Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

Our Personal Altar

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Jesus, my God and King.  I stop here to lay a white stone on the top of my altar of life.  As a child I started this altar with little balls of mud I rolled in my hands as I encountered the truth of Your Holy ways.  Each little ball  represented a firm truth that was only perceived, not yet learned to live out in my ways.  But each one gave you Glory for Your perfect teachings.

Next came the smooth little pebbles I found on the edge of the River of Life which you took me to go see from time to time.  You let me drink from the edge as was wise according to Your endless wisdom.  Then you drove me back to where You found me to have advanced.  In this You watched to see what I would do with what You had given.

Then You drove me to the edges of that vast desert of life among men.  Walking out a half day’s journey, I received what you offered to prove my heart.  Dryness, loneliness, stark reality appeared before me as a living image of the relationships between man and man, and God and man.  Jagged rocks began to be placed on this altar of Glory to You.

You gave me strength I did have.  You gave the strength of Sampson from time to time.  And I placed immense boulders on the altar as You brought me to them in “The Way”.  You did not let me go around them.  Rather You bid me pick them up and stack them for Your Glory.  Amazement and worship filled me as each bolder of trouble was removed and placed on this Holy testimony to Your eternal love.

And now I reach in my pocket and pull out a smooth white stone.  With loving fingers I place it atop the great and growing pile of worship to You.  Through prayer I let it go to see where it will rest.  Little noises come to my ears as it finds its way to rest amid this pile of testimony.  And I watch it disappear into the pile.  As it became Yours, it now is hidden from sight.  Only You know where it now lay.  And all the more is Your Glory.  For You will testify that it has been laid within the altar which can never be torn down.

Glory is Yours!  For You see what we cannot.  Even the understanding You give us finds its place in our heart.  We perceive where You placed it.  Yet, even as we perceive it the understand disappears into the man You are causing us to become.  Only You know where it lay.  And on the day You cause us to appear before You, You will expose each response to what You have done.  All Glory is Yours.  And this will be so forever.

These words are Yours.  They come from a servant You have blessed with life.  I testify to man.  But You see the testimony that even Your servant cannot perceive.  Thus all Glory is Yours Forever; and that to the Glory of Your Father who Lives in unapproachable light!  You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God, are worthy of every possible good word.  May all who call on Your Holy Name do so with a trembling soul.  For You are given Immense Beauty from the God of all things.  You are worthy!  And Your worth is stamped with the approval of the Father of Life.  Amen!

Bling Bling or God’s Perfection?

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Bling bling armband

Bling bling armband (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the flesh, all men and women analyze their value.  Do I make enough money?  Am I popular enough?  Am I as attractive as I can be?  What do people think of what I do?  The focus of the flesh is always placed on what others think about us.

Now I ask myself, “What value has all that been to me?”  If I were to present myself as beautifully as possible to man, there would still be many who would find plenty to criticize.  And I would be forced to either hate them or go back to make a better try.  In the end, I will get old and of no value to those who set the trends of society.  So I quit trying to please man in that manner.

As is our nature, when we can’t find acceptance in one place we look for it in another.  So I turned to God.  I read that He is willing to accept us through the work of His Son.  And I embraced it well enough.  As I became clean, however, I found myself thinking I would again present myself to man.  “Surely they will accept me now that I don’t do the things that are ugly.”

A rather large surprise greeted me at the door to humanity.  I realized that they hated God and all His ways.  And if I now embraced God and His ways, they were more than willing to hate me too.  So, with perplexity in hand, I left man and all his ways.  Now I serve the Living God with vigor.  He is far more comfort than anything man has to offer.

I make this post to testify that God is better than the world in every way.  A tiny few will believe what I have written.  But the Living God has told of this from ages past.  What’s the summation?  Look to man and you will die a very slow death of competition, greed, pride, and every form of wickedness.  Look to God and He will show you every good thing.  Satisfaction belongs to those who place themselves completely in the hands of the Lord Jesus.

Thistle to Pine

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Who is this God, the living God, who is able to transform a thistle into a great Pine?

The Living God who takes away so that He can give me what is mine.

What wind will appear to drive me down as long as His blessing remains?

It is He who has blessed and transported my frame, for the sake of His Holy Name.

No longer a thorn to pierce His soft skin, to be counted as enemy prime.

His Grace spent on me has produced shade and food, according to His Great Design.

Run to Retain (The Great Competition)

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The Runner.

The Runner. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Run in such a manner so as to retain the pace.  Yet run at the very top of your ability.”  That quote will be found in no book I know.  Yet how true and sure it is.  Father we confess that our hearing is dull.  You speak and we listen.  Like little children, rebellious and stubborn, we nod, smile, and turn to do as we please.

More and More!

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A Stream

I have written many things in this place.  And many have read them, according to the grace of God to me as His servant.  There are those who respond with admiration for the words He has given me.  And I am encouraged by my brothers and sisters who encourage me.  All Glory belongs to the Father through Jesus.  And His people praise what is good among us as He blesses us according to His eternal wisdom.

And now He is giving me a word which we have known yet not embraced fully.  It is a word of maturity which goes out to the unbeliever, the babe in Christ, and those who are running the race with a steady and vigorous pace.  I encourage all who read this to consider the importance of the day.  Night is nearing its end and the DAY is nearly upon us.

If you have accepted what faith He has laid within you, He is encouraging all of us to run all the harder.  There is Glory to be gained for our Heavenly Father.  There is a Bride which will be married to His Holy Son.  It is not fitting that Jesus’ bride arrive tainted by the things of this world.  With the strongest of intent I say this:  Clean your house (that tent of flesh in which we all abide, according to the will of God) of all things unholy.  Present yourself more and more before the Living God to receive that which He is willing and waiting to give.

Know that no sin will ever arrive in the presence of the Most High God.  And do not consider the teachings of liars which tell us to simply love one another, as if that were enough.  There is a purity to be gained from He who is Eternally Pure.  Gain that with all good speed.  Mend your pace as you have already been doing, yet do it all the more.  Closer is the moment of capture by the Holy One of God.  Closer now than ever before.  The entire creation will endure a reaping.  And that reaping is sure.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Thessalonia just this message.  Though his adoration for their dedication to God was a joy to him, we see him urging them to do all the things of Christ among them “more and more”.  If that was so 2000 years ago, how much more is it upon us to do the same?

What man among us would prefer to drink from a muddy stream?  What groom desires to marry a woman who mixes her body to other men?  What purity does the God of all heaven and creation deserve from the work of His Holy hand?  As you have already obeyed, do so more and more.  “To the Walls” my brothers and sisters.  Watch as guards of your own will.  Self control, prayer, knowledge of what is pure, and a violent desire to purify yourselves is what is called for here.  As we have done so, let us do so more and more.

By His Grace.