We know when we have passed from death to life. That is to say, we know when we have entered into His blessing. We know it by the heart of flesh He gives us. We know it by the intense desire to do what is good. We know it by the Spirit He causes to live within us. For we know that the Spirit of God envies intensely for the Good Things Of God.
If we have entered in, then let us explode with the Lovely things of God!
Amen
There is such a thing as “honor among thieves”. In full, we can consider all man’s intentions without God to be such. But there is an honor among the holy. And this can only be owned by submission to God’s Righteousness.
I mention this because all of us face temptations to gain what is not to be gained. James put it this way:
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 So then, if you know the good you ought to do and don’t do it, you sin. (James 4)
What shall be said regarding this? We who worship the Living God through Jesus MUST strive to be a honorable people. In the end, we must ask ourselves two questions. Are we willing to admit that we are chasing after something that should never belong to us? And are we willing to lay aside this “chasing” in order to do what is right before the Holy eyes of the Father in Heaven?
Since we will give account of all our actions, it is wise to become ready to abandon any evil chase. This is a hard thing to accomplish. And sometimes it is a hard thing to know what is purely good and what is called “a necessary evil.” May God grant us wisdom to know the difference. But above all, may we be willing to accept loss for the sake of what is pure and good.
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Settle matters with death. Once a man has settled his mind to accept death as that inevitable doorway to eternity, he is free to live the rest of his days without fear of anything. Then what can be held against you? The world is caught up in living. God’s people are not to be that way. They live dead and do all they can to retain what they can’t keep; even their flesh. But God’s people have settled it in their mind that Jesus has taken away that fear of death which once held us as prisoners.
We have heard that Jesus will take His people into the peace of His Father. We have heard that He is even now preparing a beautiful place for those He incites to love Him. We see the marks within us of obedience to the Father’s Will. And we firmly believe the promises He has spoken. Then we believe, without the slightest hesitation, that God is true. What He has said He is able and willing to do.
How odd these things seemed to me as I first read them. But after watching His hand bless my life, belief is the only reasonable conclusion to retain. For now we don’t see Him with our senses. But there is a Spirit who confirms these things to our hearts. Don’t ever let anyone teach you anything other than what the Lord has said in the Bible. Believe, and you will live though you die.
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Holy Father, they die all around me. I see with eyes not my own. I hear the cries they do not cry. I feel the shaking of earth from the horror in their breasts. How they cower in the light! And how terrible it is for them. They have met the God they have spurned. With no place to hide they now beg for mercy. But no mercy will be extended.
I do not accuse Your Holy ways for the terror that now belongs to them. You have spoken from the time of Adam to now. But they have refused to listen. Now they face You on a foreign ground. They are overcome by eternity. Before my eyes they stand with a consuming fire. Their guilt melts their flesh with fear. And all this they endure because they desired rebellion over Your Holy Ways.
Please Father in heaven, dress me to deliver the message of sure doom to a people without ears. No man perceives Your Holy Son unless You open their eyes. I ask You to go before me that I might not walk in vain.
By Your Great Grace I pray.
Amen.
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Sports show us what the human body is able to do. And every year we see a record broken somewhere. We see science come up with new things every day. Inventions abound. And even right now there’s someone inventing another trinket for us to buy. There is, apparently, no end to what man is able to do with a clod of dirt. But these things are not strength. Oh, I know we call it strength. But every shred of muscle, knowledge, and plastic tools will eventually render their intent useless. That clod of dirt will, again, regain the form it had before man picked it up.
There is a strength, however, which man can not contain. We often find its best examples in those who are at the end of what the world calls strength. But we also find it in those the world might consider strong. It is the strength of a faith born of the Holy Spirit of God. This strength faces all opposition and remains unscathed. Even in the midst of combat, we find this strength caring dearly for those unable to fight any longer. The resolve this strength gives defies any word of explanation. It comes from a place where no man has ever walked. Yet it finds its purpose met in the wilderness of opposition.
You and I have access to this strength. It does not become ours, however, until we put it into practise. And here is where I urge all Christians to reach deep. When you have reached that end you didn’t know you had, reach deeper! This is the limitless strength the Lord is waiting to coat His people with. “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” And too easily we forget Who’s we are.
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A foolish shame rises with me as I speak the message of God. Foolish, because it has no part in the Heavenly Kingdom. There is no shame in speaking the name of the One who is forever. This shame would have me consider that others do not speak of God this much nor this confidently. How is this shame something to be trusted? It comes from the world. It comes from the sin which rages in my body; that sin which the Lord told Cain it was his to master, even while it crouches at his door step.
Back! Get back, you shameful thought of shame! I will serve the Lord to the best I am Able. And will not resort to Cain. And next you rise up, as if an ear is due you, you will receive ridicule from the Holy Spirit of God within me. The Lord’s name is held in highest esteem among the inhabitants of Heaven. And it should be the same thing here on earth. What ploy you would use is to convince me that His Holy Name is not appropriate among men. Then, I declare with authority, “You do not belong to the Most High God! Away with you!”
We: Live, Die, Face Judgment. Jesus or die twice.
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