What's in a Name?

There is a verse that I have always considered a harsh enigma where Jesus says, "If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father in heaven." (Matt 10:33) This statement is right next to the pronouncement of the "unforgivable sin", and ranks right up there with it in provoking uneasy self questioning and uncertainty. What christian of fervent hope does not fear, that in weakness or persecution, they will not become like Peter and deny any knowledge or acquaintance with their Lord? That fear, when caught in physical extremity, they might succumb to cowardice?


Commendable though it may be to always be alert for opportunities to be a witness for the gospel, I don't believe that Christ is saying we need be legalistic about every word that comes out of our mouths. After all, oppostion is only an excuse to let the light shine in the dark, and we don't lose our relationship with our Lord when in uncertainty or doubt. Instead, an idea of what this denial is, is hinted at where Jesus tells of the sheep and the goats. Do you remember how some who say "We did it all in Your name!" are rebuffed? "I never knew you!" Christ responds.


They did it in His name? A name is the truth of who someone is. Titles are a part of this. "God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." (Phil 2:9,10) "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) Christ is "Mighty God" in Isaiah and "my Lord and my God" to Thomas the formerly doubting disciple. If you get the picture that Jesus is God in the flesh, with no others who could even hope to approach that position, then you understand the main part of my thinking.



Anyone who defines the identity of Christ Jesus differently is unacquainted with the genuine Lord. Attaching His name to whatever we happen to worship does not give the idol His identity, even if we call it by the same name. This is what denial of Christ means. Creating a christ in our own image with characteristics that fill our own desires is preaching another gospel. Paul said that anyone who did this is cursed, (Gal 1:8,9) because our salvation is dependent on who Christ is. "The essence of sin is substituting man for God, while the essence of salvation is subsituting God for man."

Salamander Grace

A signal sentinal of stone guards the center of the house, it's heart of fire reaching out to all the inhabitants with a living warmth.It freely bestows its glowing light on house residents. This closeknit communty of family is astonished and amazed by a flash of color emerging from the flames. A salamander, elemental of fire, is a reflection of the red and orange jewel tones of the flames. Merely human eyes observe and wonder at the mystery of a creature which lives in flame and is of flame. The creature represents the incomprehensable. The captive audience would love to emmulate the beauty and aquire the wisdom that dwells in the heart of the flame.

Just so is the christian that emerges from his fellowship with the Savior, our Rock with a heart of molten passion. Our souls reflect the jewel-like clarity of His character. We are bound, in mute wonder, to the unrelenting joy which is the immutable radiance of His being. Do others glimpse through us the unceasing glory of He through whom we "live and move and have our being?"

Or have we left ourselves out in the cold, without the knowing of the warmth of His acceptance? Do we squabble in the dark because our eyes refuse to see the light shining in front of us? Can we tell when our own passions, that we lay claim to as the most important virtues of our lives, are nothing more than "sentimental rot", and unruled by the eternal flame who is our Savior?

More Than This!

Here comes the question. It's the one capping off all of the most intermidable of sermons. You can recite the words before you hear them. You've already tuned them out because you've made your decision and you feel that the question no longer applies to you. "If you died tonight, do you know where you would spend eternity?" That's it. There it is, the end of the story.

"But wait, there's more!" What if the gospel is more than just a "get out of jail free card"? What if it is more than just the pass to get you through those pearly gates? What if it is the chance to change what you can only see as an ending, to a beginning that stretches into eternity on a cosmic scale? The book's ending can be changed. You can "rewrite an ending that fits", so that He is the start of the best part of the story.

If, without Jesus, man is no more than a project sabotaged, to be thrown on the scrap heap, how much more is a life in Him a new beginning that will see no end? Each and every weakness, surrendered to His keeping, every painful circumstance we decide to face with His praises, each conscious sacrifice done to glorify Him, becomes a permanent part of our destiny with Him. Because of what He has done, and in His name, we can choose to bring new life to wherever we are at right now. In Jesus, we can opt out of the ending of our story.

Destination: Destiny

Our physical senses and therefore the material world, constitute only a fraction of our existence. Many concepts exist which do not repond to newtonian physics, and are not bound to a corporeal form. Transcendent values of morality, self sacrifice, and love clearly demonstrate that man is not meant to "live by bread alone", (Matt 4:4) but in the power and provision of the Lord. Man is not, ultimately, to be tied to the confines of a universe made of matter. At present, we "see through a glass darkly", (1 Cor. 13:12) having our senses bombarded by this world composed of matter, and distracted from that which will endure forever.

The reality of our destiny as the servants of Glory for the Most High King is only thinly veiled over. "It does not yet appear what we shall be", but "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is".(1 John 3:2) Forever priests of the King of Kings, our body will be unshackled from the corruption of pain and death. We shall rejoice forever in the strength of our fellowship with Him. In His authority, we will transend the limits of mere flesh. May He hasten that day.

For now, our every word and action,in Him, is pregnant with God's purpose and meaning. In His Spirit, we administer joy and peace. Each moment of time is embued with repercussions that echo through eternity. Burdened with such a great weight of His glory, do we not "do more than just exist"?


Finding Identity as.......
In submission
I become
not less
but more.
Prostrated,
I am
exalted.
Created as
a conduit of:
Your mercy
Your compassion
Your love.
In humility
I find
my calling.
Limned in light
Your radiance
shines out.
Effective now,
Your servant!

Alternatives to Reality

The Lord our God has blessed us exeedingly. His grace and mercy are unsurpassed, both in heaven and earth. The masterful subtlety of His leadership, or in other words, His perfect timing and provision, inspire amazement and awe. He, Himself, put aside all the priviledges of divinity, so as to not just show us the way, but to become The Way, so He could support us with His great strength. All of His efforts are motivated by His depthless love. The Master is discerning towards us so as to ever increase our love for Him. He knows that love forced is love lost, so He has given us the freedom to choose.

Those who know and understand, know that there is only the one game in town. There is no other way. There is no other God. There is no other end but what He decrees. It it but foolishness to choose any other but Him, the One who is all in all. It strains the limits of credulity as to how anyone could do otherwise. God lets them blaze their own path to eternity, knowing that they seek only to have their own way. Their ears and hearts are closed to all but themselves, unless some trauma should dislodge them from their complacency. In their hearts, they design and live in a make believe world.

There are various manifestations that evidence this attempted escape from reality. People display their lack of obedience to God in multiple ways. The most ubiquitous method used in western culture is an identification with science. God is left out of modern science so as to put a "safe" distance between us and Him. Some take it even further by twisting science to deny God's existence, making instead, science the recipient of their faith. There are those who make religion itself the object of their worship. The focus is on rules of behavior, while expecting God to accept these "great" sacrifices. There is no comprehension that God's standard's are far higher than can be attained by a humanity without Him. The most honest escapist is that one who pursues his own personal pleasure, while acknowledging that his weakness is his refusal to give up his sin. The here and now is made more important than the forever.

All avoiders of reality out there misunderstand and are blinded to God's true nature. In order for them to feel that they maintain some semblence of control over what they feel is theirs, they turn away from what is far greater and much more glorious than they could ever imagine.

A Strong Delusion

Our subject this week is the admonition to "never stop learning!" It is indeed invigorating and liberating to acquire knowledge which enlarges our understanding and aids us in wise choices. Knowledge and understanding enrich our lives, providing encouragement and edification. However, discernment should compel us to question whether all "facts" are created equal. Must we accept all the theories and conclusions presented to us under the mantra of "science"? "If we do it in the name of science, will we be justified in the end?"

There is a pervasive bias entrenched in the collective reasoning of our society. This prejudice leaves us stranded in the finite physical universe, blind and crippled, bereft of our anchor of meaning. In the void, we are sans the supportive connections which shield us from self destruction. What is labeled "freedom" is in reality the absence of hope. Psuedoscience offers us the gift of no god in our universe, a cosmic abortion of mankind in the face of the father who loves us and wants us.

