NOT ENOUGH

Thank you Father. I say thank you knowing that thank you is not enough, and will never be enough expression to show my appreciation for the blessed hope you’ve sown in me - a glorious hope. So I GIVE YOU MY HEART in love because you first loved me, and even as I give my heart I know that it too is not enough, and can never be enough, to show my appreciation for the love you so freely, lavishly bestow on me - a passionate all consuming love. So I GIVE YOU MY MONEY, so precious here on earth, to show my appreciation for your tender mercy and grace, knowing once again that it can never be enough - not enough for your superabundant ever abounding grace. So I GIVE YOU MY WORSHIP, the fruit of my lips expressing in frail inadequate terms your glory, your majesty, your honor, but it is not enough for you give back to me your presence, the elixir of my life, and I am once again drowning in your magnificent grace. No, worship is not enough. So I GIVE TO YOU MY SERVICE, righteous works preparing the way for your Kingdom. But you have prepared a place for me, a magnificent place so unfathomable to my senses that I am overwhelmed, awed by your generous heart. No, service is simply not enough. So I give you my most prized possession, I GIVE YOU ME, MY LIFE, everything I am and can ever be I lay at your feet. And it is then that I see the blood, the precious blood of your only Son, I see the crowds mocking Him, I see His body beaten and broken beyond recognition, and I hear my Savior’s last spoken words, a cry of agonizing desperation which stands forever as a testimony to the ultimate price He paid for me: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.” And I truly know that even my life is not enough - can never be enough! FOR I AM A PRIZED POSSESSION, A JEWEL, A SON ADOPTED INTO A ROYAL FAMILY. Before the foundations of the world God looked at my heart and said this one (me!) shall be mine, shall be one of my divinely loved ones. And one day soon I shall hear Him say

“COME UP HERE MY BELOVED!”

NEVER A BUSY SIGNAL

When Jesus cried “It is finished”, God’s gavel sounded in the courtroom of heaven, and man’s reconciliation to God was decreed eternal universal law. This word “reconciled”, to change, is often misunderstood as man’s “doings’, repentance, etc., but nothing man does effects reconciliation. God reconciled the world, and mankind as a subset, to Himself through the death of Jesus, the sinless one, as an act of pure grace.   Reconciliation embodies transformation, a change of state between God and man. Prior to reconciliation man is destitute and doomed, alienated and disconnected from God, and separated from Him by an insuperable gulf, the abyss of sin, with no way to establish communications. After reconciliation the gulf is breached and communication restored between God and man.

Now this is what is so awesome about reconciliation, the vital crux of the matter: God paid the debt our sin demanded through the sacrifice of His beloved Son. He settled the accounts, filed the docket and decreed the case closed. Under Roman law a criminal’s crimes were documented on a clay tablet called a Certificate of Debt. Upon completion of his sentence the Greek word “Tetelestai” was inscribed across the Certificate of Debt and the tablet was hung around the person’s neck to accompany him as proof he had served his sentence and was released from any further legal penalty. “Tetelestai” is what Jesus screamed into the courtroom of eternity on the cross: “It Is Finished.” Tetelestai literally means “Paid In Full”; our debt to God is finished, paid in full. This is the most significant word ever spoken anywhere, anytime by anyone throughout time eternal.

Reconciliation then is a vicarious unilateral act whereby the God who judges is also the God who reconciles and pays with self-sacrificing love the sin debt justice, the administration of His Law, demanded. Reconciliation is by Christ’s death, and salvation is by His resurrected life. God repaired the phone line so he could call us to Himself, but we must answer the call. When we “believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead, we will be saved.”  Oh, and He never quits calling.    (Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5: 17-19; Col. 2:13-14; Rom. 10:9)                          

