It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you that believe not.  John 6:63-64

Am I Thomas or Peter?  What evidence do I require, what words will convince or do I simply believe?  I have seen His Revelation, that is a thing from which I may not look away.  It is hard to give up our lives for Christ, yet we must if we are to follow and be disciples.  Simple service, keeping my place in the world will never suffice.  Oh, that means my relationships must be challenged if not lost, my wealth given voluntarily or taken with the added burden of bitterness, my life submitted to His guiding hand and direction.

I want so much to please you, those whom I love, but I have one Master, The Lord Jesus Christ.  You make me choose and He bids me choose, for me there is no choice, I choose life.  I love you enough to become the man that God intended.  I cannot stay, living a set of directives designed to provide a false sense of security and control over a life for which we never had any.  I stand and move forward as possible, knowing that the Lord has a destination for my progress, the result His Glorification.  I will never leave you or fail to cover your needs through His love for us, but I cannot be that man I was never intended.

There is no where else for me to go Lord.  You alone have life everlasting, this world offers only finite satisfaction.  Your Word is life, Your Love True and Your Faithfulness, even where it concerns my reformation is dependable.  Lord I hope that when challenged I do not deny, I do not run, but stand proclaiming myself Your Kin. Once again I am offered the opportunity to surrender all.  I have heard my voice in song saying these words, but they are just words without the walk of faithful action to confirm their truth.  Give me the courage to take the actions for which you have offered the opportunity.  Allow me to follow you with my whole being serving the purpose for which I was given breath.  Lead me to victory, a victory to which I have voluntary surrendered.  Teach me to love you enough to do whatever is right to do for Your Glory, Your Plan.  In Jesus Name I pray.

http://www.sermonaudio.com/playpopup.asp?SID=819072029150  A treat, old time pastor Vance Havner addresses staying on the path as a church.  Are you wiling to speak the truth even when it costs you everything?  The Holy Spirit will convict, motivate and edify through this spoken word.

Nothing sensational yet beyond comprehension.  No instant success only experience and growth.  We cannot proclaim peace while the battle rages around us.  Making a mark by showing the light in the midst of reigning dark.  Will you stand against the vain imagination of man, boldly proclaiming the truth of God’s Holy Gospel?  There will never be a peaceful coexistence between light and dark, one prevails the other flees.

Reaction and recovery are far less effective at preserving position, life and treasure than appropriate readiness.  As Christians we are called to preparation, practical understanding and consciousness.  The world would have us depend upon leaders and reactivity or roles of victimization to sponsor the pillars of a well constructed life.  We have been told to be ready, to give a defense of our faith, overcome the enemy through testimony, keeping our minds alert and watchful for signs of the Lord’s Return for the Church.  What then are we collectively doing in the church to make appropriate readiness for all the anticipated circumstances?

We know that we have a highly spiritual enemy, wandering around attempting to steal, kill and destroy.  This is an enemy who battles in the realm of the mind, using the lost and those not in right standing with God to delay, paralyze or completely eliminate our effective performance as conduits for the Lord’s intention.  What then are we doing in the church to prepare “all” parishioners for this battle that each of us “face” everyday?

Sin is a thing of the mind, Christ Himself telling us that the sin of adultery is actually committed when the sensory vision and thought interact to “covet” your neighbor’s wife.  There is no sin that ever happened having not been proceeded by thought, however momentary.  What then are we doing at the churches to prepare the minds of “all” parishioners to confront the practical application of surrendering their thoughts to the Holy Spirit in desire to prohibit the subsequent action of sin?

What makes the enemy flee?  The Word of God spoken in faith by believers.  Christ showed us this example, while in the desert, forcing the enemy to flee by speaking the Word of God.  How then are we preparing “all” parishioners for the “inevitable and guaranteed” meetings they will have with the enemy in their own desert of temptation?  How many are trained by leaders to recognize enemy presence and immediately employ the appropriate defense of speaking God’s Word to make the enemy flee?

