More greedy than the boatman, she craves payment at each oar’s dipping.  Arrogance, her unwed Brother, gloats his pleasure at her absence.  She holds the key to prayer closet and waits in silence at the feet of God.  Never forcing, never asking resting in wait.  O the life where she lays barren, unfed by haughty spirit, whiskey-ed pretense and pomposity.  Resolved to isolation, she needs no accompaniment but is filled with joy when asked politely.  Frequently seen sitting quietly alongside her sister, Wisdom, discussing the depth of God’s understanding.  She does not call to man but answers to the Master’s bidding and typically costs the kitty, the satchel or skinned knee for the summoning.

I pay her daily, lacking remembrance of last advice, being blinded by ambition, self sanction or folly.  Each time recalling something familiar, friendly, an ease of blameless acceptance.  Why must I dine alone, when she would gladly my nightly partner be?  Am I condemned to repetitive fatuity, unmoved by weather, experience or circumstance?  She is so demanding of obeisance, shunning discourtesy and I admire it so.  Yet each time we meet it is as if at first where she must remind me in perpetuity of the same offenses to reason, rhyme and King.

She stands wealthy though she would rather be starving contented.  Her dress soaked with the tears of broken spirit, childless Father or disciplined Daughter.  Her lessens never unwisely suffered, her suitors withdrawing in consolation, briefly closer to enlightenment.  How I crave tandem travel where we could share berth, and I full access to God’s pleasure.  Time’s twice over I am reminded of His Glory in that He provided her in my necessity.  She waits there for me, even now at the Throne Room of Glory, beckoning gently pay homage to the King.  Praise You Lord in All Your Limitless Majesty, Power, Love and Truth.  In Jesus’ Name.

Whose responsibility is it for me to learn the Gospel?  And again who do I blame if I am unable or unwilling to go out and attempt to perform the great commission?  Or better yet why do I have to contemplate these questions at all?  Can’t I just rely upon grace and salvation to cover my lack of motivation, accountability and that dirty word called disobedience?  Isn’t that what grace is all about that as long as I believe, put my faith in Christ and repent of my sin all is forgiven?  Is there really some sense of responsibility or is that just something that was made up by the Church to make me feel guilty?

Why did you go to school all those years?  Did attending regular education give you the necessary tools to get ahead in life or was it just an exercise in futility?  Did you have to learn disciplines like English in order to communicate well enough to get a job that pays your bills, or do you think that you could have accomplished the same without an education?  Why did you pay for college, because you first “believed” that it would provide you access to opportunities not currently available without that education?  It is not about guilt but there has to be some form of recrimination from the Holy Spirit for not doing what you know should be done for the Kingdom.  I would be seriously concerned if you are not feeling the promptings of conscience.  Lack of input/feedback from the Holy Spirit for non performance may indicate a seared conscience or worse yet an absence of the Spirit altogether.

Let us be real, if you do not feel compelled to go out and create disciples for the Kingdom to save all those in your sphere of influence from an eternity separated from God then what does that say about your heart?  “I wish I knew God’s Will for my life”, is the most common statement I hear from undetermined Christians who are unwilling to search for that Will within the pages of God’s Word.  Additionally common is that statement, “It is just not my spiritual gift to disciple”.  Yes it is a choice, but those who are unwilling to share the Truth of God’s Word have not been convinced of its importance to this lost world.  Stop with the diatribe, if you knew that you had the antidote to someone’s poisoning or illness to keep it from them would be accessory to their demise.  Not telling them about salvation is tantamount to the same.  So please stop trying to justify your disbelief by having a true believer justify your disobedience.  We are accountable to the same God that you are, the only difference is that we revere Him and thus we take our first meeting seriously.

