The Oil and Water of the Refugee Crisis

 This is what came to mind this week:
 
The horses stands ready for battle but when it's time for battle the warriors lose their hope and nerve and go home.

Proverbs 21:31 "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord"

They have the numbers but their words and posture were false.  And when the flood of reality came, it undermined their thinking and they could no longer stand united together.

"Knowing their thoughts, he (Jesus) said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand." Matthew 12:25

Fragile we are.... Fools we are to not think so.... oh how we should cry out for wisdom for we would see the enemy clearly.... Like the Vikings of old who did not simulate but came to conquer- so there are those today who want to do the same.  They come for benefits not to simulate.

We have cultures that are oil and water - that are impossible to merge.  They do not share our values and knowing we have no comprehension of this they take advantage of our goodness.... Think! We are not dealing with individuals who grew up in Europe and have Judaeo Christian  values.

You are dealing with the exact opposite. They do not honor our courts.  They have already set up their own courts in Europe and right here in the USA in New Jersey. They have taken over neighborhoods by force, rape women and beat Christians and Jews.   I am talking about those who are Muslim.  Those who have come not for refuge and peace like some of the Syrians refugees...  no they come in a Trojan horse hidden amongst the genuine refugees....  They have killed, injured, beat, stolen ... how much is it going to take?  They have no respect for you and I.  Just do some research... look what is happening in England, France, and Sweden.  Look what is happening in New Jersey.  They don't want what most of us take for granted, they want what is Muslim and they don't care what you want!

The enemy knows our value system and is taking advantage of it because we do not use wisdom.  They know the values we were raised with but since we do not take discernment from Spirit of God- the enemy is stealing, killing, raping, beating and pillaging in the name of our "political correctness".  I want to remind you there is no political correctness with them.  Listen to them speak.

http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2017/march/why-mass-immigration-may-mean-the-end-of-britain


It is important to know truth not just in intellect but in Spirit.  Not knowing the truth we have nothing to stand on and without Spirit of God we lack conviction to stand in the truth and do what is right.  We throw pearls to swine and wisdom yells in the streets and in front of the court houses, "What are you doing!!!"

Wisdom fed up will laugh at our nations' destruction. Read it for yourself in Proverbs 3.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.”
‭‭John‬ ‭16:13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In the Bible, when God's people would no longer listen to him, He let them be overcome by their enemies.   When God's people no longer stood up for truth but went along with the surrounding society - what happened to them? Who simulated who? Who conquered who? 

NOTE: You want a rapist to be tried in a Muslim court or an United States Court? A rapist would suffer nothing in a Muslim court and courts overseas have been letting Muslims deal with Muslims in Muslim courts.



Why were God's people conquered?  Because they no longer "knew" the truth.  It didn't live in their hearts.  They no longer had anything to stand on and nothing to stand on they had no conviction.

In a recent dream a police officer told me this is an unsafe neighborhood... lock up what you have...  in other words these are unsafe times, hold on to what you have been given by Christ.  Let no one persuade you away from the truth. Hold tight to the living truth in your soul.

Jesus said "I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown." Revelation 3:11
 

THE COACH

Who is the coach of your soul? Who inspires you? Who challenges you? Who disciplines your ways of understanding? 

 

I think we all have had moments in life where we get tested, tired… weary… fail… doubt, want to presume, want to become indifferent, want to not care or even want to throw a temper tantrum like that 3 year old in Walmart.

 

But who brings you out of those moments?

 

Jesus… says to His bride (His church), “Hey love, who do you love? You know who you want to be looking at? Let me take your burden. Let me erase your doldrums. I will answer your need. I will be your cheer squad. I will give you reason to smile and help you overcome the cares of this life. I will give you “living” purpose and reason. I am all you need.”

 

Sounds like some love song, but is it SO true when it comes to Jesus? Jesus is the lover of our soul.

 

But to go about life as “usual” and to “ignore” God is to lose… lose… lose.

 

Some may say, “I want to go to heaven but I don’t care to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”

 

Let’s challenge that thinking for moment: You would never tell the coach of the team you want to be on, “I am going to be on the team coach but I don’t want you coaching me.” We know it doesn’t work that way… so why would we think that would work with God?

 

Jesus is our LIFE COACH. He is the Sustainer. He IS the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. (John 14:6) No one gets into heaven without Him and no one succeeds in the things that truly matter in life without Him.

