Daily Archives: October 4, 2011

A Pulpit of Dust

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Jakobskirken in Roskilde, Denmark. Pulpit.

Image via Wikipedia

There are those who knew me as I held a pulpit’s railing. 

The lips in my head proclaimed with power the Word of God.

I fell from that raised platform and was injured for years.

And those who knew me shook their head.

I also shook my head, as a man who reels from a hard blow.

Trouble swamped my boat and death was my longing.

No hope was mine.

No place to hide.

I lost everything I could have gained.

But the Lord has not kept me locked in those chains.

He has released His prisoner with a smile on His face.

I AM FREE!

Now I will announce His Words!

I will not surrender to the foolishness which caused me to stumble.

My feet find Rock instead of sand!

I am a man of God, and I will proclaim His Name!

Do I miss that place, so clean and stately?

Oh!  How the Lord knows I do.

But my pulpit now is the very dust of this earth.

As was the Lord’s Place of Announcement.

And now I am blessed to take part in the Great Parade of His Beautiful Saints!

Glory to the One who sets the captive free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forever is the praise of those ARE redeemed!

 

By His Grace.

Do Not Seal Up Your Testimony!

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Fear - Graffiti

God’s people will speak in the Great Assembly of the righteous.  Why should we not speak such things in the assembly of the wicked?  Is it fear of rejection?  Is it a fear that you will be punished for speaking those words you know belong to God? 

Fear does not belong to God.  And those who are called by His name should throw off such coverings.  Release yourself from what is wicked.  Join the throng who have testified on this planet.  Many have had their blood mingled with the dust you now walk on.  And should we keep silent for the fear of words alone?  You might think you will lose friends.  How is that a shock to you?  Who is the friend of the Lord’s people?  Has God pronounced that everyone will be your friend?  Didn’t He tell us they will hate us because of Him?  So how can you now cower in a corner with your worship and words of Glory? 

Look how the wicked come out and proclaim their wicked words and actions!  See how they dance with abandon before the entire world!  Yet the Lord’s people keep their faith hidden lest they bring shame upon themselves.  I tell you a truth:  The shame of keeping quiet because of such fears is and will become a shame for us before the Most High God on that day.

If I sit on a stone and ponder what might happen to me if I do something, the fear builds.  But put me in front of a man who is about to bust my nose and I’ll stand my ground.  I’ve done that a couple times.  So I know what I’m talking about.  I don’t fear what is right before me.  I find fear, as a threat, more intimidating than the real thing.  I WILL NOT LET FEAR RULE OVER ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   The very moment you find fear becoming your master, put one foot forward into that place of fear.  Start typing those words.  Speak with your mouth and nullify that threat.  Make it real!  Cause the fear to come out of the shadows and it will dissipate into vapor!

Your choice.  Obey your fear.  Or obey the Lord.  It’s not really more complicated than that.

By His Grace.

Good Luck?

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Press Your Luck

Image via Wikipedia

I see those who call themselves Christians constantly quoting the phrase, “Good luck”.   I know they don’t mean to offend the Lord.  But don’t they realize that is a saying of those who have no hope?  To those who use that term, luck is the way life works.  “Maybe I’ll get what I want and things will go well with me.”

And I see others post their horoscope on their profiles.  Don’t they realize these things are not of God?  They are both approaches to a life left to the whim of things beyond their hands and understanding.  This is God’s realm.  But they replace Jesus with luck and the wickedness of tarot cards. 

Where is luck in the Bible?  Where is the mention of witchcraft in the Bible?   Were either mentioned as God’s prescribed means of pleasing Him?  And after all this world is done, the wicked banished to hell for eternity, and the saved ushered into the presence of God by Jesus, where will all these ungodly approaches to life be?  They will be banished with those who hate the Lord.

Give it a thought a moment.  If it isn’t a life of faith in the will of God through Jesus, it’s no life at all.  We are told that we have every confidence in Jesus alone.  And that it will be faith in the Son of God which saves us.  Why would you allow yourself to even speak such wickedness?  The answer comes in two parts:

1. You don’t know Jesus as you ought.  To you He is something yet to come. 

2. His ways mean little here.  Your god is luck or witchcraft. 

What do you think is the end of those who measure their lives by such standards?  If you hold to these things, Jesus cannot be your sole source of strength.  Even if you rely on your friends to save you, you will have no hope.  Why would you live as the world lives?  Don’t you realize that NOW is the day of salvation?  Why are you waiting to meet the Holy God of Israel before you abandon the things of this world?  He has told us the truth; nothing built on the world will survive into an eternity with Him.  And everything of this world is to be destroyed.  Turn to Him alone!

Bring honor to your family.  Abandon everything false and learn to rely completely on He who can teach us what is true.  We will give account of what we have done with the Holy Gospel.  It would be wise to ingest God’s things and get rid of that which is not.

By His Grace.

Wanna Get Away?

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what's in your medicine cabinet?

Image by double dose via Flickr

You’ve seen the commercials.  And they are really funny.  Why?  Because we all do stupid things that cause us so much pain we wish we could just disappear.  The funny/sad thing is, we can’t.  We’re caught!  And now we are bound as prisoners to face the truth of our actions or words.

We say, “Man!  I won’t do that again!”  But we find, later, we’re caught once again doing exactly what we vowed not to do.  For this aspect of our nature we do have a friend who understands.  And rather than hang your head in shame, turn your heart and mind toward Him.  His name is Jesus.  And He alone can remove the pain of our foolish behavior.  Not only that, but He is able to remove the foolishness which will cause us to ponder that “get away” at the very Throne of the Most High God. 

No one who stands condemned at that judgment will enjoy where they are and what got them there.  That’s a truth you can bank your entire soul on.  Don’t believe that lie which says, “I don’t mind going to hell.  All my friends are going to be there and we’ll have a wonderful party for eternity.”  Those who say such things have absolutely no clue as to the serious nature of God’s Holy Wrath against His enemies.

By His Grace.

Delightful Pain.

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Human heart. Picture taken during autopsy.

Image via Wikipedia

The Lord’s hand is upon me.  I am dressed by His Grace.  All day long His Word is on my mind.  And how my heart aches to hear His voice.  But His Powerfully Gentle hand rests on my shoulder.  And we both gaze at what is good. 

“Ache then heart!”  Ache to love your God!  He made you beat.  He gave you blood to churn.  And by this gift you support this ache.  Yet He is ever so much more.

Strain to listen.  Strain to see.  Lend every nerve ending toward all that is good.  Seek Him till you find the limit He has imposed upon you. That place where He has declared, “Thus far you shall come, and no farther.”   Ache, my heart!

By His Grace.

“Good”!

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Words have a power all their own

Image by waɪ.tiː via Flickr

Make a pile of every good word man owns.  Reach into every language on the face of the entire earth and grasp good words.  Carry them gently and lay them down with love.  The pile grows to an gigantic size.  And we are happy at the shining mountain of good words.

Now, if you can, speak all those words with one word.  Let it be that there is one tongue in the world which can do that.  Now gather all the people to hear this word.  The man opens his lips.  He takes a very deep breath and lets his mouth speak that one encapsulating word.  All the people pause with extreme attention and they hear, “GOOD”.

Man is not permitted to own a word which describes the Glory of God.  We own no sound which, by itself, can express the lovely beauty that we perceive as we gaze upon Jesus with eyes of faith.

By His Grace.