GOTTA LOVE THAT FRUIT

The Bible speaks of fruit, the product of our walk with God, as being that by which we are known. Now we can be known for many things and there could be, I suppose, many kinds of fruit. But anyone who thinks gooseberries ripen the same time as strawberries knows nothing about grapes. Love of God and Love for Others are the first and second commandments of our Lord and encompass the whole of the Old Testament Law, all 2277 commandments captured by Love. And Love is the initiating fruit of the Holy Spirit, the first-fruit that releases Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control, the very nature of our Savior. This is the fruit of abiding in Christ, continuing to dwell in Christ, living in uninterrupted union with the vine allowing the life changing nectar of His Spirit to flow freely into us. By this fruit we shall be known – They will know we are Christians by our Love, sacrificial, freely demonstrated Love. Notice there is no mention of health or prosperity in the Holy Spirit’s fruit list, these benchmarks are of a church saturated with the world’s viewpoint and drunk on the pleasures of this life. The cross is the signature of God’s new Love covenant with mankind, birthed by an act of Love that defies the superlatives of human language. To understand how God views Love we need look no farther than Calvary. We have received the down-payment of the Holy Spirit who has produced the fruit of His Spirit in us, changing us degree by degree into the mirrored image of His Son. This fruit is the tangible proof that God is and that He is present in and with us. There is no better spiritual manifestation to live by than the fruit of the Holy Spirit, no better judge of godliness or spiritual maturity in God’s Kingdom, and no better evidence of His presence. It is a most glorious time that we live in, sensing that the end is near and anxiously anticipating our grand step into eternity. Whether we fly or we die our hope is a blessed one, a sure anchor for our heart and soul. And how will our Lord recognize us when He comes to take us home? He’ll look for the fruit, a strong family resemblance.

GOD’S FRUIT IS A LIFESTYLE

COME SHINE ON ME

There is a close association throughout the Bible between God's glory and the unapproachable light He dwells in.  The concept of a God who “covers Himself with light as with a garment” (Ps. 104:2) is carried farther and made grander in 1 Thess. 6:16: “Who alone has immortality dwelling in unapproachable light.”  God is described here as eternally abiding in light as a continual dwelling place, and this dwelling is itself impossible to approach because of the brilliance of the light.  When Moses asked God to “show me Your glory”, God revealed some of His nature, His goodness, grace and compassion, transformed or transmitted - human words and concepts fail at this point - into blazing light (Ex. 33:18,23).

“God is love”(1Jn. 4:8), and the fruit of the Spirit is love: from love springs forth joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, but the “fruit” of the Spirit is love, and is purposefully singular to emphasize the overwhelming importance of love in God’s plan for mankind.  God holds nothing back in His love for us.  His “agape” love is passionate, self-sacrificing - think Jesus - fully committed and all consuming, a deep, constant, unchanging love for us.  I have an epiphany about God’s love and God’s glory which I have come to believe. God’s radiant brilliance, His covering and His dwelling place, is a physical manifestation of His love.  The deep passion of His love for us, His creation, is released as brilliant, glorious light, billions of times more powerful than our sun.  In fact the brilliance of His return will, by contrast, make our sun appear dark when Jesus comes in “great glory” to redeem His elect (Matt. 24:29-31).  How much does God love us?  The radiated energy of His full passion for us would instantly consume mere mortals.  “God is love” is in the anarthrous construction: God as to His character and nature is love, and He lives in unapproachable glorious light, a visible expression of His love.  Come shine on me with the light of Your love!

SOME TRUST IN CHARIOTS

“From henceforth be strong.” Be strong in what? In our spiritual position, "In the Lord". We are in Him and He is in us. Where He is, we are. We are joined to Him by the Holy Spirit. We are to live there -- "Be strong in the Lord." This is not about our opinions or questions of why, and not in our own strength, for we must be strong in Him, in the person of our Lord. We must have only Christ as our center, as our life, as our strength, and as our power. It is the Lord, all the Lord -- the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, the Lord who laughs at our enemies. The King of glory -- The Lord. Our strength is not in ourselves, not in our position, not in our abilities or the abilities of man, not in our wealth or power, not in our circumstances, not in our place, not in our plans—NOT IN OUR CHARIOTS, WHATEVER THEY MAY BE! We must be strong in nothing else, but “In The Lord". I will trust the Lord who helps me and keeps me, never slumbering in His watchfulness over me, for I am totally His -- I will trust the Lord!

