Tag Archives: God

Prayer

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People, by majority, tend to avoid prayer.  To most, prayer is like those little hammers you can buy to smash out your window in case you drive into a lake.  In fact it is so like that little hammer, that most people can’t remember where they put it when they need it the most.  If they remember at all.

But prayer is not exclusively for men.  When you tell people they should pray, they think of themselves as ugly and unworthy therefore afraid of the Most High God.  And they equate God with a holy law they cannot and are not willing to fulfill.  They may say “okay” but they will not.

People think of prayer as something they are expected to do as a righteous ritual.  But prayer is not for us.  Prayer is for God.  He takes delight in seeing his creatures come to him.  So when we don’t pray we rob him of his joy.

I will make a fool of myself by giving this example.  I lay on my bed one day, feeling fully unworthy of his presence.  I spoke a few words to him but did not kneel before Him in prayer.

Then I sensed that familiar loving voice of the Lord Jesus.  “It is not right to keep what belongs to him.”

The understanding was immediately clear.  Humanly speaking, I was hurting God’s feelings.  I was busily robbing him of his joy.  With that understanding, it was very easy to get up and kneel in humility to give him praise and thanks.

When people refuse to pray, they are often correct about their guilt.  But the guilt will not dissipate unless we go to the one who can remove it.  He will remove it if we come to him in humility and earnest intent.

How do I know this?  Because Jesus willingly allowed himself to be murdered so that he may become the mercy of God.   He is the crown jewel in all God’s creation.  No one exalts trivia.  Rather, he gives glory to his greatest prize.  How much more does God?

If we are guilty of sin, that is one thing.  But to be guilty of non-belieg is an entirely different matter.  By refusing to believe we are counting God’s greatest prize as far less valuable.

God was deadly serious about offering his Son as the sacrifice for our sins.  He is deadly serious about how we receive that sacrifice.  (It is not possible to put that more strongly.)  Therefore he is deadly serious about saving us.  Therefore he is deadly serious about his desire to commune with his creation.

There is holy wrath waiting for those who refuse to believe.  But his generosity and mercy are even more potent for those who receive His gift. 

This is true.  It is a faultless saying.   Why then would anyone refuse to give God what is rightfully his?

With the promise of utter annihilation , and the promise of eternal embrace, how can anyone choose the former?  It is not logical.  It makes absolutely no sense.  God refers to such a choice as foolish.

His people, in this place, willingly testify that God is a beautiful loving Father.   Ask and they will tell you how much God loves them. 

(I can only hope that the man you think is a Christian, and approach to ask, is truly in love with God.  Beware, many masquerade by wearing the name.)

With even a summary view of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you will get the picture of God in Jesus.  If you approach those books with humility, understanding will come.

There is no safety away from him.  But near him there is all safety and confidence, not to mention a clean conscience.  And by going to him we give him what is his. 

I had a dear old friend you once told me, “It is impossible to out give God.  He has a bigger shovel.”  If you give him what he wants, do you think he will not rightly give you what you need?

The Place of No Return

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I write this as help to my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I write this as instruction to the wicked that they may understand.  I write this as admonition and hope.  If you will bear with it, there will be understanding.

A man wakes and guilt covers him.  Perhaps as he closed his eyes the guilt restrained his sleep until his flesh could fight no more.  He is aware of the holiness of God.  He is aware of his own utter lack.  This awareness has crushed multitudes, and they never rise again.

Many arrive to this place of understanding.  They perceive the nature of “good”.   They also perceive the nature of their own wickedness.  This perception can be a wall of steel brick 7000 miles high.  Here, millions have died for lack of faith.

What does a man do, before the perfect face of God, when he finds he is guilty of sin?  What repairs can be made? What action can be taken?

We are forced to consider the righteousness of God.  Regardless our sin, he is faithful and true.  His Son did not bleed for no reason.  Therefore if we believe that, what we must do becomes clear.

We approach God in prayer confessing our sins.  He responds by freeing our conscience.  Now we must rise and start the war again.  Not to believe, is to call God a liar.  Not to believe this to say: “Christ died for nothing”.  We cannot do that.   Such a saying is worse than our sin.

How useless is it to beat yourself for the things you have done?  There is a mountain to climb.  Wallowing in your pityful state does no good.  It brings no glory to Christ.  And it does not fulfill the Word of God.  Not to mention the devastating blow to our testimony.  We teach, by necessity, what we believe.

I understand how difficult it is to let go and just run.  But if we believe God, what choice is there?  He takes no pleasure in our sin.  But it is his pleasure to see us have faith and go. 

Again, the proof of his desire is in the death of his Son.  He encountered death for the will of God.  The will of God reaches to reunite what is broken.  And that he has accomplished through His Holy Son.

“The Faith” does not wallow in disrepair.   It stands as quickly as legs can find balance, and strives toward obedience.  Faith that comes through any other means than the Holy Blood of Christ is no strength of faith at all.  But understanding and strength come when we believe the Holy Word of God regarding the sacrifice of his Son.

Have you been wallowing in your frailty for years?  Isn’t it about time to believe?

The Limits of Can

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The list of limits, which restrain the life of man, is long.  He is bound up and constrained by the Holy dictates of God’s great Wisdom.  The list of “can” is shorter, yet no less sure.  The first constrains rebellion.  The second unleashes holy righteousness with the unlimited power of God himself.

Man presses against the limits of restraint.  They invent machines to push into those limits, and succeeds.  There will be no glory from God for such pernicious strivings.  How can rebellious desire be rewarded?

