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.

What is the process of becoming a new creature?  Have you seen that it happened instantaneously for you or like me does it take place one iteration at a time?  Do you see that God allows you to contend with the same old instances, frustrations, relationship difficulties, insecurities, indulgences and overreactions that used to occur?  Why, when He could remake you immediately would He allow this?  It is not my intention to question God but rather to find the best way in which to understand His Will and comply with that Will for my life.

Therefore, I have to suggest two possibilities; one, that we are being shown the things that are being taken/stripped away from our souls, divided from our Spirit by the sharpest of the two edges of His Sword and two, we are being shown the things that need to be removed so that we can surrender them to God with either a sense of obedience or reluctance.  I believe in my rational heart that it may be both, but it is for you to determine.  Whatever the reason, God has not chosen to change us immediately so this is a process not an immediate arrival at destination.  As always with Love there are choices and levels.  God has no insecurities.  He trusts us and loves us enough to allow us to make the decision as to how close we wish to be with Him.  Some will want total honesty, transparency and commitment, others will want limited relationship and clutch some life items with which they are unwilling to part.  One provides for peace and fellowship and the other guarantees discipline and eventual resentment or bitterness, but both require use of our God given gift of Choice.

Just as with any knot, we must search for the origin of the tangle.  God allows us insight into what created these twists, turns and tangles in our lives so that in their unraveling we can see how they took root in our souls.  I can either let go of my past characteristics, follies, idiosyncrasies and pain or I can maintain a grip upon them, refusing to let go of my former life.  Make no mistake, God loves us too much to allow us to remain in our captivity and He will remove these instances or call us home, but the choice remains ours, to be obedient to His Will and surrender willingly with joy and acceptance or as Jonah, fight God, flee from God and become bitter when we are forced to complete His Will in resistance.  Where did your life Knots originate, as a child, as a young adult?  Are you willing to look in acceptance as they are untangled by God’s Mighty and Expert Skill?  The choice as always is yours.  I choose Joy over bitterness, God’s Will over my own and have found the peace that surpasses worldly understanding as a reward.  What are you finding in your sanctification?

I pray for you this day in the Name of Jesus Christ the King of Kings.

How do we make the Lord’s Joy into our sustaining strength?  Happiness is self-defined and self maintained, that is each person has a list of what will make them happy and then whether or not they secure these things determines their happiness quotient.  Joy on the other hand is free, externally delivered and eternally refreshed through Kingdom Work.  That is the greatest irony and miracle then when we do the Lord’s Work we never weary.  I thought work was supposed to sap our strength.  How then does joy fit into the component of power and work?

Think on Jesus.  How would you describe Him, His Characteristics to someone who has never known Him?  I begin with Loving, Caring, Mighty, Worthy, Faithful, Selfless, Patient, Long Suffering, Merciful, Lamb, Lion, meek, All powerful, Creator, Wonderful Counselor, God, but as I go the list seems to get longer and my passionate spirit is filled with His Glory.  He overcame this world and everything in it, therefore it is through my relationship, testimony and love for Him that I will find that same Victory.  Just as happiness is self defined/self maintained so is victimization to every Christian.  We have won and since Joy is free then regardless of our trials, hardships, challenges or circumstances, even when we are unhappy we may remain filled with Joy of the Lord, our eternal strength.  The secret lays in getting outside of our own power, authority and finite defining characteristics and residing in His Power, Authority and Infinite Capacity for Abundant Joy.  When you truly rejoice in His Awesomeness you will meet the Power of the Holy Spirit in that Joy.

Joy will set you apart. Even in the church, when you display true Joy of the Lord you will be ridiculed, mocked, envied and sometimes ostracized or frowned upon.  Do Not Place Your Light Under a Bucket/Basket for anyone.  That Joy should be displayed so that this entire world might look upon the Work of His Glory shone through you as His Lantern.  We cannot get to heaven, we cannot save ourselves, we cannot defeat arch angels, we cannot perform miracles, we cannot exceed death but the One Who Did and Does Lives inside each of us.  It is through the Joy and Thankfulness for His Glory that you will become powerful for Christ.  Look upon Him, get to know Him, ask Him for the power to do His Will in your life.  You will find that Joy is the answer for this is your true strength.  Rejoice for the Kingdom is Come.  In Jesus’ Holy Name I pray.

