Category Archives: Hope

The Hungry Sea Creature

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2061212_370I woke from sleep this morning, from a dream that most would call a nightmare.  A sea creature had taken to land.  It was a creature who had a taste for man.

I was perched on a narrow outcropping of rocks above the surf.  He was perched along a slightly lower place. With confidence, I challenged his right to hunger for the likes of me.

But, to my horrible surprise, he was able to reach toward where my feet stood.  I was in no fear of being caught.  But as he reached, the rocks beneath me began to loosen and fall into the sea, one by one.

“No need to remain in bed”, I thought.  So I got up to start the day.  It has taken two hours for this dream to find meaning.  But the meaning is more threatening than the dream.

The world moves from one moment to another.  What is past is like those rocks which were falling into the sea.  The foundation that saved me from becoming food, was a place I should not have been. Was I where I should be?  Hadn’t I remained too long in a place that was no longer useful?  If I had moved on from there, I would never had seen that creature.  I would not have been vulnerable.  I would never had known what follows.

God leads His people from place to place.  He is always drawing us nearer to His intended goal.  What we can be, in His Holy Power, lay before us.  What we were standing on, becomes a crumbling foundation.  The past is not a firm place to live. Security belongs to today.

The Living God’s protection applies to the moment.  It does not rest in the future, as some believe in the Gospel.  It does not reside in the past, as many waste away their lives in regret or accolade.  He is the NOW.  Remember, His Holy Name is “I AM”.

Christmas, Eternal

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Today is the day, established by men, to give one another gifts.  They say it is to honor the Holy One of God.

Will you know the nature of the True Gift of God?  Is your soul strong enough to learn?blind

39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

How does the “giving” of man, to one another, compare?  The Holy One of God offers the gift of Life.  Will you stash it under green boughs? Will you wrap it in flammable paper?  Will you place the names of the dead within the labels?

What man gives rots, even as he prepares it to be received with joy.  But what God, in Christ Jesus, gives is a growing body of life; pure Light of Holy Life.

Will you pray with humility of soul, at the opening of each gift today?  Will you strive to give proper place to the Holy Gift of God?  Eye entrancing beauty adorns the gifts of men.  But the precious Holy Blood of the Son of God adorns the eternal offer.

(Picture found at: http://gardenofpraise.com/bibcolor.htm)

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

How Much?

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If you want to live forever, seek out Jesus the Christ of God.

If you want to serve Him faithfully, seek out Jesus the Christ of God.

What is the fullness that God is willing to give to man?  Seek out Jesus the Christ of God.  Only then can you begin to know.

If you think you “have”, seek out Jesus the Christ of God.

By His Grace

The Hopeful One Endures

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“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36)

If the Lord’s eternal word says that a man shall die for his sins and rebellious soul, that man shall surely die.  Likewise, if a man turns his will to obey the Living God’s commands, that man will find himself living.  And this life is eternal life.  For what cannot be shaken remains forever.

What produces the man who enters into an eternal living here, in this place of testing?  Isn’t it the fear of the Living God?  Isn’t it that the man believes what the Word of God has proclaimed regarding life and death?

But shall the man who finds himself living the eternal life here remain in fear?  Doesn’t it depend on his willingness to be diligent in the things he learns?  Doesn’t a man’s love follow the things he desires?  If he desires the kiss of God, then he will desire to love Him.

The scripture above is fear to those who perceive with a weakened will.  But it is a proclamation of love to those who willingly train themselves to obey what they learn.  For they have come to live inside trust.  They have come to desire a love for God’s Holy Son.

The trust God’s people have comes from a living faith that cannot be shaken.  Even if they are “injured” by a Holy Blast of Condemnation from the Living God, they survive into a holy hope.  For such people perceive that purity is the desire of their God, Christ Jesus.  How can they be shaken then, by the threats of this world, or even their own faults?  For they have come to adhere to the following hope:

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him. 

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Hebrews 12: 5, 6)
Their fear is transformed, over time, to a love for He who rebukes toward the health of their soul.  By this, the wrath of God is endured before the Judgment Day, that they might become like His Holy Son.

What condemnation can be given to he who has willingly obeyed the Lord’s commands to purify himself?  And won’t the Son of God direct his commands toward what the man can accomplish?  Like His Holy Father, the Son does not EVER ask too much.

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.