When I am weary, fainting, in spiritual disrepair I have departed from the abundance of the Lord’s Will to go the road on my own.  If the Lord told me that “break through” would come, then no resistance, although seemingly formidable, is capable of withstanding the overwhelming force of God’s influence and authority.  Likewise, I must maintain a focused understanding of exactly what it is that God has directed me to complete, remaining vigilant, aware and careful to avoid the labyrinthine despair of injecting my own motivations.  God’s enemy is clever and will utilize our historical behavior to evoke tactically effective diversions capable of leading us off the path of God’s Will onto the familiar road of our own performance capability.

Proverbs 3:5-8  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.  Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.  This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

I have dedicated and resolved myself to the “FACT” that I am not capable of doing that which the Lord has allotted and directed me to do.  If I were capable then I would never need the Holy Spirit’s filling, having merely to depend upon my own capacity to fulfill God’s Will.  Surrendering to God’s Will means simply that it is not of my own abilities, thoughts, efforts, talents, capacities, treasures or performance.  That which God has ordained shall be completed in His timing, none of us can say such things about our own plans, for we often fail.  If I want to see God’s Will I must then look to the things outside my own capacity, imagination or understanding, for there I will find the impossible tasks God will complete, utilizing me as vessel or conduit for His Sovereign Might.

Caleb wanted the high ground because God had already promised Israel, “ALL” of the promised land.  He did not lean on his own fears, understanding, strength or willingness but remained polarized upon his belief in God’s capacity to deliver that which He had previously proclaimed.  There is where we find the strength, the reserve, the treasure and hope to complete each task.  We must be thoroughly assured that God will prevail, God will come through, God will save, protect, love and equip each of us, especially in those precise moments when we have reached our limit.  It is not me that the enemy fears but the Word of God which causes him the fear of imminent and eternal judgment.  Who is the Word of God, Jesus Christ of course.  He has prevailed over fear, death and evil, leaving us free to follow Him, knowing and believing that the Kingdom is here to stay.  God’s Holy Name be praised, Jesus My King.

Is turning your heart away from the wife you have been given by God a sin, when she has embarrassed you, harangued you or perhaps made fun of your worship dance?  I have been contemplating David, and as many I am often amazed as his relationship and willingness to follow the directions of Almighty God.  However, I see many of my Brothers and Sisters pay special concentration or conversation regarding his adultery, typically associated with David’s unfaithful, cleaver and murder some behavior with another man’s wife.  However, I never hear anyone, even pastors discuss the fact that David never slept  with his wife after refusing to forgive her for obviously disrespectful behavior.  This, seems to be the root cause of David’s calamity, leading to God’s judgment upon his family for generations.  This unforgiveness of his spouse created an environment which led to a precarious heart, unfocused on loving his wife, he became relatively easy prey to sexual temptation and transgression.  It troubles me that we do not spend time concentrating on the actual cause of David’s tragedy instead choosing to look to the moment of sin itself, without considering the thinking environment which led to an episode.

We must always pay attention to the first step we take away from the path of righteousness.  Often that step does not include physical action but as Jesus clearly stated it is the thought that must be captured before it becomes action.  We must learn to forgive so that we do not place ourselves in danger of unconscious or deceptive action.  Perhaps if David had forgiven his wife and learned to love her as Christ loves the church then his eyes would never have had cause to wander.  It is not David, or even myself I wish to judge but rather I wish to learn from scripture, reviewing, contemplating and praying about all the characters, not just when they did heroic things, but when they weren’t on guard.  For this is where vigilance pays the greatest benefit, this is when most men fall, when they have let down their guard.

God will never leave us or forsake us no matter what.  Isn’t this the behavior we were meant to emulate, especially with our spouses?  I am sorry and saddened by the mistakes I hear couples create, but that does not necessarily lead us to the conclusion that we have the right to remain unforgiving in opposition to God’s will and scripture.  It is through forgiveness and thankfulness for the blessings we have been given that we remain connected to Almighty God.  Without forgiveness we cannot be truly thankful, without forgiveness in our own hearts we cannot expect God to grace us with forgiveness.  Our spouses all mess up, because they are humans.  We must grow in Christ and learn to forgive even our enemies and if we are expected to forgive our enemies, we must then take it with accord that we have first forgiven our own families, friends and other believers.  Do not take that first step off the path following Christ.  Capture the thought before it becomes action.

