No insignificance

Father, they are my purpose.  To see them know peace, to realize the sweet comforting breeze of love’s touch upon their smiling faces, to accept freedom from personal prisons of sin, history and remorse.  There is no greater moment for me than that instant following encouraging someone, seeing their relief from anguish, as I share a simple hug, a kind word or inspiration and hope from Your Holy Gospel.  That is the moment of my fulfillment, the pinnacle of my existence here on this plane is to know that I have planted a small seed that when grown may lead a person to everlasting relationship with You, Father.

Sometimes I have nothing to give them but a reminder of hope.  Other times I can feed them well or introduce them to other Christians who might help them through dilemma, poverty or addiction.  Regardless, knowing that I am living within that function for which You have created me is repeatedly refreshing to my soul, no matter my circumstance.  I don’t have great oratory capacity, I have no great wealth, no miracles, no coffers full of health and influence, yet you still send them to me.  They are my hope, my evidence of kinship and authority given me by the King, for I may in some small manner diminish their pain, and that just feels right.

Lord, we see that this world is leaning toward chaos.  As evil gnashes its teeth, hoping in foolishness for victory, we who call ourselves by Your Name are humbled to serve in whatever capacity Your Will directs.  For the outcome is determined, my place in paradise assured and therefore my hope irresistible.  Who can take anything away from a man who has secured a mansion at the behest of Almighty God?  I long to look into Your Eyes and walk with You in the cool of the day, but for now I will simply enjoy serving Your Glory by applying my Grace given gifts to comfort those who desperately need to know Your Name.  For those waiting, wondering and hoping, that Name is Jesus, The King of Kings, the Lord of All.

Your thoughts and actions matter

http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/did-isaac-newton-predict-major-turn-in-bible-prophecy/  

How are you reacting to all the data regarding Christ’s imminent return?  Are you on the fence as the apparent lack of coincidence with regard to historical, numerical, prophetic and circumstantial information, preferring to maintain a “wait and see” approach?  Or are you preparing your heart, doing the work with renewed vigor as you see the signs of God’s coming judgment and unfolding plan for humanity?  Maybe you are paralyzed not knowing what to believe and because you have limited knowledge of Biblical and human history you are unsure, afraid and uncertain of which way to turn or whether action is prudent, even necessary.  Whatever your standing, I must encourage you to ask these and other questions so that you may at least understand what position you believe, for Christ remanded us to a position of vigilance and readiness of the Master’s return.

I must say that I am fascinated with the age in which we live.  Let us look at what we know for sure, Christ’s return is assured, we are to prepare for that return by being found doing the work commensurate with that belief and at some point the entire Earth will suffer significant chaos preceding His landing upon the Mount of Olives as God’s Judgment is poured out upon the masses.  There will always be argument, speculation and opinion on the events predicting and preceding that return, but they are simple sign posts along the road to glory.

God chose for His own purposes not to reveal the date, that may have been so that we would have choose to be ready instead of waiting until the last minute to seek salvation.  I do not know, but I do know that He chose not to tell us and that purports that He didn’t want us to know.  So there must be some intention or surprise value associated with not giving us this information.  I must therefore make a choice to “have oil in my lamp” or be found without the light necessary to follow the master when He comes.  I do know that we must not give into fear for that leads to either paralysis or unwise action.  God is in charge all the time, even when bombs are falling, pestilence is spreading, criminals are committing atrocities and leaders are seeking self satisfaction.  So it really doesn’t matter when He returns just that He will and we should be prepared, keeping our eyes skyward for He shall come just as He left.  Praise Him in His infinite Glory, write His Word upon your heart and walk as if you mean it.  Intentionality is a bi-product of a believing heart.  In Jesus Name.

Periphery

How does the fly know to seek relative safety at the boundaries of my sight?  What is it that I cannot see, not those things which are manifest in mirror’s glimpse, but those things remaining just outside the event topography of my visual capacity?  What potency does love possess beyond its influence in every apparent relationship?  How does it impact the definition, understanding and malleability of my universe?  Does my giving freely into God’s Love transform the entire sphere of my wake within this world and every plane to which I have random, chaotic or intended connection?  How is my spirit changed by God?

