Monthly Archives: February 2015

The Coming Winter

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We work so hard among the things of men.  Everyday we add to the calluses of some certain part of our body, produced by the diligence we are expected to employ.  We are tossed into the fray by the expectations of the body.  Have we let a tumult define who we are.

Is it necessary that this tumult consume our thoughts?  Does the body need to dictate who we are?  The reason why we do these things is what is important.  What motivates us?  Doesn’t our motivation depend on the eyes of our soul?  But where are those eyes fixed?

Do we allow our eyes to be fixed on the temporary; those shining little objects offered as if pacifiers?  Or are we diligent to remember the truth that lays before every man?

Everyday is opportunity to remember the coming judgment.  Everyday is opportunity to do the will of our God.  There is a Holy pen in the Holy Hand of the Holy One of God.  Isn’t it wise to provoke it to write our name in the book of life?

Consider this prophecy in the book of Daniel chapter 12:

1“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.  But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.  2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.  3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars.”

See how pale the things of man become when the judgment is remembered. 

Those who endure winter well are they who have prepared.  There is a brilliantly white winter approaching; a time when the work of man will not be possible.  Now is the time to prepare!  See how the leaves have fallen.  Isn’t the season of God imminent?

By His Grace

Sheep for the Slaughter

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Does a sheep wake in the morning and decide to provoke his wool to grow?  Does he consider man his friend and even a beloved one?  Does he say, “I love the people.  Come wool grow”?  Isn’t it true that the sheep’s, wool which provides for man, grows without the consent of the sheep?

Even the muscles on his bones, which provide meals, grows without the consent of the sheep.  Never once does the sheep consider the boiling water.  He is content to live and to eat.

In Christ we are as sheep for the slaughter.  How many Christians remember this?  Isn’t it true that we love the promise of eternal life, yet despise the nature of who we are called to be?  Haven’t we developed our own religion, labeling it Christianity?  And in this, haven’t we set our own expectations from God?

How quickly and easily the following Scripture is despatched from our memory.  But let us try to remember.

36 “Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.”  (Hebrews 11)  All of this because they obeyed the will of the Most High God.

There is such a thing as faulse persecution.  The place where we perceive others are against us, while no one pursues us for the things of God.  By our pride and greedy ownership, they come to take away what we have. 

But have we appropriated what is good from Jesus?  Have we gained so much from his willing hand that we are worthy to endure such great opposition from sinful men?  Or have we simply remembered the good promises, and like ghostly religions we have melded into society?

Now is our day to be as those for whom the world is unworthy.  Who is willing to step forward and claim such a place?  Who is willing to live that they may die?

They will not kill you because you are religious.  They will kill you because you are of God.  It is the truth of God men hate so much.  Sincerely, they couldn’t care less about a religious man.  Such a man may be an irritation,  but the truth of God is abhorred.

Jesus compared us to sheep.  But we should not be like wild sheep, free to roam anywhere they please.  We belong to a certain flock.  And of that flock man it is currently permitted to harvest.

By His Grace

Midnight’s Holy Voyager

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I took a ride on the floating vessel.  Yet not my body but my mind.

The ticket to ride was not purchased by any thing I owned.  It was given to me by reason of things that are true.  To whom does the truth belong?

I did not board from a dock made by man’s hands.  But I was transported by holy understanding to the deck of a holy ship.

In the light of a holy night, I was bid to look out across the waves.  The movement of which was like three foot swells.

The color of the water was similar to a silt filled pond.  And from the water came a murmuring, like the sound of many men speaking.

A splashing could be heard to my left.  It was like the sound of a man swimming frantically.

An amazing sight gripped me as I looked to see.  Holy hands were working on a portion of the sea!

In a moment the water was formed into the top of a man’s head.  Little by little the torso appeared.

Then with a touch of a finger, the forming aqua man began to glow.  His appearance became like that of water flesh.

Again and again the splashing occurred around the ship.  At random places an aqua man would appear.

I turned to the one who had picked me to come.  I asked.  “What is happening here?”  He pointed to the starboard side saying, “Watch these two”. 

Side by side two heads were forming.  But when the torso had appeared, one continued to form while the other remained only half.

