Oh, praise God for Spirit filled Christians.  The Lord spoke to me through one of my Brothers just moments ago, when he said the apparently innocuous statement, “Worthy is the Lamb”.  I was instantly captured by the irony, the pregnancy, the perfection of this Word from the Lord.  My heart as a man is so insufficient to understand the complexity of scripture’s  potential.  Four words bring a flurry of contemplation to a previously inactive mind.  Four words that expand into a cornucopia of food for extended, meditative consumption.  Truly food for thought. 

Worthy – a person of eminent value, merit or position.  A person or thing deserving of respect, praise, excellence.  Eminent = lofty, prominent, high in rank or station, held in repute or respectful position.  Value = monetary, qualitative, subjective import based upon what you would give to gain a particular thing.  Merit = deserving, respect, praise worthy.  Position = Normal or unusual place, rank or prominence in gradient measure of all other things.

Is – Present and continuous state of the verb To Be.

The – a definite article, that “sets apart” a thing from all other things, defining, isolating, differentiating.

Lamb – a young sheep, a person who is meek, gentle, innocent, THE CHRIST

No man who values power, authority and wealth could ever envisage worship of such a powerless, meek and innocent creature.  Just as the Jews they struggle with the irony of God’s sacrifice for the salvation of mankind.  How could God become such a powerless symbol?  Incomprehensible without grace the mere thought of worshiping a lamb.  Epiphany, that moment when the Holy Spirit of God brings understanding to view.  How perfectly loving and unique the Almighty God who would sacrifice Himself for our undeserved acquittal.

The orderly progression in this line of thinking brings the believer to that next and arguably  “God Intended” meditation, that of the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior.  For He who once came as Lamb for the purpose of Propitiation will return as Lion for the purpose of Righteousness.  How powerful IS The Lord’s word.  The subjective nature of words calls us to decide what they mean to us.  These four words should kindle spark to conflagration, passion to pursuit, preparation to performance.  How empowering the moment belief calls to active, grateful worship.  Worthy is the Lamb, indeed!

Can you see the Lord’s handiwork?  The package is unraveling.  People want evidence and it is being provided as day after day the world follows as if by sure script.  Though many who should rejoice lose heart to the potency of fear which begs us forget whose authority we follow.

The prophets were required to be 100% correct to be named a true messenger of the Lord’s word?  And subsequently not be stoned to death through the law.  Take for example Isaiah who without error has predicted events from the softening of heart by Persian Kings during Jewish captivity, to the birth and death of Messiah to the events surrounding the coming great day of our Lord.

One specific event is apparently being unveiled that should bring particular hope and joy to those who believe and provide almost overwhelming fuel for those who are sitting on the fense of indecision to finally enter the sheepfold.  The turning of Egypt and Syria to the Lord.  Isaiah predicted it and if all indications are correct it is coming about right before our unwilling eyes.  Observe and marvel at the awesome power of our God as two of Israel’s greatest, historical antagonists swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty.  Isaiah 19:16-25.

The voices of this world, the news and the enemies of God, would have you look upon the unrest in Egypt and Syria with fear and trepidation.  We know that the Lord’s Word especially as foretold by Isaiah is “never” wrong.  With unfailing certainty we can see through the deception and emotional smokescreen created by the fog of war.  The Lord Jesus is nearing return and I pray that my family and friends all accept Him in these last and greatest moments of history.  May His ineffable peace and the hope of His life strengthen you in this wonderful day that the Lord has made, praise Jesus.

Isaiah 19:25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

My desire and attempts to make things right illustrate a propensity to lean on my own understanding.  For I am part of the “no one” of which the Lord instructed us to be mindful.  Some Bible translations say “no man” but what they do not say is “no spirit” or angel so this is a direct instruction to be watchful and conscious or else men may lead me astray.  This learning depends entirely on fruit of the Holy Spirit called patience.  Do I have the patience to wait on the Lord’s solution to each problem or must I come up with an expedient answer and wander off the path of reason and righteousness?  Are there voices around me, inclusive of those from my own flesh seeking to call me to action other than the orders I received from Christ in His word and continued prompting of Spirit?

Heed– Careful attention to, notice of or close observation.  One common factor to those who have ever had to stand guard over something or someone is that of vigilance.  This is not an easy practice as demonstrated by the Apostles in the garden of Gethsemane through their failure to remain in prayer per the command of the Savior.  It takes a singularity of purpose, a determination beyond the luring call of distraction, a certain denial of self in observance of mandate.