Learning the Bible is a gift.  God wrote us a guide book for this life and the next, giving us careful instruction, guidance, direction and example for us to closely follow His will for our lives.  If we will not take the time to learn what He has already shown us then we don’t deserve the revelations, miracles and Glory that would come as further gifting.  Yes pastors and other Church members are accountable for feeding the lambs within the Body.  They will be held to account for what they did or did not teach within the Church.  But that does free each member of the Body from personal accountability for their own edification.  If a student does not wish to learn, then a teacher cannot teach that student.  It all comes back to us as individual’s making the necessary choices to edify the Church, encourage others and bring Glory to God through our good works in this world.  All of this done voluntarily, commensurate with the wonderful gift of grace and salvation we were given.

Whose responsibility is it for me to learn the Bible?  Mine.  Although others may encourage, assist and edify it is inevitably me who is accountable.  Who is held to account if I do not tell everyone that I can about the Good News of Christ?  Me.  I dread that moment when I stand before Jesus and He shows me the people I was supposed to meet and guide to the Cross yet I never showed up or didn’t speak up.

I look forward to meeting people in heaven that I never met on earth who tell me that they are thankful to me for helping them reach eternity.  I will cry and laugh for joy when they tell me that it was someone to whom I testified that showed them the cross and I was proximately responsible.  If you don’t know the Bible and want to know, let me know and I will do everything in my power to help you get there.  If you don’t know how to disciple or you are struggling with understanding your responsibility to evangelize, ask me and I will help anyway that I can to clarify, edify and direct you to the answers.  I am accountable to Christ for what I do and do not do for the Kingdom.  I accept that awesome blessing of responsibility and hope that you will help keep me accountable for that blessing.

May God be honored through all that I’ve said and done.  I love you so much that it hurts to see when you are powerless, as it is an illusion.  Praise You Father in the Name of Christ the King of All.

Psalm 33 8-22

Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.  For He spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.  The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. 

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for His inheritance.  From heaven the Lord Looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth– He who forms the heart of all, who considers everything they do. 

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.  A horse is a vain hope for deliverance despite all its great strength it cannot save.  But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. 

We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.  In Him our hearts rejoice for we trust in His holy name.  May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.

I love that men want to resolve our own difficulties.  That human characteristic is loveable, if not, evidence of our divine beginning.  There are those who want so desperately to review the plight of the unrepresented in a quest to do something about those who are “suffering”.  Noble ideals fostering generations of good deed done for this or that group to promote a “special interest” or coddle public sympathy and opinion, in a campaign to raise awareness, volunteerism and Yes, MONEY.  We have forgotten the general well being of all to employ the assets of the many toward the few.  We have shelved the endearing and founding principle that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”

Let us not be led astray, the Framers of this document crafted that opening line such, that if you proceeded no further into the document that you would understand the overwhelming impact of their following statements through the richness of its very first line.  All men, not just some, a few or a select segment.  So this document and its principles were intended for everyone, with the specific premise that we all came from the same CREATOR from Who we have been endowed.  And not just that we have been endowed by the Creator but that we were given a gift that is unalienable, something that could not be extracted or taken away by anyone, Rights.  I speculate in my review as to why the word, Rights was capitalized?  And the only conclusion which can be drawn is that these same Rights which came from the same Origin must be in themselves Divine.

We have ventured so far in our attempts to become and remain a great nation that we have journeyed too far from the Light of its inception.  So far that we need to be reminded of the brilliance of our beginning brought about by a people yearning to be free in their governance by and for God.  Returning to the first line of this document, just as the first line of the Bible immediately confronts us with our Founding Ideals.  That God is at the beginning of every good thing.  I pray that we remember where we’ve begun and where we will finish and that we hold dearly to those ideals that make us worthy of any love at all.

Praise Jesus in His Mighty Return of Revelation to His Glory and Honor Forever.  Amen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vyyHegP255g#!  Dr. Benjamin Carson’s recent audacious speech on recovering America,  Worth the time, Check it out!!!

