Tag Archives: honor

“Where’s the Glory!”

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You can’t live with me in the truck.  For one thing, there isn’t room.  You can’t find your daily meal from cans of soup and beans.  The stove and refrigerator would be jealous.  You can’t be isolated from Humanity but for an occasional confrontation here and there.  6 days a week.  Then home, as a stranger.

No!  This place is for me.

But don’t you have your own, your house, your family, your home.  And isn’t THERE, things “Too much for you”?  Don’t those things clamor like tiny chicks noisily begging for worms. 

No time for rest, or your glory will die. 
No time to compare,
“Who has it better than I?”

Should we think that the Glory of Christ in us is limited “someplace else”?  Is it right to think that if you were someone else you could bring him what is Honorable? 

If you did all the things that a day’s work demands.  What would be said of you?  What would be said of your Lord?  What right would you have to speak among the people then?  And wouldn’t your diligence, honorable and true, be speech enough; not only visible but audible in deed?

His Glory stands waiting in your “house”.  Be dressed.  Serve.

Hard Times

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To take to the mountains is sure best of all.

For there the man learns.
There His Glory stands tall.

The valley is full of peacable ritual.
Repetitive practice seems glory to them.

But up on the mountain the harsh wind knows,
How to take a man’s life with relentless blows.

The valley is full with sounds of their begging,
“Forgive us our sins!  Though we keep on forgetting.”

But up on the mountain there’s no time for sin.
The eyes of the climber are transfixed on Him.

Where is the glory on this shaded Earth?
Is it down in the valley; midst those born of mirth?

If you want to be honor, start climbing my friend.
Join Him up there where “THE AIRS” are too thin.

Go to him.
Die,
To the self,
To the norm.
Let Him show you His Glory.
By His Spirit . . .
Be borne!

The harsh things of Earth
Are the nestings of birds.

Let their claws bare you up
As you drink from His Cup.

Or stay in the valley.
Find your way with the men
Who think is quite kindly
To be masters of bending
THE TRUTH.

Home?

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The Lord, The Sovereign Lord, the Source of life, ever-present Righteousness, Glorious mercy and justice.  He has all things, doesn’t he?  He lacks nothing, how true.  That’s what Sovereign means.

But let me speak to the rich man.  Let me speak to the perverted drunk.  Let me speak to the beautiful woman.  Let me speak to the greasy whore.  Let me speak to all those who have a place among Man, whether glorified or horrified; those with clean hands and those whose hands are covered with blood.

God has all things for he is all things.  Yet what he does not have, he has poured out his life to gain.  He does not have your love.  He does not take first place in all your days, though he is first in all eternity.  All creation honors His Holy Name, except here.  His name is Jesus the Christ, look into it.

“You ask too much of us!  You sit in your religious Chapel, carved of pure Ivory, and judge us.  You have forgotten the demands of life that are far more then we can bear.  We cannot put God first we must defend our home!”

Your home?  Your home is a soleless pair of old shoes.  Your home is a worn-out pair of jeans filled with holes, and leaving your buttocks bare.  Your home is an umbrella missing it’s purposed fabric.  Your home is a cave filled with Wolverines and poisonous snakes.   The floor of your home cannot be cleaned!   Why can’t you smell the stench of your household enemy’s feces, which lay in the crags you can’t reach?  Precious place, isn’t it, this place you call your home.  The place where you fear even in what you call solace.  You light a lamp, but still darkness pervades.

8 “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.”  (Micah 6)

He is your potential friend.  He is your potential Guardian.  Already he provides what you call your home. 

Who causes the lava to harden?  Who plants the seed of a tree in its craggy niches?  Who brings the beautiful erosion to cause a paradise?  Who gave you this place?  Who dressed you with skin?  Yet you would fear and keep him far from you?

Trust him and do the things that belong to him.  Then you will have a home that is not filled with stench and death.  Your home provides you no pact with death.

Honoring HIM, Thus Entering IN.

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The Lord Jesus spoke His Holy Father’s name by doing His eternal will.

As the Word of God has done, so will do His faithful few.

Let us pray.

Let us learn.

Let us praise Him.

Let us sing to His Holy Honor.

Let us remember, as if we reattached an arm.

But above all things, let us speak His Holy name by the “doing” of it.

The Lord says,

“These people come near to me with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship of me

is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” (Isaiah 29: 13)

It is not profitable that we should speak His Holy name by the use of our lips only.

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”  (Matthew 7)

Why should those who read the words of this servant, not see his face on that Holy Day?  Why should we not congregate around the Holy One with joy?  Is it right that anyone who hears the words He gives me, not be with me in eternal joy?

He does not ask too much.  He provides everything we need to enter into His Holy joy forever.  If we do not have, it is because we will not retain.  But if we will become diligent, we will enter in with an inexpressible joy.  Fear nothing!  He is willingly with you.

Fear Constrains. God Releases to Boldness.

