Tag Archives: hope

The Sum of Life

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All men are earnest in the things they believe are true.  Left alone, they will defend their beliefs to the grave.

To the man who rises in the morning to compete and to overtake his fellow man; this man believes his way is the sum of life.

To the woman who wakes with pains of utter depression; this woman believes that her way is the sum of life.

To all the men and women who wake to false religion; these believe their way is the sum of life.

The majority of people are earnestly wrong.  But I testify to you, in truth, that I know the True Sum of life.

The proud will say I think too highly of myself.  The downtrodden will consider me as if I am delusional.  To all of you I will say this, “What if I am right?”

If you were to examine your ways closely, and with truth, you would find them full of fault and unable to take you any farther than the grave.  But I stand firmly entrenched in confidence that I know the way to life.

I have not stumbled across this great wealth of understanding, as if a man may stumble across a 300 pound nugget of gold in an open field.  No.

This understanding, and life I now live, was granted to me by the Holy Lord of life through his Beautifully Holy Son Jesus.  What I know has been received from he who freely gives.  And he offers these things to all men who will humble themselves before his Holy Throne.

Do you want me to say more?  Do you want me to just shut up?  My friend I can not care what you want.

The wisdom of God within me says I have said enough.  The wisdom of God within me has compelled me to say what is sufficient.  If I said more, those who hate God would not care.  If I said more, I would take the place of God for those who would seek.  I have said sufficiently enough.

The Salve

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I am always amazed when it appears.  For the greater part of my life I never even knew it was.

It is a pain that does not have words, even from the one who has it.  Instead it is audibly expressed in sighs and moans.  There are no words given to men to describe its origin.

The heart aches, and there is no medicinal cure.  The pain remains, though there is short lived relief.

Doors are barred shut!  Pride takes his stance against humility.  Wounded and hardened hearts refuse the salve that can heal them.

This remedy I carry.  Yet who will even ask?  And when it is offered it is refused without thought.  An up right palm says “;No”.

If even one asks and receives there are billions more waiting.  So it was with the Lord, so it is with him now, so it is with me.

“Nain”, the Pleasant Land

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You think you are dead.  You look back with horror at the things you have done.  You take stock of the sum of your life, and find no beauty in it.

You are rightly afraid of the sin you have loved so much.  It will indeed consume you, even unto the second death.  But I tell you there is hope.

There is one approaching this land of what men call pleasant.  In your recognition of failure you are the dead and only son of a widow.

The life of men is like a wife whose husband is dead.  They are widows of righteousness; helpless to provide for themselves.  The mercy of God is hidden from them, for they have loved all things that are not God’s.

He has compassion on her, as she cries with unquenchable tears.  Let Him come close.  Let Him touch the coffin of your folly.  He will speek to you, “Child of demise, I say to you, awake.”

You will wake and be revived.  Not by your own strength, but by the will of God to be compassionate.  And you will not wake to return to a life of demise.  You will be purchased for the sake of life eternal.

Does your hollow heart think these words are useless dribble?  Do the tears you cry cloud these words to obscurity?

Read for yourself the compassion of God in Christ Jesus His Holy Son.  You will find the story in Luke chapter 7 verses 11 through 17.

I testify to you as one who was dead.  I tell you these things are true because I now live.

I was once like you; lost in horror at the sum of my life; dead to hope.  I now live in comparatively blazing difference.  All of this because the Lord had mercy on a dead man.

The hope I have is living and active.  It is impossible for God to lie.  I have received his promise and it does not disappoint.

Call out to him with what belief you can render.  Reach deep inside, and continue to call out with what strength you can find.  In due time, according to his excellent wisdom, he will lift you up.  Only dare to believe.

Anxious Eyes

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I look to the sky that I may see clouds rising over the sea. 

There is a drought upon the land; a vast unholy drought.

The souls of men are shriveled up with the dryness of sin, yet they do not perceive.

I look to the horizon, and my ears strain against the breeze.  Will I see the water of life give life to what is dead?

Will men fall on their shriveled knees to beg for the mercy of God?  They already stand proudly, defiantly, dead.

Where is the blazing glory of God among all men?  Where is his name first among the words of men?  Where is the boldness of life?

I look toward the rising sun. 

I watch to where it sets. 

I peer with failing eyes at where the moon will rise.

With anxious heart I wait.

Prayer

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People, by majority, tend to avoid prayer.  To most, prayer is like those little hammers you can buy to smash out your window in case you drive into a lake.  In fact it is so like that little hammer, that most people can’t remember where they put it when they need it the most.  If they remember at all.

But prayer is not exclusively for men.  When you tell people they should pray, they think of themselves as ugly and unworthy therefore afraid of the Most High God.  And they equate God with a holy law they cannot and are not willing to fulfill.  They may say “okay” but they will not.