 

From His unlimited resources at His grasp Jesus is about us learning to live in Him… His reality from start to finish...

 

Hebrew 12:1-2 which says: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish…”

 

What is the reality of our day… how is our outlook? Is our perspective skewed by monotony, apprehension, dread, doubt, worry, fear, hopelessness, cares of tomorrow, cares of yesterday, or the cares of what the world says are important?

 

This is what Jesus said about this kind of thinking: “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” Mark 4:19

 

No wonder why the word of God ALSO says:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

 

And

 

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2

 

There is NoTHING routine about the WAYS of God but how often have we gone about our day, taken the bait, and swallowed or surrendered to ROUTINE thinking instead of newest of God who lifts up our soul? How many times have we allowed “baited thinking” to put up it’s umbrella to divert that living water of God from pouring in our cup? If you find yourself there ask yourself: Where is the newest of this day? Where is the Spirit to stir up a fire in my soul?

 

Spiritual athletes just as athletes, to accomplish the feats in their path, must not yield to "baited thinking" but look beyond themselves.

 

* We most love God MORE then the things that add no COLOR to our day .

*To thrive… to endure… God’s breathed renewing Spirit must guide us in all things.

*God’s living word most be protected in our hearts and minds and not get choked out.

 

Jesus is our LIFE COACH. He must be given access, to teach, counsel, instruct, heal, inspire and to drive us to greater lasting and satisfying things.

 

That we may be spiritually equipped for what only God knows and awaits us.

 

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

 

Good way to start, is to lay down the oldness of yesterday. Look to what God has for today. Surrender your thoughts and seek living words that God is going to point out and drop into your heart and mind and let them manifest Him in us through love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in the course, court, trail, and field of life.

 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13

 

Just as a coach has plans for his players, God has a plan everyday for us but it’s our choice to listen to the LIFE coach of LIFE or not.

 

“From one man he (Jesus) made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” Acts 17:26-28

 

Are you ready for the LIFE coach to move you? Are you ready to win with the one who has already experienced victory? Pretty awesome to think that God the Father sent His Son to make sure we would not only make it to heaven, for those who believe, but we would have life and have life to the fullest.

 

... Jesus is the answer.

 

Thanks for reading.

GOD of FIRE and LIVING WATER

While in prayer at a church board meeting recently I saw a vision of fire… fire that had no source.  It was floating in the air. It’s flames were neither reaching upward or downward. 

It could have possibly been what they saw in the book of Acts, “Then what looked like flames of tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.” Acts 2:3

I am also reminded by the Spirit of this passage, “Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  Suddenly, the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush.  Moses was amazed because the bush was engulfed in flames, but it didn’t burn up.  “Amazing!” Moses said to himself.  “Why isn’t that bush burning up?  I must go over to see this.”  When the LORD saw that he had caught Moses’ attention, God called to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

“Here I am!” Moses replied.

“Do not come any closer,” God told him.  Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.”  Exodus 3:1-5

We are living in a time where there is little respect for Living True God and His WORD.

“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29

God is a FIRE with no origin.  He has no creator or parent. He is GOD!

“By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” Psalm 33:8

“To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.” Exodus 24:17

“But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you.” Deuteronomy 9:3

That last one (Deuteronomy 9:3) reminds me a bit of a picture we see in Revelation…

“His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns.  A name was written on Him, and only He knew what it meant.   He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the WORD of God.  The armies of heaven, dressed in pure white linen, followed Him on white horses.  From His mouth came a sharp sword, and with he struck down the nations.   He ruled them with an iron rod, and he trod the winepress with the fierce wrath of almighty God.  On His robe and thigh was written this title: King of kings and Lord or lords.”  Revelation 19:12-16

God is a FIRE that destroys those who are rebellious and don’t submit to Him.   God is a FIRE that should be given respected and awe.  God is the FIRE who we must seek for HE alone encourages, and strengthens and gives us living inspiration by His word and Spirit to carry on in a dark world.

 A world that says what Isaiah writes,

“What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that the dark is light and light is dark, that the bitter is sweet and the sweet is bitter.  What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.  What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold.  They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent.  Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither.  For they have rejected the law of the LORD of Heaven Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah 5:20-24

This world that will experience terrible sorrow when it’s Creator, the Lord, returns.  We are only seeing the birth pains of His coming with earthquakes, hail, floods, drought, fire, war, famine, hatred for what is good...
 