This is the premise underlying any official position of the scientific establishment. Any hypothesis formulated which includes a god, must, in their thinking, be disallowed. They want no divinity intruding on their poverty stricken kingdom. The chaos underlying the implicit order apparent in the cosmos, and the complex language written into our very genes, does not suffice to persuade them. How is it that the discipline of science, started under the auspices of the church in the western world, is confused with those who refuse to consider all legitimate possibilities? Excluding the consideration of God's existence is the apex of irrationality. No matter how many layers of physical existence they uncover, no matter how far they travel in an unending journey, these delusional will be "ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (2 Tim 3:7)

Letter to a Skeptic

When you state your objections to Christianity, they are organized in such a way that it is obvious that you assume that it's concepts originate in myth. You also pointed out that I state my "opinions" as if they are fact. It seems that we each have our worldviews built on disparate foundations. You have faith in yours, based on a science of material naturalism, and I have mine, based on openminded science that accounts for other possiblilities, and my personal experiences.

Thank you for your willingness to discuss this issue of the ages. Well you may imagine that this type of dialog is what I live for. The Bible says to always be ready to give the reasons for the hope that you have(1 Peter 3:15). The Bible also tells us to study(2 Tim 2:15). Consequently, I have spent my life in study.

As you can see from the above, the life of a christian should be built on knowledge and reason. Conversion must be based on the evidence. That is where faith and belief begin, placed solidly on top of that foundation of the proveable and that reputation for truth and integrity ( Examples: http://www.aish.com/jw/j/48961251.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/12/archaeologists-and-quest-for-sheba-goldmines).

Now, as to your questions, which are of a more philosophical / theological nature.

You asked why does christianity base it's recruitment efforts on fear? I disagree with the first assumption in the question. Christ's efforts on mankind's behalf were based on His great love for us. "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). He has provided us with an easy, no effort escape through simple belief in Him, that requires no work of our own. He has not sought to terrorize us, but to comfort us in the middle of the pain resulting from our own error. How is this fearmongering? He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

If someone put on watch for the military failed to warn a city's inhabitants of an approaching enemy army, so that they could not escape, wouldn't he be failing to show love and compassion to his fellow citizens? If he warned them as he should would he be guilty of fearmongering? "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." (Ezekiel 3:18) It is love and undying concern which motivate His recruitment efforts!

Now to address your resistance to the very idea of hell, I might not be able to be so comforting. Some christians try to change the basic meaning of what hell is by telling themselves, contrary to what the Bible says, that it simply means "destruction", or in other words, ceasing to exist. Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about heaven. He said it is that fire which shall not be quenched (Mark 9:44).

Consider, instead, the only possible alternative to hell. Is it better for God's creation to be held hostage by evil? Where the most violent, bloodthirsty, and selfish would rule forever? The most gentle, compassionate, and giving people would be fodder for the flames of their wars, left to suffer injustice and humilation.

I think I would rather not live in that universe. Instead, I want to inherit the wonder of having the last vestige of pain and death removed from my sight and memory, left only to gaze on true love forever. "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen 18:25)

Some Thoughts on Patience

Patience is not a virtue for the young. It's an aquired skill. Having patience means you have to have strong self control and have put much thought into whatever you do, before you do it. Patience is aquired along with experience and wisdom, sort of like a cumlative IQ.

Patience is that thing that you learn to have when you've come to the end of your own strength. We cannot learn true patience until our own control has ended. It is how our faith survives while God is at work, while we are under construction. We have to wait and see what God will bring about.

You Didn't Know?

That curse that you carry
Like a stone in your heart,
The heartbreak of loneliness
Which holds you apart,
What anger you cherish!
By injustice undone!
The weight of unfairness
Is insanity's son.
Blocked from fulfillment
Through society's venues.
They see only the surface,
Thus make everyone lose.
Didn't you know?
Haven't you heard?
There IS a Deliverer,
Who hears every word!
That ugliness cursed,
You've abused yourself for?
Try seeing it His way,
He's given you more!
Didn't you know?
You're not lost in the lie?
That all life consists of
Is what is seen with the eye?
Didn't you know?
You won't waste your life?
You're forced to dig deeper?
Past meaningless strife?
Didn't you know?
Jesus waits in the wing?
While you exhaust your own effort?
Then acknowledge Him King?
Didn't you know?
He feels all your sorrow?
Will carry you always?
Today and tomorrow?
Didn't you know?
That He cares for you?
He's been where you're at?
Then died for you too?
Didn't you know?
If you'll just open your eyes?
You'll see you're near to the heart?
Of Him who is wise?
Understand that true ugliness
Is him with it all,
who's heart is contemptuous,
In place of mercy, a wall.

By the way everyone (so you won't think I wrote this for you), this is an internal dialog.

Staying Positive

Flying back from visiting my father, I had opportunity to reflect on and put into practice an exercise in faith. The airplane I was in was lifting off through turbulence severe enough to feel like the hand of God was swatting it back and forth like an insect. How does one change one's attitude from that of rigid fear and maybe anger to that of exhilarating joy and anticipation? How is it possible to bring the passionate tenderness of the Savior's precious presence into every moment of our lives, no matter how painful or ackward they may be?

For a believer, a totally different perspective can be achieved by choosing, at all times, to praise God. Understanding what God is doing in your life in a difficult circumstance is not a prerequisite for praise. A change in the specifics of the situation need not happen. The only act that is necessary for a believer to commit to is the acknowledgement of the real truth behind what is going on. God is at work on us and our job is to be exalting Him by confessing His goodness. (Phil 4:4-7)

This is how the hand of the Lord is found and seen by our very own eyes, in retrospect, to be at work in us and for us. This is how we can be refined for His use and how His character is developed in us. This is how we are energized by His love so that it shines out of our face, our speech and our actions.

When I first changed my confessions from complaint to commending the glory of the Lord, I was astounded at the blessings poured out on me. I asked the Lord what the difference was that would merit such a return. His answer? The letters of the word "attitude", when given numerical values according to their sequential position in the alphabet, add up to a total of 100. So the question is, what is the percentage of difference that attitude makes? 100%!


Can you not see that Jesus is Lord?
Inundated by the tide of His passionate joy,
I lose my grip on fear.
It cannot survive the onslaught of His light of celebration!
I feel joy welling up within me in response to His presence.
His life and creativity flow like a mighty river: Irresistible!
One who has met Him is convinced.
All choice is stripped from me: I can only confess the truth.
Glorious truth! Jesus is Lord indeed!

That Great Light

I have seen a great and beautiful light,
A treasure vast beyond my comprehension,
Towards which my heart strains in longing.
His loveliness is expressed in tenderness,
Those that desire Him are overwhelmed
with His compassion.
My striving is to know Him utterly.
Is there anything I have not yet given
to His cause?
Some weakness I can trade
for more of Him?
Whose fortress of strength
is His compassion?
Lord, redeem my suffering
so it is done in Your name.
Let the fire purify,
so that You may be lifted up!
Let only Your name be
found on my lips!
Lift up my hands to You!
Let the holiness of Your
people shine out as a beacon!
Turn the faces of the lost
toward Your light,
So that those who are in darkness
Can see Your great light!

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Jesus has said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt 7:21-23) We've heard all the excuses and even used them ourselves....."I go to church." "I read my bible." "I do charity work." These are all salves for the conscience, defense mechanisms used to slough off confrontation with the real issues. We want to think we're good people. Arrogantly, we seek to impose on God our own standards of what is right, but God tells us the truth about ourselves. (Roms 3:10) When we see ourselves as He sees us, we realize we are utterly selfish and unprofitable in actions and motivation. So then, how do we make sure we have the basic of what God requires from us? What can we do to be saved?

