WHO ARE YOU? PART 1

By Richard Spangler

   The question, “Who are you?” plagues many a person, including many Christian. Who you are is at the very core of your existence. Most people go through life thinking what they do is who they are. They themselves as a mailman, doctor, mother, father, minister and the list goes on. Those who think of themselves as only what they do have a crisis every time what they do changes. The man or women who spends a lifetime building their career and identity is wrapped up in that career have a major problems when they have to retire or are no longer have that career path available to them. So where do we go to find out who we are? Where do we go to “find ourselves”.

   The best place to find out who we are is God and the Bible. Who does God said you are? Let’s look and find out.The first thing we see is the servant according to Webster’s is: one that serves others <a public servant>; especially: one that performs duties about the person or home of a master or personal employer. Abram uses the first reference of servant in relationship to God. This now Abram saw himself in relationship to God. In Genesis 18:3 (AMP) And said, My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant, I beg of you.

   A servant is one who goes and does what the master tells him to do. A servant does things whether they want to or not. They do what they are told. Their relationship with the master is to do or be punished. There may develop a love for their master (if he is a good person), but the relationship is overshadowed by having to please the master or be punished. If the servant wants something from the master, he must beg for it and may have to extras for the master, who may or may not grant their request.

   This is true of many Christians, we see ourselves only as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. We go and do as the Holy Spirit tells us. Many believers never get beyond the servant level of relationship with God. We limit ourselves to the servant, as did Abram. We try to please God into granting us His blessings. The servant attitude prevails: I have to pray more, fast more, read more, memorize more and do more to get God’s favor so He will bless us with finances, health, healing, deliverance and anything else we might ask.

  This can lead us down the road of legalism, of having to do to get. Unfortunately, this attitude and relationship with God has been taught, by many church leaders as “The Relationship with God” and in order to serve God we must serve them without question, as a good servant.

   I am not saying that a servant of the Lord does not love God because he or she does. But, the mentality of the servant position colors everything about our relationship with God. Notice that I said, “Servant position” for it is not who we are in Christ. It is what we do out of our love for God. God stated later in Genesis 18 that He saw Abram as more than a servant, and He sees us as much more than a servant, but more about that later.

 

 

 

 

©COPYRIGHT 2012 RICHARD SPANGLER

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Prophetic Vision from New Book: Craving God (excerpt 1)

This is an excerpt from my new book. This is a prophetic vision that will be in the book. The working title is: Craving God  

I feel the wind whip around me, getting stronger and stronger. I realize this is no ordinary wind, it is the wind of the Spirit. The wind lifts me up high above the mountain, then I move in the direction the wind moves me.

  Soaring far above everything, soon there appears a glowing bank of clouds and I fly into it. This cloud is more than a cloud it has life, it’s the edge of the presence of the Father. I cannot see but a few feet in front me, moving at the speed I am moving; I must have faith in the Spirit and His direction. Slowing down and descending, the cloud lifts as I descend. I Land on top of a large flat rock. Surveying my surroundings I discover this is a large plateau. The plateau is a large barren piece of black rock. Looking over the edge, the sides are smooth hard rock. The plateau is thousands of feet high and there is no way down.

  Looking around, I find no wood for a fire, no vegetation and no cave to seek shelter if a storm arises. I stand there wondering why the Spirit brought me here.  I wait in silence straining to hear the voice of the Lord, not a word is heard.

  Sitting on the ground for any length of time is impossible. I walk until I cannot walk anymore. As the day ends, I try to sleep but I get  little due to the hardness of the ground. The next day is the same. I check to see if there is a way down that I missed again nothing.

  I walk, more like the pacing of a caged animal with no hope of escape. The next day is worst, I am so tired of this place and still hearing nothing from God.

 I scream at the top of lungs, “Is there something I have done wrong. Lord, show me what it is, that I would repent and ask for forgiveness.” No response not a whisper.  I weep crying out over and over again, until my voice is gone.

    I laid on the ground too weak to stand and whisper,” Lord, do with me what you will. If you mean to kill me then I yield to death. I surrender totally to you.”

At that moment a light pierces the sky, hitting me and bathing the plateau in light. Soon the light begins to pulsate with different colors, reds, blues, greens, and white. I feel myself being gently lifted up and the pulsating light flows around and through me.

  My whole body glows with light. I even sense that my insides are glowing. This continues for what seems like hours. Then peace begins to overflow me. Soon I am falling asleep, in spite of doing my best to stay awake, sleep overtakes me. I awake and find myself not a barren  plateau but in a place of absolute beauty.