But who, among men, reaches to the limit of “can”?   It is written for all to read, “With God all things are possible”.   In the way of obedience, this was said.  In the way of salvation to obedience, this was said.  Who, among men, reaches to the fullness of God’s Holy words?

There are the limits of this world.  The final limit, among men, is reached at the point of death; the release of the soul from the constraints of flesh.  All men will surely reach this limit and pass through.

Many will reach the next impenetrable limit of condemnation; they will go no farther.  No rebellious striving will produce success.  But who will reach beyond that finality to the unspeakable limits of eternity?

God is a God of order.  He has placed limits for all creatures.  In this age, he has constrained.  So it will be in the next age.  In this age he constrains rebellion.  In the next he will constrain Holy order.  Yet who, among men, reaches to the limit of “can”?

Jesus offers righteousness to man now.  Jesus is the righteousness of man forever.  Yet what shall be said of the fullness of possibility in this place of testing?  Who has reached the fullness of God’s willingness to give?  Who, among men, reaches deep to become what God is willing to give?

Malicious Shadows

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I cannot blame the Sun

For intensely being bright.

I cannot blame the moon

For shining through the night.

I cannot blame the wicked

For hating what is right;

For embracing all that is not God,

In his blazing Holy Might.

God Himself ordained the Sun

And gave it a place to remain.

The moon remains and serves him well,

Despite its shifting name.

God has given truth to man;

Displayed abundantly.

Account we’ll give on bended knee,

When his face we all will see.

This land is shadow and now proclaims:

“Your wickedness will end!”

When shadows cease and God appears,

No longer means to mend.

Malicious thoughts against the Lord;

A taunting threat displayed.

The great proud smiles of those who hate,

Their filthy lips, like tattered strings;

Unravel and are frayed.

Who has ears to hear these things?

Who has eyes to see?

Let him acknowledge Jesus Christ,

And bow his wicked knee.

Even so Lord Jesus come!

The Mind is Slave to the Soul

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The mind is a very fertile and powerful organ among the members of our body.  Regardless our state of affairs, it is able to rise to the occasion.  Though it is not the source of decision.

If a man is depressed, the mind can drive him to death.  If a man is joyful, no Depression can touch him.  If a man strives to accomplish a task, within the reach of his body, his mind will quicken.  If he determines to say, “No I will not”, his mind will shutdown possibilities.  The man is soul.  The body is the place where the soul lives.  The mind is therefore, the slave of the soul.

Within the boundaries of man (within the nature of constraints God has placed on this world), the mind is able to accomplish the things the soul desires.  This can be bad or good.  For if a man’s soul is darkened, so his mind will be darkened.  But if a man’s soul reaches for God, his mind also will reach for God.

God will respond to the soul who desires him.  Though the mind is full of wickedness, God can cause righteousness to grow.  But let the man, in his soul, first search diligently for what is God.  Let him also continue in this searching as he sees the fruit of God appear.

If I go to an apple tree, in its season of fruit, I do not expect to find skunks growing on it.  If I have planted the apple tree I will be quite miffed at its produce.  I will cut it down and burn it to ashes.  It will not matter if the tree has produced apples for years.  I have no use for skunks.  There is no place for them among my things.  And though they do exist, independent of my orchard, I will not grow them willingly.

Can we expect less of God who plants righteousness?  If a soul has once desired the holiness of God, receives what God graciously gives, then turns to embrace wickedness, can we expect God to embrace that soul?

The righteousness of God will cease in our things.  Though they will continue for a little while, as we have developed a habit, they will dissipate overtime.  In the place of the righteousness of God, we will find the fruit of wickedness.  How can we expect that to be received by God?

Let us be wise and press the mind to accomplish.  What our soul desires, the mind is forced to endure.  Therefore if we desire God, let us continue to desire more of God.  If he has blessed us with a crop of righteousness for a small desire how much more for complete desire?

Man is not body.  Man is soul clothed in a body.  The deception is complete enough to keep the fool a fool. 

No man has seen his soul.  But any man can readily see his body.  Most people believe the body is who they are.  They have not noticed the subtle difference between the decaying nature of the mind and the eternal nature of the soul.  They are caught in a deception, and there they will remain eternally.

The body cannot do the will of God if the man’s soul is in rebellion.  But let the man look up and desire his maker, and he will see marked difference in his life.  The problem is, most people do not understand this.  So when they once receive the grace of God, they fall back to the desires of the body.

If a man’s body is healed by God, men consider it a miracle.  But the real miracle happens when a man’s soul agrees with God, and of the body is forced to obey.  The mind will do as the soul commands.  Will the soul do as God commands?

Surprise!

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Men plot in their heart and in their mind they devise means of gain.  They believe such things are hidden.  They think they can do these things in secret. 

They whisper together in inner rooms.  They carefully lay out the plan.  ” We will keep this to ourselves.  When it has come to fruit then all will know.  But it will be too late for them, and we will gain.”

Thus men conspire against the people and the Lord.  The people are caught unaware.  But the Lord has seen from its inception.

“Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:24)

Do not be deceived all men will answer to God.  The wise consider these things with trembling heart.  The violent greedy give it no thought at all.

CS Lewis has said that in the way of salvation, on the day when all things are revealed, there will be surprises.  He was speaking of who will be saved and who will not.  But there will be stark surprises for many who thought their sins were hidden.   The sad thing is, those who plot in secret will never read this post.