First, we must have the right attitude. Three things comprise a proper God seeking posture. One, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (Psalm 111:10) Obedience does not come naturally, but is a result of the fear of consequences! Second, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, because anyone that comes to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those that sincerely seek Him."(Heb 11:6) Having faith is following a Name that is already known and proven holy, just, and all-sufficient. Third, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (Jas 4:6) So anyone who wants to come to God, must come with fear, in faith, and with humbleness.

Jesus also said, "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."(Matt 7: 13, 14) What is this gate He speaks of? He is the gate! "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep."(Matt 10:7) "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved." (Matt 10:9)

Why does faith (belief/trust) in Jesus save us? It is because He is THE Lord! "In Him dwells all the fullness of the godhead in bodily form" (Col 2:9) Only God Himself, offered up in our place, is yet pure and powerful enough to save us! In Jesus only must we place our trust! Not in ourselves, or in others. "I know who I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day." (2 Tim 1:12)

Have You Died Today?

The defining principle undergirding living the christian life is self sacrifice. How serious one's commitment is to the savior is made obvious by how much one is willing to give. Jesus is the one who introduced the whole concept when he told His first followers "Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."(Matt 10:36) First thoughts of this taking up of crosses generates images of Marine Corps drill sergeants, or for women, what's involved in the push to care for small children while holding down a full time job! The thought is "it will be hard, but doable." Take up my cross? How hard is that? I'll just clench my teeth and do it!

The bad news is, it's actually much worse than that! When Jesus spoke these words, the cross was the favored method of execution. One reason it was used was that besides killing the one suspended from it, it also made a public spectacle of their death agony. Witnesses of the event were also being taught what not to do by seeing what they had to look forward to if they repeated the same error! You were supposed to be very afraid of that happening! What kind of respect could be maintained by anyone involved in this extremity? You weren't supposed to want to repeat this, or God forbid, volunteer to go through it! Yet that is exactly what Jesus is saying we need to do! He's saying we need to die!

Further illumination on the spiritual meaning may be gained by comparison with another of Christ's analogies where He told Nicodemus, "You must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven." If you remember the response of Nicodemus, he was bewildered, wondering aloud how such a physical reality could be accomplished!

What Jesus is speaking of is the total change of perception, perspective, and worldview that comes from leaving unbelief to live by faith. What Jesus is saying is that the old guy, the one affiliated with the world, has to die!He does not pass away quietly. A new creation, a bond servant of Christ, has to be born! It is done publicly as a witness to others!

A new mind will be obvious in all following behavior. Now comes the actual living of the faith written of with such sublime poetry in the Bible. "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."(Gal 6:14) "This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith."(1 John 5:4) We are now free! "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are (born) in Christ Jesus......who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." (Rom 8:1,4) Let's celebrate because we have died and all things are now new!

The Most Dangerous Prayer

When faced with the rigor of the daily ritual, most of us tend to have an escapist mentality. We find ways to "deal with the stress." Have you ever used daydreaming or imagination to make life more exiting? Yearned for an adventure? Wished you could have lived the life of a famous person?

Your adventure is at hand! Hidden beneath the surface of this material world, there are in operation vigorous forces clenched in the combat of the ages. Spiritual beings titanic in power clash in an upheaval to rival the most violent, convoluted plot of any of our spy or adventure films.

Where do we come into this story? Malevolent darkness and radiant messengers of mercy wait, poised for action, over the human form cast down on it's knees. The action of battle has been suspended to await the outcome of the whispered prayer issuing from the lips of the prostrate man. The outcome hangs on this moment of time.

What prayer is it that the dark princes dread, yet the powerful servants of God give their joyful attention to? Both sides know that the balance of power is about to shift. The ranks of the sons of God is about to be augumented. In abject weakness and need, a new soul is about to be born with the confession "Jesus, please be my Lord!"

The kingdom of God has won more territory in the most bitterly contested area of all, that of the human soul. In humbleness, the inheritance of one has changed from condemnation to priestly authority.

The time is at hand and the day is now to secure your place in God's victory! To participate in the great adventure, submit yourself to Jesus while the great drama still unfolds!

Pride

Anyone who has listened to what God has to say on the subject of pride is aware that His perspective is completely alien to our own. Our wisdom has sayings such as "Keep your head up" and " They can take everything from you but your pride". A merely human view equates pride with a love of one's self and sees it as an essential foundation of loving others. However, without God, acts of loving and giving become choices to be weighed in the balances. Without God, our first priority is always ourselves. Without God, our own needs always outweigh our available resourses, therefore the needs of others get left behind.

Anger and resentment are the harvest of a world of neediness. In this enviroment of brutal competition, pride is a defense mechanism. It is how I tell myself that I am better than you. It is why I see myself as more worthy and deserving of your love and devotion than you are worthy and deserving of mine. Pride is my wall of protection around my pain and vulnerability so I can keep you from robbing me of my resources. Pride's operational dysfunction is it's isolationist agenda.

Such a worldview sees God at the top of the heap of evildoers, who by virtue of a strength greater than our own, makes arrogant demands of us. Unfortunately, when we chose to shut God out , we imprison ourselves in an abject poverty of existence, in a living death. A natural mind cannot, on its own, comprehend the principals of the realities of God. Him who's heart is a fortress of pride will not yield to love in the face of all the persuasions at the disposal of diety.

This is the reality of who God is, that He made Himself into nothing and took on the form of a servant, the form of a man. As a man, he was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross! (Phil 2:8,9) This is the mind of Christ, that when he gave a demonstration how we are to treat each other, he washed the feet of his disciples! This is the way He works, when he informed His disciples that the one who wants to be first in His kingdom must be the servant of all the others, as Jesus Himself is.

God says that He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. (Proverbs 3:34) If He allows us to reap the bitter harvest of pride while we yet draw breath, then He will be assisting us to open our eyes to our lifeless condition so we may approach Him with humility (to learn from Him). Perhaps He might grant us a glimpse of the depthless value of this love that He offers us! Perhaps we might learn to imitate this inexhaustible fountainhead of love and humility.

Matt 24: What's THAT All About?

I saw a debate online on a christian website that I frequent about Matthew 24 and 25. What struck me as really odd was that when Christ, in chapter 24, talks about two being in a field, one will be taken and one left, the interpetation being applied was those taken, are taken to be judged! That this being taken is a BAD thing. I've always been taught that these verses depict the rapture, the "blessed hope".

In chapter 24 of Matthew, Jesus' answer, to three questions from the disciples, are recorded. They wanted to know "When will these things happen?", "What will be the sign of your coming?", and "What will be the signs of the end of the age?".

I believe Matthew 24 is a multiple application prophesy. I believe Christ spoke of the temple's destruction in 70 AD, as well as the general signs of His approaching return, along with the rapture and the tribulation which immediately follows. It's been almost two thousand years already, but He expects us to be ready and waiting, even after all this time! I believe that those taken are taken in the rapture, and then begins the terrible "day of the Lord", which everybody will definitely want to miss!

In the Midst of the Storm

No matter where our journey takes us in this material world, there will always be a cacophony of voices vying for our attention. They are competing for our loyalty, and ultimately, for our soul. It's an issue of ownership. Who owns the rights to our soul?

We are the ones who make that decision of what is to be given precedence. Yet, each time we give of ourselves, there are consequences. No life is free from suffering and turmoil. Every living soul, at some point in their lives, will reach the end of their strength and cry out, "How can I get peace in my life?!" How we deal with this pressure will determine whether we are gaining a higher viewpoint in our understanding, or will have to shut down and go into hiding to escape from the fear.