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.  Do you know the Lord God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob?  Have you felt His Sovereign hand upon your life, His Word resonate in the caverns of your soul and His love protect you when this old world delivers merciless assault?  Is this the day He has given you or is this just another ordered twenty four hour period where a series of chemical reactions, gene superiority and chance have given you an opportunity to catalog diverse experiences?  Do you believe that He is Your Father in Heaven, integrally dedicated to seeing your uniquely fulfilled purpose?  Do you fear Him out of reverence for what He can do but doesn’t?  Do you know the great things He has done for humanity, the things He is currently doing in your life and the things that are certainly, rapidly and soon to come about?

What does it mean to be blessed?  Is it measurable, palpable, actionable?  Do you know clearly when a man or woman is blessed by God?  Think for a moment on these things, what you would say are the evidences of God’s blessing.  What does this evidence demonstrate about your view of God?  Do your indications of blessing surround financial favor or an abundance?  Are they regarding health or children or relationships?  What about history, a good name or stories to regale your grandchildren, do these things fall in the blessing category?  How about a life surrendered, sacrificed and lived for God’s Purposes and Will?  Do we truly believe that God’s Blessings are things that we receive from Him or perhaps can they be the things that we are blessed to give to Him or offer as sacrifice to His Glory?

What blocks your path to being blessed by God?  Is there wrongdoing left unchecked, forgiveness outstanding, surrender yet to be offered to God?  What would God’s blessing look like in your life right now?  Would you recognize it if it came today?  What if God’s Blessing came in the form of discipline for your edification, would you be thankful and appreciative for that good gift that comes from Heaven above?  What if I am blessed by my poverty as it keeps me humble and considerate of the suffering of those around me?  What if I am blessed to be the person who has a wealth of good things to say about others or maintains a reserve of encouragement for those assailed by worldly confrontation?  What if I am blessed to be counted among the Bible’s martyrs for Christ’s sake?  Could I view any of those things as blessings or is my definition perhaps dedicated to only possible and personal aggrandizement by the Hand of God?  Do I view God for who He is or who I wish Him to be?  Do you cometh in His name or your own?

Why are my veins, my lungs, my thoughts restricted when I should have the health and mind of Christ?  Are these restrictions blessings meant to retard my abilities in order to bring my attention to unresolved issues?  Are they opportunities for me to live right and demonstrate His Glory through the benefits of Living with a pure heart and clean hands?  Are the struggles in my life the greatest blessings that I will ever receive as they sharpen, cleanse and mold me into His reflection so that His Glory begins to be revealed in me?  I hope that my words will not be diminished because you find them inconvenient.  I pray that you may view your life through a God lens, the optics of His Holy Word.  May the truth, meditation, prayer and fellowship with God lead you to a true and concise understanding of what it means to be blessed.  In Jesus’ Name.

Are you?  Does the calm, reserved, unencumbered quiescence that makes no sense to mortals permeate your existence?  If not then why?  Shouldn’t we be free from care, burden or worry as God directs?  You aren’t then what would you say is inhibiting this realization?  Do you believe that there will come a time when you reach that transitory destination?  Or do you perhaps feel misled, finding that what the Bible says and your experiences differ?  Honesty is refreshing.  We serve a Mighty God who wants to hear your perspective in prayer.  Have you asked Him why your experiences differ?  Oh, you would just rather say you believe when you truly doubt?  I get it, I don’t see what is served in this manner of relationship, but I can respect your unwillingness to bring the truth of your heart to God.  Maybe your disbelief is so thorough that you don’t consider that peace God promised us possible.  Doesn’t this avenue of truth erosion open you up to further and further questioning of the validity, sanctity and absolute clarity of God’s Word?  When doubt begins, doesn’t it serve the same purpose as a gateway drug, reinforcing, encouraging further doubt, eventually leading to a weakened walk with Jesus?  Doesn’t a divergence from the intended path even by one degree eventually deposit us far from our intended destination.  That is the caution that comes with deception, doubt or uncorrected error in thinking.  Wouldn’t you prefer to get back on the original path so that your journey remains true and delivers you where you intended?  Few follow the skinny path, don’t you want to be one of them?

