Tag Archives: Grace

The Reason for Faith’s Necessity

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2 questions:
_____________

1. Why do we need faith?

2. What does the voice of God sound like?

Beginning with the second question:
The voice of God is life.  When the Israelites were released from bondage in Egypt, God displayed his voice in a thunderous noise from the mountain.  But this was for the sake of the people, that they may worship Him and obey.  As he spoke with Moses, however,  he used no such voice.  Rather, God treated Moses as a friend.  (What does that say about those to whom he spoke as a thunderous noise?)

The voice of God requires faith to hear.  God is thoroughly life.  Everything he is, everything he says, everything he does, is life.  Ask yourself then what does life say, what does life sound like, what does life look like, what does life feel like?  Look carefully at the situations and things that come to you. 

Please don’t consider that God is like a man.  The life I am speaking of is Purity, Holiness, Righteousness, Justice, Mercy, and in the end Grace to us through sustaining toward the same things.

He would prefer that we gain his wisdom to perceive with our eyes and ears, mind, heart and strength.  Isn’t this why the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength and with all your soul?  Then you will begin to hear his voice.  How do I know this?

Romans 1:20 tells us how we know this.  “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

(And we have the testimony of those who do hear his voice through faith.  The one who writes this testifies.  And some who read this testify.  The voice of God, one may say, also comes from those who know him.  Perhaps better said, those God knows in Jesus His Holy and Righteous Son.  The people would find advantedge listening to the words of such people, instead of pre-judging them as worthless.)

He speaks to us from what we can say “IS”.  Because life “IS”. 

And we must inject another slice of information here.  God does not demand too much, for he gives us everything we need to accomplish his Holy will in our lives.  To say he does not, is to join with satan in the primary accusation that has caused creation of this place of testing in the first place.  We find the second slice of information in the following scripture.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. (James 1)

Rejecting this promise is a sincerely precarious place to choose to live!  For if we do not receive his wisdom, that God is so willing to give freely, we will surely lack precious gifts. (Even, perhaps, finding death in the end.  For not a single one of those who of those who heard the Thunders from the mountain receive the promise of God.)

Having read this, it is now your responsibility to act.  Though having said that, (it sounds like a threat) the Wonders that God is willing to give to any man is far worth the struggle to suppress our rebelion (That which is crouching at our very door, desiring to have us. But we must master it. [Taken from Genesis 4:7])

Think about this deeply:  we need faith because it will never cease to be necessary.

Go and see if what I have said is true.

P. S.  The voice of God is called Jesus.  Think about that for the rest of your life.

Spring Eternal

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Spring will soon come to the Northern Hemisphere.  And if the Beautiful Lord tarries we will see all the grandeur that is new life here.  In this I speak of new leaves, flowers, babies a plenty, and a comforting season.

And if the Lord moves to close the window of opportunity in this place, His people will see a Spring that never ceases.  Everything dressed in eternal splendor, that is the place of his promise.  The joy of lambs leaping, and all beautiful things.  Hearts that never cease to be glad.

Having said that, I consider what His moving means.  How glorious things will be Life (Eternal reality) for so many; the sure promise of God unveiled to his people.

But I consider the meaning of his moving for those who have despised His rule.  A winter of fire forever.  A place where Spring is no longer spoken.  A place where the warm rain is tears falling down.  A place where hope is never realized.  A place where impossibility is king.  A place where ownership means shame.  A place of horror and oppressive fear.  As surely as they have chosen, alienation from the Living God’s beauty, is theirs forever.  If they have suffered in this place, rejecting God’s offer of Help in Christ, how much more will they suffer for having despised the Grace of God?  I have no right to speak of God’s promised Eternal Spring, without exposing his promise of destruction.

In my mind I meant to write this article exposing the beauty of God’s glorious Spring, as opposed to the glory of Man’s work.  But I got caught up in his promise, for good and for shame.

What is of God is obvious.  What is a Man is likewise.  For I know that he has said that we are without excuse.  So perhaps it is perfectly reasonable that my mind was turned to the glory of God’s wise and righteous judgement with pure justice.

I wish I had the words that would turn every soul for the love of God in his good will to save us all.  Then I would have no need to speak of the promise regarding destruction.  Then I would be full of joy that could be shared to the prosperity of all who could hear.  But the word wish is proper.

God will grant eyes and ears to those who will humble themselves and seek His Holy Face.  He has promised to lead all such people to his Holy Christ .There is a righteousness that is given.  That is the righteousness that belongs to the Christian.

Let this be enough for this place of writing.  By what I have written, I am not full of joy.  For a vast number  will see destruction.  This is not my opinion or speculation, it is the word of the Living God’s Holy Son. 

The Living God has promised to give strength to those who begin and continue to call out for mercy.   Please do so, that you too may taste the joy that is Spring Eternal.

What If It’s True?

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I was speaking with a man who is beginning to “see” the Gospel.  The subject of how grand the visible universe is came up.  I said to him, “Who are we if all that is was made, was made specifically for humanity?”  He balked at this for a moment, for he remembered the teachings about life forms on other planets (that teaching from the pit of hell).  But then he said, “We would be a very special group of people”.   Joy filled my heart to hear him admit the truth.

I don’t know if he grasped the fullness of that summation.  But what if there are no other creatures in all the universe like us?  What if the entire universe was created for us alone?

But let me state what is absolute and true, there are no other creatures on any other planet in the entire universe like us.  We are the sole purpose of God’s Glorious and Holy Will in all this vast universe.  (Note the lack of apology)

What does that mean?  And how do I KNOW this is true?

