The Kingdom Has Automated Doors
8/2/2004 8:54:54 AM
The Kingdom of God awaits you this day! Arise and taste fully what God has prepared for you. Remember, you must approach the gates to enter into this Kingdom. The Kingdom has automated doors, but they only open as you approach them. Just like those doors at the mall, they are designed with sensors to respond to an approaching person. You can sit in your car and look at those doors all day long, but until and unless you leave your comfortable air-conditioned car and place your foot on the pad you can't enter in. There is no reason to curse the doors because they won't open. They will open for every one who approaches. People are going in and out and there you sit, all upset because those doors won't open for you so you can receive your blessing, healing, anointing. Come on in. This is one Kingdom moment you don't want to miss. Who knows what amazing adventure God has for you today?

The Evil Day
8/5/2004 8:31:37 AM
There comes a time when each of us must make his or her stand against the enemy. Whether it be in the valley, on the tossing seas, or in the merciless wilderness, the evil day will come. Have you done all to stand? Have you really bathed your day in prayer? Have you dotted your path with righteousness today? Is your white garment, which represents the righteous acts of the saints according to the book of Revelation, tight and secure this morning? Helmet down, breastplate strapped on, feet shod? The most important thing you will do today is obey God. Everything else is born of necessity, of desire, of habit. The things you choose to do today represent the readiness of your soul to face the powers and principalities which have arrayed themselves against you. If it's in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall not fear for my God is with me and has prepared a table before me. If it's on the high seas of life, I will put my faith in the one who has power even over the wind and the wave. If it's a wilderness walk I make this day, I will follow the cloud by day and fire by night until he leads me to the promised land of my blessing. I leave no place for the enemy this day. What the devil intended for evil against me, God intended for my good. Selah.

To Look Like Jesus
8/7/2004 9:08:41 AM
Sometimes, my desire to be like Jesus hits a road block or two. I know that if I could just be more like Him I could make a difference to those in my world that cross my path. Yet I can see how far I have to go every day as selfishness, apathy, and unbelief plague my witness. How I long to be like Jesus. To get to a place in my walk where people see Him in me. Today, as I was asking God how I can become more like Him so that I could be an effective witness, He told me something strange: To look like me, you have to let yourself be you. What I understood from that was that God has made each of us unique. He made me to be who I am. He understands my flaws and my shortcomings, yet He desires to show Himself strong in my weaknesses. If I will be the best Eddie Thompson I can be then I will represent theKingdom of God in a way nobody else can. Reach people nobody else can reach. Accomplish things nobody else can do. He created me, and He doesn't make mistakes. Today I will celebrate my differences, weaknesses, and flaws in the knowledge that God has a purpose for me anyway.

"Entering In"
8/9/2004 8:21:07 AM
We talk about "entering in." Usually, when I hear somebody mention those words they are describing some kicking service where the people danced and sang and had a wonderful time around the altar. Those sort of services are always great. We just use the wrong term to describe our Holy Ghost parties. The children of Israel danced on the Red Sea sands when they had "come out" of Egypt. They were actually entering into a forty year wilderness walk at the time, though they didn't realize it. The promised land was their destination, but they didn't "enter in" to the promised land until much later, after much learning at the hands of the Holy Spirit. When they did enter in, they entered prepared for battle. The very first thing they did was purge themselves of sin--circumcise--and immediately fought the most fortified enemy in the territory: Jericho. Much can be learned from the children of Israel, who the Bible says were an example for us. Dancing is for victories. It was a victory when the people were set from from Egypt. It is a victory when we escape the pollutions of this world. To truly "enter in" to the Kingdom of God, however, one must come ready to fight, not dance. He gives us the promised land, but requires us to take it. To dominate our flesh. To circumcise our hearts. To put away sin so that we can battle the enemy with a pure heart. Dancing is wonderful, but I would rather fight for ground in the promised land than dance on wilderness ground any day. Sometimes, I'd like to see an altar call where we come ready to fight and not always so anxious to dance.

Temptation
8/14/2004 4:40:48 PM
Temptation is a permanent thing: We had better get used to it. Even Jesus, after overcoming forty days of temptation at the hands of Satan, still had to face the enemy during a more "convenient season,” like the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His passion. Temptation has two elements: my desire and the enemy’s enticement. The key for me is to limit my desire. To overcome it. To cage it. To get victory over my flesh by denying it. If Satan has no place in you he will move on until a more convenient season comes along. In a moment of weakness, when you guard is down. We can either be the kind of people who endure temptation, according to James chapter 1, or we can be overwhelmed by it. The sign of maturity is to ask God for the strength to overcome temptation and not always beg Him to extricate it. To find the table prepared for you in the midst of the temptation. The trying of your faith will bring maturity.

