Francis asked God and God answered in that quiet, inescapable voice that none of us must avoid.  What Francis was called to, challenged conventional thinking, even provided the possibility of potentially devastating impacts upon his family.  But he still walked the road that God had bid him travel.  For after all that is why we are here each of us, isn’t it?

We live in times that most of us would prefer to change, within a nation that has for the most part ignored, forgotten or simply doesn’t remember what it means to receive the chance to live free by the blessings of Almighty God.  Children yearn for the brutal hand of socialism, a concept they neither understand nor will want but by the time they realize its crippling servitude it will be too late.  However, isn’t that what we as humans force God to bring us through in order to turn our hearts back to Him.  I mean look in Biblical history, people were always so hard headed, wanting back into the world system or having to be sold into slavery, conquered or led around endlessly in the desert before they realized we must attend to God’s call upon our hearts, or else.

The Lord has told us by not speaking about the United States in the Bible that we are not here in the end times.  Pastors most of them do not wish to speak of things that upset the flock, for a host of reasons.  The worst of which I will mention shortly the least of which is that they don’t know what to tell people about that absence.  We must now do what we are called to do and place our full hope, faith and trust in the Lord and leave the outcome to Him, for His plan is awesome and it is right to trust His devotion to each of us.  That is what Francis is doing, He loves and trusts God and has heard the voice of the Good Shepherd and has no other choice but to follow.

Where does this leave us?  I don’t have a church, I don’t have a pretty face, a building, a fancy car or a burgeoning church for which I must worry each month about a mortgage that will not disappear even if the money does.  So, I will tell you straight.  It is entirely possible that the United States is not in the Bible at end times, because it ceases to be a free and unfettered nation.  I do know this that when God doesn’t clearly talk about something in the Bible that He doesn’t want us to know.  That we are meant to operate on faith and place our lives in His hands.  What then do we do about this issue?  Do we believe the Bible being the inerrant Word of God, knowing that it has never been inaccurate or wrong?  And since we believe it what then is going to happen to our beloved country that once yearned to be free and now does not seem to share that original ideal?  That answer is that I do not yet know, but we will soon find out.  Now let us get into some of the encouragement through what we do know.

We know that Christ is returning for the Church and that we do not deserve to suffer His wrath for we have answered His offer of Grace through salvation.  Therefore, our lot is to keep our eyes skyward and our hearts prepared for that moment of His return.  But why are we here then, just to wait?  No, of course not, because the sounding bell of the moment of His return is the moment that the last person that will freely accept His offer of salvation makes that faithful decision that is when it is time for Him to come get His church.  So, we are the ones responsible for bringing about that faithful occurrence, so in effect we are somewhat in charge of when He returns.  The faster we disciple, the wider we cast our nets, the more fish we will bring into the boat.  Fishers of men, Hummm.

I do know that there is going to be a one world government, a one world religion and a one world commercial system.  That is clearly stated in the Bible.  I know that the world will choose their king, the son of perdition to lead them against the Lord our God in disobedience.  Does that occur because the restraining Spirit of the Holy God that resides in us, the believers is basically removed when we are harpazoed out of here?  That is a faithful thought is it not, because that empowers us to save our families, friends, colleagues and even our enemies by telling the Good News of Christ?

I know the fate of this world, to suffer God’s Wrath, lose a great battle with the Prince of Peace, the Lion of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ and will be ruled by the true righteous King of Everything.  I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be here in tribulation and the Bible indicates that that will be the case.  If I am not going to be here, then it is what I do now, in prayer and service the King which is the only thing that matters at all.  Praise God He has created each of us for such a time as this.  Stand up, march out, speak the Word in Power and Love.  Bring hearts to the Cross where they might be saved from the tragedy to come.  Leave the rest to God, for He was the only one who could ever do anything about it any old way.  In Jesus’ Name.

Return, to the things you once did, your first love, where the relationship was new.  Do you remember son when a relationship was fresh, when your fear and reverence pulsing in your ears it was so palpable?  When the song sprung from your lips and the words of your mouth were kind, simple and strong in the Lord’s encouraging force.  When the days each looked fresh, a new plot of land to sow with the seeds of his kindness and truth.  A day when you couldn’t wait to get to the Word.  Certainly you recall those childlike moments when you were so thankful for salvation that you couldn’t wait to wake and recall the dream of his message to you that previous night?  Does love have to dwindle or be rekindled or may it grow and mature like craftsmanship, someone we get better with in age, something we learn to cherish and improve upon.  I sure hope that is my case, for the Lord counsels us return to the point where we Loved the Lord above all else that we might yearn for the next Word.  In that moment, I have never been happier.

