Archive for February, 2014
Posted by appolus on February 28, 2014
NEPOTISM IN THE KINGDOMS OF MEN
Anyone who has ever been around the power structures of the kingdoms within Christendom know that powerful men put into place men who will not question them. They typically surround themselves with what the world would call ” yes men.” It is of course the opposite of the Biblical model but perfectly in line with the world and how it runs itself. It is interesting that we hear and know nothing of the children of the Apostles. Why? Because it was not a dynasty, it was not a family business where sons and daughters are promoted by virtue of who their fathers are. Time and again we see this within Christendom. David Wilkerson managed to avoid so many of the problems of other men with similar sized organisations. He could have easily promoted his own son and groomed him to take over when he retired, but instead he puts an ex-policeman from Canada into that position. Sadly he is a very rare exception. Jesus has to be preeminent in our lives, in our gatherings and in our structures and we have to be but mere bond servants to the cause of Christ and to those who follow Him.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Tagged: Christendom, David Wilkerson, power structures | 13 Comments »
Posted by appolus on February 25, 2014
HE TOOK CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE (Eph 4:7-10)
He took captivity captive
And He set His people free
He came to the lower reaches
Just for you and for me
He ascended above the heavens
Where He gives good gifts to men
He sits at the right hand of Glory
Returned to His Father again
In a triumphant royal procession
In fetters and chains to be found
Those things that once enslaved us
Now find themselves to be bound
Christ the conquering Redeemer
Has conquered all hell and the grave
And now I stand as a free-man
Where once I stood as a slave
To the King be all glory and honor
And the fragrance of His presence abound
May we follow wherever He leads us
By His throne may we ever be found.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Tagged: captivity captive | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on February 23, 2014
Jesus says ” In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ” (Joh 14:2 ) Jesus has already prepared a place for us. Can I ask you if you have taken possession of that place and abide there? This place that the Lord went ahead of us to prepare, is a place in which we abide in and walk in. It takes faith to enter into this place, in the first verse of John 14 Jesus compels us to believe in Him. We must believe in the Lord, we must walk in trust and in faith, this is the walk of the Kingdom.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (Joh 14:3) Brothers and sisters, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that way and truth and life is found in Him and in Him alone. He has called us to be where He is, this is the place of abiding, this is the place that the Lord has prepared for us. It is not a future event, although it will find its fulfillment then when we are raised in incorruption, it is a present reality. The Lord begins the chapter by telling us ” Let not you hearts be troubled.” This place that the Lord has prepared for us is not a troubled place, it is not a place that is filed with anxiety, it is a place of trust and of rest and of peace as we walk in the place and way that He has prepared for us. In this place we abide in His truth and as we follow His way and abide in His truth we are filled with His life.
And ultimately life is the proof , the fruit, the evidence of the place in which we abide. All those who abide in God , in that place which was prepared for us, will have the life of God in them and they will have it abundantly. Jesus walked in this place when He walked on the earth. Jesus did not say that He had come to show us the way, He said that He was the way. The way, the place of abiding, the place prepared for us is no place at all but is Jesus Himself, He is our place of abiding and in that place, in that perfect place, all fear is cast out. We must not be drawn away from this place, for Jesus is the eye of the storm and in the midst of the storms of life, there is perfect peace when we stay there.
Because of the nature of hurricanes, there can be no winds in the very eye, the winds revolve around the center and there is a place created at the very heart of every storm where its devastation cannot manifest itself. Now all around there can be madness and chaos, but at the very heart there is a place of peace, Jesus is our peace and this was His walk on the earth. he too was surrounded by trial and temptation. He incurred the wrath of men as He disrupted the established order of the day, He learned obedience through suffering, He was rejected and despised by men, all around Him there was a constant storm, but He abided with His Father and in that place He overcame the storms of life.