Big Brother Break
8/18/2004 6:54:03 AM
Take a big brother break today. What do I mean by that? Remember the story of the prodigal? At the end of the day, when the big brother crawled back home from work after a long day in the fields, he approached the house and there was music and dancing. It looked like New Year's Day and the Fourth of July all wrapped into one. His attention peaked, he rushes home and finds his little brother there: You know, the evil, selfish, riotous one. The big brother couldn't believe his eyes. There was the finest Saturday-go-to-Sabbath robe draped around his shoulders. New shoes on his feet. Rings on his fingers. Just what was going on here? In his jealousy, in his anger at having to watch this slacker be treated like a prince, in his frustration at working day after day after day without ever even getting a small goat to BBQ with his friends, the big brother exploded when he saw that father had killed the fatted calf to celebrate this returning prodigal. He confronted his father. Father told him that it was right to celebrate the return of his lost brother. He also told him that he could have partied with his friends anytime he wanted. He could have celebrated any day he chose. This was his home. These were his possessions. These calves were for his pleasure: to be eaten and shared with his friends at his leisure. But the elder brother had been so busy going about his daily duties, so caught up in the work of the day, that he had forgotten to celebrate living life in father's house. Folks, I don't know about you, but I thank God this day that I have a heavenly Father who loves me and watches over me. He guides my every step. I do not know how the people of this world make it a single day without his love and protection. Today, while I go about the business of the Kingdom of God, I am going to remember how fortunate I am. I am going to celebrate my passion for my Savior with all of my friends. I am going to feast all day long, dance all day long, rejoice all day long, remembering that I too once was lost but now am found. If we don't take the time to reflect upon our blessings, somebody else will be eating our fatted calf!

Adam's Rib
8/23/2004 6:59:06 AM
Women are so often set aside by some in spiritual circles as second class citizens of the Kingdom of God. I think of how many times Jesus broke ranks with the religious constructs of his day by treating women as real people: in some cases, defending women who were being abused verbally and physically by men. We need to remember that God made woman from a rib of Adam's side. He didn't make woman from a toe on Adam's foot so he could walk all over her. He didn't make woman from a tooth in Adam's mouth so her could "bad-mouth" her all day long. But God took a rib from next to Adam's heart so he could love and nurture her. Thank God for the ladies in my life, and the women of God who have sacrificed to pave the way for many into the ranks of the Kingdom of God.

Fitly Joined Together
8/25/2004 9:47:19 AM
If it is ridiculous for the Body to say of the Big Toe, "We have no need of thee," how ludicrous it must be for the Big Toe to say to the Body, "I have no need of thee!

The Mighty Rushing Torrent Of Destiny
8/28/2004 3:15:59 PM
Today I am carried forward, despite my own inclination for indifference, by a mighty rushing torrent of destiny. Something forces me to my knees; something lifts my eyes to see beyond the borders of my circumstances; something stirs my heart besides the thumping of blood being forced through my body. Somewhere there is a wonderful thing that needs doing, waiting only for a man like me who can do it. Somehow, I understand that if I fail, if I decide to be distracted by my mistakes, miscalculations, and misdeeds, I will stand before God one day and discover just what incredible a thing awaited my attention. So I charge into the blazing canons set before me today with no idea what lurks beyond the hill I know God has called me to capture. This fire in my bones would allow me to do nothing less.

My Tears In His Bottle
8/30/2004 8:49:38 AM
When tears come flooding into one's life it is easy to imagine that nobody really cares. How many times I wanted to defend myself against enemies who falsely accused me or unjustly abused me; yet God reminded me that if I wanted Him to fight my battles I would have to lay down my own sword. How often I needed prayer for something torturing my inner being; yet God lead me to lay hands on someone else to pray for them. I wonder in those moments if my own concerns even matter. If my own hurts register in His Kingdom. Then, I remember that God gathers my tears and puts them into His bottle, full of the tears of the saints. (Psalm 56:8) I know that one day that bottle will be upended, and the tears of all of us who feel our prayers have gone unanswered, our hurts unattended, our sacrifices unrecognized, shall fall upon this earth in a cleansing flood, anointing this world for the peace, love, and joy which we so desperately seek..