What makes you flee and to whom do you run?  We are experiencing a sea change in America where everyone is in some state of chaotic discomfort, seeking advice, solace and rest yet they are choosing to run to doctors, self-help and even soothsayers, avoiding the sanctuary provided in the shadow of Almighty God.  We know that tragedy sponsors outcry, leading to Divine response, providing relief, leading to dependence, then trust then surrender.  Why then would we turn to someone or something else in our moment of greatest need unless we have a rational reason for avoiding fellowship with God?  Am I incorrect in my assumption that everyone knows God is there, well that cannot be for that would contradict God’s Word in Romans 1.  Have we perhaps turned our own hearts away from the Truth of God and subsequently been turned over to our own decadence?

What the Lord said is simple; Love God with all that you are and love them the way that you are loved by God.  Why must we complicate everything?  Is it that we are searching for a loophole or justification as to why we don’t believe the Lord was referring to me?  He gave specific direction regarding creating disciples, out there on the road where people are lost, hurting, diseased, hungry, tired, poor and alone.  Why then do we sit inside our churches, fat dumb and happy hoping that this will be considered appropriate demonstration of our love for God?  Have we actually deluded ourselves to the point where we believe that the lost sheep will somehow wander into our doorways?  Come on folks, this ain’t rocket science, its simple, clear, undeniable love for God, demonstrated by our walk in purity, hope and service.  He also told us to be ready.  Ready for what you ask?  If you don’t know then that solidified my argument.

As a former Marine, let me tell you that when Marines are not in battle they are training for battle, preparing their minds, bodies, gear and hearts for the inevitable.  We as Christians are in a war, that is being executed in the heavenly realms and perpetuated in the world around us, yet we remain idle, without preparation diligence or studied attempts to solidify our readiness and resolve.  What manner of idiocy has captured our leadership that this is our standard order of defense against God’s enemies?  We aren’t even spending the time in role playing our dependence upon Almighty God, instead we seek worldly knowledge, worldly counsel or worse yet mystical support when confronted by trials that God said would come.  Where is our sanity?  Have we given it over to our hope that somehow humanity will be saved by a human representative?  Well that is what the dwellers of this planet will receive an masterfully wicked, charlatan with great power given him by satan who will assure the devastation God promised has begun.  Look I love you and I want to be of one mind, unified with other Christians, but not if you refuse to follow God’s direction.  It is time to get about the clear direction we were given by Christ and stop instituting our own marching orders.  Get ready, stay ready, be found doing what we are supposed to be found doing when He returns.

One question for clarity sake;  What would happen tomorrow morning if tonight all Christians were raptured to be with God forever?  Exactly, the world would be turned over to its decadent thinking.  The one world government would emerge overnight having no restraining voices filled with Holy Spirit to resist.  Sin would abound as most on this planet want a “do it until you are satisfied mantra”.  We are standing in an era specifically designed for the emergence of the son of perdition.  Don’t you see your place in history?  We are the generation who should be most concerned with having oil in our lamp and keeping our eyes to the heavens, doing the Kingdom work of loving God and loving them who have yet to be saved from eternal separation from God.  Whatever you think today, think it clearly, pray it clearly, understand it clearly and then act with decision and direction.  I hope you choose to surrender to God’s Will for your life and get about preparation for His return.  Be found ready, be found doing the work of a worker for the harvest.  Stop your disobedience, ignorance, idleness, avoidance or excuse.  Excuses do not work with an Almighty God who knows every thought you will and have ever had.

In Jesus’ Name I pray for your discernment this great day that He has made for each of us.

Can you smell the ripened fruit upon the vine?  Right is wrong and wrong is the song of them who dwell upon the Earth.  Right now, this very day, what would happen if all Christian’s were snatched away to be forever with the Lord?  Think on it, if the only restraining voice is that of the Holy Spirit within our breast, what would occur the moment we became absent?  They want a human leader to save them through politics, pleasantries and cumbaya’s.  They are eager for the emergence of such a charismatic leader and will call him nothing short of messiah, savior, god.

