Category Archives: Direction

Abiding, Bible, Direction, Following, Obedience, Scripture, Submission

THE LORD OF ARMIES

ZECHARIAH 7:4

“Then the word of the LORD of armies came to me, saying,”

Titles can be important. I had the privilege to work closely with Governor Jeb Bush when I was in Florida. I was part of a group that lobbied on behalf of the child welfare system there. I always addressed him as Governor Bush, never as Jeb. Why? Because he had earned that title. He was filling that office and deserved that recognition.

This is the first time in Zechariah when “the word of the LORD” had come to Zechariah that he addresses the Lord as “the LORD of armies.” The term “armies” is used elsewhere but this is the first time it is used as he receives His word. The Hebrew word is tsbadah. It can mean a mass of people organized for war, company, host, service, soldiers, waiting upon, or war(-fare). The point is that the Lord is the commander of this group. He has the authority.

APPLICATION

Do you recognize God’s authority in your life? You may be saved but still living your life in the manner you see fit. You are not submissive to the Lord’s guidance. You shrug off any commands in Scripture that direct you to live differently than the world. After all, you want to “fit in.”

In Matthew 7 Jesus spells it out pretty clear. It is not just about declaring Him Lord. Our actions speak louder than words. “21 ‘Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” 23 And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.”’”

It is not just our words. Obedience to His commands. Submission to His Lordship. Those are the things that determine our allegiance. Are you acknowledging Him today as the “LORD of armies” in your life? Does He have complete control? Will you follow His orders? Good! That is pleasing to the Father.

Follow, follow I will follow Jesus. Anywhere, everywhere, I will follow on. Follow, follow I will follow Jesus. Everywhere He leads me I will follow on.

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Abiding, Advocate, Bible, Direction, Faithfulness, Following, God's Will, Obedience, Scripture

HALFWAY THERE

ZECHARIAH 7:1

“In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.”

Often when I travel, I will look up the halfway point of the trip. I like to plan where I can stop and lodge for the night or check out any cool landmarks. If the trip is several hours long, this halfway spot will give me a chance to stretch my legs and maybe get something to eat. I also like knowing that I am halfway to my destination.

What you may not can tell from the dates mentioned in verse 1 of chapter 7 is this marked about the halfway point from the beginning of the temple rebuild until it was finished. It had been two years since they started. The temple was taking shape, and the people were probably getting more excited about its completion, which was still two years away. But progress was being made.

APPLICATION

Spiritually speaking, how far along are you in your growth? One tenth? Halfway? Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.” How far along we are spiritually has a lot less to do with us than it does with God. As Paul said in that verse in Philippians, “it is God who is at work in you.”

Just like in my physical journeys, I won’t get to my destination unless I continue on my path. Spiritually, I don’t want to stop halfway. I want to go all the way with Jesus. I want Him to work in and through me to make me exactly what He wants me to be. That may require me to change the direction I am going. That’s okay because I want to be on the path the Lord is on.

Let me ask you another question. Where do you WANT to be on your spiritual journey? Have you given that much thought? God has. He wants you right by His side and He leads you each step. He will not force you to take this journey, but He promises to be with you if you do. Come on, let’s get going.

Wherever You lead I’ll go, Wherever You lead I’ll go!

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Abiding, Appointed, Bible, Bondslaves, Direction, Following, Scripture

DIRECTION

ZECHARIAH 6:6

“with one of which the black horses are going out to the north country; and the white ones are to go out after them, while the spotted ones are to go out to the south country.”

Following a map is a skill everyone needs to learn. With the emergence of Mapquest and Google Maps, people have no idea how to use a map. But maps don’t require a smart phoneor a data plan. Could you read a paper map if you needed to? We need to know where we are going if we hope to get there.

In verse 6, we see the white, black and speckled horses going north and south. This was a message to the people about their conquerors. Two are going north (Babylon and the Greeks.) The Roman empire would go south to conquer Egypt. It’s not so important where they are going. It was more about who is sending them. The Lord God is controlling them and sending them where he wishes.