I saw that the one who finished forming was changing in appearance.  From the top of his head toward his feet the color of the Caribbean Sea replaced the color of man’s fleshly tone.  The stilt of the place from which he was formed was abating back down into the sea.

There was a current in his body which drove the stilt to his feet.  And I saw small frothing at his soles which pulled the stilt back to the sea. 

Soon he stood with a radiant face, praising God for pulling him from the sea.  And he began to walk about in full praise of God showing himself to all the waves.

In his walking he became distant from the ship.  But I distinctly watched him evaporate into a beautiful white cloud of brilliance.

I watched the white cloud rise in the moonlight.  Then with a flash of lightning, he let go his water and ascended with great glory.

My companion tapped me on the shoulder.  “Watch now what becomes of the other.”

I looked back to the sea.  There the other was.  He remained half formed.

On his face was evident tumultuous pain.  It was an unhappy countenance, so vastly different from the joy of the other.

There was a frothing at his base.  Within the space of but a little while,  the half formed aqua man was pulled back to the sea.  In a very short time he was no more.

I marveled at the stillness of the water where he had been.  The difference between the two was an obvious and painful knowledge.

My arms had been resting on the railing as I watched all these things.  In astonishment I laid my head in my hands.  My companion allowed me some time to think.

Then he gently put his arm around my shoulders.  ‘Do you understand what you have seen?”  He whispered in a loving tone.

There were tears forming in my eyes as understanding came to me.  “Yes my lord.”  I said.  “I think I do.”

The tears in my eyes were like those of a chameleon.  One eye was watered with joy.  The other was soaked with sorrow.  One eye was held on the place of great glory.  The other transfixed on demise. 

And shall I mention the eyes of my soul?  Those eyes that cannot lie.  With the compulsion of truth, my soul’s eyes saw my own failure.

Perceiving my turmoil, my companion urged me to look about.  And in various places I saw the great creation taking place.  Some would rise to glory, most would fade to oblivion.

I turned to my companion and asked him, “What makes the difference, my Lord?”  His reply was but three words.  Yet they spoke volumes to my soul.  “Agreement or greed”, was all he spoke.

The next moment I found myself in the special place of prayer.  That holy understanding, only a distant frothing of waves.  But the affect is a useful deluge.  As I consider my service to God.

By His Grace

Evangelism

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The day I was born, the day I graduated high school, the days I spent drunk as a youth, the day I accepted Christ Jesus, and every other significant day of my life.

On the days I thought important things happened to me, millions of others experienced their own significant occurrences.  Not a single one of them saw the days I saw.  Yet time moved forward for us all.  The calendar chimed in unison.  But the entirety of humanity saw a richly variegated symphony of experiences.

There is one significant occurrence that should happen to all men.  Every man should be able to say he has accepted Christ Jesus as his Lord.  This is the only common thread we can share for eternity.  How that comes to be is also a richly variegated symphony of experiences.

Now I try to preach about Jesus everywhere I go.  But as I think of the differences with which we all encounter each day, I am struck to remember to let the Lord Jesus speak on his own behalf. 

Who could possibly imagine a single canned gospel delivery for every man?  Each delivery must be tailor-made for the ears that hear it.  What man can possibly do that?

If you plan beforehand what you will say as you testify about Christ, the chances of profitable delivery are significantly diminished.  Bottom line, if we don’t let the Holy Spirit do the will of Christ Jesus in us, we restrict the ears of those who might hear.

Though I cannot condemn the use of gospel tracts, or what is called the Roman Road, it is not wise to dictate what God will say.  Those can only be useful examples.

All the same I suppose it is better to testify than to keep your mouth shut.  Yet to give free rein to God’s lordship over our testimony is best. 

I understand how organized testimonies can help those with a weak faith.  But even as the child grows adept at adult things, I think it is quite possible to overcome fear of delivery.

I have no idea who may benefit from this message.  But I know that the Spirit of God does not dress us in timidity or fear.  True belief in the power of God within us ought to be visible in a boldness, and Godly wisdom. 

