The costs are rising, not just monetary, but the price of freedom, even that liberty to express your love for God.  Soon, there will be sticker shock such that men will begin to either miss the Word or openly mock and deny it.  As has always been the nature of Jesus Worship, outward expression of Godly life will diminish while underground the Church will flourish.  Yes, that has always been the way of Christianity during periods of persecution, it grows.  satan knows this that is why he is trying to make a general, global-spiritual religiosity possible, bringing together all the liberal elements of piety to form something akin to tolerantism.  In this fest to develop an “accepting all comers” form of idol worship, they will in effect declare an all out war on the followers of Jesus Christ.

Misunderstanding the nature of God they will lump Him, the One True God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob in with the “acceptable”, mutable nebulous gods of the many.  They will soon realize that there is only One God, The Amen, The Great I AM, His Name is Jesus and He waits for humanity to come to Him in humility, asking for forgiveness and faith.  This they will not do, must not do and they will shortly go to any lengths necessary to declare Christians unacceptable, incompatible with society and intolerable.  At the basis of irony they will proclaim their tolerance by being intolerant of those who follow Christ.  Yes, we will suffer persecution, but that has been foretold by God, Himself, as He carried our sin burden to the Cross of Calvary.  In the end, He will and has always been our redeemer and will set all things in order on “one fine day”.

We must stand strong in the face of oncoming and inevitable adversity, knowing God will fight for us.  Even unto the loss of this fleeting life we must not deny Christ.  Fear not men who can commit the body to the grave, but fear God, A Holy and Righteous God who commits men to eternity, either with Him or away from Him.  If you are weak then you are exactly where God may find you, for in that weakness You will reach out to Him in truth, surrender and great need.  Our God is the Lord who uses our weakness to demonstrate His Glory, taking those who cannot and using them to perform the impossible.  Stand strong not in your own capacity to overcome, for you will certainly falter.  Rather stand in His Righteousness, His immutability, His Strength and unchanging kindness.  Forgive men for throughout the ages they have been and continue to be blind to the things of God.  We once did awful things too.

Praise God in all His Glory and Remember Him as He came to Earth as a man to pay the price of freedom from the crippling hands of sin and death.  Jesus Christ the Lamb, the Lion, He alone is worthy to set humanity free.

He’s waiting.  I keep expecting God to show up in a manner that answers my quiet prayers, but all that He keeps repeating is that He is waiting.  Lord, I see in Your Word that there have often been conditions upon blessings or promises that You have made known to the world.  I am sorry that I have been naive to the conditions of my repentance, purity, growth, understanding, obedience and change.  You have wanted me to become a new creature for so long and have been waiting for me to step forward to accept the blessing that You have reserved for me but I have either been oblivious or obstructive.  Please forgive me.  I know that I cannot earn my way into heaven for my salvation is provided through Grace alone, but I certainly have prohibited the blessings that may have been bestowed through my non compliant behavior and attendance to sin.  Please take these remaining icons, idols and squirreled sins from me as I was obviously hoping to keep one foot in the old life, while seeking sanctification.

Father this world is running out of energy.  Entropy is occurring before our very eyes, proof of sorts that this world was originally given only so much energy before winding down.  The mistake we have always made is assuming that so much energy, matter and precious life, mystery and majesty could come from nothing.  Nothing only begets nothing.  Life without God is impossible, life away from God is corruption in perpetuity.  Me imagining God does not make me an ontological genius, nor does it validate God’s existence.  God exists whether or not I exist or believe.  Belief is the condition that He has set for us to be redeemed of sin.  Bail has been set and that bail simply requires belief, repentance and transformation to keep us permanently safe from the judgment we deserve but gloriously also makes us joint heirs with Christ in the majesty of eternity, God and heaven.  God is waiting for me to comprehend and comply with what He has known and been saying all along.

He is also waiting in the most exquisite display of patience in the history of the universe for all of humanity to come to Him and be saved from judgment.  Even those who have disobeyed, mocked, committed the most despicable crimes or flat out disbelieved to wake up, repent, believe on Jesus Christ and come to Him.  He is giving us every possible minute of history to make that decision and patiently forestalling His wrath against wickedness so that all may have every opportunity to come to the same realization.  What a wonderful God.  I thank you Father for setting this wonderful example of love, patience, long suffering, mercy and generosity.  Praise Your Holy Name, we do not deserve such sacrifice.  I am humbled to be in Your service.  Jesus Come Sweet Jesus, but if you must wait Lord please let them come to You and be saved.  Bless all the world with the knowledge of God so that they may be made anew.