APPLICATION

If the Lord told you today to load up your “chariot” and head to some other city or country, would you go? There is no mention of these empires rebuffing God’s direction. They probably were not even aware that He was using them. God can use you the same way. These words from Eliphaz the Tenamite to Job holds true for us. “‘Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.’”

When we submit to His will, we become a useable vessel. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be put on a shelf. I want to be used. That may mean that I pack my chariot and follow where He leads. I am not guaranteed anything. We are just told to yield to His authority. He decides what direction is best for us.

Back in the 1980’s, I was called to serve an agency in another state. Let me just say, it wasn’t what we expected. But looking back now after almost 40 years, I can see how the Lord used this in my life. Is God trying to get you to go somewhere? Just say yes and follow.

Where You lead me I will follow. Where You lead me I will follow.

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Access, Asking, Bible, Cleansing, Cross, Direction, Escape, Forgiveness, God's Will, Heaven, Salvation, Scripture

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?

ZECHARIAH 5:10

“So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, ‘Where are they taking the ephah?’”

If you have children, you have probably put up with “explorations.” We put up baby gates and all sorts of contraptions to try to keep the little buggers contained. But lo and behold, they would find ways to escape. I can remember sitting and watching my children trying to figure out how to get loose. I would jokingly ask them, “Where do you think you’re going?”

Zechariah just watched the two winged women swoop down and pick up the ephah with the woman (wickedness) inside and fly away. His first thought was “Where are they going?” I don’t think he was concerned about the woman’s welfare. He was just curious about their destination. By this time, Zechariah wasn’t afraid to ask anything of that angel. (Come back tomorrow to see where they take her.)

APPLICATION

As I was thinking of an application for this verse, the thought came to me – what happens to our sins? Where does God carry them? We have the answer right in Scripture. Psalm 103:11-12 says, “11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.”

That’s a long way! You can’t get to the east by traveling west or vice versa. You just keep traveling in the direction you are going, whether that be heading east or heading west. In other words, you can’t get back that sin once it has been forgiven. It’s gone. Now, you may choose to sin again, but it won’t be that same sin. It will be a brand new one.

God could pile all our sins up in one big heap in heaven (mine would be mountainous) and show them all to us when we get there. But no, He removes them. So, we don’t have to ask that question I asked earlier. We know where He carries our sins – to the cross, where they are forgiven forever. Amen? Amen!

Burdens are lifted at Calvary, Calvary, Calvary
Burdens are lifted at Calvary, Jesus is very near

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Abiding, Angels, Answers, Bible, Devil, Direction, Distractions, Eyes, Looking, Scripture, Visions

THE VISIONS KEEP COMING

ZECHARIAH 5:5

“Then the angel who had been speaking with me went out and said to me, ‘Now raise your eyes and see what this is that is going forth.”

Sometimes it feels like something will never end – like a tennis match on tv, lol. My wife loves to watch tennis. She played a lot of it years ago and just loves to watch matches. But for me, they seem to just keep going and going. It seems they are almost done and then it continues.

Zechariah must have felt like that. He gets through with one vision and here comes another. We are going to see this vision over the next few days. But I want you to notice something in this verse. The angel tells Zechariah to raise his eyes and see. He knew Zechariah had seen a lot and maybe was a little tired. So, he directed his eyes to this next vision. He wanted to make sure he was looking.

APPLICATION

Where are you looking? Are your eyes wandering? In order to see what the Lord would have us do we have to be looking at Him. We can’t be distracted. Oh, that is a ploy of the devil. He wants to get our eyes off of Jesus. He wants us to look at anything other than Him.

Isaiah 45:22 tells us, “‘Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.’” Wow! God wants us to look at Him. He says, “Look to Me.” There is no other means for salvation. It only comes through Him There is no other source for direction. He points us in the right way. Where are you looking?

For most of my teenage years, my eyes were looking inwards. I wanted to please myself. I wanted what I wanted. It was not until I met my Master at age 16 that I started looking at Him. There have been days since when my eyes have gotten turned. But thanks be to God, He has never moved. He is there, waiting for me to look towards Him again. My eyes are fixed now.