When we step out in faith, into the very teeth of the storm, with our trust firmly fixed on our Savior, with our only defense a stubborn resolve to follow Him, we learn astonishing truths. In the morning, when the winds have abated, and the sun has come out, we will see around us the brokeness and debris left over from evil's devastating anger. We are safe and His will is what has been accomplished! The Almighty Warrior has been victorious! The forces of evil, by rebelling against Him, have only served to bring about what He has already determined will be. So we are victorious also, because He brings us with Him! From out of the midst of the battle, we have gained more of Him, for He was there with us all along!

By these realizations, our soul is unchained. What other response can we give? He has opened the door to "joy unspeakable and full of glory!"(1 Peter 1:8) In the very weathering of the conflict, we have gained a sense of how total is our security in Him. Our peace comes out of having emerged from hiding, to going out where He calls us. We know Him. We trust Him. So then He, Himself, is our peace! (Ephesians 2:14)

On Fruits and Flakes

Which one are you?
a fruit or a flake?
Which kind of trouble
do you like to make?

For workloads and deadlines
instead of crying,
do you make silly faces
when hands are flying?

Or are you the one,
when time runs short,
who can't be found,
to give support?

Faced with issues
do you strike a pose?
for others amusement,
make up silly prose?

Or when confronted
do your eyes roam?
'cause the lights are on,
but nobodys home?

Are you the one,
after the emails are sent,
that realizes they have
no title or content?

Or do friends languish
left without knowing
if you're alive or if
your indifference is showing?

If you're a fruit
others may scoff,
but being a flake means
you've been cast off!

Bad jokes may be followed
by head shaking and sighing,
but none can forget
the odd one who keeps trying!

Go Home Again

Who do you trust? All of us have issues with it. The longer you've been around, the more rules you accumulate about who doesn't deserve it. We didn't start life so cynically. We all remember with fondness the earnest sincerity of our youth. Yet a child's trust is actually just innocence, that which has no knowledge or experience, and therefore is lacking in wisdom and direction. The original state of being trusting has been idealized as that home which has been lost to us forever. We cannot make it back on our own. We've wandered too far away and no longer remember the road which takes us back.

Trust is opening up and exposing our true selves. It means to be vulnerable. Nobody wants to give away, to just anybody, that which is sacred, and it is plainly unwise to do so. Yet Jesus said, "Unless you become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."(Matt 18:2)

Jesus, Himself, is the pivot point where we can change directions. He is that fulcrum through which change moves mountains. In Him, our skepticism and weakness are given strength enough to make the decision to trust again. In Him only is our burned out shell of innocence ressurected into new life, to be forever after called faith. We are no longer the innocent, but something better because we believe. After we make that choice to follow Him, we become the wise, because we now see clearly in His light. Now our trust is for Him.

Promises Kept

Through Christ, my heart, by trust, was freed,
Later tripped up again by need.
Everyone needs a place to start
learning how to give all their heart.
But those who start to trust in man
are burned by fire and cannot stand.
There's only One who does not sin.
Glorious Son, unlike other men.
The only one with love so deep
that never fails, His promises to keep.
But human beings, like chaff in the wind,
chasing in circles, much effort they spend
to follow things that pass away,
then wonder why in pain they stay.
By fear and denial my heart was driven,
but I'll never regret the love I've given.
Love never fails or fades away,
though innocence may die, day by day.
In Him, my trauma is turned around,
by sacrifice I am gaining ground!
For innocence lost, I won't cry twice,
because for Him, it's worth any price!
To gain the goal of greatest good
to see His kingdom advanced, I would
keep my focus on Him, to stay on track,
because, for me, He kept nothing back!
In His service, I'd venture much,
Do anything, to feel His touch!
Remember the one who keeps His promise?
In praising Him, I find my bliss!

In His Name

Leadership is a heavyweight topic. Leadership can be a harsh burden to bear when others are unappreciative of our sacrifices. Also, submitting to an authoritative superior with ‘axes to grind’ is a hardship of the severest sort. From both perspectives, it can be a ‘losing proposition’. Those committing abuses lack understanding of the fact that authority is not given for purposes of personal gain. Those that think that leadership is the power to bring about compliance by force or fear are simply wrong. Fear is not the most compelling motivator there is. Christians tend to succumb to this ‘intimidation’ mentality as often as anyone else.

Every Christian has been instructed, by Jesus, to take on the responsibility of being a leader. Christ has given us a different model of what leadership is. I’d like to borrow from one of His parables in order to flesh out a different sort of analogy for what God-given authority looks like. “…The kingdom of heaven will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey….”(Matt 25:14 & 15)

This is the parable of the talents, where the Lord has arranged for a very great price to be paid……. for us! Our moral bankruptcy has made it necessary for Him to give us credit based solely on the perfect payment record of His Son. He has lent us the very image of His Son. He has used the most valuable treasure in heaven to invest in us. What, exactly, did he purchase with so large a price? The freedom for us to love and serve Him! His ‘Institution of Highest Lending’ has purchased for us a new worldview of faith and a valuation system based on love. Since we can never actually repay this debt, He has graciously asked that we ‘pay it forward’! "Freely ye have received, freely give." (Matt 10:8) Love, service, and forgiveness rendered to others, as we can, are our only payments, done solely from gratitude.

Part of our service is to redistribute this vast wealth even further by becoming a ‘broker’ of this great salvation. We acquire more ‘assets’ for Christ by bringing others into the ‘employment’ of the ‘lending institution’ to serve His loving purposes. Our great employment directive from Christ is to be His witnesses, “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”(Acts 1: 7)

Leadership is the love and service we give, in His name, as a result of our debt of gratitude. Being a leader is being a representative, purchased by His blood, of the message of hope that He has already paid for. It is being yielded to Him. What a sweet, joy-filled debt to owe, with payments made in the currency of gladness! As for me, my most profound desire is to yield all that I am and everything I have into those scarred hands in return for a place close to Him. His love is enough!

A Moral Juxtaposition

"She spent her whole life looking out the window." This sentence could be construed as a story in itself, undeserving of further clarification. This person would not be someone worth knowing. She has nothing to offer, no beauty or charm with which she can barter for others' time. This exact sentiment is put rather poetically to music in the Beatle's song "Eleanor Rigby". "Look at all the lonely people", one of which is apparently the woman for whom the song is named. "She lives in a dream. Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door. Who is it for?" This profoundly sad senario, where a woman who waits so patiently for connection with her fellow human beings and dies with no one to even attend her funeral, seems to be a social and political condemnation of the relevance and effectiveness of the church in our culture. If you don't want to have a futile and pointless life and then die alone, search for meaning outside the context of a message that has no personal application. Humanity has moved on. Christianity has been left behind. Stop holding on to it's teachings and look to us instead. Such are the values and prejudices of a christless world, alienated by an insulating miasma of pride and contempt for perceived weaknesses in others. They cannot see past what seems so obvious to them. It is a superficial understanding, offering only psuedosympathy to those who don't support their self aggrandizing agenda. Could it be possible, that a teaching so generally despised as weak, could have an astronomical value unappreciated by those who refuse to see it? Could their own fear of rejection be what is driving their dismissal of those who represent the gospel?

Humanity has a poor record indeed of correctly perceiving and assessing value. The embodiment of worth, Himself, "had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed Him not." (Isa 53:2&3) As our example, He came to wake us to the meanings hidden in plain sight, to the structure of purpose underlying the physical world. He provided us with some clarity of perspective on what is of eternal significance.

"God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wisdom of the wise." (1 Cor 1:27) The 'wise' philosophers of this world are the ones who truly have the futile existence, and follow a 'dead end' path. They aren't clued into what is really going on around them. Eternity is too large for their minds to grasp. Theirs is a colorless, one dimensional world.