We know what this situational pregnancy promises.  The World is ripe for its leader and all that remains is to get the Christians out of the way so that they can have what they believe is the answer to man’s evolutionary stalemate.  What should we then be found doing if this time in history is appropriate for rapture?  Are we shining the light of God to this dark, dark World or just marking time, complacent, comfortable, naive to the things of Almighty God?  What then of the grand harvest that shall come to pass due to coming tribulation?  Will you be considered part of this having planted the seed of God’s Word with them who shall be left behind?  What will you honestly say to Christ about your service when you meet Him?

We are not citizen’s of this chaotic world, we are ambassadors of the Holy Kingdom of God.  Shouldn’t we be spreading the good news of Christ, sharing our testimony and familiarizing all with the King of Kings?  Christ is coming, but those who have read and kept the Words in Revelation know that awful times shall befall humanity as God’s Wrath unfolds.  We also know that this painful period will produce more converts to Christianity then perhaps the entire history of mankind following Christ’s first appearance.  Don’t you want to be part of this rare treasure?  Give your heart to God through Christ.  Serve Him and forget the pain of today’s present in exchange for the Glory of our coming King in Eternity.  Love God and Love them, that is after all what He requires from each of us.  In Jesus’ Name.

Do you meditate on God’s Word?  Do you fill your mind with scripture and allow God to provide you comfort, solace, answers and peace?  This world is difficult, nigh oppressive, in its capacity to drown us in the weighty list of things we can or cannot get done.  Is there any method by which we may take these things in stride or are we forced to ignore them, get overwhelmed, escape or simply lose our footing trying to stand against the rip tide of today’s endless requirement?

Did you know there is a way or have you been forced to choose one of these attempts to cope?  As always Christ told us how to stand in these overwhelming times.  In Luke 21, the Lord Jesus responds to His Apostle’s questions regarding the signs of the end of times.  Jesus clearly warns us that we will be persecuted for His sake and we shall not perish.  In this responsive teaching Jesus also tells us the following regarding our mental state and how He directs we prepare for what must certainly come upon us.  Luke 21:34-36 And take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.  For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the earth.  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

Without Christ’s direction we are left to choose upon insufficient coping mechanisms to deal with the onslaught of cares, worries and the shear gravitational weight of the world coming apart at the seams.  Some will worry, some will choose drink/drugs to escape the reality others will find renewed effort in futile attempt to stay ahead of the cresting waves.  Yet Christ tells us to not become overwhelmed by excesses of the heart or fall prey to escapism and worry so that we may face the day vigilant, aware, prepared and at peace.  For after all the signs of this fraying world are indications of Christ’s imminent return, which effectively nullifies the severity, number and impact of our current trials.  Choose to believe on Christ, cast your cares and worries upon Him, trust in Him to deliver you from this fallen and failing world, take from Him Peace in exchange for this surrender.  There is hope, a hope only found in His Loving, Truthful and Immortal Word.  Are you overwhelmed, let go?  Are you escaping this world, wake up?  Are you worried to the point where you are consumed with a list of things that will somehow give you the perception of control, trust in Him, not yourself?  These things are shown us so that we might turn our eyes and hearts to heaven watching, waiting and rejoicing at His return.  Do not get lost in the stimuli of this world and lose your focus on Christ from whence your blessings come.  For we will be blessed to stand in front of the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords as he returns to set things right.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name.

Seek the impossible, for in this opportunity God’s Glory will be revealed.  The challenges that I may handle within my own power, authority, expertise and energy will only build faith in my capacity to achieve, in self-reliance.  Will the Lord God push us, yes?  Will He require more than we can muster, of course, why else do you think He saved us?  I do not know how this chapter will end, but I do know that if I wait, with patience upon the Will of God, I will see His Glory revealed through resolution.  Not that kind of solution or problem solving that I could produce but something beyond my artistic talent or creativity, a story written for me by Him.  I seek the miracle found only in a life given to His Sovereign Will.