I want peace with God, from God and when achievable in this life, especially when demonstration of that inexplicable peace makes people consider God’s Glory.  I know that it makes no sense, that is what God meant when He said, surpassing worldly understanding.  There is no rational reason for any of us to be at peace when the war takes shape around us, but we still may find rest in those chaotic circumstances.  That is why God is Glorious, that is why we aren’t citizens of this world but of the next, that is why He died for us because He can handle all that we cannot.  He saved me from sin and death, why would I possibly believe Him incapable of delivering me into rest even in life threatening circumstance?  Have you perhaps created a graven image of God where He is less than capable of creating peace in the world He spoke into existence?  Have you taken time to acquaint yourself with God, do you feel that you can call Him Father, or even Daddy, or do you feel that He is somehow less than approachable, distant, disinterested, impotent?  I can understand your caution at asking Him for peace if these are any of your perspectives.  Maybe you ought to spend some time getting to know God, conversing in prayer, worshiping through music, walking with Him through ministry.  Truly you are never going to believe His Word as Truth if you don’t first understand some of His nature, like the principle that He never lies, never goes back on His Word, never leaves us, even in our most ridiculous moments.  If you knew Him you would love Him and develop an understanding/belief that is unshakeable by the episodes in this life.  For that is peace that surpasses worldly understanding.

The courage of my own bravado is illusion.  What I know, how well I fight, argue, my creativity or cleverness are fleeting.  Each person eats this portion as a staple of growing older.  The most impressive tyrant grew old and eventually faced death, many way before their time in years.  None of them hold any authority on today’s struggle.  That is a strange comfort knowing that my worst oppressors will face the same death that awaits each of us, even if they outlive me.  My thoughts, efforts, purchases, constructions, fixes, adaptations and constructive creations are all temporary.  What then does a person do when faced with eventually being forgotten and impotent?

What are you doing to prolong your memory?  Are you leaving behind children, cramming their heads and personalities full of the things that you left undone, hoping that they will somehow become an extension of your mortality?  Are you writing a book, building a church, planting trees, commemorating a park with a little bronze placard carrying your name as trustee so that all who read will recant your glory?  Are you formulating a new religion so that you like many religions will have your name elevated narrowly above other men, acquainted with angels or gods, so that people may leave incense at your effigy hoping for good fortune?

Are you making rules so strict and promoting popular genocidal religion and ideology of evolutionism, so that those like you may have quest to elevate themselves above other people in an attempt to selectively eradicate every one a bit different than you?  Or are you serving peace, hoping that man will somehow evolve and in an instant put away all the carnal aspirations of our history, suddenly becoming careful, courageous and kind to all things, embracing love for humanity above personal gain and glory?

Now the argument becomes about defense of our foolishness.  It is not just the gift of life that makes all men created equal but the mutual and inescapable death that levels humanity’s playing field.  There is a peace in knowing that all share the same destination, as God’s Word says, it is appointed all men once to die.  But in that knowledge lay a burden.  The burden, one of either assigning some analytical measure of performance for this defined period or realization that our mortality places a requirement upon our lives in service to man, or ideology or dare I say to the God whom created us.

Though rich people continue in their attempts to prolong the inevitable meeting with death, even considering preserving their frozen heads or cloning themselves we still remain mortal.  That mortality makes our lives precious, just as with any finite commodity, the value is based upon scarcity.  Aren’t there truly only two camps, those who wish to prolong their memory through living in a such a way to make themselves remembered or those wishing to overcome or delay the inevitable death to stretch the time we have been given?  How then do we react when confronted with Christianity that provides a fulfilling resolution for both parties?

It is at this moment in time when we have the opportunity to accept the glorious truth of eternal life and Holy Living through Christ or we commit ourselves to the fool’s errand of somehow cheating death by memory or extended mortality.  Certainly each of us wants to be remembered fondly, but the memory of my life is no measure of my efficacy, for I may be remembered for ill just as for good.  And just because I am remembered, even fondly, provides no extension to my life only reflection upon it.

If I want to live a life worthy of remembrance then I ought to live with the heart to see all men reach eternity.  I ought to live in such a way that I stand clear of the idle race set forth by life’s scarcity.  I ought to live as a man who knows the embrace of eternity, that all that I currently do matters to God because it is done out of His love for the man He created.  This is the freedom of a Christian.  Christians escape the limiting, defining parameters of life’s fleeting governance, exchanged for a role in the eternal Kingdom of God’s Plan for all.