TRUST IN THE LORD

WITH ALL YOUR HEART

AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING

IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM

AND HE SHALL DIRECT YOUR PATHS

TRUST IN THE LORD

THE FINGERS OF GOD

The narrow way we travel is “Difficult” – not my word but the Lord’s -- full of speed bumps, circumstances on the trashing floor of life that punctuate our existence, some good, and some bad, with every shade in between. God allows in his wisdom what He could easily prevent in His power. The truth of this is found throughout Scripture. He allows that we might become perfect -- clay in the Master Potter's hands being formed on the potter’s wheel into Christlikeness. For those He foreknew He predestined to be conformed, molded and shaped, into the image of His Son. And we try to have understanding, clarity of purpose, when things happen; seeking to know why, even when the heavens are brass and God cloaks himself in silence as He is often inclined to do in trying times – God simply never answers the question “why”. Trials by their very nature include temptations, temptations rooted in fear producing doubt and the overwhelming desire to “do”, do something within our own effort to alleviate the trial. “Perfect love, God's love for us, casts out all fear.” Trust, the product of perfect love, casts out fear and doubt, and allows us to quit “doing” and simply “be”, be what we are called to be – in Christ – in the Beloved. God does not give us overcoming life that flattens all the speed bumps so we can go full speed ahead. This would be of little value in the hard task of dragging our cantankerous self nature to the cross of death. No, God gives us life, His New Life, as we overcome our old Self-Life, and will that it be nailed to our Lord’s cross. To be in Christ is to submit to the conforming pressure of God’s fingers as the Master Potter molds and shapes each of His children into a unique predetermined vessel of honor, perfected and fit for Kingdom use. Difficulties, what Paul called our momentary light afflictions, are the fingers of God preparing us for the glory of eternity with our Daddy. We are being made ready by the discipline of the present crucified life.

SUPREME REST: THE REST OF GOD

Within the stress and pace of modern life God’s children desperately need rest from the weariness that seems ever ready to overtake us. Beyond the Old Testament Sabbatical rest, which is a type, God has provided in this “better covenant” time a rest for His children. Hebrews chapter Four speaks of God’s rest as a promise appropriated through the commingling of the promise (i.e., God’s word) with faith: the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness. God commands zealous diligence in entering His rest, not by striving for he who enters God’s rest has ceased from self-effort and self-works. No, the key is found in the total submission contained in the application of faith to the promise. Not only is our Father very intentional, He is also the God who goes before us, so that we are in a sense always walking in His footsteps.”Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I have no doubt You’ve already gone ahead, my fire by night, my cloud by day”. God’s rest is a place of peace and trust, a place of cessation from stress and worry, a place of refreshing and renewing of our strength – a place where God is present – His dwelling place in the Spirit. So we must look within our divine temple to find God’s place of rest. Psalms 91 paints a beautiful word picture of this secret place of the Most High God. In David’s time God dwelt between the outstretched wings of the golden cherubim on the arc of the covenant, and the tent of meeting was uncovered so the people could see the fire and smoke manifestations of God’s presence. Psalms 91:1-2 is David’s personal testimony of dwelling in God’s holiest of holies, lying in the shadows produced by the sun’s rays passing over the cherubim’s wings. This was, to David, “dwelling in the secret place of the Most High…abiding under the shadow of the Almighty”. Now, our bodies have become God’s holist of holies, God’s temple on earth, so we must look deep within our spirit to find this supernatural rest of God. And make no doubt about it; it is a supernatural gift of grace, an “enabling” flowing from His great heart of love. We can rest in this assurance.

