I was designed for worship.  Made to show you a glimpse of our King.  Anchoring you to the foundation upon which the tide of life flows.  May my heart be felt through song, my spirit in words, my life through just pursuit.  I live to collect your tears of joy as you feel His warm embrace and see His adoring smile.  There are works I must perform in life to care for those I love, but they are neither my reason nor my gift.  That is love, love for Him in prayer, voicing my thanks for each day, trial and rest.  We were meant for each other you and I.  For alone has no value, it is the one thing God said was not good.  So, if I may provide a glimmer of hope, light or faith.  Then let that be how I am remembered.  My voice above the noise, praising His name and warming your heart.

I love King Jesus with all that I am.

Do you really want patience?  Do you really want to see what God has in store for you around the mountain bend?  Can you stand still as the heat intensifies, encircling you, closing off escape, threatening your toes beginning to disturb your lungs?  What does trust mean to you, certainly it doesn’t mean that you will believe even when the ship capsizes below the waves, leaving you alone, cold, tired, swimming in your best recollection of the direction you left shore?  What happens when the jars are empty, the wells dry?  Will you stand after doing everything that you could have done, grasping tightly to the knowledge of the powerful God that you serve?

What is he asking of you?  Does it require that your bank accounts hover near zero, holding on, jobless, penniless, no back up, savings or perceived security left to cling upon?  Must you lose your health, when it has always been your sanctuary, the long runs, effective in clearing your mind of the worries of each day?  What about the friends, who’ve avoided you since the fall, the family who have forgotten your number, moved away leaving no forwarding contact?  Has the church risen to take their place, brothers and sisters in Christ, moving in to fill the vacuum left in your abandonment?  How about your spouse, has he or she stepped up to provide, encourage, support and defend you as you struggle to make it to the dawn of God’s Will?  Have you the courage to live or die upon God’s intervention or abstinence, knowing fully that He will move at exactly the appropriate time for His Perfect Will?  Do you trust Him, even unto death?  Gosh, my friend, I never thought that this thing, this Christianity, this faith was that serious.  I never believed that I would be confronted with such deep, probing question.  I never thought that the tests would be this hard or that they would really provide the circumstantial impetus to reveal my character, my love, my honest, unadulterated trust and love for God.  What have I gotten myself into?

Wouldn’t it be easier to have faith in God right now, without the testing, while you have assets and security and no question of tomorrow’s sunrise?  Or must we be tested as humans, never accepting, believing and holding onto faith until progressively, intensely challenged?  I wish that I had believed, but I am glad for the opportunity to show my mettle.  For each of us may speak oddly of Peter, never having had the opportunity to deny Christ.  Who will stand with Him, even when He is seated in heaven?  Will we declare or deny and isn’t that the reason for all this glorious opportunity.  We have the chance to live as Prince and Priest for God through Christ.  Who among us will accept that chance?  For the time is now and you my friend have been chosen of God for the purpose of your making.  It is not a question of who will be tested or who will go through sufficient struggle for each of us has the same choice and task.  The question is will you.  In Jesus’ Name.

Walking with my Lord God through life’s troubles, provided me sufficient, empirical evidence to convince my skeptical mind that His promises are true.  Although, I have had struggles there has always been a foundation of governance to my travails that kept me from destruction.  Where the fires were too hot for me to survive, there was always a chilling breeze to cool me down or conveniently available, protective-clothing to prevent my immolation.  My losses, however severe were always followed by specific learning and reasoned recovery, designed to produce a particular life outcome.  When I sin, I suffer the consequence of that sin but each time, experience the forgiveness synonymous with repentance, petition and grace.  When I seek Him in authenticity, I find glorious relationship.  Though everything in life let me down, even myself, God has never once failed to deliver.  Isn’t that the proof of life or sufficient “show me” qualification to which each have subjected Him?

Why then do I continuously seek that which is by nature incapable of fulfilling my spiritual complexity?  This world has an available sufficiency of goods, experiences and relationships to succor a portion of my intellectual ego.  It does not however, offer any resolution to the programming implicit to my encoded DNA or the reason for my life.  All men wish to know what happens after this short existence.  There are only two outcomes from that investigation.  The first is acceptance or self convincing argument, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that this life is all that there is, that there is nothing coming for us after but finality and mineral, energetic recycling.  The second is that there is some form of personal/individual existence beyond the boundaries of death on this material plane, that there is some part of our current makeup which transcends transition.

