My epiphany may go unnoticed, my disclosure ignored.  When will there be enough evidence that Biblical Prophecy is correct, current and exacting to waken the slumbering consciousness of mankind as a whole?  Apparently, though Wisdom has been standing on the hilltop heralding truth and Spirit has been proclaiming the certainty of God’s Plan throughout the history of mankind, few choose to listen.  Most believe themselves outside the population group to be affected by the revealing of God’s Plan through Jesus.  What is it within man that causes us to feel that laws apply to everyone else but me, that reason is for other people?  Perhaps that is intersection of pride and ignorance.

This morning I wondered why God would choose any of us.  Why He would choose to bless the stiff necked nation of Israel.  Why He would give us so much time to turn away from our sin, folly and indecision.  There is only one answer and it is to demonstrate the example that it is not of works through which any of us will be or have been redeemed.  We are all undeserving and that is why Israel is the perfect example for God’s Grace.  He blesses them because He Chose To Do So.  He set them aside as an example of His Righteousness, His Honesty, His Faithfulness to Do What He Said that HE would do.  But that has never given them or any of us a pass to choose whether or not be obedient to His call.  Each time that they have disobeyed, many have suffered judgment.  The same will be true going forward.  We are accountable as a blessed nation and many will pay the price for our national disregard.  Will we recognize our similarity to the Nation of Israel in time to forestall, avoid or mitigate the Divine repercussion?  That remains to be revealed.

Bless You Father and bless the Nation of Israel because You said that it is Right to Do So.

Don’t want to hear it, the harmonious sound of a tight nit family walking the straight and narrow path toward righteousness?  Sold on the salacious?  Is tragedy really that appealing and are cameos on the lives of good, God fearing people truly that boring?  I challenge the lie.  Let us look at a young man in high school, committed to solid grades, working toward a future in the sciences, public service or business.  He is excited about his future, he is not that prom king or the captain of the football team but has the respect of hundreds of his classmates.

This young man enjoys multiple, honest, uncorrupted friendships with other kids all trying their best to understand it all, most suffering from the impacts of sin, financial troubles and relationship issues within their own families.  He plays a pivotal role in the formation of their futures and is a solid influence for change and right thinking.  He volunteers, not because it earns him some notoriety, but because he honored prompting by the Holy Spirit to be salt and light in his community.  Trying to make a difference, he helps some kids stay out of trouble and encourages others to reach places or opportunities they would not have pursued without his support.  He is the moderator in conflict and looks beyond external images of wealth and popularity.

He honors his Mom and his Dad by listening to them and obeying the rules they have set out for him, even when he may not agree with their directives.  He saves his money, loves his siblings and repents of the sin afflicting the majority of our youth crying out to God to keep him humble, innocent and pure.  He speaks positively, reflects truthfully and answers honestly when polled for those secrets to reaching his generation.  He does not crave all that his eyes may possess but appreciates all that he is given, making the most of each opportunity, each chance, each failure or win.

He fights for his country, serves his republic, caters to the poor, disenfranchised, sick and forgotten.  He honors a good woman by telling her plainly that his service is to God and all else is second in the chain of command.  He lives by principle, says what he believes, believes what he says and is trusted.  He is not sinless, just careful.  Visiting with him is a joy and brings hope to the disenchanted.  This world has been edified by his involvement and he will have much to be congratulated for when he stands before his Maker to review the impact of a life well lived.

Anything but boring.  Praise you Father for showing us the life of this young man, your son.  This is the life done right and is exciting to watch no matter what the enemy would have people believe.

Can you blend?  Fading into the background, so that no one picks you out in a crowd.  Nobody sees your deeds, your failures, your triumphs nor your laughter.  Sorry for ignoring when I should have heard your cry for help.  I heard their name too many times and thought that singling them out was a bad thing.  As if not being known was preferable to those who may be motivated for attention.  We all need attention, affection, understanding and love.  Those who are isolated probably worse than all others combined.  Rare is the human who reaches into their silence, looking to pierce the facade or potentially expose the wound to air, concern and light.

