Monthly Archives: May 2011

Practise

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You have heard that nothing corrupt will ever enter eternity with the Lord.  I know I’ve mentioned it a time or two.  And you’ve noticed how corrupt you are, I hope.  Now there’s a problem here, ya think?  It’s a problem we all struggle with.  You’ll be cruising along just fine one day and, all of a sudden, you realize you’re pondering or doing something you KNOW the Lord will not allow entrance into Heaven.  It’s one thing to ask for forgiveness from the Lord and believe you have received it.  But what will you do next time?  Is there a place a man can live where he commits these wicked things less and less?  I can testify that there is such a place.  And though I don’t know how Jesus will deal with you personally over these issues, I know of a clue to learning how to obey Him more often.

When you were a child you learned how to do many wicked things.  You learned early how to lie.  It was, at first, a way of keeping out of trouble.  But remember, there was also a time when you had no clue how to lie.  So you learned how to be wicked so you could do what you wanted and get away with it.  From that moment on lies became a tool in your tool box.  And you’ll notice that through out every day lies still come to mind.  You might not play them out.  But they’re still hangin around. 

The key to transforming your mind from wickedness to purity is called learning.  Think of the things you used to do as a child.  How many things have you forgotten how to do?  Like crawling through the grass.  Adults don’t do that much.  But children love it.  How did you come to forget how to enjoy that?  The answer is, you stopped doing it.  You learned to lie the same way.  You stopped living in innocence.  It’s our practise that leads to who we become.  If I practise playing guitar, I get better at it.  If I stop playing guitar for a year or two I hardly even think of it anymore.  It’s not that I can’t remember if I pick it up again.  But I will have to learn all over again how to get pretty good at it.  Practise.

Be innocent of what is evil and wise about what is good.  But how do we become innocent of what is evil if we have lived evil lives?  How do you forget what is evil if that is all you’ve been all your life?  The Lord’s reply is amazingly simple.  “Practise doing what is good and you will forget what is evil.  Just as when you begin to practice what is evil you forget what is good.” (As I heard Him whisper to me one day)

Peter put it this way:  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy because I am Holy.’” (1 Peter 1: 14)

But the Apostle Paul pens the words like this:  “. . . but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”  (Romans 16:19)

Learn from the Lord by listening to the Word of God in the Bible.  Learn from the Lord by listening to His leading in your conscience.   Learn to listen to His voice of guidance from the Holy Spirit within you (if, indeed, you are a Christian).  For if you are not a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, it will do you no good to practice what is good; for you are still bound by the father of lies.  Only in Jesus can we hope to find help in our attempts to become holy and practice what is good.  Before Jesus within us, we can only play like children at accomplishing the holiness God the Father demands.  The power to please God comes from an intimate relationship with Jesus.  And we have heard that those who practise evil will never enter God’s peace.  Practise!

By His Grace.

got love?

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As I sought to worship with the Lord one morning, I had a most wonderful experience.  A feeling of acceptance began to roll over me.  It started as a peace and ended up in great tears.  Beautiful, wonderful, peaceful, pure, and full, are words which begin to describe the experience.  The Lord had come near. 

Still marveling at the experience, I hooked my trailer and began to drive my route.  As I drove through town I noticed people walking.  And for the first time in my life I saw them as the Lord sees them.  There are a number of radical differences between how we see people and how He sees them.  There was no judgment against them.  He considers no fault at their door.  He knows their plight and desires to relieve them from their burdens.  He doesn’t notice their appearance.  Yet He knows the very grains of dirt their feet crush as they walk.  He knows where we are at all times.  He would help them do what they are doing (if, indeed, what they are doing is struggling to do what is good).  Forgiveness and an embrace of love is waiting right at the end of their nose, if they would just reach out and take it.  In short, He desires to Love all of us. 

Many see the Lord through the eyes of do and don’t.  In this perspective Love cannot flurish.  But a few, who have been touched by this Great Love come to understand Him from an entirely different perspective.  All of a sudden, nothing I encounter matters.  This is how those who Love Him can endure such horrible beatings.  His love swamps them with marvel as their captors engage them with impliments of torture.  This is how His children can endure the loss of anything and still echo back to God’s Holy Throne, “Thank you Lord, for all Your Holy Love”.

There is a horrible story in the book of Matthew.  I’d never seen the impact of this story like I do today.  You’ll find it in Matthew 22: 1 – 14.