Praise You Lord Jesus for all that I can see and that which remains hidden to our eyes.  They are all blessings indeed.

Psalm 83

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

O God, do not remain silent;

do not turn a deaf ear,

do not stand aloof, O God.

See how your enemies growl,

how your foes rear their heads.

With cunning they conspire against your people;

they plot against those you cherish.

“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,

so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”

With one mind they plot together;

they form an alliance against you—

the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

of Moab and the Hagrites,

Byblos, Ammon and Amalek,

Philistia, with the people of Tyre.

Even Assyria has joined them

to reinforce Lot’s descendants.

Do to them as you did to Midian,

as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

who perished at Endor

and became like dung on the ground.

Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

who said, “Let us take possession

of the pasturelands of God.”

Make them like tumbleweed, my God,

like chaff before the wind.

As fire consumes the forest or a flame sets the mountains ablaze, so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.

Cover their faces with shame, Lord,

so that they will seek your name.

May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;

may they perish in disgrace.

Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord—

that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

They will come, because they have a thirst to do what is prohibited by God.  They know the history, yet they will come fully believing that somehow God has forgotten His promises to preserve this Nation, this People, His people.  We as men do not comprehend the length and depth of eternity, nor understand the limits of Your love and faithfulness.  What does this mean for humanity, this transgression, this attempted capture and destruction of the Nation?  First, to happen, God would have to have been proven wrong, which has yet to happen, even once.  Next, to blot out a name that God said would never be removed, even after diaspora, would deliver atheists content to their mania.  When, have such nations ever collectively conspired to remove Israel from the map?  Do those outside of the Middle East even have an inkling as to which nations this Bible passage refers?

As I, you have now seen this Psalm to be prophetic.  There are several notable writers even now, who will teach you a very specific and concise course on this Psalm and what may soon come to pass.  Does God answer the prayers and songs of His beloved?  If so what outcome should we readily expect as the circumstances of the prophetic psalm are seen to transpire?  Simply; That God will scatter, pursue, terrify, shame, dismay and cause to perish these collective conspirators, such that they will know the Lord is Sovereign over all the Earth.  That is the outcome of any plan consistent with God’s Will, that we might know His Glory.  He saves us so that others might wish to be saved and in their learned fear of Almighty God, surrender to His Sovereignty so that they might believe and be saved.  For God loves all.  And those who will have denied His love shall never prevail, especially those who believe they may act in conflict to His promises.

What is soon to come, must occur for it is the next iteration in God’s unfolding plan for humanity.  The players have been set and even now they act as if from script, their motions foretold and custom tailored to inspire a precisely timed sequence of events, culminating in the Glorious Appearance of the King of Kings to rule and reign forever.  This is the reward of those who made historic sacrifice, those who stood their ground for the name of Christ Jesus and those who will find their courage in the face of overwhelming onslaught and tribulation.  God’s Wrath is mounting over top the crest gate of His restraining mercy.  Even now the wings of grace snatch the last of those to be ferried to redemption outside the flow of His consuming judgment.  What we shall soon see will make unavoidable the existence, presence, omniscience and omnipresence of God Almighty.  There will be no more deniers only believers, mockers, resisters and those who will soon see the light.  Praise God for His Awesome Plan and that we get to be around during the time of its revelation to the entirety of Mankind.  In Jesus’ Name.

Must everyone confront the sin in their lives?  What is the component built into our superstructure that allows the impact of the wrongs we have done to continually pester us?  If we are autonomous, disconnected or men, made simply from complex chemical interactions over time, shouldn’t we be free from conscience?  Isn’t the discussion of this attributable guilt the largest single point of argument between those who believe in worship and them who claim to be unencumbered?  Doesn’t how each religion deals with the issue of sin differentiate their path and subsequent appeal to a particular audience/following?