John the Baptist said about himself and Jesus, "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matthew 3:11-12

Some have forgotten and act as if they are God when deciding what is good and right.  They have disregarded God’s word.   Some have lost hope and/or don’t know God’s goodness and have drowned in what they see in the world but God reminds us that though we live in the world we are not of the world and these circumstances that surround us are not to define us or our mindset.  We cannot spiritually eat of what the world gives or else we become spiritually sick minded and the sick minded trust in only what they see in the world, which makes them blind to God and benefits of God.

We must continually walk by faith- prayer- Spirit and truth.  Faith changes things and we see in Jesus Christ all things are possible in a upside down world.

Because we live in this world it can feel “spiritually” suffocating at times… but in those times we must push off the world’s oppressive thirsty surface and seek the ROCK who gives refreshment to our soul.

The rock of Horeb where water flowed like a river into the desert.

Remember the rock of Horeb.

“I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.” Exodus 17:6

“Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.” Numbers 20:11

“He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas;” Psalm 78:15

“He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.”  Psalm 105:41

That rock is an illustration of Jesus Christ who was struck for us to give us life and life more abundantly.  He is the perpetual spring living in us (Holy Spirit) as we live in this parched wilderness of a world.

But let us take careful note as we read further...

“And all of them drank the same miraculous water that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.  Yet after this, God was not pleased with most of them, and he destroyed them in the wilderness.  These events happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did or worship idols as some of them did.  For the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged themselves in pagan revelry.”  And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.  Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. And don’t grumble as some of them did, for that is why God sent his angel of death to destroy them.  All these events happened to them as examples for us.  They were written down to warn us, who live at the time when this age is drawing to a close.” 1 Corinthians 10:4-10   

We know we cannot hope in what the world puts hope in for those things are only temporary, shortsighted, false and empty but we are to put our hope in GOD who is everlasting and eternal.  He is full of goodness, love, grace, compassion and mercy to help us stay on the right path.  And because our Hope is “living” and “active” we know none of us can become sufficient in ourselves. We do not have the strength alone nor do we know what we need at the precise time we need it to overcome the daily obstacles in our life but God does. We all need in these times the constant yoke of Jesus who the author and finisher of our faith. 
 

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you.  Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke fits perfectly, and my burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

The mountain of Horeb, is not just a historical story but an illustration of who GOD is.  For from the Mountain of GOD, where there is FIRE came Jesus Christ who gives us the Holy Spirit, spiritual water, for our born again soul.

"He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.  The world cannot receive Him, because it isn't looking for Him and doesn't Recognize Him.  But you know Him, because he lives with you now and later will be in in you." John 14:17

Remember this is LIBERATING SUSTAINING LIVING TRUTH THAT SATISFIES THE SOUL! The world is constantly thirsty because it looks to everything else but God to be satisfied.  It will collapse and be destroyed by it's own doing because it refuses to turn, repent, and submit to God.

Remember the dream I was given by God to share with you.

“Do not partake from the sea of humanity but take from the Mountain, the ROCK- that gives only good life sustaining water.  For the water that comes from the sea makes one sick and naked and fruitless.  I have seen the seawater do what is unnatural.  Instead of staying in the sea it is pouring onto the land stripping the trees of their bark leaving them unprotected and exposed.   There are no leaves in their canopies; all the fruit has been laid to waste.  The lands have been poisoned.  The way into these lands is fenced off to my companions and I, to only witness the shame.  It is a hopeless land.  It is a cursed place.  It has trusted and given into the ways of man instead of God, the GREAT MOUNTAIN and ROCK.”

GOD is the GOD of FIRE and LIVING WATER

You want this living water for your soul in this thirsty world?  How about going to heaven when you die? How about being able to understand God's word?

In book of John that is written to the us, Jesus said to Nicodemus, a devoted religious man,

"Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of GOD unless they are born again." John 3:3

Jesus is saying no one can have the life giving spiritual benefits of God- the ones that nourish and encourage our soul, until we are born again.

Then in verse 5 & 6 Jesus says,

"Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to the flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit."

We cannot enter heaven without being born again in the Spirit.

