1 SAMUEL 18:14-15 "THE REACTION TO FEAR"

One of the most intriguing persons in the bible is David. There are a lot of details surrounding the life of David, it's like the Holy Spirit opens his life and we walk right through it. I am enamored and encouraged by his loyalty and devotional to God. Although David commited adultry and murder, also taking a census when God told him not to . God said that David was a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will (Acts 13:22). How could a man who commited adultry and murder , be a man after God's heart? Notice that God never said that about anybody else but David. This shows the unique relationship that David had with God. The door was alway's open to David because he knew how to repent and never go back and commit the same sin. The bible says "And David behaved himself very wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him. Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him" (1 Samuel 18:14-15).                                                                                                                                                            Why would you be afraid of someone who wanted to do what was right? This is the reason the world doesn't like the church, because we choose to behave ourselves, to be prudent, to act circumspectly. David did this in all his way's , not just some of his way's but all his way's and it made king Saul uncomfortable. King Saul was afraid of David not only because he behaved himself but also that God was with him .  Maybe this is the reason for some of the trouble in your life, people recognize that God is with you. People are alway's intimidated with those who want to do right, because it puts pressure on everybody else, but who cares "If God be for us who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

MARK 16:7 " TELL HIS DISCIPLES AND PETER"

I love the personalities of the scriptures how God gives us a peak into the lives of the men and women of God. He will show us their strengths and weaknesses basicially so we can relate to them . The bible says that Elijah " was a man subject to like passion as we are" (James5:17) Peter was very impulsive, we can safely say that Peter had a Choleric temperment which means=ambitious, aggressive, full of energy and passion. It's very noticeable that Peter is always talking and has something to say. Jesus asks the question "who do men say that I am" (Matthew 16:15) no one had an answer but Peter .  And he said "thou art the Christ the Son of the living God", and a few verses later Peter puts his foot in his mouth and rebukes Jesus. Then Jesus preaches about drinking his blood and eating his flesh and loses  2988 church members in one message in (St.John 6 )                                                                                                                                                                     Jesus again turns to his disciples and ask them a question "Will ye also go away?" Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ , the Son of the living God". What a profound statement to make, but that's Peter. Peter opens his mouth again and says he will lay down his life for Jesus, and Jesus tells him he will deny him three times. I almost named this lesson "EXTREME MAKEOVER"a message I preached years ago contrasting Peter's life before the day of Penecost and after he received the Holy Spirit. Peter did what Jesus said he would do he denied him and remembered what Jesus told him.                                                                                          Now Peter is left alone to deal with his pain of denying Jesus , Peter was one of his inner circle disciples and he turned is back on his savior . He feels terrible now because he's let Jesus down, have you ever let the Lord down? Disobeyed him or turned your back on him , or he called you and you didn't respond?  Even in all that he still loves you and wants a relationship with you!  So early resurrection morning the women went to the tomb to seek Jesus and find an angel there to tell them that Jesus has risen, and go tell my disciples and PETER that he goeth before you into Galilee:                                                                                                                                                           After Jesus layed in the grave for 3 days and God raised him from the dead,  Jesus takes time to tell the angel to tell his disciples and specifically "Peter" to let him know I have not forgetten him. WHAT A LOVE, Jesus had just gotten up from the grave and  remembered Peter, go get Peter!! Tell him I still love him and nothing has changed!! God will never turn his back on you, He said "I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE , NOR FORSAKE THEE" (Hebrews 13:5) Even though you've make some mistakes he still has you in the palm of his hand, just come back to him.  Be encouraged with the fact that God loves you very deeply and will move heaven and earth for you, he already has in sending his Son "JESUS CHRIST"!!