He is the beginning, without an end.  The Creator of this, that and the other.  I know Him as a Kind Father and a Holy God, worthy of my respect, my honour, obedience and praise.  Not a thing of duty but of love.  He is perfection, He has all power, but needs not use it to be heard, followed or feared.  He is merciful, forgiving and forever True.  He provides, and conceals, trains, grows and educates with an eternal eye on the objective for each of our lives.  To my mind, He didn’t have to come, but I am certain that He doesn’t feel that way, for He loves us so much that He probably knew that He must.  He frees the captives, loves the unlovable and gives mercy to those least deserved of Grace.  His judgement will be final and all will give an accounting of their lives spent for Glory or Sin.  That seems fair and relieves me of the responsibility to criticize, judge, condemn or punish.  I am comfortable with Him being God and me being His man.  This is a good place to be.

What is next Father?  Why do you have so much hope in me?  How can you see a worth that evades my own understanding, for I often, frequently feel at the whim of my own weakness?  I just know this, that what is to be done will be accomplished for You have already overcome my oppressors, obstacles, enemies and even my own shortcomings.  You have provided a path upon which I may find success even in the midst of absolute failure, for Your Word says you will use all things for good for those who love you and walk according to Your purpose.  It is upon that path I will walk and await the miracles of your intervention in my life.  I will be sustained by your loving, kindness, your abundance and kept warm by the mustard seed of my faith in Your faithfulness to never leave me.  This is a good place to be.

Bless Your Holy Name.  For even if I fail wonderfully, Your Glory will be revealed  from the ash heap of my meager attempts.  And if by chance I do succeed, let if be known that it was all your doing, for that is the truth of my life.  Without You I can do nothing, with You the impossible is common place.  You sustain me.  Thank you Lord Jesus.

For a moment look at your fear, about the world, your job, family, friends, relationships, MONEY.  Do you embrace the created desire making you want to run, turn off the vision, escape, anything but continue to investigate the eerie, itchy, uncomfortable feeling brought on by concentrating upon Fear’s Reality?  What about your inadequacy, failures, weariness, inability, need for trying harder?  What happens when you concentrate on doing a better job or trying harder?  Are you left with peace or agitation, are you comfortable in this criticism?  Do you believe that concentrating and elaborating your failure to perform makes you a better Christian?  These two deceptions are the best route to disconnecting you with God’s Will and putting you on track to serving the world and self.  Love yourself and submit both your fears and continued resistance to success to God.  He is capable of changing whatever needs changing in you to produce successes and He commands you to be of “Good Courage”.  Live for God and see the miracle, don’t give in to concentration upon the fear or failure.  Jesus Loves you and so do I.  Delight in the struggle as God sanctifies you through the mantle of the World.  Walk through the fire and know that you have never been alone.

We are all aware that the Lord takes what was meant for evil in our lives and uses it for good.  Why do you think that is?  Have you contemplated the lost revenue, efficacy and time attributed to those things done against us or done inappropriately by our own hands?  If our ills may be turned to good what then the exponential effect of our pure, holy acts, done for God.  What would be the resultant impact of our lives if we chose to live them in tandem with God’s intention, desiring maximum efficacy and greatest glory/reflection upon His Name?  Could this be done so that we may clearly understand that God’s Will is Good and Perfect and our own efforts fallen?  Perhaps through this engagement may we understand the need, no necessity to rely upon God’s power, authority, Grace and provision for our lives instead of our own unholy action or intention?

The enemy cannot prevail.  Even those assaults effectively executed against my person are simply notification of those things I have yet to surrender to God.  My errors in judgment or the open avenues of approach/footholds currently available and open to enemy access are there to demonstrate I have not yet given myself over completely to God’s Plan.  The enemy’s efficacy in attacks upon my person are all turned to good when I see them as God intends, as opportunities to surrender those remaining areas of my life.