Let me bring to life only those things that Your Spirit wills.  We thought the embers darkened beyond rekindling, but I have felt the warmth and know that the hearth lays dormant, not dead.  They will remember You Lord at that moment when light flickers, as unconsciousness beckons rest.  They are the reason for such strenuous attempt at deception.  Without people no one but You Lord could be king.  The enemy needs subjects that is why he contends so vociferously for the souls of men.  For we are made by the Hands of the Master Potter, crafted for eternity and without dominating man, the enemy can have no victory.  God does not need us but oh how we need Him.

His plan, His understanding, His Glory.  Though it falls beyond each of my limits it is still somehow within me.  This destiny to rise above the fearful gods of this world and dismiss the length of their influence.  We have been crafted for the Work of the Almighty in His likeness for His intention, destined for Glory.  I am a happy vessel, carrying to those in need the Water of Life.  Planting seeds for harvest that I will witness in delight.  Father I am overwhelmed by glimpses, the entire picture will steal my breath.

I too cry with you Brothers and Sisters at the loss of hope, the essential surrender to the whims of human desire.  Though my tears speak of sadness they do not abnegate my Triumphant Hope in Jesus and His Promise, His Peace, His Strength and His Sovereignty.  I have seen the brilliant tarnished, the old frightened and the young intimidated or coaxed to wickedness.  But I will also see the light which sponsored life glow brightly in their wakened hearts.  I will see them stand in Joy even as the stone melts and the air burns.  I will see them gleam as the veil is pulled away, revealing their true nature.

When time is fully grown, they will remember that the fires are His and He uses them to purify, separate, mold and clarify.  Yes we will stand His judgment and many will welcome that day without fear or repercussion, because they first believed.  There is no victory without conflict, but ours has been won by Sacrifice so Grand.  Though we may be forced to walk the fields of battle, plague, pestilence and storm they are just acts which must be played out.  Do you believe in Victory?  Do you hold fast to this life in fear or remorse?  Do you strengthen those around you preparing them for that moment when they recall their origin?  They will surrender to righteousness as deception shrinks from the Glorious Light of God.  Yahweh be praised in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vyyHegP255g#!  Dr. Benjamin Carson’s recent audacious speech on recovering America,  Worth the time, Check it out!!!

Trust like patience is a discipline that requires time to master.  If you are like most people then you have been let down throughout your life by those around you.  Repeated abandonment, betrayal and disappointment condition us to dampen faith and perpetuate a cycle where reliability can never be tested.  We withdraw, avoid or over test relationships in a desperate attempt to find someone that we can depend upon and heal old wounds.  Others follow a path of achievement to prove themselves worthy of another person’s love, hoping to find someone that they can trust by proving themselves deserving.  Unfortunately we bring this experience into our relationship with the Lord God, projecting and expecting the same human characteristics of Christian faith and of the Lord Himself.

We walk by faith not by sight.  The Lord is not looking for performance if that were the case He would only accept the most talented, the truly gifted or those prone to over achievement.  He actually looks for the opposite.  He finds either those who have limiting deficiencies or those who would be highly successful at “worldly” disciplines but are completely oblivious of spiritual understanding.  Folks much like myself.  People who have talent but continually try to earn, force or perform their way into heaven.  The irony of Christianity is that we are expected to change, to be recreated, to conform to the Image of the Most High God and then go and achieve “great things” for the Kingdom.  Yet it is a Divine process that cannot be achieved through human effort.  We are transformed by surrendering to the Masterful Hand of the Craftsman, who deftly molds and shapes us to His Good Pleasure.  What this requires is “Trust” in His ability to finish this work.