SKIMMING THE DROSS

“You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48 is an emphatic future command revealing the intentions of God to bring each of His children to spiritual maturity. God purposefully steers us to places where we must choose between our desire and His will, using trials and testing to refine and approve our faith, and nurture our new nature into Christlikeness. In Psalm 11:5 we find, "The Lord tests the righteous." And again in Psalm 17:3, "You have tested my heart.  You have tried me…” Paul affirms this with, "We speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts." (1 Thess. 2:4) James admonishes us to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2), Peter to “not think it is strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you” (1 Peter 4:12), that the “genuineness of your faith” may be tested and approved (I Peter 1:7). Paul to “glory in tribulations.” (Rom. 5:3). The Greek word translated “fiery trial” in 1 peter 4: 12 is an old smelting term used for the refining of precious metals in a furnace. When the smelter skimmed the dross off the liquid gold ore and could see his own reflection, he knew the ore was pure gold. When God looks at us in the cauldron of adversity and sees only the likeness of His precious Son, His perfecting process is finished. (Send an e-mail request for complete study)

SET YOUR MIND ON THINGS ABOVE

It is all too easy to be transformed by our culture rather than by our Savior. “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” The Apostle Paul said that. “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown You and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” Agur said that.  We need to develop an eternal rather than temporal perspective, seeing beyond space and time into eternity where our blessed hope anchors our soul from the waves of this life, and our true treasure resides incorruptible. I said that. The orphans, widows and homeless need our help more than we need that new toy, the one that’s going to burn anyway. Extrusion through the eye of a needle: Painful? You better believe it! Survivable? Iffy at best! Why choose that path when we can let Christ be our portion, and find our riches in Him. Why indeed!

THE PRESENCE OF GOD

God does not live in a box: It is sometimes hard to see God’s will, to hear His still small voice, when our emotions are driving us down a path of desire. We are so accustomed to experiencing God’s presence during worship, His “worship presence”, that we fail to recognize the many other ways He demonstrates His presence. During these times we misread God’s “silence” as desertion, much as Job did. Job was overwhelmed by what he perceived to be God’s silence, not realizing that God has many ways to communicate to us. All of our God directed desires are evidence of God’s presence, for God puts into us everything He wants us to give back to Him - it’s the “putting in” that changes us. When we worship it’s God saying “love on Me”, when we pray it’s God saying “talk to Me”, when we hunger for more of Him it’s God saying “want Me more”, when we are burdened for others it’s God saying “love on them with My love”, and when we study His word it’s God saying “ask Me to teach you”. These desires are put into us by our loving Father and therefore are demonstrations of His abiding presence - for He has said He will never leave us or forsake us and will always be with us (Heb. 13:5). We don’t want to just believe for God’s presence, we want to believe in God’s presence, to see it, taste it, hear it, smell it and feel it – to recognize we are continually experiencing God’s presence. God’s presence is dotting the landscape of our lives like trees - we are truly surrounded by God. We must learn the discipline of stilling our self before God and listening, for He is always present -- always!

SACRIFICE

It is funny, this struggle we have with faith – what we see in the mirror darkly is often the image of what we should be, of what God wants to change us into. Questions of faith, especially where sacrifice is evolved, are always questions about self and our willingness to die (more) and thereby more fully submit to God’s heart. It’s simply replacement theology where self, our carnal nature, is crucified, making way for God’s resurrected life to grow within. There are those who look for unity in The Light, the revelation of God’s word, and those who look for unity in The Life, the life of Christ within. Perhaps we should look for unity in Love, God’s love within embodying the commandment to love other people in the same way, degree, and manner we love our self, and demonstrated by a heart that willingly gives (Acts 4:32, 34-35), never counting the cost -- a sacrificial life that never seeks its own and gives out of excess and abundance, gives out of need, and gives until all is given. Can we really trust God for our “daily bread” when we already have cupboards full of food and money to buy more? A better question: Can we have this Love without having The Light and The Life? I think not. Can we have The Light and The Life and not have this unity of Love? Sadly, we seem to think so.

