That You Might Be Children of Your Father – Part 1

by Michael

David&Saul

One time I was praying, “Father, why can’t I perceive you as my Father? Why do you seem distant to me?” He answered me with this passage.

“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

You see, I had spent my life NOT loving my enemies, despising all who despised me, speaking evil of those who did me wrong, etc. The verbiage is interesting here, “Your reward will be great. You will be sons of the Most High… if you are merciful just as your Father is merciful.”  Only as we abide IN the Son, Jesus Christ, will we do this, because it is HIM in us doing it… making us truly sons of the Most High. Peter wrote:

“For even to this were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously” (1Pe 2:21-23 KJ2000).

We “follow in His steps” by walking IN Christ and not in our old adamic nature. The cross, always the cross is the door from one life to the other. We must embrace His cross in our lives. Only as we walk IN the Son, in His sufferings and rejections, yet in His love do we know God as our Father. “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Part 2 can be read at https://awildernessvoice.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/that-you-might-be-children-of-your-father-2/

On Freedom

by Michael

torn US flag

A new study by different sources has just come out showing New Zealand is the freest nation in the world with the United States tied in seventh position with Denmark. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/news/display.aspx?id=19171

The thing that allows freedom and makes it work is moral individual responsibility. If an individual refuses to be guided by moral responsibility towards his neighbors he is usually put in jail to protect the freedoms of those who do. Only when each individual is guided by a moral standard (which has been made clear in the Bible) does he love his neighbor as himself. And the greatest moral agent which the Bible speaks of is the one that comes into a person who has given his life to Christ and has been given a new heart, spirit and mind from heaven (the heart, Spirit and mind of Christ) which is over-written with the law of love. And against God’s love there is no law. If you love someone unselfishly you will not kill them, steal from them, covet what is theirs, etc. and in general you will show them kindness and honor.

The Constitution of the United States gives forth a “Bill of Rights” to its citizens, but these “rights” only work in a positive way when they are given to a moral people. Because of the lack of moral fiber in our country we are watching these “rights” become instruments of abuse to the freedoms of others. For instance the first amendment or freedom of speech is being used to disseminate pornography and all manner of movies and video games showing graphic sex and murder to the young formative minds of children. Sex education in our schools is not allowed to be taught with the admonition that sex is meant to happen in the framework of a marriage between a man and a woman where the resultant children are nurtured, loved and cared for. And what is the result of this abuse of our “freedom of speech”? Young people that are consumed with thoughts of sex and violence who act these things out. Another example of this is the second amendment  which protects “the right to keep and bear arms” in America. Yet what do we find in an amoral society? Guns are being used not only for purposes of sporting and self-defence, but to make it easier for warped minds and criminals to steal and kill. The end result is that as morality declines in this country there will be a total camp-down on all rights as it is turned into a totalitarian police state and the whole country becomes a prison.

With all this in mind and New Zealand  being listed as number one for freedoms granted to its citizens and the U.S. tied for seventh,  I have to wonder if New Zealand is basically a moral country with a low crime rate that has not yet been corrupted to the extent that we have in the U. S.

“We know that the Law is spiritual. But [if] I am merely a human, and I have been sold as a slave to sin.”(Rom 7:14 CEV)

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1 NIV)

“For so is the will of God, that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.” (1Pe 2:15-16 KJ2000)

You see only those filled with Christ, the true servants of Christ, can truly be free.

The Presence of the Lord

by Michael

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name: Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (Joh 1:12-13 KJ2000)

“So I say to you, that tJesus with Childhe fundamental thing is always the Presence of the Lord. It is not any one of the thousand things that make up Christianity. The ultimate criterion is, ‘Is the Lord there?’ and ‘Is the Lord in all things there?’ ‘Is the Lord in what they do?’ and ‘Is the Lord in how they do it?’ Because with the Lord how things are done is as important as doing the things. Is the Lord in the people individually there? And are their lives marked by this supreme thing? THE LORD IN THEM.

