Tag Archives: fire

The Immeasurable Difference

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I tried to write of the difference between man and the Majesty of God.  A pile of waded up thoughts fill the trash can of my mind.  And what is provided below, lacks sufficient power to explain.

I found it very easy to point to the limited nature of man.  But when it came to writing what God has shown me in regard to His Holiness,  I found myself unable.

Even the tiny things of Christ, that I can perceive, are unstable in my mind.  Man is not permitted, by the very nature of our being, to speak of the Glory of God.

Water does not know what it’s like to be dirt, which restrains it.  And it is pressed about by the air, that it may retain its place. 

And the dirt, from which we are cast, knows nothing of the nature of water or air, yet it is subject to erosion by both.  As quickly as it is exposed, demise greets it.

Air does not know what it is like to be water or dirt.  Yet it can suspend both, and is subject to their enforced places of limit. 

And what shall be said of the nature of fire?  It is as if a being of its own.  Intensity is the only restriction it knows among the three.

How great is the Majesty of He who has done these things?  How utterly unlike us is the Holy One and his Christ?

How much devotion and praise is due to His Holy name?  For He has created us for the purpose of salvation.  And this by His own Holy Blood.  

How pathetic is man?  Not only is he unable to understand the nature of God, but his rebellion compounds the difference.  For he refuses to even give HIM consideration.

Man is caught up in his own things.  Man spends his days consumed with worshipping what he can make with what God has provided.  But what will the state of their affairs be (those who refuse his loving counsel), when the Holy One rises to reveal Himself?

By His Grace

Quench or Stoke

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The fireman does not offer the fire the things it loves.  Gasoline, kerosene, synthetics ,wood and cloth are kept away from the battlefield.  But water, or a smothering foam annihilate his enemy.  The greed of destruction is brought to nothing.

There is a raging fire of expectation among the world.  How desperately they want to see God’s people fail.  Look what glee they display as they devour even their own.  Salivating to destroy, they welcome the rumor of failing.

They do not seek out faltering.  They are looking for raging sins.  The Christian’s refusal to obey is like gasoline to a fire.  Even the liberties God has allowed us, are flammable in the eyes of the world.

What are we teaching?  What are we doing?  Do we wear a sash of compromise on the clothing God has given us?  Do we often forget what is holy?  Do we forget who we used to be?  Do we forget our calling?

Does our testimony fuel the fires of hell?  Or does it quench, and restrain by living water?  Do we smother the world’s ambition by a display of holy behavior?

By His Grace

You Go Ahead, I’ll be Right Behind You

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In the days when this place of testimony was being dug out of eternity, men came to me to say I spoke too harshly.  Did they not do the same to all God’s prophets, teachers, and servants?  So I stuck to what I heard and relayed it as accurately as I could muster.  It has become a bit tamer but not as a response to their urgings.  I have come to realize certain understandings and have written them here for all to read.  So there is no need to speak them again.  Ask me and I will testify the good things of God to man.  And I will not hold back.

Some would desire to return to peace among men; a peace which is absent of the word of God’s judgment.  I will not go back.  I cannot go back.  And He will guard my way with a rock strewn path behind me.  Briars have grown over the place where I once slept.  No one has come to clear them away for the sake of the peace of man.  I have been blessed to taste that the Lord is Good.  And I will, in no wise, go back to that of man.  Instead, I urge all to reach to the place where I now stand.  Reach this place and run beyond me.  Become my elders, all of you.  Come, take from what God extends to all men and gain what is above me.  Become my teachers.

You who would desire the word of God remain closed up in His people are acting foolishly.  For if you will not listen to His words from us how will you stand when you appear before Him and hear His own words spoken to you directly?  I ask you to reconsider where you stand as you mock His people.  There is an accounting to be made.   And, regardless how you believe it, God will gather all people in a place where they will testify individually before Him.

While you consider these words (all these words) I will continue to walk toward the fulness of His will for me.  Billions are greater than I.  Yet there are billions who have yet to bow to their knees before Him.   I can make no accounting of where I stand between them.  So I will walk at a mended pace.  Catch me and pass beyond.   I will gladly spur you on.   I speak the things I do because I am compelled to testify for Him.  And I will NEVER go back to what I was.  Once a fire is built there are various reasons not to quench it.

Through or Into the Flames We Go.

