Archive for August, 2020
Posted by appolus on August 31, 2020
Psa 3:3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
The episode here described in this psalm of David is from one of the lowest accounts of his life. It is one thing to have enemies, its hard and we have to deal with that. It is quite another when it is a loved one who stabs you in the back. David’s own son Absalom has turned against him and has convinced most of the country to turn on David. So many of us can relate to Davids situation, he has troubles on every side. He is not a young man anymore and one could forgive him for thinking “have I not suffered enough?”
People all around him are telling him that there is no help from God. Yet this is not David’s reaction. He has learned to trust God after all these years of serving him. He says that he cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard him from His holy hill. He did cry, we see that in 2 Sam 15:30 where he and all the people who were loyal to him weep as they make their way up Mount Olivet. What a sad tragic scene.
Yet David says that the Lord heard his cries. He acknowledges that the Lord is His shield and the lifter of his head and that in the glory of the Lord there is strength and peace to be found. So much so that David could lie down and sleep. As so many of you know, in a crisis, sleep rarely comes easily. Yet David slept for the Lord sustained him and he was not afraid. He trusted God so much that he sent the Ark back to Jerusalem and announced that it would be God who would determine the outcome of this situation. Whether on a throne or on the run David recognizes that God is his shield. He recognized that there was power in the glory of God and that this power was able to lift up the hands that hung down low and lift up the head to survey the heavens, from whence his help came from.
Those around us, who do not have eyes to see the glory, many well intentioned people, whisper in our ears along with the devil himself that there is no help from God. The man whose eyes are fixed on the glory of God, he is drawn away from his doubts and fears and drawn deeper into the heart of God. He abides under the shadow of the Almighty’s wing. And so we see here a principle that was so clearly demonstrated by Peter when he walked on the water. If your eyes are upon Jesus, He elevates you above the storm. The storm is still raging yet it cannot consume you. If your eyes are upon your situation then you start to drown, you will go under.
Maybe today you face that kind of situation with a loved one, or perhaps you are just surrounded on every side by trials, or maybe it is your future that deeply troubles you for any number of reasons. Remember this dear saint, God is a shield for you and in His glory He will lift you up. You keep looking to Jesus and you will lie down and sleep. He will give you the strength to arise every morning. He is well able.
He knows your situation, just as he knew David’s. And David knew that. And in that trust that David had developed over decades of troubles, he could say with the Apostle Paul “I have learned to be content.” Be content today saint for God knows your situation. He will be with you through the fires and through the floods. He will not allow you to drown nor to be consumed by the fires of your trials.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 27, 2020
As I was walking this morning and praying I was telling the Lord that I was wearied of the flesh in all of its many manifestations. This daily fight can be very tiring and I was sharing with the Lord how lovely it would be when it was all over. As I rounded the corner on the path, I heard two different bird noises. I knew what they were, I had heard them before. One was a bird in distress and the other was a hawk screetching. Although I could not see what was going on, I have seen it before. The hawk undoubtedly had caught the small bird and the small bird was making very distressed noises, as were his little buddies all around him. The hawk would be unmoved by these noises and would never lose his grip on his little prisoner.
As I pictured this in my mind the Holy Spirit spoke to me, He said “Something has to die so that something can live.” It just seemed so profound to me because of the image in my mind of the hawk and its prey. Yet, this concept is fundamental to all of humanity. Every time we eat something, something had to die. It had to die that we may live. Dying and living, in that order, it is what sustains us. It is elemental.
As I walked on and pondered this, I thought about a show Angie and I watch on National Geographic. It is called “Alone.” The basic premise of the show is that they take ten people and scatter them in a rough wilderness area, and they have to survive for 100 days. This year the location was just 250 miles from the Arctic circle. A brutal place with limited resources. What actually happens is that they slowly begin to starve to death. When they do catch something, like a fish or a rabbit, they are so overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness that they often embrace the catch that they have just killed and weep. This is life and death and they know it. It seems to be a very spiritual experience, small c of course.
