Category Archives: Encouragement

Flying Free

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There can be no shame within me, to expose my lack before the Living God.  For by such exposition, both I and His people are strengthened to what is “more”.

I cannot boast in my weakness.  But I can address openly, the things the Lord exposes.  And how His Holy expectation deserves an answer.

He is just and righteous among us all.  His patience is for an accounting.  He teaches with diligent intent.  His desire is cast abroad.

If we listen, He is rewarded for His excellent Love.  Yet if we balk, His desire is subjected to frustration.

Now we look to His patient love.  With open heart, and eyes of the Holy Spirit, we turn to face Him.  Approach with confidence, for this is the promise which He wrote in His Holy Blood.

What is His Holy Covenant, what value is it to us?  The answer is dictated from our willingness to obey.

What provokes our lack?  Isn’t it our unwillingness to believe?  Is it not, then, our tiny faith that keeps us bound?

Come with me.  Let us enter into His Covenant.  Let us fan the flames of gifting, so that our faith might prosper.  Race on before me, if you can!  Then call back to speak of the beauties you perceive.  Let us drive one another as far as we can.  By our limit, we have tested the Lord.  If we have found Him to be Good, why not break another link that our faith might fly free?

Thus there is no shame in exposing what lacks.  For as one we enter in to He who is One.

Bring Out the Will

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Where is the astounding fruit of the Most High God among us?  It is hidden in our unwillingness to obey.  It is as if we have secreted His Holy Words into the thicket of our rebellion. 

Too many have hidden His treasure away, as if a thief might come and steal their riches.  As a result, many stand guard at their doorway; judging others as they perceive from their own darkness.  Where is the freely flowing Gospel of Peace and Joy?  Where is their vial of Living Water?

Who will go retrieve the Holy things he contains?  Who will reach into his thorny will and bring his obedience out of hiding?  Who will bloody his own hands to retrieve what is best for all?  Who dares “become”, that he might lead his siblings in Christ to what is best?

What is the will of a man in Christ Jesus?  What power does it receive if it is brought out of hiding?  What blessings are the Holy Lord of Life willing to bestow on the man who diligently gives Him what is rightfully His?  As obedience comes, so the prosperity of God appears.

In case my words are not clear enough to provoke specific action, let us read what the Lord has spoken to all who desire to serve Him.  Let us remember: the generation that serves the Lord with faithfulness, is the generation that passes down what is good and valuable before His Holy Face.  It is the blessing of their “children” to inhabit the better land. 

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 5)

To What End?

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I can play the guitar and sing songs that praise God.  But to what end?  With the simple flick of a switch, men can listen to much better quality of music than I can produce.

The simple days are gone.  The days when a man might sit near the fire and entertain his loved ones with the music he can make, are gone.  They won’t come back in my life time.  If, indeed, they ever come back among men.

I could stand on a street corner and preach the word of God, in what variety of means might come to my heart.  But to what end?  Shall the steel of the passing cars hear my words and repent?  Not many read lips.  And their passing is far too quick to gain more than a simple word, as they speed by.

The simple days of inclusion are gone.  Now is the day of isolation.  And just think what this isolation is breeding.  Those in control of mass media hold the attention of the general public.  Gone is the day when a man might affect the passing public with the Gospel.  It’s gone.  And it’s not likely to return in my life time.

I could sing.  I could preach.  I could dance for them.  But to what end?

And I can write (as some might call these works).  But to what end?  Every article I post, stands in direct competition with a million others.  Every post I post falls into the pile of “interesting things”.

But there is something I can do that is viable.  There is something I can do that never fails to produce.  I can worship the Living God in Christ Jesus.

These simple things will never fade, not in this life or the life to come.

God alone knows the slices between men that penetrate to understanding.  He alone can penetrate the steel of a car.  He alone can whisper over the loudest stereo, and be clearly heard.  He alone can dance before them with entrancing creation.  He alone can write on our hearts!  He alone knows how to obliterate the noise of man.  He alone can drive a man to his knees in convulsive sobbing at the wickedness of the man’s heart.  And when He appears, then comes Life!

Prayer, direction of the will, that certain “listening” to what is, and obedience to what I know is holy,  these things I can do.  And they will never fail to produce that bounty that God deserves to have for the Life He has promised and delivered to those who love Him.