This charge/challenge comes with the inherent implication of a period of time. With respect to Christianity, this period of vigilance is the time remaining until Christ returns to call us home.  Can I remain awake that long?  Absolutely not, if expected to do so under my own will, power and perseverance.  Thanks be to the Father of Heaven and Earth I do not have to reside in my own understanding or abilities.  I have His word to test all men and their ideas, I have His Holy Spirit to strengthen me and to test every man’s origins whether of God or from antichrist (1John 4), and I have His armor to protect my mind and my body from all the flaming arrows of the enemy (Ephesians 6).  My only hope is to believe and demonstrate my faith through continuous action.  Study plus prayer = vigilance.  My hope is in Jesus

Deceives- The act of leading someone astray by false appearance, statement or delusion.  As Jesus warned we live in an evil time where there are many false teachers disseminating word in direct opposition to the Truth of God.  We must be doubly prepared and doubly aware lest we fall prey to the creeping lion of deception.  The Lord tells my heart that this is why we need the accountability/fellowship of other “close” believers.  Someone watching my back has always given me another layer of defense by providing, another pair of eyes scanning the horizon for trouble, another perspective other than my own understanding and honest reflection of my greatest enemy “self deception”.  I love you my Brothers and Sisters and pray for your continued growth in the Lord and careful attention to the tasks of preparation and prayer.  In Jesus’ precious and holy name.

Working out salvation, but I thought it was a free gift.  Working out is tedium and reminds us of treadmills, jumping jacks and stuffy weight rooms with iron clad bodies and spandex bedecked “youth seekers” admiring themselves in mirrored projections. 

Salvation implies captivity and rescue by someone caring enough for us to transgress enemy lines in pursuit of our release.  In the Biblical sense it conveys the immediate/continuing deliverance and protection from the power, risk, harm and penalty of sin.  Working-not only means the process of doing physical work it also depicts the internal mental process of sorting things out or malleable substances being plied in a potter’s hands.  Out-in its general sense means a place not in normal position as in outside, out of order or out of alignment, but it may also depict the exhaustion of a state of matter as in pumping out the sewage or bilge in the basement or extracting dross from silver in the crucible of the smith.

All three imply dual states of matter both of having been begun and in the process of being completed.  This seeks to confuse the thoughts of the immature.  Have I not been saved, redeemed, been made whole, made right with God, sanctified, purified, been made Holy and righteous in Him that paid the price for my salvation?  The confusing answer to this question is Yes.  This is the misunderstood nature of the Lord, that things may have been done in an instant but also continue being done throughout the believers lifetime.

You mean that my salvation was not instantaneous, finalized and completed?  Salvation was performed in two instants; the instant Christ died on the cross and the instant that you accepted Him as your Savior.  But sanctification implies being “set apart” and “made Holy” or “purified” for the sake of God’s righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Jesus not only died on the cross but He also paid the price and “process” of going to hell in our stead and then was resurrected and rose to Heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father.  He continues to work out His plan for all people, protecting, teaching, training, rebuking and yes, purifying believers, preparing us for our true lives set in eternity with Him.  So as the Lord continues “Working out our salvation” we must be like Him and seek with all our hearts the completion of His will for our lives.  Praise King Jesus.

Oh look at the lights and the handsome faces of expectation waiting to shower us with flower petals, words of praise and accomplishment.  How sturdily we sit upon our horses as our procession enters the city center.  I wonder what nickname they will give me to reflect the gravity of my weighty victory.

In shame I slink to my knees.  Father, forgive me I whisper through heavy breath and tears bigger than crocodiles’.  How could You think of sending me for any task greater than removing the tiles from a dilapidated laundry?  What skills do I have, what heart do I possess?  My faith is tattered, my clothes dingy and my mind full of pestilence and refuge.  How can I even pronounce Your great name with this mouth so adept at carving up the innocent or unsuspecting?  You made me for glory and I have never reflected one spark of Your infinite light.  The enemy screams of my failures and all I can do in defense is cry, accepting his argument.  I know that I am not worthy nor have I done anything that makes me worthy of Your precious grace and sacrifice.  If I am to become anything it is through Your doing, not mine.

Lord, King, maker of me.  I know what this world would have me be.  I cannot accept that and also believe all the wonderful things You think of me, expect of me and want for me.  There is no intersection of these philosophies, no union, no companionship.  You made me to turn away from the glittering guile.  All that it has ever given me is pain, why then do I even contemplate its promises?  Make of me what You will.  I am not a tool shaped for the hands of the master of this world but of the Creator of every world.  You are my God and I am a servant who will conquer what must be taken, love what I am told to love and dream of the day when I will find significance just sitting in Your presence.  Til then I hope, fight and pray to forget my mistakes and build upon Your victories.  Grace and blessings upon Your mighty name.  Everything is Yours.  I love you Jesus.