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fire

Image by matthewvenn via Flickr

Making a choice regarding religion is not like buying a new car.  Though there are a myriad of religions and a gaggle of new cars to choose from, there is only one God.  So how can we decide what’s right?  There are a few items for thought regarding religions.  And we will prove ourselves wise if we consider them.

1. God is the creator.  So what is made is not the creator Himself.  We can expect then that any religion which holds creation as greater than God is false.

2. Man is sinful and wicked to the core.  Look at how many times you’ve lied in the last 24 hours.  Either you lied because you wanted something and thought it would be the best way around, or you lied because you weren’t completely up to speed with reality.  But you lied.  Consider how many times you looked at your speedometer and found you were going to fast for the speed zone.  Isn’t this breaking the law?  And don’t all people know that breaking the law is to be imperfect?  Bottom line, you’re not potentially perfect.  You’re full to over flowing with sin.  God does not lie.  So any religion which brings man to the place of potential perfection is false.

3. If God is true and every man a liar.  And if He says that all men will die eternally because of their wickedness.  And if Christianity provides a sacrifice for our sins in Jesus (which it does).  Then the choices get very limited very quickly.

 

You’re not going to find a religion, regardless what they say, which offers the hope of the Lord Jesus.  Cults abound.  False hope is as plentiful as corn dogs at the state fair.  But there is One who is true.  And He has marked out the way in the Bible.  Spurn the Lord Jesus and you will reap a whirlwind of horror.  Embrace Him and you will find the power to hope and live.  We have been given one life.  It’s this one you’re using right now to read this.  There is no other chance to get it right.  The Bible holds the Gospel (good news).  Don’t listen to all the trash in this world.  Go straight to the source.

When you read the Bible you’ll become afraid.  I promise that.  And you’ll be tempted to put it down in a hurry.  But that fear is a recognition that the Holy Fire of God is present in those words.  You have to walk through that fire to find the Lord Jesus.  Live or die.  It’s your choice.

By His Grace.

Salt and Ice

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The world is growing colder to the will of God.  And in the end we will see that coldness increase.   What should a man of God desire then?  How will he resist becoming cold to God’s will as the world around him freezes deeper?  Here are some isolated thoughts regarding this coldness. 

It is given to man a certain part of truth that he might give it to others.  I present these things for someone else to expound on.  I am not receiving the ability to put them together in a “fluid” state (no pun intended).  I encourage the one who is blessed to assemble them to do so.  I would love to read how they fit.

Pure water freezes at 32 degrees.  But add salt and you can extend water’s resistance.  The more salt you add the more resistance to freezing.

The Lord Jesus refered to truth as water.  A Spring of water welling up within a man is the work of the Holy Spirit leading us to holiness. 

He also speaks of the need for us to have salt in us.  We are encouraged to have salt in our speech.  This salt is the Gospel.  We are to testify of God’s words often and with boldness. 

Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt.  That is, there was no water in her testimony.  Though she was leaving the judgment of God, she did not desire His will.

I want to have God’s will in my life.  I desire to know the Gospel (both the warnings and encouragements of God’s word).  I desire to resist this “Coldness” the world is headed to.  So the more salt within me the better. 

I consider the effect of salty water as it resists the cold.  And I’m put in mind of a burning desire to receive the will of God.  Now my mind turns to a question.  What is the melting point of salt?  I find it melts at an astounding 1545 degrees.  What cold could freeze such an intense heat? 

Father, Your Holy Name is from ages past.  Your truth remains unmovable and sure.  It is Your will that can withstand the blast of cold hearts.  The sin around us grows colder and colder to Your will.  Certainly, there will come a time when You rise from Your Majestic, pure, righteous, and Holy Throne to judge the world for all it’s sinfulness.  I beg Your perfect mercy, that I might not succumb to this coldness.  But allow that I should burn with intense salt of truth.  Let the water of Your Holy Spirit fill me with desire to serve the Living God.   You have chosen Your Son Jesus as our shield in the day of judgment.  He is our shield even now.  We desire Your will above all else.  Not because we are righteous men and women, but because it is Your will to separate a people to Yourself.  You are God!  And there is no one like You.

By His Grace.

Holy Fire.

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Fire, meant to purify

All that my works just cannot buy.

If it’s gold I seek, I testify,

Through heat of trials my faith He’ll try.

He is the fire; that consuming Flame.

And Glory to His Holy Name!

Before His Throne we all will stand.

Shall He accept from a filthy hand?

I need His burning hand anew.

I pray you let Him burn you too.

By His Grace.