7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” 1 Samuel 8:7-9

Grace and peace saints of God. Today and everyday we celebrate the Reign of the King - Jesus the Christ. As we proclaim the doxology, "Christ has died. Christ has risen! Christ will come again," we are reminded that the King of the Universe who clothed himself in humanity and dwelt among men, the King who died for our sins and rose to justify us with all power in his hands, the King who ascended unto the Father and now sits at his right hand interceding for us even now, the King - alive and well is returning again to reign for all eternity. Jesus is the King who was and is, and is to come.Rev. 1:8  Jesus is the King whose kingdom shall have no end. Luke 1:33, Isaiah 9:7

This means that no matter what we're facing, no matter how catastrophic thing may appear, God is in control! Somebody ought to say amen right there! We serve the Almighty, Everlasting  God, the Ancient of Days! The God we serve is the only one who can do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or think! Eph. 3:20  Yet in all of his power and might, we like the people in today's reading find ourselves thinking that we can do better for ourselves than the creator of all that is.

The Word of God declares in the 24th Psalm that "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness therof; the world and they who dwell therein. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters." vs. 1-2 Straight from the mind and heart of God we were created with purpose embedded in the very fabric of our being. To express the glorious splendor of an awesome God; as we engage a spiritual relationship with God and God's creation, God is glorified and his people edified! All under the reign of the King.

The people of Israel had seen neighboring nations come against them led by a man who they had made their king. They had watched as others engaged in what appeared to be an honor and privilege of serving a man who would govern over them. He would make rules and regulations and tell them how they were to live; what they should and should not do, and what they could and could not own. They had watched a people who were obliged to give their sons and daughters to be servants and soldiers for the king.

God's people were not satisfied with the one true King of Kings, and I wonder in the reign of the one and true king we serve, King Jesus, if we have learned very much from Israel's experience, or are we the same. Jesus has told us through the council of his word, to tend after those who are sick and shut in, to visit those who are imprisoned, and care for those who suffer without food or clothing, (Matt.25:40) and yet many of us who say we are the King's subjects and servants continue on as if it's not our concern. Oh yes, we thank God for sparing us from imprisonment, famine, and homelessness, all from the comfort of our homes and church assemblies. But are we the slightest bit concerned about the reign of the King.

The prophet John the Baptist and Jesus Christ himself proclaimed that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Both speak to the reign of God, also articulated as the righteous rule of the one true King. The statement itself announced that the current domain, as the people had known it, was under new management. In the righteous rule of the King of Kings, the one who "came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly," (John 10:10) we are given principles of the King that will enable us to engage victorious living! That is the wonder of God's Word! We weren't left to try to figure it out all by ourselves, and yet we still try.

And as Christians, as citizens of the King's domain, we find ourselves frustrated and feeling busted and disgusted trying to live in accordance with the will of God, trying to live victoriously and failing miserably, because we try to do it our own way. God tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. God tells wives to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. Eph. 5:22, 25  Yet we find in this day and time that the divorce rate is just about as high in the church as it is in the secular world! And as I witness the challenges in the lives of my brothers and sisters, and yes even in my own walk, I am reminded of the spiritual struggle that remains in our flesh that desires to exalt itself over the will of God. To dare say, indirectly, but just as boldly, "I want another king!" Even worse, "I want to be the king!" In the midst of the trials and tribulations that are meant to stretch us and not to destroy us, we say to ourselves, "God you just don't understand! So it seems I'll have to take this matter into my own hands."

But in reality it is us who don't understand. Under the reign of the King, God has a system that guarantees our victorious success! It is a system where we fully rely on Christ himself and not on ourselves, because on our best day we could never do what Christ has already done for us and what his Holy Spirit is doing for us even now! When we repent of our sins, and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord (King, Overseer, Ruler), and savior, God seals us with his Holy Spirit and enables us with the grace to be victorious! This grace is an unmerited favor! We don't deserve to live, but Jesus has already paid our debt - already taken our punishment of death. This grace is however, also an enabling power to live in a "new and living way." It is the power to think as the King thinks. It is the power to do as the King would have you to do - live as the King would have you to live, and yes love as the King would have you to love! This grace brings the joyous privilege of being able to proclaim, "Greater is He who is in me, than he that is in the world!" 1 John 4:4

May we be those who will truly live in the Reign of the King - "Not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit says the Lord of hosts." Zech. 4:6   And the people of God said - Amen.