The relationship between death and life is so elemental to humanity, this notion that something has to die in order for something to live lies at the root of who we are. If Christ is to live in me then something has to die. There are no ways around, something has to die. I have to die, my flesh has to die so that Christ in me shall be manifested to the world. I have to d3crease so that He may increase. Jesus, of course, is the perfect example of this. In order for us to live then He had to die. Without His death we would not live. In John chapter six Jesus teaches that we must eat His Body and drink His Blood.
Jesus is the Living bread that came down from heaven. In order for us to partake of the this food and this drink then Jesus had to die. Something has to die so something can live. Jesus had to die so that we could live eternally. Now my flesh has to die, with all of the distress that accompanies that and all of the noise that I sometime make in the process. My cross taken up daily is the means that has been prepared for me by the one who bore the ultimate cross. An instrument of death that produces life. Lord, may I take up this cross daily so that something dies daily and from this death comes life.
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Posted by appolus on August 27, 2020
There are not many around today who have experienced the manifest presence of the Living God. And by that I do not mean ” the music was excellent this morning, I was really moved by it,” or ” that was such a great sermon.” What I mean by the manifest presence of God is when the music stops, when the preaching stops, when men can barely lift their heads because the holy heaviness of God has come down and laid bare their souls. Where the weight of His glory and majesty seems to even disrupt gravity.
Men and women are afraid to even whisper lest they interrupt a Holy God. Hands raised in holy adoration and men are on their knees. Tears flow like swollen rivers in the midst of spring time rains. Hearts are enlarged, hearts are melted, hearts are changed, hearts are filled to capacity then overflow. For the rest of the day, the week, the month these rain drenched swollen hearts fall with tears of overflowing at the mere thought of His presence.
The sensitivity of your touched heart is so great that even the mention of the name of Jesus ushers you once again into His presence. This is new wine, and the old has to give way to the new. We do not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God nor do we live on yesterdays memories but on today’s encounter for that gives life to your tomorrows.
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Posted by appolus on August 26, 2020
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.(Psa 2:1-3)
The world in which we live grows ever more angry against the Kingdom of God and His saints. As each day passes we see more and more that the heathen, the unbeliever and the people in general are aligned with the kings and rulers of this world against the anointed of God. The anger is rising in the hearts of men against the saints of God. Pretense is being cast away and kings and governments are showing their true colors, they are showing us who they really worship, the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air.
Yet the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords still sits upon His throne. His kingdom and His people still carry the banner of light into the valley of darkness. Though the whole world rises up in a crescendo of darkness and evil, the saints, the bearers of the light shall stand firm upon Holy ground, they will not be moved. Those who serve the Lord with fear and who tremble in His manifest presence are soldiers in the Army of the Lord. We do not fight with the weapons of this world, our weapons are mighty for the pulling down of strong-holds.
Every saint who has ever walked Godly in Christ Jesus knows something of the heathen’s rage. You know brothers and sisters, you know. God has seen your suffering and is well pleased that you have stood strong against the exploits of the people in general around you, perhaps even those of your own household. Now consider our Lord and Savior Jesus, how in His day the rulers took counsel together to destroy Him. Kings and rulers, Pharisees and Sadducees, Herodians and the mob all came together against Him. The whole world turned on Him and yet He was true to His calling until He gave up His last breath.
Though the whole world come against you dear brothers and sisters, and it will, let us follow the ways of the Lord and stay true to our calling until we breathe our last breath. Whether we live or whether we die let us glorify the Lord. And whether we are still alive or have gone on before we shall all join our Lord in the sky in that great and terrible day of the Lord. The Kings and the rulers of this world and the raging heathens and all the vain peoples will bow their knees and acknowledge the Christ and receive His judgment.