Precious Things

What is precious to you?  There are a lot of things people claim to be precious to them.  Most people believe a newborn baby is to be a precious thing.  Fine jewelry is considered precious.  A man's beautiful wife is a precious thing.  She is something that he holds dear to his heart.  I guess there are a number of things I can name that people consider precious.  WHAT does the word precious mean?  Precious is a something of great value, or high price, something dear and greatly loved.  In Greek, precious means polytimos from the root polus.  Polus means much, great in time, price, and honor.  This literally means of great price as in very high on a monetary scale, extremely valuable, or much revered.
It is a word some might think would more likely be used by ladies, but Peter is very fond of 'precious' using it some 7 times (not all are "polytimos") in both his epistles.  Jesus used polytimos describing the "kingdom of heaven" which he declared is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (Matthew 13:45-46).
Jesus pictures salvation as something hidden from most people but so very precious that people who have it revealed to them all willing to give up all they have to possess it. 
How "precious" is genuine faith to the Refiner's Eye Peter first mentioned the word precious dealing with faith he says " that the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that persisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.  Peter is saying that our faith is more precious than gold or that the trial of that faith is more valuable than gold. 
WHY compare our faith to gold?  In the ancient world, gold was considered the most expensive and rarest of all metals.  It was used in the worship of the Gods and was very prominent in the temple of Jerusalem, where the true God was worshipped.  Emperors and heroes were known for their lavish use of gold.  Under Augustus and Nero (the prince of the Roman gold coin), the Aureus, was worth 45 denar.  A denarius was considered to be a day's wage.  All of this indicates that a tried, genuine faith is extremely valuable! The known quantity in this statement is the preciousness of gold-- a genuine faith is much more precious than that.  God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless he has a specific plan by which great blessings an come out of the difficulty.  According to Peter Marshall, "Fire is the test of gold, adversity  of strong men."  The word trial is the Greek worf for tested "dokimazo from dokimos means tested, proved or approved, tried as metals by fire and thus purified from techomai to accept or receive means to assay, to test, to prove,to verify, to discern, or to approve.  Dokimazo involves not only testing but determining the genuineness or value of an even or object.  That which has been tested is demonstrated to be genuine and trustworthy.  Peter mentions several different things that are precious things, the precious blood of Jesus (Peter 1:19).  Jesus is the cornerstone (Peter 2:4-6)  II Peter 4 talks about the exceeding great and precious promises that are given to us by His divine power these are the things that Peter look on as precious.  How precious are they to you?

1 CHRONICLES 12:32 "UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES"

Wouldn't it be great to travel in time to go into the future or even go back into the past. I'm quite sure if we could go back into the past we wouldn't make as many mistakes, or try to correct the mistakes we make. I'm sure we would eliminate some people and relationships out of our lives, and even some choices we would correct. It would be exciting to correct the past and control the future. Our time is very valuable today and everybody's in a hurry, its  hard even spending time with your family.                                                                                                                                                       The bible says in ( Romans 13:11) "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed" The apostle Paul wanted to let the readers of this letter understand how insensitive they were to the season they were living in. With everything that's going on around us as a believer in Christ, do you understand the times ? The word Time=kairos=due time, fixed, appointed , due measure opportune or seasonable time, the right time, and the state of the times . The timing of the Lord is most important to the body of Christ, so we can experience his fulness.                                                                                                                                                     This is what the children of Issachar had understanding of the times , to instruct Israel what to do. How much more should we that have the Holy Spirit understand or discern the day in which we live in. Not only understand or discern what's going in our personal life, but understand world affairs also. LORD GIVE US THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO DISCERN WHAT COURSE OF ACTION TO TAKE!!

ROMANS 8:31 " WHAT CAN WE SAY "

There are times in our lives when things get out of control and it is like we cannot do a thing about it. There are forces out there that will war against are faith, confidence and our will to survive. The devil wants to threaten our very existence, but the word of God says "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"  (Matthew 16:18") . The church is indestructable, not the  structure but the church. Because you are the church the "EKKLESIA"= called out ones who Jesus shed his blood on Calvary . The bible teaches us that we can control our lives by what we say. (Proverbs 18:21) "Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof," Jesus says "he shall have whatsoever he saith" (Mark 11:23) .                                                                                                                                                        The Apostle Paul coming to an end of one of the greatest chapters in the bible Romans 8, Paul askes the question "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? What shall we say to these things, WHAT THINGS?  Everything that oppose us, so to sickness I'm healed, to proverty I will prosper, through all opposition "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4:13) .  If God be for us, what more do we need to say!! God the creator of the universe, who else do you need on your side? The one who created everything,  if he's on your side you don't need anybody else.