“I have no doubt that you love the Lord. I am not raising any question about that. But, I do say again, we are involved in a great system which is a very complicated thing, and a great deal of it is not of the Lord. It is something that man has brought in. Man has put his hand upon the things of the Lord, and man has made things according to his own mind, and therefore a great deal has come in which is of man and not of the Lord. And when we say that, we are not only thinking of Christianity in general, we are thinking of ourselves. This is true of ourselves. We have all come into something called Christianity, and we have all taken on something of Christianity, and there may be a great deal that we have to get rid of, and come back to the simple fundamental reality. And the fundamental reality of all realities is THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD. We have got to know that the Lord is with us, and that the Lord is with us in all that we do, that this did not originate in our mind. It did not originate in our will, it did not originate in our emotion. It did not come from our soul, this thing has come from the Lord in every detail like the tabernacle. Just like Jesus Christ, in every detail it has to come to us from God.” ~ T. Austin Sparks 1964

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001082.html

Full Body Ministry or Full Body Cast?

by Michael

body cast

In my early years as a believer, I heard a lot of teaching about “full body ministry.” The teaching was that God gives each one of us who is in Christ abilities to do something well for the benefit of rest of the body of Christ and if we would just function in that gifting all our needs would be met through Christ. Paul wrote:

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure [Grk. metron] of faith.

Here we see Paul counseling us to think soberly and not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. I have found that in the institutions of men there are very few sober thoughts. As these institutions grow so does the power that is consolidated near the top. Men become drunk on power and true sober thinking goes out the window. Sober thinking is thinking with the mind of Christ who upon finding Himself in the form of a man did not reach for the top, but rather lived in humility and took on the form of a servant and living a life and dying a death for the benefit of all.

The problem with most church institutions is that they have taken on the world’s form of leadership, top down, executive titles, unquestionable authority, etc. Most have the life of Christ organized out of them and have taken on a life that is against the Life which Christ desires to manifest in His saints where He gives each member of His body a measure of the Spirit by which we are to serve one another. The mindset of that system is that the guy at the top (pastor, apostle, evangelist, bishop, C.E.O., etc.) has every ability to do everything that needs to be done and that other people only exist to augment those abilities either through donations or subservient leadership and ministry positions. How opposite this is from how the Spirit moves among us with HIS measures of grace? These measures are given to each member to function not according to the dictates of an office holder, but rather to function according to the will of Jesus where all that is done is done in a mindset of pure servant-hood and laying down of our lives for one another.

Church leaders usually have a metron in which they are gifted by God and they are good at it and gain much attention because of this gifting. But the mindset of the systems of the world takes over and soon it has them trying to minister outside their metron and they fail every time. Not only that, but they take over in an area that God has given to another member of the body in their measure of Christ and now the body is robbed twice.  Like all diseases, this infection soon becomes exponential following the example of the head and it is not long until the whole body is dysfunctional and is spiritually dead. It becomes “The Peter Principle” on steroids, simply because each member is not answering to the Head who is Christ and functioning in the measure of grace He has for them. Oh, how we all need the mind of Christ and His cross working in us which gives us the humility we need to truly serve one another in His love.

Psalm 23 – the Path to Maturity in Christ

by Michael

PS 23 ShepherdThe LORD is my shepherd; I shall not lack. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalms 23:1-6 KJ2000)

A few years ago it occurred to me that Psalm 23 is a time-line of our journey in Christ. When we start out on our journey as His saints in Christian City, it is all about green pastures and still waters while He restores our sin ravaged souls. Here we learn that we are to follow Him in His paths of righteousness. It is a very wonderful time and for some it is just like an emotional honeymoon where Jesus is showing us that He is the Lover of our souls.

Then there comes the working of His personal cross, that instrument of death that is tailor-made to remove from us all that is in control and is contrary to the leading of His Spirit. This is confusing because we were always told that God wants to use us and our abilities to build His kingdom now that we are saved. Yet, though we are sincerely “trying to do the God stuff,” we start experiencing trials and testings and it is a painful time as He starts to pull that tumor of self out of us, yet He is there seeing us through it all and we find encouragement from that.

