Scripture for the week of May 26, 2024 By JoBeth Kested
Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. Isaiah 46:9 (NIV)
Have you heard the saying,”You can’t know where you are going unless you know where you came from”? When we remember the stories of those before us that overcame great trials, handicaps, poverty, and wars we are encouraged that we can also overcome the trials before us. Likewise, God instructs us in this scripture to remember the former things. In the midst of our current needs and busyness, have we forgotten the answered prayers and miracles we’ve experienced or learned in the past that will inspire our faith to trust God today? Twice God declares that He alone is God and there is none like Him! Let us remember there is no other God whose very nature is love, extends mercy, offers peace, forgives sin, heals diseases, saves the lost, wipes away all our tears and knows the number of hairs on our heads! Yet, He is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords and commands the angelic armies of heaven. There is no other God like our God!
JoBeth and I would like to Thank Conny Hubbard for including the Quest Of The Overcomers in her Neuro Art teaching on the Hebrew Month of IYAR and her excellent review of our book.
Conny Hubbard is a well known Author, Teacher and Chaplain. She is one of the most creative women that I have ever met. She teaches Bibliodrama writing classes that bringing the Word of God to life in an exquisite and creative way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXXnej4rtzM
Reach out and let us know how much you enjoyed The Quest and Conny’s Teaching.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:11-12 (NIV)
Have you ever heard someone say, “I love you to the moon and back” in effort to express the greatness of their love? God declares the magnitude of His love for as there is no end to the height of the heavens above the earth. You may need to ask, “What does it mean to fear the Lord?” It simply means great reverence and awe for the Almighty-Omnipotent-Creator-Ruler God of the universe and to acknowledge that He is the Lord over us individually, as well. When we choose to fear the Lord and receive His gift of salvation, His lovingkindness removes the consequences of our failure to meet His standards of holiness and perfection as far from us as the east is from the west! How wonderful it is to understand that east and west never ever meet! May we choose the fear of the Lord and experience God’s extravagant love for us that is over the rainbow, beyond the moon and to the height of the heavens!
Are you on the Potter’s Wheel? Do you understand the process? Does your life seem to be spinning out of control? Are you being shaken, sculpted, pushed, where are you in the process? If you don’t know and don’t know the process then please ask Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you to receive from Him in Jesus name as you read..
Are you crying out to be used by God? Do you hear His calling and have the desire in your heart to serve Him but keep failing? Could it be that He’s perfecting you? Do you need to yield to His process?
It is my prayer that Abba Father will open the eyes of your understanding and impart His wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ so that He can reveal His glory through you -(Eph 17-23).
REMEMBER: God’s purpose for you is eternal and He is there! God chose us from the foundation of all things.
Genesis 2:7 (KJV) 7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. He formed and fashioned us in our Mother’s womb.
Psalm 139:12-14 (KJV) 12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. and He gave us the choice to receive Him or the devil, His blessing or curses.
Deuteronomy 30:18-20 (NIV) 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
If you’ve made the choice for Jesus to be your LORD (not simply believe in the little baby in the manger) Made HIM , Crowned HIM, LORD over your life and KING of KINGS. Then you became a great clod of clay, chosen by HIM to be placed on HIS potter’s wheel. You must understand that there are many facets of becoming what and who the LORD has purposed for you.
There is none like you, no one can take your place, you are an original and you were created with purpose. The Lord wants you to know that when the wheel seems to be spinning so fast that you can’t get your footing, when you seem to be pressed and pinched and when you feel dry and cracked that It is HIM, GOD, ELOHIM, ADONI, Creator of the Universe that has you on the potter’s wheel.
Not the devil. GOD HIMSELF is forming you and fashioning you, preparing you and molding you, sculpting you and HE has HIS hand on you.
