Tag Archives: Holiness

Concrete Man

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My feet plod along through this withering wind.

And my body is perched top them both.

There is stealth to my way which few comprehend.

But I promise you now with an oath.

If you’ve met this new that I’ve come to be,

Then you’ve stood near the One who is true.

Though my skin and my words are how you see me, 

The One who gives rest is near you.

I carry His word and His promises strong.

Though the wind around me shoves hard.

He has given me power to move forward headlong.

He has made much more than a card.

By His Grace.

The Deer

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I watched helpless yesterday, as three dogs killed a deer on the other side of  the rushing water.  No sticks to throw.  No voice loud enough to drive them off.  No stones on the muddy bank to throw.  No gun.  And, in the end, there was no hope for the deer as she thrashed bellowing like a bear.  In a short time she would be no more.  And by the time I had arrived her legs had become useless.  Nothing I could have done would change her situation.   I ponder her fate.  How horrible to end her graceful life at the teeth of such ravaging. 

Now I ponder my own future when I too will encounter my last moments.  As all men will do.  Will I have lived for the Glory of He who never dies again?  What pain He endured at the hands of hateful men.  And He did it for us all.  Will I embrace my certain time as He? 

This Deer might have been food on the table of a hunter.  If the circumstances of her death were different.  And yet, look.  How has her death become a testimony for all of us.  Without her terror, this post would never had become.  Now we are left with a ponderous task.  Shall we pitty her and forget her in a moment as we go about our day’s tasks?   Or will we allow that her death impact us toward God’s throne.  May the Lord allow that her testimony of life entering death become a reminder to us that we too are bound for the same place.  And yet we are man, we are not animal.  We make choices.  She could not but obey.  And what is there in your life which the Lord might use to wake you from slumber?  Surely there are more testimonies regarding death.  This whole world yells out the message of God: “I made you that you might seek My face.  Look around you and listen to what is before you.  You will soon come to Me and receive the reward of your life.  What do you say regarding My Son?”

Lord, give me strength to see Your way.  I wish to do Your Holy will for the sake of Your Holy name.  Glorify Yourself in this man.  My time is surely coming.  And I, like all men, have never been to that place.  We are like grass in our way.  And You have determined the end of our days here.  This is a place of testing.  May I move through this place with the power of Your Glorious hand.  May Your Will be done forever.

By His Grace.

Untouchable.

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A cloud drifts across the sky.  Silent, untouchable, distant, and beyond our understanding.  Watch how it moves from your sight.  The cloud neither cares that you see it, nor that you ponder it.  It is simply obeying.

So it will be for the one who finds the will of God.  Moving as one driven by the unseen, he is intent on fulfilling.  His motivation will be silent, untouchable, distant, and beyond our understanding.  Watch how he moves from your sight.  He cares neither that you see him, nor that you ponder him.  He is simply obeying.

By His Grace.

A twig of Flame.

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I woke and rekindled the fire.  And as my bones warmed, I pondered the fate of the tree before me.  At one time it was a sprout.  What happened to that tree, and what went on around it, only God knows.  But the time came when it was cut down.  Perhaps a man cut it down.  Perhaps God’s will in the wind and age has cut it down.  But now it serves it’s final purpose: to enrich the life of other things.

Are we not like trees in that sense?  Yet, we are so unlike that tree.  For the tree never complained regarding what it was asked to endure.  Nor was it’s sickness or cutting down a source of complaint.  “Like a lamb He was led to the slaughter”. 

I say to myself, “Come on now!  Can’t you endure even one minute without a thought of complaint?”  Am I a servant of the Most High God?  Am I willing to be led to the slaughter for the sake of His Holy will and the sake of those who will benefit from His work in me?  I am frustrated by self.  Nothing built by man will survive the coming judgment.  May I learn to live under the rule and will of my God!

Father, please bless Your servant that he might serve You with a faithfulness born of Your will. 

By His Grace.

God’s Voice

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The Sovereign God of Glory,

if He spoke one word to you.

You would wither and die.

So He remains at a distance for your sake.

No man can bear the weight of guilt he has.

How’s that for patience.

When He spoke, the entire universe came to be.

How’s that for eloquence.

When He spoke to the Israelites, the mountain shook.

And fire consumed the top.

How’s that for power.

Yet see how much He loves you;

For He now speaks a barely audible whisper to His children.

How’s that for Grace.

Yet, when He speaks next in His normal voice to all which is created,

The entire creation will burn with a heat enough to melt the elements.

How’s that for finality.

Got ears on your head?

Got eyes in your head?

Got common sense about you?

Choose Jesus before the Father speaks, “Go”.

Thunder, lightning, smoke, and immediacy will ensue.

By His Grace.

Earthly Trials We Deserve.

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There is a place a man purchases.  For most these places are many.  We forsake the Lord’s commands and reap the situations such forsaking spawn.  A thief, for instance, might well have forsaken the Lord’s command regarding stealing.  When he is caught and punished, it is not likely the Lord will remove the punishment.  Each of us must encounter the results of what we have done in this world.  If we lie to someone and are caught later, we will need to endure the fruit of that sin.

Shall we say that the Lord has forsaken me because I forsook His commands?  No.  Though we are standing trial for treason, we may still have Him by our side.  He will never leave us.  Isn’t that the promise?  Yet He made no promise that everything we do wrong will find good and favorable things at the accomplishment of their end.  He has promised help to do what is right.  But sometimes we must encounter the results of our wrong doing.

What shall we think, then , if we are about to enter a period of troubles of our own making?  Face them.  Enter as a Child of the King.  Humble yourself under the hand of justice and accept what is coming.  It was you who built it.  It will be you who endures the punishment.  He will not leave you during these trials.  But He warned you before you committed the act for which you now pay.

Above all, remember, the Lord of Life is perfect.  Perfectly merciful, perfectly just, perfectly powerful, yet He demands an accounting.  It is no good mark in your favor for receiving the punishment you are encountering.  After all it’s the result of your wrong doing.  But there is a blessing which will help you encounter this punishment with humility and wisdom.  Take what is offered by your God during these times and bear the punishment as a willing participant.  If anything can be redeemed, it is that you will accept God’s will in regard to sin.

By His Grace.