This natural 'wisdom' has a value system diametrically opposed to Christ's. He, as the creator of the universe, sees more clearly and with total knowledge and understanding. Listen to what Christ values. He approves of the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those merciful, and those who are peacemakers. (Matt 5-10) Not exactly a list of the powerful and influential, is it? Yet these are the very ones who 'add flavor' by being "the salt of the earth" and 'color' by being "the light of the world". (Matt 5:13&14)

Which is to be preferred? The superficial or the profound? Can an illusion of self determination give satisfaction? Or is it better to open eyes to treasures of wisdom and understanding beyond price? It is an indictment of our spiritual blindness when we cannot see the shining jewel which is the person standing next to us. It is a trajedy of epic proportions when we do not feel the weight of honor bestowed upon us in any service we can perform for this earthly representative of our humble king.

Escape From Quagmire Politic

Back at work after the weekend
on allotted tasks my time to spend.
Running fast, I hit a wall
for politics I take the fall.
Alliances sometimes shifting sand,
Unstable edifice of command.
What is said, some might offend,
lacking ambition to comprehend,
issues beyond influence and power,
intended to make us inwardly cower.
Beyond my ability to understand,
is why the game so futilely planned?
Conflict for things not with us long,
striving for what is here and gone,
while deep inside dies love's song.
Instead, renew my soul in wonder,
richest imagination plunder.
Bring forth the essence of my life,
drawn in vibrant colors rife.
Apply my hand to a creative outlet.
Better than this, it does not get.
So many ways to pour out my passion,
give voice to my joy in the living Son,
enlarging upon what God is the start of,
lending my strength to what God is the heart of.
Supportive hand is under mine,
as I the shape of beauty find.
Energy gained from anger turned,
channeled through hard discipline learned.
Satisfaction displayed for all to see,
Expressing the poetry God gifted me.

A Trail of Cookie Crumbs

My fickle heart's working overtime
during hectic demands at work today
the pressures of supervisiory deadlines
unsatisfied customers who don't want to pay.

The familiar frustration of endless effort
energy flagging, insufficient for the task,
equilibrium not broken, just gone missing,
my cheer and competence but a concealing mask.

While seeking a way to maintain focus
occurred an image, a smell, a taste
evoking emotions of peace and warmth
inurring my soul against a world of desperate haste.

Nostalgic memory, veritible jewel in my mind
the chocolate chip cookie my mom used to bake
starts me planning a sacred mission
to find a piece of home for sanity's sake.

A local market has an ad on tv
saying "We're like family" with smiling faces,
but a bite of cookie was like dust and ashes
with disgruntled clients fighting for parking spaces.

I remembered a chic corner coffee shop
with fabulous, elegant morsels for sale
soothing surroundings, efficient, and fast
a distinctly odd flavor made my heart quail.

Pulling up in my driveway with a void in my heart
bracing myself to complete one more project
signs of activity meant the kids had come home
a filling, nutritious dinner, they expect.

Surveying the damage left over from dinner
I got an idea, changed our usual drill
to embark on a collabrative, creative, conspiracy
while towers of dishes encircled us still.

Children dusted with flour and bent over their toil
glowing faces intent, warmed my heart with their chatter
That's when I learned even cookies burnt in the oven
if made from the heart, have the flavor that matters!

We are the Work of His Hands

Where does love come from and how is beauty created? The wise man knows that the source is God, but how do His processes work? Is there a limit to His power and control? Answering this question will have a direct effect on how much confidence we feel we can place in Him. I am convinced God is in total control, even of the most seemingly irrelevant circumstances. I also believe we have total freedom of choice in the accepting or rejecting of Him.

The crucible of decision is where our wave of obstinacy is broken apart on the shoals of God's improbability, the audacity of hope amid the twisted wreckage of our rebellion. We witness the evidence of death and destruction, our heart swallows darkness until we come to understand it. That is when we cry out for something more. He is that more.

Our bondage is temporary. Evil, no matter how powerful it seems, is but a fleeting affliction. Creation itself has been ransomed and all things will be restored. We lose nothing in this conflict, if we believe in Him. We have only gain from it in the areas of wisdom, understanding, and love.

You see, He knew us, those that wear His name. He has seen us, His likeness, through the long corridor of years, from before the laying of the foundations of the earth. He knew everything about those who would respond to Love's calling. He has used everything: Himself, our circumstances, the physical world, and those around us, to provoke us to dialog with Him. The dance of the cosmos is orchastrated to bring about our freedom so that we would be overcome with love for Him, and because of that, our total redemption would be accomplished in Him.

Because of His efforts, our life becomes a poetry of praise and glory to Him. The beauty of the image of His Son is developed in us. He will be satisfied with nothing less than that we will share in His joy. "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Why Hell is Necessary

By becoming a message of reconciliation and practicing forgiveness, we defer matters of justice to God's all encompassing understanding. In Proverbs 25:22, it says that when we are good to those who abuse us, we heap burning coals of fire upon the abusers heads. By doing this, we become a living epistle of the love of God. We become a visible example of God's self sacrificial and giving nature.

Be warned. Jesus said, "No servant is better than his master. The world has hated me, it will also hate you." Our soul will become the crucible of fire. Evil can only destroy, never create, so superficially, it will look like evil is winning. "For Your sake we face death all day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." When persecuted, and yet forgiving, we offer others the image of the dying Savior in ourselves. When our pain and humiliation are on public display for the world, as His was, then the willful sinner is offered a visible example of his actions come to fruitation. The writhing, dying face of the Savior is set before Him for consideration. Perhaps the rebel will revise his conception of reality and change his perpetual question from "Why does God allow evil to exist in this world?" to the more applicable observation that "My own evil is what has made this happen." Faced with the inevitable conclusion of his lack of submission to the gentle leadership of the Savior, if astonished love is not the response, then the rebel becomes one with the Jewish leaders who cried out, "We will not have this man to rule over us! Crucify Him!" If the rebel thinks he can do things better on his own, without the "interference" of God, then he has committed "Deicide", the murder of God.

There is no one righteous, not even one;

there is no one who understands,

no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.

Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.

The poison of vipers is on their lips.

Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood;

ruin and misery mark their ways,

and the way of peace they do not know.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

The Lord will allow this person to make his own decision. He does not compel, but provides information about the alternative He has provided. When someone refuses their responsibility, denies their accountability, God will not forever burden His people with the horror of evil. His people will not be held hostage forever, but will be delivered by Justice Himself, who will consign evil to darkness and everlasting punishment.

Grief and Tears

I cannot bear the weight of it,

this burden I have chosen.

My legs tremble and my mind reels.

Surely the Mighty One is stronger;

this sorrow will not bear Him down.

My eyes tire of all their tears,

for who can hear the cry of the wicked?

The one who has refused to see

the angry countenance of their God.

The have turned from acknowledging their debt,

From the One who has given them life.

What is their portion, save darkness?

Confined to the cell called despair?

No relief from loneliness is there

and wisdom turns to rend them.

The innocent will not remember these

the ones who sought to devour them.

None can deliver them from distress.

They have chosen to be cut off.

Might I be the one to speak?

To ask that mercy and compassion

place obstacles to halt the rush?

Why I Forgive

Some inspiration from our Lord on this matter of justice. Certainly an oppressor owes a great debt. Impatience to see retribution enacted upon him is ........inappropriate. Vengence belongs to the Lord. Debts accrued are owed to Him alone, to whom belong all things. Not to anyone else belongs the role of spiritual accountant. Is there anyone else who knows, better than Him, how to collect genuine repentance? Having our own agenda, apart from His will, causes us to resist the implementation of what is best for everyone involved, namely those things that He already has in mind.

If we hold on to the could-have-beens, cling tightly to the SHOULD-have-beens, we miss the transition to the hope that God has provided. We give up the blessing of God's ministry of reconciliation. Forgiveness is the vehicle that brings about the rebirth, like the tamarack pine that sheds it's foliage in wintertime. Only when we eject the dead detritus of unworkable passions, during the cold, barren time of pain, can we then burst out with new growth and extravagant beauty of the kind most precious to God. It is the birth of grace towards others.