PSALM 78:41 " LIMITING GOD "

Is it possible to limit God the creator of the universe, who by the word of his mouth spoke the worlds into existence. Who in Jesus " upholding all things by the word of his power"  (Hebrews 1:3). When God makes up his mind to do something who can stop him? The thing that can hinder or limit God is unbelief!! Remember in ( Mark chapter 6 )  Jesus went home to Nazareth and the people were astonished at his teaching and the mighty works wrought by his hands. But they went on to say "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, calling him the son of Mary meant something to , BUT THAT'S FOR ANOTHER LESSON? Mark goes on to say that Jesus did no mighty works there only healed a few sick folk. And even Jesus "MARVELED" at their unbelief?                                                                                                                                                                              This is God in the flesh and the lack of faith limited the son of God , is unbelief just as powerful as Faith?  (PSALM 78:41) says " Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel" . In (Numbers 13) the children of Israel sent out twelve spies to spy out the land, 10 came back with an evil report, and 2 came back with a good report. The children of Israel went into a state of panic and unbelief and refused to act in faith and LIMITED GOD through there unbelief. What have you did to tie the hands of God and limited his blessings on your life? Don't limit God with your lack of faith in him because things hasn 't come to pass in your life yet? In other words don't let God's processing you hinder the faith in you and limit God's potential in you?  Allow God's faith to operate through you like Abraham "HE STAGGERED NOT AT THE PROMISE OF GOD THROUGH UNBELIEF; BUT WAS STRONG IN FAITH , GIVING GLORY TO GOD. Make up in your mind, that I will not LIMIT THE GOD OF ISRAEL'S POWER IN MY LIFE!!

PHIL: 2:5-8 " KENONSIS "

Today we live in a fast paced society, everybody busy about doing there own thing. People are selfish, self-centered, self willed, and they only think about themselves.  What is in it for me, what am I going to get out of it, and how am I going to benefit from what's going on. This is the world we live in today, self-gratifying it's all about me. What makes this so pitiful is that this attitude has crept into the church!  Joyce Meyer does a funny skit of acting like a robot and saying "What about me?" "What about me?",  she even tells the story how she would wake up in the morning and lay in the bed and think of how her husband and children could wait on her to make her live better. We should be willing to esteem our brother higher than ourselves and go the extra mile for each other. Phil. 2:7  says that Jesus "MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION", this phrase is known as "the KENONSIS OF CHRIST."  This means that HE EMPTIED HIMSELF of  (1.) by veiling His glory  (2.) taking on Himself a true but sinless nature (3.) Voluntarily submitting to the will of the Father. At all times, Christ remained God, retaining the nature and attributes of God but taking a human nature in order to have a ministry among men. Jesus Christ, GOD became a man to redeem man back to the Father. He payed the ultimate price and gave his life. Shouldn't we sacrifice to help each other?