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 | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on August 25, 2020
Consider what Wayne Jacobsen says in his book “Finding Church.” In comparing meetings to gatherings he says “What’s the difference? Am I just splitting hairs here? I realize the terms can be used synonymously, but I’m not doing so. A gathering brings people together to celebrate relationship. It is heavy on conversation, often multiple conversations, because people are nor forced to follow an agenda. Meetings, on the other hand, bring people together to accomplish a task even if that task is to perform some ritual. They demand conformity and people have to cooperate for them to work. Relationships are not critical, which is why you can attend meetings for years, even small ones, and not get to know or care for others in the group….. success is measured not by the size of the group but by the quality of relationships.”
I could not agree more with this brother on that subject. For years, decades, centuries, people have sat together in meetings and had no idea who their neighbor was. Yet, gatherings promote true and genuine fellowship. People are starving for true and genuine fellowship. They desperately need to be edified in relationship. Rather than one more teaching they simply need to be heard and to be able to share what the Lord has and does through them. I am not speaking here of novices or babes in Christ, I am speaking of true and genuine saints who have been on the road for years and decades. God is raising up a last days people who long for and desire true and genuine fellowship that is bathed in love for one for Jesus and for one another.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on August 22, 2020
Shame is the shadow that follows us. A dark specter from our past, a half life of an incident or multiple incidents all seemingly running together as one. It speaks to you and pretends to be something of a friend, something that promises to keep the secret, it warns you to keep the secret. It demands that you stay in the shadows, in the hiding places. It draws you into a melancholy world, a place of shadows and quicksand, a world that keeps you in the darkness.
Then there is the light, the light of Christ, and with that light comes transparency and vulnerability, the deadliest enemies of the ever burning embers of fear and shame. Living waters poured upon burning coals. Light that floods the darkness and illuminates every dark part of what helped to form us, or deform us. The light of Christ shone into the deepest recesses of our souls and dispels the darkness and renews us.
We are renewed, brand new creatures in Christ. The mud and the muck falls from us as He lifts us up from the bottom of the bottomless pit and sets our feet down on level ground. No longer to stumble around in the dimness that passed for light, but to stand steady in the light of Christ. Grave clothes removed after rising from the dead and walking out of the darkness at His call. Can you hear Him calling us to come forth?
The stone of sin and shame that kept us captive in the grave is rolled away and the light of God penetrates deep into the darkness and delivers us. Only in Him, only in Jesus. He came to set the captives free. He came to set at liberty the crushed and the bruised and the broken. He came to take them out of the darkness into His marvelous light that they may recover their sight.
For so many, the bars of their cell, the closed door, does not represent confinement but containment. In Jesus we are neither confined nor contained, we are set free. But it is one thing to cross the river Jordan, it quite another thing to possess the promised land. The high walls of Jericho have to come down if we are to progress deeper and deeper into the promises of God. Coming to Jesus is not the end of the journey, its the beginning. The cell door being opened is the beginning. What a tragedy it would be if the cell door was opened yet we never walked on through the door, rather we felt safer within the confines and constraints of what we knew.
It would also be a tragedy if, after being delivered from Egypt, the Israelites continually wandered in the desert, too afraid to cross over into and possess the promised land because “there are giants in there.” Giants have to be engaged and defeated by the power of God if we are to take full possession of what He has for us. Walls have to come down if we are to continue the journey. What are your giants? What great walls are keeping you from taking possession of what God has for you?
In the Lord, by obedience and trust and action, we are more than conquerors. In Him we conquer fear. In Him we conquer shame. In Jesus the walls will come down. By the power of His love and the Holy Spirit death has lost its victory and the grave has lost its sting and His perfect love casts out all fear. We overcome because He overcame. We endure because He endured the cross. We are a victorious people because Jesus was victorious over hell and sin and the grave. He arose that we might arise. Arise in new birth to a new dawn that we might sing the glories of our risen Saviour. Arise today in the power of His might and slay those giants. It is your calling.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on August 21, 2020
There is an old hymn that goes something like this “Lord dont move the mountain just give me strength to climb.” I love that . I truly love that. So often in our beds of ease our cry would be “Lord remove the mountain.” Yet when He gives us the strength to climb we are at the same time plummeting the depths of His love, the depths of His glory, the depths of who He is. The narrow road that we find ourselves on requires from us things we could never do. It constantly takes us to the end of ourselves. And at the end of ourselves is where Jesus really begins to do a deep work in our lives.