Thank you Lord for reminding me how few of my thoughts are married to wisdom.  Your ways are like the passing of the sun.  We feel its warmth incredibly from nearly a hundred million miles away, perfectly positioned to sustain our lives, though we rarely stop to consider its awesomeness.  You gave us a dependence upon sun, water, fire and earth such that few can survive without them.  Light, thirst, cold and sand leave us longing for our next drink, sight or planting.  These things represent a dependence upon you Father for without these things we cannot survive, how much more is this true about relationship with You.  Forgive me for taking Your Love and Grace for granted even for a moment.

I may suspect why You have chosen to wait for those holdouts, resisting Your truth to the end and beyond, but I do not truly understand.  Your Love is beyond me.  They have mocked, forgotten, dismissed, disobeyed, ignored, threatened, resisted and thwarted Your directions, yet You still wait with hope of their repentance.  You direct us to go to them with peace, love and sometimes recrimination, knowing that they may hit us with rocks or worse yet.  Must I mirror their disobedience by telling You, No, I shall not go to them proclaiming need for repentance?  Lord help me to respond immediately and positively to Your every direction.  For if You find them worthy of patience and every attempt though it even cost my life, I pray that I should love them enough to repeat Your message.  Teach me to forgive even before offense has occurred.  For the offense is not aimed at me but rather at You Father, therefore any judgment should be Yours.

If I may be an example or a pylon indicative of Your existence let it not be portrayal of resistance to Your Will.  Let unbelievers see only the delight that accompanies willing obedience to Your Plan.  I often must remind them they are worthy of love for this world has cruelly convinced them that they are not lovable.  You have loved them Father and that is enough for me.  What is the nature of hope that it confounds circumstances?  How do we as men rise to the level of believing when all worldly and scientific reason commands us to abandon reliance upon faith?  The answer, we do not fold ourselves into common thought just because it makes us acceptable to man.  I am not different to exercise some rebellious right of passage by bucking the trends of smarter men.  I have met God in my heart and I realize my place in the universe as servant, son, priest and warrior.  The tasks set before me have been given me by the Lord.  Loving you is the greatest thing I will ever do.  Thank You Lord God for that opportunity.

In Jesus Name.

My job has been to love you as He first loved me.  This I have done and will continue to do no matter what corner of time each of us resides.  My dreams are filled with Christ and the fulfillment of His Word.  Sitting behind him dressed in white, on a great horse weeping for humanity as they seem transfixed upon confrontation with God.  Why must we seek a fight that we never stood chance of victory?  Is the resistance to truth, kindness, obedience and justice truly so weighty that more than half of humanity cannot bear the payment?  I have seen this blessing squandered, untethered to faith, ill stewarded to predicament and dilapidation.  Lord must I bear to watch this nation sold for the price of mockery?

Our disobedience is complete.  Certainly we are generous and we do good but none of this matters in God’s economy without faith.  We seek to buy our way to eternity by doing just enough right to justify ourselves in the eyes of men.  Works only matter when they are done from love for the grace that has been freely bestowed upon undeserved mankind.  You sit there cross armed, close eyed or smirking, annoyed by the simple fact that I love Jesus and you find it an infringement upon your freedoms, liberties and lifestyle.  None of that lifestyle you worship would be possible without the air that you breath or the water you drink of the blood which sustains the life which He also gave.  Does it free you to believe they happened through some cosmic accident, or that aliens somehow seeded the Earth to propagate our species?  It is a wonderful coincidence that in either of those explanations for man’s origin you are freed from any obligation, obedience or moral reflection.  There are coincidences but only for unbelievers, the rest of us serve God’s plan.

Father I know that I am not employing the talents you have given me, until now I only understood how they would serve my desires.  I had not been transformed by a renewing of my mind.  I have served Lord but never fully understanding direction, purpose, song or completion.  Each day I am remade to follow Your Will to an end that includes eternity with You.  For that I will live each of these days I have been given with an spirit expectancy.  I will dream of You and be complete.  All of my days are Yours, Sweet Father God, in the Name of the Lamb and Lion of God, Jesus Christ, destined to judgment and rule.  Amen.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/17/jews-ordered-to-register-in-east-ukraine/7816951/

