Tag Archives: strength

DESIRE

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What a man perceives to be good, he does.  Those things he holds precious, he yearns for and grasps to take.  He sleeps and dreams of the good he perceives.  He eats that strength might attend his limbs, in the gaining of his desire.

So it is with the things of this world.  Mention your desire to yourself.  Assess what captures your desire.  Examine yourself to determine what you hold dearest.

Let us not be like the mocking bird.  Let us not mouth great things that are absent from our desire.  But let truth attend your assessment.

Where is God’s desire among your doings?  Where is the desire to be holy and full of Holy promise?  Is it more than the mass of lesser desires of this world?

Perhaps your desire for the things of this world is divided into small desires.  Perhaps it is not that you desire the gold of men.  Perhaps you desire what can be the subtle lie of man; the smaller and less obvious forms of passing lie.  Yet the sum of them amounts to a vast portion of your desire.

Assess with truth.  Present yourself before God and ask for understanding of all your ways.  He will show you.  Will you perceive His showing?  What will come next at your willingness to perceive what is shown?

The Lord Jesus has shown us what to do that we may overcome the things of this world.  He has shown us from where Holy Strength comes.  The strength of God appears upon us as we desire Him.  Ask for desire.  When desire comes, take note.  Ask for more.  You will not love His Holy Laws without the holy desire of God living in you.

Yet if we receive, that which He has desired and yearned to give, we will come to love His Holy Laws with earnest and intense strength.  As we desire we will not desire to cease prayer or obedience.  Desire is KEY.

Enoch knew it.  Abraham lived it.  Noah sweated desire.  Millions now own it.  Billions now rest in His Holy presence because they embraced the desire for what is Holy.

Desire, Holy and full Desire, attended the Lord’s every moment.  It was strong enough to lift Him, full of willingness, to the bloody and horrible enduring of death on a cross.  What a small thing the Lord demands of us:  “Desire Me!”  Especially considering He is able and willing to grant the earnest soul desire.

161  Rulers persecute me without cause,

but my heart trembles at your word.

162  I rejoice in your promise

like one who finds great spoil.

163  I hate and detest falsehood

but I love your law.

164  Seven times a day I praise you

for your righteous laws.

165  Great peace have those who love your law,

and nothing can make them stumble.

166  I wait for your salvation, Lord,

and I follow your commands.

167  I obey your statutes,

for I love them greatly.

168  I obey your precepts and your statutes,

for all my ways are known to you.

(Psalm 119)

Gird Yourself with Strength

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Is the strength of the gospel to be at peace with the world,  or is it to be at odds?

Is the strength of the gospel strength to stand and testify?  Or is it only strength to hide?

There is death to self.  There is death to temptation.  There is the death of the body.  And there is death to the acceptance of the world.

Who will testify with power, who has not testified before?  Who will embrace their fear with a death grip; restrain themselves for the sake of His holy name, and fight like a dog over a bone, mindless of injury to themselves?

The strength of the gospel is a sound mind and fearless heart.  You don’t have to ask for it.  Just take it!  He will generously guide those who step out to fight. 

This is the strength of the gospel you have received.  Do not be deceived by those who drink from the fountain of: “let’s all just get along.”

Who are you?

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Who can say he would do such if certain things happened to him?  To make words is easy.  Fools do it all day long.  But who among us knows of what they are made before the test is given?  And even as a test begins upon us we have not yet seen the fullness of our nature.

Were your mate to have a stroke and lay in a bed for 10 years.  Could you endure?  What would you do?  As the question is presented, your mind answers.  But you cannot say for sure.  Your answer would arrive at the end of the 10 years.

Life as you now know it will end.  Plans you had together will not just deteriorate or be placed on hold, they will evaporate into nothing in the flash of a moment.  And you will become embroiled in a horrible test.

Should you be caught up in some stupidity and find yourself in jail for 20 years, what would you do?  Again, the answer comes at the end of 20 years.  What we say before the test is complete is but speculation.  It is not even to calculated guesstimate.  Proof alone can rightly answer.

We know what is right.  We know what the word valor means.  We know the meaning of weakness and strength.  But we do not know of what we are made until we are tested.

No man can fully be called faithful to Christ until he arrives before the Holy One; this place of testing left behind forever.  Until then we fall on our knees and beg for mercy that we may endure everyday.  To consider yourself a faithful Christian now is to prepare a room for pride.

Who knows what tomorrow brings?  Who knows what will happen before the sun sets?  What we are is what we have done.  The sum of our history is a test.  As you look at what you have done, who are you?  We are living answers.