You can think me foolish, you can think me daft or perhaps outside your principles of realistic understanding, but it is not me and your definition of me that matters.  It is the Work and the Word of God with which you contend, for this is the secret for which all men quest, “How may I be remembered fondly in this life and live forever with God and those whom I love”?  There is only one way to this destination and it begins and ends with Jesus Christ the King.  Ask Him if you dare, He promises that He will answer.  What you do next will define not only this life but the next, so inquire wisely.  I love you.  May God be with you this day and forever.  In Jesus’ Name.

Do you feel one within your church body?  Is your love for each other so evident that the world immediately knows that your church family belongs to God?  Do your church members regularly reach beyond their own self concern, making sure of the safety, security and well being of your wife, husband and kids?  Are they intimately aware of your talents, your trials and your testimony such that you are seamlessly orchestrated in church efforts to reach the lost around you?  Have you even received one phone call from them this year?

Honesty and truth as disciples is what we were promised in order to set us free from deception.  Why then do we persist in the charade where our church body is concerned?  Have we so committed ourselves to serving the ritual and the business that we have rooted out the foundations of love, family and honest care for our brethren?  Why then do we perpetuate this farce, having abandoned hope that somehow it will be reconciled or made right?  This is not what God intended, this sham, this mediocre facsimile of a Holy Spirit united body made one by His Glory.  What else is there, where else might we go?

My acrimony is not meant simply for criticism.  I yearn for the joy of the Lord in my Church Family harder than an addict craves that next fix.  They will not listen, for I am but a simple man begging for a return to God’s intention, devoid of credential beyond my salvation.  We are wasting our greatest opportunity in a harvest ripe environment where people have been abandoned to the ravages of a world without mercy and a church intent upon apostasy and ritualistic commercialism.  Lord please let me see them who are pent on true sacrifice in my church.  Am I perhaps blinded by my own lack of holy discernment?  Do I speak untruth?  Am I upset for nothing, missing the reality that is the sacrificial, Holy, temperate and set-aside body of Christ?

Save us Father.  Cleanse us of all unrighteousness and worldly dominion.  Make us Holy as the death of Your Son intended we’d become.  Feed us the fulfilling bread of Your Holy Word, the Body of Christ, broken so that we might be nourished and free.  Wash our minds, hearts and motivations so that they are indistinguishable from Your Will for our lives as saints of God.  Let us remain free of the temptation to make a church in our own image when it was intended as reflection and reminder of Your Glory.  Show us true Holy Spirit baptism and sanctification by fire.  Make us one in the kiln of your merciful discipline.  Please don’t leave us in our present structure a mere fraction of the wonderful body we were meant to become.  Teach us to  pray together, stay together and work together tirelessly for Your Harvest.  In Jesus’ Holy Name I pray.

Can I count on the Kingdom of Heaven as mine when I am being persecuted for righteousness sake?  And what solace, comfort or peace does that bring the persecuted today, knowing that theirs is the Kingdom?  Matthew 5:10 Blessed [are] they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Should I expect to avoid persecution having announced myself publicly a believer and follower of Christ the Lord?  Do you view it a reward to be counted with Christ, paying the price for that kinship?

Are you hated by the world or do you fit right in?  And if you are fully acceptable to the world around you how do you believe that translates with regard to your Christian walk?  If they hated Him before they hated us and we are told that all who live a Godly life will be persecuted, shall there be any reasonable expectation of escaping that persecution?  2Timothy 3:12.  Do I wrongly consider myself the person who might or may escape persecution when the Bible states that “all” who live that Godly life shall experience it?  Do I believe in the Word as written or do I hold to my favorable rewriting or interpretation?

Considering the clarity of God’s Word regarding the inevitability of my experiencing persecution should I realistically be holding out hope of avoiding it or should I be embracing the reality and preparing to walk through that fire with God’s Holy Spirit holding my hand?  What then have I been thinking, hoping to somehow evade that persecution which God’s says is inevitable?  Have I blended appropriately into the world, comfortably camouflaged, acceptable, appealing, in tandem with sin, flesh and the devil?