Why do I continue to face similar situations with the same resolution plans that have never worked in the past?  If I ended up frustrated unfulfilled and seeking escape the last four hundred times I faced the same circumstances with the same tools then it is nigh impossible I will find acceptable resolution on my four hundred and first attempt.  The Lord is waiting patiently for me to surrender the control of this and any other circumstances I have been fooled into believing I might conquer.  When will I see the enemy attacks for the good that God intended and stop whining over being attacked and rather go to God in prayer asking for the change only He might produce?  When will I believe and trust in the miracle of the Master Potter’s Hand upon my chemistry and physiognomy?

That only Hope for my worried heart is Trust, but that Trust surpasses all effect of time and circumstance, for it is the perfect Hope.  So I will trust in the Lord and leave the details to Him.  I will rely upon that which I cannot see or prove but wholeheartedly know to be Truth.  In Jesus’ Name I pray for you this wonderful day that He has made.

You never meant to find your way back.  Though you tried hard to convince yourself.  The things you thought you’d need, the patterns wrought, mercies bought.  Nothing made much sense after you came to center of the dream.  Finding nothing really matters yet everything means everything within the all and all.  Visions, pictures and puzzles undiscovered lay strewn across the floor, they don’t need you anymore.  Your mystery and majesty left behind for others to ponder, treasures to squander, both here and back yonder.  What residue is left of you but the pain and joy you’ve brought, the dance you taught and the little red necklace that you bought in a moment of sensitivity.

The laughter wasn’t real but diversion.  A hearty distraction from the absence of being oneself, no need for stealth hiding the fear and failure within success and song.  Watching that dance, the shaking, shirking with leprechauns lurking made slavery into silliness.  What are we but the culmination of our thoughts and actions, inventive, creative, destructive or divisive?  It is so nice to remember you fondly, so I choose to do just that.  The remainder that may be selectively dispatched is burden, never meant to be carried either during this life or into the next.  But meaning well and ending up in hell are not mutually exclusive.  You were mistaken about the glory of  your own performance.  Thought classically portrayed nothing mattered but your choice and confirming, faithful action.

We are all just men and though some be rich, endowed with mind or measure we face the same inevitable debt of time, nothing separates us from the poor of spirit or treasure, but belief in the Works of our Creator.  For you were a good, kind, brutal, honest, disillusioned, manipulative, giving and scared creature, descriptions that contradict, because my characteristics matter only if I am to be judged by the line and letter of some doctrine.  Then and only then could I pray in hope to have made the mark of a man above the judgment gradient.  But my goodness or badness have no countenance with eternity.  My measure is only memory of  the man, my belief in a Holy God is what allows me entry to that which I  do not and cannot deserve.  It is His Righteousness upon which I know my longevity guaranteed.  Not by deed but by Trust.

The time we spent was never wasted for it brought me to the sandal steps of God, but I certainly prayed to have greater convincing strength in leading you to the place of humility before the Throne of God.  If my failure in that one great task had the power to condemn me then I would also seek to favor myself in success.  I am but a lampstand, a mirror, a light in the darkness, shimmering, glowing ember wrought from the flame that kindles and promises warmth, direction and hope.  My job is to love and leave the rest to the Lord above, just as I must leave the pain of your passing at the foot of the cross in exchange for peace and the joy of  having known you for so long.  In Jesus’ Name.

What reward comes with an unveiling of secrets previously concealed?  Akin to the triumphant joy of finding ones car keys, passport or money too safely kept.  How many have asked repeatedly for God to show them the future so that preparation or advantage may be made or refuge taken?  What man would not wish to know God’s Will for his life or have a glimpse in to future escapade, trial or victory?  Why then are our churches, pastors and parishioners dangerously untaught regarding God’s Revelation for mankind?

With the end clearly written, the victory clearly defined and the future keenly told so that we all might rejoice in eternal salvation and righteous judgment.  What keeps us on the sidelines, choosing to remain uneducated regarding what God says must certainly and swiftly come to pass?   Pardon my definitive proclamation and politically incorrect generalization; we do not wish to know the end because that would place resounding accountability upon our present action/inaction for the coming Kingdom of God.  Additionally, we continue to serve our present master, the enemy of God by remaining in a state of naivete regarding God’s Coming Reign and Judgment of mankind.