We need to stop trying so hard or blaming God for not working things out to our own understanding and instead rely upon the “heart” knowledge that He always delivers upon His promises.  So many in this world speak of empowerment as the spark that leads to their desired state of self actualization.  They orate colorfully about “wholeness”  and being “one” with those governing influences and forces of the universe.  Let me be clear this is satan, once again attempting to contort, distort or change course for those who would otherwise find the right path to faith in Christ.  The Lord rebuke him in his attempts to waylay the beloved.  We learn to trust God by reading, understanding and practicing His Word through the Holy Spirit of God, in the name of Christ through Faith in the Infinite, Unchanging Father.  He gives us the will, the energy, the money, the answers, the strength, authority and the opportunity to do whatever it is He has set before us.  He is Worthy of my trust and has nor will He ever fail to fulfill upon His promises.  The tasks set before me I could not achieve in and of myself.  Thank God they are not mine to overcome, but His.  I have already overcome them, by surrender to the Almighty, by my testimony of what He has done for me through His Blood and His love for us all.  Please Trust in God rather then trying so hard.  He already loves you more than you will know in this life.  Holy Spirit please convey my love and thanks to the Father in the name of His Son Jesus the King of Kings.  Amen.

My eyes capture hourly sights that I hoped to never see.  Occurrences, changes and episodes that I truly hope would never come about.  Things that strike all of us as unnecessary, shocking, tragic, avoidable and yes plain wrong.  Images of children dying as either collateral damage, neglect and/or hunger are abundant and unfortunately, regular.  God help us if they ever become so commonplace where they cease to produce outrage in our hearts and minds.  Gatherings of once respectful community members shouting at each other in an opinionated display of bullying and aggression where there used to be attempted understanding and cooperation.

Natural and man-made disasters, increasing in severity and frequency as if somehow an alarm is sounding in crescendo as we fail to pay heed. People caught in the speed of technological change losing focus, energy, humanity or control in their struggle to simply keep pace.  What is producing this logarithmic/exponential increase in the perceived episodic normative?  You would probably doubt me if I say that I know, perhaps a review of the prophet Daniel’s predictions about our time will provide some evidence if my words seem incredulous.

Wars, rumors of wars.  What used to be “hot spots” with potential for battle have been replaced by a general unease.  There are no longer quiet, peaceful and safe spots on our planet, violent tensions, economic instability and social rigor have now spread to the four corners of the globe.  The Earth is no longer a harmonious blue pebble spinning in space, having been replaced by a raucous rock where onlookers wait for, applaud or attempt to avoid the next expected calamity, outbreak, clash or eruption.  The climate has changed, global warming is truth. Not the general progression toward a hotter weather pattern, instead the palpable escalation of kinetic energy toward an eventual or repeated episodic release.

This week there was an 8.0 earthquake in the Santa Cruz Islands, by any measure this is a memorable and dangerous event.  However what followed that tragic event was significantly more troubling.  You see that same area had dozens of following earthquakes, most measuring over 4.0 every five to ten minutes throughout that entire day.  That original tectonic event triggered some sort of cascading repetition where the tremors would not resolve as if some tipping point had been crossed.  This episode is emblematic of our current stasis in man’s march through time.  I know you can feel it because I get feedback from believers and unbelievers all stating the same observation, that the environment is pregnant for sporadic outbreaks instead or regularity and normalcy.  It has somehow become an experiment more highly prone to chaos, with what once were manageable occurrences now spiraling out of control.  Man is no longer in the “catbird” seat but has become the unwitting pawn in a drama spinning out of normal centrifugal parameters.  Regardless of which model you subscribe to or utilize, whether the merry-go-round going too fast or the figure skater spiraling faster and faster in a spin, both end in implosive or explosive devastation.

There is a fence separating all of humanity and this energetic flux is creating a polarity where it is increasingly more difficult to remain in the center of the orbiting construct.  Bodies are being forced to the polar aspects through our push against the axis.  There is nothing substantial upon which to adhere at the diametrical way line.  The fence will be evacuated, not by choice but through overwhelming influence, pushing all the positions along the frontier’s circumference.  There are after all only two halves to the whole.  Try as we may persist, we of ourselves are incapable of escaping the laws of physics and time.  The only way to escape the cruelty, inflexibility and finality of the Law is through the forgiveness of redemption by the Blood of Jesus Christ the Savior of Mankind.  I accept my place in God’s unfolding plan for humanity, and I look forward to and welcome my new place in the Kingdom of God, as this world shatters and is reconstructed by the Power of His Word.  Praise King Jesus, Amen.