This world is designed as an ambition vacuum to put us to sleep unless we are intent upon wakefulness.  It lurks with shiny objects, concerns and “realities” that consume our attention, power and passions to the point where focus becomes blurry.  Without vigilance we are left divided, distracted and ill committed to the things that demand, deserve and require our full attention and nothing less.  What is the tenor of my relationship with God?  Is it as it once was, fresh, new, worthy of all my effort or have I relegated him to a position among the cast, the host of characters and things vying for my attention that has dulled to an ember?  Am I luke warm, which is the dangerous position, hot as demanded or perhaps even worse cold in my pursuance’s?  Can it be returned if lost, be found again, stoked, lit, blown upon until ignition?  Whatever must be done to once again be on fire for God, isn’t that the only course of action, the desperate man’s course, the man who has thrown himself at the foot of throne beseeching God for intervention?

I don’t know where journey’s take each of us.  I don’t know your heart, that is something concealed but for you and God.  This one though is pivotal, of utmost importance, unavoidable, the question we all must ask of ourselves.  What position does God take in my life?  Is it first as he deserves, requires and clearly bids us?  Only you and He know.

I pray for all of this in this last or first hour of our day that we investigate the status of that most important relationship with God.  May it be the first and the last thing you contemplate each day, in Jesus’ Name.

They were with Jesus for three years and still asked to be shown the Father.  How long do we need to be in presence of Almighty God, before we begin to comprehend the revelation before us?  Do we need to be struck in the head by a rock to know that when hurled from a distance it will cause damage, concussion, contusion or death?  How then is being saved, being forgiven, washed clean, transformed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God’s Promise not enough evidence for the believers faith account?  Must we be as Paul said the denier’s of the power therein, having a semblance of Christian but lacking those things that make it filled with Grace, Mercy, Power and Transforming Testimony?  One Question; will you follow the herd, being too afraid to step out into the power of your belief that you end up missing the Master’s Return for the Church?

What else do you believe that parable of the maiden’s portends?  Having not the oil specific to our individual lamp, an oil that may not be given by friend, family or neighbor, an oil that essential in the lamp of our internal discernment that will allow us to meet the Master at His return even in moments of utter or outer darkness?  We must begin to grow in our faith.  That requires we understand the oil to be the filling of the Holy Spirit that marks us as believers, adopted into the Kingdom of the Most High God.  You believe that saying some prayer on a Sunday morning because you were so ashamed at the guilt from what you did the night before was adequate for salvation.  Read the Bible, ACTS 8, read it, why else did the Apostles remain in Jerusalem after their Rabbi had been just cursed to be hung upon a tree.  That was a death sentence.  They were told by God to stay that they might be sealed by the Holy Spirit in a believer’s baptism by the Fire of His Spirit.  That is Pentecost.  The filling of the Holy Spirit, indwelt, sealed, the down payment, the earnest of our salvation.

Now the churches, especially those preaching once saved always saved are going to counsel you that I have lost all reasoning.  Why then if we may never lose our salvation did Christ himself say in a warning to the churches in Revelation that he would not blot their names out of the book of Life.  If God said that it is possible to have your name blotted from the Book then it is possible, don’t let me tell you different then God’s Word proclaims.  Read Ephesians 1, it is the entire story of the Gospel in one chapter.  It tells us clearly that the Holy Spirit is the power, the seal, the down payment of our Salvation, without it we have nothing but ill founded understanding.  You will know someone by the fruits.  What are the fruits?  The fruits are the characteristics of the Holy Spirit, evidence that He indwells each of us, without which again we are in desperate straights.  I am not counseling you to be fearful of not being saved, I am counseling you to do as Paul directed and be certain of your salvation.  How can you be certain without evidence to the existence of the Holy Spirit within you, the oil in your lamp, the earnest of your Salvation in Christ Jesus.  I don’t know but I certainly had to ask the same questions and go to God for the answers.  Won’t You?  In Jesus’ Name I pray that you are more certain of His divinity and your relationship than were many of the Apostles who needed to see him resurrected in order to believe.

