Not me but Him, not why but what, not if but when.  What permeates my concern?  Do I worry about the things I’ve yet to do for my legacy?  Does the direction and faith of my children continue to present itself as the greatest demand of my time and energy?  Do the lost frequently enter my consideration, that is, enough to get me off the couch to test their proclivity to hearing what should be heard by all?

I am being stretched, sometimes I feel as if perhaps beyond my elasticity, but somehow He always make things resize, reposition or reshape to fit the growth.  I am humbled by His capacity to bring about change in my life, whether voluntary or otherwise.  It would be shortsighted to consider that others are not experiencing this same reconfiguration, molding, tempering and transformation.  This world is being prepped, if not for the return of the Lord, for what then?  Do we see a mass movement, a collective ushering in forgiveness, understanding and broad based concern for the human condition.  Of course not, we see those who would have us believe this mantra offering up their most egotistical, self-centered and graft focused leaders as answer to our current predicament.  What we do not see are models of sacrificial ideology that would be consistent with a global move toward evolutionary concern.

The only way forward was paved by the One Sacrificial Lamb for all mankind.  The only leader who can justify His own Word, the Messiah of God, The Christ, who took away the sins of the World.  I say this in good rational understanding and conscience, for the collective resolution of man’s shared dilemma shall not be provided by those seeking the furtherance and edification of any singular, personal or fragmentary philosophy.  Even my own personal reflections and ideas have little relevance in the evaluation and resolution of a Globally collective circumstance.  Only God can see what must be done, since man has never been able to see his way outside of his own created problems.  He alone has provided the way forward through belief in and trust upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, redemption and sanctification, preparing us for eternity.  Only God thinks of the entirety of humanity in His resolution of our collective challenges.  He has shown us the path, we have but to choose whether to follow.

Authenticity requires accountability.  Accountability depends upon a baseline.  The baseline defines objective parameters such as; rules, behavior ranges and all those things which must invariably lay beyond the pale.  Therefore, setting, agreeing upon, determining or committing to those parameters that construct your baseline limits or frees your capacity to become and remain authentic.  Since liberalism expects, pleas on behalf of and worships the individual’s right to transform those parameters at whim, authenticity for those subscribing to a relativistic view requires a moving goal post.  Therefore with no absolute baseline upon which we must depend there cannot be accountability and consequently no authenticity.  That is why those who seek authenticity will inevitably change the channel once they have seen this variability of that which must by nature remain constant, in order to become or be considered trustworthy.

God is the only absolute baseline upon which accountability and authenticity may exist, build and remain inviolate.  His Word remains untouchable, pure, immutable by human desire, so that it may remain that Holy Baseline from which our own character may be developed.  In our quest to control our own surroundings and serve our vanity we only damage societal capacity when we feel it is within our purview to translate God’s Will in conformity to our own warped desire.  We have in effect limited our capacity to deliver authenticity.  Can evil be entirely authentic, absolutely not.  Why?  Because evil will always say or do whatever is necessary to achieve its own objective, a baseline which by its nature malleable based on desired outcome.  God’s Word may not always make us happy or free us to do that which remains our earthy desire, but it does not move according to circumstance.  That is what makes it the only foundation upon which real content may be developed.  For all else is mobile, illusive and owned by the effects of change and time.

We know what God says about our actions and the results of certain national actions or inactivity.  We do not like what must come to pass, for it assumes that many will suffer, secure judgment, become displaced or be separated from those whom they love, perhaps even for eternity.  The fact that I do not like an inevitable outcome does not free me from the reality of those impacts.  We have chosen to serve our own desires and thus removed our performance from the firmity associated with life built upon the immutable ground of God’s Word.  We have forgotten those principles that defined our personal and national desire for accountability, justice and reason.  We have forgone authenticity, replacing it with an individually designed program of “doing it”, whatever “it” is desired by the individual.  By this my opinion no longer matters about your behavior, for the baseline is defined by your desires.  Therefore, what you wish to do under our new construct should only matter to you, depend upon your own approval and subsequently all consequences should only be shouldered by you.  But that is not how it works in this world over which God alone is Sovereign.  We are all held to the same standard, God’s standard.  We are all sinners and need salvation from our own wickedness and rebellion.  If authenticity matters to you then you must choose a life committed to the immovable foundation of God’s Truth, otherwise lasting authenticity is unachievable.

