Tag Archives: God

The Colors of Colorless Night

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A close up side view of a (Nycticebus pygmaeus...

A close up side view of a (Nycticebus pygmaeus) at the in . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ah the night; the dawn before light.

All is still. Or is it so?

It’s man who sleeps; greed repressed.

But teaming with colors, this silhouette place.

With noises to faint to see.

The creatures of innocence move about,

While You fulfill their every need.

The bat soars by; by inches past my head.

No noise is made my ears can hear.

No man is as spry as he.

The best among us is clumsy and lame.

While this little creature roars silent through the night.

What marvelous things dance for You while we sleep.

What beauty is in Your hand.

Dogs bark at things they know nothing about.

Panic fills their bones.

All night long they warn of what is no threat.

So much like the youngest of man.

A snap appears to my listening ear.

A creature is moving near.

Which one is this who announces his presence;

All the while he strives to blend in?

Yet caught by noise he slips on by.

And all I can testify,

Is that here he was and now is there.

Another noise is made other somewhere.

I rose to pray, to seek Your face,

While my brothers relax their grip.

I did not suppose that I would find,

Color midst the colorless night.

Glory to You for You are life continually.

Sleep never covers Your eyes.

Sustain is Your name, providing life to all things.

And even the darkness does not hide.

Once again I am struck by the awesome value of God.

While we sleep He dresses what is.

The Song

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MUSIC: 200603-200803 Listening History Graph

MUSIC: 200603-200803 Listening History Graph (Photo credit: Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos (ClintJCL))

All of creation sings a song for the Lord who created.

A billion birds sing, different sounds from different places.

The wind blows the rushing sound that ties together the notes.

Different places; North, south, east, west, above and below comes the song together.

Who can hear it?  Who perceives the music?

The Lord hears it and sustains the music.

Colors blend and mix according to the will of He who made them.

And the song becomes a glorious tone to His “ears”.

Shapes project and recede to echo the beauty of the blend.

Waves echo a steady rhythm for the mass of notes.

And thunder pounds out the beat.

Light and darkness set the sequence.

And so the song continues unbroken.

A song of praise from all that is.

Then the Lord spoke what could not be known.

That which even the angels longed to look into:

“Let Us make man in Our image,

according to Our likeness;

and let them rule over the fish of the sea

and over the birds of the sky

and over the cattle

and over all the earth,

and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Maestros are we who do not hear the noise.

Yet with wisdom He has caused us to be.

With our hands and our lips we praise His name.

He who caused this marvelous noise.

“Suitable” for Who?

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The Garden of Earthly Delights [detail]. Neder...

The Garden of Earthly Delights [detail]. Nederlands: De Tuin der Lusten [detail]. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had thought for many years that the creation of Eve was only that God had compassion on Adam.  I thought God considered loneliness in His man.  And that Eve was simply created to fill that void.  But after reading it again (with the new eyes the Lord Jesus has given me to see with), I see something new; something true and continuous from the truth I have come to realize over the years.

The word “suitable” is what turned my understanding.  I had thought that loneliness and companionship were the target of that creation.  Now I see that the word “suitable” stands out as the key to understanding the meaning of Eve’s creation from Adam.

Suitable for who?  Is the proper question to ask.  Suitable for Adam?  From Adam’s perspective?  Absolutely not.  Wasn’t God with him?  Wasn’t it Jesus who walked in the garden to fellowship with Adam?  How much more peace can a man get than to know the Lord of creation in person?  I have never seen Him.  Yet, by the faith He has given me, I see enough of Him to enter even into death with an enormous peace and contentment.  No.  It was not for Adam’s lack that Eve was created.  Suitable has to do with what is purposed by God Himself.

What was suitable for God was to create a place of testing for a people He would later gather into an eternal kingdom.  This was His purpose all along.  And we know that Jesus was crucified from the foundation of the world.

I have often told people who asked, that the two trees were placed in the Garden to create a people to redeem.  The trees were the engine which would Glorify the Son of God.  And then, at the first bite we can hear the engine start up.  Did Adam know this?  How could he?  All Adam knew was that his kind creator had made someone just like him; someone who he would be so attracted to that he would obey any desire she had.