Taking time, breaking time, faking time, forsaking time, saving time, making time, conserving time, which of us can exclude time from among our top few priorities in life?  It shapes us, defines us and for most it simply controls every thing we do, every emotion we feel, even our pain is controlled by the length or sparsity thereof.  How can we ignore time, is that possible, perhaps passing time, sequestered to some hidden cove or mountain retreat, defeats the power of its constriction.  But even those moments of relaxation are not beyond its strangling governance.  We can’t go back into it to repair mistakes or missteps, we cannot forward and escape from the impacts of present.  What then did God develop this limitation, this construct, control that governs all things even the face of evil.  For without time freedom would be an unnecessary pursuit.

I am a finite being, not because I have chosen that label or implied self-defined limitation.  It is simply the truth.  At some point the light, the spirit or for those new age followers that energetic force that powers this lifetime, will cease to influence this body.  That is ironic that Life and Time are used in the same descriptor for our existence here as humans, for isn’t time one of the main factors in our life’s equation?  When that life leaves this corporal form, since we know that energy is neither created nor destroyed, where does it go?  I will not ignore the other question that has been begged by the previous statement, but merely mention, if it wasn’t created then what was it before it was in me?  For now we will ponder locas imagenes de las piensas mio.  That time is dictated by those moments having been lent each of us to perform those tasks either for self of some voluntary purpose.  When it runs out it is redirected to another repository or form. Oh, you agree.  I see the arguments reside not in the equation but in the form to which each of our energy either returns of is directed.

Understood, so is time that governing factor that determined where our energy would reside beyond our present iteration?  No, then who invented that governing force which controls each of our lives?  Is it then a random allotment, given as chaos theory with a pattern inside a supposed menagerie of action?  If everything is random or chaotic why does time proceed in orderly fashion, why are there orbiting planets, why do cells adhere and how is matter in fact contained within a medium?  Logic may not simply be a passe object to pull out in order to impress women at parties.  Like time it is a governing force that requires its consistent implementation.  I will assert that time is given us a by a Creator who designed the rules for life when he designed Life itself.  And people have a choice as to what to follow or believe, but that choice does not have the potency to redesign the equation but rather to allow us to “lie” to ourselves about the inevitable to somehow provide self cathartic romance upon which we may reside and escape the inevitable coming judgment of a Holy and Righteous God.  Like time it is inescapable, outside of our control, even those daunting hands of evil are marking its moments until their power is removed.  So will time define your life or the scarcity thereof?  Or will you take control of the moments given you to make your mark upon it for the Lord our God?

In Jesus’ Name I pray you use time in its wisest form to the fullness of God’s Purposes for your existence in this segment of our journey to once again live in fellowship with Him.

To follow a man must assert himself tangible, having received the context of primary understanding in the knowledge that there is a truth exalted above all other wisdom.  Does that bring into new reference frame, “being full of oneself”?  For how might a vessel that is currently full receive additional or alternative volume?  I must have determined to have lost my own big data, flushed voluntarily as process of making room for something more precious.  Once emptied of or least drained to the place where new knowledge, impulses may cross the synapses, axioms and dendrites to create new pathways of understanding, I am in effect transformed.  Sanctification for them who struggle with its logical construct is that neurophysical, deconstruction and remapping of our network adaptive to the leading of wisdom beyond our previous complexity.

That which is artificial is by its nature something that is a copy of creation, an intangible doppleganger of that which Spirit called into being.  Thus fish are choked by plastic, man is sickened or killed by chemicals mixed in food and genes or DNA are transformed by efforts to mutate the atomic structure inherent to creation.  That is why our children crave “authenticity”, go poll them if you doubt.  It is their number one requirement for believing or even listening to elders is that lack of artificial perception.  They have in them the discernment to know that which is artificial and the crave the natural voice and touch of the Creator in order to authorize acceptance.  That which is manufactured, plastic or mutation somehow smells differently, as testified to by animals that can smell mutated cells.  Thus the human understanding that something, “smells fishy” or something smells rotten, as this is a built in indicative measure designed by God to alert us of illness.  It it don’t smell right we don’t eat it, that is why they struggle to make the artificial, hormonally attractive, that we might mistake it for the real and ingest it to our prohibitive deconstruction.

