Archive for July, 2020
Posted by appolus on July 31, 2020
God the Father was so deeply wounded by Calvary. He was not asking His son to suffer and He would stand dispassionately by. How did God the Father suffer?? At the height of Calvary He watched His precious Son take all of our sins upon Him and crucify them for us and turned His head away. Yet He heard His Son cry out “My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me.” God the Father was wounded so deeply that our minds are simply too small to even come close to understanding.
Perhaps only a parent who has watched their child suffer or die in agony can even come close to imagining the pain? And we know at that very moment, ” The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” What does the veil represent? Perhaps it represents the covering of Gods heart, His chest if you like.
When the sacrifice was complete, that which had been hidden was revealed, the heart of God. God chose to show His presence to the world through His Son Jesus. So, through the wounds of Jesus, and the wounds of the Father, we are united into His presence and can walk in the power that flows from His presence.
The Lord revealed this to me many years ago. He took my mind back to when my son, who was two at the time, was burned over 60% of his body with third degree burns. In the first few days he almost died. Part of his life saving treatment consisted of the nurses taking his bandages of every day, which was an agony in itself, and force him down into a salt bath.
I was asked to aid the nurses in this. To hold down your son, whom you love with all your heart, almost killed me, I was only 20 but my hair stared to fall out. He could not possibly understand what I was doing was to save his life, all he knew was that his father, who was supposed to protect him, was torturing him. Years later the Lord asked me to think back about this. And our heavenly Father shared with me some of His pain as He watched His Son be mocked and ridiculed, tortured and killed.
In this revelation, I was amazed that God the Father loved us so much that He allowed this to happen for our sake. If we mere mortals can feel emotional pain that is agonizing beyond words, what kind of pain can our heavenly Father feel who is the author and creator of all emotions? What manner of love is this? It is beyond our pay grade. We can only understand a portion of it and that by revelation. There is a magnificent glory that drenches our spirits when we capture in our hearts just a portion of the love that it took and the mercy that was manifested at the cross.
There is another side to that coin. One that cannot be ignored. For while perfect love was on display at Calvary, so was perfect justice. Mercy and truth embraced, righteousness and peace kissed. There is mercy to be found at the cross and it is intertwined with truth. The truth is that you and I were the nails that pinned Jesus to the cross. We are the reason that He hung there. We caused the Father unimaginable pain and suffering. This is our guilt. And when we reject mercy and righteousness and peace, we are left with the horrific truth that we are guilty as charged and there is but one sentence, eternal separation from the one who loved you.
Today is the day of your salvation. If you have not embraced God’s mercy and made peace with Him, reconciled your sinful guilty heart to His loving sacrifice, then you make yourself His enemy. It is a perfect line of justice and it is unbroken. There is only guilty or not guilty. Which one are you? Are you yet in your guilt? The sin being the rejection of a loving sacrificial God? Then there can be no further or future sacrifice for you. Embrace the love of God today while it is yet day. The night fast approaches and the darkness comes for its own.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 5 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 29, 2020
Martyrdom. Not really a popular word. Suffering, another word that is frowned upon. Yet between the two words there is a tremendous amount of power. Not the words themselves you understand, but literally suffering for the cause of Christ, and actually dying for His sake. We like to spiritualize it , and it does have spiritual application. Yet if a kernal of wheat falls to the ground and dies it produces many seeds.
When Stephen fell to the ground, a seed was planted in Saul. It would germinate in Saul. It was not the dying of Stephen, for Saul had seen many men die. It was the way that he died. The men who hung Dietrich Bonhoeffer later testified that they had never seen a man die with such dignity. When Stephen is dying, in the midst of his brutal murder, he is crying out to God not to hold this against his assailants. He has an open vision of heaven. Ordinary men do not die like this and it undoubtedly shook Saul to the core. The kernal, the seed was planted and it would, through Paul, produce many more seed.
In the book of Job we see in the opening chapter a scene where Satan and the fallen angels make an accusation. He basically says to God that Job does not really love Him or respect Him, he only bows down to Him because of all the things that God has given him. Take all of that away and it was stated that Job would curse God to His face. Principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places accusing man and God that they had no actual relationship, no genuine love, just something very basic.