Is the Love of God my expression of power within this law constricted world?  Can my expression of love for those people, like myself whom are undeserving of such care, a valid demonstration of authority, strength, understanding, wisdom, hope and force unavailable to those outside of relationship with God?  Does this love, which remains at the periphery of my understanding yet colors every interaction, circumstance and belief remain the basis of my authoritative kinship to God?  Am I a prince and a priest, loving His sheep as God intended or do I seek merely to preserve my own legacy, carefully calculating the historical record of my passage through this one way dimensional transition, life?  What is it that I do not know but just take for granted, that in true understanding my view of everything would be fundamentally and definitively transformed?

I am so limited in myself, yet limitless in Christ Jesus, such that my comprehension and approach to “impossibility” is uniquely exchanged for functional understanding of infinity within a finite space.  Can I comprehend a God with no beginning, no end, no controls, limits or laws without having first asked for, accepted and dwelt upon the Love of God through Christ?  Lord, yes, I am inadequate to the tasking, yet, I see now how truly unimportant that factor becomes.  Even my understanding is a conduit for Your limitless capacity to Create, Renew and Orchestrate Glory and Righteous Victory.  I am in awe of You and through the Grace of Your Mighty Love I understand Just how awesome, Awesome really is.  I love you God in the name of Jesus Christ my Shepherd and King.

Independent

The truth exists outside of my influence or interpretation.  It does not need my recognition, support, validation or belief in order to start, remain or continue in its authenticity.  I cannot extinguish, abolish, avoid or eradicate its natural authority over every law, principle, action and will, for it precedes all of them.  I may in a mad attempt to influence my fates or fulfill my unique and selfish desire warp the truth in hopes of hiding, supporting or justifying my behavior to quell my own feelings of inadequacy, guilt or to prop up my self created delusional existence.  I may live the fairy tale for moments controlling every prop and person upon the stage I have constructed but the truth confounds my efforts through its overwhelming capacity to lift the curtain to the sunlight of its revelation.  The truth sets me free from my surrendered sins and makes me scurry to the dark if I continue in my will to conceal the reality of my existence.

I love you Lord for your truth lays bare all my misconception.  I do not wish to hide, but instead want all those hidden compartments opened to the cleansing power of the light.  Take from me all that I have attempted to conceal, let it be revealed so that I might serve and join in Your Glorious Truth.  All those I have wronged let me treat them right, according to Your standards of love and care.  The wounds I have created, let me aide in their healing, serving, bandaging, caring for those tragedies created by unwillingness to surrender.  I am exhausted by holding up the sheet or cardboard cutouts behind which the people and things of my life must reside to support my created universe.  Let me find rest in Your Truth, no longer wishing to massage reality in order to make myself look good.  I am empty, laying here a vessel committed to Your Will.  Mold me, shape me, use me or smash me upon the Rock of Ages, but do it according to Your Glorious Truth in my creation.  Use me for my True purpose, let me rest from my efforts of climbing mountains and descending to caves I was never meant to traverse.  Lead me to the light of Your Righteous Fate for my existence.  This is Your Life, give me the courage to live it for You.  In Your Holy Name I pray to God the Father through Jesus Christ the King, lift up my voice Holy Spirit so that my prayer may be heard by the ears of God.  Amen.

Saving face with saving Grace

Authenticity and hypocrisy are stark opposites.  They are anti matter composites that clash and seek to vanquish each other on the world stage.  If my actions, my behaviors and my beliefs do not specifically coincide then I have chosen the side of ambiguity and hypocrisy.  If I have chosen to “damn the torpedoes” and plow ahead no matter the chaff, flack or poll-baited feedback then I am standing firmly on the side of living out my philosophy.