Jesus Christ is the one in which we all must go and submit our life to be born again in the Spirit of God.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me." John 14:6

So if you want to go to heaven and have your life transformed, genuinely do these things from your heart with me.  Pray to the Lord.  Know that he paid with his life for you and me.  Know Jesus rose from the dead and now sits with next to the Father interceding for you and I today.  

If you like can say these words with me.

JESUS, I have sinned and I have served the things of the world and I have become very thirsty and unsatisfied.   Please forgive me.  I want to give my life over you now, to be saved and for you to become LORD and Savior of my life.  That I can come to know you more intimately, that I will go to heaven when I Pass on from this life and I can have your life giving Spirit living in me so that I may understand and experience all that you have for me.  Thank you Jesus for all you have done and are going to do.  AMEN. AMEN. AMEN.


    

Is Praying For Yourself Selfish?

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I find it odd- this philosophy that it is selfish to pray for one’s self.  In fact last night as I put my head down on my pillow this philosophy was still on my mind.   It did not sit right in my soul.   In my mind I saw it as thorny stem.

I could be misunderstanding the perspective of such teaching but prayer- is it not communication with the LORD who is to be the source of our LIFE?   To deny communication and help from the LORD is to deny LIFE itself from living within us.

As I write this word comes:

“Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”  Colossians 2:8   

The Lord is my strength and that is why I pray for myself, for without Him I am lost within myself and the things of this world can easily overwhelm me.

I am reminded of the Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus says: “This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

God is gives me the daily spiritual bread to sustain my faith- like I said before- a living word not a religious word.

In what manner is one praying for one's self- selfish? I am not praying to be materially rich however I am praying to be spiritually rich in Him.  For the things of this life never satisfy but God who is boundless never ceases to amaze me and He will BE forever as those things of this life will disappear and vanish. 

I pray for myself on a daily -sometimes even on an hourly basis.  I pray that God transform my thinking that I may live as God intended.   I pray for God's liberating will to work in my life.   Is this selfish or is this surrendering to God to allow Spirit and truth to live in me?

I do not think praying for yourself in this manner is selfish.   For if one strives only in the flesh and prays in the flesh and lives accordingly to flesh...  can they see their obvious need for God?  Where is the Spirit working in our life if we do not pray for ourselves to be refreshed, encouraged, inspired by God?  I believe to pray in this manner (for refreshing, encouragement, inspiration, guidance, etc) is to deny our fleshly understanding and agree and consent with God’s will for our life.  In deed how refreshing it is just to think about prayer in this life giving way.  Now think about how a refreshed, encouraged, inspired soul behaves?  It is a light that is put on a stand.  It is a city on a hill.   It is salty.  It is a soul of beatitudes living in us!

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5&version=NLT 

Thank you Lord that you are doing all these things in my soul this day! In Jesus Name Amen.

Prayer does changes things but it first starts with the one who prays.

AND IN DOING, - Spirit and Truth

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-->Jesus said, “But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth.  The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” John 4:23

So what does this mean to you to worship God in Spirit and truth?

One of the ways to help us define what is living in Spirit and truth is to see what God considers the opposite of living and worshiping God in Spirit and truth is. 

“And the Lord said, ‘Because the people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,” Isaiah 29:13-14

“They fear the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.  To this day they do according to the earlier customs; they do not fear the LORD, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the LORD command the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel.” 2 Kings 17:33-34

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…” 2 Timothy 3:5

“Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:7

So living and worshiping God in Spirit and truth is NOT:

1.             Head knowledge alone.

2.            Religious tradition

3.             Repetitious prayers or words.  

4.             A complacent or false love for God.

5.             Denying the Holy Spirit in one’s life.

6.             Disregarding a personal relationship with the True and Living GOD.

7.             (What did the Spirit point out to you in these scriptures?)

Spirit and truth.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Think…. This ever-growing revelation of Jesus being “the way, the truth and the life” didn’t come until the Holy Spirit came upon us and resided within us.

For the truth to become “active” in our soul the Holy Spirit must make it “living” in our soul.  For instance scriptures on a page are just words until God’s Spirit awakens them in our soul with meaning, insight, assurance, confidence and ability.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. John 16:13

Do we hear God?  Do we hear God some of the time?  How much do we hear God?

