A Psalm 91 Life

By Richard Spangler

   I am sitting in my chair, trying to decide what to write. Then the issues of the day begin to crowd my mind. Will there be an economic collapse or boom? Will the upcoming elections mean change for the better or for the worst? Will there be war? Will there be another terrorist attack in our country? Then on a personal level: Will I be able to lose the weight I want to lose this year? Will I get my first book published? Will I move forward financially?  What will it be like being a grandfather?

   Just one of these questions can lead you down the road of fear and anxiety if you allow them.  Put them all together and you have a mountain of uncertainty.  Many people are in fear and panic because of these questions, including many Christians. They are asking, “Is there hope? Can I survive? What, if anything can I do?”

  Yes, there is hope in God! In the Bible God promises, “Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent”(Psalm 91:9-10 Amp).

God also states in Psalm 91 that He will cover you; He will give angels charge over you, no pestilence (no disease), no sudden death, nor any evil shall befall you. And the list goes on.

The key to these promises is found in verse 14, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness--trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never]”(Psalm 91:14 AMP).

  As you determine with your mind to love God and set your heart to do so, you take the first turn of the key for the promises of God found in Psalm 91.

Many of you have taken that first turn of the key by accepting Jesus Christ into your heart. For those who have not, there is no better time than now.

    The next turn of the key is equally as important. It is getting to know God with a personal knowledge of His mercy, love and kindness. It is discovering Who God is, and not just by reading the Bible and praying.

This happens two ways. First, meditate, don’t just reading the Bible, but think about what you are reading. According to Webster’s Dictionary, Meditate is: to engage in contemplation or reflection: to focus one's thoughts on: reflect on or ponder over. In other words, take time to think about what you are reading. In our fast paced society we scan more than we read.

    We scan e-mails, texts, letters and articles without reading them and thinking about what is being said. Take time with the Bible, stop and ask, “What does this mean? How does this apply to my life?” Ask the Lord to help you understand and to teach you. Don’t scan it and walk away saying, “I’ve done my Bible reading for the day.” and check it off of that never ending To Do List.

Secondly, it happens by making time for God, spending time with Him. Remember, God created man to spend time with Him. An example of this is in the Bible.

“And out of the ground the Lord God formed every [wild] beast and living creature of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them; and whatever Adam called every living creature, that was its name” (Genesis 2:19 AMP).

God would create an animal, and then bring it to Adam to name. God was interested to see what name would be given. I imagine that was some discussion of the creature’s design and purpose between God and Adam. This took time.

 Also, in Genesis, “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…But the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you” (Genesis 3:8-9 AMP)?

This shows God coming to spend time with Adam and Eve. This was not unusual for Adam and Eve. They even knew the sound of God walking and would go out to meet and spend time with God. This is what God wants, for us to know Him. This is why Jesus came to earth, so that a way would be open for man to be able to spend time with God and know him again.

 Set aside time, every day to get to know Father God better.  Sit and listen for His voice. Get to know His presence. Have personal knowledge and relationship with God.

   This will unlock all the promises in Psalm 91, and much more, will become yours. It will not matter what happens, good or bad, for you will be hidden in God’s presence and protection.

 

 

©COPYRIGHT 2012 RICHARD SPANGLER

 

 

Available at  Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

 

Who is Obed-Edom?

       By Richard Spangler


  Who is Obed-Edom? Why be like him? His choices and his life led to blessings for himself and his family. Let us, together, learn who Obed-Edom was and about his life.     

   Obed-Edom is first mentioned in the Bible, just after the death of Uzzah for touching the Ark of God. This happened during King David’s first attempt to move the Ark to Jerusalem. The Ark of God was placed in the home of Obed-Edom. He must have been a man of faith to allow something in his home; just after God had killed someone for touching it (this broke one of the commands of the Lord concerning the Ark). The ark of God remained with Obed-Edom for three months, and the Lord blessed his household and everything he owned.     
   When it came time to move the Ark to Jerusalem, (this time correctly) Obed-Edom had a choice. He could have stayed where he was and lived off of his past relationship with God or move with the Ark of God, staying in God’s presence and in relationship with God.     
  
  Obed-Edom had a desire for the Lord and moved with God. His desire for the Lord caused him to do whatever it took to be close to the Lord. He became a gatekeeper, a musician, and a doorkeeper for the Ark. Due to Obed-Edom’s desire and love for the Lord and his faithfulness, God begins again to bless him and promote him.     

  Obed-Edom becomes a worship leader and is mentioned along with Aspah the Chief Musician. Obed-Edom and his 68 associates minister regularly before the Lord in worship. Yet, he still continues to keep the gates.     

  Obed-Edom is not only blessed in ministry and relationship with the Lord, his family is also blessed. God gives him eight sons, his poor wife raising a football team. His sons and grandsons also worshiped the Lord and were blessed by the Lord. They were all leaders, capable men, with strength to do the work. There were 62 men in all. Obed-Edom along with his other duties was put in charge of the Southgate and his sons were keepers of the storehouse.     

