Monthly Archives: April 2012

A Righteous Murder

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Blazing Fire

Blazing Fire (Photo credit: Poe Tatum)

I registered a complaint to the One who could accomplish.  “I am yoked with a fool who will not obey!  Help me in my plight for he detains me from coming to You!”

The One who could accomplish heard my words and drove me into a wilderness of brilliant fire.  The flames reached to the stars.  Without fear I walked, driven by the Love of He who lives forever.  And as I went, the fool dragged along behind.

I reached a place far from prying eyes.  Joy filled my heart as I felt new release.  Then the fool spoke with whining complaint, “Go back!  This place is not comfort!”

My joy was interrupted by his whining, raspy, irritating voice.  And with violent anger I turned to look at him.  Hatred blazed from my eyes, yet he stood so proud and confident of his words.  I looked down at my hands.  They had become as the fire around us.  And with great delight I put my hands of holy fire around his sinful neck.  “I will leave you where I find you!”  And with that said, the sinful nature died.

A vision of conquest is granted to my heart.  I will not be shackled to this fool of fools forever.  There is a place of release!

He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”  (Luke 13)

Under the Eternal Oak

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Remrkable oak at Saeul, lieudit Hëlzent, Luxem...

Remrkable oak at Saeul, lieudit Hëlzent, Luxembourg. This oak is around 280 years old. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Still I sit, head bowed in utter dismay.

Breaths come because they have to come.

In my lap are things sincere; righteous acts done in earnest.

Someone has opened my eyes and true light enters them.

Now they stare in disbelief at what I thought was good.

“I did these things?”  I whisper with dry lips.

“All of this, which lay in my lap, is a putrid mass!”

God has spoken, and my heart heard the message.

But understanding only came when I sat here to pray.

Offering was made and my eyes were opened.

The things brought for His pleasure are but a steaming pile of dung.

He alone is Righteous!

He alone is Pure!

He will grant me what is good.

Then, at some place distant, I will sit again under that eternal Oak.

And I will praise Him with Pure things.

For He will dress my ways with Glory along this way to the Eternal Oak.

By His Grace!  Again, by His Grace!  All good things are solely by His Grace.

Responsible

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Father Ford in the fire truck

Father Ford in the fire truck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A dead body cannot be responsible.  Neither can a fool be responsible.  It is even hard for a righteous man to be responsible.  Why?  In answer, let me take responsible apart:  Response Able.

God has given gifts to men for the sake of His Holy name.  He has given forgiveness for sins.   What is our response?   Do we dress ourselves with ability to respond?  Or do we take His Glorious gift for granted.  He has spoken in the gathering of wickedness.  He has danced a Holy dance in a body for all to see.  He endured this place of testing without sin.  And God has granted Him, (Jesus) Glory, Joy, Eternal Life as the Ruler of all.

I look at the ability of Jesus to respond to His Father as He walked in this utter black world of decayed souls.  And I am amazed that He performed perfectly!  He did not cave to the words and actions of man.  He desired only to be available to the will of His Father.  And He shunned all proposals to capitulate with the enemies of His Father.  He made Himself able to respond to the will of God.  He is perfectly Responsible to God, the Father of all Life and Righteousness.

With that in mind, I ask again, are we individually able to respond to the Grace given us?  Are we responsible Christians?  I write this with a severe anger at the sinful nature within me.  I remember what was spoken, and will not be taken out of the way, “Hate what is evil and cling to what is good.”  This is what is asked of us.  And it is not an unjust request.  For He gives us the power to over come.  What will be our response?  Are we able to be willing to work?

We retain men who have learned to put out fires.  If they are not responsible, what is the possibility that they can carry out the charge that has been laid upon them?  God has retained us through the sacrifice of His Holy Son.  Are we responsible?

Dedication to He Who IS

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Fear The Lord The left hand of the two similar...

Fear The Lord The left hand of the two similarly carved stones either side of the west entrance to St Leonard's Church. 32432 "Fear the Lord your God and serve Him. Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name." Deuteronomy 10:20 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let poverty envelop me,

I will serve the Lord.

Let sickness render me to death,

I will serve the Lord.

