Everything I have is God’s to begin with.  I don’t have anything left to sell.”

 

The answer was simple, and it was one I had shared on several occasions with Dave in the weeks leading up to this event.  “You still haven’t given me YOU.  You haven’t sold your reasoning, your human logic, your trying to figure out things and trying to walk with me accordingly.  I want you – NOT your logic, and not your reasoning!”

 

When they got to Yakima, Kevin said to Dave, “You can drop me off at the jail.  I’ll sleep there tonight, and tomorrow the Lord will place me in someone else’s path to share with them.”

 

This story has some many ramifications that I don’t even begin to be able to explore today, but the end of it was that after several years of traveling like this and being obedient to the Lord, everything he thought he’d sold off or given away came back to him multiplied many times over.

 

Kevin had grasped the principle of pure obedience.  He realized that all of his wealth and belongings were nothing more than “stuff!”  To walk in union with the Lord was far more important than trying to hang onto material goods, and because of his obedience in seeking the Lord and His will as his priority in life, the Lord rewarded him ion the years to come with more than he could possibly imagine.  Meanwhile, God was his ONLY source of supply, his ONLY source of provision, his food, his water, his clothes, his having a roof over his head each night.  Kevin had learned and walked Matthew 6:33 as literally as anyone I’ve ever known.

 

We continue to scratch the surface of these principles.  Next week we will take a Thanksgiving break to share some different things.  We will get back to this Psalm 23 Adventure in a few weeks.

 

I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call normally takes place on the first Monday of each month at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific).  Our call-in number is (712) 775-7035.  The Access Code is: 323859#.  For Canadians who have difficulty getting in to this number, you can call (559) 546-1400.   If someone answers and asks what your original call-in number was, you can give them the 712 number and access code.

 

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific.  That conference number is (605) 562-3140, and the access code is 308640#.  We hope to make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long.  If you miss the live call, you can dial (605) 562-3149, enter the same access code and listen in later.

 

Blessings on you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944

Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org

 

All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted –provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are available at http://www.RegnersMorningCoffee.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.

If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.To remove yourself from the mailing list, please send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.

 

CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.