 1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

   4“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

   5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

   8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

   11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

   13“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

   14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Take note of verse 11 and 12.  Who is this man?  He is one who understands the Lord is love and that the invitation is open to attend.  But he does not love the Lord.  His purpose in attending is to escape the estrangement from the Lord of Life and Love.  He’s there because he is cheating.  Though he understands the nature of God, he did not dress himself in this Love which he knows God offers and demands from His people here on earth.  Where are his clothes?  And how did he think he would go unnoticed among all those others who shine so brightly?

I testify that the Lord is Love.  But He reserves the right to limit enterence into Heaven according to His wisdom.  No wickedness will enter eternity.  On the other hand, He is offering you that beautiful gift right now.  Are you ready to work with Him to transform your heart and mind?  Are you willing or even able to put down your tools of sin and war?  If you take an inventory of your willingness and realize you’re not able to join Him in this Holy war of transformation, reach your heart toward Him and beg for His gorgeous wisdom and mercy.  Now is the day of transformation.  If you wait for heaven to do the will of God, you will become like that one who was not dressed for the wedding.

By His Grace.

The Light’s On. But Where’s the Understanding?

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HEAVEN

Pondering the life I’m leading, I’m struck by the difference between the mind-set of the world and the awareness of Jesus in my life.  To the world, ownership and identity are the primary reasons of life.  They chase after absolutely everything that can be grasped by man.  But the Christian will learn to abhor these things and become consumed with the Spiritual things.

Sports, sex, houses, land, title, friends, and money are the objects of the world’s affection.  But righteousness, pleasing the Father in Heaven, evangelism, prayer, and watching against sin are the objects of the Christian’s affection.  Every moment is consumed with the things of the Lord for the Christian.  Yet the very last thing a worldly person wants to do is ponder religion and God. 

This difference is never so plain as when, after a time of reflection on the things of Heaven, I talk to a worldly person.  Our conversation will be sharply divided.  No matter what we talk about, I am headed toward the connections between the things of this world and the things of God.  Yet the worldly person will stop his thinking at the things of this world.  To him, life is simple and radically confusing.  To the Christian, life is never simple or confusing.  God is primary to the one who has accepted Jesus.  Jesus is the stench of death to the worldly person. 

I feel the strain every time I talk with the worldly person.  And it causes me to yearn for isolation again.  But isn’t this the state of affairs?  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.  And we no longer belong to the system of understanding this world craves.

By His Grace.

Come On, GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!

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Such import is being given to how we should.  They tell us we should evangelize!  Don’t sin!  Read your bible!  Go to church!  Don’t cuss!  Don’t drink!  Don’t be a glutton!  Pray!  Love your enemies!  Forgive!  And on it goes till even the best among us are sick of the WORDS!!!!!!!

What’s the problem?  Well, where’s the engine for all these things?  You’re telling people to do God things.  So go ahead and keep telling people to be godly.  Watch your hopes for them be dashed and dashed. 

The engine to what you’re telling them to do is the power of Jesus in a man.  You yell at the top of your lungs that men should be what God demands.  But you fail to mention that they will accomplish none of this without the power of Jesus in them!  What you propose is that “religion” will cause a man to become godly.  IT HAS NEVER PRODUCED ONE GODLY MAN!  It is Jesus who produces His requirements in those who meet His expectations.  But “God forbid” that man should have to give up his pride and fall on his knees before the Most High God!  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

By His Grace.

Christ Alone

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It has often been said, “Christ Alone”.  And in the meaning of the usual, this indicates that no other belief or work will accomplish the Father’s will in our salvation.  But there is another understanding for “Christ Alone”. 

Leaders and those who comment on the current state of affairs in this world are so very perplexed at what they are doing and witnessing.   Something is happening but they are pressed beyond their understanding to grasp the speed and vicious nature of these happenings.  The answers they are looking for are in the hand of Jesus.  They think and think, ponder and ponder, to find the truth of these things.  But they are missing the very key to their understanding.  Jesus is in control!  Christ Alone is King. 

By His Grace.

Here we sing alone.

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White dove with olive branch

Image via Wikipedia

There is a place where our voice will meld with the truth of our hearts! Here, we sing the praises of God through a singular heart. Here, we are alone in our experience of the Lord. Though we band together with millions to sing the same song, our lives are held seperate.

But there is a place promised where our hearts will be open and no longer isolated from each other. There, we will sing a song of praise borne from the presence of God’s Son. OH how I look forward to that moment. The first song of eternity. The noise of melded hearts will rattle the posts of God’s throne! HE IS WORTHY!

by His Grace.