We shut off God by denying him within our daily lives either consciously or unintentionally.  We can get carried away in daily tasks that we leave God behind instead of Him having him central amongst the tasks of life.  We tend to follow the path of least resistance (our own humanness) if we aren’t mindful, and that path is our ignorance, imagination, our insecurities, our pride, our perceptions, our feeling, our routines, our order of things, our orthodox reasoning, our experiences and even those we surround ourselves by.  We limit God when we think we have God all figured out and know it all.  We shut God off when we think we know His Word in all its richness and fullness.  We shut God off when we think we have “arrived” in some kind of spiritual self-sufficiency.  In such cases God’s Spirit becomes minimized, dormant, and even irrelevant in our lives.

I love this these verse...

“Lift up your heads, O gates!  And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” Psalm 23:7

How of often does our human intellect and understanding become gates separating us from God?  Where we try to figure out everything on our own.  I find even in the best of intentions in seeking or pursuing God in our ways, we miss God because it’s about us and not us surrendering us to God.  But God’s word says, “Lift up your heads, O gates and be lifted up- that the King of Glory may come in!”      

If we build and base our day on just our self what do you have in the end? Have we gained any greater mindset or heart? Has our relationship with God grown?

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.  Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.  Instead fear the LORD and turn your back on evil.  Then you will gain renewed health and vitality.” Proverbs 3:5

For as long as I have lived I have never known anyone to gain renewed health and vitality in themselves.   How could anyone gain renewed health and vitality without living in Spirit and truth of God?  How could anyone the catch the fire of God when God isn’t allowed in any and all aspects? For this LIFE giving principle of trusting in the LORD and not depending on our own understanding makes us persist and endure in all things!  It’s where we cease and where God’s loving, comforting and encouraging Spirit takes over!

I am reminded of what Jesus said to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2

“I know all the things you do.  I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance.  I know you don’t tolerate evil people.  You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not.  You have discovered they are liars.  You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.  But I have this complaint against you.  You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!  Look how far you have fallen from you first love!  Turn back to me again and work as you did at first.  If you don’t, I will remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.” Revelation 2: 2-5   

For those who have ever fallen in love, I want you to think on what it meant and felt like to be “in love”. What was that glow?  What was that want to be near that person?  How you threw yourself at that person with a special trust.  You seemed to want to do just about anything for that special person of the opposite sex.  It was no burden or hassle at all.  You seem to be almost floating…  You seem to have this renewed health and vitality about you, did you not as you walked in this unexplainable thing called “love”.  Now put God in that place… Do you see this?.

A. W. Tower wrote: “Behind the veil is God, that God after Whom the world, with strange inconsistency, has felt, ‘If haply they might find Him.’ He has discovered Himself to some extent in nature, but more perfectly in the Incarnation; now He waits to show Himself in ravishing fullness to the humble of soul and the pure in heart.  The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for want of his Presence.  The instant cure of the most of our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God is in us.  This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged.  This would burn away the impurities from our lives as the bugs and fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt in the bush.”

Jesus said, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’” Matthew 22:37

How quickly we dismiss such words out of familiarity not realizing they are the key out of cage of ourselves and everything else that chips and nags at us.  We don’t necessary see them as what we are to build and pour our life into but just orders and commands.  But God gives us these words to liberate us from the monotony of close-minded themes that keep us captive within the world’s ideals and ourselves.   Instead God says, “Come to ME, LOVE ME with all your heart soul and mind and I will show you what it means to LIVE.  Take a moment to think how this pertains to living Spirit and truth.

God wants us to develop, grow, endure and mature in the supernatural grace and the glorious unfolding of His daily invigorating love.

Paul writes with great and humbling admiration:

“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you might inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into God’s marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s peoples should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and the power that comes from God.  Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.” Ephesians 3:16-20

I don’t know about you but my soul says, “Wow!”  Staying in Spirit and truth, which is to stay in the ‘knowing of God’s love’ brings about the fullness of life and the power that comes from being in His Love.

Is this an easy task? Of course not, for the things of self, love to be our obstacle.   They like to barge to the front of the line and make their demands and in the process redirect our focus away from God.

As A.W. Tozer so eloquently points out, “Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us.  It can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction.” 

Realizing this we must make a personal effort to live a circumcised life in Spirit in order to enjoy the encompassing elements of God.  For we were meant to have such a wonderful outlook as Paul speaks yet many times we find ourselves settling for far less.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2

How many times has Christ Jesus overcome for us and shown us His goodness?  Why has he continually made a way where their seems to be no way?  Why has he kept the path clear for us?  This path we love to discover and walk upon but somehow… forget throughout our day.  But Jesus calls to us… Can you hear Him? “Let me be LORD OVER ALL THINGS!”