In His Service,

Pastor Emery B. Barber
FaithWorks Christian Fellowship

At the dawn of 2011, the Spirit of the Lord declared to us that this is the Season of Awakening - A time for us to hear the mandate of the Lord to awaken from sleep and dream state and to be aware of the times, for Christ is indeed soon to come. Our recent bible studies have taken us through Matt. 24 and 25, where Jesus articulates the signs of the times to his disciples, as well as the imperative not to be troubled, but ready at the end of the age.

In the parable of the ten virgins we see a striking parallel as both the foolish and the wise virgins (Those who were prepared and those who were not) had fallen to sleep as they awaited the Bridegroom, representing Jesus the Christ. But when it was midnight, there came a clarion call to wake-up to prepare for the coming of the Bridegroom. Those who were ready had their oil, and those who were not had to try to buy oil from "oil dealers." Those who were wise and ready were well received. Those who were foolish, were rejected. Please note that the Bridegroom doesn't tell them, "You're too late!" But instead he says, "Truly, I don't know you!" We are "known" by God as a New Creation, when we accept Christ as savior; when he places the seal of the Holy Spirit on us. It becomes a marker of our redemption, and thus access into the presence of the Lord.
(Read: Eph. 1:13-14, Matt. 3:17, John 6:27)

Many anticipate the return of the Christ, but how many of us are ready? How many of us know Jesus the Christ as Lord? Have you been washed by the blood of the Lamb? Have you been anointed with the sweet fragrant "oil" of the Holy Spirit? It is time to wake up my brothers and sisters. We can only shine the light of the Lord (Matt. 5:16) when we're filled with the oil of the Lord. We continue this reflection in the video below

...The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light 13 Let us walk decently, as people who live in the light of day. Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, live like the Lord Jesus Christ did , and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:11-14

In His Service,


Pastor Barber
FaithWorks Christian Fellowship
Proving God at God's Word

Emery B. Barber is a founding Pastor of FaithWorks Christian Fellowship of Jamaica, NY, and co-author of the web devotional and devotional book, Words of Faith for FaithWorks Christian Center, International. As a Creative Media Consultant he provides training and services in various areas of digital marketing collateral with a special calling to Creative Worship Media.

   FaithWorks Christian Fellowship | Engaging Worship, Declaring Praise, and Proving God at God's Word | Join Us

                                             © 2012 Faith Works Christian Center. All rights reserved.

Grace and peace brothers and sisters in Christ. Has anyone ever made a promise to you and you're still waiting for them to keep it? Maybe it was a loan someone needed in a crunch and they promised to pay it back the next Friday, but "next Friday" never came! Well I'm so glad we serve a God who is indeed a "promise-keeper."

In the twelfth verse of the first chapter of Jeremiah, God informs Jeremiah, and us also by application, that "God watches over God's Word to perform it." And in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah God says that "God's Word shall not return to God void, but it shall accomplish that which God purposes, and shall prosper in the thing for which God sent it." The God we serve is a Word-Watcher! That means that there is nothing that God has said or will say that will not come to pass. It must happen, because the Creator of the Universe has said so, and God's Word is sure!

We see this principle of God in practice from the beginning. In the book of Genesis, God said, "Let there be..." and the Word set out to accomplish it. We know this by the way, because God inspired John to write in the third verse of the first chapter of his book that, "all things were made through the Word and there was not anything, that was made, that wasn't made by the Word! But not only was the Word set to accomplish the will of the Father, but the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters, watching over the action of God's Word. Jesus, the Word made flesh, watches over God's Word when he says to John in the 4th chapter to allow his baptism to take place that "righteousness might be fulfilled." God is a Word - Watcher!