Now to the logic beyond the logic.  If the intent of this manufactured camouflage to somehow make the artificial inculcation of all that is acceptable to man, somehow normal.  Is that not clear attempt to replace, supersede or supplant that which is in the position of natural authority?  Look they seek the keys to the doorways to God, the penetration of the dimensions through which they might access those things that have incarcerated or locked up for the good of man kind.  Why then do we feel compelled to seek these keys, to open doorways to the unknown that we might call ourselves conquerors of dimensions yet known?  Why because we are being steered that direction by a hand so surreptitious that we barely perceive its pressures.  This is a direct challenge to Christ, who said emphatically that “I am the door”, “I am the way, the Truth and the Life and No one comes to the Father but through me”.  If they are seeking an alternate Bab El, doorway to God, then they are directly challenging the Good Shepherd, the Gate, the Only Way to God.  What do you think that artificial pursuit will produce for them, that it leads to direct conflict with God Himself?

It won’t be Good for those who continue down this wide boulevard of adventure.  I follow because I do not want power nor do I want authority not given me by God, for I have not the desire nor the capacity to understand, utilize, operate or control that which is beyond my capacity to comprehend.  Look we discovered the atom bomb, for example.  How has that worked out for us?  Do we even now have any control of that power that we have uncovered?  For certain we have learned to stand near it to our detriment as it mutates all into which it comes into contact and utilize its unimaginable power, but do we have any control over its implied potential for breaking its confinement?  No, we have seen what meltdowns do even when sponsored by something so unpredictable as the crashing waves of a Tsunami.  How has that been handled?  Oh, they haven’t told you. You may wish to find out that it is still neither contained, nor containable.

We ought not challenge God for the consequences are painfully clear, yet many will do exactly that.  The Bible foretells that we will embark on this dangerous journey in conflict with God.  I am sorry that we will not come to our collective senses and see the impossibility and stupidity of this course.  However, we will in fact challenge God.  Unfortunately for them who pursue this course, and are filled with their own self sponsored or kindled desire and quest for self governance and power, they will fail miserably and be vanquished and punished eternally in the Speaking of His Word.  Equally or of greater fortitude is the choice lain before that we might choose the natural and rightful place before our creator and serve His Plan for humanity that we might be saved for everlasting life, remade for the world to come, following the destruction of this aberration.  Choose Life, Choose the Only Door that Leads to God and everlasting Hope in this Life and the Next, Christ Jesus the King.  The way the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father but through Him.

Silo hollers.  Circular echo, bouncing from the grain to the twain and back again. Pollinated sunrise, with each dew filled drop sneezing itself skyward.  Stern hands and skin like sand working dawn to dusk with burlap and husk.  If you stand still you rust, so nothing stops moving, breaking new ground, every move a new sound of something soon to be life aplenty.  Gentle displays of winks and nods the peas and the pods, birds fly bye in squads chasing the wind with their fantails.  Jars of sweet jam, the kids shouted scram cause the cat was stalking chickens like Kimba.

Down near the creek got a kiss on the cheek and felt the surety of hand hold in love.  Thanked the Good Lord above because it was more than enough, when you sleep from a day in abundance.  Still in a trance, do the wood floor sock dance and try not to crash into cupboards.  When is a thing, something more than a sting or a bite or a nibble or taste?  Nothing goes to waste round here, pants are handed down, every frown is turned upside down and sore backs don’t seem so tight when they’re working.  A colorful sky.  Crimson, tourmaline and sawdust flashing kernels of green apple and marmalade.  Where would you be but right here?

What a comfortable spot on my knees by the footlocker at the bottom of my cot, a foam cushion to give me the time to spend in prayer.  I first think out loud, then as time passes into night I find that quiet place waiting on God’s Whisper.  And almost at dream, eternity it seems the peace comes upon me in a hush.  Forcing sound from my ears and drying up all my tears, telling me that God has been watching throughout.  Standing to shout, don’t know what the heck that’s about, a steeplechase rider at gun start.  Then I hear Him tell me to settle.  I return to repose, my face flattened nose against the canvas my mind a fresh easel.  The seasons pass bye in the wink of an eye and I’m standing against winds that are frozen.  Chosen it seems and called in my dreams to weather winter’s discontent with a smile and a fresh pile of wood that I’ve been stacking all year.