Isaiah 55:8-9 “My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the LORD.  “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”

Is this not REFRESHING!!!  God’s thoughts and ways are HIGHER then our thoughts and ways!  Some may ask, “Why is this a good thing?”  This is a good thing because we who have been born-again in Christ Jesus can live in, by HIS SPIRIT, in God’s thoughts and ways. We can be in-tuned with God.

“Who can know the LORD’s thoughts?  Who knows enough to teach him? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:16

This morning’s scripture verse reads,

“Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to the Him;  He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.”  Proverbs 16:3

And this is what the Spirit said to me, “Your thoughts of the day’s tasks are transformed when you give and entrust them to the Lord and they become satisfying and liberated because they are in His will which is perfect, pleasing and good for the soul.”

You don’t just see natural contexts of life but in the contexts of life you walk in the spiritual contexts as well -instead of just the tendencies or leanings of our selves.

As we digest these things, “What is established and success in God’s eyes?”  Is it being materially rich? I don’t remember my Jesus ever being materially rich.  And I have seen many who are materially rich who are yet unsatisfied.  So that is not being established or a success in God’s eyes.  Is it having a degree?  Did Jesus have a degree?  How about the completion of many tasks and worldly successes?  We can complete many tasks yet still feel unsatisfied…  God has shown me what is established and a success is those things God put’s His hands to.  It’s allowing God to work in us as his holy priest.

“And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple.  What’s more you are God’s holy priest, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that pleas him because of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:5

What is established and a success is how we go about those tasks in life by His Spirit.  I am reminded that everyone’s life’s work will be tested by fire.   Are we doing those tasks in the ways and thoughts of God (Spirit and truth) or are we doing them with burden, only as obligation, self-sufficiency, self-promotion, egotism, etc?  These things neglect the Spirit’s love, counsel and encouragement and without the Spirit there is no “edible” fruit to partake from for us or anyone else.  For the good fruit is our witness of God working in us and manifesting Himself in us.

“But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Here there is no conflict with the law.” Galatians 5:22-23

“If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” Galatians 5:25

“But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law- the law that sets you free- and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” James 1:25

Anyone can accomplish something but it’s in how we accomplish that something that matters most to God.

GOD who inspired the words, “We walk by faith not by sight,” wants to graciously bestow upon us a new perspective daily and hourly.  A perspective only He can give.   No wonder why the Word of God states nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Note Romans 8:39

  Acts 17:28 says “For in Him we live, and move and have our being; as also certain of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”

Jesus said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.…” John 15:4

To quietly and humbly surrender to the Spirit and truth is to pass through the veil of our stumbling and burdening understanding and have every need… want… thirst… hunger… thought … circumstance… and experience to be “spoken to” and satisfied!

“And God spoke ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.” Genesis 1:3

God wants us to know that in Him we lack nothing….

Romans 8:37 says… “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

I find in many experiences in life we find ourselves out of our league.  We live in this world but we are not of this world.   Most of us are aware of our moment-by-moment need and if we are cognoscenti of WHO can hold and carry us and encourage us through our need we are the most lucky and blessed individuals on the planet. 

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

And it becomes overwhelmingly clear we can’t have this unless we give our life to the son- Jesus Christ, who is God’s most greatest gift of love.

 ^“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us” 1 John 4:9-19

As I was writing the early parts of these pages a song came on.  I don’t think this was by accident.  Here are the lyrics to “You are my Vision”

You are my vision, O King of my heart
Nothing else satisfies, only You Lord
You are my best thought by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Your presence my light

You are my wisdom, You are my true word
I ever with You, and You with me Lord
You're my great Father, and I'm Your true son
You dwell inside me, together we're one

You are my battle-shield, sword for the fight
You are my dignity, You're my delight
You're my soul's shelter and You're my high tower
Come raise me heavenward, O power of my power

I don't want riches or man's empty praise
You're my inheritance, now and always
You and You only, the first in my heart
High king of Heaven, my treasure You are

High king of Heaven, when victory's won
May I reach Heaven's joy, O bright Heaven's Son
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all

 

Jesus said, “But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth.  The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” John 4:23