This world is cruel caught up in its sin.  Measuring lives as objects, hearts as fodder to feed the dreams of social adequacy.  We have starved the frail from affection then labeled them misaligned.  We have compressed, priceless human anomalies into blobs, figurines or forced them to escape conformity and be labeled miscreant, misanthrope, ascetic.  These are the children God wants.  These are those crafted to perfection in His image.  These are the ones in greatest need of love, yet we pause.  The enemy labels them worthless so that they will share his dilemma.  Shall we also be fooled and forget to reflect upon their Value to God?

Please seek those who would not be noticed.  This is a protection mechanism forced upon them in youth to escape this brutal world.  Their fears have silenced them in hopes they will fly beneath the radar, yet they remain precariously exposed.  The Bible states, “it is not good for man to be alone”.  How then can we allow them to remain isolated, easy pray for those who would seek their harm?  Next time you are in a crowd, fight your senses which lead you to movement, color and sound.  Look for those who would not be noticed, their you will find your destiny, hidden in plain sight.

Love God as He first loved you.

There will come a day not much unlike this one.  A day where no one will expect its coming yet time will arrive unannounced.  That moment when all savings are nil, all plans defunct, all opportunity passed.  On what thoughts shall I spend that final second but Christ?  As Lot’s wife, herself nameless, will many look back longingly upon spiritual Sodom, finding only allegiance in permanency?  Spent for eternity in mid flight toward the light.  It was pleasant this day just as I am certain will that one be as well.  But that pleasure will be in short measure when compared to Glory’s call.  Will there be fuel in your lamp for I cannot give you mine.  I pray that we remain ready.

Where is my heart, in truth?  Does it lay with riches and glory brought through waiting patiently upon the benevolence of God through Christ?  Or have I forgotten what should have been written upon each atrium?  God’s laws inscribed internally, guiding the blood throughout my venal architecture, perfectly aligned to righteousness.  Will those things tangible and temporary attract me in greater weight than things of substance everlasting?  I pray not, but I must even now repent for the envies, longings and irrelevant pursuance of my flesh.  I know better but does my faith overwhelm my worldly reason?  Or on that day, much like this one will I scream in agony of realization that I’ve missed the boat?  Will many join me in anguish, recognizing a fate that was entirely avoidable?

I pray your forgiveness for my lack of trying.  I made no attempt to reach you in humility and love, foregoing the misgivings I held tightly against you.  My shame will blossom on that day, a bouquet arranged in grand wretchedness.  How could I stand bye, not reaching out, for fear, for pomp or ego?  I was wrong, we both know it and on that day I will truly regret having never said so.  For on that day, even what wasn’t completed will have been made void.  I now have skin in the game, a chance to serve His plan and lessen their plight.  Yesterday’s deadline will become today’s loss.  Shall we leave in grand crescendo, making the most of each moment, fully knowing that there will come a day unexpected.  Let this not have been my last Lord.  Let me make tomorrow one to remember.  Praise you Father in all Your Everlasting Glory, Amen.

Taking the pulse of America.  What do you find when you press your fingers against the wrist or mandibular junction?  Is it steady, strong, consistent?  Do you recoil fearing corpus necrosis?  What is occurring just below the surface?  Is it healthy, perhaps slumbering waiting to emerge into a new day of possibility and reason?  Or as I, do you measure an inconsistent rhythm, a disjuncture, an arrhythmia of circulation, thought and heart?  Are we proactively treating the patient, perhaps carry a defibrillator with the intent of avoiding stoppage?  Who is championing the voice of reason and counseling the patient to change his ways or risk passing?  Where is that overwhelming hero willing to usher us back to health through direction and self-sacrifice?

I hear discord.  No one voice rises above the fray, that moment where everyone pauses to reflect on spoken truth.  Are we destined to repeat historic failure?  Unfortunately it seems there is not the consensus to avoid such a journey.  Wisdom and truth only produce realistic reflection upon the mirror of our behavior.  What happens when a family outspends their budget for a duration?  The inevitable.  What happens when a child runs the edge of a slippery roof?  The expected.  What happens when maniacs toy around with reason, hoping to invent a new philosophy by following the same old practices?  Disaster.  What happens when those who called themselves Christian depart from the Path of God?  Judgment.

