Tag Archives: Jesus

Unspeakably Different (repost)

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(I am on a mobile device and could not repost this automatically.  This was written December 1st 2013)

Man invented paints so he could capture his own image and make it last for centuries.  God has clothed eternity with his own majesty which never fails or fades.  Vibrant colors with living shades adorn all of heaven.  While man perfected acrylic on some gravity ridden surface.

Man works to invent robots.  All the while the living God is surrounded by creatures too beautiful for words.  Man has learned to mutate sounds so that his ear might hear things never heard before.  While the voice of God is like the sound of many rushing rivers.

Man worries himself nearly to death over fighting diseases and sickness of every kind.  His boasting can be heard from sea to shining sea for every grain of progress he makes.

Meanwhile, all of heaven is inhabited by creatures whose bodies have never even known decay.  And if boasting is ever heard it is to boast of the glory of the God who made them.

What should you expect to gain, you who try to bring down God to your level.  How is God like us?  He is all together unlike us.  Yet men rail against him all day long; making jokes in endless stream.

You will receive your proper do on the day when he brings you before his throne.  There you will give account for every idle word you have ever spoken.  Every evil thought you possess is like fuel for the fire that will consume you.

We are all deserving of eternal punishment because we have treated the Holy One with disdain.  We have been violent and have hated him for no reason.  Look how he has even prepared salvation for us, his enemy.  We have taunted  him by using his Holy Son’s name in vain.  But the living God intends a different meaning to that name.

Come away from the stench that is man.  Approach the living God with confidence for this is the day of salvation.  Confess your evil before him and accept His loving forgiveness. 

Willing Heart

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I tell you a truth.  I do not worship God because I am a righteous man.  I worship God because he has shown me how to love him. 

The world is mistaken.  They see God as a taskmaster, a demanding and angry Lord.  Even all the divisions in the Christian Church appear because of this. 

But man is horribly in error.  It is written, “Unless the Lord builds a house the builder builds in vain.”   The truth of that comes home when a man understands that the Lord is willing to build His Holy house within him.

I could continue with my own words but to no great advantage.  Let me place here a more beautiful way of saying all these things.

“Once I stumbled in the darkness
doing only as I pleased.

But, I wasn’t really happy,
And, my heart was not at ease.

I just didn’t have the willingness
to follow His commands,

‘Til I layed my heart completely in His hands.

If you don’t have a willing heart,
ask Him to give you one.

If you can’t seem to make a start,
Trust in His power.

For the Lord of Love is watching you,
He sees what you’re going through.

And, He can make a way,
If you want Him to.

Oh, do you want Him to?
… Then, tell Him so.

(Kelly Willard “Willing heart”)

If you want to live, simply ask.

The Search

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I am not an accomplished professor of all things.  There are vastly more things I do not know than what I do possess.  I am not a smart man, as men would call one smart.  I am vastly more a fool, than wise and elderly.

The time I have left, to be among the things of this world, is far less than the years I have already seen.  And my time to become what men speak of a “special” is passing quickly.  If it has not passed already.

But I will impart what I have learned.  Perhaps there is benefit to some.

I have examined the world from the perspective of sin, and found it utterly lacking.  In the way of sin, I have walked more vigorously than most.  And so I can testify with surety.  Life is not there.

I have examined other religions from a distance, as I sought release from my pathetic state.  I did not have time, nor inclination to immerse myself in their teachings.  To do so would have required pledging myself.  I did not possess such earnest intent.  Nor would time allow.

But every religion established by man is full of fault and worthless tripe.  None of them held sufficient truth to remedy my plight.  They said “do”, but I could not.  Therefore life is not found among them.

I examined the law of God and found it true.  I speak of the law of God as found in the Holy Bible, not as men say is the law of God.

I found the law of God in the Holy Scriptures to be founded on eternity.  But one does not need read far, to realize the Holy Law of the Living God is more than man can accomplish.