But then we find that our path with Him takes us to a strange place and there is a deep ravine in front of us which seems to block the way. We find ourselves lined up with others along the edge of a deep valley, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, with Jesus having moved to the opposite side bidding us to come to Him. Try as we may, there is only one way to get there, we must descend into that pit and endure all that is waiting there for us that we might know His fullness on the other side.

As we look in the bottom of that deep valley and we see a cross with our name on it waiting for us. Like Pilgrim in Pilgrims’ Progress, we must decide if we will go on. Many at this point decide that the price is too great and they retreat back to the comfort zone of the familiar, the green pastures and still waters, but their growth in Christ is held in check from that point on. They scurry back down the path to Christian city, seeking refuge from that awful sight, but Jesus just isn’t there like He once was because we have failed to obey Him as or Lord. Many who should know better try to comfort us and tell us that this lesser existence is normal and our Christianity is supposed to be this way. So they do all they can to make our church experience pleasing and comforting to our rebellious souls.

Robert Burnell in his booklet, “Escape from Christendom,” wrote:

“Is this the City of God?” I hear the traveler ask a woman at the information booth in the central square.

“No this is Christian City, “she replies.

“But I thought this road led to the City of God!” He exclaims with great disappointment.

“That’s what we all thought when we arrived,” she answers, her tone sympathetic.

“This road continues up the mountain, doesn’t it?” He asks.

“I wouldn’t know, really,” she answers blankly.

I watched the man turn away from her and trudge on up the mountain in the gathering darkness. Reaching the top, he starts out into the blackness; it looks as though there is nothing, absolutely nothing, beyond. With a shudder he retraces his steps into Christian City an takes a room at a hotel.

http://www.awildernessvoice.com/Escape.html

Yet, some of us bravely descend into that valley, or as in this allegory we climb that dark mountain, wanting to go on and get to where Jesus is in heavenly places in the Father, “Father that they might be where I am…” Inwardly we know that there is more than what we have seen so far. The way into that pit is fast as we slide down its slopes and everything in our lives seem to be totally out of our control. Finally, we hit our bottom and begrudgingly embrace the cross He has for us to kill-off all that is of Egypt, as it was with the Children of Israel, that still clings to us and is still of the old Adam within. Often it is confusing because here we find, as it was with the Master, those who jeer at us as we hang on our cross and these detractors were the ones we once knew in Christendom who on Palm Sunday were singing our praises! This makes the pain and suffering all that more effective in spiritual terms. “And one shall say unto him, ‘What are these wounds between your hands?’ Then he shall answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends’” (Zec 13:6 KJ2000). In a time like this it is hard to remember His admonition,

If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. (Joh 15:18-21 KJ2000)

The way out of this valley is long and arduous and it seems like it is more than just a mere “shadow of death,” but rather the real thing and that we will never get out of there alive. Just as all forsook Him on His trek up Calvary, so it is with us. We have the smell of death about us and the “green pastures” Christians want nothing to do with us, which adds more suffering to the cross we bear. It is a slow climb, but an ascent just the same, as we bare our cross knowing Jesus is still calling us upward to Him. That vision that we once had of Him over on the other side stays with us.

There is only one place for that old Adam within us, where we once found our strength and power, and that is on the cross. God can not use our natural charm, charisma, wit, strengths and abilities. These things are in rebellion to His will and deafen us to His voice. But once we climb out of that valley, being led by His upward call, we see Him there waiting for us with a vast table of His heavenly love, joy, wisdom, peace and all that HE is in the Father and he bids us come and dine with Him, “Come up here and I will show you things…” We can still see Christendom, but now it is on the opposite side of the valley where we once were and they are still serving in their tabernacles, but “We have an altar [table], of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle” (Hebrews 13:10 KJ2000).