People think of prayer as something they are expected to do as a righteous ritual.  But prayer is not for us.  Prayer is for God.  He takes delight in seeing his creatures come to him.  So when we don’t pray we rob him of his joy.

I will make a fool of myself by giving this example.  I lay on my bed one day, feeling fully unworthy of his presence.  I spoke a few words to him but did not kneel before Him in prayer.

Then I sensed that familiar loving voice of the Lord Jesus.  “It is not right to keep what belongs to him.”

The understanding was immediately clear.  Humanly speaking, I was hurting God’s feelings.  I was busily robbing him of his joy.  With that understanding, it was very easy to get up and kneel in humility to give him praise and thanks.

When people refuse to pray, they are often correct about their guilt.  But the guilt will not dissipate unless we go to the one who can remove it.  He will remove it if we come to him in humility and earnest intent.

How do I know this?  Because Jesus willingly allowed himself to be murdered so that he may become the mercy of God.   He is the crown jewel in all God’s creation.  No one exalts trivia.  Rather, he gives glory to his greatest prize.  How much more does God?

If we are guilty of sin, that is one thing.  But to be guilty of non-belieg is an entirely different matter.  By refusing to believe we are counting God’s greatest prize as far less valuable.

God was deadly serious about offering his Son as the sacrifice for our sins.  He is deadly serious about how we receive that sacrifice.  (It is not possible to put that more strongly.)  Therefore he is deadly serious about saving us.  Therefore he is deadly serious about his desire to commune with his creation.

There is holy wrath waiting for those who refuse to believe.  But his generosity and mercy are even more potent for those who receive His gift. 

This is true.  It is a faultless saying.   Why then would anyone refuse to give God what is rightfully his?

With the promise of utter annihilation , and the promise of eternal embrace, how can anyone choose the former?  It is not logical.  It makes absolutely no sense.  God refers to such a choice as foolish.

His people, in this place, willingly testify that God is a beautiful loving Father.   Ask and they will tell you how much God loves them. 

(I can only hope that the man you think is a Christian, and approach to ask, is truly in love with God.  Beware, many masquerade by wearing the name.)

With even a summary view of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you will get the picture of God in Jesus.  If you approach those books with humility, understanding will come.

There is no safety away from him.  But near him there is all safety and confidence, not to mention a clean conscience.  And by going to him we give him what is his. 

I had a dear old friend you once told me, “It is impossible to out give God.  He has a bigger shovel.”  If you give him what he wants, do you think he will not rightly give you what you need?

The Place of No Return

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I write this as help to my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I write this as instruction to the wicked that they may understand.  I write this as admonition and hope.  If you will bear with it, there will be understanding.

A man wakes and guilt covers him.  Perhaps as he closed his eyes the guilt restrained his sleep until his flesh could fight no more.  He is aware of the holiness of God.  He is aware of his own utter lack.  This awareness has crushed multitudes, and they never rise again.

Many arrive to this place of understanding.  They perceive the nature of “good”.   They also perceive the nature of their own wickedness.  This perception can be a wall of steel brick 7000 miles high.  Here, millions have died for lack of faith.

What does a man do, before the perfect face of God, when he finds he is guilty of sin?  What repairs can be made? What action can be taken?

We are forced to consider the righteousness of God.  Regardless our sin, he is faithful and true.  His Son did not bleed for no reason.  Therefore if we believe that, what we must do becomes clear.

We approach God in prayer confessing our sins.  He responds by freeing our conscience.  Now we must rise and start the war again.  Not to believe, is to call God a liar.  Not to believe this to say: “Christ died for nothing”.  We cannot do that.   Such a saying is worse than our sin.

How useless is it to beat yourself for the things you have done?  There is a mountain to climb.  Wallowing in your pityful state does no good.  It brings no glory to Christ.  And it does not fulfill the Word of God.  Not to mention the devastating blow to our testimony.  We teach, by necessity, what we believe.

I understand how difficult it is to let go and just run.  But if we believe God, what choice is there?  He takes no pleasure in our sin.  But it is his pleasure to see us have faith and go. 

Again, the proof of his desire is in the death of his Son.  He encountered death for the will of God.  The will of God reaches to reunite what is broken.  And that he has accomplished through His Holy Son.

“The Faith” does not wallow in disrepair.   It stands as quickly as legs can find balance, and strives toward obedience.  Faith that comes through any other means than the Holy Blood of Christ is no strength of faith at all.  But understanding and strength come when we believe the Holy Word of God regarding the sacrifice of his Son.

Have you been wallowing in your frailty for years?  Isn’t it about time to believe?