The world is being shaped toward the final stages of God’s Plan for humanity.  Russia, now partnering with Iran, coincidentally they’ve been fighting each other for thousands of years, is now embarking on an expansionist campaign that will culminate in a joint assault on Israel.  How do I know this, because the Bible explains the entire episode in Ezekiel 38 and 39?  Neither the circumstances leading to this horrific event nor the assault itself surprises me whatsoever, for it is what God has said must occur.  What does however intrigue me is that the majority of mankind is either blinded by the events or they just plain refuse to see the absolute truth of God’s Prophetic Judgment forming before their eyes.  It must be understood that the objective of this coming attack on a “peaceful” people and God’s subsequent destruction of these conquering armies is to undeniable revelation of God Almighty to a reluctant world.  After God destroys these advancing armies no one will ever be able to again say that God does not exist.  Maybe that is the reason for people to see the truth of Biblical prophecy.

The Jews have not been forgotten by their God, the Almighty Father of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.  He made specific promises to His people that shall be addressed and fulfilled in the tragic years to come.  Life has never been easy for the Jewish Nation.  Because of their relationship to God and their subsequent disobedience they have been harangued throughout history in accordance with God’s prophecy.  The diaspora did not dissolve them, satan’s persistent attempts to complete their genocide has not destroyed them and man’s ugly assault upon this blessed people has done nothing but make them more resilient.  These people have been maintained, sustained and brought back to the land of Israel for God’s Purpose and Promise.  No aggression, ill intent, machination or harassment will provide for their destruction because they are in God’s Hand.  To those who refuse to see the truth of this incessant evil onslaught against one nation, I say to you if you continue in unconsciousness and do not stand with or for the Jewish Nation you will be counted among those awaiting receipt of God’s impending judgment.  Be warned, be aware, stand with Israel or stand against God.

Must I be like Thomas and require that God provide me proof that my eyes alone would accept as proof of His existence and truth?  For would my eyes not then choose to deny what they have seen just as my mind and heart have resisted to this date?  I am set free by truth, but not because I suddenly had it revealed to my eyes as in some grand revelation.  The truth has released from the prison of my previous thinking because I first “chose” to believe and follow Christ.  In my choice and growing faith I found revelation and truth.  Simply, my belief led me to the consciousness necessary to comprehending truth.  That is why this world resists the truth that stands readily before their eyes, because they must first believe in God in order to see His mighty Hand in everything that is made, has been made or will be made.

Thank you Father for choosing me.  Deserving has nothing to do with it.  I am simply humbled that You would consider me in such light.  Jesus my King.  Praise to You in all Your Glory.

Does the Holy Spirit fill your mind’s eye with whispers of coming Glory and a peace that befuddles humanity?  Where is your worry, concern and burden?  Why are you so unencumbered by grief and want, shouldn’t this weighty world have imprisoned your hope and stifled your joy?  How can you be jubilant in the midst of tragedy, the worst to befall this world in the history of all mankind?  Don’t you fear what the signs portray?  Don’t you fear the tomb that this world must become, through chaos, war, poverty, pestilence and famine?  Why does a fire burn in the apple of your eye, an enduring flame, unquenched by the mightiest river of fury and dampening spirit of this world?

My hope is not in promises of man, luck or scientific solution.  My hope in the victory of Christ Jesus over sin, death, pestilence and war.  A victory that has armored me from the all the testimony of evil and flaming arrows of misfortune.  My hope is in the perfect lamb of God who took away all the sins of this world through His sacrifice upon that rough wooden cross.  My hope is in the King of Kings who will shortly return as the Lion of Judah to pronounce judgment as only He may do.  My hope is in the joy that fills my heart knowing that eternity spent in the presence of God awaits me the moment I cross from this life to the next.  What shall I fear in this life or the next if my treasure is secured in the Promises of Almighty God?  If they think me mental, why do I have peace and they remain in fear, strife, worry and hurry, scurrying about the fulfill some worldly precedent?  I forgive them and pray that they see the salvation of Almighty God through belief in the redemption of Christ the King.

This world will soon see its worst.  The chaos that will ensue upon this planet will be nearly unbelievable, but that is why the Lord has warned us in advanced so that we might be prepared in our heart’s, mind and spirit, based upon the truth of God.  If you sit in deceit, illusion and worry, believing somehow that men will rise to the challenges set before us that threaten our continuance, then I pray that the veil be removed from your eyes so that truth shall prevail.  Judgment is coming upon this earth and the only hope of salvation is belief in, repentance, surrender and dependence upon the Lord Jesus for cleansing, salvation, sanctification and deliverance.  Seek and ye shall find such hope and safety under the Almighty wings of God.  Seek truth, seek peace and bring all those that would be present for harvest to the gathering of saints.  Love prevails.  Christ is King.  I love and fear only You Father.  In Jesus’ Name.