If you subscribe to the former then you must consume all that may be consumed in this life in order to achieve success.  Living a servant life is irrelevant as there are no eternal or super-life implications of self centeredness.  When I am the god of my own universe, I need serve no other, in fact that effort would be futile and purposeless.  My sole purpose in this life would be to feed, sleep, experience and enjoy the momentary drug of my own self glorification.  Thus, having an supernaturally encoded or unique purpose would by nature be useless.  So, the fact that any/all of us feel that there is a meaning to each of our lives negates this avenue as a choice providing any sufficient fulfillment.

Choosing the second road, summarily accepting that there is an existence beyond the death associated with this life complicates the philosophical implications.  For having decided that this life is not all there is and that there is a unique purpose for the uniqueness of every human being, places a burden of resolution upon each of our lives.  This choice also introduces us to the difficulty and human unresolved problem of what to do with the implications of our sin.  For if this life is not all that there is and since we have an individual purpose then there is an inherent accounting for the fulfillment or denial of that purpose.  It really makes this life more precious, because we only have a certain amount, an unknown amount, of time in which to complete that direction.  Even those who kick the can of sin through resurrection/recycling into the next life admit that what we do or don’t do in this life determines the possibility of the next.  It also begs the question, an implied, unique purpose implies a designer, for who gave us that unique purpose?

To them who would preach pluralism, inclusion, tolerance, coexistence or a conglomerated worldly, jointly acceptable religion; Christianity will remain inconsistent with any attempt at global inclusivity.  For we believe that there is one God, who is only available or reachable by belief in and reliance upon the “ONLY” available avenue of approach, Jesus Christ the saviour of mankind.  There is no mantra, no prayer, no good deed, no membership card, no humility, no nationality, no royalty, no clean living or enlightened path that can reach God for there remains between us an untenable chasm to which belief in Christ is the only available bridge.  We believe that each person has a purpose, given them by their Creator, the Lord God, and that purpose an impetus driving each of us to reach out to Him for fulfillment.  Christianity is inconsistent by definition with all worldly religions for there is only one door and if you try to get around it, over it, under it, beyond it or ignore it you come to the same conclusion every time, eternal separation from God and those who have accepted, obeyed and believed in the Truth of His invitation to reconciliation.  Praise be to God that He gave us each a purpose, Praise Him that He placed inside each of us a yearning to know Him and Praise Him that He provided a method by which we might establish eternal relationship, in this life and the next.

I pray that you accept your wonderful Creation.  I pray that you seek, find and fulfill your God given purpose and that in so doing you meet the Lord Jesus Christ.  I pray that I see you in eternity and that I may listen to how God walked with you in every step of this life.  I want for you peace, completion and inclusion found with God in Christ.  Join the family of purpose, ask questions about Jesus, seek Him and find for yourself meaning in this life, knowing where you are headed in the next.  God will never let you down, never leave you, never ignore you, avoid or turn His back on you.  That doesn’t mean He won’t challenge, grow, teach and discipline you for what comes next, because after all He is the most Loving Father and what Father leaves His children alone to fend, learn and succeed by themselves.  Trust God and enjoy what He gives you.  I believe that this concept given us by Solomon is the basis of peaceful life, a peace only reachable/understandable through knowing Christ Jesus.  So get to know Him and get to know peace.

If I could, He wouldn’t have.  “Find the secret passage”, said Jeremy, as they searched the office bookcase, looking for the way out of their dilemma.  Do you find yourself, sweating, stressing, trying with every ounce of your courage, intelligence and talent to get to a peaceful point?  Are you praying harder, memorizing, correcting faulty behavior and giving a bit more each week, hoping to rid yourself of your Christian shortcomings?  Is your windfall being withheld because of something you’ve done or aren’t doing?  Remember, “the wages of sin is death”.  So, the fact that every human being was/is a sinner immediately separated all of us from God with an insurmountable chasm.  Could not climb it, could never cross it, couldn’t repair it, fill it, ignore it or invent another paradise, we were left in utter despair realizing our inability to ever know God.  The Jews tried rule conformity, even finding themselves adding exponential refinements to God’s Law in hope of someday being good enough.  What then are we misunderstanding about God’s gift, God’s Love and Christ’s sacrificial victory that precludes us from accepting that we cannot “do” anything to reach heaven.  None of us is good enough to overcome the stain of sin, none is powerful enough or perfect enough to remove the judgment incumbent with sin’s price of death.  It took an incredible, angel astounding act of mercy on the part of God Himself in order to offer an opportunity for cleansing and repair to God’s intimate relationship.