  Obed-Edom by his faith, attitude, and actions created a legacy of faith, and relationship with the Lord. The Lord was faithful back to Obed-Edom establishing a legacy of generational blessings.    

Obed-Edom had to pack up and physically move to stay in the presence of God. His desire for a relationship with God established a relationship not only for himself but also for his children and grandchildren. This relationship also established generational blessings from God for his family.     

  Today, we don’t have to travel to a specific place to know the presence of the Lord or to have a relationship with the Lord. We, as believers all have the Holy Spirit within us. But, it is up to each of us to stir up the desire to seek out our own relationship with God, Our Father. The Father desires for us to have a relationship with him. He waits patiently for His sons and daughters to seek him out and have an individual relationship with Him.      

  We can have this relationship with the Father by first, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, we will be filled (Mt. 5:6). We must work to keep our hearts pure and we will see God. We must seek first the Kingdom of God and Its righteousness (Mt. 6:37).      

  Our Father is crying out by His Spirit within us, for each of us to stir up our desire for Him. He wants us to be passionate for Him, to get hungry and thirsty for Him. When you are hungry and thirsty for something, you do what it takes to be satisfied.    

  The first step is to keep a pure heart… Unconfessed sin is a relationship and a blessing stopper with God. Keep short accounts with the Lord by following 1 John 1:9 and by keeping short accounts with others. No choice here. If you have done wrong, go to the person, confess it, ask for forgiveness and make it right. If you know some one has something against you, go to them, and don’t wait for them to come to you. Make it right. Be careful what you watch on T.V., listen to the radio, and what comes in over the Internet, enough said.     

  Second, study the Word of God, and mediate on it daily. Mediation is not mystical or hard. If you can worry, you can mediate. We all do a great job worrying. We take an issue and keep thinking the worst that can happen over and over again. Mediation is thinking about a particular scripture or the goodness of God, over and over again.

This is simple but it works, and the more you do it the easier it gets. Putting on worship music helps with mediation and will bring the Presence of God.  

  A third step is just relax and rest in the Presence of God. We think that we must be doing something all the time for God. Relaxing and resting in God’s Presence is extremely important. It is in these times that we can clearly hear from the Lord. A Web site that can help with this www.soaking.net.     

Finally, get up and get moving. Get involved in your church and/or your community. Obed-Edom did not wait for the Lord to tell him to do something, he just did it. He waited on the Lord by doing. You will find as you are doing the work of the ministry, God will give you direction in what to do.     

  So be an Obed-Edom, have a desire for God. Keep your heart pure. Study and mediate on the Lord, and relax and rest in God’s presence. Get up and get involved. By doing these things, you will have a relationship with God, and He will bless you and your family and create blessings for you and generational blessings for your family.

Scripture References for Obed-Edom: 1 Chronicles Chapters 13:12-14, 15:18, 21, 24, 16:38, 26:4-6, 12-15.

©COPYRIGHT 2009 RICHARD SPANGLER



Available at  Amazon.com

---

Who Are You Part 4

By Richard L Spangler

    We are God’s children.  Ephesians 2:6 (AMP) ⁶And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

   Romans 8:14-16 Amplified Bible (AMP) ¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.¹⁵For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! ¹⁶The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
 
  Galatians 4:5-7Amplified Bible (AMP) ⁵To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God's sons].⁶And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father! ⁷Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant) but a son; and if a son, then [it follows that you are] an heir by the aid of God, through Christ.

 These verses plus many more show us that we are God’s Family. We are His sons and daughters. This is who we are. We have full and unrestricted access to the Father. This is a powerful relationship. We can enter God’s presence any time we want and just the Throne Room (a place of petitions) but we have the run of the house. 

   We can go into all the rooms of the house. The great thing is there will always be more and more rooms to explore, for our Father has a big house, bigger than we can imagine. We can roam the gardens; play in the Pools of Life created by the River of Life. We roam the various mountain ranges of the kingdom and eat of the never ending supply of food, which is there for us to enjoy.

   Best of all is spending time with the Father. God desires us to spend time with him and He smiles when we come through the door and ask to be with Him. This was the purpose of creation, that God would have a family and that we, by our own free will would choose to love him and to spend time with him. This above all else is why mankind was created. He created us in his image for this purpose so we could enjoy each other forever. One of the great and wonderful mysteries of this is, it is always one on one, just you and the Father and it can be the same for every person in the universe at the same time, if they desire it.

   We must also remember that our Father, is the LORD GOD, THE CREATOR, THE ALL POWERFUL KING OF ALL, who is from everlasting to everlasting. We must honor and worship Him as such.

