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.

Why does no one stand at noonday and stare directly into the sun?  Why are there no military or corporate missions flying spaceships to the sun?  What person would reside naked in the desert, exposed to the ravages of the direct sun?  These things are all well known logical questions that are easily answered with equally logical answers.  The sun blinds, the sun burns the sun will kill when challenged or approached without reverence for its power and raw authority over the life and death of man.  Why then do we approach God, the same God who made all suns, all planets, all life, man and atomic reactions without even a modicum of the same reverential logic?

Do we need to see an erupting volcano to know of its potential?  Is evidence of boiling mud, heated sulphur ponds, vents, cracks, rumblings and fault lines enough demonstrable and logical evidence to convince people that there are large quantities of magma beneath their feet simply waiting for the opportunity to explode around them?  Must we be taken down by pyroclastic flows be showered with debris and ash or washed away in lava or mud to understand the devastation that will occur when the volcano in fact erupts?  The logical and obvious/indisputable answer is NO.  Everyone knows that living in a volcanic area comes with a certain acceptance of the risk.  Why then do we toy with God, thinking that the evidences around us do not indicate that we may be destroyed in an instant through this behavior?

Would any man walk defiantly into a radioactive area without fully acknowledging the life sacrifice?  Would any woman allow the doctor to take xrays of her children without reason or protective garments protecting the surrounding areas.  Would any father allow their children to drink water or milk that is known to have a radioactive level?  Why then do we walk blindly into the poisonous world, exposing ourselves and our children to the corrosive and life threatening damage done to all?  Why then do we ignore God’s directive to remain unsoiled, untainted, un-spotted or become poisoned by the world?

Do you often struggle with not feeling good enough?  Do you fear the whispers inside your head that you are not doing enough for God?  Do you feel inadequate, ineffective, discouraged, insufficient to the tasks of being a good Christian?  Then you like me may have been fooled by God’s enemies.

You see the Christian race that Paul discussed is not run against each other, each of us jockeying for positional recognition of deeds, piety and results.  The Christian finish line is not to exchange God’s sacrificial gift to save humanity for a list of rules, achievements and performance objectives.  The hope that I have is that through studying God’s Word and remaining in prayer and great fellowship with God that I will begin to resemble Him, that I will begin to show His Glory to a world that desperately needs Him.  Does any  of that have anything to do with “my” performance?  That is satan’s great lie,that my efficacy of a Christian depends upon my performance as a man.  If you take a look at most if not all religions you will see this common “performance” theme.

Let us never forget that we are in a battle and our enemies are extremely crafty, utilizing deception, obfuscation and lies to lead us away from God’s Purpose.  I have been asking God this week to remove the constant enemy assaults, begging, pleading with Him to save me from the barrage of fiery darts with which I must continually contend.  God’s answer was that He already has.  This left me breathless, when I realized that I have been allowing all these years of enemy attacks.  God’s Word continually reminds us that the enemy is a defeated foe, right?  God’s Word tells us that the enemy and sin have no authority over our lives as believers that we are no longer slaves to sin and death.  Why then can the enemy have any efficacy in my life since these things are true?  That horrible and delightful answer is that he cannot.

So I began to look for the window that I have left open through which the enemy may launch these deceptive assaults.  I found that it is my desire to be good enough for God.  My desire to “perform” in a human way, to show my deeds to others to find validation in action that allows the enemy to challenge me at all.  You see if the Christian life is not about my performance but God’s ability to demonstrate His grace through me, then the entire illusion breaks down.  If my hope is that God’s Glory will shine through me in reflection then my performance becomes irrelevant.  Subsequently, if my performance has nothing to do with my Christian efficacy or success then criticizing my performance or pointing out my inadequacies is irrelevant to God’s successes.  Two things happened this week; I stopped thinking that Christianity is a performance discipline and the illusion of the need for my appearance of adequacy was dispelled.  The enemy has no authority in my life except that which the Lord gives him to usher me one direction, back to God’s Sovereign protection, authority and grace.  I have stopped trying to win this race but rather just finishing it accepting God’s Sovereign actions through me as conduit of His Power and Love.