2 PETER 1:3 " YOU HAVE EVERYTHING"

There are so many different people that come across our lives and shape us in different ways . Especially in our youth we are so impressionable, we are influenced by others around us. I had a friend growing up that in my mind at the time had everything. He had good parents and they gave him just about everything he wanted. Every holiday he got a new outfit, I mean shirts, sweaters, slacks, shoes, socks the works. It was like he had everything.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Have you ever met people that seemed to have it all, the perfect marriage, children, home, job, ministry, "everything". So do you, you have it all if you have Jesus!! The Apostle Peter says "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue " (2 Peter 1:3)  Peter says his Divine Power = it was a name or the title for God the Jews called Him who revered Him so much they would not pronunce His name, that's the God hath given us all things that pertain unto life.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            LIFE=ZOE=This is life real and genuine , a life active and vigorous , devoted to God and includes the present as well as the future. Zoe denotes in the Greek the physical vitality of organic beings, animals, men, and plants.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Life is understood , not as a thing , but as vitality, as the nature or manner which characterizes all living creatures.                                                                                                                                           This is the life you experience in Jesus Christ, real , genuine and vigorous, that's everything. Not things , possesions , people, but Christ He is the some total of everything . Life and godliness, that is GOD=LIKENESS itsn't that what we want to be like GOD?  The Life =Zoe= that gives us the ability to act like God and this should be the heart beat of every believer.

ACTS 3:4 " NOT A ONE MAN SHOW "

Our society is filled with the attitude of make it on your own and do it yourself, make it to the top no matter who you step on , on the way. It doesn't matter who helps you get where your trying to go as long as you succeed,  and take no prisoners. This is not the attitude of a believer, matter of fact it's the total opposite. The bible teaches us that" Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor, For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). The bible also says: : " How should one chase a thousand , and two put ten thousand to flight; " ( Deuteronomy 32:30).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Have you noticed that  a lot of  large corporations are merging together, for the good of the company. Corporations you never thought would get together have united for a common goal to succeed. Our lesson tells us that Peter and John are on there way to the temple to pray, and there is a lamed man placed at "the gate Beautiful" everyday begging for alms. This man has been lame from birth, and this is the only thing he can do is beg for money.                                                                                                                                                          But this is his day of blessing , Peter says to him "look on us" not just on me but us. I know I'm doing the talking but I have someone with me that's just as anointed as I am and were united together to see you get your miracle, and it doesn't matter who gets the credit, the glory belongs to God!!  The man looked on them both and received his healing .There is power in working together for his kingdom. This should be the attitude of the church , church lets work together so we can see His Glory!! This is the season of coming together, united with passion for one purpose, to see God's manifested Glory!!

JEREMIAH 29:11 " POWER THOUGHTS "

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."( Jeremiah 29:11) . It is believed that on average a person has 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day, and that 70 to 80 percent of those thoughts are negative. I was watching television the other night and saw neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf discussing her study on the brain and negative thoughts. What she was saying was so amazing, she said that they measure thoughts like trees, good thoughts are green trees and bad thoughts are black trees. What they would do is hook a person up to a machine and study his or her brain waves. Dr. Leaf said when a person has a negative thought that the body would release a protein that causes stress , and stops the body from functioning properly.                                                                                                                                              Dr. Leaf was asked the question what was the worst thought a person can think "I CAN'T", that had the worst affect on any person. Dr. Leaf said "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:" (Proverbs 23:7)  Whatever you think that's what you are or you become?  That's why the bible says " Casting down imaginations, and every high thing exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." ( 2 Cor.10:5 ) . The word  "imaginations"= arguments, that the devil will argue in your mind against the word of God.                                                                                                                                                                The devil wants to diminish the power of God's word in your life and have you thinking "I can't"accomplish God's purpose in my life. He wants you upset with God, that God hasn't fulfilled his promise to me and that He is a liar. He wants you to believe that God is a destroyer of hopes and dreams , but you fight the devil with the word of God, that's our defence. One thing I thought was amazing  Dr. Leaf said you can change your thought life from negative to positive in  just 21 days with the help of God's word. Isn't that amazing it doesn't take long at all!!  God said I know the plans I have for you, can't nobody plan things like God!    Plans to prosper you says the" NIV VERSION". CAN'T NO ONE STOP THE POWER OF GOD'S PLANS , THE DEVIL, ENEMIES, HATERS, NOBODY CAN STOP GOD WHEN HIS THOUGHTS ARE TO PROSPER YOU!!