Make no mistakes here. Only the mentally strong can possibly forgive. It is not a field of play where the weak can participate. That is why God makes sure we get plenty of practice. The strength required is spiritual, and this one act uses the most of it and matures us the most. Why? It goes against our natural desires, against what everyone is telling us to do. It even makes us look weak. Yet,"My strength is made perfect in weakness", says Jesus.

You see, all those traumas, all that anguish past bearing, will become a gift that blesses. Shed the blindfold on a hardened heart and see that, one day, He will let us understand that these things were allowed to happen for our good and His glory, and that we will thank Him and praise His holy name for just these very things.

When we forgive, we bring that day closer. When we forgive, we participate in His ministry of reconciliation. We become a part of the spreading of the message. We become the message, like Jesus is. Standing beside Him, we will rejoice with Him and be satisfied when everything is completed.

Who is this man?

No one knows my name now, but I was the one who brought my son to Jesus because he was tormented by a demon. My son was very young when he started having seizures. He is my only child and his mother and I tried everything we could to help him. We talked to doctors and teachers of the law, but they only told us it was our own fault that he was like that. When I heard about this Jesus, I knew that I needed to see if he could help my son.

When I first encountered the followers of Jesus, he was not with them. The followers of Jesus attempted to cast the demon out of my child, but were unsuccessful. At that moment, I felt that the hell of my family circumstances was going to just continue as it had, without relief. I had no faith or energy to offer anyone right then. Obviously, no one could help me or my son.

Shouting at the foot of the path up the mountain made the crowd run over to where it ended. Finally, Jesus was deigning to show himself? I'm afraid I was so angry that I surged to my feet with the intention of giving him a piece of my mind! Strangely, though, Jesus seemed to be irritated himself, and asked those surrounding him what in the world they were doing. I spoke up and told him what had happened between his disciples and my son and I. Wonder of wonders, he was exasperated with them! He commanded that my son be brought to him.

The demon gave my son a fit right at the feet of Jesus. Jesus saw directly to my heart and my uncertainty at that moment. He told me that all things are possible to those who believe! I cried out for him to help my unbelief, for the sake of my son! Then Jesus delivered my son from his oppression.

Who is this man? He has power over the spiritual world. He gives deliverance to the oppressed. Who is he? That is what each of us must decide.

Death in the Family

When it comes to the subject of suicide, I don't think christians should be supporting laws that restrict other's right to die. Graveyards will be filled whether we do or no. ( As my son told me yesterday, the big "secret" of life is that we're all going to die.) I think, instead, that we should be telling people about Christ so that they will have something to look forward to when they inevitably do die. In the meantime, Christ will not fail to have compassion on the suffering of His people.

In the space of three years, I have had four family members pass away. When I say family, I mean the next of kin of the man I was married to before, and the man I am with now.

The gentle person who lights up my life right now, has lost his father, brother, and then his mother in a short period of time. The crazy thing is, that each time that each one of them was so sick, and out of compassion we prayed for them, the next thing that happened was that they left us and passed on.

First it was the father, stricken with cancer of the throat. After devastating and debilitating surgery, the doctor found it had come back again and the prognosis was terminal. The father asked the doctor if there was any way that things could be hurried along to get it over with. When I was told (I did not really know him, because at the time I had only met him once, after he was very ill) I began to fast and pray that the Lord would honor his request. I found out later that he passed away the same day of my prayer.

A few months later, the brother became ill. We spent a lot of time with him in the hospital, feeding him, reading the bible to him, and praying for him. He continued to deteriorate. We found out, from the doctor, that he would not recover. Anguish over seeing such a kind person brought to this state led me to lay hands on him and plead with the Lord to heal him. Three days later, on Sunday morning, we got the phone call that he had passed on.

The mother starting becoming ill about a year and a half later. Her son was angry with her for not fighting or trying to recover. I told him to let God do what was best for her, and that is what we prayed for. Three or four nights later, when I arrived home from school, they told me she had gone to be with the Lord.

The story of these three contrasts strangely with the father of my exhusband. Papa was a beautiful, gentle minister of the Word. He was sick for three years and his family was agonized to see him suffering. He was bedridden for months after having his legs amputated. Many (myself included) were praying that the Lord would take him and spare him further distress, but He did not.

Papa did not want to leave. He wanted to see his family healed before he had to make his final report to his Lord. Nothing happened the way that he thought it should have. Now that he is with his precious savior, he knows that that blessed healing has taken a different form from what he expected, and actually was experienced directly as a result of the trauma that he felt so guilty about.

Sin

Fairly recently my intellectual curiosity about biblical prophecy was transformed into a passion for personal evangelism. What started out as something which was going to happen in the unspecified future became an urgent message for the present. Prophesy is the fuel for the fire of evangelism. I hit a roadblock after that when I began trying to communicate the concept of sin to others. In this society, where there is relative peace and wealth, the predominate moral teaching seems to be that of tolerance. Superficially, it seems that only by accepting that everyone has their own truth (as the only truth) can everyone then be able to get along. When God attempts to interrupt this pleasant seeming fiction with our accountability, we interpret His efforts as just so much egotistical bullying. Some just live in denial, and say there is no God (and think that saying it ends the issue).

God wants to work with us, to bring us back from death and our own destruction. He's gone to a great deal of effort to explain things to the unwilling. Despite His all encompassing power, His way and His character is to choose to work through love, His support, and humble service. The example Christ gave us was to empty Himself of His rights as our creator and submit all the way to His own death. The meek are a reflection of this, Christ's character. How did Jesus say others would know who are His disciples? They would know because of the love we have for one another! Even adversity is given to increase our love, patience, and humility!

This type of character cannot be found anywhere but with God! Only following Him and doing what He says will give us the proper orientation and strength to be able to do what is right. If we have any other motivation, then we sin by murdering the image of God's character, either within ourselves, or in others. Since God is perfect in all things, we have to follow His example in order to not sin.

Normal people have a hard time seeing sin from God's perspective. (If He showed up in person we would be able to see His holiness and have a comparison, but we would die if He did.) A sinner, to God, is like a small child at an expensive resturant that insists on having a screaming temper tantrum! If you have very sensitive ears, like I do, then that is an extremely ugly noise! It ruins dinner for anyone within hearing distance. Consider also as an example the loud, foulmouthed, and unwashed person that comes into an establishment playing soft strains of beautiful music. He is, of course, at painful odds with the atmosphere into which he has introduced himself. These instances might inspire understanding of what sin looks like, but would not even begin to include the elements of agonizing betrayal that are part of it. Think of a soldier, responsible for protecting life and property from violence, selling out to the enemy and becoming a traitor. Sin is betrayal because we turn against the One who has given us everything that is good.

Satan introduced this whole concept of turning against God as his own pilot program to find a replacement for God. Satan has put himself forward as the next candidate. He tells us lies about God to induce us to follow his error. Satan tries to tell us that following God means that we are prohibited from having a will of our own. Satan says that worshiping God will make us religious bigots who think that we are better than anyone else. If he can convince us that there is nothing wrong with us in the absence of God, then he will take us with him to the quarantine which is the destiny of all evil.

Choices, Choices

In an imperfect world, having conflict is a given. Life is an educational time given to us to acquire the skills our Lord will need from us in His kingdom. We're not there yet, so what do we do in the meantime?

The reality of living in the here and now is dealing with the frustration and anger which pressures us to act, mostly without the illumination of knowing the end results of our actions. The passionate feelings driving us to distraction come from not understanding or being in control of what it is that we face. Conflict happens when events and the resulting negative emotions have escaped our limited ability to restrain them. Conflict is an opportunity to choose between many possibilities in an effort to alleviate the situation. If we haven't learned anything when it's over, then we've suffered in vain.