The heartbeat is faint.  The pulse irregular.  The future uncertain but assured.  Counsel them to reason, to repent, to adjust course avoiding destiny upon the shoals.  What shall we have faith in when trusting ourselves has proven repeated folly?  Place your Faith on God where the investment always profits.  My God, my Savior, my King, Jesus.  Lead them back to you, to righteousness and hope.  On this I pray.

Folly cannot persist.  Illusion takes constant energy to maintain, just as anything which is falsely created.  Father, open my eyes to the assistance I have been giving the enemy in the perpetration of fraud upon myself and others.  What myths have I supported, what corrupted steps have I continued to follow in my own path and what bad advice or recommendations have I given causing others to pursue illusion?  Accountability is not just for those of whom I am critical.  Accountability begins with me.  How is my walk?  What behaviors am I modeling?  What role am I portraying for those in my influence sphere to copy or worse yet, avoid?

To have a blameless walk, I first have to repent of the walk I have been previously following.  Nothing happens until the truth is embraced.  Having confidence in my walk only comes when I have repeatedly reviewed my path with the Father, asked Him to remove that which is unpleasing to Him and exercised my free will to choose the correct step at the next juncture.  This is a process, but it does have gradients, measures, reflections and achievements along the way.  Not achievement based upon, I did this work or that work, but goals that are mentally measurable when sin is avoided and the Holy Spirit’s prompting and education have been followed.  Am I only capable of doing the right thing through the Holy Spirit’s discipline?  That is something on which to meditate.

Am I capable of doing good?  Probably not.  I know this that those things I do which are categorized as good can always be traced back to my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is clear to me that the good I did in my previous life always had the strings of self aggrandizement attached.  The only real good things I do now are through Christ living through me.  Sure I might fool myself or allow myself to fall pray to the illusion that I had some part in the whole transformation but in summary the glory has always been His.

I chose God because He first chose me.  I was saved because He offered me Grace.  I was transformed because He came to live inside me.  I reach others with love because He loved me enough to send me to them.  I will do great things which He has predestined me to do before the beginning of the world, through His strength, His counsel and His gifts.  I am truly a vessel.  My job is to keep myself clean after having been cleansed.  It isn’t easy, in fact it is impossible for natural man, o but thanks be to the Grace of God, I am not a natural man.  Praise you Father.  The name of Jesus upon my lips and my heart.  Amen.

What does preparation look like to you?  Just as in preparing the ground to receive seed for planting we must take logical steps if we want to see growth and eventual harvest.    We will see that from a human participation perspective the art is in the preparation.  We do not make the seed, nor the dirt.  We do not produce rain and we certainly don’t make anything grow.  Our job is to prepare the ground and at the right timing plant the seed, fertilize, water and tend it until God produces a crop, at which time it is our responsibility for harvesting that bounty.  This is a cyclical process that begins with the intention to produce a crop.  Everything begins with a free will choice.

As Christian’s we do not need to be concerned about all the questions that a farmer must answer in order to be successful; is it the right soil?, do I have the right machinery?, what time do I plant?, do I have good seed?.  A farmer does not make the sun, the water, the seed, the fertilizer, the wind, the dirt nor does he make anything grow.  His job is as a maintenance engineer, determining into which ground to sow the seed, at what time, when to water, when to fertilize, when to weed, spray and harvest.  As a Christian farmer my job is so much easier; I just spread the seed on the ground and walk away knowing that God will do the rest.  He will water, feed, fertilize, grow and bring the crop to harvest.

It is a MYTH that each disciple must be highly knowledgeable of Biblical History and steep themselves in the ontological arguments for God.  It is an EXCUSE that each disciple must be gifted with evangelism in order to fulfill the great commission.  Just as any person may plant an apple seed in the ground without being a farmer, we as Christian “ALL” have the ability and responsibility to spread the seed of God’s Word.  We simply have to make the “free will” decision to tell people about Christ, His Grace and How to avoid eternal judgment through confession, repentance and faith.  The Holy Spirit will even provide the words for us to say if we leave it to Him as the Bible says.  Since we do not have to prepare as a farmer to plant the crops what is our responsibility?  The responsibility of each Christian is to prepare our hearts to receive the Holy Spirit’s Word.  To tend our own ground making sure that our walks are blameless so that we may keep our vessels clean to be the vehicles for carrying the “Water of Life” to a thirsty world.  And finally our responsibility is to prepare to do the work and when the timing presents itself to share the Good News that we ACT.  I implore you to prepare your heart, maintain your land and when called upon by the Holy Spirit to spread the seed of the Good News of Christ that you sow that seed in love and in truth.

