Monthly Archives: December 2014

My Servant

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I could not sleep because of the news.  I did not want to sleep because of the urgency.  A tumult in my house has robbed me of peace.  An occasional plundering of my goods has reached my ears. So I pondered with these questions:

Is the hope of God among men, locked away in some distant future place?  Is it God’s will that we be tossed about my temptation?  Is there no repair for the wayward heart of man?  Truly, must we wait for heaven to do the will of the Living God in Christ Jesus?

These questions come to me as one.  How is it possible that my love for God can lack at all?

And then the singular question branches quickly into a myriad of uncountable answers.

As bountiful are the temptations of this wicked place, each one wickedly stands to give an answer.  But one suspect stands much closer than the temptations of every day and night.

By force of truth, I have called him to give account. 

“You are my servant.  To you all things of mine are given.   You are set, by proclamation of the Most High God, to be in control of the things that are mine.  There is lack in my house!  How can this be so?  Give account of yourself, I demand it!”

The truth of reply is given: “My lord I cannot give answer for the moment.”

What can I say to this?  He has been commanded to appear in truth.  And with truth he has answered me.

“Sit here before me.  You have allowed lack, as I gave you free reign to do the work you are commanded to accomplish.  Now sit here before me, so I can inspect your ways. I will know your diligence.”

Who is this servant who has been given so much?  Who is this servant who is under such heavy rebuke?  What kind of servant can be given the responsibility for the health of my entire house?

With barely audible whisper I will tell you.  It is my will.

By His Grace

Christmas Gone Wrong

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“Mass”, refers to the amassing of people for an agreed purpose.  “Christ”, specifies the purpose.                 Christmas!

What can man say?  How will anyone of us testify before the Living God in regard to our celebration of what is called Christmas?

How have we honored the Living God’s Christ by the giving of joy and gifts to one another?  How have we celebrated his Royalty?  What is the year, and where is the place we amassed for His Glory alone? 

The question will be satisfied with one day’s answer.  You cannot supply one sufficient day for answer.  I shall not ask you for all your days.

But men take pride in what they have done to the Glory of God.  They celebrate snow.  They elevate fictitious characters.  They embrace lies as if they are holy.  And they consider any man blasphemous who speaks against them.  Then count me blasphemous, for I will speak against it!

The concept of fasting is more than the celebration of Lent.  Easter is not intended for glamorous attire, hide and seek, and a simple rabbit. 

Christmas, of all days people, Christmas!  This is the one day man has drug to the very pit of hell.  Every wicked attribution of man is attributed to this most Holy day!

Along with all our other unholy sins, every man will give account to the Most High God for his treatment of this day; for his treatment of His Most Holy Son.

The very word of God became flesh among us.  This by the power of God’s righteous strength.  God’s intent for compassion has become a pageantry of selfish greed. 

They celebrate without knowledge, yet they assume they know perfectly well.  Their assumption is a wall a: thousand miles thick, and 10 thousand miles high.  They are not aware of their lack, nor do they care to look into these things.

The Royalty of the Holy Lord Jesus stands established forever!  The Living God has spoken an eternal oath. 

How can man hold the Incarnate Word of God in one hand, and the lie of Santa Claus in the other?  It is not possible to worship both!  One of them rightfully demands to be God! 

How is it your right to compare what is Holy with what is a lie?  How is it possible to be the owner of life and death at the same time?  By doing this you ascribe death to the Holy One of God.

For lack of vision the people perish.  Their vision is cut short by greedy lies.  What glories they forsake, for the sake of shiny trinkets!

By His Grace

Blue Christmas

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Throughout the night, the last song I heard playing continues to echo in my mind.  Exhausted as I was, I slept well.  But the power of the song continues.  Even all my dreams were touched by endless sorrow.

I wake with a heavy heart.  For the things I have done in my life will not leave me alone.  This is a picture of the life I lead for decades.  It is a haunting echo of the man I was.

With desperation I realize I need a friend.  I need someone who is not like me.  I need someone whose resources are endless.  I need someone near me who can care.  This is, of course, the Living God in Christ Jesus.

I hide from men as a loner, because I do not want to teach them the things I have done.  If I speak to them face to face, the testimony of myself comes to the surface.

I push the Lord forward before me, between they and I, that they will not assume a wicked life can have any righteousness.

The song is “Blue Christmas”.  I am void of explanation that I should have any joy at all.  The things I have done in my life are death.  My value is to die, and to die, and to die.  If it had not been for the mercy of God, I would be dead already.

This is my testimony before all men, according to the things I have done. 

I know I am not alone.  Everyone of you can testify the same.  If every man is honest with his history, death is all he ever was.  And without the life that God offers, no man has hope.

But isn’t this the reason why I testify so vigorously?  Because the One with endless resource has offered his bloody hands to me.  He teaches me to receive.  He promises me a new song. 

I cannot live in my past, for it is nothing but death.  I cannot live in my present, for memories drown me in sorrow.  And if it were not for the Living God, to come and touch me with compassion, my future is nothing but darkness of death’s promise.

This is what this blog of testimony is all about.  I write that many may have life.  I speak as loudly as I can about the endless resources of God to love you.  I speak as loudly as I can, to educate every man regarding his own worthless life.  Let them perceive the disparity and yearn for health.

God is mercy.  He holds out his hands all day long to every man, woman and child.  “Come, let us reason together.  Though your sins are as scarlet they shall become white as wool”.

Hope!  Precious and vibrant hope!  This is what the Lord offers!  Yet with a heavy sigh, I wonder who can take it.

Who is willing to lay down their precious death?  Who is willing to abandon their regretful memories; their only solace in the dark?  The compensation of man for the nature of what he is.