Let us be cautious and remember that just because someone is authentic does not make them good for we all may in deed be living real for the sake of evil.  However, direct combat against those living declared for evil is much easier then sorting out those who have another face, and may be living in our midst.  That is why our enemies will always choose deception, for they must blend amongst us in hopes that God will allow them to root not wishing that in pulling them out of their grounding he takes with them a handful of those destined for righteousness in eternity.  That is why hypocrisy is the true enemy of the righteous man and why the Lord Jesus Christ acted so responsively to its presence.  For if we see hypocrisy in the church we may be assured that those who serve the enemy of God have weaseled themselves to nest among the branches in the mustard tree of the faithful.  For God’s enemy is the father of lies and deception seeking to bring those who might be led astray into dangerous thinking and subsequent sins against God.

Just yesterday a young man came to me riddled with health and mental ailment.  His obvious physical pain was eclipsed by the emotional and spiritual turmoil evident through his eyes.  Seeing a pentagram dangling from his neck chain I asked him what he believed and he said that he was a “spiritualist” and then corrected himself saying he was a wicken.  My heart went out to him in love, for this man and his pain is not my enemy, but rather the demonic spirits who have contorted him in disbelief.  I asked what led him to this choice and before he spoke I thoroughly expected his response.  He said the hypocrisy, back biting and judgement of the church.  As he spoke I begged God for forgiveness of myself, my brothers and sisters for allowing our position as the bride of Christ to be poisoned by such monstrosities.  I asked him to forgive us for this was not what the Lord intended for the redeemed.  As I told him that our true intention was love for him, even in his most sinful moment, a tear took shape at the event horizon of his spirit.  After speaking with him the Holy Spirit directed me to speak about the importance of absolute truth.  This he understood and actually said the following, and I am poorly paraphrasing, ” the wicken do not judge me and they let me be me so I can pursue God”.  I asked him if I might pray for him and he wept as I prayed for God’s revelation in his mind and spirit and that God might see in His will to heal him in mind, body and spirit.  I told him that I was able to love him because God first loved me at my absolute worst, at that moment when I could not even love myself, for who could love a man full of sin and unrighteousness?  Then I answered that question by saying, God alone can love us at that moment and that is why I love God and I love you, because he has never left me from that moment until now.

We know that the Bible clearly states that we will never end the hypocrisy in the church, for it is a thing which will only be done through judgment, and that belongs to Christ Jesus.  However, I may recognize, elucidate and speak out against hypocrisy within the church for this is the King’s position and I am called in mimicry to do the same.  Let us learn that hypocrisy within the body is evidence of the presence of evil.  Let us pray and fast, declaring this territory in the name of Lord Jesus Christ, banishing the fallen from our midst through the power of the Blood of the Lamb.  For in these evil days, knowing that God’s enemies are masters of deception and then turning a blind eye to the evidence of its existence within our own ranks is absolute foolishness.  Since we are the vessels of the Holy Spirit and thus wielders of wisdom and truth, we cannot stand idly while God’s enemies stand in God’s House uncontested.  For we are the restrainers of evil in this world until the Lord calls us homeward.  Let us do our job and be authentic in defense of righteousness and truth by speaking out against hypocrisy and loving through the power of God’s Almighty Grace.  In Jesus’ Name.

True Power

What does it mean to be chosen by God for good works?  What strength avails my heart in the knowledge that there is an absolute truth, and me being redeemed to God that I may call myself in line with it?  How am I changed knowing that God knew me before the beginning of this world and that He had specific intentions for my unique gifts in the salvation of humanity?  Have I fully comprehended the value in presence of the Holy Spirit within my life, heart, mind and soul?  What sets me apart from all that is false in this world or the heavenly realms?  Do I utilize my kinship to Christ in establishing resounding and lasting victory?

I may not have much, but what I do have has been given me by God for the purpose of creating change, change that leads to many people who were lost being re acquainted with God.  I may be frail, underprivileged, forgotten, alone and uneducated but I do know God and that relationship trumps all negativity.  The moment I feared God in reverence I began to understand wisdom which led me to make choices leading to endurance, patience and the eventual, necessary courage in order to fulfill the purpose of my life through God’s will.  Why now would I even entertain for a millisecond the idea that I am powerless, when all evidence establishes the opposite?  My predicament is simply one of self governance in belief.  I must as we all must come to a self understanding that the truth will always win over our other established methods of data/input acquisition.  My emotions are important as value indicators or warning beacons indicating necessary decisions, but they do not govern the choices I make to avoid the identified circumstance, God’s voice does.  The law provides a mirror from which to guide my path, keeping me to the most extent within the boundaries of safe travail, but the law does not save me or provide me access to eternity, that is done through belief and dependance upon the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary.  Facts and man’s history do not govern my necessary actions, indicating the absolute best choice or direction, God’s Word alone gives me a firm foundation that will never lead me astray in decision, action or time of rest and peace.

