This no precise machine designed for statistically programmed functionality.  This is no piston, cam driven appliance hewn for calculated work.  We are not silicon fashioned plasma factories prepared to produce data or spew unrefined information.  You are not a repository of closely permuted variables and malleable characteristics.  We do not somehow get life right or do it “correctly”.  This thing called life “is its own meaning”.  The messiness, the imprecision, the inherent fallibility within the human paradigm is exactly what makes beings so loveable.  God could have created machines but that was man’s imperfect work.  Instead He made Madge and Bill and Tom and Tess, oh what a glorious representation of His glory, each of us.

Delight in their frailty, take heart from our strength.  Reflect on his wisdom and learn sympathy from her sensitivity.  Be provoked by the incessant questions of the young and rebuked by the unavoidable truth of the aged.  Love, because that is what sets us apart from metallic componentry.  We are grand because of our relationship to He who made us.  A God so infinite in His understanding that he constructed us beyond mere machinery into mysteries of organic chemistry coupled with engineering mastery.  We the anomalies of this universe in our resemblance to Majesty and our affinity for sublime.  In our choice we demonstrate our efficacy.  In our kindness we demonstrate sacrifice and ponder the origin of our internal prompting.  In our freedom we understand allegiance.

You could have made us into anything, but you chose this glorious combination of imperfection and wonder.  Thank you Father for letting me be a human and allowing me for the briefest of moments to delight in the miracle of birth, living, decision and passing.  This gift of Your Living Breath, breathed into what may have been naught but dirt at its beginning but promises to become something refined in its conclusion.  Praise Your Holy Name Father in the Glorious Name of Jesus the King of All Creation, thank you Holy Spirit.  Amen.

In my interest of providing excuses for my inaction or disobedience, I complicate and obfuscate the duties which I am expected to perform.  Telling the Good News of Christ is simple and “any” attempt by “any” person to complicate the process is merely deception and misdirection.  And we all know who the chief deceiver is, the Lord Jesus rebuke our accuser.  Discipleship is easy work, deciding we are going to get off of our posteriors and do it is the real battle.

Tell your story.  The process looks something like this; “I was in pain, addicted to this or that with a horrible life and nothing but despair to look forward to.  Each day I cried out in sadness, seeking anything that would release me, even temporarily from the crushing weight of reality.  When I reached bottom, on a day I clearly remember, I cried out to Jesus Christ for salvation, and He answered my cry.  He came into my life and brought light where there was darkness, joy where there was pain and power where there was weakness.  I turned away from my sin and the voice of this world and the devil and now only hear the voice of God, directing me, shaping me, leading me to life everlasting.  Jesus saved me and here is the most wonderful thing of all, He can do the same for you.  Jesus came to Earth and lived a perfect life, then gave up that life in order to pay for your and my sin debt.  He purchased us back from slavery to sin and the devil so that we could once again have a relationship with God.  Jesus rose from the grave and now sits in Heaven awaiting the day when He will return for His church and He wants to come here for you.  Will you let Him in to your life so that He can save you and give you new life, love, joy and freedom?  I pray that He shows you this truth.”

Pretty clear and simple, right?  What you do now determines your treasures in heaven.  I recommend you get off your spiritual duff and get in the game.  Try the above process and I guarantee you will lead people to the Cross where they too will meet the Lord Jesus.  Have an excellent day my Brothers, Sisters and Friends.  In Christ Jesus I pray for you great blessings this and every day.  Amen.

Come along love lay down that travesty.  Put aside the nightmare and follow someone who truly knows and loves you.  Waiting patiently, knowing fully that at some point your burden will become more than you alone can bare.  That is the point at which you will seek and find and know.  Dabbling with oil lamps, rubbing them with all your might, hoping some mystic character would relieve of your agony, you found nothing but unfulfilled ambition.  There was no hope, only desperation, so odd brothers and caring sisters were sent to gather you from the arms of those eagerly promising empty dreams.  He wept at your sadness, and each time you dwelt alone in the dismal darkness of your utter grief, someone sat with you.

