Tag Archives: Righteousness

Climb With Confident Faith

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Do not be deceived.  He who practices righteousness, that man is righteous.  And he who practices sin and wickedness, that man is a sinner and wicked.

Do not hang your heart to death in a deadly tangle of those three words: righteousness, sin and wickedness.  Rather be merciful to yourself, and see the point.

Practice!  Practice!  Practice! 

Grace abounds for those who do “practice”.  Just as a doctor is given a certificate of training, that he may go and practice his work.

How many have fallen away because they see the mountain is too high to climb?  They will never know to what rock, or outcropping they may have been able to ascend.  The glittering hope of those who gave up, litter the foothills of the mountain of God.

Consider perfection.  But you have no right to wear it.  If you let the expectation of perfection ruin you, then the fault is exclusively yours.  Perfection belongs to God.  The practice of it belongs to man in Christ.

It is highly likely that even the master musicians will occasionally make a misstep with their fingers.  When their shock dissipates, you will find them practicing that unexpected failure over and over and over again.

A dear brother in Christ once put it this way: “You have heard people say practice makes perfect.  I tell you that’s not true.  Rather, perfect practice makes perfect.”

He who mixes sin and righteousness in what he practices, cannot possibly accomplish the latter.  Yet he who is found practicing to the best of his utmost, is rewarded.

This is the reason for grace.  Climb with confidence!

Unchained Desire

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Today we will encounter

What is vastly marked with “Good”.

What we will do, accordingly,

Is rarely what we should.

To become the man intended,

Let desire rage and burn.

The good to be accomplished

Is given to those who yearn.

Is it wrong; is there a limit

To the promise of God for me?

“Good” demands a doing,

Its retreat will never be.

Aspiration closes in;

Refines my very name.

Let then rage within me:

Desire to Holy flame!

Join Me

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The world loves chaos.  For in the darkness of confusion a lie can go unseen.  There is gain to be had at the expense of another’s life.  And men abound who are drooling at the mouth to take advantage.

These men are not wise.  There is no need to fear them.  They only plot to take away the things of this world. 

Though they plot to overtake, they have no wisdom on which their plot will stand.  They are like dumb animals who simply stare into the woods and wait for prey to appear.  Do not fear them.  Though their plots should even to take your life, have faith!

In the midst of noise and confusion they watch and wait.  This is the epitome of their wisdom.  They bang their drum and flash their lights. They reach to all their tools of wickedness, and with all great expectation of hope.  They are sure they will overcome and destroy.

Let them have their day.  There is one who lies in wait for such.  His tools, to which he reaches for their sake, are Eternal and Holy.  He watches the thicket of men with great knowledge.  Let them have their day.  There is a still small voice which cannot be disturbed by the chaos of men, “Let them have their day.”

Let them stack up their deeds unto heaven!  Let them build and contrive, destroy and consume.  Though they are vigorous and youthful now, they will be not but a puff of dust before the Holy One.  Let them have their day.

Their greedy hand reaches out, and I will spit on it with contempt.  Take what you will from what I have; that which your greedy eye desires.  I have treasures eternal which you know nothing about.  Things you have not seen nor even pondered.

I have seen it myself; how the wicked are destroyed in their way, even as they take the next stride.  I have witnessed judgement fall on them like the darkest of night.  Shame covered them and they had no answer for their lack.  I have seen it even here.

From where does the boldness come that I speak in this place with such surety?  I have seen the folly of man!

The living God, in Christ Jesus His Holy Son, has taught us what is true.  I for one will take these teachings with great abandon.  Join me.

As the Lord lothes those who are faithless, for they do not obey His Word, so I will let the holy hatred of evil rise up in me.  I will count their vigor as the greatest of stench.  And what I have loved before will be replaced by what will last forever.  I will embrace what is Holy.  I will search to follow he who lives forever.

The living God has come among us!  Walk in His Holy way.   Amen!