So for the saint, great power is manifested when this false charge is stripped down and exposed. The proof of our love, our true and genuine relationship is to be found at its most powerful, in the bottom of the dungeon, not the mountaintop. There is a reason why the very building shook for Paul and Silas. We see this perfect example on Calvary, the very last place you would expect to see love and power and victory. Yet on that cross, Jesus makes an open show of the very principalities and powers that had dared to tell God that He was wrong about Job and that Job only loved Him for what He could get from Him.
Suffering and death is the ultimate revelation of who we are in Christ. It strips away all of the flesh and reveals what is left. Could we, would we, do as Jesus did and call out to His Father to forgive those who had crucified Him? Could we follow in the footsteps of Stephen and ask the Lord not to hold this crime against those who were carrying it out? This is the disarming of principalities and powers. This power shakes the gates of hell. While it disarms our true enemies, it arms the saint. We become the perfect witness not only to the world but to the unseen world. To willingly die, to willingly suffer for the sake of the Lord and His Kingdom. We wrap ourselves in impenetrable light. The darkness is vanquished.
Remember saint, you do not suffer alone nor is your suffering in vain. You may think that your life or the things that you have suffered for His cause have been in vain and has not counted for much. That is a lie from the enemy himself. Your uninterrupted love and passion for Jesus, despite your circumstances, is precious treasure to your heavenly Father. That He may say of you, to the enemy of your soul, have you considered my faithful servant? In the world to come you will have your reward dear saint, just as all things were restored to Job, you will find in that day that your losses for the cause of Christ in this world will be great gain in the economy of the heavenly Kingdom.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 27, 2020
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being
If we are passionate worshipers of Jesus, then everything else is secondary. If Jesus is the primary object of our passions, then everything else becomes the by-product. If we ever get that wrong, we cease to be effective. If soul winning is our primary object, we cease to be effective soul winners. If faith is our primary object then we cannot be faithful. If Holiness is our primary object than we cannot be holy. If revival is our primary object then we will never see revival. Outside of Jesus being the primary object of our lives then we immediately begin to lose ground in every aspect of our walk, whether we are pastors or teachers or whatever role we have in the Body.
I would argue that the saints who have rocked this world for Jesus are the saints who have walked in intimate communion with Him. He is the source of all love and majesty and glory and power. Only by abiding in Him ( Him being our primary object) can we walk in forgiveness and mercy and grace. Out of the abundance of the passion that we experience as we walk with Jesus as our grand obsession comes the overflow that changes those around us and brings light into a dark world. Are you being ineffective in your walk? Have you wondered why? Is Jesus the primary object of your life? Is there joy in you life? Is there glory in your life? Are you an over-comer? Do you have a thankful spirit?
Listen saints, if Jesus is truly the primary object of your life then what flows from that is love, joy, peace, faithfulness, thankfulness, forgiveness and so on. How often have I heard a saint say, on any one of the aforementioned issues “I need to work on that.” That is quite exactly wrong. No amount of “work,” can muster up joy nor thankfulness nor love nor any of the issues of the heart. He must be our all in all. In Him we live and move and have our being. Jesus Himself is the answer to any problem you are having, any problem. The answer lies in Him alone, the answer lies before the throne.
Whatever you seek to achieve in the Kingdom of God comes directly from the depths of your relationship with Him. Find a man who is passionate about sports and he will bore your pants off speaking about it. Find a man who is passionate about politics and he will rip your shirt of telling you all about the latest policies and issues and the state of the world. Find a man who is truly passionate about Jesus and you will find a man who is changing the world. Out of the abundance of our passion flows the power of God.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 25, 2020
I shared just a few days ago with a group of saints that when sports came back that every knee would bow. The picture shows the very first baseball game of the year. Every knee bowed with a black ribbon connecting them to show their support for BLM. This is the power of the mob. This is the fickle nature of the multitude. How could a group of people be hailing Jesus as King one week, and the next week be calling for His blood to be upon their heads? How is it that a whole country could be compelled to give the Nazi salute in Germany? Fear. A desire to fit in. A terror of standing up to the mob. The control in America is tightening. Just yesterday a poll that was taken revealed that over 60% of Americans were afraid to voice their opinion in public. This power of the mob is not knew to society and it is something to be manipulated and wielded. It is regressive (or in our example its from progressives) It is like a virus, something that gets into the atmosphere, something that we breathe in.