My heart is only an ember and I love you so much it hurts.  How than must God feel as He peers into your melancholy?  The hope is in realizing His forgiveness, love and eternal blessing.  There is shelter, there is a place to deposit the objects of your guilt, pain and remorse, there are hands large enough to contain your misery.  His shelter is complete, His breadth immeasurable and His love for you uncontainable.  His name is God, Creator, Father, Lord and He is always there for those who believe.

You have been disappointed so many times that you have become jaded in your disbelief.  There is one Rock that shall not be moved, One Lord that shall never lose faith, One Truth, One Dream and One Love.  Isn’t it time to rest in the shadow of His countenance and the Comfort of His Counsel?  Never give up to this world, but when you feel that you must, give up to the one who will fill you with New Life, Joy and Strength to weather any storm.  Jesus The King who for our sake put aside Glory to buy back each one of His lost children by laying down a perfect life as ransom.  Praise You Lord, there is no one like You.  Amen.

How am I speaking and listening to the Word and to people?  If faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of the Lord then listening is the key to faith.  Demonstration of that faith and use of my authority in Christ Jesus requires speaking the Word of God.  How am I speaking the Word to others and into this world?

Each sin is preceded by a thought.  Just as we are commanded to take every thought captive in order to prohibit the consequential sin, I must ask of myself, “Am I conscious and training myself to think before I speak?”  Do I have residual guilt due to “offhand”, flippant, insensitive or cruel speech?  Am I attentive to the most dangerous weapon I have in my arsenal, my words?

This concept is instrumental in understanding the power of God’s Word, the fact that our words are the most powerful thing we have in battle.  Through the improper wielding of our own “spiritual sword” we see just how overwhelming the Word may be to this world.  Unlike the Sword of the Spirit of God’s Word, we cannot cleave soul from spirit, separate bone from sinew or clarify deception from truth just through the utterance of our words.

However  we must remember that we are the vehicle for the purity, clarity and power of the Lord’s Word to this world.  Therefore I must be a proper steward of the mechanism for dispensation of God’s Wisdom.  I must be attentive to the appearance and worthiness of my mouth.  If I am a dirty pitcher, an oily vase or a filthy glass how then will the water I dispense appear or taste?  Lord let me not pollute Your Word with my own bitterness, impurity or unconsciousness.

Give me an open ear for the clarity of Your Word.  Let my faith grow to the fullest by the hearing of Your Truth.  Revise my thinking and active speech so that I never taint any meaning Your Word intends.  Let me be cautious with the steel of my own spiritual sword.  Remind me of the respect necessary to wield such weaponry.  Give me truth, life and encouragement.  Praise You Father God we await the sound of Your thunderous voice.  In Jesus’ name I ask forgiveness of my poor listening, improper thoughts and offhand words.  Thank you for this day that You have made.

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/just-thinking/player/fox-theatre-qa-part-3-of-3-278837.html    ARMOR UP, Standing in the face of overwhelming difficulty requires hope, faith, trust and courage which all require preparation.

http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/?p=8098  Please read and understand what confronts Israel and the west at this historic and Biblical juncture.

Look at this wounded world.  Even in its poisoned state it still manages to reflect God’s Beauty, Glory and Majesty.  Sin has reached its pinnacle.  Greed gropes for the last few breaths, steals from hungry mouths, wrapping children in the dusty cloths left from cleaning up after the unbridled festivities of  the wealthy.  Water pushes evidence of the seas illness upon the shores while nuclear scientists quake in silence realizing Pandora’s foolishness.  Tyrants wax their half-mouth grin as teeth clench behind eyes filled with conquest, slavery and history’s mark.  We think that we have pushed God from the stage.  We think that we are in charge, yet we cannot even balance budgets, maintain our relationships or be good stewards for the land we claim to dominate.  Sickness, war, famine, pestilence, weather’s fury and drought are normalcy in these days of man’s splendid reign.  If they will not admit their origins from the Creator then they will admit their end under His Just and Final Judgment.