Our Singular Purpose

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“From the rising of the Sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.” (Psalm 113: 3)

In good times and in bad.  In sickness and in health.  Through riches and poverty.  Through gain and loss.  Till death are we united, The name of the Lord is to be praised.

He has set his way unmovable, he has established from Ancient of Days.  The creatures who were first, and the creatures who are last will encounter the same from the Living God.

There are the multitude who will praise Him; before, now and forever.  To join with them is the promise of the righteous; those who trust in the word of the Lord to the doing of it.

The rebellious will waste away and be no more.  But the living God, and all that is holy, will stand forever.  Praise to the living God in Christ Jesus His Holy Son will remain.  But the wicked will be confounded and lost in their terror.

Let all rise up against me, I will give praise to the Sovereign God through His Holy and Beautiful Son Christ Jesus.

You will do what you do by compulsion, you who despise what is holy.  The taller the Lord’s people stand, the more venomous the hatred of those who hate the Lord.  This also is unmovable in this place of testing.  Why then should we shrink and seek a corner in which we must hide?

Is the Lord hidden in his glorious palace?  Did the Christ of God shirk his calling?  Did he not submit to the Holy will of the Holy One and live?

Is the testimony of the righteous brought to us because they ran to hide from the onslaught of wicked desire?  Have they not lived faithfully for the glory of the Lord who has purchased them and for the testimony which is able to give us strength to testify now?

What will be the saying of those who come after us?  Will they say, “Capitulation has occurred.  The righteous obedience to the living God has been spurned by those who lived that day.”

If there are three who will praise the Lord, regardless their situation, then by all means let it come to be with great exaltation together!  You will not venture to service without me, oh holy brother.  And we will arrive in praise together.

Let our lips praise His name.  Let strength greater than Sampson’s come up on our souls to control the sinful nature.  In word and in deed, let our testimony blaze among men.  Let us fan into flame, blazing flame, the gift of faith and the gift of obedience.  Let a desire to praise Him consume us with holy zeal.

Then a testimony will be written for those who come after.  By this the Lord will provide, even as he has provided for us.  We have an obligation to him.  And in the meeting of this obligation we will have passed down what is ours to give.  We will pass down what is marked indelibly, “GOOD” .

May the name of the Lord be praised for ever!  He is righteous and true, faultless in all his judgment!  Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty; who was, and is, and is to come!

His appearing blazing fire of righteousness will consume his enemies.  And those who put their trust in the holy Son of God will stand firm forever.

Amen!

Metamorphosis

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From dirt to white glory

Once I was brown with the filth of my own life.  Curled in on myself, I had no hope of promise.

But God has come, and now majestic has appeared.  He has done this and it is marvelous in my eyes.

Fantasy is Fallacy

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If we want butter we are forced to go to the cow for its milk.

If we want metal we are forced to dig at the ground.

If we want rain we are forced to wait for the clouds.

If we yearn for day, in the darkness of night, we are forced to wait for the rising Sun.

If we want to learn we are forced to observe the things that are.

Fantasy gives birth to fantasy.  Lies give birth to lies.  Truth gives birth to truth.  And only God can give birth to what is godly.

Why do you look for godly righteousness in places where he is not?  Why do you search in your own heart for the things that God demands?

God is forever, never fails, and will never cease.  This is the nature of the righteousness you seek.  You do not possess it, nor can you create it.  It belongs exclusively to the Most High God in his Holy Son Christ Jesus.

Pride lies to itself and says,  “I will create what I do not have.  Then I will be perfectly acceptable and glorified.”

To the proud I say this:

“Make your own milk that you may have butter. 

Create your own ground that you may make metal. 

Go make your own sky and produce the clouds for rain.

Speak to the black universe and create your own Sun. 

Do these things, and vastly more, and it will be granted that you are righteous; able to save and sustain yourself.

But you observe what God has done and call it your own.  Let foolishness be what foolishness is.

Fantasy gives birth to fantasy. 

Lies give birth to lies. 

Truth gives birth to truth. 

And only God can grant what is God.