Embarrassing


At times I am embarrassed,

That I am what I am.

For I am of humanity;

That fault filled breed called man.

For as my brother’s wayward,

I too have filthy hands.

Let separation be too long,

And I need reprimand.

My brothers of flesh, are just a mirror

Of this God provoked hermit.

Staring at the Son too long,

Anoints with traits but counterfeit.

Attributing His righteousness

To all the men I meet.

I’m often disillusioned,

By filthy wayward feet.

Severity of sin not counted,

I am just like they.

By their mouths and actions;

Their refusal to obey.

Then let this shame provoke

my earnest, thoughtful hope;

And let me remember well.

As I was once like they,

Upon this revelation,

Difference is:

Much harder apart to tell.

By His Grace

The True War


It is not against The Righteousness of God that a man finds himself at war.  The war finds itself in the battlefield of willingness.

 

The Righteousness of God is established forever.  It wars against no one.

 

But let a man perceive the truth of life’s singular and constant war.  It is waged without weapons or blood.

 

God stands firm in His Glorious Righteous ways.  It is the man who finds his own limit.

 

What then?  Where will a man stand on that Great and Horrible day?

 

His willingness alone dictates his position among the great throng.

 

Was he willing to lay down selfish desire?  To what extent that appeared, the man will find his place before Him.

 

The Righteousness of God is as the battlefield itself.  But the vicious war is attended to by the man and his willingness.

Pure Water


He lifts the veil, and a man sees.  His hand glides through sin to lift it from the man’s face.  Forgiveness comes with strength in hand.  Compassion is the clothing of the Great Physician.

Pride rests strong on the eyelids of the wicked.  Though they try to perceive the holy things of God, their eyes are too heavy to open.  Sealed, as if with the dust of sleep, their eyes are stuck shut.  But even this their pride cannot perceive.

What does God require of man, that he may open the eyes?  Believe.  God simply requires that we cast away our own knowledge.  He requires that we be willing to learn.

A proud man sees the ways of this world and thinks he knows.  In his folly he can produces reason for the things that are.  But he cannot produce proof as to why.  The sleep of pride restrains his strength.  He is blind and cannot walk without stumbling.

But let belief grow.  Let a man read the Holy words of God and believe.  God reveals in wise measure, according to a man’s willingness.  A revealing does come.

God watches the response.  Does tiny wisdom retain pride?  Or does it produce humility?  When the latter is true, roots are set into the soil of eternity that the man may begin to grow.

In his compassion God restrains the unveiling,  lest the winds of temptation destroy what is built.  As a man sees, he is accountable.  As a man knows he must do.

Believe to the fullest you can.  Humble yourself as far as you will.  You will see a receiving come to you. 

Let your roots seek the pure water.  Dig and thrust through the water you have found.  There is purity to be had.  What is pure among men is full of fault before God.

Do you see?  Give thanks and search for more.  Praise God with your actions.  For out the mouth of man comes many beautiful things, even while he himself is full of abhorrent behavior.

He is able to teach and to console.  He is able to raise from the dead even while you think you live.  And when life comes, he shows us the difference.

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

By His Grace

The Wasting


The man who sits and does nothing will surely waste away.  Exercise and learning are necessary parts of our body and mind.  All kinds of diseases and ineptitude come because the man does nothing with his body or mind.

As it is with the body, so it is with the soul.  The soul that is not fed on truth, will surely waste away.  But to whatever extent the soul is fed truth there is a strength that comes.  To whatever extent we listen to the living God in Christ Jesus we become stronger.

A level of righteousness does appear.  A level of ability to restrain sin does appear.  A level of vibrant prayer does appear.  And faith blossoms, if it is continually watered by the Holy Word of God.

Feed the body on wasteful living and it will become useless.  Feed the soul on wasteful lies, and it will become useless.

These are the rules of life that cannot be broken without consequence.

By His Grace

Losing the War


I have made complaint, over and over, as to how the world is plummeting to destruction.  I have said, over and over, it is because they denied the truth of the living God among them.  But this morning, understanding comes, as to the mechanics of this plummeting to destruction.

No doubt this subject requires a rather lengthy book.  But I am forced by the willing restraint of the reader to keep it short.  Keeping it short however, will mean a loss of important trains of thought.  So I will leave it to the reader to fill in the blanks.

______________

I do as my daddy taught me.  His teaching is like a shadow lurking in my mind.  I listened to him speak.  I watched him act.  I gathered the trains of thought in his mind and made them my own.  So also, was the influence of my mother. 

To some extent, their example remains within me.  No matter how I try to shake it with the truth of God, I cannot completely undo their influence.