I hope to study today, pray today and spend time with God today so that I may begin in some small way to resemble Him and so doing show something to this world that it desperately needs.  Trying to be good enough for God or man is declaring your allegiance to the enemy’s continued deception of authority in your life.  Close that window and open the door to God’s shaping hand of conforming Grace.  Stay with God and forget the fraudulent whispers of any other voice that would express sovereignty.  God alone is Sovereign and Jesus Christ the King of Kings.

O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.  Have mercy upon me, O Lord for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.  My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord, how long?  Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies sake.  For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?  I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.  Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.  Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.  The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.  Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.  Psalms 6

O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and delivery me: Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.  O Lord my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea I have him that without cause is mine enemy:) Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust.  Selah.  Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.  So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thous on high.  The Lord shall judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to mine integrity that is in me.  Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just; for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.  My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.  God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.  If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow and made it ready.  He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.  Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falsehood.  He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen in tho the ditch which he made.  His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.  I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.  Psalms 7

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.  1 Peter 1:13-21

Before You Lord I had no need for preparation, no need to consider what it meant to “gird up the loins of my mind”.  Being sober and obedient were irrelevant to a man who honored no authority serving only appetite.  I was seemingly content to accumulate or struggle for the whims of my endless, unrelenting, insatiable desire.  I cared nothing for hope tied to some anticipated day when Your revealed Glory and Grace will satiate my soul.  I remained in ignorance, not bliss, but foolishness not knowing that I could ever reflect holiness, through reverent fear of something beyond self.  I had no wisdom, no knowledge or understanding that my redemption, my freedom was bought by something that I can never deserve, something perfect that ultimately endowed me with belief that sponsored faith and hope in the Glory of Almighty God.

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.  To whom, coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 1Peter 2:1-5

Do you see it?  Does His glory appeal to your new found appetites, that you might be fed to growth?  Do you feel member to a holy priesthood, lively stones built into what God is constructing toward eternity.  Are you precious, not lacking humility, but convinced of your importance to God?  Do you feel it is time to take on His image and begin to show holiness to a world that like your previous man, understood it not?  When is it, this moment of our transition from old to new creature?  Was it that moment of redemptive prayer?  Perhaps the second we realized the humility of repentance?  Or is it right now as we begin to see that His Glory may only be revealed in each of us when we are awe-stricken by His Sovereign Authority, Majesty and Grace?  Why do we have to be sober?  Because without sober, clear and meditative contemplation upon the un-defiled price of our redemption we can never truly understand the Grandeur we were meant to reflect in this world.  We do not have to remain babes, but as the growth of each child is fully dependent on nourishment, our spiritual maturation may only be fed by the Word of God.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 1Peter 2:9-10

Forgive me for my poor ability to communicate God’s Love for you.  That is after all, the entire drive behind my ministry, to describe, demonstrate and convince you that although this world leaves us empty, alone and bewildered, that the Almighty God of this and every universe, Loves you deeply.  Though my vocabulary and communication skills are insufficient to this task, that matters little.  For it is the Holy Spirit of God that speaks to you using my feeble attempts as conduit.  Please do not focus on my inadequacies, for if you pay them particular attention you may miss the treasure of my attempts.  He is there, He is alive, He is waiting to hear from you and develop an eternal relationship of teaching, care and peace provoking fellowship.

Where are you now?  What is happening right now?  What demons do you face, what troubles are you fighting, what pains do you suffer and what feelings overwhelm?  None you say, you are entirely self-sufficient, needing nothing.  I applaud your position.  My seasons however have changed and each time they do I realize how poorly supplied I have been in the past to overcome those inevitable changes of life.  I have been convinced of God’s unrequited, unflinching, perpetual Love for me.  So now my inadequacies don’t matter.  It is no longer me alone, facing each obstacle, some of them even life threatening.  It is God fighting for me, protecting me, guiding me, intervening in my circumstances with a promise to never quit, no matter the size, force and longevity of the battles I must face.  For nothing is beyond God and He loves me enough to be my Saviour if I will believe and submit to His Will for my life.

That is the problem isn’t,  submitting to God?  None of us would argue against God Loving us, for there is no cost in Him Loving us that much.  There are none other than the wicked who would avoid the idea that God truly Loves each of us.  When faced with having to obey His Word and Will or depend on Him for our provision, protection and prayer, then and only then do we meet the true conflict in each man’s heart.  For that is the moment of our greatest determination.  The moment when our pains, mistakes, victories and challenges either fall within acceptable control or we find the need to cry out to God for relief and help.