What are some things we can try during a disagreement? It's good to think of them ahead of time and remember to use them during arguments. Our reasoning ability escapes us during times of turmoil. (We don't think very well when we're mad!)

1. There's always (figuratively speaking)murder and mayhem (violence). Don't all of us have times that we enjoy the entertainment of considering it (just temporarily) as a possible solution? (If this type of solution seems reasonable to you during an argument, TURN AND WALK AWAY!) Sigh! Jesus said to be good to those who are mean to you. Maybe it's because he knew before the rest of us that violence is only a temporary solution, that it doesn't actually teach anybody anything. It actually continues or worsens the emotional and physical situation.

2. Name calling seems like a good way to express frustration (and is practically involuntary). I mean, you're not actually hurting anybody, are you? Yet Jesus said that calling your brother a fool puts you in danger of hellfire. How could he be so unreasonable? After all, isn't your brother not listening to you? Yet someone has to make the sacrifices of righteousness and be the one to start listening. So then you wind up thinking through your trashy attitude and his also. (Lord help us) what did you learn from all that? (That maybe your brother has a good point?)

3. Then there is my own area of expertise: stubborness. Who can possibly argue (or conflict) with someone who refuses to engage (intellectually or otherwise)? An intransigent character is nothing if not implacable, cold, and immoveable. We just outwait the drama experts. As far as I'm concerned, stubborness is highly underrated as a coping mechanism. I like to think of it as integrity with a bad rap. Yet, how can someone who refuses to discuss an item of concern possibly learn anything new about it? Learning involves changing and I have a huge quotation(that I copied) on my fridge from Dr. Laura Schlessinger saying how stupid we are to be so afraid of change.

4. Strange as it may seem, I have not yet exhausted the possible responses to another's anger. There is one more. We can thank the good Lord for a learning opportunity, or the chance to further His kingdom by being an exhibition of Christ's character. While we are thanking Him, we should be praying for His will to be done (while also fervently requesting that he make us premier students of whatever the situation is supposed to be teaching us: To get it over with). The miracles that happen as a result of this type of response are rewarding to see.

Disclaimer: Added so that readers will not feel that I am a proponent of violence. I view violence as the refuge of the intellectually challenged.

Shared Memories

The most memorable letter I have ever received my sister sent me not long after both of us found out, almost at the same time, that our husbands had cheated on us. I found out before her and rode a downward spiral in flames. When she was fresh from new knowledge of her betrayal, and knew I was not dealing well with my own, she sent me this poem that she wrote herself.

Almighty God in Heaven
Please hear my plea today.
I ask you to listen closely
To what I have to say.

I don’t want fame or riches
or material possessions.
I don’t want to look for the road
Paved with the gold of good intentions.

I just want to be happy
with my children and my love.
I just want the simple blessings that
Rain down from heaven above.

I just want to feel needed
And to know that someone cares.
I want to return that love
to the people whose lives I share.

Please help me, Sweet Jesus
To remember that you love me.
Help me to feel the glory
That comes from God above me.

The greatest tragedy of all has not been our mutual abandonment by spouses, but when I lost my sister to the grief which shortly after she allowed to overwhelm her. I feel like I left the house for a short time and left the heater running. When I returned, my house was in flames. My sensitive, caring sister had been replaced by a stranger who wears the same face. Her drug addition now rules her life.

Hearts at Home

Feeling blessed starts as a reflection upon our circumstances. Each of us, when contemplating our history, realizes in retrospect that there were good things there. So starts our struggle to return to the time and place that we identify as our "home". It is the feeling evoked when we remember the homemade apple pie mom used to bake.

In our search, the Savior calls to us to follow Him. He asks us to surrender the pursuit of our own agendas into His leadership. He asks us to make our home in Him.

Once we've made the transition to living through grace, our understanding grows. It is an overwhelming relief to know that our failures are forgotten. Our undeserved inheritance is secure, our fellowship Divine. All these gifts come not as a result of our own merit, but are freely given to us from the nature of who God is. We feel blessed when we realize who it is we worship. We feel blessed from an understanding of the truth of our victiory in Him.

Finally, we began to realize how sweeping and exalted is the vision we've joined. We are part of the whole. We've aquired a destiny as priest administrators. Feeling blessed is being able to share the vision, to comfort as we were once comforted, to open up in others the same dawning comprehension and insight into the mysteries of God and the way he choses to work. Feeling blessed is the honor and priviledge of being His hands of mercy and compassion. We are entrusted as emissaries of our Savior and His sacrifice.

The Problem With Faith

One thing we all have in common is faith. It’s not something that some people have and some people don’t have. Even on the most everyday level, faith is a part of our existence. This kind of faith is like breathing; it’s done without conscious thought. Everyone exercises faith. For every piece of machinery used, every object wielded as a tool, and each bite of food consumed, there is the accompanying trust that each will perform as expected. A chair is supposed to support our weight. It is used without giving a thought to any other outcome.

Faith goes beyond the realm of mere physical objects and forms the currency, or give and take, of relationships with others. The only reason anyone knows of or understands any of the concepts existing beyond their personal experience of the world is because someone tells them. The transferor of these views must be believed for the insights to be accepted as true. Each and every historical figure only exists in history as a result of the retelling of a story. Socrates and Plato were great philosophers only if, when you’re taught this fact, you believe it to be true.

On the most profound and life affecting level, faith is what each of us has our life reality based on. Our actions flow from what we believe in, and what we hold to be most true. It is the foundation of our existence. It is inevitable that our foundations be tested, and that we have opportunity to see and understand if what each of us believes is actually true. Storms of life and the hard times will come to give us the chance to put into practice those ideas which we have cherished.

It is of paramount importance that we make sure the basis of our worldview is a solid and dependable place from which to act. Jesus taught us that when we build the structure which is our life, that there are wise builders and then there are foolish builders. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them in practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matt. 7:24-26)

The problem with faith is that the recipient of our devotion must be worthy of our trust. Faith must be invested wisely. At the most profound level of commitment, if our foundation is unreliable, the house of our life is condemned to fall already. (See John 3:18) Is what you believe in something that will last beyond yourself? Is your faith of the kind that will give you strength and hope even if you lost everything else this world has to offer? After the test of fire, will you regret what you have put your trust in?

Look Up!

If you see someone on a street corner holding a sign saying, “Jesus is Coming!” do you think, automatically, that the person is crazy? This rebel is infringing on the comfort zone of those satisfied with things the way they are. The urgency of the message of the imminent return of our Lord is more important than our plans of pot roast for dinner!

The political and economic tides of the world are changing. Believers can examine and recognize the shape of events today as what was foreseen by the prophets. We know that the coming of our Lord is near! The corporate focus of the body of Christ has shifted upward. Can you feel it in the air? Can you see it in the streets? The days of Noah have returned. Our time is short. Our work is pressing. Jesus stands at the door. His hand is on the knob, just waiting for a word from the Father.

Will you be united with me, in prayer and fasting, to seek God for His return? Let us align ourselves with His will, to accomplish what He has purposed in us. Let us seek His face, that we might understand. Let our call go up, for we have need of Him. (See Isaiah 62:6 & 7)

A prayer for Jacob
Lord Jesus
Show mercy and compassion to those who You have claimed for Your own so that they can become aware of the depths of their poverty. They are desolate and deprived without You, yet continue on, oblivious to their own condition. Restore Your people to Your favor by teaching them their folly so that they can repent.

I am struck down, incapacitated with longing for Your person. I am orphaned and have no life to live. My emptiness cries out for the presence of the living God, for Your beauty is terrible in it’s thundering power! Yet You lovingly restrain Yourself to gentleness.

When is the time of Your appearing to deliver Your people? For when will our joy overflow but when that day comes when we shall see Your face? Make haste to come to us so that our joy may be complete!