The end is always nearer than we wish it be.  No time for misstep or folly.  Though jolly in my fight, there is reason to get it right, before the signal sounds end to the scoring. Laying my simple head down her snoring the sound that rocks me gently toward the edge of all thinking.  And I recall it all, the sights, nights, fights and squirrels that made today like none other.  For a moment I glimpse a terrace in the shade where I am chatting with my Father and Mother.  Then I recall, that I will see them at the ball that follows being served by the Bridegroom.  As I hang on to the day before its gone, suddenly tomorrow forces its way into the room.  And thoughts of tomorrow become present and the pleasant smell of hazelnut and half burnt toast though joyful come just a little too soon.  I sit and I laugh for a minute and a half before making my claim on today.  I pick up the Word to reflect on what I’ve heard and look forward to what next He will say.

Thank You Jesus.

Distraction and disengagement lead to imperfect performance.  Focus is the key, no wonder all the world is set on stun, dazzle, shiny objects and squirrels.  In this menagerie of aggressive, sensory input, it may be time to practice, “shutting it all down for a spell” as the only protection from the wizardry of attention manipulation.  Oh, you don’t believe the enemy would be this clever, to send a continuous stream of shiny objects, disinformation and arousal your way to divide your capacity to become focused?  Perhaps they have already diminished clarity.  Remember Balaam and how they couldn’t turn the soldiers away from their desired objective until he suggested they parade scantly dressed women in front of the young men.  Ah, attention getters.

Remain in prayer.  This sounds impractical and frankly nonsensical to someone lost in the travails of a worldly regimen.  I mean how does one remain in constant connection with the Father while taking on the schedule of events before us?  Are you in constant contact with your cell phone, Facebook, News, Twitter, you get the picture.  It is another lie perpetuated by an enemy that uses lies to conceal other lies that are hiding the truth.  Stay connected to the Father,  It is not hard to take a minute every hour and acknowledge Him, asking that He give you the capacity to keep your clarity pointed upon heavenly and righteous things that you might not fall pray to the disinformation and distraction seeded and planted along your route by and enemy pent on dividing to conquer.  Yes, your attention may be divided as well.  An unfocused warrior, prince or priest is a dangerous thing.  My new phrase of the day is Vigilant Alacrity.

Do we have a tolerance for the melee of superfluous information cascading into our field of perception, by God yes we do?  For we are the winners here, not victims to the pray of a tyrant king.  The Lord gives us the authority, the capacity and the mind of Christ, with and through whom we may keep things in perspective and clarity, even when approaching the snarling creatures at the Gates of Hell.  For even they shall not prevail against Christ’s Church.  We are the Body, The Bride, the Holy and Righteous Adopted Kin of the King of Everything, Almighty God.  That means that we enjoy a position of authority over these streams of information, being thrown at us daily to steal our focus.  Well Steel your mind by a relationship with the God of order and put on the helmet of salvation that your mind might remain clear and unencumbered.  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, unless of course he means to distract your family to the point of insurrection, disinformation and eventual thought captivity.  Turn off to turn on your relationship with the Most High God.  Unplug from the world on regular basis that you might invest in the most important communication to which you have access in Christ.  Set a time each day to set down the phone, turn of the screen, listen and dwell in the Word and be fulfilled, renewed and protected in Christ Jesus.

Never tiring of the tests, I become weary of hesitant response.  Must each door be as before, carrying the sweet visions of delayed desire, substance, power and dream.  It would seem that some men will never learn as they yearn and fall for the same snare at each encounter, exclaiming, “what’s this trip wire”, as they gently pull it releasing the red flare.  Must the money dye explode every time in my face as I stop at the red light to look into the bag of goodies I’ve extracted?  Must I be yanked back by my belt as I step in front of the same bus at the same red light as I get out to run?  If there is a record for number of times falling for the same gag in the same manner wearing the same old tired shirt.  I certainly own that shirt.