Speak your mind and lose your job. Speak your mind and lose your friends. Speak your mind and lose your liberty. Speak your mind and lose your life. As I said, this is not new. Study the last 2000 years and see each period of extreme persecution all have the same stifling of opinions that run counter to the popular culture. Religious or secular, the tactics are the same because it is tried and tested. Make no mistake, there is a strategy behind all of this and its not man made. Men are mere pawns in the grand strategy of the devil, willing dupes. The dupes payoff is to see their grievances avenged and the people they hate suffer. The devil’s payoff is to shut down the ability to shares the Gospel, the full Gospel. As in times gone by, there is a remnant who will not bow the knee nor give the salute to the devil and his cohorts. It will not end well, but the end of this world for the saints is the reaching of our final etrnal destination.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 24, 2020
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
The question is, are you content? I would argue that the whole world is looking for contentment. I certainly thought when I became a Christian that the Church would be packed full of contented people, you can imagine my disappointment. It seemed to me that most folk that I met in the church were very much like the world when it came to contentment. The world makes every mistake possible while attempting to achieve contentment, yet so do many Christians. Many people in the world believe that contentment comes through material possessions and good personal relationships. While these things are nice, they could never possibly bring the deep kind of contentment that Paul is talking about.
Now some good Christian folk would argue that your personal relationship with Jesus brings you the kind of contentment Paul is speaking about in this particular Scripture, it’s simply not true but it makes it possible. In fact only through Jesus is it possible, but He aint doing it for you. Paul had to learn to be content. It was not a question of his relationship with Jesus, rather it was a question of enduring and overcoming as he walked through fire and flood. There are choices to be made as we move along the narrow path of life. We choose to endure. We choose to give thanks. We overcome much as Jesus did in the garden when He submits His will to the Father’s.
The key word I would argue in understanding this is “learned.” He had learned to be content, there was no magic wand. No one came along and laid hands on him and suddenly he was full of contentment. Paul, time and again had to walk through the fire and continue to praise God. We see in another Scripture that we are admonished not to be anxious at all but to pray and give thanks and make supplication to God and if we did that, something supernatural would happen, a supernatural peace that passes all understanding would actually stand guard over our hearts.
Can you praise God today in spite of your circumstances? If you learn to do this, if you walk through the fire with your hands held high, trusting in God, you will come to the place that Paul came to. You will discover that peace and contentment will have nothing to do with your circumstances, which are ever-changing, but have everything to do with praising and trusting in God who is never-changing. Choose to praise the Lord in the lower reaches of the dungeon, and you will learn to be content.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 22, 2020
Rev_12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
These are tried and tested saints. They have been taken to the wilderness. Rejected by man. Rejected by religious institutions. Walked through fire. Waded through flooded waters. Refined,tested and broken. Suffering is their teacher. The bread of adversity is their food. The waters of affliction their drink. You do not do not wake up one morning and love not your life unto death. God prepares His people. He equips those that He calls.
He takes away the love of this world and everything in it by drawing His people unto Himself. He reveals Himself to His children, that is part of the preparation. This revelation, these encounters of the manifest presence of God strengthens and challenges His people. There is three major themes in the old Hymn “I have decided to follow Jesus.” They are 1. The world behind me, the cross before me. 2. Though none go with me, still I will follow. 3. My cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus. Such a simple hymn, such profound concepts.
Christ is coming back in all His glory in the sky. There is great movement in the heavenlies and the principalities and powers know that. God is preparing a people who will stand in that evil day. Moses removed his shoes before a Holy God. God had come to commission him and tell him to go and confront the world. In order to confront the world we must remove all worldliness from ourselves otherwise we shall be written off as mere hypocrites. God will call tried and tested saints to stand and bear witness to the truth and those saints will be saints who are willing to lay down their lives.
