Monthly Archives: October 2011

Believe the Testimony and Live!

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Photo of the Book of Isaiah page of the Bible

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I testify to all that God is True.   I testify to all that Jesus is Able to bring you home.  I testify to all that the foolish, desperate, wicked of heart, mentally deficient, physically lacking, and socially repressed and outcast, can be saved from their ailments.  I testify to this because I know there is one who testifies that such is not true.  And there are far more who believe in that one, than of those who rest in God’s promises.

Do not discount what I have just said.  It is absolutely true and correct.  But you may ask, “Then why am I not healed from those things I hate so much?”  Do you really want my answer to you?   “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.  For all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

 1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4 he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

Got Understanding?

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"Pop Goes the Weasel" melody (Kliewe...

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Who is the one who has been given understanding?  Perhaps you sleep a short sleep.  Perhaps your prayers are being heard even now.  Perhaps the day is consuming you as you serve the Living God.  Perhaps you are nearer to me than I presently know.  But who is the one who has been given understanding?

We all catch melodies as we mingle with this world.  A jingle sticks in the mind like a bur in wool.  Then we scrape against an experience and the bur leaves us.  We walk along grateful that the irritating melody is finally gone, only to encounter another.

I have had a melody ring in my heart for weeks now.  “I could have told you Vincent.  This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.”  Where is the one who has been given understanding?   Are you able to divide truth from fiction regarding this?  Are you willing, because you have been given understanding, to shed light on this for me?

I find applications as the days go by.  But there is a “something” I can’t yet grasp regarding this melody.  And I know it as well as a grown person.  Perhaps the Lord is building something which will be revealed in a certain moment of time not yet arrived.  Perhaps this post is the engine which propels the answer to me.  But I ask again:  Where and who is the one who has been given understanding?

 

Letters to a Dear Friend

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There is a place where hatred dies. I’ve often been in the place where hatred thrives. It has blocked the sun on a summer’s day. It has stopped the rain’s noise on the roof. It has leveled an earth cracked from drought. It has made me nothing more than a lump of flesh. And it has appeared often and powerfully, as if to brood over me as a cloud without color; not black or grey.

But there is a place where hatred dies. Now I look back to those days when it came to press upon me. Even there I remember that hatred was something. When I had nothing, I at least had hatred. But there is a place where even hatred dies. Then there is nothing. And the prospect of that agony is more than the brooding hatred.

So I searched out for anything I could do while it brooded over me. Perhaps I could twirl a coin. But there is a place where even twirling cannot be done; this place where hatred dies. Many think they will be rid of hatred and find a place of peace. But in the finding of that peace, they will find that even hatred has died in that place. As it has been our only friend, now even it has died. And nothing is left for eternity

This place where hatred dies, which I spoke of before, is not to be found while we still wear skin. I have heard people speak of this current place as the place where even hatred dies. But a simple look around shows that this is not so. And the death of love is also a myth born by those who walk in this place of testing. Among so many myths whispered by skin wearers, this one reigns supreme.

Wonderful and Horrible were brothers. One was and the other only pretended to be. Yet, Wonderful kept to Himself and only shared His thoughts with His closest friends. Horrible, on the other hand, shared his thoughts and belongings with everyone he ever met. I say this from the perspective of one who stands on the mountain top and looks back over the spreading village below, where horrible lives. I am nearly to Wonderful’s city. And I can hear the music of His people as they sing of He who Is.

He who never was, will never be. It’s a promise of truth from Wonderful’s lips. And in the city where I am bound, Horrible is never to set foot. The beauty is that those who live in the village can climb to this place if they are willing to simply ask Wonderful for help. Horrible is the stingy one. But Wonderful is generous and kind. Horrible takes and takes until nothing is left to consume. Wonderful gives and gives until His friends are full and complete.

Come with me and we will dance to the melody of those who know Wonderful face to face. One step. It takes one step across the threshold of your door. A simple “ask” is all it takes. Colors await, never again a colorless day again. Even the darkest moment in the company of Wonderful is filled with awe inspiring vibrance.

__Note:

Horrible’s village produces only one product of any meaningful value, paper.   When he is gone who will be left to run the mill?

http://faithtdavies.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/beautiful/

Relevant Elevant.

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The eye of an asian elephant at Elephant Natur...

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The story of the blind men and the elephant is a cool story.  But it approaches the Truth of God from man’s perspective.  That story is based on man’s understanding of the nature of things apparent.  But it does little to clarify the Holy and Living God in Christ Jesus.

Lucky You, Blessed Me.

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Mountain Road Lottery Ticket 1768.

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Jesus is the Son of the Living God.  It is not appropriate to consider Him as someone who set the universe in motion then stepped aside to see what would happen.  That would be to make God a God who embraces chance.  And chance is a figment of man’s imagination which pushes the Living God away.  Luck is of that pedigree; men desire to become lucky because they ignore the Living God’s call to faith. 