How might a man know victory without reading the end of the Book and fully comprehending the hope that comes with knowledge our ending and re-establishment under God’s Eternal rule?  Did you know that God will call His church out of the world for multiple purposes?  Did you know that God turns His face back to the Jewish Nation and they turn their faces back to Him through the Great and Powerful day of the Lord?  Did you know that the enemy will believe himself victorious in the Earth’s devastation, refusing, denying and torturing humanity until Christ takes back the Title Deed to the Earth?  Did you know that Christ defeats the most massive army ever assembled, pouring His Wrath upon His enemies while the world watches in awe?  Can you imagine the spectacle of armies destroyed by His Word and as one-hundred pound hailstones rain down upon them?  Did you know that the Jewish Nation will be represented by one-hundred, forty four thousand devout disciples, men like Paul as they proclaim the Gospel to a waiting world?  Did you know that God will bring down His city, New Jerusalem after having remade the Earth and the Heavens, that we might live with Him forever in our midst?  Did you know that Jesus told the churches everything that they needed to know about His expectations of us before and during the time leading to tribulation?

You may know all these things and more, revealed to you by God’s Holy Spirit through reading and keeping the Words in God’s Revelation.  Why do you stand idle when all this and blessings are available to each man and woman who seeks this knowledge of God?  Do not remain an uneducated baby Christian, grow up, learn, comprehend and have faith in God’s Prophecy for mankind and eternity.  Christianity is all about personal accountability for our individual and collective actions for God.  If you refuse to know then you do not wish to know and have chosen to remain ignorant and must accept the consequences of that associative action.  What I say will not be popular with your church leaders as they seek to maintain and grow their worldly church empires, assets and donation base.  They will speak ill of me and ask that you dismiss this word as somehow self-serving on my part, paranoid and conspiratorial thinking.  I ask you to ask God through Christ and I am comfortable with the truth whether it rebukes me for speaking falsehood or points clearly to the absence of solid teaching by your pastors, teachers and elders.  However, I cannot avoid my obligation to speak the truth of God’s Word in commanding us to study to show ourselves approved rightly dividing the Word of God.  I want to know the end God has planned for saints and sinners so that I might take comfort and rejoice in God’s victory while I stand courageously in my current battles.  Don’t you and if not why not?  In Jesus’ Holy Name may my words be true and effective for God through Christ Jesus in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Lord God, Almighty, please do not let us take that last remaining step that separates us from You.  We have progressed as far as the ledge will allow, to continue is certain demise.  Why must we choose to fall from a precarious perch when our feet stood firmly upon permanent and lasting rock?  Do we esteem ourselves children, challenging the limits of freedom and authority, never believing Your warning of wandering, disobedience or testing?  The guidelines are fraying, the handholds too few and the footing loose, yet we continue our plastic pursuits.  What are we seeking in this rebellion, for certainly what we shall find is separation from Your Hand of Blessing?

None wish to admit Your Word is true and the ending You’ve promised is even now happening, swiftly as predicted.  Clear the fog from our minds that we might see the coming danger and repent.  Let us understand the folly of our pursuits and turn back even though the moment of no return approaches.  Must we be burnt in order to understand the danger of grabbing the white hot coal?  It appears suffering is the only measure that may bring us to consciousness and reform.  I pray for Your Mercy upon us as we have blatantly disobeyed, dodged, ignored or nullified Your Truth in hope of proclaiming our own divine understanding.  Gather us from the side of this unholy mountain we’ve travailed and bring us back to the solid ground of footing at the base of Your Throne of Grace.  Here my prayer Lord God for without that hearing we are certainly doomed to judgment which we were never intended.