Fix my eyes only on You, O God. I do not want any other view.

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Asking, Belief, Bible, Correction, Devil, Direction, Questions, Scripture

I DON’T UNDERSTAND

 ZECHARIAH 4:4  “Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me, saying, ‘What are these, my lord?’” How many times have you been confused about something? Well, I have to admit that it has happened to me a lot. But one thing I have learned to do is ask questions. If I am not sure about something, I ask somebody to help me, to show me how to do it right or how to understand it. It’s humbling to ask for help. But it sure improves my own knowledge. Zechariah asked the angel what this golden lampstand meant (we discussed this in yesterday’s blog). He wasn’t clear on the vision. But he trusted the angel to show him what the purpose was. That kind of speaks to how God speaks to us. Sometimes He shows us something and we don’t understand. It’s okay to ask questions, just like Zechariah did. APPLICATION Do you have questions for God. Ask Him. It’s perfectly fine to tell Him you don’t understand. He wants you to understand. He is not trying to confuse you. That’s the devil’s job. He is the author of confusion. Paul tells us so in 1 Corinthians 14:33. “…for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.” God, I don’t understand. Help me understand. This reminds me of the man who asked for help in his belief. Mark 9:24 says, “Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, ‘I do believe; help my unbelief!’” Is that you today? Then cry out to the One who has all the answers. Don’t you want to fully know Him? Don’t you want to know His purpose for your life? One day we will have the mind of Christ. Until then, keep asking questions. He will answer you. 

Hear my cry, O Lord. Send me what I need to know when I need to know it.

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Accountability, Bible, Boundaries, Commands, Direction, Following, Hearing, Obedience, Scripture

YOU KNOW BETTER

ZECHARIAH 1:4

“‘Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, “This is what the LORD of armies says: ‘Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’” But they did not listen or pay attention to Me,’ declares the LORD. “

I can’t recall the number of times my parents told me to not do something. I heard them, but I did not listen. You see, I knew better than to do the things I was doing. I knew doing them would get me in trouble if I was caught. I got to be pretty sneaky. My mom and dad went to heaven not knowing about some of them. Hmmm, now that they are up there, do they know? Lol

The Israelite’s fathers did not listen or pay attention to the Lord’s commands. They heard them over and over again. They knew the Law. They knew the commandments. However, they chose to live as if they did not care. The Hebrew word for “pay attention” means to prick up the ears. Just picture a dog laying down and resting. When you call its name, what does it do first? It pricks up its ears. You see, the Israelites had not pricked up their ears to listen to the Lord.

APPLICATION

What is the Lord telling us in this verse? Prick up your ears! Listen! Do what I say! Sounds easy enough, so why don’t we do it? Because we are just as stubborn as those Israelites who did not listen and pay attention. We want to do what we want, not what the Lord has instructed us to do.

Do you know what happened nine times out of ten when I did not follow my parents’ rules? I got in trouble. Yep, I usually was disciplined. Same is true when I don’t follow God’s rules. I find myself in trouble. God will discipline those whom He loves. Aren’t you glad? Probably not, if you are honest. But it is for our good. We know that, right?

Psalm 103:17-18 paints a beautiful picture of this. “17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting for those who fear Him, and His justice to the children’s children, 18 to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts, so as to do them.” I can’t say it any better than that.

O Lord, I know Your commands are for my good. Lead me in the path that is true and right.

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Abiding, Belief, Bible, Correction, Direction, God's Will, Kindness, Scripture

THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD

HAGGAI 2:21

“‘Speak to Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, “I am going to shake the heavens and the earth.”’”

I grew up in SW Georgia where pecans are a cash crop (by the way, it is pronounced pee-can, lol). I used to love to watch the workers harvest the nuts. Someone (I wish it had been me) invented this machine that has a huge mechanical arm that grabs the tree trunk and shakes it. When that happens, all those nuts come falling down. It literally rains pecans.

I thought about that when I read today’s verse. God said He was going to shake the heavens and the earth. He was saying He was going to literally shake things up. Things were about to change. But His people had nothing to fear. They would be gathered up, just like those pecans, for the harvest. He was going to do this to elevate His people.