The Living God will show Himself to any who humble themselves to serve Him.  His revelation comes to man as he accepts the Holy Majesty of God’s control in his life.  As we fan this humility into flame by obeying what we hear, read, and observe from Him, He continues to give more of Himself.  But as we ignore His Holy ways, we endure a peculiar blindness. 

Perhaps you don’t believe what I’ve just said.  Humble yourself before the Most High, calling on the name of His Holy Son, and you will begin to see what is true.  Remain in doubt and you will remain simply lucky; living your life according to chance.

By His Grace.

600,000. To Every Church. To Every Christian.

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600,000 men, including their women and children were led out of Egypt by great wonders and signs from God.  Yet none of them will inherit eternal life.  God swore by Himself that they would not enter His rest.  Though they were witnesses of His majesty among them, they did not combine their witness with faith.  What does this mean?  Does this apply to us today?

Hebrews says that those people heard the Gospel just as we have.  But they did not combine it with faith.  Read the account in Exodus.  Then read the witness against them in Hebrews.  Then consider this:

What have we heard?  We have heard that God sent His son into the world to save the world by offering Himself as a sacrifice for any who would receive Him.  But what does it mean to receive Him?  You have heard that Christians refer to Jesus as Lord.  Nevertheless, many refuse to turn away from the things of this world.  They retain a perceived “right” to do as they please without considering the Will of God in their daily lives.  To do this is to act just as those 600,000 who are never to see Life.

Those 600,000+ saw the plagues God sent upon Egypt.  They received the orders from Moses regarding the Passover.  They obeyed by a certain fear, born of the sights and sounds they witnessed.  They received valuables from the people of Egypt as they left.  And in this way, they plundered the slave masters who had beaten them for no reason.  They encamped against the sea as Egypt’s army approached.  They witnessed the fantastic miracle of a parting sea.  And they walked across the sea on dry land.  They watched with great surprise as the power of death at the hands of Egypt was crushed by tons of water; not one soldier survived.  They were given food and water; food from heaven and water from a rock.  Yet they complained constantly saying, “It would have been better for us to have died in Egypt.”  For this reason, God swore on oath that they would never enter His rest.

God is willing to reveal Himself to those who separate themselves from this world and worship Him through Jesus.  And in this way, we are now counted as those being tested as they were.  How many millions have already received that same oath against them?  To those who think that calling themselves something makes them that something, God remains concealed.  There is a place where we enter in.  Those who submit to Jesus’ Lordship know of that place.  While those who insist on having their own way, do not know of that place.  To them, this article speaks of something they know nothing about.  They will discount its value without consideration of what I am saying here.

What does it mean to see the wonders of God and not combine it with faith?  Simply put, it means that we recognize the work of God in our lives and put our faith in His guidance, protection, and willingness to sustain us in all things.  We turn our troubles over to Him.  We obey the call to read His Word the Bible.  We learn to pray according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  And we grow in the knowledge of the Lord as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  These are actions, which display a faith born of the witness of His Glory, which is given to all people.  And as we walk under these things, we learn to do the Holy Works of God.  We no longer do as we please.  Rather, we learn to do as we are taught.  And in the end, it is God who will receive the Glory for His works among us.  No more of this: “God will receive me for I am a good person.”

Those who are found empty of these things are not inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven.  Though you observe many rituals and words, they are void and empty if you do not submit your life to the Lordship of Jesus.  How can I say this any clearer?  How many men have tried to warn us of these things?  Yet, how many still think that to mouth words is sufficient.  Have those who believe this ever heard it said that they honor Him with their lips, but their heart is far from Him?

Millions today think that if they do enough good deeds God will welcome them into the Kingdom of Heaven with respect and glory.  But do they do the deeds of God?  A good deed in the eyes of man has as much a chance of being a good deed of God as a frog has of becoming a gnat.  God said, and we would do well to give this great consideration, that every good deed of man is as filthy rags (the rag of a woman’s period).  How can He say this of such selfless work on the part of man?  Is it selfless indeed?  Aren’t you doing these things so that you will receive?  Even if you do not expect to receive from men a return for the work you do for them, you do expect to receive from God because you perceive yourself as such a good person.  Your good deeds, done from your own mind are selfish acts of rebellion.  God alone knows what is Good!  And your not turning to Him for guidance and restraint of selfishness will be counted against you.

I do not know how to say this any clearer.  I do not want any who hear of the Lord Jesus to receive that oath of curse.  How I long to see the number of God’s people grow.  However, you will have none of it!  Why?  Why won’t you listen to these words?  Why won’t you reason regarding the Gospel?  Why do you insist on being worthy of God’s praise without God’s leadership in your life?  Why?

Jesus alone has done the will of God in the body.  And He alone will be the source of salvation.  Nothing we can do will usher us into the Glory of God the Father.  It is Jesus alone, who has that privilege.  I caution you to consider this truth with sobriety.

By His Grace.