And if so, where did it come from this palpable resonance of our past ills?  Does my sin matter?  And if it matters, am I obligated to take some action to correct it, atone for it, or smooth out past ripples in my psyche or karma?  After all isn’t that why men invented the concept of atoning for past life actions through reincarnation into another form?  What if we only have one life, doesn’t that elevate the concept of accountability for my sin to paramount importance?  If I only have one change to fix, correct, remove, relieve or dispel the constant nattering of my burnished conscience, doesn’t that provide ample reasoning for the creation of all works-based religious pursuit?

If I am capable of “working” off the penalty of my sin, then don’t I have to define some measure of productivity or achievement adequate to abolishing the implications prior to my life exit?  Can’t I take, let’s say,  thirteen steps, to completely remove the implications, impacts and weightiness of all my sin?  That is the nature and difficulty of this discussion, where did the conscience come from and am I empowered to alleviate the authority or pressure it applies to my life?  I must indicate that each person must settle these answers for themselves, some choosing to ignore, some to embrace their sin, some to pursue an endless cycle of trying to be good enough to counterbalance the impacts of their transgressions against fellow humans.

Having this discussion is relevant, important and frankly unavoidable.  I am here to say that God provides the answer to this dilemma.  He provided the conscience so that we would know that sin is wrong and be consistently reminded of its corrosive power.  He provided the reminder of our deficient nature, but He also loved us enough to provide a path by which we may be cleansed of this unrighteousness.  He told us that this is a one way path, this life.  We only get one chance, one chance to make mistakes and one chance to correct them.  But He also tells us that we are incapable of freeing ourselves, cleansing ourselves or atoning for the impact of our sin.  Just as a rabbit may not free itself from rabies, we are incapable of removing the viral, bacteria of sin from our blood.

Praise be to God that He sacrificed Himself on the cross to atone once and for all for “ALL” sin.  Every person who has this internal debate and comes to the realization that God is sovereign and He provided the “ONLY” path by which sin may be removed from our account.  Then and only then is belief, salvation, redemption and sanctification possible.  We cannot reach heaven by our good works, because we cannot remove our own blood illness.  Therefore since this is a blood illness, it may only be corrected by a spiritual “transfusion”, cleansing our blood by replacement with “pure” unadulterated blood of Christ Jesus.  The price of this cleansing is “belief”, belief in God’s Plan for redemption through Christ Jesus.  Pay this price and be free from the heavy and lasting impacts of sin, for eternity.  Believe and be saved.

Father please change me, for I cannot bear the one thing I often cannot escape, being stuck within my own intransigent flesh.  I fumble through the tears of shame, cowardice or self-recrimination to remember, Praise Your Name that there is no further condemnation for me in Christ Jesus.  Father, they are so worried, forgetting hope and victory, merely relegated to simple survival no matter what craftiness it requires.  I pray that we remember before it is too late that our everlasting and endless reserve of hope, courage and victory is found only through relationship with You.  Thank you for reminding me to pray for my enemies.  I often simply wish they were gone, it is good to remember that men are for salvation, until they have demonstrated their choice to be counted merely sterile branches good for fire alone.

Will we stand in the face of adversity, especially that moment where our own deaths appear determined?  Do I have the faith, knowledge and surety that Your Plan for my life, whether I can see its twist and turns or not, is the best thing for everyone concerned?  I have seen you make wrought iron into butter and liquid harder than steel.  Do I run from the testing, the tempering measure or do I embrace the Potter’s Hand, willing, wanting, craving transformation, finishing, refinement in the kiln of humanity?  People wanting peace shall find it in short supply as days unfold.  They will cry out for a savior, a human savior, swearing allegiance to the indwelt of God’s enemies.  They will cheer their creation, while mocking the Most High, sealing a fate that was never meant for any of us.  Only the remnant shall escape judgment.

Although it may seem that the chosen have dissolved, dwindled or turned to dust, even now they remember their place at the feet of God’s throne.  We will see a day, one unlike any other that man has ever captured.  God’s Grace has flourished and soon we shall see His unfurling and righteous wrath.  For too long evil has prospered, counting itself filled with prideful knowledge, denying God’s promise that all sin shall be judged.  Many of the innocent shall be martyred as evil men seek to make themselves large by consuming the small, defenseless and weak.  Who will defend them.  Why, God of course.  Every drop of their blood will cry out to the Lord for vengeance, and vengeance every deed shall receive for eternity.  So many ask why God allows bad things to happen to good people and I say that we shan’t assume that since He defers or delays judgment that He will forget these transgressions.  Even judgment is His prerogative, it will happen in His timing, when all the days of the gentiles and Jews have been counted complete.

