Tag Archives: joy

Toward Release

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What does it look like when someone trusts Jesus?  What does it look like when they put all their confidence in the power of Christ to save?

Polycarp was burned at the stake.  But when he was encouraged to run and hide from his captors, instead he invited them to a dinner in his home.  Later he said, “80 and 6 years he has served me well why should I deny him now”.

Legend has it that Peter was crucified upside down, hardly feeling worthy to suffer as his master did.  But readily willing to suffer for the one he loved.

Apparently the Apostle John was boiled in oil before he was banished to the Isle of Patmos.  In that place he told us in writing about the beauty of the living God’s Holy Son.

There is a story of a mother and her two daughters who were captured by the Romans.  On the journey to Rome, understanding that they were beautiful women, the mother fained a desire to bathe before entrance to Rome.  A raging Creek was near, so the Romans let them go and bathe.  At the side of the torrent she grabbed her two daughters and through all of them into the raging river, choosing to drown rather than be molested by vulgar men (and this for the sake of purity in regard to the name of Jesus).

If I had time I could fill up far more than 100 thick volumes of testimonies.  Even today there are stories of people who are suffering brutally because they trust Jesus.  Beheadings, burnings, stabbings, and on and on.

I knew at least one faithful loving Christian, who up into his eighties, loved the Lord more than anything else in the world.  Even to his death bed he waved us away lest we interfere with his communion.

“If you love me you will obey my commands.” 

“Never will I leave you or forsake you.”

Such a short few years we are asked to trust him like this. 

Then FREEDOM!

Hope and Change

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“To the stars and beyond!”
How the worthless is praised.
On display before all –
With mindless eyes glazed.

Prayers by the billions
To the singers of song.
Certainly,
To these ones,
Prayer belongs?

The one who offers
Profitless words
Receives the greatest praise.
While the profit of Men
Is spent . . .
Futilely filling their days

Where is understanding?
Did wisdom go and hide?
Perhaps
A thrashing in the night,
Was missed,
As …………………
Wisdom died.

Did the Morning Sun change color?
Does the grass grow from the sky?
Does the wind secrete from below the ground?
Then why is wisdom not to be found?

The Knowledge of ancient ones,
Lay abandoned
On the ground.
Lifeless words have
Taken “PLACE”
There!:
Gilded chants surround.

What gives them right
To change “What Is”
To an empty promise of Man?
What gives them right
To praise the ones
Who despise
THE GREAT
“I AM”?

Stability, the Fragrance of Love

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Night or day, rain or shine, storm or tranquil afternoon; I carry within me a Spring time born of eternity.  The Love of God in Christ Jesus plays out in my heart and mind without ceasing. 

This love is like a musical waterfall of exquisite emotions, thoughts, doings and experiences.  It’s no more a religion then the beautiful explosion of love between the young man and a woman, his new found lifelong best friend.

God’s love causes me to smell the colors of the world around me.  He shows me the dance of sound in the fabric of air.  Words, all words, become living creatures as the Word of Life comes near to caress with truth.

I am useless to man.   The Living promise has finally caught me in an eternal embrace.  I tried to pay attention to the things that matter most to men, but fail miserably and often .The beautiful patience of God stoked a fire in me to make him blessed with his desire.

All of this, and vastly more, gives me reason to ponder the definition of love among men.  So very much is made of the love between a man and a woman.  Books, songs, poetry, movies, and all the trinkets produced as a celebration of joy and longevity.  All this commotion for something that cannot possibly last.  The hurricane of reality sweeps down from the mountains to devastate the joy of first love between man and wife.  Most marriages disintegrate to a bond of friendship at best.  At worst, they disintegrate to nothing.

The captivating emotions of human love produce something similar to the love of God within his beloved ones.  But people are people.  They are everything but stable.  Greed, impatience, expectations, and everything associated with self begins to ruin first love’s beauty.  Eventually death takes it all away.

But how is it that so much is made of the love of man, which is so transitory, while virtually nothing is celebrated toward the love of God?  The love of God simply becomes a place to cry out for help when everything we wanted falls apart.

The Glory of God

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Not dressed as the manufactured beauty of today.  But bloody none-the-less.

Do not weep but understand.

Every stripe, is strength to you.
Every blow another piece of armor.
Every particle of every drop of blood is eternal life even in its self.

Endlessly strong and willing is the One men weep about today.

See and understand.

___________________

If everyone who worships the Christ where to speak with the boldness of the Living God, the world would not put up with us.  They would rise up as one to put us all to death. 

Then watch the power of God be displayed among Man!  For among the ranks of the murderers rises equally as many!

DO IT!

B THE B

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If you attend church regularly, then be the best Christian that ever attended church regularly.

If you only go to church once in awhile, then be the best Christian ever went to church once in awhile.

If you believe a Christian doesn’t have to go to church at all to be a Christian, then show us what the best Christian looks like who never goes to church at all.

Let God steal your freedom.  In exchange he wants to give you righteousness, purity, obedience, faithfulness, joy, amazing confidence, fearlessness, a wondrous prayer life, and eternal life.

Hey, wait a minute, that sounds like freedom!

Acid to the Body

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Psalm 126 verse 4 has a curious thing to say.  “Bring back our captivity, Oh Lord . . .”

While the nations call for joy, the Lord corrects his people with blazing strength.  While they call for celebration, let the people of God ask for training.

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your Word.”  (Psalm 119:67)

“Unless your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.” (Psalm 119: 92)

Do not be like those who revel in wicked abandon.  Do not be like those who “gather” that they may have joy.  Let us be of the Living God’s Holy Son.  Let us train our tongue to love taste of that which is acid to the body, yet sweetness unto eternal life.