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Thank you Peter, for this powerful message.

Consuming Fire

Deuteronomy 9:1-5 Consuming Fire and Righteousness

“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’  Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Deuteronomy 9:1-5

When my husband read this today, two things jumped out at me.

One was 'he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God.' 

It reminded me that no evil can stand up against my God. I do not need to fear because He goes before me.

Now with that said, we cannot expect God to go before us as this consuming fire if we have not been spending time in His Word, in prayer, in listening and inquiring of Him. God does expect us to seek Him and His wisdom in all things. So if you went running into something just because it was bothering 'you' and you haven't been to church/fellowship, have not been in His Word, you have not been praying according to His Word and you have not been listening to the Spirit but listening to your flesh or the world......or maybe you go to church for show or because it's a habit but you don't do anything with what you are learning, you leave it at the door.......don't be surprised when you feel the 'fire', when you don't see the Lord doing what you think He should.

It is very important that we know our Father, we know His ways and we KNOW that His Word is His protection over us; it is not to harm us.  We want His fire to go before us, He makes the path.

I fought this for a long time. I did not want to change my ways because I felt God was never there for me, especially in my childhood/teen years. The only way I knew God was from people that had 'religion' and from 'men' that abused me. So it was a journey for me to even be able to call God my Father.  

I'm so thankful He is a patient God, wanting none to perish. I'm grateful for those that were praying for me and loving me even at my dirtiest. And I rejoice that I can now call Him my Father and I know His love for me.

I know that as I obey Him when things come up all I have to do is pray, listen and then obey because then -- that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God – will go before me and give me the victory.

The second thing in this passage is - “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart..

When the Consuming Fire has gone before you and destroyed the resistance, the evil before you – do NOT take credit for it. Be careful that you don’t say, ‘well I did this and that, yes I heard God but “I” did it. Watch out for pride that says ‘I’m so upright and righteous that all this took place’. NO it is always God and His righteousness that defeats the enemy.  It is because of the wickedness that God moves through them and makes a path for us. He is fulfilling His promises.

So when you know, hear and obey God; you see Him going forward as the Consuming Fire, erasing your debt; healing your body; giving you the money to pay your mortgage; blessing  you on your job; opening doors of opportunity that people said would never happen……..don’t take any credit for it !

Give God all the glory, honor and praise!

(c) Has Breath Publishing LLC                                                                                                    

There Is A Work To Be Done

The Wrestling Match

In the last couple of years, the Lord has really been moving in this body of believers to become pure and holy before Him. There is a work to be done that requires us to be willing and obedient to leave behind anything from our past including separating emotional ties with it. For most people that is a difficult thing to do, but if we will simply trust Him to help us, we will complete the work that is set before us and finish the race capturing the prize our King longs to give us!

Jacob was a man that loved God and honored Him. Unfortunately, he was given a name that he heard every day and that name meant: supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler. That is how Jacob lived his life at times. Let’s take one instance to illustrate the point I wish to convey. Jacob tricked his father into believing he was his brother Esau and as a result swindled Esau out of his birthright. The choice he made in that moment caused him to live in fear of his brother for a good portion of his life and make choices rooted in fear.

Now the time has come that he must face his brother and he doesn't know what to do, so he seeks God for an answer. Go to Genesis 32 to read about this. Verse 7 tells us that Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. In Verse 12 God assured him that he would prevail. Now with God telling him that, it would seem like he could relax and listen to how God wanted to go about restoring their relationship. But Jacob is really no different than most of us.

Being motivated by fear, Jacob decides to come up with his own plan on how to soften Esau’s heart before he faces him. Isn't that like our flesh? We tend to take things into our own hands instead of taking time to listen to God’s solution for our problems.

Jacob ends up in a Wrestling Match with God because he was too stubborn to listen and change. God ultimately had to put him in a position in order for him to listen and quit fighting Him. God was not his enemy, but just like Jacob that’s how many people view Him.

 Jacob’s mindset of what had been spoken over him daily had to be changed in order for God to get through to him. Once he realized that, released the fear and listened to God, God gave him a new name, Israel….one that spoke blessing over him the rest of his life.

Oh…the end of this story goes…God restored Israel’s relationship with his brother Esau.

 If only he would have listened in the first place and trusted God completely, he could have saved himself so much heartache.

So…Are you wrestling with God about something? It’s time to repent, release it and move forward as God shows you.

 He has your solution. Seek Him and when He answers you…do it!