And that is why people hate Jesus, because they have no problem making a wooden or metal idol and rubbing it, asking three times for their wishes to be answered.  They have no problem with the man, called Jesus, preaching love, respect and freedom from the world’s troubles.  They hate Christ because He said He is God and told them that belief in Him is the “only” way to salvation and eternal life spent within God’s Kingdom.  They hate Him for saying that we cannot earn our way to heaven that it is out of reach of our own efforts.  That central idea is the basis behind the formulation of all false prophets or religions.  They hope that somehow religion might counter this assertion by developing new books, new rules or conforming the Word of God into a kinder, gentler, version of reality one that allows us to control our access into heaven.  One that allows man to save himself through good behavior or some set of behaviors and sacraments.  They hate Him for the truth.  Their only hope, since they are unwilling to humble themselves before God, is now to wish upon every star, that somehow Christ was wrong.

Again they have no problem with freely given love they have a problem with submitting to a “Sovereign” authority who has the Right, the Power and the Ability to pronounce judgment upon their behaviors and deeds.  Isn’t that the same circumstance that occurred in the Garden of Eden?  That the enemy twists God’s Word until it says what we want it to say and that man always seeks his own way instead of God’s, to his own demise.  Isn’t that why the Jewish Nation has been repeatedly disciplined by God throughout history?  They could not just accept His Sovereign Grace and instead developed rules, methods and rituals to earn their way into the presence of God.  It all comes down the central concept of do I obey a Sovereign God or do I choose to exercise my own foolish right of determination? Isn’t that the concept behind ethical relativism?  The mantra of today’s world, let each man be his own authority and respect each man’s choices of identity no matter how dangerous, odd or unrealistic they become. For to put rules upon any man implies that there is in fact a fixed, truth that bonds all men to what is universally right and wrong.  They killed Jesus for implying that any such Eternal and Lasting Truth exists.  What then do you believe they would do to me for making that same assertion?  It matters not for my life or death is in God’s Hands not my own.  I serve a Sovereign Lord.

I used to fight God, even when I began to trust Him and understand that His Will was “always” better for me than my own path.  Why?  Because, that is the battle to which each man is called to muster, the war between self and God.  Do I serve my wealth, my government or my religion or do I serve God?  It is that simple, but yet so complicated for us to comprehend.  We cannot afford for it to be simple because then we would have to make a rational and conscious choice and admit that God exists and therefore each of us must make a decision.  That is why this conversation is disallowed in all communities.  For even having the conversation clarifies our circumstance, destroys obfuscation and false argument.  This conversation introduces all men to the idea behind each of our lives.  Are we here by God’s Hand or by chance?  For through that discussion we all make the choice of whom we serve in this life and the next.

It was hard for me to understand that God would allow my disobedience.  I thought certainly, that when I chose His Way that He would force me to obey, but that was not always the case.  For God Loves me enough to allow me the free will to make my own choices and mistakes.  Although He never allows me to rebelliously disobey without direct consequence, as an indolent child, He allows me to struggle some times for His own purposes and my growth.  For in my struggle, I get my legs under me and I am taught to depend upon Him.  My struggles have grown me in wisdom and taught me that He never leaves, never ignores, never looks away in disgust at my inadequacies.  He is simply the God who “IS”.  God Loves you in a way that we cannot comprehend for every thing we do is finite or limited.  He is not limited or finite but is outside of time’s constraining influence upon definition and understanding.  When you have the opportunity to fight God or submit, I pray with all my heart that you give in and find the Goodness of God’s Plan for your life.  In Jesus’ Name.

For a moment, take in a deep breath.  And as you let it out allow yourself to contemplate your pain, your worry, your lasting wounds and scars.  Most won’t want to look at them, but that fact only elevates our need for relief.  For the wounds that remain open fester, ignoring them only allows for prolonged susceptibility to decay.  Is your current situation a result of the episodes associated with those particular wounds?  Are you suffering or are you living a life limited in some way through the sequence of events surrounding the instances that created those wounds?  Two things; the fact that the wounds remain means that you are carrying burdens you need not bear, and if a sequence of events got you to this point where you are unfulfilled, flustered or inhibited there must be a sequence of events that would lead you out of these circumstances.