Blessed Hope

Bad things happen all the time.
Sweeping changes bring a flood of fear of more to come.
The world economy is reeling, staggering like a drunkard.
Those who love violence surround us.
They do not tire of plotting evil continuously.
Your people seek relief; They look up to watch for Your face.
We remember Your promises to us; to deliver us.
Great is the hope we have in You!
Wonderful are the promises gifted to us!
Those who trust in You have this faith;
Your glory revealed in us!
Your justice will shine out like the sun!
No longer will the forsaken and rejected weep in dark corners,
For You will be there to comfort them.
There is no more exalted hope than this,
that Love Itself should dwell with us.

Freedom Proclamation

One of the greatest challenges in life is facing the consequences of our mistakes. To avoid dealing with the emotional devastation of confronting our problems, we go to extremes. We build walls and enact ritual self abuse time and again to sidestep the work and pain of grieving. It’s easier to live in denial. All of us can see the results of maladaptive coping mechanisms in others, but have more difficulty recognizing them in ourselves. We can see enough to assess blame for difficulties, but assign it to others, not to ourselves. We become isolated inside our thought patterns and keep repeating defeatist thinking. Without help, the misery can become unbearable. Thus the saying, “Most people live lives of quiet desperation.”

Try approaching problems from a different angle. Failure can be thought of as a good thing: It is simply part of the learning process. Find out what works and discard what doesn’t. Live in reality instead of fantasy. One way to progress in faith and learn more of how God works in our lives is to keep a prayer journal. It is used to keep track of the requests that we put in His keeping, and later can be reviewed to record God’s answers! A person keeping this type of journal will not have to cover the same ground time after time, but will see that God always answers prayer. The journal will then become a journal of praise also!

Another snare busting approach is to listen to Jesus’ advice. “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 18:3. Being childlike can be applied to our lives in the following way. A child knows nothing of what can or cannot be accomplished. He brings no preconceived ideas of the way things work to his efforts. He has no defense mechanisms with which to avoid reality, no prepackaged issues to color his perceptions. (He sees through mauve colored glasses.) He feels he can complete whatever he starts out to do because he has no experiences to tell him that he cannot. Defeatist attitudes have not yet developed and hardened into procedure. He just wants to see what will happen. He knows that he will not LEARN if he does not DO. In faith, begin again like there is a clean slate. We are free in Christ. All things become blessing when redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Our final destination, heaven, works backwards.

The Judas Effect

What are the thoughts that occur when one hears the name “Judas”? The visceral response is the same as to the word “betrayer” for the name has come to mean the same thing. Those who have heard anything at all of the man who gave the Lord over to his enemies are quick to disassociate themselves from any identification with him. He has come to represent the ultimate in human evil. How did he manage to waste his life and arrive at so sad an ending? Yet his dishonor can be instructional.

Before he met Christ, Judas was a normal person, indistinguishable from almost any other Jewish person of his era. The longing for the promised messiah was the definitive desire of Hebrew society at this time, brought on by the crushing weight of Roman domination. They wanted to be freed from their chains. Listening in on the conversations of the disciples, it was obvious that the men closest to Jesus, until their last view of him, expected a violent conqueror of the enemies of Israel. Judas was probably not different in this regard.

Judas was definitely aware that Jesus was the promised one the prophets spoke of. It is likely he felt frustration that meek and servile Jesus failed to live up to his expectations. Perhaps he wished to “help” God restore the kingdom to Israel by provoking a confrontation between his messiah and the gentile rulers lording it over him and his brethren. His suicide response to the death of Jesus would seem to indicate that the Lord’s sacrifice was not the result he was expecting.

Judas entirely missed the point of why Jesus came. He had not learned, despite all his time with Jesus, that only God is qualified to control things and be the top decision maker. Only God knows everything. Like a disobedient horse stealing the reins from it’s rider, Judas felt he knew the best path and made his own plans to make sure that it happened. He was “smarter than God”. If God were to expose our innermost thoughts, wouldn’t we be flabbergasted to discover that Judas lives on… in us? Jesus gave us the example when he acknowledged his physical and emotional weakness to God and yet chose to take the path of obedience by saying “Thy will be done”. Do we follow him by bringing every thought and action “captive to Christ” or do we hedge our bets by having fallback strategies in play? Do we, maybe just occasionally, feel that we could do things better than God?

What is a good servant?

Do you know anyone that you admire as a believer? Anyone fellowshipping with the peaceful, humble brother in Christ will acknowledge it as a positive, edifying experience. An experience like this is what brought most of us to consider the Savior’s claims in the first place. When our spiritual eyes have been opened, we realize that this person, who models the Lord for us, is one to be imitated. He is the “good servant”. This brother is a “living epistle”, a love letter from God.(2 Cor 3:3) What characteristics of the good servant can we point out? Honesty would compel us to admit that as superficial beings, what we want to see are good works and a pleasing personality. We are limited and can only see the surface, and what attracts us is something that benefits us. This is the most preeminent value of a profit and production driven society, a concern that speaks to us of how we can achieve what we want. God has a different perspective than us. He looks deeper than the surface, all the way down to what motivates us. The 13th chapter of Corinthians offers a study of contrasts, that of the good servant with someone else who is merely an overachiever. If I have understanding of all spiritual knowledge and prophesy, but don’t act from love, I’m just making noise. If I truly believe, but have no love, I have no ranking with God. Sacrificing all of my possessions and my very body will not qualify to get God’s attention if I don’t do it for love. Love is the currency of the kingdom of God. God is pleased with the one who is driven by the passion to show compassion, the one who does not seek his own good, but to please the one who is loved. Where did all this love originate, and from what source? How did this helplessly besotted creature get in this condition in the first place? A story Jesus told, when he had dinner with a Pharisee, begins to answer the question. (Luke 7:36-48) The legalistic teacher had nothing but contempt for a sinful woman anointing the feet of Jesus, so Jesus asked him: Which of two debtors, the one who owed much, or the one who owed little, when forgiven of their debts, would love the Accountant more? Don’t we all know the answer to that one? He has forgiven the great debt we owe because of his love for us. Love springs from receiving the unmerited favor, which could never be earned, of the grace of God. God has told us that when we ask him to come dwell with us, that His laws will be written on our hearts. His laws are the laws of love. In contrast, the overachiever mentioned earlier is a legalistic person, bound up in duty and impressed with their own suffering. This person presents themselves as an example. They feel that they have endured meaningfully their self flagellation and thereby prevailed. They want everyone to adopt their ritual of self directed angst. After all, isn’t that how they got where they are at today? The spiritual disciplines of prayer, bible study, and church attendance have become burdens, rather than blessed freedoms. This believer has lost his first love. (Rev 2:4) What does Jesus counsel the love lost believer to do? First, to open their eyes to the truth, so they can see the poverty of their efforts, how their legalism is just an ugly noise. When their eyes are opened, they then see the glory and awesome majesty of God. They comprehend the totality of the victory already won and the honor bestowed on them in participating in the works of Christ. Instead of going through the motions of religious ritual, hoping that joy will show it’s face, they should try confessing the truth by praising the Eternal King. Lift Him up and glorify Him. Enjoy the glorious truth of what He has accomplished for us. Let joy expand outward and overflow from our cleansing like the Mr. Bubble we put in our bath. Only the driving passion of love stemming from gratitude can move us from legalism to ………praise done in faith. Yes, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. We can give voice to the excellence of His praise. Can you not see that Jesus is Lord? Inundated by the tide of His passionate joy, I lose my grip on fear. It cannot survive the onslaught of His light of celebration! I feel joy welling up within me in response to His presence. His life and creativity flow like a mighty river: Irresistible! One who has met Him is convinced. All choice is stripped from me: I can only confess the truth. Glorious truth! Jesus is Lord indeed!