The Promises


I wanted to post this this morning.  But I wasn’t sure how it would be received.  As the day passed however, it’s urgency hasn’t left my mind.

Most people, if they love to listen to the words of the Bible, enjoy the pleasantries that God has in store for us.  But when we speak of the warnings God has delivered to us, we often find a deaf ear.

Revelation 21 speaks of the beautiful promise of eternal life in the Glorious City of God.  It’s a passage one might find in a modern devotional.  But I don’t remember ever reading the words that follow that passage in any devotional.

These are the words that follow the beautiful promise of joy:

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

The Reality of Freedom


People like to say they are free.  They love to dream about being free.  Free to do as they please.  Free to fly.  Free to imagine all kinds of surreal joys.  But frankly, we don’t know what freedom is.

How about these:

Free to live forever.
Free to love without  reservation or suspicion.
Free to move without any physical restraint.
Forever free from Pain, anxiety, fear, doubt, and any other negative experience.
Free from lies, temptation, forgetfulness, mistakes, harassment, anger, and so on.

And all this freedom forever!

What people want, what they dream about all day and all night, is in the hands of Jesus to give.  What does he ask in return?  “Love me more than these.”

These Days, Your Days


God made the Sun.
God made the rain.

God made the joy
AND
God made the pain.

God made the snow
And the ice
And the cold.

And isn’t the reflection
Found in your soul?

Give praise in the Sun!
Give praise in the rain!
Give praise in the joy,
And all throughout the pain!

One moment passed unveiling,
All will become clear.
Only let the Love of the Sovereign God.
Become your heart’s desire
DEAR!

Even, Jesus!

Children Never Conceived


Blessed are those who did not become.  Blessed are the children who were never born; those who are the result of changed desire of a husband for his wife.

When I consider the plight of the rebellious, I see the beauty of those children who were not conceived.   The husband said to himself, “I will desire my wife, that we might make a child”.  Yet, by circumstance, he changed his mind.   Blessed are those who did not take shape in the womb, that they might rise up into a rebellious people.

Woe to those who are the product of fruitful desire, yet spend their entire life as enemies of the Most High God!  Woe to them, for they will receive all the promises of God against that which is not His.

Woe to the rebellious, for they were born for no reason.  Woe to the futile ungodly life.  Woe to those who hate what is good and cling to every evil.  Woe to the enemies of the Living God.

Recompense and Reward


Zacchaeus was evidently a man of small stature, but he was not poor.  He promised to pay back double if he had cheated anyone.

In my life, I have been a man of small heart, and nearly a pauper.  I am no billionaire, and what money can remove the scars from those I have injured?

But I am eternally rich in the things of Christ.  It is he who will pay back double for all the injury I have made.  I am wealthy beyond my possible imagination.  Be patient, for justice and mercy will come like a flood.

By His Grace

By His Grace

Two Callings


Unholy wickedness runs through the streets day and night.  With an ungodly smile he spouts the words of fleshly pleasures. 

Traipsing about with his darkened hoard, he entices the weak to the grave.  Oh, the vast number of those who follow him! 

“Come and be proud!  United we will stand forever.  Bring all your desires to me and I will fulfill them.”

The appetite of hell is not satiated.  It has never heard of fasting.  And it does not care that its food has been basted by manure.   Drool runs down his beard for the souls of ungodly men.

Come and be consumed; all you people who love the call of the unholy one.  Come and feed the mouth of hell.  Past the last soul of Man, the belly of Hell will still have room.

He who is ungodly promises you freedom.  And as surely as you take it, it is taken from you.  His intent is true, you will surely be fuel for the flames.

Misery loves company.  Who is more miserable than the one from whom Glory has been stripped.  He will have great company in his horror on that Day.  So the Living God has promised, so his promise is busily coming true.

Let the wise hear these words.  Let fear strike their soul with understanding.  The Christ of God is compassion, but there is no compassion in the death of the wicked.

It is not the desire of God that any man should join this “one of misery”.  But billions are already there.  And there are billions more yet to join them.

The good news of God goes out, who hears it’s call?  He has raised up his Holy strength in the person of Jesus his Christ. 

Unholy desire has murdered the Son of God.  But the grave could not contain him.  The Living God has raised his Christ to be first among all creation!  And by the Holy Oath of the Living God, the Christ will never cease to be first!  No one who comes to him will be turned away.

Salvation belongs to God and to his Holy Lamb.  Yet who will bend their knees with earnest heart?  Who will enter into pleading with a continuous desire for Life?

Listen to the call of Wisdom; that beautiful call of compassion which speaks the perfect Holy Word. 

Who will choose to live and not die?  Let him fall to his knees in prayer.  Let him cover his ears in an inner room.  Let him not strive to listen to the unholy call of pleasure.  Let the ears of his soul listen intently for the beautiful sound of Holy Life.

Let he who desires to live, open his heart to the Living God’s call. 

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11)

Let the thirsty come and drink.  Let the hungry come and be well fed.  Let those who are naked come and be clothed with eternal robes of white.  Let the sorrowful be filled with joy.  Let Holy Love conquer fear and hatred.  Let the wicked come and be made righteous.

Those who desire what are not the things of God, let their unholy belly be full.  Let them be fattened and healthy for the appetite of hell. 

But the humble soul will escape.  He will understand and turned his face to the Living God’s Christ.  Those who belong to Christ will never die.  Though their flesh is stripped from their soul, they will enter his Holy Kingdom with great and unceasing joy.

May the will of the Living God be done forever.  He is faultless and true in all his Holy judgments and mercies. 

By His Grace