Show me doors, show me three tunnels, ten tasks, two that are clearly noble in each iteration and I will invariably stumble through all the desperate paradigms prior to being forced in the righteous choice as elimination’s result.  Am I beyond learning, resistant to change, growth, sanctification or transformation?  Or do I have an affinity for emotional trauma as I must request extraction by HQ each time I am ensnarled, embroiled or busted, sitting on a bus smelling like a old satchel?  When then does discernment arrive, how will I recognize it having never met the two of us in passing?  Am I a ship that passes the other ship, always at night, always dismissing foghorn, lighthouse, following blindly after whispering siren, straight upon the rocks each and every journey?

Oh, you say it is good to be upon the rocks, having lost it all, it is perfect positioning for a new round of remaking.  I say that I have had enough.  No more leaping before looking.  No more following my nose or other senses, nor pursuing the desires of heart.  For those have proven wicked at best and down right filthy, evil and untrustworthy at worst.  No, I have found the measure of my success in listening to the voice of God alone.  That is why it has been so important to be trapped in each of these predicaments.  That I might experience, recall and annotate the voices of wonder or endearment that beckon me on to splendor only to leave me wasted, doused, singed and recalcitrant upon the granite steps of my own conditioning.  It’s okay falling down does teach one a certain capacity for rolling to avoid concussion.  Oh, so now he is turning this into a joyful event.  One where the golden kernel of wisdom is extracted, even from tragedy of apparent human ignoramus et ignorabimus.

This folly is the joy of my existence, for it is the mystery of my own malfunction.  A play in which I am cast as the hero, the nerd, the jerk, the soldier, the scientist, the wanderer and the saint.  The joy is I get to wear each of those garbs and experience each life, until of course I find the correct path, upon which I was meant to travel at outset.  Dad always said, “if there is a hard way and an easy way, guess which one of these you are going to choose”?  Thank God that I bounce well and the bruises clear quickly, cause guess who’s gonna bump his head in the same spot on the same low lentil at the same intersection each time he travels this trial?  God has got to have a sense of humor and perhaps he enjoys my vaudevillian comedic ability to push the same button each time as the anvil or piano waits on a fraying rope overhead my position.  Wiley Coyote, super genius, he snickers just before plunging over the same cliff, holding the stick of dynamite from the last 32 episodes.

Some day I will learn, I just hope that I have a whole lot of them left, otherwise there may not be time to get it.  For now, I will look and listen for you, Father.  That is the only thing that seems to allow me chaotic avoidance.  In You I trust, all other things seem to blow up when I unwrap them.  Thank you Jesus for such a hard head.

Yes Lord I want the good parts, the salvation, abundance, love and joy, but I understand, especially after studying your word that there is going to be some real tragedy for which we must be centered and prepared.  That is the part with which we need your Spirit in order to “count it all joy” as we are told in the book of James.  This world isn’t easy, ain’t lately Father I am seeing more and more of my Brothers and Sisters caught up with worldly concern. Not simply because they’ve backslidden or wish to be disobedient but because the flow of information, chaos and negative influences is so spurious that they struggle to keep up with simply data processing.  We know that we are to remain hopeful and that even the struggles, the trials and to some extent the pain is meant for our own edification and your glory.  I ask of you mercy for those who are having a difficult time in learning how to lay down their burdens at the cross.  Father send them some clear signals that now is the time to learn the skills mandatory for an overcoming spirit in these end days.

There is too much focus that we lose focus, in a never ending attempt to back up move forward or angle in to get the right shot, we simply forget to shoot.  Nothing gets done in a world that is basically quagmired in the frustration of too much input.  Father, how do we effectively compete at our jobs as if serving you, when there is too little time to juggle the few moments we have to give our families?  I know those are awful excuses, but they are real to us here Lord.  I know that you are a God who understands our burdens for you lived in this world.  We are struggling thinking ourselves not good enough because we are constantly reminded of our inability to catch up or keep up with the moving pack of humanity.  Are we simply to detach and begin playing our own game?  Are we “drop our nets and follow you” as many of the original Apostles were beckoned?  We don’t want to drop the ball, yet with the churches turning into such worldly semblance of businesses and our families becoming detached and distant before our eyes, regardless of attempt or effort, it becomes hard to see ourselves as truly functioning Christians.