 

Amazing Thanks!

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Let the family stand on a warm July night.
Let them coo and moan at those “special lights”.

Let the young man dress enticingly.
Let him snap his neck to see,
The beautiful girl who passes by;
Yet fades away to nothing.

Let the rich man yearn for gold.
Let the fool demand his drink.
Let the young man chase what cannot be.
I have joy I cannot speak.

For in this life I’ve come to know,
The God who made my very soul.
This wonderful, fearful sack I own;
This knit together bag of bones,
Contains the promise of his throne:
“I will yet His face”!

They pine away for what passes away.
Completely content, this place to stay.
But now I lean into the Wind,
“Lead me home, my Holy Friend”.

In This Life–Collin Raye with lyrics: http://youtu.be/pOKqidAsRTs

By His Grace

Mental Fog

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When something really bad happens to us, there’s always a few moments of disbelief.  It’s like our brain goes into fog mode. 

Depending on the severity of the problem, that fog mode can last a couple of seconds, or up to a couple of weeks.  Some people never return to normality.

There are millions of people depending on Jesus to save them.  But they do nothing in return.  I guess they figure they’ll just walk through unscathed.

It’s impossible for me to come away with that kind of response to the gospel in the Bible.  There so many warnings to the faithless, the fearful, and the thankless.  One warning that stands out, really tall, is: “Cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers”.

How can you read that and have no response?  How can you read that and have no fear; the kind of fear that motivates?

I don’t claim to know what happens after death.  But I wonder if that mental fog will fall on those who don’t get what they think they’re going to receive.

Will there be a moment of incoherent oblivion, as the angels come and snatch him up?  Coherent thought returns just as he falls down into the pit.

If you won’t serve the Lord out of love, at least let fear motivate you.  We are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It would be wise to begin somewhere.

You won’t serve Him in fear long.  He told us, and I testify it’s true, My Father will honor the one who honors me”.

By His Grace

Successful Christianity

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What characterizes a successful Christian?  He has something that’s rather rare.  Something that many, apparently, never even know exists.  And it must be rare because all the Christians are still trying to find it.  That in itself, makes this a worthwhile post.

He’s a detriment to the Christian publishing business.  He’s simply not that interested in mainline Christianity.  He doesn’t need “how to” books, he’s already doing it.  He doesn’t need someone to provoke inspiration, he can’t shut it off.   But this in itself doesn’t make him a successful Christian.

It’s highly likely he does not have a lot of friends.  Though he is the one steady enough to confide in.  People rarely seek him out.  He just doesn’t play well with others.

He hates no one.  But he also trust no one.  And over time that becomes rather obvious.  Still, no “pin the tail on the donkey” here.

The successful Christian knows where his Bible is at all times.  He may or may not be able to quote you chapter and verse.  But you’ll find him busy doing it.  Yet this isn’t what sets him apart from the rest.  Many fall into legalistic adherence to the Word.  Many!

What is it that has cut him away from the larger portion of the flock?  Why is this one successful, while the others flounder about? 

If he has no interest in the things of mainline Christianity, how can he be called successful?  And if the successful Christian can’t memorize chapter and verse, what was the use of their notation?

Two really good questions.  But I’ll let the reader answer for himself.  When you finally realize the answers, you’ll be amazed.

The successful Christian understands the meaning of the name “Christ”.  And he realizes, with stark nakedness, that he does not own this understanding, because he studied.  He realizes that Christ knows him, and he knows Christ because of the merciful introduction from the Father.

In the successful Christian’s mind, he has only one thing that he can call his own.  To whatever extent a person owns this, he is a blowout success.

(watch for caveat.)

A successful Christian is always looking for opportunity to obey (bingo!).  This is the only item of Christianity we can own.  Everything else comes from God.  Obedience comes from mastery of the will.

(Slow down please.  Caveat ahead.)

Though it must be said that no man masters the will, without the direct guidance of Christ Jesus.  The successful Christian has made up his mind to dedicate himself to mastery.  The mutual work of Christ Jesus and man comes to a head in the man’s will.

You know the really sad part about this entire writing, is that I felt it necessary.

By His Grace