Having given in I will never give up, because salvation and sanctification are acts entirely dependent upon God’s power, performance and will in their achievement.  Yes, achievement, but not reward based upon my piety, my effort, kindness, care or goodness, accomplishment completely founded by and rooted in God’s decision to save me.  I am trying with every ounce of my being to be a better person and not one measure of my energy has ever made me even a smidgen more like Christ.  Conversely, my surrender to Christ in repentance, faith and belief has transformed me to the point of nonrecognition by my family, colleagues and long term friends.  I cannot do what was never within my power to be done.  Have you accepted your impotence with regard to locating, approaching or entering heaven’s gate?  Don’t fail to see your own failure.

Surrender is for winners.  Accepting my status as a sinner with “no hope” of salvation without Christ, prompted the only logical decision available to rational men, choosing Christ and eternal life over remaining in my sin and death.  Of course, many will tell you if you study real hard, meditate every day until late, eat the right foods, go to the right schools or do the right deeds you will “eventually” be sent your invitation to join the after life.  If that were even remotely believable, then they would be able to show me, absolute proof of my predecessors having made that mark.  Oh, right, they want me to prove God and heaven exist but they cannot show me one fact of substantiated proof of one person ever being good enough to reacquaint themselves to God.  Why do you think God chose murderers, adulterers and peasants as heroes of the faith?  Pretty clear isn’t it that none could claim that they were good enough, smart enough or rich enough to deserve the blessings that they received.  Goodness, all the apostles were summarily dispatched as punishment for their works of goodness, leaving only John to live out his life in order to eventually pen the Book of Revelation.  How then can any hope to reach heaven by works if those who God chose as His Earthly Family failed absolutely?  They had hope, but not in their own effort or energies, but in the devotion of Christ to carry them to eternity.  It is not deed but rather belief that sets the captive free in Christendom.

I love my Brothers but they try way too hard.  They tell me their sins and then lay out their plan of action to rid themselves of character flaws.  I would laugh but it is usually the tears that take precedence for their character flaws require much less priority than their demonstrated misunderstanding of faith.  I want to be a better man, a better son, Father, friend, worker, disciple, thinker, giver, believer and servant to God.  God will achieve these things in me because He wants the same, in fact He wants even better than I can think or perceive.  So, I cannot do the work and in so knowing I am set free from the hopeless energetic expenditure in pursuing the Holy Grail.  I have drunken from the well of the living water and been refreshed to everlasting.  Being sober minded I am drunk with joy, the joy that comes with relationship through Christ to God.  I will try my best to be a good example to those around me as an ambassador for Christ, but as to getting in to heaven that battle is done, having been fought and won by Christ on Calvary’s Cross.

Praise God for His Righteousness and Faith.  My soul’s been saved, Hallelujah.  In Jesus’ Name.

The Lord is no respecter of persons.  He loves each of us equally, paying no homage to skin, nation, wealth or geographic preferences.  That does not mean He has no requirements of humanity.  He made the world, He made the rules, we get to choose, so do so wisely my friends.  The world and the pressures therein are rapidly dividing its population into two distinct groups; those who believe in Jesus Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension and those who do not.  That is the line of separation by which humanity shall be judged for that is the rule which God laid down for all men.

Certainly there are those who have yet to make a decision regarding Christ.  For them the heat shall be increased, the pressures intensified, the places of safety removed, such that they will be forced to choose voluntarily or choose out of refusal.  Even the Jewish Nation, God’s beloved will be subjected to such great tyranny and tragedy that they will be forced to come to the only possible realization over which they continue to stumble, the Cornerstone of Christ.  I fear that hard times are coming to all of us, yet I do not fear from whence they come, for it is the Lord’s doing.  The Lord knew before the beginning of time that many would not choose unless given the impetus necessary to drive that decision.  We as a world will be provided the appropriate chaotic climate from which to make a decision for or against Christ.  He loves all people and wants that we will all come to the knowledge and acceptance of His gift of saving Grace.  He will lead us to the Water of Life, where we must choose to drink or to refuse.

