Tag Archives: Religion and Spirituality

Under the Eternal Oak

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Remrkable oak at Saeul, lieudit Hëlzent, Luxem...

Remrkable oak at Saeul, lieudit Hëlzent, Luxembourg. This oak is around 280 years old. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Still I sit, head bowed in utter dismay.

Breaths come because they have to come.

In my lap are things sincere; righteous acts done in earnest.

Someone has opened my eyes and true light enters them.

Now they stare in disbelief at what I thought was good.

“I did these things?”  I whisper with dry lips.

“All of this, which lay in my lap, is a putrid mass!”

God has spoken, and my heart heard the message.

But understanding only came when I sat here to pray.

Offering was made and my eyes were opened.

The things brought for His pleasure are but a steaming pile of dung.

He alone is Righteous!

He alone is Pure!

He will grant me what is good.

Then, at some place distant, I will sit again under that eternal Oak.

And I will praise Him with Pure things.

For He will dress my ways with Glory along this way to the Eternal Oak.

By His Grace!  Again, by His Grace!  All good things are solely by His Grace.

Responsible

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Father Ford in the fire truck

Father Ford in the fire truck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A dead body cannot be responsible.  Neither can a fool be responsible.  It is even hard for a righteous man to be responsible.  Why?  In answer, let me take responsible apart:  Response Able.

God has given gifts to men for the sake of His Holy name.  He has given forgiveness for sins.   What is our response?   Do we dress ourselves with ability to respond?  Or do we take His Glorious gift for granted.  He has spoken in the gathering of wickedness.  He has danced a Holy dance in a body for all to see.  He endured this place of testing without sin.  And God has granted Him, (Jesus) Glory, Joy, Eternal Life as the Ruler of all.

I look at the ability of Jesus to respond to His Father as He walked in this utter black world of decayed souls.  And I am amazed that He performed perfectly!  He did not cave to the words and actions of man.  He desired only to be available to the will of His Father.  And He shunned all proposals to capitulate with the enemies of His Father.  He made Himself able to respond to the will of God.  He is perfectly Responsible to God, the Father of all Life and Righteousness.

With that in mind, I ask again, are we individually able to respond to the Grace given us?  Are we responsible Christians?  I write this with a severe anger at the sinful nature within me.  I remember what was spoken, and will not be taken out of the way, “Hate what is evil and cling to what is good.”  This is what is asked of us.  And it is not an unjust request.  For He gives us the power to over come.  What will be our response?  Are we able to be willing to work?

We retain men who have learned to put out fires.  If they are not responsible, what is the possibility that they can carry out the charge that has been laid upon them?  God has retained us through the sacrifice of His Holy Son.  Are we responsible?

Dedication to He Who IS

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Fear The Lord The left hand of the two similar...

Fear The Lord The left hand of the two similarly carved stones either side of the west entrance to St Leonard's Church. 32432 "Fear the Lord your God and serve Him. Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name." Deuteronomy 10:20 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let poverty envelop me,

I will serve the Lord.

Let sickness render me to death,

I will serve the Lord.

Let my limbs be limp,

I will serve the Lord.

Let all abandon me,

I will serve the Lord.

Let my life appear useless,

I will serve the Lord.

Let them rail against me,

I will serve the Lord.

May my body endure the will of the Spirit of God.  Let the Lord fill up His testimony by the sacrifice of this body.  May the Living God, the Father of Jesus my Lord, find pleasure at the life His Great Mercy has sent unto me.  I am His.  I do not belong to myself.  I do not belong to the ways of this world.  I do not belong to the desires of man.  And, by His Grace, I will stand apart to serve the maker of my soul.

Amen.

The Bridge Over Troubled Waters (The hand Up is the Same Hand of Out)

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Footbridge near Stumble Wood This bridge is on...

Footbridge near Stumble Wood This bridge is on a path (No. WC347) from Halden Lane to Stepneyford Lane. It passes over stream feeding into Stumble Wood (on the left). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Past the beginnings of a relationship with Jesus, the Glorious King of Kings, a man will find places where he falters and tumbles back into the sins he thought were left in the dark dust of the past.  He will look down at his feet as he walks and smile with joy at the steadiness of his gait.  But sometimes he finds himself tripped up by lust, greed, lies, pride, or ignorance.  It has happened to me countless times.  And I know it happens to the very best of saints.  How should the beginner be surprised if it happens to him?