I am lying on a carpet of thick green grass and there are beautiful golden colored flowers all around me. I am totally confused. I get up and start to check out my new environs.

   I find a stream of water bubbling out of a small outcrop of rocks. The water is cold and refreshing. Just a few feet away from the stream there are bushes. Each bush has fruit on it. The fruit has the shape of a peanut, but it’s the size of an apple and is a golden color. I pick one and carefully taste it. To my surprise it tastes like the best cheesecake I had ever eaten. Thinking to myself, this must be heaven, when fruit tastes like cheesecake. There’s a familiar laugh from behind me and swinging around there stands Jesus.

  I begin to bombard Him with questions, “How did I end up here? Why was I put on that barren plateau?”

  Jesus holds up His hand, with a smile says, “You are still on the plateau.”
  “That’s impossible” before I finish saying It I realize who I am saying that to and just how stupid I sound.
 
Jesus laughs, “Come with me.”

  We walk in silence and come to the edge of the plateau and looking out I realize I am seeing the scene same as before. Looking down the side of plateau, there is a difference. Instead of a sheer rock face, there is a pathway wining downward. It has trees and flowers along each side.

    I turned to Jesus, asking, “What happened?”

He replied, “You happened.”

“Me!!” I exclaimed.

Jesus continued, “This is the Plateau of Total Surrender. There is nothing you could do on your own to get off the plateau or to change it. When you laid down and said, “Lord, do with me what you will. If you mean to kill me then I yield to death. I surrender totally to you.” That was total surrender.

That sacrifice of your will and your life caused the plateau from a place of bareness and darkness, to a place of fruitfulness and light.”

  “But Lord” I said, “I have sacrificed and I have surrendered.”

   Jesus continued, “There are many times of sacrifice and surrender, some great and some small. But this place and places like it, if you are willing to make the sacrifice, open   new levels of relationship with me. There is also new authority and new power entrusted to you. Take a look at yourself.”

   

©COPYRIGHT 2013 RICHARD SPANGLER

 

 

          

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 [RS1]

We Watched

By Richard L Spangler
  

We watched man kill the Son of God,

We the Host of Heaven with tears in our eyes, And our swords drawn,

Stood there and watched man kill the Son of God.

We would have attacked and destroyed them all,

At His voice command, we would have,

But He said, forgive them, and then He died.                               

We watched as men took Him from His cross,                                              

And laid Him in His tomb,                                              

And we watched over Him.

Then came that grand and glorious morning,                              

When the Son of God burst forth from the tomb,                                      

And we the Host of Heaven rejoiced,                                 

We who watched man kill the Son of God.

This poem comes from Matthew 26:52-54. This is where Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane has been arrested and the disciples are drawing their swords to defend Him. Jesus tells them to stop and that He could pray that the Father would send 12 legions of angels to defend Him.    

This is a powerful statement. The Amplified Bible states that 12 legions would have been more than 80,000 angels. This would have been a force to completely destroy all mankind, except for the followers of Christ. One angel killed 70,000 between morning and evening in II Samuel 24: 15-17 and another angel killed 185,000 in one night in II Kings 19:34-36.        

But, Jesus love for man and His heart to do the will of the Father kept Him from calling for the angels. And it was not just at this point He could have called for help. Jesus called out at any point -- when He was falsely convicted and when He was whipped 39 times and mocked by Roman Soldiers. Also, when He stood before the crowd yelling, "crucify him," as He carried His cross and when He was hanging on the cross. Even at the point of death, He could have called for the angels.       

The Love of Christ for each and every one of us compelled Jesus to follow the plan of salvation laid out before creation was created. Truly, all the angels and for that matter, all the demons watched Jesus carry out the ultimate act of love for mankind.       

This is why we celebrate Easter. The price for sin has been paid, and all our sins are forgiven. We can all have a relationship with God, our loving Father, though His Son Jesus Christ, if you believe.

If you don’t believe, now is the perfect time to make the decision to believe. Just pray this simple prayer.

Dear, Lord Jesus I am a sinner and have done many things wrong. I believe you died for my sins, and I ask you now to forgive me, and I receive your forgiveness. I ask you to be my Savior and Lord. Thank you Jesus. Amen.  