After more that 400 years of silence from God, John the Baptist cries out from the wilderness “Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.” Gods own people in this day have been dwelling in a wilderness and God has raised them up. In the midst of storms and through their brokenness they have learned to keep their eyes upon Jesus. The attractions and distractions of this world have been removed like dross from the fiery furnaces of trials and afflictions. The culmination of the ages is upon us.
You know it, you do not have to be convinced, the indwelling Spirit tells you so. The principalities and powers know it too it and they will not go quietly. The children of God are their deadliest enemies for we are bearers of the light. Hold fast, stand strong, lift up your heads for you know where your help cometh from. Remember the words of the Hebrew children in defiance of haughty arrogant power “we shall never bow down to the gods of this world.” Stand fast saints. He is coming.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 20, 2020
Identity, it has become a raging political and social issue. In fact it has torn away at the fabric of who we are. Homosexuals, transgenders, feminists bisexuals. In all of those groups and more, identity is key. They seek to identify identity or water it down and then create division. Lets face it, it is not just these groups that do it. We are a world torn apart by identity. Today we are either globalists of nationalists. We are black or white. Gay or straight. Conservative or liberal. Republican or Democrat. The list goes on. What does the Word say about us saints? Where should we find 100% of our identity? Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2Co 5:17)
We are new creatures in Christ. We have become part of a single Body. We are unified in the Spirit. We are one with God. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.(Gen 1:27) We, the human race, were made in the image of God, and then we fell and when we fell we not only lost our relationship with God but we also lost our identity Mankind wanders in a desert of death and sin and corruption, having thrown off its true identity.
It desperately seeks for identity anywhere it can find it, apart from God. The new creatures in Christ have found their true identity. They are wholly identified with Jesus, one with Him and the Father. Given the foundational importance of identity and the all out attack on it from the enemy of our souls, saints need to understand and recognize the scheme of the enemy. He comes against us in an effort to water down our true identity and to the degree that he can do that, he disarms us.
Here are some of my own identity traits from the natural world that I was born into and grow up in and have lived. 1. White.2. Working class.3. Catholic 4. Scottish 5. Irish 6. British 7. American 8. Socialist 9. Capitalist 10. Middle Class 11. Democrat 12. Republican 13. Pentecostal 14. Evangelical 15. Pre-trib, mid trib 16. Arminian 17. Pre Millennial-Post Milliennial
There are more, but you can see how complicated identity can be. Every one of those identifying traits had some kind of influence on me at one time or another. Yet, I died to this world. I died and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. I do not belong to this world but to another Kingdom and that Kingdom has a King and His name is Jesus. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.(Col 3:1-3)
We are armed by our true identity. Knowing that we are pilgrims here on the earth, a Holy priesthood whose sole purpose is to glorify God, we throw of the shackles of our old identities and walk in the power of the glory of our new identities. If we make common cause with any of our old identities, or allow ourselves to make common cause with our own pet religious identities then we weaken ourselves as priests. We then give space for the enemy to rob us of our true identities and the oneness that comes with it. Only when we recognize our true identity will we truly walk in the power of the Kingdom to which we belong. Everything about us must decrease and He must increase. This is our noble goal.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:(1Pe 2:9)
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 20, 2020
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Daniel speaks of a time when the saints will be worn down. I believe the process of the saints being worn down has already begun. Times have been changed and wrong has become right and truth, at best, is relative. This is wearing the saints out as they struggle to come to terms with these fast changing circumstances. There has been a blitzkrieg so to speak in the realms of the spirit. Compromise and unrighteousness has surrounded the saints. We are an obstacle that at some point will have to be removed if the enemy is to have total dominance. More laws will be changed and we will witness more compromise by Christendom
Now we know we are called to gird our loins with truth. Satan has furiously assaulted truth in our day. Truth has become anything you need it to be, it has become relative. Of course truth is absolute, but that is no longer accepted. We are called to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Righteous living and holiness has become something of a quaint notion in our day. Between the word of faith and the prosperity gospel, cheap grace and hyper grace, actual holy living has become something deemed as a work when of course it is one of the fruits of genuine salvation.