Risk must be assumed by the organizational stakeholder.  In this instance the stakes are so high, as nothing is greater than the prices of eternity, oblivion, salvation and infinity.  We must all determine our risk aversion and either flee from the judgment to come or accept the price of our collective action/inaction.  There are unfortunately only two directions and only one path, one way leads toward God and the other leads away.  Our choice is the love He has for us, for Love always requires a choice.  Praise God in the Name of Jesus Christ the King.

A promised day, free from fear, iniquity and the ravages of time and death.  This road we must take, pondering, wandering, walking with passion and purpose.  What separates the audacious man from timid?  What impact has wealth or wisdom upon the life of man?  It is certainly the vision of a superior outcome which transcends the immutable drudgery of the real.  Even the evolutionist hopes.  Hopes for an end that surpasses the chains of sustained normalcy, faith that the spicy gifts of super natural performance will wash away the chalky blandness accompanying life’s white-bread sandwich.  It is the faith in things to come which delivers a man from the prison of circumstance, without it we are destitute, determined and destined.  We of faith in God, through belief in Jesus Christ, hope for a day that has been defined, foretold and promised us by God Himself.  That is our salvation, that this life has no authority over them bound for eternity with God.

A day free from my own evil, washed even of the spots collected while traversing this passage.  Can you see it, transformation, re-creation, emergence from the chrysalis of man’s mortality?  A morn, where I mourn no more for the lost and ravaged innocent.  A pure day, a whole day, filled, overflowing, knowing that I am with God and He with me, always.  That day transcends any and all my suffering.  Do not think us odd, we do not wish for sacrifice, martyrdom or purification through pressure, but we know the joy that accompanies their presence.  For they are evidence of Spirit, the Holy Spirit, living within each of us, a Holy of Holies, God’s living participation in man’s mortal passage.  They are reminder of our kinship to the God who surpasses time and beginnings.  They are our hope, hope in a day when all the suffering and tears shall expire, leaving us free to live in peace.  This is the day into which we dedicate and invest our hopeful existence.

That day is what makes me live this day to the fullest.  Knowing completely the purpose for which my breath was allotted, that to tell all with ears to hear about the promised day of God’s coming.  For it is Him I hope and through Him I find strength, courage and provision to carry each successive burden.  Perhaps, I will be blessed to help you shoulder yours, with hope in a day, an imminent occurrence, scheduled at the Will and behest of God Himself.  Watch, wait and wonder in vigilance and hope for the day that God has promised all of mankind.  In Jesus Name, I pray.

Knowing you are saved is a wonderful thing.  Father guide my words, so that I stay on the path of Your intention.  When does the absolute Truth of God’s Word truly matter to each believer?  I would submit, that moment begins when we understand that the Lord is the only Sovereign in the universe.  Without accepting God’s Sovereignty in my life I will continually resist, modify or ignore His Commands, leading to a lingering inability to accept His Word and its guidance for my decisions and walk.  Therefore, I must come to an acceptance of God’s Sovereignty before surrendering to His Word and Will for my life.

This is the path of the worldly Christian.  Having accepted the Truth of God’s intervention in humanity via His corporeal visitation as Christ, the Son of God, they never truly surrender to His Spirit exercising choice to continue on the path of self-determination.  Many, wishing to escape an eternity, separated from God by unrepentant sin, will fearfully say the Sinner’s Prayer, hoping, praying to save themselves from judgement.  Pastor’s will aide them in this half-hearted commitment, failing to mention what it means to become a “slave” to the Hand of Righteousness.  These ill prepared believers will never truly embrace the sanctifying Hand of God’s Holy Word upon their lives, leaving themselves with one foot in eternity and the other constantly slipping in the loam of this finite world.  We must always remember it is by the sealing of the Holy Spirit that we are recognized as citizens of Heaven.  Without Spirit we are simply men and women who have expressed regret for our sin, but never coming fully to the knowledge of the Truth.