Yes reality is important, but only in that it gives me to opportunity to demonstrate my firm understanding of who I am in Christ, what must done for Christ and what may be done through reliance upon the same.  This entire scenario is a test of our choice, that is why the enemy is fixated, fascinated and utterly determined to warp even the moral use of that word, “choice”.  For choice represents all human opportunity through freely given love of God.  We have the choice to make mistakes or victory because God gave us this platform, into which we may inject our free will decisions and measure subsequent result of our actions.  We also have the choice to go to God prior to making any decision and ask for guidance, understanding and peace such that our decisions remain inline with His intention.  Doesn’t it comfort you to know that you could exercise the true power of making decisions within the will of God, firmly establishing a practice of assuring the righteousness and correctness of our choices, before we’ve made them?  True power is found only in obedience to God, for all other choices are made from a platform of human inadequacy, guiding by our predilections and particular sinful comport.  I ask God’s guidance to keep my heart targeted specifically to submission to His Good Will, therein my power lies.  In Jesus’ Name I pray this day.

Grant us humility

At what point may our squandering of God’s Grace become measurably definable as an abomination of His Will?  We tell them that we believe, yet our actions match those of people intent upon a road inconsistent with empirical demonstration of the opposite.  How then is a man resistant to obedience in response to the direction of a Sovereign Lord any thing other than someone who either never believed or somehow along the way walked away from established faith?  If I believe the stove will burn my flesh then I don’t touch it, if I believe that it will rain or become cold while I am outdoors I wear the appropriate attire, if I believe that demonstrating certain behavior or speaking a certain way will upset my colleagues or boss and possibly get me fired then I restrain my actions.  How then may I say that I believe that Christ saved me if I so quickly forget why He did so?

When this man died with Christ on that Cross of Calvary, what happened to his flesh?  Do I still wear that same flesh, do I remain adorned in the garments of a man that transpired two thousand years ago, or have I truly been born again, indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, capable of becoming a new creature?  Must my mind remain fixated upon my soiled, rotten garments and the sin of my forgotten slavery?  Or am I truly free, living in Christ, with Christ and through Christ, doing the bidding of a Holy God as He prepares us for eternity?  What have I in common with aborting babies, killing the innocent, ignoring the poor, turning a blind eye while Christians and Jews are killed to suit the desires of the fallen?  What fight is worthy of my involvement?  Must I wait upon God to come in order for me to stand up and demonstrate my faith?  Do I have to stick my fingers in His side and touch the scarred hands and feet to fully comprehend the limits of my unbelief?  What will get me off this couch upon which I so comfortably sit in pride feeding my own aspirations?

I saw my country fall, not overnight, not quickly stumbling and bashing its knees upon the rocky pavement, but rather a slow, drowsy, slumbered, drunk pitch, face first, upon the Rock of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It lay in disrepair, failing to recognize its own dilemma, surrounded by ill wishers and departed friends, approaching unconsciousness, coma and eventual demise if not resuscitated and nursed back to health by the Hand of God.  Impossible you say for the chemical equation requires first humility, then prayer then repentance and turning away from sin, crying out to our Sovereign Lord for mercy.  You believe we are incapable of the same?  I disagree, for I have known the heart of these people, they may have forgotten these foundations, these essential items for blessed living in the heart of God’s Grace, but they will remember.  The true travesty is how much pain that we collectively must endure to bring us back to cognizance.  We will remember and the excruciating reality of that moment will near the pain that Israel will face when they nationally realize that they played a major role in denial of the Messiah’s arrival as He came to take away the sins of mankind.