Jesus promises to set us free from the burdens associated with sin and death, He promises a peace that surpasses the understanding of this world.  What does He require?  He wants belief, belief that sponsors humility, repentance and acceptance of the Truth of God’s Sovereignty over all our lives.  The practical questions often go unasked.  Questions such as what part did I play in losing my job, becoming addicted to whatever substance, broken or severed relationships that led to my eventual less than bountiful living circumstances?  This evaluation is necessary to healing, for if I am not willing to investigate the nature of my wounds, illness or predicament then how may I find a solution or define the options in moving to a better life?  How might I go before God in humility asking for forgiveness of sins if I cannot see and admit the sins for which I am asking forgiveness?

Am I hiding from the burden of having done something wrong, broken some law, embarrassed myself and others or have I just made so many mistakes that where I am is the only place I could have possibly ended up?  This analysis should give you Hope, the Hope that Jesus Christ provides the way to being free of all these ills, pains, memories, wounds and self-constructed incarceration.  Lay down the burdens at the foot of the Cross and experience rest.  Let go of the repressed or suppressed hurt of the past, repent of the horrible things you’ve done, give them to Jesus, forgive and be forgiven.

There is hope, stop wandering in the desert, come into the promise land and find peace, hope, abundance, healing and renewal.  Take a step today.  Call someone who you refused to forgive, send them on their way with a positive prayer of blessing.  Fess up for the ills you’ve created, be honest with yourself and God, ask Him to set you free of the bondage with these mistakes have imprisoned you, limited you, robbed you of choices and normal social interactions.  There is always an answer, but the answers always lay in admitting, facing and accepting the steps that led us to our current situation.  We cannot ignore our actions and expect that they will somehow disappear with enough time, alcohol, marijuana, heroine or sexual gratification, these things only prolong the time for our wounds to fester and decay, making them worse.

What is God saying to you right now?  Don’t ignore it, listen to that small quiet voice in the back of your head, telling you to seek healing, promise, truth and repair.  Ask for help, for if I am stuck at the bottom of the well and there are no handholds with which to climb out then my only salvation lay in the help provided by someone who is close enough to hear my cries for assistance.  Can I be that passer bye?  Can I give you a hand up, a word of encouragement a sympathetic but honest friend who understands that we have all failed and are in need of salvation?  Can I provide enough love to you today that you might see that Jesus has been waiting there all along, praying for you, hoping in you, knowing that one special day you would come to the knowledge of the truth and turn your heart to Him for forgiveness, repentance, healing, relief and repair?  Let this be the day where we investigate the options together.  Lay down your cares and your worries at the Cross, let the Lord set you free from sin and death and begin to live again with Jesus.  In His Holy Name I pray for you this day.  Amen

My deeds always have an attached component entirely about me.  I do not allow myself to be paraded publicly, persecuted, punished, counted with Christ for the Good of God’s Kingdom.  My greedy little eyes and hands devour those things I want, scouring the Bible for scripture that may be used to explain away or justify my actions as somehow appropriate.  Even when I do good, I have to stop and wonder my intentions, were they really chaste, just, selfless like My God, My Christ?  If I doubt my own motivation what then shall God see within my greatest sacrifice?  What makes the enemy so effective in attempts to steal our joy is that the truth may only be twisted or modified if the lie still contains the semblance of the original truth.  Praise be to God it is not upon my own works or worth that I shall gain entry to heaven, for they are filthy rags before the Lord’s nostrils.  I do not deserve fellowship with God.  I did not gain God’s favor through performance.  I was given grace and only by His grace was I made to see the error of my pensive and active life.  I owe all to His Selflessness on my behalf.

But then my heart, yes my heart, that little chemical engine that holds my life in its hands.  What motivates my heart, what does God really see at the middle of me?  For He knows the real me, that man concealed behind the superficial deeds I display as my portfolio to convince myself and others of my piety.  They don’t remember me because I never really did anything worth remembering.  They remember Him because He gave all for them.  How then may I give all if all that I know is what I know?  You see it is not enough for me to think that I have become a new creature because I say that I know Christ.  My mind must exhibit the notable changes associated with becoming sacrificial in my thinking toward God and man.  Everything about me must demonstrate the evidence and presence of God’s Holy Spirit at work in reconstruction of my desperate container.  I cannot be one with Christ if I do not love, honor, obey and truly begin to look like Christ internally.  The evidence of new construction is the demolition, ground breaking, planning and reconstruction of what was the home of errant living and thinking.  Or even better the presence of the master builder and His angels doing the work beyond each of us.