I pray for us as a species.  We resemble God yet cannot see ourselves even when looking in the clearest, available mirror.  We debate the minutia yet miss the big picture topic.  It is not about this or that or the other.  The conversation has always been about God, as our origin and our destination.  People who seek an alternative explanation for the origin of man, use science, theory, philosophy and all available literary devices to convince themselves that we did not come from the Word of God, speaking us into existence.  They desperately must find another way so that they owe no debt of judgment for sin.  It is human nature to create illusionary circumstance where reality is too difficult to stomach.  So, many construct their own malleable version of this world in order to cope with the fear of judgment.  For them, I pray the most, for their house of cards shall tumble first.  The first moment into which God shows His face, which is coming soon, will eradicate all their illusionary safety.  When the enemies of God attack Israel and they shall, what God does next will remove the veil for all mankind.  There will be no denial as He will supernaturally destroy 5/6 of the approaching armies in one fell swoop, leaving no doubt of His sovereignty and promised protection of the remnant of Israel.

Let us depart from the truthful obfuscation of intelligentsia.  This argument is not about details, theories, strategies or battle plans.  God confounds the wisdom of the wise.  It is about God’s coming judgment and what we are willing to do about it.  Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and His substitutionary death upon the Cross of Calvary to pay for the sins of mankind or don’t you?  That is the question that plagues the hearts of those who seek to steal the blood of the innocent.  They cannot afford to be found inadequate by a measure of their goodness so they turn to the only other illusion provided by the fallen angels that they must take the life of innocent people in order to receive God’s blessing.  Clear illusion, falsity and foolishness has captured the heart of desperate humans willing to seek God through ungodly, wicked acts of cruelty.  Forgive them Lord, lead them to the knowledge of the Truth so that they might see their sin and repent.  We the do’s owe it to them to give them every opportunity to choose righteously, for that is the reason why God has been so patient with humanity, giving all the time to come to that knowledge.

God help all to see the choice that lay before us as a species.  Forgive my unforgiveness and allow me to have a pure heart and clean hands.  Thank you Lord for giving us the time to come to a decision whether we do or don’t, you have freely given us the right of self determination.  Let all those who would escape judgment do so by being cleansed in the redeeming Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Father I know that the wicked shall be punished in righteous fashion, for Your Judgment is Fair.  We cry out to you now on behalf of the innocent, please Father, save them from the cruelty to come, hear their blood scream to you for justice, mercy and truth.  We love You Lord, in Jesus’ Holy Name.

A wealth of knowledge cannot earn me love.  My best laid plans and cleverness are impotent in manipulating adoration.  The respect that I gain from a job well done does not guarantee the love of my colleagues.  My monetary wealth simply assures that I have something which must be constantly attended, it does not make me eligible for the love I have been missing.  A wonderful physique, personality or astounding beauty fails to enhance my chance of being loved by one iota.  A loving Father does not demand love from his children for he fully understands that love is a choice on the part of the giver.  That is the nature of God’s gift to humanity, that we may accept His love for us in our darkest moment and “choose” to love Him back.

If you hate Christ then you will also choose to hate me.  If you cannot forgive then you have chosen to hate.  If you cannot love God for who He is then you have chosen to love your own view and understanding.  If you cannot believe the truth of the Gospel message then you have chosen out of skepticism or rebellion the need to make of yourself a graven image acceptable for your particular worship.  A child does not love out of duty but out of choice emanating from a open heart.  I want them to love me, but why?  Is it truly necessary for them to love me in order to serve their need, to sacrifice my time, treasure and talent for their comfort, health and safety?  Or may I love them simply to honor God?    Do I fully understand the inherent foundation of choice built into true love?  For if my wife, kids or family love me out of duty, obligation or relation do they truly love me?  If I love them and they never love me what then should be the price, if any, for this absent love?