This being the Truth, how then are we satisfied in our current church structure dedicated to a reactive or recovery stance?  We are going to be attacked, assaulted and assailed by God’s enemy.  Knowing that reacting after the damage is done is statistically exponentially less effective than being ready to employ adequate defense, why then are we apparently dedicated to a reactionary church body?

I am thoroughly befuddled and exhausted with/by my capacity to react and whine about circumstances, especially those for which I should have had reasonable expectation of their occurrence.  We are warriors, princes and priests, supposed to stand in good courage on the field of battle fully preparing our hearts, minds and bodies to see the Lord overcome.  If I know, with reasonable certainty that I will face certain struggles either within my family, my work or my spiritual walk then it is utterly unacceptable to go into those struggles without first defining them and then preparing adequate defense at least against their inevitable or likely occurrence.  For example if I know that there is outstanding sin  in my marriage, it is absolutely reasonable to assume that at some point in the future, the enemy will utilize that foothold to bring struggle into my or my wife’s life.  Both ignoring it, in hope that it will simply disappear or simply remaining unconscious of the circumstance lead to the same reactionary episode and lead to my action/inaction to deal with the repercussions of the incident.  Neither method acknowledges the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in my life.

Should I then as a soldier, an intercessory prayer warrior make a list of those events/struggles that have some level of anticipation?  Or better yet should I venture into prayer with my partners and ask God for some manner of insight into the circumstances for which I should have some reasonable expectation of occurrence?  Then once having made a list of those events, praying in preparation, studying in preparation and remaining conscious upon the watchtower in the mode of proactive Christianity to which I believe Christ calls us?  Must I remain a child in my faith and react to every situation as a victim or shall I embrace victory in the knowledge that I may behave like Christ in the midst of those predictable events and depend upon God for the miracle in the events that are beyond expectation?  I am tired of behaving and showing the world me when they really want to see Christ.  Forgive me Lord and let me begin to reflect your heart and spirit.

We were told by God to be ready.  We are not ready.  What is the definition of disobedience?  What is the definition of foolishness?  What is the definition of playing the victim?  After conviction change must ensue.  Are we willing to confront the nature of collective change so that we become consciously focused upon the readiness to which we’ve been directed?  We shall see or we shall remain asleep.  Again as with all Christianity it is about choice.  Which choice will you make?

It’s about meeting and working for and with God you know?  This is not some subjective, self punishment exercise, masochistically believing that I will reach heaven via scourging.  Christ has done enough to fulfill the demand for payment for every sin of every person on Earth.  Don’t you get it, there is no remaining debt other than repentance, belief in His sacrifice and faith in His Sovereignty.  There are no unresolved or remaining works for our redemption.  We have been set right with God if we will but believe.  We have been set free to serve our God out of reverent love for His Majesty, Righteousness and Grace.

Why then do most human religions continue to set up, demand and subscribe to a list of pious works, that must be performed, in order, on time and ratified by professional clergy in order to avoid painful afterlife?  Why do we continue to strive when the work has already been completed by a God whom loved us so much He fulfilled that for which we always were and always will be incapable?  We remain entranced by men seeking power and fallen compulsion that Christianity cannot possibly be that simple.  We are convinced that there must be a catch, a twist, another hammer yet to fall, so we fall under the influence of religious professionals eager to take a piece of our donation in exchange for their pronouncement of our acceptable piety.  There is no one between you and God but belief in Christ Jesus.  There are no layers, catechisms, holy rights, rituals or bands that we must reach to be heard by Almighty God.

Each of you whom believe are right with God.  Each of you is sealed by the Holy Spirit of Almighty God, destined for the good works for which you were specifically designed.  Each of you has access to God through prayer, worship and direct counsel via the Holy Spirit for discernment.  There is no person whom believes that is lower than any pastor or elder.  Certainly we must respect their authority in Godly matters but they are neither our masters nor any closer to God than each of us.  We are all princes and priests through Christ and will answer to Him directly for our walk here on Earth.  None of us will report to a pastor for judgement upon leaving this Earth, we will deal directly with Christ for admonishment and reward.  There is no one between you and God, that is what Christ did for us, redemption to direct relationship with the Father.