God is sovereign in my life.  That means when I am faced with a choice or decision I always depend on His Word instead of my own understanding.  Just as with Love, another principle impossible to understand without relationship with God, obedience demands willing acceptance and surrender to the Absolute Sovereignty of God in each our lives.  Without acceptance of God’s Word as our paramount guide we are left vacillating between what we know to be right and those urges that guide our worldly desires.  In effect, our unwillingness to accept His Sovereignty allows the enemy footholds into our lives through which he and his fellow fallen may exercise authority, given them by our resistance to accept the Truth of God.  We are our worst enemy in this instance for we are acting as double agents to our own demise.  Understandably Christ is praying for us to come to this knowledge and surrender to His Will for our lives, but being a loving and Holy God He cannot simply allow disobedience without consequence.  So, those caught in this dilemma will most likely continue to wonder why calamity and chastisement follow them in life, when it has been their own resistance to God which has brought these unwanted effects.

Praise God for His Mercy and His Judgment.  In Jesus Holy and Righteous Name.

The Lord is sweet.  We’ve been told lies.  Some about boredom, some about judgment, some about the labors of service.  That is the nature of untruth, it seeks to entice, convince or create victims.  Victims, to join in the self construction serving the ego of them who must demonstrate an alternate explanation for the real.  Untruth, must by its very essence and nature deny the existence, correctness, perfection and reliance to which all reason and science conform upon the foundation of an unalterable, absolute Truth.  It must be revised at any cost, even through the recruitment, alienation, indoctrination and even demise of countless victims.  For without victims the lie must die, so by nature the lie must exist by stealing the life of each victim.

God has loved us, in a perfect sense.  He is really the only one who can truly love anyone, for He is the only one who knows our secret faults and our fault filled secrets.  I know them who are unlovable, don’t you?  Even I cannot believe sometimes that people love me, for they know so little of the entirety of my sinfulness, past, future, thought and action.  Yet, some do still, choosing to look past the hurt and pain I have left in my own wake, they still love me.  God, knows all of it.  By right, He alone should also be the one with perfect reason and choice to dislike, distrust even hate me in disgust.  Yet, He has chosen to give a perfect man’s life, voluntarily, for the sake of rescuing me from the nightmare to which I am complicit.  Just for the sake of loving me and allowing me to love Him.  Forget the obvious benefits, which are too lengthy to give proper voice in mere words.  Just look at that unlovable character we all admitted to knowing and then think of how he basks in, is illuminated by,completely transformed and made new by the simple fact of being an active recipient of the love of God, Almighty.  In a perfect sense, this is the stuff of music, poetry and higher thought.  That God who has every reason not to love us still chooses to love us without requirement or measure.

How then can we fall prey to paltry passion, based upon gain, expectation or sensory selection?  When behind it we know that, if they knew we would never have their love.  So it has never been love, but rather a performance based, approval centered, self gratifying dose of attention, momentary intimacy and needs based edification.  They cannot love me without the indwelling of God, telling them to forget and forgive my sin, rectifying my stench and unacceptability.  For I have earned death by my disobedience, idolatry and self service through sin, that is not a thing that humans accept.  Praise God that I have been cleansed and made anew into someone who can accept love without camouflage, veils or acceptable performance.  I may be loved for I am in Christ and so being I am free from the poisonous muck of my sin nature.  Free to be loved for the man I was truly intended to become.  I too, may love them, perfectly, as Christ first loved me.  That is the first taste of sweetness, whetting my soul to never thirst, never hunger, never concern.  In God’s Word and communion with His Spirit I find the sweetness of peace.

God is love.  Therefore to know love we must first know God.  To know God we must humbly accept His absolute truth regarding redemption, salvation and sanctification through Jesus and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.  Through Jesus Christ we will be reacquainted to God and know true love, only then are we capable of extending that love to ourselves and others.

Praise Him for His Righteous benevolence and love.  In Jesus Name.