I do not deserve what you have given me already, yet you continue to shower with love, hope, peace, grace and abundance.  Thank you Lord that this is independent of my historical success, current action or future intention.  There is no way that a man such as I should be so incredibly blessed, yet the fact is that I cannot even count my own miracles.  Thank you again Father for teaching me to wait upon Your Will and not reach for the reigns in impulse.

Soon this world will be so far removed from God’s Plan that most will find it impossible to see their way back to the promise land.  Having chosen to either wonder in the desert endlessly or to settle into metaphorical Egypt, they will cease to hear God’s Word even if they have been listening.  The dim will fall over community, the illusion having been effectively perpetrated most will buy the deception.  This is beginning of Wisdom, for all will have to cry out to God in the name of Jesus in order to even be freed from the mock reality.  What a heart-breaking shame, that Eternal Grace is freely offered now for the price of faith, confession, repentance and belief, yet most will wait until God’s Patience has expired before crying out to Him for Mercy.  For those to whom this is too late I weep.  Please forgive me for not reaching you with the Good News of Christ in time.  For this I will beg God’s forgiveness.

To those who heard and refused to listen or scorn and mocked the Grace of God, I beg God for Mercy upon your eternal soul, but I will not long suffer regret for this is a choice that you have consciously made.  For all men know the Truth that is God, all have been offered Grace and faith in the same measure.  Unfortunately few have accepted because the alternatives were too attractive to the wickedness within each man’s heart.  Praise God that He will still save many during tribulation for to imagine that all would eternally perish during that period would shatter my spirit.  O how I rejoice at the depth of Your Loving Grace and look forward to return of Your chosen to Your Bosom Lord.  I pray for the release of Israel from deception and that they are not broken by the realization of their misinterpretation and false pursuits.  May You Bless that nation with All Your Riches and Glory through Christ Jesus the Lord.  Amen

Do we really want to know what He has planned for this world, a particular nation, your family or for you?  If you knew what was coming would you act any differently than you do now?  What steps would you take?  Let’s say that you knew what day you were going to die and happened to be next year or worse yet next Tuesday?  I suspect that any of us armed with this knowledge would find a new sense of urgency and try to set things in order before our deadline.  Why is their no sense of urgency when our time limit has no visible expiration date?  For all we know it could be tonight, but we act as our time to take care of business or complete the Good Works for which He designed us is limitless.  What an oddity.  Could we make a resolution as Christians to always Act as if we only have until next Tuesday and in so doing find that sense of urgency to step out for the Kingdom?  Do we have that sort of self-control, boy that sure would be a thing of the Spirit, wouldn’t it?

You see I already know what is going to happen for me because the Bible tells me about my future.  I will live for a while and try to do as much as I can to spread the Word of the Living God and the Good News of Christ.  I will probably go through some persecution because this world and especially my own beloved nation of people seem committed to demonstrating hate for Jesus.  I pray that we collectively realize our iniquities, repent and arduously seeks God’s Mercy, but if we don’t my future is still assured.  I may die before I see the second coming but in that event I will immediately stand in front of my Maker to be with Him for eternity.  Or maybe I will be  “snatched” to be with Him in the air in the rapture of the believing Church.  Oh how Grand.  But I will not see the Lord’s Wrath for it is not designated for the redeemed to do so.  Armed with this security I can go boldly into this world for Kingdom Business or boldly to my Father in prayer, knowing that on whichever path He will never leave me nor forsake me.  I know my future and His name is Jesus.  To those perishing this is foolishness but to you my Sisters and Brothers this is Life Everlasting.  Prepare as if this is your last week and your time will be sweeter and of greater perceived value and perspective.  Praise Jesus Christ the King of Kings.