Can I build and maintain intimate relationships where there is no bond of love?  It is unlikely that intimacy will ever be present in a relationship where the choice to love was declined.  If someone, out of free will choice, determines that they do not love me, can I, should I or could I ever change that circumstance in the affirmative?  Again it is unlikely, as that would again require love to be something that may be earned by my own performance.  Since, love is a choice on the part of the giver it may not be given as a reward for effort.  Doesn’t that mimic salvation?  We cannot earn salvation for it is freely given and thus accepted out of choice.  Odd isn’t it that love and salvation share this similarity?  Or is it odd at all that God’s Grace and Love are entirely the same thing?  He loved us so much that He gives us the choice to accept His Grace and Love Him in return and that freely given love leads to an intimate relationship.

We know that there is a major difference between asking someone for a favor and demanding that they do something on our behalf.  I love God because I choose to Love Him.  He certainly is worthy of my love but that is not why I love Him.  I serve God because I have chosen to love Him and feel that this is the greatest demonstration of that love.  God showed me the meaning of love.  I can love my family fully completely, sacrificially, just as Christ Loved us.  It is their choice to love me back.  Those who do not love God will never get to know Him intimately.  I loved my Earthly Father but once I got to know him better my love increased.  That is the enhancing nature of intimacy, fellowship and relation.  Love grows as we give ourselves to its shaping hand.  Oddly again that sanctification shares this similarity, that it grows over time as we volunteer to the Potter’s Hand.  For intimacy with God is sanctification through Love, the love of God for us and we for Him that transcends the limitations of this world.  I choose to love you and I hope that you choose to love me back, for if you choose to love me then it is highly likely that you have already chosen the Love of God.

May you be blessed all of your days by the Loving Grace of Almighty God through Christ the Saviour of mankind.  May the Holy Spirit fill you with love and good will toward men giving you power to aid in setting them free from worldly bondage.  May God’s Word tumble from your mouth as you seek to plant seeds for the Kingdom.  May you always be filled with knowledge of God’s steadfast love and the choice that you made to follow Him.  May those around you choose to love you, giving you the gift of intimacy with those you love.  In the precious name of Jesus.

The nose ring, tugging, pulling, dragging Russia into the Middle East.  Those eloquent, prognosticators always predicted it would be oil.  Yea, that will be it Russia will be sucked into the fray by black gold.  We never thought it would be provocative terrorism or perhaps political puppet building.  What we are seeing is that evil only matters in the hearts of men for God simply uses what they intend for evil’s sake and turns it to good, the Good Will of His Plan for humanity.  Let the wicked join with their wicked colleagues, plotting, twisting reality and frightening people with rhetoric and devious deed.  We know that Russia and all the enemies of God’s commands will have to find their way to Israel.  The group that brings them into the region through the tools of terror or those who seek to prop up fallen regimes in order to protect warm water sea installations shall all serve God’s Purposes.

That must frighten unbelievers, atheists and those directly aligning themselves with the prince of this world, for they cannot escape serving God.  When everything is said and done, no matter the awfulness of their attempts, no matter how many innocent they kill, they will not forestall the return of the Lord of Lords by one instant in time.  For like it or not the fallen are subject to time’s constraints, where God is not.  He may wait as long as He wishes to wait, desiring that precise moment when all who will choose Christ have had the opportunity to do so.  Where the wicked have to succeed now for time draws to close, when no one pure or wicked may do further work.  That must frighten God’s enemies, it only strengthens me, for when He comes He comes and I hope to be found doing His work when He does.  It is not God who chooses hell for each of us but of our own volition.  We may equally decide to accept His offer of grace and avoid that horrible separation from God, but all this serves God, that we cannot escape.

I must love those who hate me, while hating their sins and evil deeds.  Men are not my enemy but the wicked spirits that drive their hearts to consume, kill, contort and contaminate humanity.  For all men who design their own reality must control the thought of all around them, so that no one, even accidentally shines light on the illusion causing their house of cards to crumble.  For sin wishes to convert all those around a sinner so that they too may join in the poisonous misery.  For sin may not be enjoyed if there is even one person around who loves you enough to tell you the truth about your frailty.  The numbness of ill company that will never call you to restraint or repentance.  I cannot stand bye while you destroy yourself and keep God outside the sphere of your illness.  I understand that you must subsequently reject me from your life, but that is okay.  I pray you shall never forget the one person who loved you enough to tell you the truth of the Gospel and of your life.  Maybe some day you will remember and seek me out.  That will be a glorious time for the both of us.  In Jesus’ Holy Name.