Tag Archives: hope

“To StayGo Please.”

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A pair of In-N-Out cheeseburgers.

A pair of In-N-Out cheeseburgers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Standing in line at a fast food place, a person considers what they want to eat.  When it is their turn to render their order they are asked if they want this order to go or to eat in.  For most of us this is a no brainer.  But I confess that sometimes I have to think it through.  “Do I have time to just sit here in the noise and prying eyes to eat this?”  I rarely sit at a table to eat.  Usually I brave the spilled drink and dripping catsup behind the wheel of my car.  Somehow the meal tastes better if I sit in the car (alone).

An object lesson is about to unfold here.

Christians go to the Lord to appropriate a certain peace from being near the Prince of Peace.  Much like ordering a meal, we encounter the Lord to gain what we don’t have.  We spend a few coins of faith and receive a bounty of peace on our plate.  With a good sized drink of hope, we walk away from the “counter” of prayer to live our lives.

There are three kinds of “eaters” in this parade of prayer.  There are those who will sit near the place of “order”, eat what they have been given, enjoy the company of others, soak in the ambiance of the place, then go out into the world to accomplish what that “meal” dictates is true and good.  They are in the presence of that “Great Cloud of Witnesses”.  And they love their company.

There are those who make the order “to go”.  They cast up words to the Lord just like you would order a meal at a fast food place.  Once they get what they wanted they grab the bag and head for the door.  They’re so busy that, even as they eat it, they hardly notice the flavor.  To them this meal of peace and hope is just a function of their busy lives.  Though they are fed, to them it’s just an ordinary meal.  Somehow they have missed the fellowship aspect of prayer.  And they’re not putting themselves in a position to encounter it.

Then we have a very curious group.  I suspect there are far more of this last group than the other two.  They ask and receive just like the others.   But they differ because they are a mix of  “stay and go”.  They order to stay.  So they get the tray and all its fixings.  They sit for a moment, take a bite and a sip.  Then they grab their stuff and head for the door.

These people know the place was prepared to give comfort and joy to those who purchase here.  They feel compelled to listen to the beautiful music.  They let their bodies enjoy the soft seats, clean tables, beautiful lighting, and the aroma of joy this place provides.  But they don’t feel worthy to remain.  It’s kind of like they don’t really belong here, yet they know they should.

They are caught between accepted and rejected.  And their lives are filled with a curious internal war.  They believe what the Lord has said regarding His forgiveness.  But they are so filled with sinful tendencies that they have a seriously hard time associating that promise to themselves.   Bottom line, it is a certain love for sin that causes this turmoil.  But there is a certain love for the things of the Lord too.  There’s no need to judge them.  They do that to themselves all day long.  And, in the end, God will determine their standing.  I sense it will go well for them.  But there are questions, aren’t there.

I would love to be of that first group.  I loathe being of the second.  Yet I sure enough find myself part of the third.  I guess we all encounter the Lord of Peace as we do.  We work hard on remaining in His presence while we eat what He provides.  And who knows, He might even come around the corner while we’re there and sit with us a while.  Those who leave stand no chance of that happening.  Perhaps this is what the third group is looking for.  “Maybe if I sit here I’ll catch a glimpse of He who provides.  Maybe He will smile at me.  Maybe He would even come and sit with me.  I’m just not absolutely sure He loves me.”  Isn’t this what goes through the mind of most Christians?

How good it would be if we all just sat to enjoy what He has provided.  But this isn’t the usual manner of faith in this world, is it.

An Inconvient Truth

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An Inconvient Truth

An Inconvient Truth (Photo credit: yuan2003)

Allow me to speak as one who has been accepted by Jesus.  I am a Christian who has been a horrible sinner.  Drinking, drugs, profanity, blasphemy, immorality, and every other kind of sin were the banner of my life.  I don’t say this to brag at the amount of change in my life.  What I mean is that I don’t say that as a badge of some sort.  It is not to my honor that I lived like that for over 30 years.  And it is of no credit to me that it took nearly 50 years of living to come to terms with the Lord Jesus.  I speak of these things to show you that I know what it is to live in wickedness.  Now I am going to  speak as the man who God has caused to inhabit this bag of blood.  And it is to the wicked I will render these words.  You who have also came from that kind of life and now find yourselves blessed by the presence of God will know what I am about to say is true.