Yes Christianity requires much.  There is holiness to attain.  But in this work there is life.  We are death.  We are headed to death, and all we have is death. 

All the while God stands.  Life, promise and pure integrity, is held out for any who come and take it.  To die is easy.  For that is what we are.  To live, simply requires laying down death.

This is the new song he gave me, as I sat with heavy heart.  He reminded me of the new song that waits to be sung.  The compassion of God is not a fable.  It is in fact, the endless resource for life.

By His Grace

The Holy Thief

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Dressed in ragged raiment, the beggar stood up to speak.

Upon his face was a beaming smile, like summer breeze against your cheek.

What he spoke amazed the crowd for they counted him as dim.

But as words flowed out the crowd could see blazing light within.
                      ~
“I have approached the Most High God.

I’ve taken what belongs to him.

Not so much as a sinner might do.

But absconding with remedy for sin.

He lays it in an open place outside his holy throne.

Any man may walk up there and take it quickly to his home.

He holds no man accountable for taking these things he owns.

But he lets them come and take what’s his to heal their ragged bones.

Even here you see a sliver of golden life from there

I found it in that open space.  I present it for your ears.

It does not take a hardy thief to take from the Most High God.

It only takes one who truly believes.  I’m really not that odd.

Wisdom is given freely; lacking judgment on the part of God.

Specific for the purpose of life, that his name we all might laud.”
                       ~
With completion of delivery, the loner turned and left.

The crowd was stunned to silence.  He’d delivered more than their best.

What happened next, the jury rests, for only time will tell,

How they will treat this special gold he delivered oh so well.

By His Grace

Shod Feet

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I don’t have to work hard to prove how desirable a good pair of shoes can be.  If I were talking to women, there would be no need to say that at all!  What women know about shoes would be useful among any crowd.

(Just between you and me: when it comes to shoes, women seem to have an uncanny knack.  At this point, men usually just bow their head and leave.  There are some things in life that simply say, “Do not touch”.)

But let’s switch gears just a bit.  Let’s go back to the time of Adam.  All that was necessary for the creation of the first shoes, was an encounter with the first thorns.   Simple math: Foot = vulnerable ergo, protect!

Man is designed to require protection for his feet.  All our weight rests on two small pieces of skin.  And these are no ordinary pieces of skin.  They can feel the tiniest pieces of dust on a hardwood floor.  Immeasurably more intense is the feeling of sharp objects.  So we clothe them out of utility.  We clothe them out of desperation. 

But desperation has multiple definitions.  Vanity appears on the scene and destroys everything.  What was originally intended to protect us from pain, became perverted to protect us from the judgment of others.

Soon men noticed how they were regarded by the type of shoes they owned.  Soon, ornate replaced utility.  Soon, shoes carried more than the body.  Soon shoes carried the pride of man.

So it has been, even with the clothing of men.  But shoes receive special prominence.  They have become a reflection of the man’s intent.  They carry him to the place of his desire.  They perform what the man considers valuable. Most often, they are a reflection of his character.

Is he an obscure working man? 

His shoes will show where he has been. 

Is he one who desires fame and profit? 

You will see your own reflection in them.
                ~
There are shoes that scream out “fun”. 

There are shoes that say, “Get-er done”.

Shoes that advertise,
“Look what I own”.

And shoes that say,
“You’d better leave me alone”!
               ~

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Boots of pride
That kill with neglect. 
As they approach
There is no “howdy”. 
They carry a head
That remains in the clouds;
Aloof from the pain of others.

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Sandals of humility,
Come to embrace with life.  As they approach,
You are their intent. 
They carry a head
Created to wear
A crown of thorns instead;
Forever mindful
Of the pain of others.
He is Lord, and rightly so!

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'”  (Isaiah 52: 7)

Jack me down or hold me up. 

I prefer a leader of latter.

Become like him,

Or reside within.

I choose to climb His ladder.

By His Grace

Willing Refinement

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The fire is brought to the field to cleanse it of stubble and blight.  The winds of a hurricane are a pleasure to the man who knows he has built his house well.

For everything a man may make, receives a testing.  To the craftsmen who knows he has done his work well, there is no fear.  For even if his work may suffer loss, he is anxious to apply his learning.  Such a man’s hands quiver with delight at the approach of destruction.

As the racehorse strains against the bit, ready and willing to run, so the man of God looks forward to the testings.  Always looking for refinement, he does not despise destruction of weakness.

It is of man to desire rest in peace from the labor of his hands.  He seeks respite for the weakness of his body and the sparseness of resource.

But the Spirit of of the Holy Lord God Almighty urges toward completion.  Let every one of God’s people be joyful to submit themselves to the fire of God’s Holy expectations.

His love is destruction for all that is unholy.  But this destruction is sent in eternally lovely intent.  The rewards will always outweigh the tears.  Yet is it righteous for us to have tears at all?

Allowing ourselves to be driven, accomplishment draws nearer.  But rest, as the flesh desires, and you will suffer loss.

Every man will appear before the Holy Lord to give account of himself.  The day of judgement will come as the final restraint.  But now is the day of testing.  Now is the day for becoming.

It is the forceful soul who presents himself to the day of judgement now.  “The Faith” in Christ Jesus is the beauty of holy strength.

May God receive the bounty that belongs rightfully to him; the refinement, the willing refinement of his holy people.  His reward is in his hand as he stands to judge all men. 

Let us therefore not despise the destruction of those things the flesh desires.  Rather let us side with God in His Holy judgment against sin.

The servant who whimpers at the commands of his master, is no joy at the dinner table.  Such a one is deservedly given a lower place.

By His Grace