Our feet are to be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Our hearts must be right and this keeps us ever ready to walk in the peace that comes from the truth of the Gospel which has set us free. It also keeps us ever ready to share the gospel with others. Satan has done a great job in quieting the saint when it comes to the Gospel of truth. We are constantly afraid of offending someone. The bold notion that there is but one way to heaven, through the Lord Jesus Christ and that all other paths and religions lead to hell has become all but illegal and in fact it has become unacceptable in so many arenas of public life.
The shield of faith is one of our most important parts of our armor. It protects us from the fiery darts of the enemy. Yet in the last several decades we have seen movements like the word of faith literally destroy the meaning of the word faith. The essence of faith is trusting in God despite our circumstances, yet Satan has turned that truth on its head by teaching that our circumstances are the results of our faith or lack thereof. So, when trials come, rather than people trusting in God they begin to despair and the fiery darts of the enemy find their mark.
Last we have the Word of God which is the sword. We can say with great certainty that the enemy has fought this for countless centuries but in recent decades has made enormous strides in taking the sword out of the hands of those who oppose him. We are an illiterate generation. This lack of knowledge is killing us. So it is clear, in order to stand in the coming evil day we must rediscover the armor of God and wear it at all times. Cry out to God today saints, have Him help you put on the armor. It will save your eternal life.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 17, 2020
Joh_12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Today the saints must establish in their hearts what they are living for. Are you living for the things that are eternal? Will you be willing in the coming days to lose everything? In the coming days, there will be darkness and various shades of grey on one side, and there will be light on the other. There is no darkness in God. We cannot stand in shades of grey. If there was an earthquake and you were standing on the fault line, one foot on one side and one on the other, as it began to open up, you would have to choose what side you were going to stand on. Continue to straddle the line and you would plunge to your death, you would be swallowed up.
There is a spiritual earthquake going on right now. Everything than can be shaken is being shaken. What side will you find yourself on? On one side there is the world and all its attractions and distractions. For most of us our way of life is wrapped up in the world. On the other side there is the way of the Kingdom and the word of God which almost entirely contradicts everything the world holds dear. If the civil war split families right down the middle and pitied one against the other over issues of slavery and so on, what will the ultimate separation look like? America tore itself to pieces in the bloodiest civil war ever seen and yet the coming separation will go much deeper and on multiple fronts.
A famous group of colonists once declared independence from Great Britain and a shot was fired that was heard around the world. When the colonists signed that declaration of independence, death was assured for them in the event of defeat. They were, with their signatures, totally committed to the cause and willing to pay the ultimate price. If mere men can make declarations of independence and give their life for that cause, what can an army of saints around the world achieve by their own declarations? Not of independence, but of dependence upon God alone. And how will we declare such things? By the lives that we live and the stands that we take. If one cannot take a stand now, that one will not be able to stand in the evil day. For those who stand upon the Word of God and walk in His Kingdom reality, God will pour out His Spirit upon them. He will equip those He has called to stand. Stand fast brothers and sister.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 14, 2020
As I was walking and praying the other day the Holy Spirit laid this thought upon my heart. “Unless we understand the culpability of man we are not qualified to speak to the grace of God.There is an intimate connection between guilt and grace. It is when we realize the depths of our sin and rebellion against a holy God that the power of unmerited favor is truly realized.”
I went on to write about this as I felt led by the Spirit. Oftentimes I read a few books at a time. Picking up one, laying down the other and sometimes just laying them down altogether fro months and just read the Word. A good brother of mine had given me a small book by Art Katz entitled ” The holocaust:Where was God.” A heavy title for sure and a heavy subject. Today I picked up the book and read a couple of pages. Here is what jumped out at me.