Let my limbs be limp,

I will serve the Lord.

Let all abandon me,

I will serve the Lord.

Let my life appear useless,

I will serve the Lord.

Let them rail against me,

I will serve the Lord.

May my body endure the will of the Spirit of God.  Let the Lord fill up His testimony by the sacrifice of this body.  May the Living God, the Father of Jesus my Lord, find pleasure at the life His Great Mercy has sent unto me.  I am His.  I do not belong to myself.  I do not belong to the ways of this world.  I do not belong to the desires of man.  And, by His Grace, I will stand apart to serve the maker of my soul.

Amen.

Apparently, I am Stupid (scientific proof arrives)

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hippocampus. Images are from Anatomography mai...

hippocampus. Images are from Anatomography maintained by Life Science Databases(LSDB). 日本語: 海馬。 画像はLife Science Databases(LSDB)のAnatomographyというサイトより。 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Behold!  Another finding presented by those who measure a man’s “IQ” by examining his ability to recognize what is called social norms.

“Older adults who say they’ve had a life-changing religious experience are more likely to have a greater decrease in size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical to learning and memory, new research finds.”

Two declarations I will respond.

1. The size of the hippocampus is related to the things of the flesh.  Those who worship the Living God have a marked decrease in a desire for the things of this world.  Why should it be surprising that the study finds a physical sign of this God born desire?  If, indeed, the study is faultless.

2. “. . . critical to learning and memory . . .”  These “IQ” designers measure by what is seen.  What we learn of, in the Holy Spirit, is not measurable by man’s standards.  And the memory is less valuable when we commit even the words of our prayers to the Most High (leaving them at the foot of His Holy Throne, lest we remember that we are something when we are nothing.)

Once again, man measures what can not be measured with the instruments at his disposal.  And he summarizes what can not be summed with the words of man.  Had those who created this “study” sought the Living God themselves, the “study” would have provided a finding that would obviously escaped words of definition by man.  But then where would be fame, money, and power?

The Bridge Over Troubled Waters (The hand Up is the Same Hand of Out)

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Footbridge near Stumble Wood This bridge is on...

Footbridge near Stumble Wood This bridge is on a path (No. WC347) from Halden Lane to Stepneyford Lane. It passes over stream feeding into Stumble Wood (on the left). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Past the beginnings of a relationship with Jesus, the Glorious King of Kings, a man will find places where he falters and tumbles back into the sins he thought were left in the dark dust of the past.  He will look down at his feet as he walks and smile with joy at the steadiness of his gait.  But sometimes he finds himself tripped up by lust, greed, lies, pride, or ignorance.  It has happened to me countless times.  And I know it happens to the very best of saints.  How should the beginner be surprised if it happens to him?

There is something about this which needs to be spoken.  It is one thing to remain in sins and never seek a way out through Jesus.  When we are in that state of affairs we should expect no help when we fall.  For we are as those who are still sitting in stench and the fall we experience is nothing more than the slip of our hand as we try to readjust our sitting.  The tumbles I am speaking of happen to those who have come some distance from that stench and have learned to walk on legs of righteousness given to them by the Lord Himself.

You will slip from time to time.  Take that as a given.  So I would advise my brothers and sisters to do this:  When you are able to walk make a considerable distance from the possibility of slipping.  Add some speed to your ways so that you move as far away from sin as possible.  Now, when you slip it will not be a pattern of behavior.   It will be simply a part of the experience we share in Christ.

There is a vast difference between holding on to some sins so that you continually revert to them, and stumbling because of things which remain in hidden in your mind.  If your heart is clean and your desire to serve Him is pure, you will find His reaction to your stumbling and tripping a great deal different than what you tasted as you began this walk.

Regardless your understanding of what I have written here, take heart.  He has seen what you desire in regard to holiness.  He has witnessed your ways with perfect and knowledgable eyes.  The Lord you trusted to take you from where you started is quite able to take you from where you are.  Do not let your faith be shaken.  Get up.  Dust yourself off.  Go to Him.  Give thanks for what He has done.  Ask for understanding, wisdom, and strength.  And start walking again!