Monthly Archives: July 2011

Gold Stars and Gold Braids

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When I was young, they would reward my good efforts by giving me little gold stars.  Then I entered places where they might adorn my shirt with a button or a little trinket of “glory” as I moved from success to success.  I entered the military.  I received medals for certain accomplishments.  And now I receive rewards from men for doing what they wish me to do according to their standards.

The Lord is the same way.  Though we might or might not perceive it, He allows us to become adorned with certain Glory as we move from learning to learning.  We enter new places of obedience and usefulness as we spend time with Him.  And He is a generous God!  His mercy will be poured out on anyone who earnestly and actively turns from sin and rebellion toward obedience.

He will be praised forever because He is merciful and loving.  It will not be the notches of death He has had to render to the disobedient which will be His acclaim forever.  It will be the loving way He holds His people close to His wonderful heart that will be spoken for eternity.

Subject yourself to His wisdom and learn.  You will move within Him from place to place; from worst to better, and on to best.  Submit and learn to Love in Christ Jesus.

By His Grace.

Psalm 50. What Right Do You Have?

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Flag of Israel with the Mediterranean sea in t...

Image via Wikipedia

1 The Mighty One, God, the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes
and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around him a tempest rages.
4 He summons the heavens above,
and the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me this consecrated people,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for he is a God of justice.

7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel:
I am God, your God.
8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices
or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9 I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?

14 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

16But to the wicked person, God says:

“What right have you to recite my laws
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 You hate my instruction
and cast my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you join with him;
you throw in your lot with adulterers.
19 You use your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and testify against your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you did these things and I kept silent,
you thought I was exactly like you.
But I now arraign you
and set my accusations before you.

22 “Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me,
and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”

Related articles
  • Psalm 50 (thechristthreshold.wordpress.com)

Ok. Fine! So I’m Stupid.

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I woke this morning after 3 hours sleep.  I can’t sleep!  I want God’s will.   And I’m going to rant here a bit.  I don’t care if you can forgive my ranting.  I’m frustrated and simply need to vent.  I stand between the world and the Lord.  I want Him far more than I want anything in this world.  And people who know me and hear me say that would nod in understanding:  “Yep.  I can testify.   This man really is crazy after God’s things”.

No matter where I turn I find lies and confusion.  People speak of God as a fairy tale.  They don’t realize that the world they’re trying to re-create is the fairy tale.  They think this day is the day they’ve been waiting for.  They think they have what they finally wanted since man began.  They want no part of God or His ways.  Oh how they speak fine words.  Refined language is the religion of the day.  If they can speak the right words, they think they have nullified the Word of the Lord.  They turn to what they call reason.  “If we can just approach life from a logical perspective, we can rid ourselves of all this God stuff.”  What they are saying is that the mind of man can create the utopia he deserves and desires.

Fine!  Have your utopia by virtue of your own imagination.  And you call Christians fairy tale people.  Foolishness!  What has your tiny mind created that you can hold in your hand?  Murder?  Chaos all over the planet?  Hunger?  Rape?  And every other kind of horror.  Has your tiny mind created a solution to all these things?  And does your tiny mind really blame God for all this?   Are you really that stupid?  Or are you simply misguided.

I am frustrated by the denial men live their lives under.  If I tell them that the answer is to turn to God in humility, they laugh at me.  Yet if I point out their failing foolishness, they get angry.    Where is the godly man and woman in the face of all this stupidity?  Where are the voices of the “called out ones”?  The main stream “church” is full of the same kind of stupidity as the world.  Every place I attend I find smatterings of philosophy, psycho analytical nonsense, “how to’s”, and more books to read.  What?!   Is this the answer?  NO!

The Living God, present in the lives of man, is the answer.  Doing what He demands all men to do is the answer.  He will not be silent much longer.  And when He speaks you will wish you could just disappear, O’ World!  Right now is your day.  Go ahead.  Have it your way.  Speak the lies you embrace.  Sell each other the trinkets you have made to replace the Holiness of God.  Advertise all manner of foolishness to each other.  Speak of peace, while you are at war with the Most High God.  You are being manipulated by the father of lies.  And you don’t even notice.

Where is truth?  It is found in the Living God, through Jesus.  There is no other such thing as “truth”.  And what I have said will be found true.  But this is your day.  While you send truth to the pile of dung in your world of lies.  God will bring your lies to ruin.  Abandon will be your meal for eternity.  For you have abandoned the Lord of Life.  Hatred will be the fork and spoon you feed yourself with from you plate of “nothing”.  For nothing is what you hold so dear.  You want nothing!  And you’ll kill to get it.  Nothing is what you will receive.

What I testify about the Lord is true.  And you will taste it soon enough.  There is not one shred of doubt in me regarding the judgment to come or the present demand by God that all men turn to Him through His Son.  Yet you say “God is like us”.  Like you?????  Are you kidding?  Are you serious?  You want a God who lies?  You want a God who will die?  You want a God who gets sick?  You want a God who doesn’t know his ear from his toe?  Is this your version of God?

He says, the one who sins is the one who will die.  And you hate Him for being so blunt.  He created you and everything you have.  But you hate the fact that He asks you to give it all up and accept Him instead.  YOU ARE THE CREATED ONE!!!!  What do you have that you made for yourself from nothing?  You are a user.  Breathing uses the air God created.  Thinking uses the brains God created.  You point your created finger of hatred at God and His people.  You move your created tongue with hatred and lies.  You crain your created ear to hear others speak of things you want to hear.  And you ignore anything godly.  And I’m the foolish one?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

By His Grace.

Praise for Devotion.

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Though I am the only one, I will speak the praises of God.

Though I am the only one, I will warn the wicked.

Though I am the only one, I will serve the Most High God.

For He is worthy of worship.  And He provokes His people to Joy!

 

By His Grace.

Sculpted from Flesh.

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Roman hammer and chisel, Cologne

Image by Tintern via Flickr

It is God who gives the righteous their works.  It is He, who lives forever, who creates His people.  Among the nations the Lord is working.  He is carving out a people for Himself.  Praise the Lord, you righteous in the land.  You are sculpted from flesh into a fragrant flower for the Lord.  He is able to present you on that day with beauty and honor.  Only humble yourselves as those who are being built by One Greater.  Righteousness belongs to the Lord!  And to Him only will all praise be given.

by His Grace.

Related articles

The Swatter is Coming.

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Common house fly (Musca domestica).

Image via Wikipedia

The fly buzzes my head.  And he gives no thought that he is irritating me to violence.  He does not notice as my hand reaches for the fly swatter.  And he takes no notice of how I have dressed myself in patience for his destruction.  I will wait for him to lite in a place of my convenience.  Then I will unleash his end.  What was tethered in patience will become a lightning end.

So it is with the wicked against the Lord.  They give no thought of how irritating they are becoming to the Lord.  They do not notice how their lives are headed toward a place the Lord has established, the place of their destruction.  They speak and rail against Him while they take no notice of how He is dressed in an eternal patience.  They are the ones who count the minutes.  The Lord only counts for the sake of those who number, for eternity has no number of days.  He waits for them to lay down in the dirt; their days spent in rebellion and hatred for His Righteousness.  And then, He unleashes His perfect and Righteous Judgment upon the wicked.

By His Grace.