If you are where Jesus is and you abide there, you too will overcome the storms of life. They will follow you no doubt, they will surround you as you walk in Godliness and walk in the Spirit, but they will not destroy you and the life of Christ in you will manifest itself to the world and the world will be amazed at the life you exhibit despite the storms that surround you. It is because of the storms of life that the world is amazed at the life of Jesus in you. To Him who keeps us in His perfect peace, who stands with us through all the storms of life and preserves us in the very midst of them, to Him belongs all the glory.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Tagged: Jesus | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on February 19, 2014
Below is an article be T.A.Sparks. It speaks to the traditions of men. God is raising up a generation of believers in these last days that seek to move in the freedom of the Holy Spirit where Jesus is preeminent. Conditions will be such that men will not be able to control and organize yet one more denomination. He will bind us together and He will use circumstances to fulfill His will for unity in the Body and freedom of the Spirit. The walls that have formed denominations have been used to create prisons that seek to confine and restrict the work of the Holy Spirit…………bro Frank
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Tagged: free movement, history of Christianity, holy spirit | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on February 18, 2014
I was thinking about some of the criticisms of the notion of Noah’ ark. They talked about how a boat such as that would have split in two in the midst of such a mighty sea that covered the whole world, it would never have held together. Today the Lord spoke into my heart and told me that it was too low. I pondered that. Too low? And then He opened up my heart to understand. The whole conversation was too low. God holds the whole universe in His hands. He holds it all together. The notion that He could not hold a small boat together, for that is what it was in comparison to all that exists, in the middle of a ocean on a small planet, for that is what we are in the midst of vastness, was clearly preposterous. Today I glimpsed something of His vastness in my Spirit, not for the first time but always breathtaking. To truly glimpse the vastness of God is to render all else infintesimal. How big is our God? He is larger than anything that our brains can comprehend.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Tagged: Noah' ark | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on February 14, 2014
The forces of chaos are on the march.There has been a release of anti-christian thought that we have never before seen in the west. In times past it has typically taken decades to slowly denigrate a people. Study history and see that the assaults came in what is known as gradualism. Before Jewish people were ever murdered in the holocaust they were openly maligned for at least a decade or more although anti semitism had been around for countless centuries and Jewish people were killed in many pogroms. Goebbels, one of Hitlers right hand men, was the mastermind behind turning a whole nation against one group of people using the power of propaganda via radio and newspapers. In Rwanda we saw the open and brazen denigration of one group against another over a long period of time before the slaughter began, typically through radio. Now we see more and more open hostility to anyone who holds to God’s views whether in the realms of science or morals. The difference today is that there is massive power to be wielded through television and social media and technology. What formerly took decades to achieve, poisoning the minds of the masses, can now be achieved in a stunningly short period of time, such is the scope of that power. And so we see that stage one of persecution consists of marginalizing a minority and denigrating their believes and who they are.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, prophecy, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on February 6, 2014
From depths unreachable
To heights unattainable
You came from heaven to earth
With love unexplainable
From time immemorial
And places unexplorable
You came to save us from death
And a hell most deplorable
You brought joy without measure
And heavenly treasure
You came to show us the way
For your will and good pleasure
You brought freedom from captivity
And your presence into proximity
You came to show us life
And to reveal your divinity
You healed the broken-hearted
And the enemy departed
You came to give us a heart
And that’s where it started
Your breath makes life livable
And all things forgivable
The life you have given us
Is simply inexplicable
Now it’s on to eternity
No doubts nor uncertainty
Life forever with you
This will be our identity
This life extraordinary
Is the life lived passionately
From heights now attainable
And love unexplainable
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christian poetry, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on February 3, 2014
There is a very dark and murky world of Melancholy. It presents many dangers to the world at large and specific dangers to Christians and should be avoided at all costs. Now what is this world of melancholy? It’s a world of past events that exists in the minds of all humans. The more tragic the event or events are, the more deeply someone can be drawn into this world. It also can depend upon the sensitivity of the person and their over all emotional make-up , but nevertheless, it can affect everyone.
Hippocrates said that the causes of the effects of this ” world,” were due to an excess of ” black bile,”which is why we have the word ” melancholia,” meaning black bile. Of course this is not true but it is somewhat of an appropriate description, it conjures up images that are not out-of-place. Okay, two examples of the world of melancholy and why I believe it has a dangerous spiritual element. Example number one is a dear saint from Scotland whose adult son was shot and left to die in the street. This made many headlines in Scotland as we do not have a lot of guns or gun related murders. She publicly announced her forgiveness of her son’s murderer and that was a tremendous witness for the Lord. It has now been many years since that murder but she would tell you that every so often this ” feeling” comes upon her. Now this, I would argue, is the call of this world of melancholy, like the sirens of Greek mythology who lured unsuspecting sailors onto the rocks and killed them. What is this ” feeling?” Well, she is drawn into a place where she re-lives all the intense emotions that she experienced when her son was murdered and it begins to drag her down like quicksand.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Tagged: melancholy | 9 Comments »
Posted by appolus on February 1, 2014
I GIVE TO THEE MY ALL
Show me Lord the cross
Where thou did suffer loss
Walk me through the fire Lord
And burn up all the dross
I give to thee my all
I hear you when you call
Stretch forth thy hands and catch me Lord
Catch me lest I fall
I’ve come to seek thy face
And daily run the race
Come forth my Lord and show to me
Thy mercy and thy grace
I long to see thee more
Living waters through me pour
Stand forth oh Lord in front of me
So I may worship and adore
Overwhelm me with desire
Lead me through refining fire
Come now oh Lord and take my hand
And lead me ever higher
Ever higher my great desire is to come to where you are
My King, my Lord, my everything, my bright and morning star.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
A Call To The Remnant 