The War of Necessities

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I am nothing and I am no one.  I have seen clearly the wickedness that is within me.  But for the hope of Christ Jesus I remain worthless, anonymous and wicked forever.

I have seen the way of men.  By means of simple necessity, they are forced into slavery.  They must eat.  They must provide shelter.  And they must belong.  So they become victims of the greed of others.

On top of that, as if a poisonous frosting on a cake, men have devised ways to take advantage of the necessity of others.  They have conceived in their heart, “I will rise above at the expense of my brother”.

So they give profitable work, and social belonging, to those of lesser ability.  In the interest of profit for all, so they say, they quickly demand too much.  A man is placed where he does not belong by the engine of greed and vanity.

Fear races across this world that we may perform the things for which we have no resource.  Hundreds of thousands become taskmasters, while millions become slaves.  And the slaves say, “If I do not perform a task as is required, or do as they say, I will lose my place”.

With smiles, rewards and contrived encouragement, (“I care for you!”) the taskmasters provoke to produce.  And production is made, at the expense of your freedom.

So it has been from the beginning.  So it is now.  Fear breeds defensiveness.  Every man builds a fortress.  And regardless the face they wear, every man is enemy to another.  The friend against a friend.  A father against his son.  A son against his father.  A mother against her daughter.  A daughter against her mother.  Siblings tear at one another. And all are in the process of dying a needless death.

The battle is encouraged by necessity.  As long as there is want there will be war.  There is war between the nations.  There is war between the countries.  There is war within the cities, towns and villages of this world.  There is war within groups of men.  And there is war within the families.

All of this to ask a simple question.  Is there remedy?  The answer is yes.

The world will continue in this futile, ceaseless and horrific war.  But each man can cease a war like life.

You do not have to fend for yourself.  You do not have to wake every morning preparing for battle.  You do not need to endure sleepless and fitful sleep.  You do not have to put on hatred as if clothing.  And you wear selfishness for no reason.

The answer is not a method.  A method would require too much of you to perform.  You would have to study a method.  You would have to learn by practicing a method.    None of which the the world gives you time or resources to do.

The answer is the kingdom of God in Jesus, the Holy One of God.  You may ask, “Is it really that simple?”   The answer again is yes. 

He is not religion, organized or individual.  He is the Son of the Living God.  He is willing and able to release you from this war of necessities.  He is willing and able to release you from your own guilt and greed.

The world has told you that God is in heaven.  The world has told you that God cannot and does not help man in his basic necessities.  Or that if he does, it is in the small measure.  Yet you cry out when you have need.

I testify to you as one who has been released from the war.  I do not speak to you as one who does not know.  He provides everything I need.  And he never fails. 

He is called Emmanuel.  Perhaps you have heard the name.  The name means “God with us”.  The world has lied so that you will not understand.  For if you understand their grip is torn away.  So they continue to entice you with lies and promise of worthless reward.

Those who are in the kingdom of God find themselves progressively released from the war of necessities.  Though the burdens of this world are placed upon them they find they have strength where before they did not.

He provides for those who are hungry for provision.  He provides for those who have come to understand they have no strength. 

Are you hungry?  Do you recognize your weakness?  Are you courageous enough to call out in faith?  Has the world reduced your pride so that you can look up for help?

His promise is to provide.  It is impossible for God to lie.  He will keep his promise.  And those to search for him in truth will find him true.

But do not think he will provide for you what the world calls necessity.   He will appear to provide what you need.  He will not appear to provide what you want.  Greed and vanity have no place in the kingdom of God.  He has give you life.  He will also provide everything you need.

Those who ask for the trinkets of this world will be turned away.  The world may give you such things.  But it will also demand an accounting.

Have you truly had enough of this war?  Are you ready to receive the things that God is willing to give?  Then simply humble yourself and ask.  Place yourself at his mercy.  When the time is right he will give you strength.

By continuance in faith you will receive the freedom he promises. 

All day long men and women are entering into the kingdom of freedom in Christ.  They are finding the freedom to live.  All the while you suffer needlessly.

It has been so since the days of John the Baptist.  And it will continue until the Lord returns.  But cowards and the faithless will never enter the kingdom of God; they will never taste the freedom of Christ.

Has the world reduced your pride?  Have you reached a place of hopelessness so that all is this is left is for you to call out to God?  Are you strong enough, courageous enough, of faith enough. to call out to the Holy One of Israel?  If so, you will find him pleasantly willing.