What am I showing those around me?  Is it peace, assurance, surety, dependence, faith and trust in the promises of God?  How then do I expect them to see their way to relationship with the Almighty if I do not demonstrate those qualities indicative of the Holy Spirit’s Presence?  Have I listened to the words, allowed them to roll around for years inside my head and then never applied them to the life for which they promise victory?  What a shame it is to be that close to warmth and continue to be cold.

Does this world need a little more chaos?  Perhaps could it use a bit of my own greed, because it is in short supply of avarice?  Maybe it would become a better place with the advent of my own hate for mankind.  I get it, I will share my doubt and lack of faith, that will pick people up.  And forgiveness, love, kindness, patience and justice, there is no benefit in these, so I should keep them to myself.  I do not like sarcasm, but is there any other way to categorize how we as Christians have avoided, ignored, disobeyed and generally misunderstood God’s Plan and intention for our behavior?  What we have exhibited are the worldly shadows of the people we are inside.  God help us because this behavior demonstrates “NO EVIDENCE” of the presence of the Holy Spirit of God.

For whom am I living this life?  I will answer that clearly, my own glory, comfort and satisfaction.  Am I encouraging those around me to better themselves by surrendering to God’s Will for their lives or am I modeling a worldly mold into which they may conform themselves to find “sensory satisfaction”.  God help me I must admit my sin and poor service.  I will not condemn myself as a saint of God, but neither can I turn my eye from my extreme need of daily repentance and God’s fulfilling Grace.  If not for God’s Grace I certainly would have no hope except the eventuality of damnation.  Praise the Lord He provided a route to salvation through His own sacrifice.

Self Control, that is the one aspect of God that is rarely mentioned in today’s culture.  Do it til your satisfied, just do it, do what you want to do and any other unbridled pursuit of passion, no matter how perverted, is the direction of the day.  To restrain anyone’s behavior, even my own is an assault upon freedom, liberty and the American ideal of self determination.  That is just plain incorrect and morally absurd, never mind that it is in direct conflict with God’s Divine Ethical Revelation.  I do not belong to me, but I died on Calvary’s cross two thousand years ago with Christ.  My life now is His and any aspirations or attempts to live it out under my own carefully/poorly designed strategy is forfeit.  That man, that worldly man that I was is no longer, for I am a new creation in God through Christ.  How long will it take that to soak into this near impervious skull and to change the pursuits of this fickle heart?  I hope not a moment longer.

Wrong for me this meaning of America, A song for me that few would want to hear.

I long for freedom’s, beating heart America, I long to see my neighbors breathing free.

Once we saw the Hand of God, America, once we knew the blessings of His love.

We built a dream of prosperous America, knowing true the blessings from above.

Walking in the garden with God holding our hand.

Never once, doubt of heart could have entered the picture.

Then we gave up the sturdy granite for a hand full of sand.

Departing prayer, forgetting God, avoiding all scripture.

Gone for good that righteous old America, exchanged for gold and idols made of glass.

Once we could, return to old America, but now we lust with heart’s greener than the grass.

Few still hold to rebirth of old America, but most have gone on to something new.

We can’t hold on to what died in old America, why it passed we haven’t got a clue.

We traded all the moments that we spent with God in laughter.

For a pocket full of paper and heart that’s beating faster.

We don’t know what we’re chasing, we will find out shortly after.

Our folly ends in heartache and this world is our master.

On a hill this shining star America, tarnished now a simple thing of clay.

Man found his way and voted for America, dreaming of things greater than one man.

But just like God we abandoned our America, leaving her, we chased an evil day.

Now she’s gone our once beloved America, traded for the devil’s empty plan.

Thinking that I know enough when I don’t know God is outright foolishness.  Idolizing men, even those leaders of old who left indelible mark upon history highlights our misunderstanding.  We look to Abraham, David, Paul, Ezekiel, Samuel, Daniel and Joseph as examples of how to reverently approach a Holy God and serve His Will in our actions, thoughts and prayers.  However, we must also look to them in their humanity, momentary or lengthy defiance and ambition.  For after all we are only just men, created in God’s image but lacking His perfect intention and follow through.  None of us should be idolized for this propagates the travesty that is man’s willingness to focus their love upon anything but God.  We are living in the days of misunderstanding, celebrating American idols or lamenting heroes of by gone days missing the only authority which should truly capture all our hearts, minds, spirit and strength, Almighty God.

