Phil 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

Paul is a great example to us when he tells us that he had “learned” to be content. There is no magic wand to arrive at this position. We must “learn” And we learn by walking through the fires and the floods. Giving ourselves over and surrendering in every situation so that we can find the freedom that is found in the darkness. What do I mean by that? Well the greatest freedom ever wrought was formed and delivered to us from Calvary. It is on the tree that Jesus set us free from the laws of sin a death. Gethsemane, Calvary, the cross, the resurrection, this is the path. There has to be a willingness to take up our crosses and die. I do not believe it is every forced upon us. Well I remember the day in 1995, four years after I came to Jesus, that I cried out to my heavenly Father” whatever it takes Lord for me to be useful to you.” One of those prayers that you know that you know that has been heard before the throne.

The next 20 years there was one trial after another. The kind of trials that make you fall to your knees. Over and over again. Yet, I began to discover deep truths in these trials. After so many of them it occurred to me how faithful God was to me in the midst of them. How He was always there. How disappointed I was by my lack of total trust in Him a I walked through them. How I was determined in my spirit to walk through the next one, which I knew that was coming, with more faith and trust in the faithfulness of God. I discovered that this journey was a journey not about my own faith but about discovering just how faithful the Lord was to me. It was all about His faithfulness!! And the light bulb began to come on. I was “learning.”

What is the glory of God? We hear it used so often in Christian circles, but do you really know what that is? Is it just a description, an adjective, something to describe what you imagine God is like or what it is like to be in His presence? The truth is, the glory of God is God Himself. Wherever He is, then there is the glory. It is a dwelling place, it is His dwelling place. Moses had to put off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. Now, was the ground holy before the Lord came? Was it holy after He left? What about the burning bush? When God inhabited the burning bush then the bush was God and could not be consumed by fire. Yet when the Lord left the bush was just a bush. Does God dwell in temples made by human hands? Is a church building holy? What is a building without the manifest presence of God? What is a person without the manifest presence of God operating in their lives? Where is the glory outside of the presence? How can the world see a manifestation of His presence if that manifestation of that presence cannot be seen in His children?

Will you manifest His presence today to the world? Will the light from His glory radiate off you as the light from the sun reflects off the moon and lights up a dark world? The moon is a dead object yet it has tremendous influence on the world. If we die to ourselves and live for Christ then we too can have an enormous influence in the world by the mere light that reflects from us. As you speak to people today remember the glory, move in the glory be led by the glory.

How many times was the Lord rejected? How many times was He ridiculed and scorned? How grievous the journey knowing the end? How savage the battle in the garden? How savage the treatment at the hands of Romans? How cruel the desertion of all of his friends, including his best and dearest? How indescribable the drinking of the cup? Yet even in the midst of one of the cruelest deaths known to man, He ministers. How deep the love that cries ”forgive them Father?” How dead to the flesh a man must be to cry ” hold not this charge against them.” How transformed must the flesh be that has a vision in the depths of being stoned by his countrymen? And brother Stephen was taken home loving those who bore the stones.

Would I respond in kind in the same situation? I pray that I would, I pray that every trial and tribulation I now suffer is a mile run by one who trains for a marathon. Can I see my trials as blessings? Can I walk counter to modern Christendom and count my trials as I count my blessings Could I sing ” Count my trials name them one by one, count my trials see what God has done, count my trials, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done” This is the deeper life brothers and sisters. This is the counter-culture. This is the way of the remnant.

What are the riches of our dwelling place with the Lord. Out of the beauty of dwelling with Him, do we have the finest gold of unconditional love? Are the walls of our dwelling place encrusted with the jewels of forgiveness and mercy? Are the windows of our dwelling places draped with meekness and humility? Do trophies of grace hang on every wall? Are they framed with the finest materials of patience and kindness? Do we pursue the riches and the glories of heaven with the same vigor and single-mindedness that men here on earth pursue gold and silver? And the treasures that we have attained in Christ, do we protect them with all the resources that we have? Do we value the treasures of our heart in the same way men value their wealth? There is a direct correlation between how much we value something to the lengths we will go to protect it. Guard your hearts brothers and sisters in Christ, for we have an enemy who seeks to steal and destroy what we have. Satan knows the value of what we have oftentimes more than we do.

Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

I grew tired of living in fear and the Lord brought up situations in my life where they had to be directly confronted. One of my major fears was going to college. Another was quitting construction, another was speaking in public, another was money matters, another was self- image, another was facing a life threatening disease, and a thousand more besides. So, choices had to be made, confront or flee. Always, confront or flee. I was never condemned by the Lord when I ran. Now, I condemned myself, but not a single time did the Lord condemn me and I finally figured out that when I ran, the situation was still waiting for me and I was simply putting of the inevitable. I would go around the mountain again until I was ready to take on the obstacle. Yet probably the single biggest factor for me was recognizing that my fear was actually sin. Every single time I was afraid, I was saying “Lord, you are not Lord of my life, the fear is ” And I recognized that I was, in fact, a slave to sin because I had not reckoned on what the Lord had said to be true.

We cannot be slaves and free men all at the same time. If the Lord has set me free, if He has come and opened up my jail cell, what was I doing still in the cell looking out through the bars at the world? Why had I not walked through the door that the Lord had opened? Was it safer for me to stay where I had become accustomed to? Even although it was a slavish miserable place, was it still preferable to me than to go beyond the horizons of what I had ever known? Yes, for many years it was. I was like the Israelites, threatened by armies or thirst or starvation, who wanted to turn back to Egypt with the rationale that at least in Egypt, at least in slavery, they could count on certain things. That was me.