APPLICATION

Is your life all shaken up? Perhaps the Lord is trying to prepare you for something great. But Carl, I don’t like this shaking. I want to live in peace. That’ll come. Trust Him. Submit to Him. Allow Him to work in your life and shake out all the stuff that needs to fall out. He may be shaking you to get you to move in the direction He has for you.

I know we all like to live without any troubles. But to experience real peace, we must submit to His mighty hand. Peter tells us this in 1 Peter 5:6-7. “6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you.” Did you see that last phrase? He cares about you. Never doubt that.

Looking back at my life, I can see times when God shook me to get me where He wanted. It was never a violent shaking. It was gentle and compassionate. But I have learned to trust His hand. I don’t see it as a hand that is poised to strike me. No, it is hand to embrace me, even in the shaking. I know He wants what is best for me. Do you?

Lord, in the shaking of my life, You have directed me to follow Your will. Thank You, Lord.

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Asking, Bible, Blessing, Change, Courage, Direction, Following, Future, God's Will, Scripture

FROM NOW ON

HAGGAI 2:19

“‘Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, it has not produced fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.’”

“From now on” hints at a change. Something is about to happen that will change your circumstance or maybe even your life. When my children left home, they faced some “from now ons.” They no longer were protected under my roof. They were either married with a new family or in a new city with a career. Some “from now ons” are scary while others are exciting. Let’s look at the one described in verse 19 today.

What starts out as a continuation of the description of their suffering due to their disobedience ends with a “from now on.” Look at it. The last sentence says, “Yet from this day on I will bless you.” The literal translation is “From this day I will bless.” Things were changing. God was returning His blessing on His children. Don’t you know a shout went up when they heard that news? After years of suffering, God was going to rain down His blessings on them again.

APPLICATION

Have you been in a period of suffering? Take heart, friends. God has not forgotten you. His “from now ons” still happen today. He can change the trajectory of your life with one flick of His little finger. He has certainly done that in my life on a number of occasions. Moving to a new ministry or meeting that certain person can make a new “from now on” happen.

Are you praying for a “from now on” moment? Stop and pray for God’s perfect will in your life. I am reminded of the passage in James. James 4:13-15 says, “13 Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’” 

“From now on” in the life of the believer can mean many different things. But one thing is for sure – from now on the Lord will be with us. From now on His mercies are new. From now on Jesus is interceding for us. From now on…

From now on, Lord, I will pray that Your will be done in my life so that I can learn to trust You more.

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Bible, Direction, Evangelism, Fishing, Obedience, Scripture, Service, Witnessing

WHAT ARE YOU FISHING FOR?

HABAKKUK 1:15

“The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, drag them away with their net, and gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore, they rejoice and are joyful.”

I love to fish, especially for large-mouth bass. Anyone who has read my blogs in the past is aware of this. I don’t get to fish as much as I used to, but I love it. Fishing is fun and exciting (especially if you are catching fish). It relieves stress for me. I could be happy whether I am catching a lot of fish or not. But I am always looking for a bite with every cast.

The Chaldeans were not literally using fishhooks and nets to gather the people of Israel. Habakkuk is using that imagery because it is one the people could relate to. They had all seen fishermen at work. They saw how they rejoiced when they had a big catch. The Chaldeans, Habakkuk says, will react the same. They will rejoice at their victory over Israel.

APPLICATION

What are you fishing for? I don’t mean you are using a pole or rod and reel. I am asking if you are fishing for souls. Jesus told His would-be disciples what He would do for them. He tells these fishermen He will change their lives if they will follow Him. Look at this story from Matthew 4.

“18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

Jesus is calling us just like He called Peter, Andrew, James and John. We may not be mending nets, but we are busy with other things. He tells us to lay down those busy things and follow Him in doing the better things. Will you cast your net today into the waters Jesus is directing you? There are souls to be saved.

Lord, I know You are calling me to fish for men, not fish. Show me where to cast my net today.

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