There is something about this which needs to be spoken.  It is one thing to remain in sins and never seek a way out through Jesus.  When we are in that state of affairs we should expect no help when we fall.  For we are as those who are still sitting in stench and the fall we experience is nothing more than the slip of our hand as we try to readjust our sitting.  The tumbles I am speaking of happen to those who have come some distance from that stench and have learned to walk on legs of righteousness given to them by the Lord Himself.

You will slip from time to time.  Take that as a given.  So I would advise my brothers and sisters to do this:  When you are able to walk make a considerable distance from the possibility of slipping.  Add some speed to your ways so that you move as far away from sin as possible.  Now, when you slip it will not be a pattern of behavior.   It will be simply a part of the experience we share in Christ.

There is a vast difference between holding on to some sins so that you continually revert to them, and stumbling because of things which remain in hidden in your mind.  If your heart is clean and your desire to serve Him is pure, you will find His reaction to your stumbling and tripping a great deal different than what you tasted as you began this walk.

Regardless your understanding of what I have written here, take heart.  He has seen what you desire in regard to holiness.  He has witnessed your ways with perfect and knowledgable eyes.  The Lord you trusted to take you from where you started is quite able to take you from where you are.  Do not let your faith be shaken.  Get up.  Dust yourself off.  Go to Him.  Give thanks for what He has done.  Ask for understanding, wisdom, and strength.  And start walking again!

Rise Up!

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Dove of the Holy Spirit (ca. 1660, alabaster, ...

Dove of the Holy Spirit (ca. 1660, alabaster, Throne of St. Peter, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If my brother stood beside me while we spoke of the beautiful things of Christ, and someone were to accost him in that moment, would I stand idle?  Would not my hands draw blood?  If I were able to defend I would indeed defend.  Should a soldier stand by silent and motionless as the enemy attacks his fellow soldier?  NEVER!  Now my brothers are attacked.  Now they suffer loss.  Now they cry out to the Living God for help.  And I will not stand by idle.

But we do not war against the flesh of our enemy.  We war through prayer and the confidence born of belief in the Son of God.  Silently to our ears comes the attack.  Sightless eyes look and do not perceive their approach.  A blow is delivered and the brother staggers.  Horror and deep guilt assail our brother, and he falls to his knees.  Only he knows the pain he endures now.  He cries out for help.  In his plight he cries to our flesh and our ears hear him.  We can see him as he cries.  Shall we do nothing?  May it never be.

Are we prepared in spirit to pray for him?  Are we ready to reach out a holy hand to lift him to his legs again?  Have we overcome by the blood of the Lamb enough to drive away what assails and nearly defeats him?  Are we ready, at a moment’s notice, to apply the power of our God to those who scream out for help?  The time of preparation is not upon us when our ears and eyes perceive his need.  The time to prepare is upon us now.

Who will be available to render the help of the Holy Spirit to those who cry out to us?  Who will have made himself ready and able to give the help requested?  Who, of us, is living filled with the Holy Spirit?

In this age of utter wickedness how can we walk one more moment void of the power of Christ?  We are not set apart and cleansed from our sins so that we can smile and “have a good day”.  We are separated from the ungodly wickedness around us so that we can work, by the power of God, the things of God!  Who will rise up and take hold of the things necessary?   Who now sits idle while our brothers suffer under hideous rule of sins?  Who will stand in the gap, ready and able to come to their aid as they cry out?  Where has the Church of God gone that men should find no help in their time of need?   Have we retreated to silent amazement as we watch men die?

By His Grace.

Just a Thought

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If you stopped going to church for a couple weeks, would you notice a serious difference in your life and habits?  Other than missing some of your friends, and their subsequent phone calls.  Would there be a measurable difference?

I ask this because most people confuse “going to church” with a relationship with the Living God.  I can say the following with great confidence:  “If you would miss only your friends and the traditions of the church, then you have nothing.  If, on the other hand, you would experience a silence from God and miss it you likely have something worth holding tight to.”

The nearness of God is such a natural state of affairs for the soul that people often don’t know what they have until it is disrupted.  Just something to ponder folks.

Førde Church, a typical Protestant church in N...

Førde Church, a typical Protestant church in Norway (Photo credit: Wikipedia)