On and off, something or nothing, life or death, have’s and have nots.  Black and white or simply yes and no.  Do these parameters, these absolutes truly carry as much authority as they appear to display?  Aren’t there so many shades of gray in between the polar junctions of a spectrum.  Is white at one end and then black at the other when one stops to contemplate gray?  Could there be an absolute evil and something that is Divinely pure, or is it just fictional speculation?

Do you think that zero envies one?  One has everything while zero stands null, one is complete while zero absent, one has existence and zero only void.  Does saying yes truly give a person a degree of potency that their no position lacked?  When you commit to something, anything, you must first say “yes”.  So there is no business, no marriage, no child, no harvest without the utterance of the affirmative.  It is this shear act of will and determination which brings with it the inception and eventual march toward resolution.  No battle was ever won by accident, without the “will” to overcome whatever opposing odds.  Without the yes there is only “no” thing.  God said yes and this world came into being, a place where man feels compelled to reduce everything to infinite stages of grey.

Could it be that simple?  That a mere choice, a basic decision is the true power of creation.  Could that be why the Almighty God has loved us enough to base eternity’s decision upon a choice?  Is that perhaps why satan has craftily named the murder of a child in the womb, choice, to contort something which God meant for glory?  Say “no” to the enemy in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and he is left with Nothing.  Wherever you may currently reside, whether dilemmic or null, you can say “yes” to the Father and be recreated for a new life with God.  It is after all that simple.  Make the declaration, let the light shine into your life, take that first step on the path toward Glory.  Choose Life, Choose Jesus.

My life was not cleansed by baptizing my finger in an inch of holy water.  The entirety of my sin was washed away by the precious cleansing blood of the Almighty God come to pay my sin debt through a humbling death upon a tree.  The torrents wash over me removing my filth, my stench, my weakness, crime and shame, returning me to right standing with God so that I may pursue a relationship with our Creator.  I do not want a dabbling of such Majesty.  I prefer to dive into the waters of my rebirth, arising refreshed, renewed, reborn in the Kingdom of my true citizenry.

There is no dedication, discipline, line of study or just-pursuit that requires a minimum of time to learn, master or overcome.  There is no fast track to anything worth mastering.  Study must be earnestly conducted, disciplined practice must be attended and practical application must be empirically tested until weaknesses, errors and flaws are revealed and winnowed.  Certainly talent and gifts play a role in enhancing the limits to which one may rise, but even the most talented of masters will tell you he learned more in the trenches of failure than from easy victories.  Becoming a mature Christian takes effort, time, dedication, learning and honing.  To adeptly wield the Two-Edged Sword, capable of separating soul from spirit requires practice.  Even David as a shepherd boy had some expert level of proficiency with the sling before facing and by the Grace of God defeating that giant.

This is the narrow path that does not follow the easy road craved by the masses.  For man it is impossible to traverse.  Ah, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  His Word is a light unto my path.  I walk by faith not by sight.  We are the redeemed sons and daughters of the Most High God.  We have been healed, cleansed, made whole through the Works of God Himself.  We are joint heirs, blessed by God’s immeasurable Love and shaped by His Word, His Spirit and His Disciplining Hand.  This is the road for the weak, the lost, the tired, sick, hungry and poor who will be made strong in Christ and healed by His merciful touch.  Come to Him in weakness, live with Him in security, strength and everlasting life.  Praise God, through Jesus Christ the King.

We scan, we plan, we scrimp, we thrive and save.  To what end shall our endeavors flourish?  Is it a house, a job, a family, a love or an extended vacation/retirement which guides our present efforts?  Have you a stated objective or is life leading you toward some eventuality?  What about Christ?  What about God’s direction?  Is this life the epitome of existence for which the Almighty created such a masterpiece of life, called man?  Could simply completing this march toward some unknown expiration date be all that God intended from creation?  It just defies logical understanding.