EXODUS 3:8 " GIANTS IN THE PROMISE"

The Lord promised the children of Israel that they would go into a land that  flowed with milk and honey .  "And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians , and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land flowing with milk and honey; " (EXODUS 3:8)  The promised land, I believe should be a perfect place , a place God described that flows with milk and honey. Milk can be described as nourishment and honey describes the sweetness of the land. And God said a good land and large, it sounds like the perfect place! But God went on to say that the Canaanites , Hittites, Amorites, that the Perizzites, Hivites and the Jebusites were there.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       In the land of perfection, that flowed with milk nourishment and honey sweetness, in the promised place, there are GIANTS there. How could the enemy be in the perfect place? How could  opposition be in the perfect place? How could God promise blessings and a curse be there as well? How could there be good and bad existing together? If this is what God promised them , why would they have to fight giants for there promise?  When we receive a word or a promise from the Lord there is always opposition that comes. In one way or another there will be some type of opposition to what God has said. The devil wouldn't be the devil if he didn't oppose God's word, he's done it from the beginning to Adam and Eve.       The important thing to remember is that although the children of Israel were going into the promised land against Giants God was with them, to drive out the inhabitants of that land. When we come into our place of promise , our land that flows with milk and honey , that's the time to elevate our faith for the trials ahead . Even though there were Giants in the promise that did not diminish what God had promised. Israel fought a physical battle, but we fight a spiritual battle, a battle of the mind.                                                                                                                                                        Giants of doubt, failure, discouragement , giants of worry , insecurity and not belonging these are the Giants that we war against today. But we have to do as the children of Israel were commanded , we have to drive them out. So my advice to you is, as you embark upon your promise land whatever it is, to expect problems in your promise. But know God is there to help you drive out the Giants.                                                                                                                                           Maybe we have to drive out Giants , but the problems are part of the promise, except it all and watch God fulfill his purpose in your life. " For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2Cor. 1:20).

How bad do you want it?

Bartimaeus - Son of Honor


Mark 10:46-52


He was changed from his past to future, from beggar to believer, from poverty to prosperity, from pain to power, from darkness to light and from blindness to receiving his sight, from uncertainty to expectancy, from no hope to hope against hope. 

Bartimaeus knew he was not a blind beggar.  He believed he was living beneath his means and destiny.  Even though he was a blind beggar, his name meant son of honor.  He lived with the expectation of receiving his sight.  When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming, he called Jesus Son of David.  Bartimaeus knew he was the Messiah that would come.  And this was the opportunity for him to go from a beggar to a believer.

This is why no matter what situation you are in believe that Jesus Christ can bring you out of your circumstances.  It does not matter whether you are blind physically or spiritually or whatever situation you are dealing with in your life.  Once you meet Jesus, he will transform your life from darkness to light. I'm quite sure Bartimaeus had the expectation that I 'm not going to stay this way. Everyday going to the gate with the mind set that today is the day I get my miracle. So when the crowd that followed Jesus told Bartimaeus to SHUT UP he payed  no attention to them, the more they told him to SHUT UP the louder he got.                 Notice Bartimaeus did not call him Jesus of Nazereth , he called him" Jesus the Son of David". Bartimaeus knew the messianic call on the life of Jesus and that he was the SON OF GOD! What the bible says about the Messiah "And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book , and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity , and out of darkness"( Isaiah 29:18)   " Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped" (Isaiah 35:5) . Bartimaeus somehow knew the word, that's why he called Jesus the son of David, DO YOU KNOW WHO JESUS IS?                                                                                                                                                           DO YOU KNOW THE WORD? HOW BAD DO YOU WANT WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU? THE BIBLE SAYS" AND FROM THE DAYS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST UNTIL NOW THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN SUFFERETH VIOLENCE, AND THE VIOLET TAKE IT BY FORCE"!! (Matthew 11:12) TAKE WHAT RIGHTFULLY BELONGS TO YOU!! YOU ARE A SON OF HONOR!!

ACTS 26:2 " I THINK MYSELF HAPPY!!"