We still have the nay-sayer around us… our enemy is still there to discourage and confuse if he can, but Jesus is there at His table with us and our enemy’s voice is not as seductive as it once was. For now we know a faith and confidence in Jesus as we abide IN Him and the Father, being assured of His goodness and mercy, no matter what the enemy dishes out. We also have a new anointing that we never knew before. “You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over” with fresh revelation and power from the Spirit as He establishes us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

The prophet Micah wrote:

Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O my enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause, and executes justice for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. (Micah 7:7-9 KJ2000)

The presence of Jesus with us is like never before because we are now IN Him and He sustains us like never before, because we put our total trust in Him. This is a vision that sustained Paul and the early saints through all that they suffered for Jesus… a vision and presence that sings forth in worship in the depths of prisons with backs torn by the jailer’s whip. There is only rejoicing from here on out, no matter what our earthly circumstances are and we are comforted in that we have been counted worthy to suffer these things for the gospel of Christ and His kingdom. Isaiah prophesied,

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:10-11 KJ2000)

Jesus rejoiced in His sufferings for the joy that was set before HIM in the Father. He saw the end of it all… His offspring, many sons and daughters into and unto the glory of God and it sustained Him. We are to be,

Looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such hostility of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. (Hebrews 12:2-3 KJ2000)

Our focus has been change from all things here on earth including earth-bound churches to those things which are of heaven. We have become so heavenly minded that we are of no benefit to those who build earth bound things, yet it is HIS kingdom what we build, the Kingdom of Heaven, as the Spirit works through us by His power and might and not of our own.

The stone which the builders rejected has become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. (Psa 118:22-23 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. (Hebrews 13:12-14 KJ2000)

Forsaking the “Box Job”

by Michael

People Leaving Church

Today we hear about the “Big Box” stores that seem to have taken   over everyone’s shopping experiences. Gone is the day of the little family operated, Mom and Pop corner grocery where personal service from caring neighbors meant something.

As for “not forsaking the assembling together of ourselves as is the manner of some…” (Hebrews 10:25) We hear this a lot from our church going friends when they find out that we no longer attend their highly organized gatherings on Sunday mornings. I have yet to hear one of them quote the verse just before it which reads, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” (Heb 10:24 KJ2000). How much “one anothering” actually takes place during a Sunday service? Isn’t what happens there pretty much one way?

I use to work in a saw and small engine shop. Once in a while we would get what we called a “box job.” It usually was something like a chain saw or a lawn mower which had been torn completely down by the owner who hoped he could fix it, but gave up once they had it torn apart and saw that they were over their heads [it was in parts]. So it came to us to be fixed in a box. THAT is what “organized religion” is like to me. Men have man-handled the Church to the point that Jesus cannot recognize it and then they want Jesus to show up and make it all better so they can man-handle it some more.

The other thing is that the mower or chain saw in that box was technically “assembled together,” but Jesus has a hard time using it for HIS purposes, because it is not assembled together the way HE meant it to be. It is just a bunch of loose pieces that are not interrelated in any form He can use. The pieces are not “fitly joined together” as members of HIS body should be.

So, do we not come together at all? No, we seek organic gatherings where all there can “consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.” The other thing is just “playing church” while we who assemble in this way get to BE the Church, His body, as the Spirit orchestrates our gatherings in an organic way with Christ as our Head.

“But when that which is perfect [perfectly assembled] is come, then that which is in part [in parts… the box job] shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1Co 13:10-11 KJ2000)

“Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.” ~ Lenny Bruce

Knowing One Another After the Spirit in Us

by Michael

For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again. Therefore from now on know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet from now on know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2Co 5:14-17 KJ2000)

Do we seek to know one another after the Spirit? The apostles and many in Israel knew Jesus after the flesh. They saw this man from Galilee walk among them, do miracles among them, heal many of them. He taught them and even fed them food when they were hungry. But did they know Him after the Spirit of God within Him? Most did not. When Jesus asked the disciples who men said that He was they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say Elijah, and others say one of the prophets.” They only knew him after the flesh, but Peter was given revelation of something more. Jesus asked them again, “Who do YOU say that I am?” To this Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter in that moment was given revelation by the Father as to the spiritual nature of Christ and would eventually know Him after the Spirit and not just after the flesh.