“To have a view of God that exempts the judgement of God as being a central facet of God’s character and way, is to have a warped view of God. To know Him as He in fact is, in both His severity and His goodness, is to know Him in truth. And to know Him as “that,” God is to be saved by Him out of extremity and calamity of our fallen nature. To know God as Judge is therefore one of the eminent prerequisites for the true knowledge of Him. God is indivisible, and we cannot parcel Him out and enjoy certain of His attributes to the exclusion of others. The consequence of an inadequate faith and an inadequate knowledge of God is tragic beyond all describing. What are His mercies but for His judgements? And what are His judgements rightly understood but for His mercies? To see God in His acts as both the God of judgment and the God of restoration is to begin to catch a glimpse of God and His fullness.” ( Art Katz)
Brother Artz said so much in this paragraph.It is worth reading it a few times over and ponder the truth of what he is sharing. To truly know God is to know the fullness of God. We live in a generation whose favorite saying is “don’t judge me.” Now they may say it to Christians but for sure this extends to God. They are simply not interested in God or His word or His people who would draw any kind of lines in the sand when it comes to sin. This sentiment is rising into a rage because we live in the days of the great falling away. The Lord Jesus is coming back soon and the rebellion is intensifying.
This generation will bend their knee to God or they will have their knees bent for them. They may reject a God who judges but that in no way changes the goodness or the severity of God. He is a holy and righteous God, a God of both justice and of mercy. It is a dangerous thing to trifle with God for He is high and lifted up and His glory fills the temple.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 13, 2020
Unless we understand the culpability of man we are not qualified to speak to the grace of God. There is an intimate connection between guilt and grace. It is when we realize the depths of our sin and rebellion against a holy God that the power of unmerited favor is truly realized. Imagine a man finds himself in prison serving a sentence of life without parole for something he denies doing. Someone grants him pardon. Is the man who is innocent in his own mind grateful for the pardon? Perhaps to some degree, but in his heart he reckons that he deserves his freedom.
A man who is not hungry cares little for some bread. Yet a starving man will fall upon this bread as if it were the finest food in all the world. According to Jesus, the woman who had fallen at his feet and washed his feet with her tears and dried His feet with her hair was a sinner. She was probably a whore or a prostitute. In order to explain what was going on Jesus uses a parable. There were two debtors, one owed 500 and the other owed 50, they could not repay. Both their debts were forgiven and Jesus asks who would love the one who had forgiven them the debt the most. Peter answers that the one who had been forgiven the most and Jesus tells him that he is correct.
The woman at the feet of Jesus understood her true nature by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. In response to this conviction and the presence of God she falls at His feet and continually kisses the feet of Jesus. She who was forgiven much loved much and he who is forgiven little loves little. Can you see the vital connection between understanding our culpability and experiencing the love and the mercy and the forgiveness of God? The man who is serving a life sentence, guilty as charged, who is then pardoned by the one who has the power to pardon, loves that one so much so that he would never stop kissing His feet, weeping with joy and gratitude at the feet of Jesus.
He who is forgiven little, at least little in his own estimation, loves little. Who are these people? Perhaps they are the second and the third generations of those who were truly born again? Perhaps they are a generation raised in the shadow of cheap grace? Perhaps is is a combination of both? Cheap grace, the presumption and the familiarity that breeds contempt of the message of forgiveness. A generation that knows nothing of their culpability therefore knows nothing of the true grace that would make a woman fall to the floor and weep at the feet of Jesus. Or those under a similar conviction who would cry out “What must we do to be saved.” The depth of the knowledge of our sin and those who are convicted by it creates a generation of new creatures in Christ whose love is great. The opposite creates an anemic generation of Christians.
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Posted by appolus on July 12, 2020
The picture above is a picture of a door I installed. It meant removing the old door and the frame, and replacing it with the one that you see. If you look at the top right hand side of the door, you will see there is a space of about nearly an inch, now look at the bottom, no space. Now, the door is hung level and plumb, but the trim is the problem. Look at the space between the trim of the window and the trim of the door, it is equal. This hides the fact that the window is almost an inch of the plumb in just a few feet. If I had made the trim of the door plumb, as it should be, then it would have been instantly noticeable that something was not right.
You see, I had a choice to make. I could do it correctly which would have made the work that I did look off the level and off the plumb, or I could hide it my matching the existing work. Only the trained eye will now notice that the work that I did was not plumb. This is often done with kitchen cabinets when the ceiling is not quite level. You measure down an equal size from one side to the other and snap a line and that forms the top line of your cabinets. No one will ever know that your cabinets are not level.