   As we realize this relationship of being a child of God, everything we do, being a servant, a king, a priest, and friend all flow out of this relationship. We operate in the various positions in the kingdom with the proper attitude of love. We don’t do things because we have to; we do them because we want to, out of our love for our Father. This loving relationship between us, as children with God our Father opens the door for a revelations and experiences beyond what we can ever imagine.

   So begin to think of yourself and see yourself as God our Father sees you, as His child whom He loves and wants to spend time with. Who He wants to share with all that has with you. He wants to reveal himself to you. Then you will have a life to full and overflowing and you can answer the question, “Who are You?”

                        ©COPYRIGHT 2012 RICHARD L SPANGLER

 

 

 

 

An excerpt from my book, ADVENTURES IN THE SPIRIT A Series of Prophetic Visions….I am sitting on the river bank, still wearing the Armor of God, rejoicing and praising God for the day’s victory. Suddenly, the Glory of God falls on me and lifts me up higher and higher until I find myself standing at the entrance to the Throne Room of God. The massive doors are open and looking up, the entrance appears to be several miles high and glow with the Glory of God. I hear the voices of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit calling me to enter….

Available at: http://www.amazon.com/ADVENTURES-SPIRIT-Series-Prophetic-Visions/dp/1470193396

Who Are You Part 3

By Richard L Spangler

  In part 1 of Who Are You, we looked at the servant. In part 2 we looked at the kings and priest. All of these have varying degrees of relationship with God.

 The next level of relationship is that of friend.  A friend as defined by Webster’s Dictionary is: 1a: one attached to another by affection or esteem b: acquaintance  2 a: one that is not hostile b: one that is of the same nation, party, or group 3: one that favors or promotes something (as a charity) 4: a favored companion

Enoch was one such person in Genesis 5:22-24Amplified Bible (AMP) ²²Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.²³So all the days of Enoch were 365 years.²⁴And Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God; and he was not, for God took him [home with Him].This is an amazing friendship with God. This same type of relationship is mentioned of Noah in Genesis 6:8-9.

   In Genesis 18:3 Abraham refers to himself as a servant but God calls Abraham his friend in Genesis 18:17. This shown by the discussion that follows a friend is allowed debate a decision and servant is not.

 Jesus speaks of friendship and the difference between friends and servants in John 15:15 I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]

A friend has a closer relationship than a servant, a priest or king, but a friend can be any of these as well. But there are limits in the relationship of a friend and access to the house. There are parts of a house that are for the family and for the family only. The good news is we are in family of God.

 We will look at Family of God in the 4^th and final part of this series coming soon.

 

©COPYRIGHT 2012 RICHARD L SPANGLER

Who Are You Part 2

By Richard L. Spangler

 In Part 1, we discussed being the servant and the attitude of a servant that keeps us from becoming who we truly are in Christ. The key to remember is that God’s grace still keeps us and God sees us as we ready are, no matter how we think and see ourselves.Abram saw himself as a servant, God called him friend.

  This part of the teaching we shall look at ourselves as kings and priests. The scriptures for this are:

1 Peter 2:9-10 (AMP) 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God's] own ^[d]purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.¹⁰Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God's people; once you were unpitied, but now you are pitied and have received mercy.

    Exodus 19:5-8 (AMP) ⁵Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine.⁶And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation [consecrated, set apart to the worship of God]. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites.⁷So Moses called for the elders of the people and told them all these words which the Lord commanded him.⁸And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.

  These two scriptures, among many, make reference to being kings and priests. This goes back to very beginning when God told Adam; he had dominion over all the earth. This is kingship. A king has authority and power to establish laws and to enforce those laws. Adam only had one greater authority above him and that was God, The King of Kings.

   The kings of Israel were supposed to represent the King of Kings, the Lord God to his people. They were to be examples the goodness, the mercy, and protection of God for his people. The king was also to lead the people to God. The king was to seek the counsel of God on how to lead the people. Sadly nearly every king of Israel failed in these responsibilities.

    The priests were not only to make sacrifices to God and worship Him; they were to teach the people about God. They were to teach people that, their sin kept them from God but that God had made a way through the atonement sacrifices for their sins they could have a relationship with God. The priests were also to teach all the people of the earth God’s message of love and mercy through the atonement. God never intended that Israel were the only ones to have relationship with Him.

  Priests and kings have a relationship with God. They are invited to do more than just make petitions in the Throne of God. They are invited into the banquet hall; share the table of God’s blessings, to eat and drink with Him. They can hear God plans and discuss those plans and with God’s help implement those plans. They are also given their own authority and power under the King of Kings to do the work they have been assigned. 

  We believers in Christ Jesus are the kings and priest of God today. We have been given authority, Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-18 and the power came in Acts 2:1-4.

  As great as all this is we, as with the servant, are more than a king or a priest. In fact, we are much more as we will see in Part 3.

©COPYRIGHT 2012 RICHARD SPANGLER