As of October 25, 2011, the estimated world population is 6.97 billion people.  For simplicity’s sake round that up to 7 billion.  What percentage of that population would you say are born-again, Holy Spirit filled, Bible believing Christians standing upon their blessed assurance waiting for the Lord’s imminent return?  One percent, ten, maybe even fifty percent?  Let’s just focus on the United States of America, my home, with a current estimated population of roughly 300 million people.  Again for ease of argument I will take the lowest believable estimate on the amount of “true” Christians living here, that being 1% or three million people.  60 million children are currently living in the USA, half male and half female, (CIA fact book).  Subtract that number from the 300 million total population as children will all go to heaven and we are left with 240 million adults.

Now divide the number of believing Christians into that number and we come up with eighty people.  So, for each believing Christian to fulfill the mandate of the great commission for the Lord Jesus we each would have to make disciples of eighty people at some time in our walk to bring about His return.  Let us say that we tell one person about Jesus per week for the next eighty weeks then the entire population of the U.S. would have heard the Good News within the next two years.  If we just told one person a month for the next 6.5 years we will have fulfilled the same expectation.

I know that this realization causes some significant discomfort as well it should.  The most current estimates of “born again” evangelical Christians is ~25% of the U.S. Population.  This would mean that there are sixty million believers further reducing the amount of people we need to disciple to a whopping “Four” people.  At this point this story becomes heart braking and laughable.

If I knew that my little Sister were about to get on a plane that I knew was destined to crash I would do everything in my power, including forcibly restraining her to prevent her from getting on board that aircraft.  We as Christians know that the “ship of this world” is about to crash and all aboard may be lost.  Yet we stand idle, speaking no words of caution, giving no directions to salvation, taking “NO” action.  Do we truly believe in the Sovereignty of God when the evidence clearly points to the lack of belief?  I consistently hear various excuses from my brothers and sisters for why they cannot tell people the good news.  I speak the truth in faith and love when I say, we are a disobedient body who refuses to perform the works for which we were designed according to God’s pleasure.  We must choose, we cannot both serve this world and serve God . I beseech you my Brothers and Sisters to prepare yourselves and all those around you to do the work of an evangelist and hasten the return of our Lord Jesus by spreading the Good News to the “Next” four people who God will place in your path.  Praise Jesus, Amen.

Is it me or is it something outside of me which makes me hesitate?  Do I needlessly wander in the desert listening to the internal, worldly or enemy voices telling me that I am not quite good enough to take the highland and conquer the giants?  I know the truth but when will my heart comprehend it to the point of true belief?  Action is the measure of true belief.  Am I grateful enough in the gift of grace that my works demonstrate that elation?  Would I subject to an inspector the fruits of my life in confident knowledge that he will approve the lot?  If I am to be assured in my salvation I must know the answers to these difficult self-questions.  Will I ever be good enough?  What must I do to be ready?  How can I ever do the impossible things You ask of me?

Oh precious Lord I am ready because you say I am ready not because I have done anything to prepare for the hills you have decreed that I must climb.  I will walk up the mountain knowing that you will bring the rain, the bread, the knowledge and the strength of foot and heart to make it to the top.  I will be ready because I have obediently done what you say makes me ready.  I will have oil in my lamp and be watchful for your arrival.  My faith in YOUR WORKS makes me ready.  Praise Your Holy name King Jesus.

What do we have in this world that out lasts the eighty or ninety years we have been given?  Our children, the things we built, the work we did, the books we wrote are these the things that tell the story of the time we spent on this Planet Earth?  What of those who had no children, built no monuments, wrote nothing poetic and did no greater work than digging holes or eradicating forests?  Are those lives to be given zero sum, to be remembered for nothing but the failure to impact this world in a defined methodology?  Did they fail, were they wasted space as some would have you believe or could there exist a separate definition for success in this world that gives all who breathe its air prescient value?  The Lord values each spirit for we are all part of the whole of God.  He knows the name of each child conceived, each crying mother, each victorious son and loves all with the same passion.  The Lord sets before us two paths, one that leads to darkness, frivolity, self-service, failure and eventually death.  And the other that leads to light, significance, value, service to the greater good and eternal life.  Both possess pain, both possess struggle, both possess pursuit of purpose and truth, but only one provides fulfillment and eternity spent with a Father who knows the best outcome for us all.  Choose life, however painful, joyous or mysterious it is the only path that prepares us for the true life beyond this temporary crucible.  Choose life my friends for at the end resides eternal light, joy and realization.

In this visually and acoustically noisy world there is so much static that intentionally conceals the face of God or drowns out His voice.  It takes discernment to keep Christ in your sights so that you never get abducted, led astray or distracted from following your new Master.  Your previous owner does not want to let you go although the price of your purchase has been paid.  Follow the Lord and though you may get off at an exit to do some work for the Lord or to take a pit stop, always get back on the path!

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