We are free to make our own decisions, choices and mistakes.  We can neither blame our families, our pastor, our elders or our wives/husbands and kids for those choices.  We have a direct responsibility to God, certainly those in positions of authority will be held to a higher expectation because of the influence and ability to lead sheep astray, but they too will have a one to one meeting with a Holy God upon leaving this plane.  We have but one advocate before the Father and His Name is Jesus Christ.  He alone is worthy to answer on my behalf, no one else will stand for me but Christ.  That is why I stand for Him.  I hope that upon that day you all hear those wonderful words we so desperately desire, “Well done good and faithful servant”.  In Jesus Holy Name.

You counsel me to succumb, give up, pack it in convinced that dreams are simply folly.  You’ve seen me before it appears.  You know the familiar ease with which I slink away from danger, seeking the path of least conflict, resistance and absent glory.  Evidence of self motivation.  Yes, it is never sweet this moment of capitulation, but it saves me having to write home of greater failure.  This is the voice of my own flesh, that inevitably directs me to the shortened and assured glory of escape to the satisfaction of my latest addictive sin.  The mobius venture of a man without purpose, seeking to just do it, knowing but hoping that this time the euphoria will last, forfeiting forever the obligation to try.

What then am I, if a man condemned to perpetual resignation in avoidance of eventual failure?  Where is the courage I learned of in the books we read as children?  Was it simply an idea, a fantasy or maybe something only given to them who would be heroes?  Selectively distributed to men made of steel and me of clay.  Does that comfort my spirit in a knowledge that I shouldn’t be concerned for I was never meant to amount to anything anyway?  Is that why they tell us as children we will likely never succeed, to prepare us for the slow comfortable numbness associated with realization of a life meant inclined to continual and successive losses?  Have I been convinced in my hopelessness or is this the truth of deceptive reasoning?

The answer is found firmly seated within my failures.  For in them I am invited, nay acquainted with the need for assistance.  It has been my blessing this inclination toward failure, quitting and resignation as it brought me to the inevitable sensibility associated with needing God’s intervention or suffering miserably for the duration of my existence.  You see, I was the man of perpetual successes, the best at whatever endeavor I challenged, but thankfully, mercifully, my God, my Father, my Friend allowed my string of lucky, arduous or talented wins to sour, leaving me floundering upon a beach of desperation where a kind fisher of men saved me from near demise.  Since, even my individual successes taste bitter unless enveloped in the fulfillment of His Purpose.  Now, even my failures taste of candy as they somehow uncannily end up as successes for His Glory.

My courage is no longer my own, my sin no longer a place of succor for fear of failure, because there is no failure in service for God.  I am free of the whispering reminders of flesh and fallen, because my lack of qualification, proper breeding, wealth, education or public suitability have no gravity in eternal construct.  I am free to simply stand in the knowledge that in so doing, God and subsequently I will always be successful.  My success no longer requires my own or public definition/recognition, it doesn’t even matter how I felt about the circumstances for God will have His victory in my obedience to purpose.  That is freedom.  I simply must love Him enough to obey and let the proverbial chips fall wherever He deems suitable, comfortable in the certainty of His Victory without regard for my failure or success at performance.  The whispers have themselves found desperation falling now upon the ears of an unwilling recipient, not by resistance but by the unavoidable logic and Truth.

I have found courage in faith, God’s Faithfulness.  He has already overcome this world and everything in it then so by relation so have I.  My willingness to stand in this knowledge commits me to continual success for God’s Good Purpose and Glory.  His name be praised in the Mighty, Living Worship of Jesus Christ the King.

Ezekiel 38:7

Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

A Marine that is not currently in battle is diligently preparing for the battle to come.  We as the body, have for reasons which I will discuss, failed to heed this biblical warning and remain sadly and negligently unprepared.  Much focus is placed upon the great commission as a collective Christian responsibility, one I might add that we have also sadly neglected.  But so much emphasis has also been placed upon the message, given “to Christians” repeatedly.  Jesus spoke of it, not only in parables but also directly.  The Apostles continuously counseled us to readiness.  Why then have we disregarded these deliberate warnings regarding being prepared?