The Potter’s Wheel belongs to God and it is a place where the devil cannot access. However, if you feel smashed down, pressed, cut, bare, dry and weak and you take yourself off HIS wheel, then you have chosen death and curses and the pressing is not coming from HIM. We all have this choice -(In the Church we call it back sliding) Because you’ve slid back off that wheel backwards and plop fell right as a dung heap for the devil to abuse. I encourage you to get up! Get back on HIS wheel because His Word says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels..2 Corinthians 4:6-11 (King James Version) 6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Remember that God does not created “cracked pots”, He created perfection. The perfection happens in His time and He has created you with a purpose. He has a plan for your life! Jeremiah 29:11 (AMP) For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.1 John 3:22 (AMP) And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [ watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [ habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him You must understand the potter’s process. Perfection does not occur on the wheel, it occurs in the fire. Beth Peterson wrote this exert on the firing process How Temperature Changes Clay By Beth Peterson, About.com Guide “As a kiln is firing up and cooling down, the changes in temperature make some profound changes in the clay. The clay goes from this soft, totally fragile substance to one which is rock-hard, impervious to water, wind, and time. The change is nearly mystical in its complete metamorphosis, and might be deemed so if it were not so common.” http://pottery.about.com/od/temperatureandmaturation/tp/tempclay.htm You can visit About.com if you would like to learn more about this God designed process. In order to complete the rock-hard, impervious to water, wind and time process, you have to get into the fire. When you do, you must remember that He’s there with you. HE will apply the glaze and refire you. He may have intricate markings to place upon you, or you may be plain. That is HIS choice, by HIS design. Remember though, the more that you resist, the more that you squirm, the longer that it takes for the process to be complete. The louder that you scream, the more that you cry and look inwardly upon your own selfish nature. You prolong the process because you refuse to understand HIS plan. He will glaze you and polish you and when you are fit for His use, sealed by Holy Spirit for HIS purpose. Then and only then can you be used. You must yield unto HIM, know HIS purpose for the Potter’s Wheel, yield unto Him so that He can perfect that which concerns you. Be fired up, glazed, polished so that you may be filled and can hold His Oil, HOLY SPIRIT. Then as you pour HIM out in this earth, you will be continually be refilled. Fit for His use. Get off the wheel, Allow Him to complete you. Ask God today, just say Abba Father – today I come to You with a searching heart to learn more about Your process for me. Please created in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me. Lord I yield unto You. Thank You Abba Father for loving me. Please complete me and lead me along the process. I desire to be used by You. Please help me not to look inwardly, selfishly and get on Your Potter’s Wheel, be fired, glazed, sculpted, whatever it takes Lord. I crown Jesus Christ Lord of my life and take my place to serve You. Whatever it takes Lord do it! In Jesus name Amen Psalm 40:1-3 (New American Standard Bible) Psalm 40 God Sustains His Servant.For the choir director. A Psalm of David. 1I (A)waited [a]patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and (B)heard my cry. 2He brought me up out of the (C)pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And (D)He set my feet upon a rock (E)making my footsteps firm. 3He put a (F)new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will (G)see and fear And will trust in the LORD. Potter’s Scriptures for your journey. Jeremiah 18:2-30 (King James Version) 2Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. 7At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. 11Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. 12And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Isaiah 29:15-17 (King James Version) 15Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? 16Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Isaiah 64:7-9 (King James Version) 7And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. 8But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. 9Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Romans 9:20-27 (New International Version) 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ “[a]21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? 22What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”[b]26and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ “[c]Remember that GOD’s purpose for you is eternal!An interesting place to visit – Learn about Pot Shreds that have endured “BCE”http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/6_middle.html Image credit: Jeff A. Benner
This is a potsherd with the Hebrew word “sh’ma”, meaning to hear, written on it and dates to about 500 BCE. More. AHRC ID#: 03 Date of Writing: c. 500 BCE Location of Discovery: Israel Date of Discovery:Current Location: Museum of Anthropology and Archeology, University of Pennsylvania Language: Hebrew Writing Surface: Pottery Transliteration: SheMaGh Translation: Hear Comments: This word is probably referencing Deuteronomy 6:4 – Hear O, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Jehovah Shammah – The Lord is ThereGod is always with you – Hebrew name study – Name Shammah Gender Male/Female Meaning Astonishment. Biblical context The Biblical baby name Shammah is Hebrew in origin and it’s meaning is astonishment. Shammah is pronounced sham-maw’. Shammah is the name of five men in the Bible. Shammah was the son of Reuel and grandson of Esau. He was the chief of a Edomite tribe. Shammah was the third son of Jesse and brother of