Once again we are in the book of Acts, so much was happening in the early years of the church. The church was filled with excitment, vitality, enthusiasm , and with the power of God! The bible says in Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me:" POWER= DYNAMIS= inherent power capable of reproducing itself like a dynamo. DYNAMITE that's the calling of the church, capable of reproducing it's self over and over again. Chapter after chapter the early church kept reproducing itself througth strength, power and ability. Another meaning of DYNAMIS=INFLUENCE, the church has the ability to influence the world.                                                                                                                                                    By this time the apostle Paul has completed three missionary journeys around the world preaching and establishing churches, the bible says "And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So tha t from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and diseases departed from them , and the evil spirits went out of them." (ACTS 19:11-12). The apostle Paul has seen and experienced some things by the time we get to chapter 26 , in chapter 14 : 19-20 at Lystra the apostle is stoned and drew outside of the city supposing he is dead and the disciples stand around and he rose up. In chapter 16:23-25 Paul is beaten  and put in stocks and thrown in the inner jail, but at midnight Paul and Silas sang praises to God  they praised God until an earthquake came and shook the jail. So we see the apostle Paul had already been through some things . Now he is accussed of starting trouble by the jewish leaders so they put him in prison to execute him.                                                                                                                                                     The apostle Paul probably spent 25% of his ministry in prison. The prisons of that day , the cells were dark, especially the inner cells of the prison like the one Paul and Silas inhabited in Phillipi. Unbearably cold , lack of water, cramp quarters and sickening stench from few toilets made sleeping difficult and waking hours miserable. Male and female prisoners were sometimes incarcerated together , which led to sexual immorality and abuse . Prison food when available was poor . Most prisoners had to provide for their own food from outside sources. Because of the miserable conditions, many prisoners begged for a speedy death, others simple committed suicide. From this premise I want you to see what Paul was dealing with, brought up from conditions like that to stand before king Agrippa and plead his case , and the first words out of his mouth is " I THINK MYSELF HAPPY". What an indictment against the church of today, when we complain about everything. This man could lose his life , living in deplorable conditions and thinks himself happy!!                                                 The bible says " For as he thinketh in his heart , so is he: "( Proverbs 23:7)  The apostle Paul's purpose was to please God no matter what the condition , adversity it didn't matter he was relentless in doing the will of God! Paul writes in Phil: 4:8 " Finally, brethren , whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,  whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report; if ther be any virtue ; and if there be any praise, think on these things." You can conquer every situation by " I THINK MYSELF HAPPY"!!

THE BLESSING OF HINDRANCE

I stated in one of the other writings that we had just finished our study on the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. Luke the physician is the writer of the book of Acts.  Luke through the guidance of the Holy Spirit puts his focus on two main personalities, the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul. The first part of the book of Acts centers around Peter, Acts 1:1-12:25, and the second part of the book central theme is Paul Acts 13: 1,28:31.                                                                                                                                            Have you ever felt like something was hindering you, impeding your progress, standing in the way of your destiny. We all know that there is an enemy out there who will plot , scheme  dig ditches to stop us from reaching our goal.  The Bible says " And he shall speak great words against the most High , and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws:" Daniel 7:25 . That's the job of the enemy to try to wear us down by his hindering influence. He also wants to frustrate us and get us out of character, but the word of God says " Behold ,  I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19.   
I felt this was an very important passage in scripture because it's shows us another side of something blocking our way or hindering us!!  So is it safe to say that it is not the devil stopping us at times, that sometimes it could be GOD?  In our scripture Acts 16:6-10 the apostle Paul is trying to go into Asia to preach the gospel, "but" the Holy Spirit( FORBIDDEN HIM.) Why would the Spirit do such a thing, stop someone from spreading the GOSPEL? It was Paul's mission to take the gospel to the gentile nations.  Let's look at the word Forbidden=to hinder, prevent forbid, to withhold a thing from anyone, to deny or refuse one a thing:  Is there a chance that God will hinder, forbid us from doing a thing or reaching a goal, is it possible to do a good thing at the wrong time? There are times God will stop or hinder a thing for different reasons. There are times we have " haters" I mean people around us that will share in a blessing that they haven't suffered for ,or paid the price for.                                                                                                                                                       And God in His SOVEREIGNTY,and OMNISCIENCE knows what's best for us. I thought this was interesting  the root word for FORBIDDEN one of the definitions means to " LOP OR PRUNE could it be that God is pruning away some things off of you before you get the blessing?   What God is going to do with you is going to be so awesome he was to cut or prune away things and people out of your life. And that's some of the reason for the delay .                                                                                                                                                  The apostle Paul was attempting to go into Asia and spread the gospel" the good news and glad tidings of Jesus Christ, but the Holy Spirit forbid ,blocked. stopped hindered his progress . Until Paul had a vision of a man telling him to come into Macedonia to preach, the door was wide open. Right now I sense the Holy Spirit opening some doors for some of you that the time is now for your blessing ,some things you've been waiting for God to do,  AND HE HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU!!!! You will  have a testimony of being BLESSED BY HINDRANCE!!  This is so awesome to me WHEN the apostle Paul finally went into Asia God didn't just give Paul a few cities he gave him the whole CONTINENT!!!  It was worth the wait, God just doesn't want to give you  A BLESSING , he wants to OPEN THE FLOOD GATES, give you a DOWN POUR, a TSUNAMI OF BLESSINGS. SO STAY PRAYERFUL AS YOU WAIT ON "THE BLESSING OF HINDERANCE".