It means that we are intended to become a holy people, dressed in purity, righteousness, mercy, justice and eternal understanding.  That is the intent of God for every man, woman and child.  Regardless what background you may have, you are intended to serve the Living God with faithfulness.

How do I know this is true?  Because the Gospel of Christ Jesus is TRUE.  God has sent his one and only Son, He who has been with the Father of Life from the “Beginning”.  Jesus taught us this truth in every thing he did and said.  He was murdered for our sake, and by our own hands.  But God has raised Him from the dead and seated Him eternally in Glorious Majesty.  And this was done in THIS PLACE!

According to what I have written, let everyone consider what this means.  May everyone believe the Gospel of Christ.  May everyone become the majesty of God’s intention among Man’s place in eternity.  May all men stand in awe at the revelation of Truth that God has shed His blood to attain.

Amen.

Owners of Decay, Owners of Eternity.

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The prosperity of riches, among Man, is defined by those things a man might acquire. And so they bear their proper name.   Easily lost or destroyed by rust and various decay, such things have no right to bear the name “prosperity”.  For no sooner are they acquired (or even desired), they begin their demise.

Penniless paupers are those who desire only the things of this world.  But rich are those, and beyond voicing, who place their desire in the things of eternity.  This “hope” in Christ we own, is riches unspeakable.

Let the unbeliever ridicule the Christian.  Let them hope in every possible “value” in this world.  They stand as proud owners of decay.  But let understand sink in.  The Hope we own in Christ is given to us by He who is endlessly true.  Such a One cannot give any decay to anyone.  What He gives is a faith that cannot possibly die, except that a man might rise one day to choose doubt over belief.

Yet he who owns Prosperity of Eternity owns what is absolute.  This one is rich!  He is rich beyond his ability to know, yet he believes.

Doubt belongs to the owners of decay.  Belief is received by He who extends eternal riches.  Believe and prosper.  Doubt and remain a pauper.

Grace

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“When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious– that you, LORD God, might dwell there.” (Psalm 68:18)

If you want hope for every day and night of the rest of your life , look at what it says.  “. . . even from the rebellious”.

Jesus lives to save. 

The house of the righteous man is clean and prepared for a visitation of the Holy One.  While the house of the rebellious is infested with tiny crawling venomous snakes.

Faith has cleaned the house of the righteous.  That same faith, drops the rebellious to their knees. 

With Regal Splendor, the Living God’s Holy Son comes to the house of each.  And he is received, in each house, by a flow of tears. 

Everything the righteous man has belongs to this wonderous person, Jesus.  Everything the rebellious one wants, is in the hands of he who is willing to come among his filthy things.

Both of them fall on their face in awe.  Both of them marvel at the Majestic mercy of the Righteous One.  Both of them give the only thing they have left; willing praise to the One who can save their souls.

Burdened with limitations, each one knows they can reach no higher than their skin.  But see how it is God who moves to embrace.

10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3)

This is the nature of our plight.  The righteous man knows these things and lives because he receives from the Living God – that great mercy God has promised.  The rebellious man looks up with pleading, for he knows the same things.

One has.  The other has hopes to attain.  The Apostles walked with the Lord daily.  The man of the tombs was forced to remain.  Yet all of them testified to the willing love of the Living God’s Holy Son.

Who will bring to God the only thing he has to give?  Who will believe this message and live?  Who will offer thanks for the inexpressible gift of God, Grace?

By His Grace

Plethora

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abundance, cornucopia, feast, plenitude, plentitude, plenty, superabundance, wealth.

So many voices saying, “This is the way”.  So many claims to truth.  So little time to devote to “shaking out” the differences.  What’s a man to do?

Look what Charles Spurgeon said, I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ.  My hope lies in another quarter.  I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, “You are mine, and you shall be mine.  I claim you for myself.”  My hope arises from the freeness of grace, and not from the freedom of the will. 

No man can save himself.  No man can even be sure that he has ahold of the things of the Living God.  Even as he sets his hand to understanding, others tell him he is wrong.  Not only that, but doubts rise up in the man himself.  To read all the literature of man regarding religion, is too much.  A man will die before he finishes the readings.  Then, if he’s finished reading, will he be any better off?  What’s a man to do?  Then we add all the socially accepted means of pleasing God; and there are billions of those!

I’m not talking about opinions.  I’m talking about absolute, concrete, unmovable, eternal, holy, and vibrant Truth.  How does a man “know” he has the Truth of God?

I said, “Read the Bible”.  But that’s a really large book.  And so many books set themselves up along side the Bible.  I said, “Believe me, when I tell you that Christ Jesus is the Truth of God”.  But why should a man believe me, when there are millions of others who say the same things?  And those millions don’t speak of Christ in the same loving terms.

Here’s the answer:

The truth of God lives in God’s Holy Son.  I know that even that saying is too much for those who doubt.  I know that there are many claims to the truth of God.  But I testify that the power of life from God lives in His Holy Son.  In Jesus’ own words, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day”. (John 6: 44)

What’s it take to get God to show you his Holy Son?  You must humble yourself in prayer.  God will filter out pride.  God will filter out man’s ability.  Requests to God that contain anything more than humility, will not receive His favor.  God protects His Son from the onslaught of man’s violent pride and greed.  It is the hungry, the broken, the humiliated, the lost, the desperate, and the diligent, whose prayers are heard.

Forget about being able to figure it all out.  The mind of man cannot know the things of Heaven except that Heaven is revealed to him.

Ok, you don’t have time to read every written word regarding religion.  But are you willing to pray?  Nothing more I can tell anyone will help them.  The answer to all the confusion lives in humbling ourselves before God and asking for His Help.