Is it okay to let some of it slip through my fingers.  I mean do I have to be joe everything, to everyone?  Is it time to get really focused on the few things that matter, God, Family and Country?  I don’t want to let you down Father but I may have to let the worldly functions drop in order to get all this done in timely manner.  Oh, I don’t have to do that.  You mean the reason it hasn’t been going my way is because I have been going my way alone?  Father I cannot do it all, yet I still struggle to do just that.  What is my version of insanity that I cannot let go and let you step in to provide a solution that isn’t even on the list of my options?  I get it Lord.  Make you first.  Concentrate on Love, Prayer, Worship and meditation in Your Word and the rest will follow.  That seems too simple Lord.  It seems that if I take focus off of the things that need to get done that they simply will not get done.  Forgive me Lord as I know so many will say that is counter intuitive.  That is why it is so hard to do, because it requires me to understand that I just don’t understand.  A humbling principle.

Father, let me go to rest this night with you being the last thing on my mind and wake with you the first thing in the morning.  Let me start the day with prayer and the Word and leave the rest to you to sort out.  I will continue to work with diligence, hard work and imagination, but I will not try so hard to figure out that which seems to over whelm me.  I will simply trust in you and love my family and my neighbor that they might feel valued.  I will encourage others and even myself and leave the outcomes to you for in the end, they were always yours anyway.  This old world can go its way.  I will render unto Cesar that which is Cesar’s and render unto you that which is yours.  I am yours.  Please forgive me for trying to rule the day.  You are my Captain and My King, My Rock of Salvation upon which I tie my boat daily.  Thank you for all that you do.  It is after all yours anyway.  In Christ’s Name I pray, Lord Jesus the King.

There is a grateful moment of relief that comes when each person arrives at that embarkation line where they have determined that no matter what they will keep fighting.  After all it is never my body that quits running or says, “I’ve had enough, I cannot go any further”, it is my mind that makes that determination to pack it in, quit or remove myself from the field of battle.  Being honest we must admit that we never quit a race because our bodies gave out, we quit because our will to fight on gave out.  This is a doubly important moment, especially for Christians, because we realize that if we are here for the fulfillment of His Good Will and Purposes for our lives. Then the time I quit, give up or am called home is entirely within God’s Will, not my own.  Additionally, we learn that since the Lord will provide for all of our needs even to the performance of the impossible tasking that dependence upon our own capacity to prevail is removed from our thinking. For it is no longer each of us who fights alone, but now God fights through us.  Nothing is impossible to him who believes.  I cannot fail, cannot quit and certainly cannot go home until God calls me there, so I might as well determine to stand my ground.

What are you battling that is overwhelming your spirit?  What voices are you listening to that are telling you that you aren’t good enough, strong enough and that you will inevitably fail?  What reasons is your body or your mind giving you for getting off the battlefield or staying fearfully upon the sideline bench?  I know this is happening, because these are the tactics of a crafty enemy, who wants you to believe that it is about your worthiness or your ability to surpass these challenges.  That is not what the Gospel teaches us.  Quite the contrary.  We are told to believe, especially in those instances where the tasks are beyond our capacities as human.  We are taught to believe on His Righteous, His Power, Authority and Devotion to complete that for which he sent each of us.  The battle is truly one of making a decision and then getting on the ship headed to the lands to which he has sent us and frankly never looking back.  The decision is the battle and once made the rest is learning to depend upon the Lord in all things.

Praise Be to God that He gave us hope beyond the chaos of this World’s Understanding.  I cannot Quit, why can’t I quit?  Because once I made a decision to follow Christ, I knew that I would do the impossible thing through Christ who strengthens me.  Oh, and that voice that keeps putting you down, whispering to you that you are not good enough and that you should be fearful and quit.  That my Brothers and Sisters is the voice of the enemy.  Isolate it and isolate the voice of your own will and “DON’T LISTEN TO THEM”.  My sheep know my voice and another they will not follow.  You are in the flock of Almighty God and it is only the Good Shepherd’s Voice you need ever hear from here forward.  Silence the others.  Silence your own heart.  Be at peace. Make a decision that you ain’t getting out of here until he lets you out of here and that means you’ve got one thing left to do.  Armour up, Stand your ground and know that God is delivering you the victory he promised to deliver.

In Jesus’ Name.