Matthew 25: 31-45 provides a mandate on demonstrating God’s sacrificial love to our brethren, a mandate we need to take to heart. Notice it is the righteous who give food, water, clothing and shelter, and visit the sick and imprisoned brethren. And it is these righteous ones to whom Jesus says “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” The return of our Lord will usher in this judgment of moral character – Christlikeness -- in preparation for the millennial reign, determining who will enter the Kingdom. One gets the impression both the goats and the sheep are surprised at the judgment criteria, but the sheep, who had demonstrated the passionate sacrificial heart of God in life, were overjoyed at their reward. And the goats… well it doesn’t get any more serious then this! The metaphor with the sheep and goats is the “Christian label”:  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21) Righteous works are the outward demonstration of inner faith and righteousness. Good works do not produce Godly character, Godly character produces good works. Matthew 25 should give us nightmares if we really understand this passage and have not taken it to heart in committed action. In this case obedience is sacrifice!

THE SIGNATURE OF JESUS

Jesus was and is a rebel, and His invitation is a revolutionary call to fight for the very heart of humanity.  To be “born again” is, literally, to be “born from above” into a war zone here on battlefield earth. His followers are called into an unconventional war using only the weapons of faith, hope and love. Christ chose the cross, His passion drove Him there, and the cross should ignite a passion in all His followers to follow the heart of their king.  If you are a follower of Christ, then you are called to fight for the heart of your king.  This is not a pristine call to a proper or safe religion.  Jesus beckons His followers to a path fueled by passion... passion for God and passion for God’s people, that is far from the easy road.  “The Way” is all about Love, Obedience, Passion, and Sacrifice... the things that bring a twinkle to our Daddy’s eyes, and filled with risk, adventure, uncertainty, and unlimited possibilities.  And the cost to truly embrace Christ, to embrace the cross, is nothing less than everything we are, everything we have, and everything we ever hope to be... everything!

SAY THIS TO YOURSELF: “HE WANTS EVERYTHING”!

THE CROSS IS THE SIGNATURE OF JESUS.

CASTAWAY

God calls us to community within His family, a fellowship purchased with holy blood. When we reject the Second Commandment to love others we are relegated to the solitary confinement of our ego, pacing the prison cell of “self.” Left alone to poke around in the drifting fog of our own mind we become isolated and self absorbed, ultimately incapable of even recognizing our own isolation. To be an island adrift in the sea of humanity is a self dominating choice. To dwell within the community of God is a gift of grace: The imputing of His agape love into our hearts provides both capability and capacity to truly love others as we so easily love our “self.” No man is an island except by choice.

PIGGYBACK IS GOOD

"Don't expect faith to clear things up for you. It's not about certainty, but about trust" (Flannery O’Connor). “Believe,” the verb of faith, means much more than giving mental assent. The verb means to trust in, put one's confidence in, rely upon, and cling to -- to actively place one’s trust in something. We tend to let the noun “Faith”, which means firm persuasion, define its verb “Believe” giving mental assent without the corresponding action element which makes “Believe” a verb. This is, of course, the meanings in the Greek.  Unfortunately, there is a significant difference between the Greek and English meaning of the word "Believe" which further compounds and clouds our understanding. “Believe”, in English, simply means to have a conviction about something, to think something is true divorced from active trust, which does not necessarily change our lives. “Trust” is assured reliance on something, and TRUST CHANGES OUR LIVES BECAUSE WE ACT UPON IT. Remember the old analogy where a person says they can carry another person on their back across a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Believe says "yes, I believe you can do it", while trust says "I'll get on your back." When you see the word “Believe" in the scriptures replace it with "Trust", than stop and climb up on God's back -- He won't let you fall.