If you see something different, some successful solution to our obvious direction, then speak up.  Tell me of the lilacs bloom and peace between men pent upon each others destruction.  Explain to me how to feed the malnourished masses, the thirsty throats and the diseased.  Describe for me how our current arrogant leaders will somehow lay down their ambition in humble sacrifice for those who follow.  Lay out our promised future, with homes for the exploding population where their waste will not pollute the very land which feeds them.  Tell me how we curb the ferocity of the exponential increase in weather’s violence, taming earthquakes, hurricanes and rising seas.  This is a fool’s errand to dis-inform your citizenry.

There is no other answer but to humble ourselves before God and ask of Him salvation through the ruler of creation, Christ Jesus.  Have mercy Father, let the blind seek you in renewed understanding, wisdom and piety.  Praise You Lord Jesus, OUR KING FOREVER.  Amen

Where scripture is concerned, does interpretation matter?  Do I have the unmitigated gall to believe that the Almighty appreciates even an iota my ability, or flippancy to postulate on the meaning of the Gospel?  My read is that the Lord will judge each of those who add to or take away from the Bible.  Is that not, in fact why he was so angry at the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  Man’s desire to justify, condone or assign his own rights, behaviors and authorities has consistently aroused anger from the Lord.  Who am I to think that God would use me for anything but evil if I were to misquote His Divine Word or mutate its meaning to make a solid conversational, ideological or sociopolitical argument?

The Lord made me for His good pleasure and gave us the Word in its perfection to guide us to the truth, not as a means to solidify our own aspirations or position as most-honored, sapiens.  For example, I heard a pastor the other day state that “he thinks” that God had Mary Magdalen be the first to find Jesus in order to demonstrate that God thinks women are equal to men.  I can see no other purpose for such a statement than to curry favor with women within/without the congregation.

Let me not be judge of this pastor but rather call him to task with reflection upon God’s word on this and other subjects.  We ought not take liberties where the Word of God is concerned.  The practice of minimizing scripture is a long-term and devious craft fulfilled by chipping away, bit by bit at the foundations of God’s teaching.  We did not end up in our present circumstances overnight but rather as the outcome of a “progressive” inch by inch course variation from the Lord’s path to truth.

God’s love for me does not translate into permission to speak for Him when His word is indelible.  My opinion truly matters very little, Ah but my willingness to believe and surrender to that very same Word accounts for everything.  So, by all means declare the Word of the Lord, boldly, with clarity and passion, but be extremely cautious about interpretation.  And that goes for you most scholarly gentlemen especially.  Arrogance, pride and self sanctimony have led the strongest into iniquity’s snare.  I pray for all of us in these most evil days of wide-spread and socially acceptable wickedness.  The Lord will neither apologize to Sodom nor Gomorrah, he will simply deal with like in kind.  He is Just and The Lord our Righteousness (YHWH Tsidkenu) is the name of His Holy City to Come.  Praise the Almighty Father, in Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

But Lord, I was just about to …….  Are you praying for the Lord to return or not?  If you are like me there is an internal struggle.  Sometimes it goes away and I can be certain for moments, days or weeks that I am looking skyward for the signs of Kingdom’s Come.  However, honesty calls me to say that there are moments I find myself saying Lord if you could only wait until after “this” happens.  And other times, I selfishly want rapture to come to get me out of here so I don’t have to face the wrath of the lamb or the coming days of Jacob’s trouble.  This is weakness, lack of faith and attachment to worldly treasure/outcome.  Wow, I know that these words sting, but why shouldn’t they be said, especially when I am the topic of criticism?

The simple fact is that I was made to do the Lord’s work, period.  I was not designed and breathed to life to serve my own interests, financial and otherwise, but rather to fulfill particular aspects of the Lord’s plan.  Yes, I am to have a life of abundance as a bi-product of living for the Lord.  He made me, then saved me, then remade me and continues to bless me with growth, pain and joy.  This is no longer my life.  I am a slave to righteousness, purchased by the blood of an innocent man, who coincidentally was also God.  Yes I can be thankful that blessings of wealth, health and prosperity come  my way as result of obedience, but those things were not made to be my purpose.