She was weaker, for she was not built from the ground up.  She was built from a small piece of the man.  She was not first.  She was last.  She was the one who was tempted.  And she succumbed because God had planned, all along, that She would bring Adam into sin.

I read that Adam was told not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  And I perceive that obedience was primary within the man.  Where obedience is full, there is no temptation.  So God created a creature which would reach deep inside the man’s heart and pluck out his obedience to the Lord.

All the Glory goes to Jesus.  And that, for the Glory of the Father in heaven.  For He has created this place to produce a crop of holy people who have passed the same test His Son underwent.  Don’t we read that those who overcome will be given the same glory as that of Jesus, short of ownership of all power, authority, strength, and such.  We are designed by God to endure by the power of the Lord Jesus so that God will gather for Himself a people who will never fail to obey Him, regardless the temptation.

All the more then, we struggle to reach out to the God who made us.  The God who tests our hearts, rebukes us as we wander, softens that hardness of heart which the serpent has, and leads us in His eternal ways.  The proving of the man of God is NOW.  Please don’t believe those who say that we can do as we please now.   They say that God will transform us when we see Him face to face.  Please don’t believe that lie.  Submit now and you will enter into the very place God has in mind for you.

By His Grace.

National Day of Prayer

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National Day of Prayer

National Day of Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I marvel at Jonah, a very curious prophet of The Living God.  What was his complaint as God sent him to Nineveh?  He knew that God would relent on His proclamation to destroy the city in forty days.  Jonah knew that God would warn them.  He also knew that God would provide them with the insight to repent and turn from the evil they held so dearly.

I recently wrote a short article about the National Day of Prayer.  God had me take it down.  I heard from Him that I did not understand Him in His ways, as I wrote about what destruction is about to fall on this nation.  And I confess that I still don’t completely understand the reason for taking that article down.  Regardless, it is taken down at His command.

In a fashion, I went to Nineveh with that article.  In a fashion, I preached the truth of the coming destruction for all the world’s wicked ways.  But the word of warning will not be heard as it was written.  Does this remove the prospect of destruction?  No.  It removes the urgency of sureness that the article pronounced.

At this point I understand the reason for taking the post down.  The message of destruction is true.  Do not mistake God’s patience and mercy for a licence to continue in wickedness.  But He will wait to see how His people pray.  He will wait to see how the world responds around them.  And He will make a decision regarding America based on what comes to be from His people.

We have tasted the bitterness of a lawless ruler.  We now see clearly what the promise of “hope and change” can bring from a man who does not love the Lord Jesus, thus God the Father.  America is awaking from a deep sleep.  And God will wait to hear what they have to say for themselves and those who surround them with wickedness.

May Your Holy Will be done forever, O’ Father of Jesus.  Your mercy and compassion extend to the ends of the earth, as you look upon a people who do not know their left hand from the right.  As it was for Nineveh, so shall it be for America.  If they listen to You words and repent of their evil ways, You will relent, for a time, the destruction You had set in motion.  We beg Your mercy for the sake of Your Name.  That many wicked will have their eyes open and perceive the end of their wickedness.  By Your Grace.  Amen.

Working for the Lord

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I drive a semi-truck for a living (that is to use my time productively and to make money so I can be of value to those who need me).  What do you do for a living?  I have never seen the Lord drive a big rig.  I have not seen it with my eyes, read it in the writings of others, or imagined it in my mind.  But I will confess that the Lord knows how to drive a big rig better than any driver I’ve ever seen.

I have found something useful to relate about what we do for a living.  I do not drive the semi alone.  The Lord is before me, behind me, above and on the sides of me.  He is

A FAW truck in China

A FAW truck in China (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ever-present to guide, correct, remind, and prepare. I have seen Him cut the traffic open like He did the Red Sea for His people.  I have seen my reaction to situations change because He was there to instruct me.  Patience has become the headlights.  Endurance has replaced tired.  And His love restrains my anxiety over the foolishness of people.