It is so easy for me to be mistaken.  It seems to me that I spend more time apologizing for my inappropriate, less than adequate or ineffectual actions than actually getting anything done.  This indicates I have been doing less thinking and praying and more doing, an unfortunate pitfall of trying to fill my life with works instead of faith.  I have been living in a dry spot for a while, waiting for God to determine that it is time for me to enter the next oasis, abundance or steady opportunity.  Most of this has been to allow for investigation of the inherent difficulties associated with my new marriage, that would otherwise remain ticking time bombs if we live complacently for a period.  Although I am grateful and content in this understanding, it unfortunately has allowed the worldly folks around me to batter me about with the fact that I have little financial stability.  I am doing that which God has asked of me yet I am not prospering financially.  According to the prosperity doctrine folks I probably just haven’t sown enough financial tithe via their televangelical ministries.  Or perhaps, there is a time and purpose to all seasons under heaven.  This one I am in currently has produced more reflection, edification and return to the Lord for succor that many of the others combined.  And that is all the prosperity I need.

I do hope that this walk through the desert winds down shortly.  I pray that if it has anything to do with my own resistance to God’s direction, education or counsel, that I quickly give way to His authority, accepting fully the lessons and blessings God has intended.  I do not wish to wander around the desert for 38 years failing in courage to take the high ground of the promised land.  Lord send me against the giants for none may stand against us as you are for us.  Allow me to bring glory to Your Name, through my own walk, through my marriage and through my endeavors/career.  Give me the strength, wisdom and courage to assist appropriately in the edification of others, loving and genuinely/gently assisting them to find you during, before and after each testing/trial.  Let me love them as you love them.  Father thank you for the discipline, thank you for the testing, I appreciate the sparse circumstances as they allow me clarity in my walk and relationship with You.  Everything becomes vivid as all camouflage has been removed.

I love you more each day.  Bless Your Holy Name.  King Jesus.

The Word is entirely useful, beneficial and empirical.  In each of those life-testing moments the Bible provides guidance, defense, assistance and protection.  Why then are there few if any teachers demonstrating its usage to a world gone askance?  Certainly the image of preachers delivering heart felt pulpit messages are widely known and understood, even by unbelievers.  However, where is the television, net or podcast event that demonstrates the effective use and Power of God’s Holy Word for most of the entirely predictable events in human life?  For example, memorizing the Bible is a wonderful artifice for believers concerned with writing God’s Word upon their hearts, but what of those novice or “baby” Christians who may not know that the Word will defend them from the assaults of the enemy?  Why have we ceded victory to the enemies of God with respect to knowledge and training of the effective use of God’s Double Edge Sword? The greatest indisputable examples of Biblical efficacy that readily come to mind are; The Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 23 and Psalm 91.  Each of these when spoken cause direct results and make God’s enemies flee, additionally reconnecting the believer with God.  Prayer is our lifeline to the Father as a direct result of redemption through Christ.  This is why the enemy has attacked the use and understanding of the Bible, because without the Word believers, even with faith remain naive to the indwelling Power of the Holy Spirit and the weaponry of the saints.  The Lord’s Prayer establishes reverence for Almighty God and acceptance by each believer that it is from God that we receive sustenance, aligning lives with His Will, surrendering our own.  Psalm 23, immediately dissolves fear and realigns believers with a clear understanding of God’s provision, protection and direction for their lives, causing the enemy to flee.  Psalm 91 reminds believers that God fights for them and that no one may touch them in battle or in life.  This is the proper use and understanding of God’s Holy Word, so that when confronted by those particularly trying moments of life we immediately draw God’s Sword, evoking His Will, His Spirit and His Sovereignty of all things. We are not alone.  God is always with us.  There is no event, episode, predicament or challenge that we experience into which we may not bring God.  We ought not hide our sin from God, for He already knows, and for each believer this is impossible, as His indwelling Spirit is carried into every sin we commit.  Stop allowing the enemy to guide your thoughts, steps and actions.  Remember God’s Holy Word, study, pray about, memorize and utilize His Word for each of those circumstances which must invariably test our walk.  God’s Word is Holy, it lives, it is Christ and that is why the enemy fears it so.  For Christ has defeated the fallen, holding the key to death and Hades.  Speaking God’s Word commands all things under God’s Sovereign command, including our own behaviors.  Learn the Word, practice the Word and enjoy your salvation in the authority and victory of Christ our King.