What will you do, sinner and foolish men, you who now walk as if there is no accounting?  What will you do when you are older and find that those you have trashed along the way begin to die?  What will you say?  There is an accounting here in the flesh.  It will fall on you with great noise in your soul as you watch opportunity to make things right evaporate before your very eyes.  You who divorced the mother of your children, what will you do when she dies before you do?  What will you feel as you realize that your hope of making things right between you is absolutely and forever gone?

You who have abandoned the children you have fathered, what will you do when one of them dies before you do?  What will you cry that will make it right between you?  There is an accounting to be had even before the judgment of God.  I can testify to you that you will weep like a little child.  Ache in your heart will overwhelm you.  And you will be left with nothing to say, no where to go, nothing to do that will be useful.

This post is a warning that sin has consequences.  If you are wise you will listen to what I have said.  I do not speak as one who supposes these things.  I have tasted them and warn you as one of you who has become full of hope in Jesus.  Yet that plague of regret enters my life uninvited.  I do not weep as you will weep if you continue on your path of wickedness and rebellion before God.  But weep I do, none-the-less.

I urge you to do all you can to make things right now.  I tell you a truth.  A moment is coming toward you with earnest speed in which you will loathe who you are.  Now is the time to rise up and find courage.  Or you can simply wait long enough.  And you will surely see that what I say here is true.

 

By His Grace.

Sadness

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Today there is a sadness over me.  People who know me know I am a Christian.  And they know that I am not ashamed to speak of my love for the Lord Jesus.  Yet not one of them comes to ask.  I have taken this sadness to the Lord.   He reminded me that this is the case between man and animal.  Even though a man means no harm to the wild birds, not one will come to him because fear.  This is the fear that was instilled in the animals at the sin of Adam.

Does this mean that the Lord considers the wicked as mere animals?  The answer is yes.  Isn’t this the charge against us all if we remain outside the Lord’s provided salvation in Jesus?  Yes.  There is transformation from animal to man.  But few challenge their own fear.  They know they do not have peace with God.  Yet they encourage one another to remain in fear by making up stories.

Does this knowledge help my sadness?  In an odd way, yes this does help.  Because it defines the reason for the cause.  But the pain of watching them contrive a false sense of security abides.  All the while I am among them and can reveal true security.

They speak of money, knowledge, social position, angel worship, every religious ritual known to man, and entertainment, as if they hold the key to the complete security of eternity; that security which blots out all fear.  Every lie born from the imagination of man receives great praise or even debate.  All the while they purposely ignore the Lord Jesus and His people who hold the Gospel within them.  So this sadness continues, yet is abated a bit.

Do Not Let Me Resort to Fear

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In life here there are lies.  There is death, hunger, despair, hatred, false religion, false gods, hopelessness, twisted men who present themselves as if they are “good”.  And the list I could make of what is here would go on for many pages.  Who would read what they can touch with their own fingers?

Yet in this life there is a place of understanding that strips off all that filthy list.  There is a place where a man can know truth and live it.  I know that place!  I know that many will see me type those words and balk, “No man knows truth.”  I tell you I know Him!  And, more importantly, He knows me.

You want freedom from all that detestable list?  Do you want FREEDOM to LIVE?  Pry it from my heart.  Help me testify to what He is.  Ask me.  Press me.  Help me put into words what only the soul can understand with any clarity.

We have lips, graphics, gestures, and body language to communicate.  That’s the limit of our ability.  So how can I hope to tell you what is spoken in a place where these things are NOT the limit?  Take it from me.  Ask until you understand.