First, we are facing a clever enemy in the fallen.  He has had millennia to prepare and institute an effective attack upon the Body of Christ.  How better to stop us from being used of God, out in the world, then to convince us that we are safe, adequate and self-righteously segregated from the wicked world by remaining holed up in our churches?  As the book of Jude clearly proclaims the church will be infiltrated by wicked spies of the adversary pent upon corrupting and paralyzing the church.  We have forgotten the cleverness of God’s enemies and for that we ought to repent.

We have forgotten that God, in His Holy Spirit, is among us.  We have forgotten that it is the power of the Holy Spirit that seals us for eternity, without which we have never been saved.  We have forgotten that it is the power of the Holy Spirit that allows us to be called the Sons of God.  We have forgotten that without the power, guidance, counsel, conviction or presence of the Holy Spirit we are essentially defenseless against the enemy and impotent when it comes to testimony, healing or bringing the lost to Christ.  We have so effectively quenched the Holy Spirit from the Church that He stands outside knocking waiting for them that will invite Him back in to sup with us.  This forgetfulness has allowed us to transform the church into a business, run by professional clergy and bankers that has little regard for trusting, serving and being directed by God’s Spirit.  Our current structure essentially assures that we will not be answering God’s knock upon the door, thus remaining unfilled by the Holy Spirit.

We have neglected prophecy and its clarion call to be prepared for what God says will swiftly come to pass.  We have forgotten that in these last days our responsibility for service, discipleship and readiness takes on larger gravity as the time shortens where the work may be performed.  We have forgotten that the work of God’s harvest is “out there”, in the world, not in the relative safety of our fellowship halls.  We have even forgotten our identity in Christ.  We are warriors, princes and priest, made for intervention, prayer and courage to stand against the whiles of our enemy knowing God’s victory.  But we are teaching neither this identity nor the implications upon our duty to become fully prepared for each of our specific purposes.  We have forgotten the responsibility for watching over our brothers and sisters in Christ as they are assailed by an incessant enemy, we simply leave them to their own devices, knowing fully how relentlessly God’s enemies remain.

Finally, how does it negatively effect us to be prepared and find that danger never comes?  The answer is obvious, it doesn’t have any negative impact.  Why then have we failed to institute a readiness plan for discipleship, spiritual warfare, use of God’s Armor, missionary, medical, emergency services or financial disciplines?  The answer is the enemy has effectively lulled us into self dependence and a truly inadequate reliance upon God’s Word and direction.  We have fallen to comfortable slumber in our air conditioned churches, knowing that it is now the pastors job, as the professional clergy to do the work of ministry.  We have failed to fill our lamp with the oil of the Holy Spirit, ignoring parables, thinking ourselves immune to God’s return as a “thief in the night”.  We are collectively inadequately prepared for the tribulation, persecution and enemy onslaught of the unholy world, even when God has commanded us to be ready.

I understand that your first inclination will be to muddy the messenger, proclaiming me uneducated, uncredentialed or inadequate to deliver God’s message.  You are completely correct.  I am inadequate to be called even a poor messenger, but it is not the messenger with whom you contend, your conflict is with God, as this message is His.  Ready your body, prepare your hearts, minds and spirits for battle and hazard.  I will accept your slight if even one of you looks past my inadequacy and finds it in your heart to obey God’s Word and be ready for what is swiftly and certainly headed our direction.  In Jesus’ Name I pray.

Strategic Preparation for defense of your family life.  http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/love-worth-finding/player/preparing-for-the-battle-543797.html

When I reject absolute Truth, I am left with the necessary task of constructing a reality built upon my own projection.  My new reality will reflect my imperfections, my illusions, my denial and will demand that no one in my sphere of influence deny its omniscience.  I will be master of my own domain, so to speak and I will accept the challenge of transforming, converting or compulsively changing the perspectives of everyone around me to match the harmonic vibrations emitted by my constructed reality.  Everything that I do will be dedicated to maintaining the solidity of that which I have constructed for if it is disrupted, shattered or challenged my entire universe will consequentially crumble, tumble and dissolve.