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Undefiled

One of the stories in Daniel starts in the introduction of chapter one.  Daniel, little is known of his background, but he was clearly of royal birth.  Daniel 1: 3-4 states and they spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of children of Israel, and of the king's seed and of the princes.  Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.  Daniel no doubt was taken captive in the third year of King Jehoviakim reign which occrued in 605 B. C. Daniel and his three friends were among the leading citizens of the nation of Judah who were carried of the nation of Judah who were carried to Babylon as captives during the years 605-586 B. C.
Some bibical writers often portrayed this ancient capital of the Babylonian peoples as the model of paganism and idolatry.  Daniel probably as a teenager was already a man of God for his name means "God is my Judge".  But his name was changed to Belteshazzar meaning Prince of Bel preserve thou (O Bel) his life or the chief deity of Babylon.
History records two main periods of science the Greek period from 600 B. C. to 200 A. D. and the modern period from 1450 A. D. to our day.  Science began in Egypt and Babylon with the birth of mathematics, metalurgy, anataomy, and astronomy.  The Babylons are credited with creating the exact measurements of the lunar and solar cycles, tracing the paths of planets, the division of the circle into 350 degrees.  Their most notable contributions is the zodiac.  Daniel was no doubt trained in all these sciences.  The word learning in Daniel 1:4 is the Hebrew word sepher meaning book or literature.  History records the existence of huge libraries in Babylon as in our day.  Daniel and his friends were basically commanded to change their lifestyle to be given a portion of the kings meat daily.  However, Daniel refused to compromise because of how they were raised.  They refused what the king was offering them. 
Is the king or the world offering you meat?  I believe Daniel refused the lifestyle of that day because of more than just food.  It was the world system of that day being carnal and compromising.  Daniel would not defile himself.  Defile means to make filthy, corrupt, ravish, violate, to make ceremoniously unclean, or dishonor.  Pulse was a dish that consisted of beans and vegetables. The P stood for purpose.  This meant spiritual purpose.  Daniel had purpose filled life and he was determined that he would not be defiled.  The U stood for unity.  Daniel was united with his 3 friends and they stood together in this quest against the world system.  L stood for loyalty.  Daniel was loyal not only to his 3 friends but to his word, which is a lost commodity in people today.  The S stands for sanctified he was set aside for the masters' use.  And the E stands for excellence.  Three times the word excellent is given to Daniel.  It appears in Daniel 5:15; 5:14; 5:3.  Daniel was anointed and gifted with excellence and refused to be defiled.