God has given the Gospel to men so that men can speak to one another.  It is a humble heart who will lower themselves enough to ask another man.  It is the proud who will restrain their questions before men.  The proud will think that no man can know the truth.  The humble will avail themselves to any possible source of life.  They will seek with all their might.  And if the testimony I give you falters, the meek will understand that I am like them.

We struggle to share what cannot be perceived.  But that inability to perceive it through our senses does not mean it is a lie.  Salvation in Jesus is absolutely real and transforming.  Consider this:  We are in the place of testing.  We are the ones who, for now, can’t see what eternity has seen all along.  We are the ones blind to His presence.  He is not blind to us.

Ask and I will tell you what He has told me.  And I am not the only one.  There are thousands of me.  Ask them.  Press them.  You know who they are.  Make them tell you.  And do not let them resort to fear.

Winter Past, Victory Attained!

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English: Yosemite Valley in winter

Image via Wikipedia

The people of God wake to spring in America.   As I sat in the dark to listen to the rain sprinkle life to new born plants, I thought about the winter past.  I thought of how quickly a season passes once it is done.  How odd that the strivings of winter fade to a single picture of either success or failure when Spring moves in.  And at the end of that inspection I find work.  By His Glorious Grace I have worked through Winter to become something more than what I was in the Fall.

How beautiful to find that growth has been logged in my history.  I did not do this.  It is God, because of His beauty, who has done this for me.  And not for me only, but for all who hear with ears not their own.  For those who have been given eyes to see what cannot be seen with the eyes of man.  And for all of us who fight that good fight with a strength that only comes from the One who is absolute strength.

How glorious to remember that God is eternal!  To know that there is no shadow of turning within the God Most High we serve through Jesus.  We rest in knowing that unending seasons will continue because God cannot fail.   Death belongs to sin.  And there is no possibility of God sinning against Himself.

With this I rise to serve.  And I remember this:  There is no fear in love.  For fear has to do with punishment.  And he who fears is not yet made perfect in love.  There is no reason to fear Spring this year.  For I remember that He has granted me sweet memories of holy work within me through the Winter.   May God bless all His children with the same victory, and more.

Amen!

By Hiis Grace.

He is Not Idle!

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English: Mighty oak, Bonehill

Image via Wikipedia

I have written many things regarding God.  And every word is written by the Grace of God.  Who is the Grace of God?  Jesus is the Grace of God!

I woke this morning considering people I know.  How many times I have lifted them to the Throne of the Most High God, by His Glorious Grace in Jesus.  A level of worry surrounds this frantic prayer life.  And this is not good.  This morning I realize that God is not deaf.  He is not idle.  He has heard my prayers for them.

I go to Him this morning, filled with anxiety for their sake.  And the steady, calm, and reassuring voice comes to me.  “A tree does not sprout up over night.  It grows steady and sure.  It does not explode to a mighty Oak, only to shrivel back to a twig.  It takes time to grow strong.  Be patient.  And do not be concerned.  The trees of God endure much wind and chaos.  This is what makes them strong.  There are seasons for every tree.  There are leaves to sprout, fruit to develop, and a time of winter.”

Our God will not leave our prayers on the Holy Altar which lay before Him.  He is not idle!  He is already moving among us with the speed of ETERNITY.  Before we kneel before Him to present our requests, He has already seen us.  Do you believe?  Are you truly ready to see the hand of our God move among us?

Oh how I desire to know Him, to trust Him with the full measure of the faith He is willing to give!  So I rise from prayer with a determination to trust.  The sun will rise soon.  This day will begin.  Oh how blessed I am to know Him!  To know in my soul that God has not let His Holy One see decay!  Blessed is the Lord Most High!  For He has done these things at His marvelous pleasure.  And He will do exceedingly more for all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus!

Take heart!  Take heart!  Take heart!  He knows your name!  He knows where, who, and what you are.   He, the I AM, is our Lord!  He is God!