In the law of God I found life.  But by the law I found I was put to death.  At last my struggle is over.  But what should I do, am I to die?  Is that the summation of this struggle?  I still had desire to live.  So though law of God is life, I found myself dead in its reading.

Now I will testify of what I have found. 

There is one who has fulfilled the law of God on behalf of all men.  He is willing to enter a man’s sin and drive it out.

Now this is life!  All he asks is that I am willing.  Having searched what is, of course I am willing.

I have proof in my soul that he has come and made drastic change.  I have proof in this testimony that he is true and able to save.  I find that I believe.  So I proudly wear that name.  I find myself doing the things I thought were too hard for a man.

If I had last words, these would be it.  Search for all you will, you will not find anything greater than Christ Jesus.  He is Life!

I wonder

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I wonder how it would be in America, if Elijah walked through all its cities; speaking vehemently against the sins he witnessed.

I wonder how many followers Jesus would actually see everyday if he walked through the cities of America; bringing the Holy and Living Word of God to the ears of those who will not hear.

I wonder how long any city town or village would put up with the Apostle Paul; at least in his day men believed in a god or two.

I wonder if Jeremiah would continue to cry; seeing and hearing clearly the judgment of God against our stiff necked people.

I wonder if Jonah would have chosen America as the country to which he would flee; later being vomited up on some distant shore, because the people of the distant shore would repent and believe.

I wonder how many preachers would lose their position if they taught the full nature of the gospel;  “Unless you repent and believe to holiness You Too Shall Perish!”

I wonder how many Christians would be banished from their church if they let their love for God be fully known; as it was in the days of Jesus when they kicked the believers out of the congregation.

I wonder what will become of America.

“Come!”

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There is horror at my feet.  The mercy of God has come to save.  What provokes these words remains unspeakable.  For the provocation is the Holy Spirit of God.

If I could speak what he has done, who among us would understand?  The language of the flesh cannot receive the language of the Spirit.  what God speaks in the moment, takes days to explain.

If I would speak of the horror that lay at my feet, men would perceive.  But to what value?  I would only be speaking of the things men already know.

What I desire to share, the words of men are not sufficient to describe.  Even the desire to have you understand, is beyond our grasp to comprehend.

I speak of the glory of God to save the souls of men.  I speak of how his love and wisdom and strength come upon a man.  I speak of how vastly different is my perception from His.  I speak of He who is Holy.  Yet willing to love those who are not.  For the singular purpose that they too may become holy.

I know there are some in this world who understand.  I know they too have tasted the mercy of God.  I know they too recognize the limits of communication between men in regard to the Holy things of God.

I am at complete lack to describe the horrors of sin.  I am void of means to describe the glory of God.  My words are small, pathetic and horribly lacking.  Still I am compelled to try.

When we reach the throne of God it will be too late to warn.  So this is the place of attempt.  But what warning can be given that has not already been said?  For we speak to the ears of men who cannot understand.

At the throne of God understanding will come.  But what good will that do then?  Today is our only day for salvation.  With all the strength I have, I tell you, “Seek the face of God!”

Look around you at the things you say you own.  On that day you will abhor every single one of them.  In this I am trying with all I know to give strength to the warning of the judgment of God.

Look within you at the things you think are good.  On the day you appear before him you will see what is Good, and abhor the perception you now have.

Please reach deep and find mercy for this message.  I cannot even describe the sincerity behind these words.  I beg you to receive these words.  And I confess, pathetically, this is the best I can give.

The Spirit of God says, “Come!”  Before the door on your life is sealed, come! 

What man thinks is pure is nothing but trash.  There is a purity, blazingly other.  I have perceived it by His grace, and horror at my folly consumed me.  Yet I thank him that I have perceived this before I am bound to stand before him.

Woe to man!  For he is of a people of unclean lips and hearts.  The Spirit of God says, “Come”.

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?