Two disciples were walking along the road to Emaus after Jesus died on the cross and this man came along and walked and conversed with them. The only knew that Man after the flesh, even though He opened the scriptures to them and showed them that Christ must suffer many things and die and rise again. It was not until He took some bread and broke it and gave it to them that their eyes were open to see Him “after the Spirit.”

Paul was not one of the disciples and it is not know if Paul ever saw Jesus in person before He died on the cross, but that would all change one day when he had an encounter with the living, resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus where he was heading to persecute the members of Christ’s body. He was so shocked by the vision of this Being that He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” To this Jesus answered, “ I am Jesus whom you persecute…” OOPS! Imagine what was going through Paul’s head right then! The people who believed in Jesus who Paul hated WERE Jesus, this all powerful Person who just knocked him down and blinded him! Members of HIS body were suffering and dying at the hands of Saul the Pharisee who later became Paul the apostle. Back to the drawing board! All stop! His self-righteous Pharisee days were over and he became a member of the body of Christ that went forth to give life and nurture it in every way he could.

Oh, that we who are called Christians today would first know Jesus after the Spirit and then start to know one another after that same Spirit that abides in Him and one another. How differently we would treat each other. How we would prefer one another in the love of God. How we would honor one another and honor the gift of the Spirit that abides in each of us. How we would nurture each member as Christ loves His church and gave His life for each person in it. Paul exhorted the church saying, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor [in honor preferring one another]. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord” (Rom 12:9-11 RSVA). Do we prefer one another over ourselves? Do we prefer Christ in one another over our selfish estimate of who we are and the love we have for “our own ministry”? Do we try to outdo one another in showing His love for each member of the body?

When was the last time you asked Jesus to show you how HE see that brother or sister you fellowship with, especially the difficult ones that just seem to rub us the wrong way? Can you see that gift He has placed in them and nurture it and encourage them to function in the gift? Do you see the treasure that God has put in them for the benefit of the whole body and not just “your ministry”? Do you see each member of Christ’s body as a jewel in the crown of God?

Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him. Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not. (Mal 3:16-18 KJ2000)

Or worse yet, are we persecuting Jesus in the way we treat members of His body? I hold that if we have no fear of God, we will also not have any fear of damaging or doing harm to the bride of Christ. Remember, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Let us be wise in the way we treat one another and “outdo one another in showing honor,” preferring one another over ourselves.

Let us mine the depths of the riches of Christ in one another, dear saints. The church of Laodicea is seen by Jesus as poor, miserable, blind and naked. The church is sick today because we do not rightly discern the body of Christ. It might be well if we would often ask when confronted with another member of Christ’s body what Paul asked that blinding day on the Damascus road, “Who are you, Lord?”

The LORD Is My Shepherd!

by Michael

So often in churches and among so-called, “Christian ministries” we see the wrong example of men appealing to other men for their support and help. Yet, the scriptures make it very plain that we are to, “Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN UNTO GOD. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phi 4:6-7 KJ2000). I think we rob ourselves of that deep inner peace and rest that should be ours in every situation because we have the habit of looking to the wrong place for our help. After seeing Him supply all our needs and experience Him doing so in such miraculous ways our faith, hope and rest grows until we are complete in Him.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore. (Psa 121:1-8 RSVA)

I think in the days ahead as this world economy continues to collapses, God will give us many opportunities to prove to ourselves that Jesus is our Good Shepherd who watches over us and neither slumbers nor sleeps. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

Unto Us a Son is Given… Many Sons

by Michael

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined… For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
(Isa 9:2-7 KJ2000)

In the early ’80’s I went through a very dark time in my life, filled with heavy depression and no hope. One day as my wife, Dorothy, was praying for me she heard the Lord say, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.” It did not happen right away, but it DID happen. In a moment of time after 14 years of being cut off from God and in spiritual darkness, as far as my five senses were concerned… in one glorious moment His light came shining in even while I was yet dwelling in the land of the shadow of death! All depression lifted as His light came flooding in. He was back! Though I can look back and see that I was only under the shadow of His wings all those years and He was still there teaching me in a subliminal way so that my flesh would not get puffed up about it.