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I woke to be with the Lord this morning.  In our time together, he revealed a mystery to me.  I will try to relate it as best I can.

Why are people so reluctant to grasp a fearless doing of the Gospel?  What cuts some apart to boldness, while most live out the Gospel as if in secret?

The answer is simple, they fear.

Fear of man compels most to withdraw from public displays of Holy Truth.  Desire to “profit” among men drives most into a life of subdued worship and expression of God’s Holy Will among men.

They hear what the bold disciples say.  But they also see how such bold men are treated.  They quickly weigh the prospects of shunning, and make the determination that such travail is not worth the effort.  They must make a living.  They must eat.  They must compete in this wicked world.  And a bold proclamation of the Gospel will surely diminish their chances of survival.  Men will certainly hate them and exclude them from “prosperity” among men.

But what makes the difference between those who fearlessly proclaim the Gospel, and those who believe yet hide (to whatever extent)?

Two things play within the bold.  It’s hard for me to describe which one comes first.  Perhaps they come in unison.  One provocation to boldness is the blessing of God in the way of knowledge.  God causes the bold one to understand that the way of God is absolute, true, and sustaining no matter what.   The other provocation is that the bold perceive the wickedness of man as endless chaos.  No matter what they do, man will never protect.  Man is incapable of sustaining.  Man is full, and endlessly so, with lies and empty promises.  And the riches of man, that so called  “profit”, can provide nothing eternally valuable.

It is written, “They hated me for no reason”.  The bold receive the same treatment.  Their brothers and sisters in Christ see this treatment of the bold and withdraw to secrecy.  It’s that simple.

There were only 12 Apostles.  There were only 72 that were sent out.  And of the mass of men, there are (in my personal estimation) less than 1 percent of the population that will give all to God for the sake of His Holy Son’s Honor.  And it’s quite possible that I have over estimated the number of those who are bold for Christ.

I have seen many rise up to boldness.  But I have seen very few remain bold.  Usually, when a man stands up for Christ, the world around them beats them back into submission, and quickly.  They sink back into the “profit” of man and never rise up again.   Let no one misunderstand the power of the world to destroy.  This even happens, often, to men who wear the titles of pastor, preacher, evangelist, and so on!

If you would be bold for Christ, then be bold.  But first it would be wise to learn to hate the ways of man’s “profit”.  For they will surely use it against you to drive you back into their slime.  But if you would be willing to loose all for Christ, then, by all means stand!

Who is willing to die for Christ?  Who is willing to receive the beatings that man is all too ready to dispense?  Is it you?  If not, then ask yourself, “Why do I fear”.

God will sustain the willing heart.  He will feed the wicked, why won’t he feed you?  And if they come and take all you have, what have you lost?  These sayings are readily available among  Christ’s people.  But the key to making the decision to be bold lay in a fearless belief.  Are the promises of God TRUE?

Spiritual Dynamics

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A politician sat down with his advisors, that they might conspire how to get him reelected next year.  His record was not stellar.  By a considerable margin, he might well lose the next election.

They discussed six or seven alternatives, but none of them were rated very high in probability.  But the last option rang like a new brass church bell.

“If you are reelected”, one of them said.  “You could easily pocket 7 million over the next four years.”   The politicians eyes smiled, but in his soul the word “if” stood out largely.  He turned to look at Fred.  “What’s your point Fred?”

Fred began.  “It takes money to make money Stan.  How would you like to get 7 million for a 10 percent investment?”   He captured Stan’s imagination like a magnet to iron filings.  “Why don’t you make a conspicuous donation to father Briers little Church?   He’s got a tiny little place and a lot of land to build on.  We will make sure it’s leaked to the press that you are a godly man, and can be trusted.  I guarantee it’ll pop your numbers over the top.”

Stan fell in love with the idea.  The next day Stan and six of his Advisors showed up at the little Catholic Church.  After a bit of small talk, Stan handed father Brier a check for $725,000.

Father Brier accepted the check with great joy.  And Stan’s advisors made promises to help advertise the new building.  Soon father Briers Church would be full of people! 

The priest was overjoyed.  The building was completed long before election time.  The people floated in, as promised.  Needless to say, the income of the Church rose dramatically, and Stan got reelected.

The politician had done what politicians do; they often use whatever means is necessary to secure their position.  But the priest had done something he should never have done.  I’m not referring to accepting the money.

The priest considered his building as the Church.  And from that misconception everything else fell flat. 

A man can own a building.  A man can gain a title.  A man can play politics with the things that are in his hand.  But no one can own the Church.  The Church belongs to Jesus, the Christ of God.

No building, no title, and no politics, are able to wrench it out of the Lord’s hands.  Forgetting that the word church refers to “the called out ones”, can be a grave mistake.

The priest may be happy today.  But he has missed the fluid dynamic of the Holy Spirit’s power.  Stop up the flow of a river, and it will eventually turn putrid.

By His Grace