7As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. 9Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written:
" 'I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.'^[c] 11I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

16"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
17" 'We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge
and you did not mourn.' 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."

This passage if filled with all sorts of revelation but iam only going to talk about a few things in this passage.

The first thing that i am gonna look at is Verses 7-10

I find it very intersting that Jesus addresses these people in this manner, This harsh tone is not seen many times in all of his teachings.

I find it interesting that he asks the crowd "What did you go out to the desert to SEE"

What did you come into 2008 to see?

did you come into this year thinking about someone, something,???

What was your GAZE ON IN 2008

I find it very interesting that Jesus and John have a large crowd in the middle of the DESERT!!!

These people went to the middle of freakin nowhere to here this crazy dude who smelled like camel booty and hadn't eaten a descent meal in years!

I think that there was a reason for the people to have to take their gaze off of there everyday surroundings and come to a place where all they could see and experience was the teachings of John and the power that was in Johns baptism.

What are you looking for in 2009?

The second thing that iam gonna talk about is verse 11 the key part of this text is

"I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

This is a very interseting and confusing portion of text because it tells u how great john is but then it says who john is now the least in the kingdom of heaven

The key to this portion of scripture is the 2 Covenants

the 1st being the old testament (everyting before jesus)

the 2nd is the new testament (everything during and after Jesus)

The key is that John was apart of the old covenant and we are apart of the new covenant and the new covenant is better than the old covenant

The next portion of text that iam gonna focus on is verse 12

"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it."

I think that often times Christ has given us the victory but we don't "Lay hold of it"

The KJV says "And the Violent TAKE IT BY FORCE"

I think that often times we don't take it by force

we often times don't use force in prayer and worship

we don't demand that demons flee. We don't fully access the the power granted to us

I encourage you as we enter in a new year

TAKE IT!

Take the victory in every aspect of your life

don't be afraid to get forceful in the prayer room

"The only power that God yields to is that of Prayer" -Leonard Ravenhill

Learning to LOVE

Living under HIS Waterfalls

Ben,

The song "Let it out Now" by Leeland has really been my anthem today

3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ^[c] was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'^[d]"

7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'^[d]"

20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."

21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility- 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. ^[b] 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service.

6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 910^[c] food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you." but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel,

11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

Don't Put It Off

5-9So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

2 Peter 1:3-9

I read this passage today and some things really stood out to me the first thing that stood out to me was in verse 4

"your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust".

I find it very profound that our ticket to god is just simply turning our backs on the crap of this world. We can enter into heaven by just simply turning our backs to the crap of this world. Thats all it takes its so simple and easy. We can have eternal peace with God in a place that is far greater than anything we can imagine by simply turning our back from the crap of this world!!

The Second thing that really got me thinking was in verse 5

"So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others."

I love how in this verse the last thing that is mentioned is Love in the NIV all of this build up and the top layer of these values is LOVE I find that this is the one thing we use the least amount! Iam definitely guilty of this I am all for Passion and Discipline and wonder but Iam not that crazy about the friendliness and Love. Because it's a lot easier for me to be intense and just sit in awe of the wonder of an amazing God. It takes something for me to show that love and friendliness. I have to try to be friendly I have to try and show love to people and be Jesus with skin on. But this is what Jesus told us to do "And the Greatest of these is LOVE"

The Third an final thing that caught my attention in this verse is in verse 9

"Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books."

I find it very profound and interesting that Peter says that without these values of discipline, passion, love, that we can't truely understand the Grace of God! Grace is undeserved unmeritted favor and without us having these attributes in our lives we can't see the Grace of God! Until we have and use these things in our lives we can't truely understand grace!

Well that's what caught my eye in this verse

Hope it helped ya,

Birthright

Genesis 48

Manasseh and Ephraim

3 Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty ^[a] appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me 4 and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.'

5 "Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. 7 As I was returning from Paddan, ^[b] to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?"

9 "They are the sons God has given me here," Joseph said to his father.
Then Israel said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them."

10 Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

11 Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too."

12 Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. 13 And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought them close to him. 14 But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.

15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
"May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,

16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
—may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they increase greatly
upon the earth."

17 When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18 Joseph said to him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations." 20 He blessed them that day and said,
"In your ^[c] name will Israel pronounce this blessing:
'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.' "
So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

21 Then Israel said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with you ^[d] and take you ^[e] back to the land of your ^[f] fathers. 22 And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land ^[g] I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow."

Judges 6:11-16

11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."

13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"

15 "But Lord , ^[a] " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."

16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

This is a story that most christians are familiar with. But today I have a different perspective of this story

I think that we overlook some of the details of the story that hold a very important facts about Gideon and his family

This first Fact is that Gideon's name literally means mighty warrior.

I think that Gideon was afraid to live up to his God given destiny

So many christians do this in there walks with christ that as soon as crap comes there way they run and hide!

They don't stand and fight they tuck tail and run!

I believe that in order for us to be successful in the kingdom we must begin to live up to our names and our destiny's!

Luke 8:16-18

3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest
is my lover among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 He has taken me to the banquet hall,
and his banner over me is love.
5 Strengthen me with raisins,
refresh me with apples,
for I am faint with love.
6 His left arm is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.
7 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.
8 Listen! My lover!
Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 My lover spoke and said to me,
"Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, and come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me."

I came across this quote today and it really messed with my head!