Father, episodes, predictions and circumstances of Your Word are patently clear.  A discerning man, looking at the sky sees the coming storm on horizon and calls his family to preparation and shelter.  Why then do we dally as Christians.  What is this delay, this desire to overlook the signs or forestall the inevitable and imminence of Your rapidly, approaching return for the church and judgment.  Let me reach a few Lord and then let them look to Your Word and Prayer for confirmation, and then cause them to take that message to other saints.  This world is going away, whether we will admit it or not.  The evidence is transparent and substantial.  I bless Your Holy name and seek to live a life driven by the sweet song of Your melodious whisper.  Let us be found doing Your work when you come.  Praise Jesus as God the Father and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/?p=8080  Evidence, exhibit One

http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/?p=8068  More, How much do we need before we draw conclusion?

For a moment I forgot myself and then great things happened for those around me.  I loved me enough to quiet my wanton furnace long enough to quench my Brother’s sandy thirst, my Sister’s spiritual cry for help, my Mother’s unmet need.  I rested in God’s love for me and found that providing food for strangers satiated my ambition.  I had inherited an honest love not born of self recrimination but understanding that God’s perspective on me must be right.

It maddens me with curiosity to ponder God’s love for us as impetus to die such a tragic death in our stead.  He didn’t only think of us, which in itself is unintelligible, but actually planned, undertook and personally executed the only action capable of buying us back from enslavement to the devil.  These thoughts sponsor and require life-long contemplation.

Is there repayment for such love, perhaps?  Does it lay within giving of myself, time, assets and love, maybe?  What about me?  What about my ability to take away someone’s pain by loving them right where they are?  No requirements, no questions, no expectations, just love?  And somewhere in that mix forgiveness belongs as precedent, for harboring of grudges inhibits my receipt of God’s love and dissemination of the same.

What does it mean to give love freely?  Not some worldly understanding of sexually comity, pep talks and superficial understanding, but real sacrifice, shared suffering or simple unselfish outreach.  What about caring enough to tell them about the coming judgment and how to find salvation from the wrath to come?  Is that the most loving thing we can do without expectation of becoming a member of my church, donating money to my charity or becoming a feather in my Christian-social bonnet?  What about the man that we would never see again unless we took that minute to tell him about Jesus and somehow it effected change resulting in him welcoming you to Heaven’s blessing?  What might be God’s perspective on this subject, have you researched in His Word and asked Him to teach you?  What about me, what can I do for humanity that would demonstrate my love for the Lord while proving my love for myself?

What is it that we admire?  Where do our ambitions lie?  What am I pursuing, saving for, rebuilding or growing in the confines of my private life?  Are my thoughts of vacation overriding my fulfillment of God’s wishes for the energy and providence He has provided?  I have to admit folks, I have spent more time keeping up with the Jones’s, getting another experiential notch on my traveling stick, catering to the happiness of those that I love than serving my commission as an ambassador for the Almighty.  This honesty must be confessed, and I confess here because this is part of my ministry.  But I painfully realize that the Lord knew that I would do and say these things before the beginning of time.  He has already forgiven me for this inadequacy.  Do I really want to go on repeating the same behavior over and again instead of doing what I have been instructed to accomplish through the Holy Spirit?

No.  This is not the life that I was meant for to consistently ask forgiveness for the same sin of idleness, disobedience or self-service.  Our lives were meant for victory over this world, the powers of the air and the “not so almighty, self”.  Lord let my thoughts, actions, reflections and prayers honor You Alone.  Let the voices of self, world and the cast out fall dead to my hearing.  Give me a powerful life containing none of the regrets of unfulfillment, dishonor, disobedience or wasted action.  The coming days require all of my energy and focus for Your intention.  Give me such a focus, wholly engaged and dedicated to the work You have so graciously given me.  Let me demonstrate my love for you by my works out of a thankful heart for all that You have done.  You saved this world and I can thankfully count many of my loved ones among those headed to toward eternity spent with You.  Let me apply ever ounce of my talents, treasures and heart to Your end.  Let none of my time be allocated inappropriately to the things of this world.  Give me an abundant life here and in the next but let it “all” honor You.  I wish to serve.  Praise God in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord of all creation.