The question today is what did God speak over your life? What did God say about you? To you? Many of you are in a state of limbo right now, because like Jeremiah, you can't believe what God has said about you, or told you to do. Some of you are looking at your circumstances. Mad about the situations you're finding yourself in, instead of looking at where God has told you to go or listening to what God has told you to do. Get over your-self, and be about your Father's business. You can do what God said you can do! You can go where God said you can go, because our God is Word-Watcher!

Now please your Heavenly Father right now as you truly allow God's Word to be a lamp unto your feet and light unto your path, and fulfill the purposes of the Great Word-Watcher! Walk by Faith. Peace.

In His Service,
Pastor Barber
FaithWorks Christian Fellowship
Proving God at God's Word

Emery B. Barber is a founding Pastor of FaithWorks Christian Fellowship of Jamaica, NY, and co-author of the web devotional and devotional book, Words of Faith for FaithWorks Christian Center, International. As a Creative Media Consultant he provides training and services in various areas of digital marketing collateral with a special calling to Creative Worship Media.

   FaithWorks Christian Fellowship | Engaging Worship, Declaring Praise, and Proving God at God's Word | Join Us

                                             © 2012 Faith Works Christian Center. All rights reserved.

In the 5th chapter of Matthew we find Jesus teaching a multitude that has engaged his new ministry. These are those who have responded to his call to "repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand." These are they who are eager to find their place in the Kingdom - in the presence of what ultimately is to be the new world order. Jesus starts this teaching  with a series of pronouncements of blessings. Please read the scriptures to see them at length. Today we glance at the first one. "Blessed are they who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

While Jesus may have been speaking to many who were disenfranchised in many ways, he is deliberate in speech to say, not poor, but poor in spirit. Poor in spirit speaks of one who is not just humble, but humbled. It means they have been through a process that has brought them to a place of emptiness before God. It is the realization that on one's best day they could never do for themselves what God can do for them, with them, and through them. Jesus the Christ pronounces blessing on this characteristic as part of a larger composite. For though one may find themselves in this place and posture now, it becomes part of the vehicle that guarantees one's inheritance in the presence of the Lord where there is fulness of joy and at His right hand pleasures evermore. Ps. 16:11

He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1 What a blessed place to be - in the secret place of the Most High, abiding in His shadow. The question today is how do we get to this blessed place where we can declare that we are truly blessed. Allen-Aaron Hicks depicts imagery of this blessed experience in his painting about the story of The Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32. This young man has gone through the process that has ultimately brought him to the place we are reflecting on today - poor in spirit. He has taken his inheritance and wasted it. He finds himself alone, broke, and broken in far country that is caught up in the midst of famine. He comes to himself as he is eating with the pigs, and realizes that the servants of his father's house eat better than what he is currently experiencing. He realizes he has missed the mark in his own strength, trying to follow his own way, and he relents. And he repents - that is, he decides to turn from his sin which has taken him to such a low place that he can hardly stand himself, and "return to the high place" in his father's house.  Not as a son, but as a servant - poor in spirit! When we're poor in spirit, we are not so concerned about our place and position in the house of God. We are grateful just to serve there - poor in spirit! The father who has been waiting for him, receives him with open arms - not as a servant, but as a resurrected son! He clothes him and holds a feast for him among his people.

You may find yourself in a low place right now, wondering how you got there, or why you never realized your position before now. Stop wondering and repent. Return to the High Place through Christ Jesus. Do it now. There is a high place promised to those who will humble themselves before the presence of an awesome master.  May we follow the example given by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and say, "Master, I have sinned against you and you alone. Forgive me, and make me a servant in your Kingdom." May the Joy of the Lord and the Peace of his Presence be yours.

In His Service,
Pastor Barber
FaithWorks Christian Fellowship
Proving God at God's Word

Emery B. Barber is a founding Pastor of FaithWorks Christian Fellowship of Jamaica, NY, and co-author of the web devotional and devotional book, Words of Faith for FaithWorks Christian Center, International. As a Creative Media Consultant he provides training and services in various areas of digital marketing collateral with a special calling to Creative Worship Media.

   FaithWorks Christian Fellowship | Engaging Worship, Declaring Praise, and Proving God at God's Word | Join Us

                                             © 2012 Faith Works Christian Center. All rights reserved.