This is true of every man and woman.  The better the example of truth, the more readily truth is received when we mature. 

But let us now look to the larger scale of things.  Adam and Eve could have told us what perfection was like.  Not so our parents.  And if the destruction of truth was made apparent in Cain, their son, how much more so is it today?

On and on, through the generations to now, the truth has been obscured and forsaken.  If perfection was squandered within one generation how much more so now?

The miracle of change is not the destruction of society.  (The constant pulling away from what is real) The miracle is that truth even remains at all.   The miracle is that the human race is not destroyed already.

What has prevented complete and catastrophic failure in humanity?  The power of God has restrained destruction among us.  As it is written, “Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9)

The world speaks of truth as it applies to society at the moment.  But God has raised up men and women who know the truth according to Eternity.  They have lived among us and taught what they knew.  Those whom God inspired, listened to them and did likewise.

If we want to know why we continue to fail, it is because of the unseen shadow of lies we were taught as children.  Add to that, our natural proclivity toward rebelion, and destruction will run rampant in our streets.

To whatever degree we find ourselves willing to obey the Living God in Christ Jesus, we will become shining examples of what is true and faultless.  But to whatever extent we agree with man, that truth is relative, we will remain filthy examples of rebellion.  (Of which, by the way, are vastly more than those who teach the truth.)

A man’s response to these things, is determined by his desire to love the living God.  Will he allow himself to be used as an agent of truth; helping to sustain life?  Or will he continue in his fellowship with the agents of destruction?

The Lord Jesus is able to change a man’s perception.  Many things we were taught as children remain.  But they are subdued by His holy words that live within us. 

The choice belongs to every man to accept or reject this message.

I will add this final note.

The world will be destroyed. 

The moment will come when God will send His Holy Son take all of his people from this place.  Along with the absence of these people will be the absence of His Holy Spirit among men; that Great Spirit of influence that saves humanity from utter, and catastrophic failure.

Consider this, if you are willing.  When the Lord returns, this place will plummet to destruction.  Violence, chaos, illicit and immoral behavior, will become the norm, within a day. 

Within 24 hours blood will fill every street.  Hatred and violence will rise as the preeminent behavior of all men.  Add to that, the horrors God has promised to unveil in that time. 

We live as a people under duress.   By compulsion we are forced to grapple with these things.  We want to live.  But by ourselves there is no eternal life in us.  We are only wicked animals waiting to devour one another.

You, like I am, are forced to make a choice.  Receive the Lord Jesus, and obey Him, or die a most hideous death for eternity.  The wicked nature of man has no place in heaven.  And without the restraint of God’s Holy Spirit we are nothing more than wicked animals.  Those who think otherwise are convinced of the lie they were taught as children.

The Lord Jesus will return without notice.  It could be today.  It could be a hundred years from now.  It will certainly be when you die and leave this place. 

We are under duress let’s make a choice.

By His Grace

Flint Feet


Will you walk with me into truth?  Even a short jaunt will produce a flame.  It is as if we are given feet of flint, at our acceptance of The Word.  With every stride we take, among the sharp rocks of truth, our feet spark with fiery intent.  Let then our feet move with dragging; that we may agree to burn the chaff.

If a man has obedience, then he is considered an obedient servant of the Most High God in Christ Jesus.  But if he is “mostly” an obedient man, yet allows sin to co-exist with holy, then he is counted as one who disobeys the commands of God.  Isn’t this so?

What fellowship does light have with darkness?  As light appears, doesn’t the darkness recede?  And if a man moves into darkness, where is the light that guided his path?  What path is he on now?

If we desire to live, forever, in the Holy House of God, we must cease walking in the dark.  And this brings up a relation to the “dragging of holy feet”.

Can a Christian, one who is being groomed for a place in the Holy City, exchange his feet of flint for those of a man (at will of desire)?  Or do those feet remain, even while we chase after pleasure?  Don’t those feet remain?  Don’t they produce a holy light of holy fire and a painful sting to the one who dabbles in sin?  If Jesus has intended to save toward purpose, those feet will remain.  Yet the man’s place is diminished with every misstep.

To our shame, we are like holy men who, traveling the holy golden path, sneak off into the thorny bushes to revel in some forbidden pleasure.  We intend to resume our holy pilgrimage in a short while.  But we have made the choice to endure a tearing of our flesh; a rending of our soul.  Do such men come away unscathed?

Does the Lord not notice such a man’s tendency toward a love of the world?  Can such a man have hope of living eternally in the Holy City of God?  Or will he be cast out among those who live in the open spaces; unprotected and tested for eternity?

12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.  13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.  15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give youa this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”  (Revelation 22)