It occurred to me that we often bend what we say in order to make it fit in with the world. In order to not stand out so much, we take our measurements from the world as our plumb line and it leads to everything being off the level. We do that so that everything will look right, nothing stands out too much. I think it is one of the great tragedies of the age, that we use anything other than the Word of God as our plumb line.
Rather, we use sentiment and humanism to guide and measure our words to a world that is completely off the level and plumb. This simply leads to more things being off the level. Our lives and our words need to be measured exactly by the word of God which is perfectly level and plumb. Anything else is simply pandering to a lost and dying world no matter how good it looks or sounds.
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Posted by appolus on July 11, 2020
The Christian’s answer to death is living life. And by that I mean zoe life. In the Scriptures there is three kinds of life. There is the physical life, there is the mental life and then there is the life of God flowing in us. The three Greek words for them, in that order, are Bios, Psuch and Zoe.
An example of Bios would be found in Luke 8 in the parable of the sower and the seed. In verse 14 we see that the seed has fallen among thorns. These thorns represent the cares and the pleasures of “life.” The abundant life of God was ignored and instead, the pleasures and the cares of this life choked out any chance of walking in the abundant life(zoe) of God.
An example of Psuch can be found in Matt 16:25. Whosoever shall save his life (pysuch) shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life(pysuch) for my sake shall find it. This word represents the mind, the emotion and the will. It is what represents the seat of our affections. It has nothing to do with being a martyr. It has everything to do with a compete surrender of the heart, the soul the mind and the body. This kind of surrender leads to zoe life.Or, without this surrender the bios life which chokes out any chance of an abundant zoe life in Christ.
An example of Zoe life is John 1:4 In Him was the life(zoe) and that life was the light of men. This is the life of God quite apart from man, the eternal life of God than knows no beginning or end. When this life comes to reside in a man or a woman, they are walking in and by the life of God. The abundance is the life of God in us.
There has been much written about the sower and the seed. Some would say that it was the condition of the soil that caused the various reactions. Yet we see that in verse Luke 8:4 people were gathered from every city to hear the word of God. And Jesus “scattered the seed,” among them, all of them. It was not their condition that stunted their growth and killed them of, for all men are in the same spiritual condition outside of Jesus, they are dead in their sins. No, it was their reaction to the Word of God, their response to it.
“Having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”(Luke 8:15) Those who hear the word and keep it create depth in their hearts and the seed can grow and produce much fruit and they walk in zoe life the abundant life of Christ which is living waters to the seed sown which now resides in the depths of good ground.
If you focus on anything other than Jesus then you allow the devil to come and steal the seed right out of your heart. If your eyes are on the cares of this world and its pleasures, you allow thorns to grow and choke you. When trial and temptation comes it reveals what kind of life you have in you, it reveals the decision that that you made in your life(pysuch) way back at the beginning of your profession, whether you did indeed lose your life for His sake.
As in all things, it is how we respond to the word of God that determines our walk in this life (bios) If you abide in His word, then you are His true disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Free to live an abundant zoe life in Christ. The seed is to be scattered far and wide. A man or womans reaction to that word is between them and God. God would have that all men and women come to a saving knowledge of Him and that all men would be obedient to His word. His desire would be all men would live an abundant life.
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Posted by appolus on July 10, 2020
Psa 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
When David left the Ark with Obed -Edom, it was reported that all that pertained to his house was blessed of the Lord. Our modern day prosperity teachers would convince us that God enriched Obed-Edom but Jewish history shows that Obed-Edom’s family were enriched by the birth of many children in the short time the Ark was there. Women of the household giving birth to multiple babies. There was life in the house of Obed-Edom and that more abundantly. The presence of God gives us life and that more abundantly.
Life in God, life in the Spirit, the overcoming power of God that comes from walking in His Spirit. Obed-Edom would later be found as a guard of the Temple treasure and involved in the worship in the temple. It seems he followed the Ark, he followed the presence of God and dwelt there as a door-keeper. Have you been touched by His presence? Would one day in His presence be better than a thousand elsewhere? Will you follow Him where He leads? Has the presence of God taken hold of your life?