Turn our hearts back to You through authentic repentance and prayer.  Show us our dilemma and its reversible affect through the same.  Give us once again pure hearts, happy at the thought of serving Your intention.  Do not forsake us though that is what we deserve.  Father wake us now from our day slumber.  Show us the meaning of our action that wisdom may prevail.  Let us turn away from  disaster, a disaster meant for the stiff necked that they might find salvation through trial.  Lead us once again into the protection, safety and joy of Your enduring Hope, Mercy, Grace and Shelter.  Let us enter into peace and not be left in the dark with weeping and teeth gnashing.  Let our light shine so that all might know the Glory of Your Salvation for humanity.  In Jesus’ Name.

How was I set free from the impending finality of God’s Righteous Judgment?  That moment when I realized the depravity and captivity of sin, what made me cry out to God for deliverance?  Was I a righteous man doing all this under the seal and guidance of my own prudent discretion?  What causes me to serve God’s Will for my life, to walk in such a way that it reflects His Presence and Glory to an unsuspecting, desperate and waiting world?  Without God’s commandments, or testimony about them given by knowledgeable people would I even now be aware of my hopeless state?  Would God have left me in that state knowing fully that without His prompting I would never find salvation?

My Heart breaks for my own wickedness and sin. Even now I am disobedient and willful in my service to self, money and any idols I have erected in the places reserved for God.  What then will deliver me from this excruciating situation?  Is it self, will I lead myself to a better life through righteous thought and subsequent performance?  How better than to ignore God’s Will than to claim I’ve never heard it or perhaps remain ignorant to the clarity of His Commands presented boldly in His Word?  What then is evidence of God’s Presence in my life than the fruits of His Spirit and if they are not evident or present ought I expect that I have found deliverance from sin and death, especially when my present life remains tainted with continued sin?  My only hope is the heart break and ache I feel presently.

My heart break should create such inconvenience and discomfort that it provokes action, if not it is neither worth mention nor contemplation.  What then of my state, will God leave me here now that I have been saved, allowing my disobedience, my continued wickedness?  This is not complex, I must make it complex in hopes of building in sufficient excuse to continue in my disservice to God.  If I do not do what God commands then I am disobedient.  Do I expect that He will forgive me for that disobedience?  Well certainly, but that will never come without REPENTANCE.  For the heart break has always been God’s Spirit Prompting.  It is His clarion call to answer, ask for and accept that forgiveness to which we are effectively certain.  Without repentance, nothing is rectified, no change takes place, no alternative life is sought and no consequential living for God commences.  Churches and church leaders preach revival when they have never repented, an impossible cause.  Elders ask parishioners to live holy lives without the requisite example, teaching, guidance and shepherding.  Pastors expect God’s continued blessing without fulfilling the great commission and demonstrating Christ’s Lordship over all who confess belief.  All this lacks repentance for the prompting causes hearth break, leading to repentance, forgiveness, cleansing and righteous service to God’s Will for all our lives.  Interrupting the process by never having had the moment of brokenness and repentance leads to false worship, idle service and complacency.  At this the enemy laughs and finds comfort seated among the brethren in the mustard tree.

What then my present heart break for my life, my home, my family, this nation and the world?  Will I have that moment of true confession and repentance where God might hear my voice from His Presence in Heaven?  Or is the truth that my heart break is simply heart burn over not having gained all that my eyes beheld?  My nation is falling apart my church is unresponsive to the call to arms this should evoke.  We are the wicked generation and will be shown no miracle of revival for we lack the repentance and voluntary service to God as righteous slaves, we lack the fear and love for Him that promotes faithful service.  We are busy serving other gods and find no need for repentance or prayer for the lost and dying and will suffer the bitterness of involuntary service by God’s Hand of Discipline.

Oh, Lord thank You for breaking my heart.  Let its urging surround me, consume me with grief so powerful that it knocks me to my knees in prayer for mercy, honest fasting and righteous demonstration of my love for all You’ve done and continue to do for humanity.  Let me have repentance that leads to life changing behavior and evidence of Your Holy Spirit’s Fruit.  Let me accept the call upon my heart to serve Your Will.  Separate me from the acts of this world for this is not my home, just my duty station.  In Jesus’ Holy Name I pray.