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?  Luke 9:23-25

How are we understanding this phrase in modern terminology?  Many tell me that picking up their cross is simply reference to addressing and carrying the burden of our own sanctification daily and that may very well be a modern definition of this term.  But in Christ’s day and why this was used is because any man or woman who picked up their cross was headed up the hill to be hung upon it.  This term means that we are die unto our selves and serve God, ENTIRELY.  Do not allow the enemy to so easily deceive us with simple twists in interpretation or phraseology.

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.  Whom do I serve?  Is it the Lord God, Almighty, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit or some facsimile concocted to make me acceptable to the world and pious enough to be a church icon.  We cannot live with two personalities, two faces, masks, for this is serving two masters and one will always lose.  Which one is winning in your life?  Which one God or gods has all of your time, energy, love, dedication and ambition?

So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:8  Without faith I know that it is impossible to please God, but this Word tells me that if I remain in my flesh I can neither please Him.  Is it suffering to you to give up the world and its timely treasures?
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.  Galatians 1:10

Did the Apostles really rejoice at being punished for the sake of being called a Christian?  And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.  Acts 5:40-41

This all comes down to one question; If we know that God’s Word says that we WILL suffer persecution for being counted with Him and we continue to avoid doing anything for Christ because we fear the probability of persecution then are we in fact denying Him?  I know that you don’t like me saying these things but doesn’t someone have to say it.  Can I continue to live a worldly life with close regard of avoiding persecution and expect that my denial or compliance with God’s Word will free me of eternal culpability? Matthew 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Luke 12:9 But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

Look I do not want to be persecuted, but I know that living a righteous, Godly life guarantees that I will be afforded to opportunity to rejoice in suffering for Christ.  Knowing that fact I must fear God more than I fear the persecution of man and live for Him regardless of that guaranteed persecution.  Knowing this I must then prepare my heart in faith for the day of my greatest trial, earnestly praying that when tested I will openly admit that I belong to God through Christ.  I pray in that moment that they see God and not my weakness, that they see His Might demonstrated through my willingness to go to the Cross for Him as He did for me.  Lord give us strength of character, mind and spirit.  Let us not be twisted by the whimsy of man’s desire for ease and plenty.  Let us each face our purpose with courage, faith, hope and the strength that Your indwelling provides.  In Jesus name I pray.

Loving God requires no effort, obeying God requires complete surrender, surrendering to God is the greatest evidence of my love for Him.  This is no game of wearing a persona because I need some identity to free myself of guilt, shame or so that I may be liked.  This is Love for someone who gave everything for me though I never had nor never will deserve His attention or appreciate fully His sacrifice.  I am the man who owed a debt greater than I could ever pay, not just philosophically but in real terms.  My God loved me enough to free me from the prison I created, that is something for which He rightfully deserves everything that I can and more.  At first, I was truly conscious of my indebtedness, my shame and thoughtfully determined to give my all to God.  Now it is habit built from years of having surrendered to His Good Will for my life and seeing repeatedly that it always brought me treasured peace, abundance and joy.

These trials are the trials necessary for my sanctification and freedom from the poisonous trappings of this world.  These trials are my temperance, my sharpening, honing, quickening and purification.  These trials are my fire, baptizing me in the Voice of the Holy Spirit of God, who walks through each flame with me.  I am acquainted with the feeling of these flames, how they seek to improve me, discipline me and harden my resolve.  They are my friends, sent by the Hand of God because He loves me enough to make me look like Him.  I am a son of God, a servant, remembering slowly my place in eternity, forgetting slowly my place in this world.  He shall give me rest and that is my greatest reward, to rest with Him.

Loving you requires all my effort, if done for my own volition and my own understanding or gain.  Loving you for Him is a reward, for it shows Him my love and acquaints you with Him, while allowing me to remain in close fellowship all the while.  These are the gifts of my life that I will spend eternity with millions whom I love, some that I have never met yet family none the less.  I pray that man feels the fires of salvation by the Holy Spirit of God.  For if they do then it means God has shown the truth of this life, sin, death and the need for salvation.  Tribulation is set to come to man, but with it great hope, the hope that all will suffer enough to cry out to God for rest and  protection.  That is the great harvest for which each of us has prayed.  The time in the history of man when all are painfully aware and conscious of God’s existence and His Wrath.  On that great day, His Will be done.  In Jesus’ Name.