TRUST

We may not always have clarity during trying times but we should always have trust.  In seeking clarity we are tempted to cease from trusting God, to step from “being” back into “doing.”  But, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” I can see this godly man, called blameless by his God, setting on the trash dump scraping his oozing sores with a clay shard and thinking "Lord, whom have I but Thee.  Only You have the words of eternal life."  We must trust Him.  There is a tension between the will of God and the promises of God, between what is and what is to come, between the day to day and the supernatural, between the seen and the unseen.  And we often don't know the way.  There's a tension in the unknown that will come if we allow it, but this tension opposes trust.  So if I perish, then I perish, so be it!  But I will trust God!  Stop now, still your heart and listen to your spirit commuting with the Holy Spirit of God.  What is it that you hear echoing down the corridors of time eternal?  It's a multitude of saints, the general assembly and church of the firstborn shouting "Amen!  So be it!  Trust the Lamb of God for He is worthy."  Join with them now, shout it out aloud -- "HE IS WORTHY"!  He who put my wandering feet in His stocks, and keeps close watch on all my ways, tracing my footsteps one by one and setting my boundaries lest I wander too far --  it is He that keeps me, for I am truly His (Job 13:27). He who holds my life-breath in His hands and controls all that happens to me -- it is He who keeps me and I will trust Him (Daniel 5:23).  Come life or stingless death -- I will trust Him. FOR I AM MY BELOVED’S AND HE IS MINE, SO I CAN REST ASSURED, BECAUSE I BELONG TO HIM!

NEVER EVER ALONE

"For He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down (relax My hold on you)! Assuredly not! So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm, I will not fear or dread or be terrified. What can man do to me"? (Hebrews 13:5, 6, Amp. Bible)

In the Greek and Hebrew languages statements are repeated for emphasis. There are only three places in the Bible where a truth is repeated three times for maximum emphasis: In Isaiah and Revelations the angels shout Holy, Holy, Holy, declaring God's holiness, and here in Hebrews where God declares emphatically we are never ever alone. Note that most translations do not capture this powerful statement embedded in these three negatives, but they are in the original text (reference Wuest Greek New Testament).     

BLING BLING

We all quote scriptures all the time. Someone says something, some synapses link up and out pops a scripture, or part of one... sort-of, regurgitated in our recollected form. The problem is we haven’t always made sure we understand the truth contained in our quote, truth embedded in the context of the parent passage. When we take a Biblical text out of its context we produce pretext, what Webster calls ostensible reason, something that is put forth concealing truth. Now there are those who pretext as a lifestyle –we’ve all heard them – using pretext as proof text to “prove” some scriptural hobby-horse, some belief they want everyone to ride with them. Beware of beliefs packaged in “too good to be true” self indulgent blessings that stoke the fire of “other love”, love directed anywhere other than God and His Kingdom... especially if money changes hands. Sometimes we simply need to turn the TV off and trust our Daddy. 

Rappers created a word – it’s apparently easier to learn language if you make your own up – the word “Bling”, to describe their flashy oversized fake jewelry: If it is gaudy, glitters and looks valuable it is Bling. Some people in the body of Christ spew Spiritual Bling espousing half-truths, contextual misfits, which stroke our fleshly desires like a good massage. Remember: God hides His truth in plain sight – in the context. The Apostle Paul commended the Bereans for searching the scriptures daily to see if he was telling them the truth (Acts 17:11). Now if fact checking the Apostle Paul was a good thing, maybe we should be a wee bit more careful before we accept something as truth – after all it is our own salvation we are cautiously working out with reverence and awe (Phil. 2:12, Amp.). So when our best friend... or our neighbor... or our pastor... or that guy on TV with the big hair and the perpetual smile, throws out a truth-ball, don’t get Blinged! Dust off that old book on the corner shelf, carefully turn those brittle pages and search the scriptures for yourself, paying close attention to the context while considering all related passages. Prayerfully let the Holy Spirit teach and confirm God’s truth... as the Bible interprets itself. Oh, and lets guard our own mouth too... don’t be a Blinger!