David. He is also called Shimea, Shimea and Shimma in the Bible. Three of the mighty warriors in David’s army were named Shammah. Biblical reference for baby name Shammah: Genesis 36:13,17; 1 Samuel 16:9; 17:13; 2 Samuel 23:11, 25, 33, 37; 1 Chronicles 1:37; Strong’s Bible concordance H8048 Jehovah-Shammah – The Lord is There It must be puzzling to people all over the world that there is such a huge struggle over Israel in the Middle East and particularly over the city of Jerusalem. You look at the battleground in the streets on the nightly news and wonder; what’s worth fighting over? Surely there are more beautiful spots on earth; surely there are places more worthy of such a big fight. But it is Jerusalem the Lord is talking about when he reveals himself as Jehovah – Shammah, The Lord is There. This is in fact the very last line of the prophetic book of Ezekiel chapter 48:35; “All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city (speaking of Jerusalem) from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE.” Ezekiel is prophesying about a time that is yet to come. God himself has a great love for the city of Jerusalem; he called Jerusalem to be the place where he was worshipped by the Jews and where he dwelt in the Temple that Solomon built for him. In fact, when the temple of the Lord was dedicated and the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the inmost holy place, “a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” (1 Kings 8:10) Therefore God himself came down to dwell there. The Lord tells Solomon concerning this temple in Jerusalem, “My eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.” (1 Kings 9:3) This is the Best Example: About the Name Jehovah-Shammah Jehovah-Shammah is the Hebrew word translated as the “The Lord is there.” This name receives its origin from the Old Testament scripture found in the closing chapter of the prophet Ezekiel. “…and the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there” (Ezekiel 48:35). The prophet Ezekiel, in context of the scripture was declaring the restoration of the people of God under a unified body, the future re-gathering of Israel under the leadership of the Christ Himself. It is here we see the purpose of God was to dwell among His people, as it states in the book of Hebrews, “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:” (Hebrews 8:10). In today’s Church the believer is able to fulfill that which the prophet Ezekiel spoke of, and that which is collaborated by the author of the book of Hebrews, by the in dwelling empowerment of the Holy Spirit. There is liberty that comes with God’s presence, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:18). This freedom is only achieved by the work of Jesus Christ on Calvary, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Isn’t that just the most interesting – He is the Beginning and the End, He is there in the Middle!! He is the Holy Spirit and He makes us free and we are free indeed. He stands up on our behalf because He is there!~ in every single situation, in every matter, He is there!! Praise God.. Actually, Pastor has been preaching about Him in this context for the last several weeks because when darkness is taken away – Jehovah Shammah is already!! He is There!! Dance, Shout, Sing! Praise the Lord Our God!! For He IS, WAS and IS THERE!!! Jehovah Shammah~~
Inspired by Abba Father in Jesus namePenned by Beth Auman
I will wholeheartedly give thanks to Adonai in the council of the upright and in the assembly. 2 The deeds of Adonai are great, greatly desired by all who enjoy them. 3 His work is full of majesty and splendor, and his righteousness continues forever. 4 He has gained renown for his wonders. Adonai is merciful and compassionate. 5 He gives food to those who fear him. He remembers his covenant forever. 6 He shows his people how powerfully he works by giving them the nations as their heritage. 7 The works of his hands are truth and justice; all his precepts can be trusted. 8 They have been established forever and ever, to be carried out truly and honestly. 9 He sent redemption to his people and decreed that his covenant should last forever. His name is holy and fearsome — 10 the first and foremost point of wisdom is the fear of Adonai; all those living by it gain good common sense. His praise stands forever.
Amen! Give thanks wholeheartedly because Adonai’s deeds are great and Greatly to be praised! His name is fearsome. We must remember always that the first and foremost point of wisdom is the fear of Adonai. That is where common sense comes from and wow do we all need common sense.
If you see someone with no common sense, they obviously the fear of Adonai isn’t operating within them. Pray for them, but do not connect yourself to them. Remember this.
7 The works of his hands are truth and justice; all his precepts can be trusted. 8 They have been established forever and ever, to be carried out truly and honestly.
We need His Truth and Justice right now in this world. Cry out with me today!
Adonai, I Trust You and I fear You. I give You all praise, honor and glory in Yeshua’s Name. May Psalm 111 be made manifest in our lives today. Amen
Blessings and Shalom in Yeshua – Love Beyond Measure, Beth Auman
Scripture for the week of May 5, 2024 By JoBeth Kested
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
Do have difficulty dealing with fear of failure, fear of rejection, or fear of the unknown? Fear is the friend of doubt and unbelief and the robber of our faith. The King James Bible mentions “fear not”, “do not fear” and “do not be afraid” 110 times and it is usually followed by exhortations that the Lord is with you. God makes five promises in this scripture. 1) He is with you. 2) He is your God. 3) He gives strength to replace your weariness. 4) He will help you. 5) And, He holds you up in the power of His righteousness. So, let the power of His presence, strength and righteousness overcome your fears of failure, inadequacy, or insufficiency. Let your faith be renewed in God’s empowering love, provision, and protection for you today.