THE MORAL FOG OF TOLERANCE

There is a darkness spreading across the earth invoking tolerance as the reigning precept of morality. Tolerance, as used here, is a permissive accepting attitude toward moral opinions and practices that differ from God’s. This moral fog is spreading over institutions, corporations, bastilians of learning, governments, cultures and society, permeating the very fabric of life... and yes, the Church of the living God. “Without holiness no man shall see God.” Admission to God’s Kingdom has a moral precept established by God... not man. Conformance to the world’s standards may seem right, may be popular... inclusiveness always seems right and proper, but the end of that way is everlasting destruction. No man enters God’s Kingdom without a change of heart and mind, a turning from his Self centered worldly nature, and a turning to godliness... a Christ centered holy nature... a life emulating Christ in thought, word and deed. Tolerance as the world’s precept of morality will never substitute for God’s holy commands. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked...” We sow and we reap: Eternal corruption or everlasting life hang in the balance...

ON THE STRESS OF MINISTRY

Before the foundations of the world were laid, God decreed righteous works for His saints, His chosen ones. We do not choose our ministry, God does. As submitted vessels we are all simply tools chosen for a task. The work is not ours, it is God’s. For easy tasks He gives us Grace, and for the very difficult tasks He gives us more Grace... His grace is always sufficient. So, if God places us in a place of great perplexity He gives us much guidance; in positions of great difficulty He gives much wisdom; in circumstances of great pressure and trial He gives much strength, for His resources are ours... for He is ours. It makes no matter to what work He calls us... this is His choice not ours, for no matter how easy or how difficult the task... He gives Grace. And Grace empowers what it commands.  If we are overwhelmed by our ministry... struggling in self-effort, we have very likely missed God’s plan and have embarked on Ishmael works. When yoked with Jesus our burden will be light... for He carries the load. All of this springs from the believer’s oneness with Jesus, He is the vine and we are the branches... we are part of Him. Herein lies the mystery of our “Oneness” with the Godhead: We are in Christ... Christ is in us... Christ is in the Father. Jesus will never leave us or forsake us for we are part of Him, Bone of His Bone, Flesh of His Flesh, members of His body. And the Vine... well, the Vine is not merely the root but it is All... root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit... All. Not only is the work the Lord’s, but He brings to the challenge all the power and provisioning of the Godhead. All we must do, and we must do this... is abide in Him.

MOUNTAIN MOVING FAITH (#1)

The nature of faith is to turn the object of faith – God -- into a present reality. God uses reality... life’s circumstances, to educate our faith, to test and approve it in the cauldron of adversity. Faith brings us into right relationship with God by coming against everything that contradicts Him... The World, Our Fleshly Nature, and The Devil. The greatest expression of faith in the Bible was pinned by Job whose faith in demonstration exceeded even Abraham... the “Father of Faith”: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Job lived this expression of his faith, so we need to meditate on it for understanding. First, faith requires some degree of doubt and is fermented... strengthened, in this struggle as we choose faith over doubt. Second, faith during adversity is to trust in God’s goodness in spite of any apparent evidence to the contrary, recognizing His ways are above our understanding. And third, faith is the steadfast pursuit of God even when everything around us says He isn’t here, “enduring as seeing Him who is invisible”, not merely pursuing an answer or desired outcome... but pursuing God’s presence. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” God just may... so we must...

MOUNTAIN MOVING FAITH (#2)

The natural byproduct of adversity of any sort, whether physical, financial, relational or emotional, is fear.  Jesus was “a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief”, and the Apostle Paul said we saints “are called to adversity”, proving this point by a life filled with pain, hardship, and suffering of every sort. We will all at times hit Speed-Bumps on The Way for God does not always give us overcoming life... sometimes He gives us life as we overcome. The spiritual precept for faithfully enduring difficult times was given to us in God’s word using the Imperative Indicative grammatical construction... A command followed by a statement of fact: Whenever scripture gives us a command it backs it up with a statement of fact that boasters and undergirds the command, making it a grace issue and not merely an issue of law. For adversity and fear God’s Imperative Indicative is simple: Fear Not... the command, For I Am With You... the statement of fact.   Throughout scripture the Lord’s response to adversity and its step-child fear is the same: “Fear not, for I Am with you.” This is why it is essential we pursue God during hard difficult times... during Bad, not merely pursuing an answer or desired outcome, but “enduring as seeing Him who is invisible”... pursuing God’s presence. God seems to think His presence in the cauldron of adversity is enough to move the mountain of fear releasing in its place His peace that is better than understanding... that is better than knowing why. And He’s right...

MOUNTAIN MOVING FAITH (#3)

Faith is the problem, not that we don’t have enough of it, but that it has become the whipping boy for our misinterpretation of scriptures. We concoct half-truth doctrines then blame our faith when they don’t produce the desired results, asking amiss to satisfy our Self’s lust. Faith is simply to trust in, believe in, rely upon and cling to God. Having faith is not hard: God gives each of His children a unique measure of faith to enable the “Gifts and Callings” they are predestined to walk in. This faith must then, of necessity, be inclusive of saving faith and justifying faith as the foundation for faith, the condition of the power of the believer. And it only takes a mustard seed smidgen of faith to get the job done. When we get our doctrine right we will find we had “mountain moving” faith all along. We were just trying to move the wrong mountain. When we petition God according to our will and not His will our faith is reduced to wishful thinking, for He does not hear... and He does not answer...

PURPOSE DRIVEN LOVE (# 1)

From beginning to end it’s all about love. God loves us to much to leave us the way we are, so He gives us His Spirit to manifest His nature in us. The Apostle Paul called it being “conformed into the image of His Son”... to be so molded and shaped inwardly by the implanted Christ life that our outward expression becomes a reflection of His life. Much like the sun reflecting on the water, we reflect the derived likeness of Christ from a transformed heart, in thought... word... action, we express His nature. Only in Christlikeness can we truly love with agapao love and fulfill the two great commandments to love God and love others. I don’t think God is much concerned with what label we impose upon ourselves, whether we are a vanilla or chocolate denomination, movement X or independent Y, the only real abiding issue before our loving Father is how much do we resemble His Beloved Son. This God of love, who paid such an unthinkable price to draw us to His side and release His DNA in us, do you really think there is anything more important to Him then seeing the nature of Jesus take root and blossom in us, His blood bought children. Nothing can separate us from His loving work in us, willing and doing His good pleasure in our lives... nothing but our volition! Nothing but our conscious choice to maintain Self on the throne of our heart... to refuse to align our heart with His heart... to willfully choose lovers less wild...