Pay heed my family of Christians.  The time for preparation is upon us for the signs of God’s coming are readily visible on the horizon.  It is day, so work, for night will soon come, where none may work.  I pray for our leaders,  God’s mockers and the enemies of all that is Holy, to come to righteousness before the free power of choice is taken from them.  God grant us peace, even as war, pestilence, poverty,  hunger and illness rage.  Let us see through the smoke, cloud and fog to the Light of Your Wondrous Love.  Praise Your Holy Name, King Jesus.

http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/holy-altar-constructed-for-third-jewish-temple/

Why doesn’t God stop bad behavior and enforce compliance and committal to the good?  Would it suffice to say that I do not know?  Maybe, but most folks want an honest, sincere answer when pursuing this line of questioning, although some may just be attempting to throw an unavoidable obstacle in the path of coming to Christ. I will take an attempt at answering this question from my heart.  Simply it is about love.  God’s most prevalent characteristic, the one facet that may be most widely used to express God’s motivation for everything that He does, is LOVE.  He loved us when He created us, shaping us in His image, to reflect our relationship, surpassing time and space.  He loved us enough to kick our predecessors out of the garden of Eden before they ate from the tree of life and sealed their fate for all eternity.  He loved us enough to pronounce a path to salvation, born of the woman, so that someday we might be saved from our error in allowing sin to torment us.  God loves us enough to never leave us, never forget us and make good on every promise He ever made to humans.  God loves us enough to allow us to choose to love Him, freely, never forcing so that our choice is truly one made without duress.  That is why He never forces because then it wouldn’t be love.  If your Father told you that you had to love him, would you?  We shouldn’t be confused that since God is allowing this behavioral choice for a period that He will continue to allow these liberties or ethical relativism to continue forever.  He has also promised that He will rule and that within His Kingdom, sin will not exist and that Christ will rule with a rod of iron.

Did God design this world such that everything eventually decays or was it perfectly created without corrosion, a corrosion called death, that was allowed into the mix by complacency, cause and volition?  We all die, all grass withers, mountains erode and rivers become fettered with silt.  Change is guaranteed, and with it the ravages of time upon all things which consume or process air to live.  That is the permanency and preciousness having been built into this life, since the moment of the original sin.  Who knows what God intended originally for the life of man, perhaps He designed us to live forever from the outset.  Maybe, just maybe, the limitations we must rationalize and confront make this life more valuable.  If we had forever from the beginning, how could we be trusted to use it wisely?  I am resolved to believe that this life has an end so that we understand the ever present need to make a decision for or against God through Christ.  We must have an expiration date, a time limit, a countdown or each of us may never get around to making the most important decision incumbent to this testing ground.

Apparently, from review of scripture and subsequent matching to current events, it appears that we are significantly close to that expiration.  This creates a sense of urgency in my heart, hoping beyond hope and prayer that everyone will rationally make a decision for Christ and be saved.  Evil may have raised its ugly, consuming head, but it shall never prevail as God has foretold.  This Earth will face tribulation, aimed at turning the hearts of the Jewish People to the Lord, as they must eventually come to the full knowledge of the mystery of the Church.  There are many things that I may imagine, opine or ponder regarding God’s nature.  These things I have resolved to simply accept and move on, for just as my mind may not fully comprehend infinity, so is the understanding of God.  But that does not mean I may not fully comprehend His intention for my life as He has taken ample time to convey this direction through His prophets, apostles, teachers, preachers and continues to remind me each day through guidance of His indwelling Spirit.

I love God and He loves me, that is simply enough to fill the emptiness that once occupied my worldly purpose.  My salvation is through belief, and belief alone in the Gospel message of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ upon Calvary’s Cross.  I do not fret so much about this world, but I do have great concern for its people, as God loves them.  May I pray for you?  Please let me know how I may assist in any measure.  God bless you in your quest to find purpose in the world and the next.  May you find peace and strength in Jesus Christ the Lord.