Since then this Child that was born, this Son that was given has carried me and been my government, my Wonderful Counselor, my Mighty God, my Everlasting Father, and my Prince of Peace. Where once I looked to men for church government, for Christian counselling, to be mighty in the things of God for me, to be my mentoring fathers, to be my peace makers when church disputes occurred… now I have found that Jesus Christ is my All in all and it is in THIS place, with THIS heart where the increase of HIS government knows no end… “to order it, and to establish it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will [is and has] perform this.”

Least you or I think that I am something special…

For it befitted him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare your name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto you. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children whom God has given me. (Heb 2:10-13 KJ2000)

Yes, God is making us ALL His sons as we release the control over our lives unto Him and make Jesus our All in all. Amen Lord Jesus, come and quicken us with YOUR Life.

Two Declarations from the “Bully Pulpit”

by Michael

Teddy Roosevelt called the presidential podium a “bully pulpit.” Tonight (12/16/2012) we heard President Obama appeal to the country for it to do something to stop these mass murders that have been happening around America… four in this year alone. This latest massacre of children in Newtown, Connecticut was horrendous, but I hold that  the answer to this problem is not more laws, which seemed to be what he alluded to and will be putting forth in the days ahead. He quoted scripture from the New Testament all through his speech, but fell short of calling for the only answer that will ever make a difference, a nationwide repentance before God and a heart change that God desires to give us all if we will just “humble ourselves, and pray, and seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways.” The law never has had power to change anyone’s heart, but according to Paul it only gives power to more sin (see Romans 7:9-11). Only surrendering to Jesus Christ and seeking His new heart within can change us for this is the very essence of the New Covenant (see Hebrews ch. 8).

Connecticut has the fifth strongest gun laws in the nation and these laws did not prevent this mass killing. Already some are calling for a tough and comprehensive Federal gun control to stop wrong doers from just going across state lines to purchase their weapons in states with weaker laws. Guns, like drugs, are not stopped at borders or by laws. If the US adopts laws even as strong as those in Canada, gun runners, as it is with drug runners, will start a new “land office” business across our porous borders and will have a whole new way to become rich in a new black market. Remember, prohibition only made drinking all that more vogue in the 20’s and 30’s and made the criminals rich.

Contrast Obama’s speech tonight with that of Abe Lincoln at the end of the Civil War (for that is what we are seeing already in this county on our streets as evil spirits pour forth from hell and inhabit the unrepentant and the weak)…

“It is the duty of nations…to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins…with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy…The awful calamity of civil war… may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins.”  Lincoln continued: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven…We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.  But we have forgotten God.  We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.” Lincoln concluded: “Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! “It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for…forgiveness.” ~ During the Civil War, after issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln called for a “National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer for March 30, 1863,

Compare this part of Lincoln’s speech…

“We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.”

With what Jesus said to the church of Laodicea…

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would that you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked…” (Rev 3:14-17 KJ2000)

And what did Jesus say was the remedy to this myopic narcissistic problem in the church?

“I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire [trials and tribulation], that you may be rich; and white clothing, that you may be clothed [in His righteousness], and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve [the Holy Spirit within our hearts], that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Rev 3:18-19 KJ2000)

We are experiencing as a nation the chastening of the Lord as Satan is allowed to run havoc in our borders because of our great apostasy as His church (See 2 Thes. ch. 2). The question is will we repent? For even His “church” sees itself for the most part as doing just fine as we go from one church program to another with no thought of listening to the voice of God to see what HE wants us to do or asking Him how HE sees us. The salt has lost its flavor and it is now being trodden under the feet of carnal men. WE, the opulent, self-presuming church, are the ones who are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

Lord grant to your people a true spirit of repentance. Arise, Oh Lord, in our hearts as the Day Star that you are and shine into our hearts and first change us as your church and secondly as a nation as we truly return to you as our Lord and Savior as our only sufficiency. If necessary strip us of our wealth that we trust in just as you are stripping us of our peace and are stripping us of freedom. For the only true freedom we can have is found as we walk in obedience to what the Spirit IS saying to the churches. Amen.