Decree a Thing!

"If you lay gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brook [considering them of little worth],

And make the Almighty your gold and [the Lord] your precious silver treasure,

Then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.

You will make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you, and you will pay your vows.

You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God's favor] shall shine upon your ways.

When they make [you] low, you will say, [There is] a lifting up; and the humble person He lifts up and saves.

He will even deliver the one [for whom you intercede] who is not innocent; yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands." Job 22:26-30

You know, I was turning myself inside out, weaving ALL kinds of scripture to back something up that, once I took a little time away from it to get dinner, I realized I just needed to let God's Word tell the truth simply. Let the truth and the power in the scripture above soak in, read it, and read it, and read again, say it out loud, mark it in your Bibles.

Our Father Who art in Heaven, THY Kingdom come, THY Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. His will is GOOD. We need to be saturated in the knowledge of His will. To do that we must DELIGHT ourselves in Him, and one way we do that is to commune with Him in His Word. And practicing His presence, praising Him, worshiping Him, Thanking Him! The trying times that we have train us to turn to Him, trust in Him, Him alone, rejoice in Him. For many of us, 2009 has been a whole lot of that putting whatever our gold is down, and delighting in Him. NOW, He is leading us, calling us, instructing us to DECIDE and DECREE a THING and it SHALL BE established to you! Make your prayer known to Him for the coming year, and even include those in your realm of responsibility that He has entrusted to your intercessory care. Be it spouse, or son, or daughter-in-law, or sister, or niece. Pray His goodness into their lives, pray tenderness into their hearts. Bind the enemy from stopping their ears. Ask for the Holy Spirit to stir the hearts to seek the Lord while He may yet be found!

I believe with everything in me, He wants all who will, all who are inclined to take Him at His Word! Delight in Him and Pray, Decide and Decree and it shall be established! Take authority over your garden patch!

Clock's ticking! It's almost 2010! Decide and Decree!

Decree -

1.	a formal and authoritative order, esp. one having the force of law: a presidential decree.

2.	Law. a judicial decision or order.

3.	Theology. one of the eternal purposes of God, by which events are foreordained.

4.	to command, ordain, or decide by decree.

^"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]." Proverbs 18:21

The End of a Thing is BETTER than the Beginning!

^"11So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
¹²For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55:11-13, King James Version)"

2009. Mmmhmmmhmmhmm. It's been a year. Not all, but many people that I know have been going through some paring down, some pruning, some refining. Yeah. Been going on in my house fo' sho'! Look around you at current events and think back over the past year's news stories. Companies, local governments, families, schools, hospitals all cutting back, streamlining, more carefully targeting growth. How about whole family's investments being lost in ponzi schemes (like Madoff). Not fair. Not just. Unexpected. No going back. How about the people of the local government in Indiana (I believe that was the state) who the court system broke the rules of law in order to accommodate the Obama Administration's desire to have an automobile company go through bankruptcy without honoring the hierarchy the law requires for secured creditors to be honored first. Their retirement gone - kaput. Vamoose. God doesn't like it when court systems are unjust. Read through Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc. Not. At. All.

I could go on to say that the current Administration, and both Houses of Congress, they're probably all I know of not feeling pain this year. They are on the upswing....or so it would seem!

In my own family there were challenges in so many fronts. And the Lord faithfully kept us, taught us, healed us, provided for us, sustained us, covered us throughout it all! During all of it I felt He wanted me to Know, wanted us to know - He was our Church, He was our provision, He was our friend, He was our covering. That He does NOT have LIMITS! You name it, He was IT!

Me personally? He kindly let me recognize hardheadedness, pride, grudging on behalf of my family members, weird complacency where I should not be complacent.

I mentioned all these woes and troubles, to say that God has been bringing it to my attention that not ONLY have all these things been for our good, that we would wake up, that we would seek Him, that we truly, in every way which we can at this point, see Him as our provision, not our jobs - they are just a tool in His hand, not our stock, they are just a tool in His hand. He puts one tool down and picks up a new one, who are we to say otherwise? We go where He goes, we stay where He stays, and so on. Not only were these experiences and trials for our good, BUT, I feel in my heart the Lord pointing out and wanting me to see and ACKNOWLEDGE, REJOICE, RELISH how much we are better off for what we have learned, how much more rooted in Him, how much more trained to look to Him and Him alone, how much more ready and likely to praise in the midst of panic and watch an opening for Grace to move in. Important to recognize that as we say good bye to 2009, we leave it stronger in the Lord and the power of His might, in joy, in hope, in great expectation, in stability.

Only a stable foundation can be built on and remain strong, steadfast. I remember when I first found out that if a building is not built strong enough for the later second story to be added, it sometimes isn't possible, and if done requires MUCH renovation. He has been preparing us for things, opportunities, great feats, relationships, authority, prosperity, things that would have been harmful to us, caused collapse, if we had not undergone these experiences which have pressed us and caused us to KNOW His goodness towards us, KNOW His faithfulness. We have been going through PREPARATION! Makes me giddy!

"Better is the end of a thing, than the beginning of it," Ecclesiastes 7:8

And knowing that, I have recognized we have an obligation to speak into the upcoming New Year. Post coming tomorrow about that!