What were my thoughts sans Christ?  What things do my mind and heart entertain now that I have been risen with Christ?  Would anyone who has known both parts of my life accuse me in front of the religious courts of being Christian?  Would they hate me as they first hated Him?  Would God speak to me of my deeds well done out of faith or would He wave His hand to ignite the kindling of my life misspent?  It is not this man that you see, the effectively camouflaged man, that I should bid you consider.  It should be my greatest hope that you see me at my worst possible moment and in that moment see Christ’s hand upon me, molding, shaping, remaking me and cleansing me from the poisonous spots of this world.  For it is only through being adopted to the Mind of Christ that my inner man might be set free from the treasonous treachery of sinful or wicked thinking, that my heart might be sanctified to the purity of God.  It is my greatest hope that you look at me and see Him, His Work, His Hope, His righteousness and certainly His Faithfulness and Sacrifice for mine have always been inadequate, superficial and worldly at best.

What then should I be showing this world if the inner man is healed?  Ought I contemplate fully upon what man sees in my life?  Should it bother me even the slightest the smell, texture and longevity of my fruit?  If I am God’s Man then shouldn’t it be apparent or is this too something to remain hidden within my authentic man, not publicly revealed?  I pray that you see my internal workings and see Christ at the helm of my life, the Captain of ship of my life, for He is my righteous King.  I don’t just want to say it to lure in the bees with whispers of honey.  I want to live it, to truly love Him and You with all my heart, mind, soul, spirit and strength.  I want people to be attracted to my character in curiosity of how they might embrace their own individual relationship with Almighty God.  Let us stop for a moment and think about what that really looks like, for that is the dream we preach to live or live to preach.  To be like Christ on Earth, even as this day He is seated at the right Hand of the Father interceding for each of us.  Even now adoring us, sacrificing for us, defending and providing for our safe, continued existence in time that we might have the opportunity to serve Glory’s Call.

Lord I am not there but please don’t give up on me.  My greatest fear is not that I lose out on some gain or spoil.  No I fear that the day that You believe I am beyond Your Hand’s repair.  For if You cannot remake me then what hope may I ever command.  Praise be to Your Name that Your Promises are True and You are Faithful to complete this work that You once began in each of us.  Give me Your mind and heart for this life, take away my dependence upon my own capacities.  Thank you for Your continued acts of selflessness in my life.  I certainly do not deserve them.  That is what makes them even sweeter for I may not honor myself in their acceptance.  Praise Your Holy Name, Christ the Living King.

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.  And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou has loved me.  The Word of our Lord Jesus Christ in John 17:22-23

Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him.  And led him away to Annas first; for he as the father in law of Caiaphas,which was the high priest that same year.  Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that is was expedient that one man should die for the people.  John 18:12-14

* A band of  Roman soldiers is 600-1000 men sent to arrest one man, who all fell to the ground when Jesus said “I am he”, an insight given by Pastor of a local Baptist Church.  Caiaphas had already decided that one man should die, enough said for a fair trial.  This was destiny revealed.  Meditate on that for a moment.

For behold, The Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.  And I will give children to be princes, and babes shall rule over them.  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.  Isaiah 3:1-5

Do we see the world being shaped for God’s Glorious Appearing?  Do we hold fast the hope of His Revelation to judge all mankind for our iniquities and obedience?  Do you see that the circumstances are in fact being perfectly aligned for persecution of the beloved, for the world to cry out for the man of perdition to save them from the tragedy and for the Jews to have the Messiah revealed to the remnant nation?  The purposes are Divine, they represent God’s Infinite dependability, His inescapable Truthfulness, Righteousness and the imminence of His Holy Word.  This world is running out of time, it is in entropy, winding down toward God’s reinvention of the Heaven’s and the Earth.  Take hope that though things appear to be getting worse, it has all been foretold in the Bible and we know what comes after the chaos is the Righteous Reign of Peace through the Hand of God.  His Glory has been shared so that we might be One in Him.  Does that knowledge bring you Hope and Peace.  I hope that it finds you encouraged and empowered this very morning, in the Name of Jesus Christ the King of All.