Tag Archives: Christ

Sealed Forever

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Jacob Matham’s engraving after Sebastian Vranc...

Jacob Matham’s engraving after Sebastian Vrancx’s The Rich Man at the Table and Lazarus at the Door (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A wicked man was beating a Christian.  Afer he had vented considerable injury to the Christian, so that the Christian was near death, the wicked man suffered a fatal heart attack.  He had allowed his wrath to overtake his heart’s ability to sustain his hatred.   In just a few moments the Christian also died.  Silence was all that remained of them in this place of testing.

The next noise the Christian heard was, “Welcome home My good and faithful servant.  Come share in My Father’s Kingdom.”  But when the wicked man woke he realized that the object of his hatred was now in the company of God.  Full of the same hatred he had at death, he challenged God.  With spit leaking from his lips he screamed, “That one belongs to me!  Give him back!  I am by no means done beating him!  You have no right to what is mine!”

Guess what happened next.

Set Yourself Toward Him as a Sharp Flint

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Flint knife from Barajevo.

Flint knife from Barajevo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Open your heart to the Lord.  He has said, “I am not angry.”  Toward all who sincerely desire His friendship, His arms are wide open. But to all who think they can bend His will to theirs, his face is turned.  Men call on Him in times of trouble.  As soon as trouble is past, two faces turn in a dance of simultaneous rejection.  Steady your gaze at the One who can teach purity and righteousness.  It is demanded of us. It will not be taken out-of-the-way.  Nothing impure or unholy will ever enter His presence.  Do not mistake His mercy in times of trouble for His intent for you.

He set His face like flint to go toward His death on a cross.  This is what He is looking for in all of us; that we should set our soul toward Him with complete abandonment of all the things of this world.  He is completely LORD.  His people will be completely His.

Consider how flint was used to cut.  Cut through your rebellion and the temptations of this world.  Get sharp, by His Spirit, and remain sharp.

Do Not Let Me Resort to Fear

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In life here there are lies.  There is death, hunger, despair, hatred, false religion, false gods, hopelessness, twisted men who present themselves as if they are “good”.  And the list I could make of what is here would go on for many pages.  Who would read what they can touch with their own fingers?

Yet in this life there is a place of understanding that strips off all that filthy list.  There is a place where a man can know truth and live it.  I know that place!  I know that many will see me type those words and balk, “No man knows truth.”  I tell you I know Him!  And, more importantly, He knows me.

You want freedom from all that detestable list?  Do you want FREEDOM to LIVE?  Pry it from my heart.  Help me testify to what He is.  Ask me.  Press me.  Help me put into words what only the soul can understand with any clarity.

We have lips, graphics, gestures, and body language to communicate.  That’s the limit of our ability.  So how can I hope to tell you what is spoken in a place where these things are NOT the limit?  Take it from me.  Ask until you understand.

God has given the Gospel to men so that men can speak to one another.  It is a humble heart who will lower themselves enough to ask another man.  It is the proud who will restrain their questions before men.  The proud will think that no man can know the truth.  The humble will avail themselves to any possible source of life.  They will seek with all their might.  And if the testimony I give you falters, the meek will understand that I am like them.

We struggle to share what cannot be perceived.  But that inability to perceive it through our senses does not mean it is a lie.  Salvation in Jesus is absolutely real and transforming.  Consider this:  We are in the place of testing.  We are the ones who, for now, can’t see what eternity has seen all along.  We are the ones blind to His presence.  He is not blind to us.

Ask and I will tell you what He has told me.  And I am not the only one.  There are thousands of me.  Ask them.  Press them.  You know who they are.  Make them tell you.  And do not let them resort to fear.

The Game of LIFE

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Board for the game Quantum

Board for the game Quantum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was said, “The game is afoot.”  And we knew the action was about to pick up.  Just what did that mean though?  It meant that someone was to pursue.  Someone was to avoid.  And, usually, someone had been victimized.  Quite possibly someone was either going to die or someone had died.  Regardless the story line, a crime had been committed and justice was employed to rectify the situation as well as it can be rectified.

I find this same concept in the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  We all know what it means to play a game.  And in some games we are the direct players, hide and seek is one which comes to mind.  There are also board games and video games, in which we are simply the ones who manipulate the outcome according to our choices.

This “place of testing” is just that sort (in my understanding).  We are the pieces which are moved from one place to another according to the skill of the Most High God.  He will win.  And He will reward the players according to their submission.  He is not unjust at all.  But in this concept I find myself more willing than ever to submit.

What is pleasing to God is pleasing to all, in the end.  And it is a privilege to encounter this game with a light heart; a heart willing to die for the sake of the pleasure of my God.  I know this is a slightly childish look at suffering for the sake of Jesus’ name.  But it is also a powerful word of inspiration to those who can stomach the reality of their position, plight, and hope.

Pride of Man-vs-Joy of Salvation

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Sculpture - head of Jesus Christ

Sculpture – head of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I step out on the back porch, again, to consider the difference between pride and joy.  Pride is of the flesh.  But joy in understanding the Lord’s ways is acceptable.  While the world walks in darkness there is no time or room for the pride of man; that is to say an internal boasting that I know more than others.  Even in our time of reflection before the Most High God it is wise to consider the difference between the pride of man and the joy that we receive from His Grace.  All of us who come to know the Lord were, at one time, full to over flowing with sin, disgrace, shame, and wickedness of every kind.  It is by Grace we are saved.

I am stunned at the consistency of the war within us.  And I am reminded that, in this place of testing, this war against sin will not cease.  My heart is encouraged to pick up the battle afresh.  To render to God what is God’s while I kill the flesh by the power of Christ Jesus in me.  Never, in this place, will a man be rid of the things that plague his walk with God.  They are at the very door of our house.  As it was said to Cain, it is now said to each of us: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must  master it.” (Genesis 4:7)

So I say with all the saints (those being sanctified, transformed, by the power of God in Jesus), “I will rise in the early morning before it is light.  I will find a solitude among the trappings of this world of chaos.  And I will seek the Lord that I might rid myself of the things that have and will destroy me.  I will raise up to kiss the face of He who has kissed me.  And I will learn from Him to do the perfect will of eternity.  Sin will not have me!  For I am being made a son in the house of my Father.  And all this is to the Glory of Jesus, my Lord, Master, King, and Desire!”

Amen.

Countdown to 666, One

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Fol.5. Beginning of the Book of Genesis

Image via Wikipedia

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (Genesis)

It was God who created.  We understand through the Gospel that this God is Jesus.  It was not another creature who made what we know as creation.  In us it is God who compels us from faith to faith.  It is not any other creature who causes us to grow from glory to glory.

Many believe that they will affect a godly life by sheer will power.  This concept does not come from God.  “There is a way which seems right to a man.  But the end thereof is death.”  “Unless the Lord builds the house the builder builds in vain.”  Let us put away all hope that we contain what is necessary to please the Holy Father in Heaven.  Let us humble ourselves before the Most High and receive.  We were created to receive that which we cannot perceive; the Glory of God made complete in man.

And let us remember this:

5 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2)

Through the power of Jesus we become one with the Father in heaven.  Is that saying too much?  Is that not the power He has given us?  20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17)

Rise up then, as children of the Most High God.  Take your place which He offers.  Shall a man build the frame of a house, it is not enough.  Let God build the house for you.  Let Him direct and guide you into all truths for the sake of His Glory.

There is a teaching afoot which tells us we have no right to claim the power of God within and through us.  But, to this, we remember another scripture which bears consideration:   1 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”

Come apart from the world and allow God to build that which you can only hear.  Let Him prove Himself in you.

Amen