Certainly if we can be reduced to the progeny of chimps then the purpose is irrelevant.  Absolutely if man is the happenstance conclusion of elemental chance then life has no other meaning then the random collision of molecules and transfer of energy.  Decidedly if man has been designed in isolation simply for self-service then gathering and dispensing of material objects becomes the overall measure of a person’s worth.  Thank God my life is not that simple.  Praise the almighty that He orchestrated this Earth and all upon it, toward an end not of self-construction, giving it purpose, meaning, direction and the choice of eternal opportunities.  I will not surrender to an explanation of man’s origin that simplifies the majesty of this gift we have been offered.

If it is joy, mystery, safety and aspiration then there is only one rational choice, surrender and service to the One God, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.  Believers are being swayed by logical argument because they will not investigate the evidence and of Biblical Historic and Prophetic Truth.  We have allowed the lost to dictate the public argument to save ourselves embarrassment of exposure as infants of Biblical understanding.  If you want to see EVIDENCE of this statement type in Biblical Prophecy at Wikipedia and you will see a warning that the articles they present are incomplete.  Biblical scholars, and by this I mean every mature Christian should be volunteering to assist them with the public description of our own faith, yet we remain seated.

Biblical Prophecy is unfolding before our eyes and yet we refuse to share the Good News of Christ’s Coming.  The accuracy of God’s Word as foretold by Daniel, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Paul, Micah and so many others is being visibly presented, RIGHT NOW for all the world to see, yet we remain ambivalent, ignorant or unaffected.  This is the time of our rejoicing yet we are captured in relative silence.  Our Lord lives and soon He will return to Rule and Reign forever and to His Kingdom there will be no limit or no end.  I don’t know about you, I am a man of purpose.  A purpose designed and encoded to my spirit by my Father the Lord God Almighty who came down from heaven to demonstrate His Authority, Power and Love for all to witness.  He is the purpose I serve.  A life with Him is the treasure that I seek.  I will not hesitate to learn what must be learned in order to prepare for what is about to unfold.  Won’t you join me in the hope that comes through understanding of prophecy, for the Spirit of Prophecy is the Lord Jesus Christ and His return for His Church and His reign.  Jesus Be praised in all His splendor, Might and Glory.  Amen

How many times have I been forgiven?  Innumerable, immeasurable, incalculable, perhaps, even if I were to have kept score, the Lord has forgotten them.  Can you conceive of such grace?  A God so full of a Love that is beyond my understanding that He would forgive my tremendous offenses while I find it hard to forgive those I love for minor infractions.  What kind of fool I would be to believe that I am somehow entitled to such depth of kindness.  Or the greater fool to turn away from such an offer of redemption, cleansing and relationship.

How many days have I looked beyond blessings following each footfall, remaining in desirous want?  Gifts, left for me, perfectly matching my specific need and character, given without attachment.  Yet I failed to offer up thanks or in a moment of humility see the profoundness of my legacy.  Always grasping, lamenting, coveting that which I needed so.  All the while surrounded by Glory, Power and Divinely protected from obvious dangers in my haphazard walk.  I am and have always been wealthy, why now do I see it so?

I have read of men, greater men, lesser men and I have spoken down to their folly.  As if I have somehow displayed another measure of wisdom.  Judgment is the Lord’s prerogative, yet I dispense it without restraint.  How careless my wielding of sword and shield, apologetic only when caught in crossfire or cross-hair.  Allow me to forgive Father to save me from donning my own inconsiderate apparel.  There are none for whom I have perpetual misgiving.  Remove those trapped in the clouded dungeons of my uncompromising demeanor.  Set us free.

Teach me to love them as You have first loved me.  Praise God in Jesus’ Name.