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Posted by appolus on July 8, 2020
Rom 1:5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Imagine you are crossing a great river. The world is on one side and you are headed toward the other side, the heavenly side. Each time you are obedient, each time you turn your back on sin, another stepping stone appears before you and you move forward towards your goal. One step at a time on the road to glory. It is by obedience that we make forward progress towards a deeper walk with Him and we overcome.
Now, there are two main categories of obedience. One is a legalistic obedience and the other is glorified obedience. Brokenness, submission, surrender and love must be the building blocks of our obedience. If we simply try to be obedient without first taking these steps, revealed to us through the word and a revelation of it, we will discover that there is an obedience that binds us in chains and the weight of these chains will drag us down and drown us. Yet, obedience born out of love and a desire to please the one that we love frees us and fulfills us and propels us on.
Glorified obedience, one motivated by love and awe of a righteous holy God and a revelation of Calvary is like the watering of a tree. There can be no fruit produced unless that tree is watered by the living waters of obedience. Striving to be obedient without the fruits of brokenness will lead to a desert landscape in which nothing can live. The motivations of our heart, the seat of our affections that sets our eyes upon Jesus and the Holiness of God takes us from glory to glory.
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Posted by appolus on July 1, 2020
Joh 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved him until I set him free.” And “Every block of stone has a statue inside of it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” And one more in reference to his most famous statue of King David “David was always there in the marble, I just took away everything that was not David.” These are quotes attributed to Michelangelo and I love them, for I think he expresses, without knowing, spiritual truths. What he has assigned to a block of stone and the creation of a statue, is the very thing that God does with a human being who discovers Him
We who know Jesus are a work in progress. Paul says in Ephesians that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. This word perform means to complete. The work that He has begun in you, He is faithful to complete it. I want you to sit for a moment and ponder the magnificence of that. Rest in the truth that the greatest artist of all, the one who hung the stars in the sky, the one who laid the foundations of the earth, the one who created you and breathed life into you has not finished His work with you but will finish it.
The Lord has a hammer and He has a chisel. In the process of freeing you from your former self there must be the blow of the hammer down upon the chisel and we must yield to it. The Scriptures also tell us that the steps of a righteous man are ordered of God. Your life is not some series of random events that somehow hold you capture to its surrounding circumstances. No, your life is His and He is faithful to you. The swing of His hammer is the process whereby He is setting you apart. When Jesus cried to Lazarus to come forth, the coming forth was not all that happened. Lazarus was bound hand and foot with grave-clothes. He had to be set free from them. The grave-clothes had to be taken off so that the Lazarus that was brought to life would no longer be bound by death, but released and free to live.
In 1 Peter chapter 2 Peter says that we are stones being built up into a spiritual house. Every stone is shaped by the Master. Peter also says in the same chapter that we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation a peculiar people who have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light so that we may declare the praises of Jesus. When the religious men of the day plotted to kill Jesus, they also plotted to kill Lazarus. Why? Because his very life testified to the Master, the creator of life, the one who rolls the stone away, the one who shines light into the darkness, the one who bids us come out of the darkness and join Him in His marvelous light.
You are a saint such as this. Don’t let the enemy fool you or lie to you. You are God’s creation. He created you, He breathed life into you, He called you out, He raised you up, He healed you, He forgave you, He restored you, he reconciled you, when you passed through the waters He was with you, while you were refined by the fire He was with you, when you were down He raised you up, He died for you, He rose again for you and He ever intercedes at the right hand of the Father. He has not finished with you but He is faithful and true to complete that which He has begun in you and He does it all for His good pleasure.
You are His, you were bought with a very expensive price. He has not forgotten you. Lift your hands towards heaven today and open your heart and let this truth flood into your very being. God bless you my brother, God bless you my sister. Keep on going, there are a cloud of witnesses cheering you. You are God’s work of art and all other works of art are but a mere shadow, a pale imitation at best of what the Lord is creating in you.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
A Call To The Remnant 