While it is true that each of us stands before Christ on our own, it is also true that our opportunity to testify to any one man, may be the slightest of opportunity.  And so we are encouraged to make the most of the situation.

Who can say how God will lead them in any one place.  But let us try to lay aside prepared commercials for the Holy Lord’s testimony.

By His Grace

God Cannot Lie

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The salvation of men is in heaven.  Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Holy Father of Life.  The condemnation of man, for all his wickedness, also is in heaven.  For Jesus is the fulfillment of the law.

In John 3:13 I find something very interesting.  Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus.  And Jesus refers to himself as “the Son of man who is in heaven”. (NKJV)  One might ask, “How can he be in heaven when he sitting here talking to Nicodemus”.  Jesus is in heaven, while speaking to Nicodemus, because he has come from heaven; as if the finger of God has landed on Earth. 

Heaven is not a physical place, as most the people of Earth believe.  It is a matter of belonging and becoming.  It is a state of being, to which a man must be transferred by the power of Christ.

I mention this because it brings to bear something that people conveniently forget.  Though there is a difference between flesh and spirit, there is no difference in belonging.

Those who do not belong to Christ stand condemned already because their condemnation sits with the Holy Father.  And to our great joy, those who receive and obey the grace of God in Christ are already in heaven.  For their salvation sits with the Holy Father.

Those who belong to this world will reap the benefit that is due all wickedness.  Those who humble themselves and believe the message of God in Christ will reap the beautiful promises of life.  For God has seen their hearts, received the confession of their mouth, and has promised them on oath.

It is interesting to me how the wicked apropriate the good promises of God.  By some perverted means, they attribute salvation to themselves with no apparent fruit.  They have a hope, but no proof of it in their soul.  They are from the earth, they are within the earth’s beliefs, and their condemnation waits for them.

While this is true for the wicked who do not believe (toward “The Becoming”),  I often find that those who believe in Christ suffer under confusion and doubt.  So I have stated these things here to give encouragement.

A man belongs to the place he obeys.  And the proof of our belonging is within every man.  The wicked do not strive to obey.  They simply believe with no foundation, or proof, within themselves.  They seek to enter where they do not belong.

But the purchased of Christ will find themselves embroiled in an internal war.  They cannot be at peace in this place, for the Spirit of God lives in them to war against the desires of the flesh.  The war within the Christian should be proof to him that he is already in heaven.  God cannot lie.

There is no war in the wicked.  They war among one another for the sake of selfish greed.  They even go so far as to apropriate what is not theirs from the Holy Throne of the Living God.  But the outcome of the wicked and the outcome of the Christian are sealed forever in Christ the King.  It is impossible for God to lie.

By His Grace

Caught Dead

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A mass murder can shield himself from detection as long as he does what is expected of him by the society he lives in.  He doesn’t need to lay aside his desire for destruction.

Isn’t it interesting that man can disguise himself so very well?  You see a woman dressed beautifully.  What’s inside her soul?  Who can tell?  Even if she makes a misstep in her language, who’s to say it wasn’t just a mental lapse.  And a man may have all the trappings of a beautiful example of humanity, yet hide hideous desires just under his skin.  How many women can testify to that?

The point is, you don’t need to be a holy man to receive the accolades of holiness from men.  They can’t tell what you are on the inside.  But you can.

Perhaps you haven’t taken the time to deliver your soul to the judgment seat of purity.  But why not?  You will be required to give complete account of your integrity to the Sovereign God.

It is the man of integrity that can rest assured that he is as people perceive him.  He doesn’t need to hide anything.  He can live his life in peace.  That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a righteously doing man.  It means he’s embarrassed at his short comings and tries hard to learn to do what is right.

What is integrity among men?  Isn’t it a mouth that confesses what lay hidden from others concerning him?  Isn’t it the man who has presented his soul to the judgment seat of purity and truth?   Isn’t integrity a state of being?

We think it is too much to be expected to be holy people.  So we give up.  Instead of continuing trying to obtain something more, we learn to hide behind our skin.

Who will be the one who receives the “Well done” from the Lord?  Isn’t it he who is caught dead trying to obey?

May the Lord deliver the fullness of this message to whoever reads it.