But we are blessed in that we may have hope at all.  The hope provided by the Lord Jesus Christ upon that tree, up on the hill, in mockery and shame, bearing the weight of mankind’s transgressions.  He died for all of us, even those who have yet to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Will we demonstrate our faith and belief in His sacrifice by loving Him and them enough to tell them about Jesus?  I believe that we will, because God’s Word says that at some point there will be a great harvest of believers, having suffered greatly in the great day of the Lord, being refined by the pressure of the great wine press.  I wish and pray that it does not take us the pain it will most certainly require in order for us to humble ourselves and turn our hearts back to God, but alas that is outside of God’s will, so I ask for forgiveness for my disobedience Father.  I only ask for mercy upon us as we rapidly descend into utter disobedience.  May our hearts be awakened and humbled quickly by your Hand of discipline.  Your Will be done, on this Earth, even now as it is done in Heaven.  Deliver us from our own willingness to be tempted by our eyes, our pride and our flesh making us susceptible to the enemies deception.  Grant us peace.  In Jesus’ Name.

Faith, Hope, Trust and LOVE

The tendencies to grow bitter, complacent, oblivious or uninvolved dominate today’s battle of the vigilant Christian.  Remember the enemy is devious, utilizing deception and historical performance, that’s right, our historical actions to aid in strategy meant to dampen, turn away or switch off each active Christian.  Think of it in cyber language, if he cannot crash your system, he will seek to deny service to it, damage your data, interrupt your supply lines and communication or just make everything so slow that we give up on performance.  That is the task of vigilance, we must remain aware, on plan and prepared for whatever is to come our way.  Thinking that we will survive the increasingly chaotic world without significant conflict both spiritual and real is absolute lack of care and diligence.  We must trust God to deliver us from our trials but we must do all that we can to prepare for the trials which will certainly confront each of us.  After all what is this world meant for if not to prepare each of us for eternity by testing us throughout our mortal existence?

We were meant to withstand the fire, not of or in our own power, authority, cleverness and effort but by the saving grace and indwelling of the Living Spirit of God.  That does not mean that we will be able to avoid the radical steps of faith which got us thrown into the furnace in the first place.  My place is in the trial, standing in faith, knowing that Christ strengthens me and the Father will never leave or forsake me in the midst of any trial.  I was not meant for hermitage, avoidance, fear or capitulation, but to stand in courage by the seeds of faith given me through belief, submission, repentance and prayer.  How then do I prepare for those imminent trials, knowing fully that I will never be able to avoid them, defeat them or ignore them without assistance by the graceful, trustworthy Hand of God?  The answer is the armor of God, for the mind, the spirit and the body.  We were meant to possess the mind of Christ through salvation, protecting our thoughts from intrusion, deception and manipulation, such that we can observe lasting victory even in the midst of disastrous calamity, whispering of utter defeat.  We are meant to be shielded from the attacks of the enemy by God’s faithfulness reflected in our faithful wielding of His shield.  We are meant to take the fight to the enemy, causing him to flee by using the two edged sword of God’s Holy Word.  How do we learn utilization and proper usage of these defensive and offensive protections?  By studying, learning and applying God’s Word and living and growing alongside other Christians as the frequency and severity of the enemy’s imminent assaults increase.

What then are you doing alone, fully understanding these things, believing wrongly that you will somehow survive the coming onslaught?  We were meant to face these challenges together.  I do not care how much the enemy wants you to tend your wounded feelings of pride and sensitivity, having been hurt by the expected frailties of those humans in the church.  Do not be led astray into thinking that you can do better on your own.  None of us gets there alone, that is why we came into the world through a representative union of two humans.  None of us was meant to be alone, that is not God’s intention.  So I beg you to forgive, get over, rise above any issues which have taken you outside the church and placed you dangerously susceptible to worldly thinking.  Find a family of believers and build them up while they may encourage your own efforts to remain spotless and free from the poisons of humanity.  I beg the Lord to send His ministering angels to guard your heart and pray for you in this the greatest hour of our historical need as Christians.  Praise God in the Great Name of Jesus Christ the King.