It is not I who drives this truck.  It is the Lord leading me as I do the job He has allowed me to enter into.  If I let Him drive the truck by listening to what “is”, remembering what is written about what is true, and paying attention to the “living conversation” between He and I, I do well.

What I find interesting is how I balked against this for a long time.  How I thought that the Lord wasn’t all that interested in what I did for a living.  But I have come to see this as a testimony.  In every aspect, (if I let Him lead, and remain true to His commands) success becomes the banner over the top of every day.

Someone might ask, “Well that’s fine.  But what if you get in an accident?”  My friend, I already have.  And I endured that chastening just as I endure the rush traffic of Detroit.  Patience and truth are the leaders of everything good.  They are the strength to endure what cannot be endured by man alone successfully.  In every job, every rightful pleasure, and every moment sleeping, this is true.  And it remains a possibility for every man who has ever lived, regardless what he did for a living.

“Thou shalt not steal.” Do not speed.  Do not take up more room than you need.  Count others as more important than yourself.  Assume the worst is about to happen, and be ready to lovingly respond.  And make it a living testimony to the efficacy of the Gospel within you.  What more can we do?  If, at some point, these things fail you and you stand with no concept of what to do, be patient.  You are never alone.  It is as if it is the Lord Himself who is enduring the situation in your place.  Give Him Glory and do not worry.   If He allowed it to happen to you He will carry you through it.

Learn to live like this and you will see the end of anxiety in everything.  In Him, even death has no sting.  What shall we say then about any other form of suffering or toil?  Do not fear.  For fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not yet made complete in love.  And the One who loves us is true.  Therefore we could certainly say that the one who fears is living in doubt.  Doubt of the Lord’s promises is to call Him a liar.  What more needs to be said?

The Living Language of God

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Diagram of basic procedure to determine whethe...

Diagram of basic procedure to determine whether two sounds are allophones (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My God, I thank You.  You have given us words to communicate with our brothers.  And among men we speak and are understood.  But there is a language You have used for eternity.  And it is these words You purpose to teach us to use.  When You speak, You do not use sounds.  You speak in living words.  All Your words are true, thus alive.  And I thank You that this can be understood by a people who are used to only speaking sounds.  These sounds are heard, remembered for a time, then fade away.  But Your words last forever.

There are times, my God, when I think of what You are giving Your servant and marvel.  There are times when this seems but a dream. For we are taught to doubt from the moment we are born.  Yet You continually prove Your love to my soul.  This is true of all who know You.  And we rise in one accord to give You praise for Your loving hand among us.  We say, “There is a faith which becomes a ‘knowing’.  There is a God, invisible to man, who makes Himself known.  He is the Living God.  He speaks to us with Living Words.  And we will believe because You have touched us.  We believe because You have Spoken to us by granting us Life.  Those who went out from among us did not belong to us.  For if they had belonged to us they would have remained.  For to know Your touch and instruction is to gain life itself!  And no living creature desires to die.  Rather we move nearer that we might learn to truly live.”

There are words a man might speak which require no sounds from his lips.  These “words” are deeds of love to one another; a service rendered back to He who gives freely.  They speak louder than a man can scream.  And they last through time eternal.  This is the language of my God.  It is Your purpose to create a people for Yourself who understand these things.  And You willingly teach all who will submit to You about these things.

Holy are Your ways!  Marvelously Holy, pure, powerful, and complete are Your ways!  Glory adorns You forever.  And what astounds me is this:  Though nothing impure will ever enter Your Holy presence, You dress Your servants with Your own Righteous Light.  You have provided a manner, way, power, and path, by which we have hope to enter Your Holy presence.  Your Holy Son is this means.  And it is Your own Hand which has done this.

Praise to the Father through the Son!  For He has created a people for Himself from that which was not, and now is.  Glory is the Father in Heaven!  Eternal Glory!  Great is He who purposed to collect a people for His Son from this “Place of testing”.  Glory, Glory, and Glory to He who IS!  Amen.

By Your Grace.