                  © Copyright  1975 Richard L Spangler

Hope you enjoyed this reprint of the poem "We Watched" and the devotion. Have a Blessed Easter Everyone

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A Horse Called Hope

By Richard L Spangler

 Those of us who watched the Superbowl 2013, remember the advertisement with Clydesdale foal. The story was about a man who raised a foal. He bottle-fed it, slept with the foal when it became sick, and played with and trained it. The man and the horse (foal) bonded. Then one day a company truck came and took the horse away. The man missed his companion. Three years later the man goes to a parade and the Clydesdales go by. The horse sees the man and as soon as he is free of the carriage, charges off and the man and his horse are reunited. The company asked people to help name the foal seen in the first part of the commercial. Well after more than 60,000 tweets, and Facebook comments “Hope” was one of the most popular names, so the horse is named Hope. I had a realization that people are looking for hope. This was the heart cry of those who submitted the name “Hope” whether they realize it or not.

  The Constant drumbeat of the negativity is tearing the individual down. People are losing or have lost hope. We see this in the “I don’t care”, “What’s the use”, “Nothing will ever change” attitudes gripping our world today. People are giving up, losing faith and losing hope. They are killing themselves and their families and others because they see no hope for the future.

   We as believers can be no different. We also can lose hope. I have lost hope from time to time. There have been times in my life when the circumstances of life have cause me to say, “What the use? I give up.” Nothing going to change.” and “yes” I have prayed, “Lord, take me home.”  This has occurred in my life when I lost sight of God and I let the circumstances I found myself draw me away from my relationship with God. 

    But, there is hope! The Bible states, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13(NIV)

    God is a God of hope, He wants each of us hope in Him. Many say, “I have been lied to so many times. Promises have not been kept. Why should I hope? Why should I believe?” God is not human and does not lie, He keeps His promises. “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” Numbers 23:19 (NIV) and “In the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,” Titus 1:2 (NIV).

   We as believers must continue to place our hope in God, Our Father, in spite of the circumstances we see around us. This is not always easy, but we must set our minds and hearts on Him. If you trust His time table and that God loves you and knows what you are going through and will keep His promises. He will restore your hope.   

  What about those who live in the world do not know these truths. They do not understand that God loves them, that He is Hope and that He keeps His promises. We, as believers know these truths and we have the responsibility to tell those who are hopeless, there is hope. We must be willing, in these times to stand up and say, “There is a hope and that hope is in Jesus Christ.” This hope is not just for the sweet by and by or when we all get to heaven but it is for the nasty here and now. God is Hope and He is willing to give Himself to you if you are willing to receive Him.

  If you are looking for hope, and want to know how to find it, you contact the 700 Club Prayer Line at 1-800-759-0700.

 

 

©COPYRIGHT 2013 RICHARD SPANGLER

 

 

 

 

 

Transformational Experiences

By Richard L Spangler

    A God given experience is just an experience, if we do not allow it to translate into a life transforming experience. God gives us these experiences to transform our lives. When we allow this to happen these experiences become transformational experiences.

   In Ex.24:9-11, the 70 elders of Israel, Aaron, Nabub, Abihu, Moses, and Joshua saw God and they ate and drank with Him. The Bible also states that God did not kill them (which is a good thing). This was a fantastic experience for them. This experience should have been a life transformational experience for them. Sadly, it did not transform the lives of the 70 elders, Nabub, Abihu, and not even Aaron.

We know that when we read Ex.32:1-4, the people asked for a god of gold and a golden calf to be made for them to worship. None of these men stood up to oppose the people, to keep them from sinning. The experience on Mt. Sinai was given by God to transform these men into true leaders, not just men with titles.

  But before we harshly judge these men, we must remember, it is as true for us today as it was for them. God gives us potentially, transformational experiences and we at times, do not allow those experiences to transform us.

We walk away, come from the mountain as it were, thinking that was a great experience and immediately start thinking, ”What’s for lunch? Or what’s so and so doing after church?”

Some Christians become experience junkies. These are people who move from one God experience to the next, always looking for bigger and better experiences. They get that first rush or the high of the experience, but they soon crash, having no real satisfaction.

They do not allow these God experiences to transform them into the Lord’s image. They do not allow themselves to be transformed -- to be drawn to closer to the Lord and to do the work of the ministry that they have been called to do. This is where we all find true satisfaction in the Lord.

We all need to allow these experiences to transform us. We do this by asking the Lord, “What is the specific purpose for us having the experience?" Then, we need to mediate on that purpose. Finally, we must ask the Lord to help us and allow the transformation to take place in our lives.

The Lord Jesus has chosen each of us to be His people and He wants to transform us into a royal priesthood, a Holy Nation that will transform the world in His name.

© COPYRIGHT 2007 RICHARD SSPANGLER

 

An excerpt from the book ADVENTURES IN THE SPIRIT A Series of Prophetic Visions by Richard L Spangler…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….This Book available on Amazon.com