Riverside, California, United States - Harvest Ministry with Greg Laurie for Wednesday, 2 July 2014 "Heavenly Dispatches"

Riverside, California, United States - Harvest Ministry with Greg Laurie for Wednesday, 2 July 2014 "Heavenly Dispatches"
When they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.(Acts 16:6)
I find it somewhat comforting that at times in his life, even the great apostle Paul could be moving in the wrong direction to the point that the Lord had to redirect him. After his first missionary journey, Paul was concerned for the churches that were left behind in the area known as Asia Minor. He wanted to revisit them and check on their progress. But there was one small problem: God had a different plan. Paul made every attempt to go to Asia Minor, but he was forbidden by the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever been determined to do a certain thing? Maybe you were determined to undertake a certain project or marry a certain person or pursue a certain career, but God redirected you.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up every morning with a little heavenly dispatch at our door with the itinerary for the day? Wouldn't it be great if He could just map out our entire day, telling us what challenges we would face so we could be prepared and ready and know everything that was about to happen?
But the Lord has never led me in such a way. I have never received a heavenly dispatch. Rather, I have found that divine guidance often comes as a result of taking steps of faith. And God not only has His will, but He also has His timing for each and every situation. The Bible tells us, "He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Therefore, we want to make sure we are in the will of God and are moving according to the timing of God.[Today's devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013]
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What Greg Laurie has learned about seeking God's direction . . .
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Today's Bible Reading:
Isaiah 4:1 Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing: only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach.”
2 In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3 It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem; 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning. 5 Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. 6 There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.
5 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard.
    My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
2 He dug it up,
    gathered out its stones,
    planted it with the choicest vine,
    built a tower in the middle of it,
    and also cut out a wine press therein.
He looked for it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded wild grapes.
3 “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
    please judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
    Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
    I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up.
    I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down.
6 I will lay it a wasteland.
    It won’t be pruned nor hoed,
    but it will grow briers and thorns.
    I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel,
    and the men of Judah his pleasant plant:
    and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression;
    for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
8 Woe to those who join house to house,
    who lay field to field, until there is no room,
    and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!
9 In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate,
    even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
10 For ten acres[Isaiah 5:10 literally, ten yokes, or the amount of land that ten yokes of oxen can plow in one day, which is about 10 acres or 4 hectares.] of vineyard shall yield one bath,[Isaiah 5:10 1 bath is about 22 liters or 5.8 U. S. gallons]
    and a homer[Isaiah 5:10 1 homer is about 220 liters or 6 bushels] of seed shall yield an ephah.”[Isaiah 5:10 1 ephah is about 22 liters or 0.6 bushels or about 2 pecks—only one tenth of what was sown.]
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink;
    who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
12 The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts;
    but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh,
    neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
13 Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge.
    Their honorable men are famished,
    and their multitudes are parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol[Isaiah 5:14 Sheol is the place of the dead.] has enlarged its desire,
    and opened its mouth without measure;
    and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.
15 So man is brought low,
    mankind is humbled,
    and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
16 but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice,
    and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
    and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
    and wickedness as with cart rope;
19 Who say, “Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it;
    and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,
    that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
    who put darkness for light,
    and light for darkness;
who put bitter for sweet,
    and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
    and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine,
    and champions at mixing strong drink;
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
    but deny justice for the innocent!
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
    and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame,
    so their root shall be as rottenness,
    and their blossom shall go up as dust;
because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies,
    and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against his people,
    and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them.
The mountains tremble,
    and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets.
For all this, his anger is not turned away,
    but his hand is still stretched out.
26 He will lift up a banner to the nations from far,
    and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth.
    Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.
27 No one shall be weary nor stumble among them;
    no one shall slumber nor sleep;
    neither shall the belt of their waist be untied,
    nor the strap of their sandals be broken:
28 whose arrows are sharp,
    and all their bows bent.
Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,
    and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring will be like a lioness.
    They will roar like young lions.
Yes, they shall roar,
    and seize their prey and carry it off,
    and there will be no one to deliver.
30 They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea.
    If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress.
    The light is darkened in its clouds.
Psalm 115:1 Not to us, Yahweh, not to us,
    but to your name give glory,
    for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.
2 Why should the nations say,
    “Where is their God, now?”
3 But our God is in the heavens.
    He does whatever he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
    the work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they don’t speak.
    They have eyes, but they don’t see.
6 They have ears, but they don’t hear.
    They have noses, but they don’t smell.
7 They have hands, but they don’t feel.
    They have feet, but they don’t walk,
    neither do they speak through their throat.
8 Those who make them will be like them;
    yes, everyone who trusts in them.
9 Israel, trust in Yahweh!
    He is their help and their shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in Yahweh!
    He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh!
    He is their help and their shield.
12 Yahweh remembers us. He will bless us.
    He will bless the house of Israel.
    He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear Yahweh,
    both small and great.
14 May Yahweh increase you more and more,
    you and your children.
15 Blessed are you by Yahweh,
    who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are the heavens of Yahweh;
    but the earth has he given to the children of men.
17 The dead don’t praise Yah,
    neither any who go down into silence;
18 But we will bless Yah,
    from this time forward and forever more.
Praise Yah!
116:1 I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice,
    and my cries for mercy.
2 Because he has turned his ear to me,
    therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death surrounded me,
    the pains of Sheol[Psalm 116:3 Sheol is the place of the dead.] got a hold of me.
    I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on Yahweh’s name:
    “Yahweh, I beg you, deliver my soul.”
5 Yahweh is Gracious and righteous.
    Yes, our God is merciful.
6 Yahweh preserves the simple.
    I was brought low, and he saved me.
7 Return to your rest, my soul,
    for Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    and my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before Yahweh in the land of the living.
10 I believed, therefore I said,
    “I was greatly afflicted.”
11 I said in my haste,
    “All men are liars.”
12 What will I give to Yahweh for all his benefits toward me?
13     I will take the cup of salvation, and call on Yahweh’s name.
14 I will pay my vows to Yahweh,
    yes, in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in Yahweh’s sight is the death of his saints.
16 Yahweh, truly I am your servant.
    I am your servant, the son of your servant.
    You have freed me from my chains.
17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
    and will call on Yahweh’s name.
18 I will pay my vows to Yahweh,
    yes, in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of Yahweh’s house,
    in the middle of you, Jerusalem.
Praise Yah!
Jude 1:1 Jude,[Jude 1:1 or, Judah] a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy to you and peace and love be multiplied.
3 Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn’t believe. 6 Angels who didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings. 9 But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these speak evil of whatever things they don’t know. They are destroyed in these things that they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason. 11 Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn leaves without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. 14 About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold,[Jude 1:14 “Behold”, from “ἰδοὺ”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.] the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaks proud things), showing respect of persons to gain advantage.
17 But you, beloved, remember the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you that “In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.” 19 These are they who cause divisions, and are sensual, not having the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 On some have compassion, making a distinction, 23 and some save, snatching them out of the fire with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
24 Now to him who is able to keep them[Jude 1:24 TR and NU read “you”] from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy, 25 to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
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Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie 
P.O. Box 4000
Riverside, CA 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1(800)821-3300
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