And so I was like a pioneer back in the wagon trail days. I had started a journey, which by the way typically started at a town in Missouri called, of all names, Independence. I traveled through different rugged States, overcame deserts and rivers and mountains which were called anger and fears and lusts and insecurity, and I finally came to a vast ocean. I found many camps there, all up and down the coast. Different camps of Christianity. They had all found their way here because they had followed trails. And yet their destiny lay beyond the horizon of this sea called “Dependence.” It was very comfortable on the shores, yet the master called every day. “Come away with me to a place beyond what you have ever known. There are no maps, you must cast yourself upon the sea of dependence and trust me.”

I looked around and saw what was happening to these people who had set up camp. The call from the sea lessened every day and many people started drifting back to the different States they had overcame. In a mad wild moment I decided, a decision of complete abandon, life or death, to throw myself upon the sea of dependence. And that is how I have come to be where I am right now. I am still on the sea, and I have no control where I will end up. I don’t care, I only know that the Lord has always been faithful and He has been directing and guiding all the way. So the question is where are you in the journey? Are you still in the jail cell? Are you somewhere on the wagon-trail crossing mountains and valleys? Are you by the sea of dependence? These are the great questions of life for every Christians. We must face these questions and they must be answered. Will you abandon yourself completely to the will of God?

John 8:38 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Jesus is our victory, in Jesus our Lord we find true Freedom. The Scriptures say that He who the Son sets free is free indeed. This majestic freedom rises high above all earthly gained freedom. If men could attain freedom then Christ died in vain. Freedom given my men can be taken by men. The freedom wrought on Calvary by Jesus can never be taken from us no matter what our circumstances are.

How free was our brother the Apostle Paul when he languished in the deep? What about Peter and John as the lashes tore the skin from their back? What about our brother Stephen as the cruel stones destroyed his earthly body? I say that they were as free as the birds in the sky, no, so much freer than they. For the birds are as free as the sky in which they fly, our freedom ascends to the very throne of the Almighty God.

In the deepest darkest dungeons, chained to the walls, we are the light that penetrates and destroys the darkness, we are the salt of the earth. If true freedom could be granted or taken away by men then it would not be the freedom of Calvary. The gentiles busy themselves with earthly things, buying and selling, gaining and losing and for needs sakes we too must walk amongst them. And yet, we are a brotherhood, a Royal Priesthood sent to shine that light of Calvary’s freedom into every corner of the earth. We are called to be a counter culture, not a sub-culture.

So remember brothers and sisters as you go about your business today, you walk in freedom. Never forget what that freedom cost our Lord. You are free to follow Him and praise Him no matter what you face today. Choose to walk in freedom today, it is your choice. And to those who walk in freedom you also walk in victory. Let victory be yours today. Even although darkness surrounds us and the enemy desires to silence us, let us not be silent. Stand your ground my fellow saint for that ground is holy ground and it is victorious ground. The ground that you hold is the ground that was watered by the blood of the saints and the Blood of Christ.

“Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Rev 3:19-21)

For too long we, as people of God, as the called out people have only entered into “His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.” And while there is great emphasis in ancient Israel for worship of joyful abandon and gladness, this was not the only “mood,” of worship. Even prior to Jesus manifesting Himself on the earth there was a worship of awe and of reverence where one could barely lift their heads. The power would fall, the shekinah glory of the living God would fall with such a “Holy heaviness,” that one could barely lift their heads.

If we are to move to a different place in God, as individuals and as a called out people, we must answer the knock at the door of our hearts. In order to hear that knocking we must abandon the cares of the world. Instead of seeking the gold and the silver of this world, we must turn our eyes to the treasures of heaven and its throne room. If we are to hear God, we must become silent before Him. We are moving into a time where it will be vital to be intimate with Him.

There is a time for shouting and praising God, but if we are ignoring the knocking, then we must stop shouting. If our lives are not reflecting the Glory of God, if we are not becoming like His Son daily, then all of our shouting and praising God will just be so much noise. How tragic for the church of the living God if, when He looks down, He does not see praise but just a group of people making a noise.

Psalm 46:1 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her at the turning of the morning.

Perhaps you have reached a crisis point today? Will you call upon the Lord who is your refuge and strength and who is a very present help in time of trouble? Do you know that God is in your midst and you shall not be moved? God will help you at the “turning of the morning.” This means “at the break of Dawn.” You have heard the phrase “things are always darkest just before the dawn,” then praise the Lord we serve a God that shines His light into the darkest of situations. No matter what you face today, no matter how dark your situation, there is a God who cares and is working behind the scenes. Cry out to Him today, trust Him today and if the Lord has called you to do something, please do it no matter if it makes sense or not. Trust in Him, He is the morning sun that rises in the heart of even the darkest of circumstances. Put your foot in the water with the Lord Jesus elevated above your circumstances and see if your river will not dry up and enable you to cross. Just test Him and see if He will not make a way where there seems to be no way.

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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Perhaps you have a family member or friend or loved one that seems to be in a hopeless situation, you may even have given up all hope for that person. Yet Our Lord is Hope itself. Hope is the wellspring that all of our joy flows from. We have two choices in this life, even as a Christian, we can live in hope or we can despair. Hope gives birth to joy and to life and to strength. It is because I am in Christ that my hope springs eternal. It is awesome to know that our Heavenly Father is willing to go to enormous lengths to fulfill His plans.

You can only see a snap-shot of your life but the Lord sees it all, from beginning to end. Keep on seeking the Lord with all of your heart. He will bring you out of this place that you find yourself in. Lift up your eyes today and see where your help comes from. Your help comes from the Lord. He sees the afflictions of your heart and He knows your pain. Be encouraged today saint, the Lord your God is with you and He wants you to know that.