Godlessness in the last days

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them.  2Timothy 3:1-6

The dilemma and the challenge for Christians living in these last days is how to love ALL God’s children, spread the Good News of Christ, Warn of wrath to come and yet have nothing to do with them.  This on its outset seems impossible, but upon further reflection of the Lord’s action we see the process clearly.  The Lord Jesus went to people to heal, console, teach, and preach, but always left them when it was time to be in community of saints or find a place to spend time in prayer with the Father.  Do not make the two most blatant mistakes facing Christians, this day; Read the signs and see the coming storm, we are in those end times of which Paul warned Timothy in the preceding passage and secondly, don’t feel that remaining inside the walls of our churches or home communities will in any way please the Lord.  The work, war and victory is before us.  Will we prepare and march to meet the enemies of God in order to snatch back the lost from the gaping inferno of Gehenna?

The sin and doom of godless men.

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.  For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.  They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.  Jude 3-4

Do you have women among you who claim sexual immorality is okay?  Do you have men who look to scripture for allowance of their drunkenness?  Do you have pastors who would rather build a grand edifice and wear expensive garments than to seek out the lost, feed the hungry, heal the sick and take care of orphans or widows?  Does your church have the Power available to Christians that raised Christ from the dead?  Is your church compelled to Holy living not by a desire to conform to Man’s rule but out of fear and love for the Lord?  Have the ravens freely come to nest in the mustard tree among believers and corrupt the pure, while begging for comforts, programs, fellowship and the world?  We have not been standing our posts and therefore the enemy has effectively sown the tares among the wheat.  But be heartened the Lord will winnow the grain.  The question is will we fall to the ground to be stored in His barns or taken as tares to the consuming fire?

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.  I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.  But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve for your eyes, so you can see.  Revelation 3:14-18

I don’t care if you listen to me, but please listen to the one who gave you life, saved you from eternal death and awaits your arrival when He returns for His bride.  The Lord Jesus put it so clear in this passage that those who will not listen must turn away.  None can read these words and hope to follow their prideful, self-excusing debauchery without understanding of how that will end for them.  None can sit on the couch and not take a stand in the coming battle for humanity without the knowledge of what occurs to the lukewarm believer.  There are only two sides; for Christ or against Him.

We must each of us decide and the time for decision, preparation and standing in the face of onslaught has arrived.  I wish that I could put an encouraging arm around each shoulder, of each woman, man or child on the globe and remind them of how much the Lord loves them.  But alas, I am but one man with a limited breadth.  However, I have a Family of Spirit-Filled Christians compelled to join me in the Great Commission.  Take to the rooftops my Brothers and Sisters.  Set your feet upon the path for Christ.  Speak Boldly, with humility and strength.  Tell tales of Salvation, Wisdom, Wrath and Eternity.  Cry out to Jesus and be saved.  Amen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_United_States

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0761909.html

http://bible.org/article/homosexuality-christian-perspective

http://bible.org/seriespage/condemnation-or-universal-need-righteousness-romans-118%E2%80%94320

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/just-thinking/player/fox-theatre-qa-part-2-of-3-277509.html   Ravi Zacharias ministries taking your questions to Jesus.

Just as with a choice to believe that Jesus is God who became man to redeem a humanity lost eternally to the clutches of sin each man or woman must make up his/her own mind on the meanings and positions with regard to the important issues facing our nation.  I do not speak for God nor interpret His word, I read, trust, pray and obey.  Love everyone because it is what the Lord wants, but not mistake that as the right to condone or condemn our national sins.  The Lord’s Word speaks loud enough and He promises that the job of judgment is only within His Righteousness.  I will be judged for my sin and I praise God that He sent Jesus to die for the sins of all mankind so that my sin will never be imputed to my account.  I am saved by faith alone.  The judgment is His the prerogative to believe and follow is mine.