None of us, to my knowledge has followed God’s direction one hundred percent of the time, because of our humanity.  What is the inborn desire to throw off the loving embrace of God and seek our own direction?  Is it sin, is it innate rebellion or is it just a failure to understand the importance of our consciousness and focus upon Truth?  Walking in the spirit requires consciousness, so the enemy portrays enlightenment as the path to becoming God, reducing its importance to manly desire.  Being in fellowship with God requires humility, so the enemy portrays willing service and surrender as weakness instead of in its divine enlightened attempt to know God.  God views obedience as demonstration of faith and love for His Word and for Him.  So, the enemy portrays obedience as somehow lacking self determination, leaving us mindless drones unwilling or incapable of leading themselves.  What amazes me is our willingness to accept these deceptive marketing campaigns, leaving us less conscious, humble and obedient.  In our eagerness to throw off the shackles of God’s Grace as imposition we become slaves to worldly masters and shadows of fallen pride.

I do not know anything worthy of conversation or recognition except that which I have received from God.  Although I admire men and women who served God with piety, faith and allegiance, it is God who receives my gratitude for any glory they portrayed.  They only found the strength to do what they did because God armored them, prepared them, sent them or directed them.  Of themselves they were like any of us, merely vessels.  Any glory they should receive shall come from Him on His day of reward for their service.  I thank them for being obedient to God, but it is God I thank for His Word, not man.  Through Jesus all things were created and nothing has been created without Him.  Trace any of our histories or follow time to any of our futures and you will begin and end at the same point, Christ the King.  Father let no man look to me in admiration for this is the greatest of my sins, allowing myself any glory.  It shall all be reserved for You.  For this is Your life, let me live it in perfect alignment with Your intention.

According to the worldly system, when you execute, deliver, develop or produce results you are rewarded.  For the measure of worldly “success” is increased profits through process improvements or cost reductions via innovation.  This makes sense to us and we would never question why someone was being rewarded for producing results consistent with this formula.  Why then do we have such difficulty with God’s system of reward?  The Lord rewards faith and a blameless walk.  The measure of faith is a reliance upon the promises God made to us and a subsequent walk that reflects this understanding, reliance and demonstrable “belief”.  That is why the reward for those who believe without having to stick their fingers inside God’s wounds is substantially greater than those who remain in doubt awaiting “evidence”.  The test or measure of faith is living your life in reflection of that belief.  That is why God is not standing in front of us, though He lives inside, for the human heart, emotions and thoughts may lie, be tricked or misdirected through want and deception.  The Bible says, “without faith it is impossible to please God”.  That is just logical, because how can you please someone that you are not even sure exists?  Lord help us with our unbelief, relinquish our doubt and remove us from this worldly system of reward for works.

If you are waiting, watching and hoping for a sign then you are setting yourself up for deception.  There will be signs, and wonders but they will not spell some signal of arriving consciousness, but rather notification of impending judgment and general mayhem upon the Earth.  If the evidence provided by Almighty God of His Sovereignty and Grace have not challenged you to conviction and subsequent transformation then you have been listening for what you’ve wished to hear and not for the truth.  There is no grander story than that of the Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ.  That is the pinnacle of human history and jewel of our future.  Those with ears to hear will understand, and those who understand will stand and walk in faith, belief and works born from Love of God.

I see what any man with a modicum of discernment would see upon the horizon.  Threats, hunger, pestilence, war and an elite class willing to dispense words of harmony while their coffers, bellies and unbridled passions expand beyond wisdom and tolerance.  Children with no direction, emotionally abandoned by parents who can neither cope with reality nor the truth that they are responsible for young humans.  Leadership that can no longer lead because they have hobbled themselves with this or that special interest or personal agenda.  We the people dissolving into me the person.  My needs must never outweigh the life of a child or the care of an elder but that does not condone some failed call for communism as most would proclaim answer.  We have entered an era where perversion, insanity and foolishness have been elected governor.  Man’s greatest challenge is realizing that we cannot resolve the problems set before us.  This problem calls for Christ Jesus.  He alone provides the answer to national, regional and global dilemma.  God’s plan for humanity is unveiling and I pray that you too have seen it and will embrace truth.

Praise God in His Righteousness, Truth and Justice.  In Jesus’ Name.