God and King

I have seen you do wonderful things, giving to children without expectation, planting seeds to feed the poor and giving up your place so that the weary may rest.  I have heard the songs of your heart, your voices and instruments reverberating within my memories as your voices raised in worship, praise and peaceful prayer.  I have listened to your ideas, ideas given you by God, hoping upon hope for a better future where men might be free of evil, and the innocent, elderly and impoverished might find lasting love and care.  I have heard your dreams for a better mankind, free from the egregious usurpation’s of greed, avarice and plunder.  I have felt the strangling arm of my sin around my own neck, choking me until I found the wind to cry out in God’s Holy Name for relief.  I have seen, heard and believe that you are all made in His image and for that I love you more than you could know.

So dance, dream, play, build, grow and care for those in need, as this is all in service to the King.  Love them as they would not be loved but for your kindness and exception.  Forgive where it seems impossible to do so, for that is the power of Christ’s Spirit within each of us, to overcome the limitations of this world in doing what is beyond our own righteousness.  For we are kin to the King of Everything, the Maker, the Creator, The Lover of all, the Righteous Redeemer, the Right Hand of the Father, The Word, The Lamb, The Lion, The Christ of God, our Savior and their only Hope, Jesus Christ the Lord of Lords.

I will watch and be amazed at the work of His Hands done in you.  You are an artwork of God, capable of so much more than they will ever allow you to know.  But God is our Father and their is no end to the bounty of His Riches and Kingdom.  Do not fear, for in fear there is disbelief and in hope faith resides eternal.  You are the son or daughter of the King and there is no where that the enemy may take you, even in capture that is beyond His Mighty Hand.  You are safe, you are free, you are loved and you are filled with the power of the Spirit of God through Christ.  Fulfilled and prepared for the works and courage that must be displayed in the coming months and years til His arrival sets all things right.  So walk with courage in humility, knowing that God watches every step that you take, So take them in surety of favor, the favor of God Almighty.  Jesus My God and My King.

Mounting pressure

Excitement anticipates the storm.  Not the type lacking trepidation, the cautious understanding of what calamity may come.  Yet respecting, acknowledging and preparing for the awesome display of raw, unbridled, power, uncontrolled by authority of man.  The Lord cometh.  There are those who would seek to deny this fact, call it outdated language, beg proof or simply compartmentalize the associative feelings in exchange for solidarity with stimulation.  No matter the method no one may look away from the blinding light of God’s Coming Day of reckoning with humanity.  It will be awesome, unavoidable and finite expressed by the Lord of Hosts, who was there before the beginning and who alone determines the end.

I saw it in their eyes, heard it in their voices and accepted their anger as proof of overwhelming fear and disgust.  They no longer have reconciliation of freedom to play out the tortured definition of their realized passions.  That is the price of reckoning for it calls payment due, tallies accounts and sets right what has been imbalanced.  This world owes a debt, a debt that surpasses all worldly understanding of depth, longevity and breadth.  Every man knows the truth that is God and though they profess the doctrine of demons, deceiving, demanding further defilement, all know that purity, wholesomeness and innocence are the Glory of humanity.  Some wish in the evil hearts to corrupt it, poison it, crush it and ruin it but none may dismiss its prize and relevance to man’s fulfillment.  That day of purification approaches and none shall escape the scythe of judgement’s sweeping harvest.  When humanity is separated wheat and chaff for the feasts of eternity.

What then shall we do if we feel that our place is upon the fenceposts and moorings watching as other march?  I do not often caution or recommend panic, but that is your best recourse at this juncture in history.  For if you feel compelled to remain on the sidelines as God demands “choice” then you shall be counted among the fallen.  There have been and will always only be two sides, those with and for God and those against Him.  Choice is the grand gift of glory He has shown humanity, just as Adam made a choice and damned us so did Christ choose obedience to set us free.  Now it is incumbent upon each man, rich, poor, free or slave to make that decision to repent and believe, being set free and redeemed to God for eternity or to simply deny and choose separation, imprisonment and death.  That day is near, that storm visible on the horizon, all men see it but some will act and others will ignore.  Which are you?  I pray you cry out to God for succor, finding Jesus Christ through salvation, repentance and prayer.  May He have continued mercy upon us all and delay that day until every man has made a rational decision.  In Jesus’ Holy Name I pray.