I am wicked, I am a tyrant and left to authority I will emotionally subject those around me to my version of how this world should transpire.  That is the truth of my flesh.  However, thanks be to Almighty God, His Truth rules, guides and permeates my reality.  Life does not look to my feeble construct for definition it depends upon God’s Perfect Word.  People do not have to depend upon my inadequate philanthropy for sustenance, depend upon my fickle love for their edification or my imperfect judgment for their forgiveness.  They have a Holy, Righteous and Adequate God from which to receive these foundations.  I am glad that I do not create, define or administer this life.  Who rules in your world?  Is it God’s perfect Word of Absolute Truth?

Just as I am not God and therefore did not create this or any world of substance, I equally, by my inadequate nature am incapable of finding, earning or working my way into an eternal relationship with a Holy God.  Only He can remove the tarnish of my sin, only He can remake me into the holy man of resemblance for which I was designed.  My efforts are illusion, certainly they play some part in demonstrating my intention, reliance and Faith upon His Holy Guidance, but all in all they amount to very little in the Grand Plan of Salvation.  My sole purpose is to love Him, love you and find great joy in fulfillment of my small role in God’s Glory revealed.  I will not be led astray by my own ego, the whispers of fallen servants or the desires of a world lost in its own decadent projection.  For mine is a life owned by God, created by God, for the realization of God’s purposes.  It just so happens that I accept and believe in His Absolute Truth and am delighted to be a part of it.  Serving His Glory is the greatest thing I could ever do.

In Jesus’ Holy Name I pray for our collective surrender to God’s Will for each of our lives.

What brings you close to God?  Are you inspired by conviction, the personal whisper of the Holy Spirit through expository?  Does the glory of the created world instantly remind you of God’s Creative Majesty?  Do you see His smile in the laughter of small children, reminding you of His presence in their innocence?  What brings you into fellowship with the Almighty?  Do you hear His voice, calling, directing, leading you to relationship or do you search His Word for that moment when He reveals wisdom through discernment?  Do you know Him, can you approach Him, do you follow, obey, love and reconcile your thoughts, actions and worries at the throne of Grace?  Does He discipline you, do you miss it when He doesn’t?

Are you drawn to congregation with other believers or do you avoid them, seeking your own brand of worship, study and accountability?  Does His Word linger in your mind, rolling over, recycling, taunting, changing and sponsoring your next thought or action?  Do you find comfort in the tragedy, the fire, the snare, trial or trouble, because you know that He is right beside you, or do you seek to escape any trouble and be returned to comfort’s bosom?

What purpose does God serve in your life?  Is He a listening post, designed to hear your deepest cries for mercy and relief?  Is He another spirit,  a lantern upon which you rub in hope of reaching your greatest achievable wishes?  Is He a friend, a confidante, a Brother?  Does His Yoke weigh heavy upon your spirit?  Is God a fearful giant, one who will reach out and cause your great difficulty if you fall short of holiness?  Is He the voice of condemnation or does His opinion matter much of anything?  Do you speak to God daily or is it only when you need Him that you find it necessary to inquire of His intervention?  What part does He play in your script?  Or are you playing the role which He designed for You in the revelation of His Kingdom to mankind?

Don’t you want to know, after all, didn’t you tell me that you are a Christian, saved by grace, forgiven and reconciled to God?  What does that mean if it means anything at all, shouldn’t we know?  Shouldn’t we be “ready to give a defense of our faith”?  Where do we end up at the end of the last scene, on some puffy cloud, some distant planet a inexplicable place called heaven?  Wouldn’t it astound you to know that we serve the living God and that we will live with God in the Holy City of New Jerusalem, here on Earth, after its remaking?  What, I never heard that.  Then my friend you ought to read the last chapters of Revelation, I recommend picking it up at around Chapter 20.  What is reconciliation, relationship and fellowship if we don’t have to know God to say we have them?