Along the way we come to mountain ranges that are impassable. “Lord, help me get over. Lord if you dont help me my journey stops here.” And He says to us “put one foot in front of the other and I will take you over.” Further along the way we come to a raging river and we realize that it is impossible to get over. The Lord says to us “just put one foot in the river and I will take you over.’
One impossible mountain at a time. One raging river at a time. An ocean to cross and deep valleys to traverse and every step of the way we understand more and more about our limitations. Our self confidence diminishes. In fact everything about self diminishes. We understand that without Jesus we could do nothing. Without the Spirit of the Living God we could do nothing. He picks us up, He wipes our tears, He strengthens us when we are weak. He gives us hope when all seems bleak. He leads the way when I am lost, He lifts my eyes up to the cross. He fills me when I am depleted, He gives me vision to see Him seated, High above and on His throne and tells me that I’m not alone.
And when I near the end of this journey, so much of my flesh has been stripped away. Any confidence that I may once have had in myself is long since gone. Somehow I have decreased and He has increased. Every high mountain and wide river, every trial, every temptation, every persecution has drawn me closer to the one that I love. I have an ever deepening knowledge and assurance of His faithfulness. So Lord my God, carry me over the mountains, take me across the sea, that I would draw ever closer unto thee. Until only ever before my eyes is your presence and your glory and the realm of the impossible made possible. Do not remove my mountains Lord, just give me strength to climb.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 19, 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.
This verse is one of the high water marks of our walk with the Lord. Paul says that he had “learned,” to be content no matter what situation he found himself in. This learning did not come from his studies at the feet of human teachers. This learning came from having experienced everything that life had to throw at him, or better stated, everything that he had to suffer for the cause of Christ.
Whether it was being hungry or without proper clothing, having a lot of money or having no money at all, Paul had learned. Whether he was popular or whether he was rejected, he had learned. When he was shipwrecked and adrift in the sea, he had learned. Whether he had the skin torn from his back or stoned to within an inch of his life, he had learned. Whether he was a free man in this world or whether he found himself at the bottom of a dungeon, he had learned.
What had he learned? What had a multitude of afflictions taught him? He has learned that His Lord and Savior was always with him and always took him through. When you can look back at your own life and see what the Lord has brought you through, how He walked with you through a multitude of trials and afflictions you can see that He always took you through, through the fires and through the floods of life.
Look back and see where He has brought you from. See what He has delivered you from. See how He has provided for you. Looking back is very rarely healthy, yet when we think back to how the Lord has delivered us time and time again it builds our faith. It strengthens our tomorrows when we can look back at our yesterdays and see what the Lord has brought us through and how far He has taken us. We lean not so much about our own faith, we learn and appreciate the faithfulness of God. As we learn how faithful the Lord is, it actually grows our faith. All good things flow from God, including our faith, all the glory belongs to Him.
If we have come to the place that we can rejoice when our teachers are the bread of afflictions and the waters of adversity then we can say with Paul that we have learned to be content in every situation. Bread and water is the diet of prisoners, it is designed to barely keep them alive. Yet our life comes not from bread alone but from every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. A word from God is life to us. Water is the most basic need of man, but we drink from the eternal wells of living water that flow from heaven above.
Therefore, even in chains and in the most dire of situations we can rejoice. We will always have bread from heaven and the living waters of life to revive our soul. Therefore we can rejoice in the Lord our God just like Paul and Silas in the dungeon. Paul could be content in every situation because he had learned, by actual experience, that God was with him in every situation. Dear saint, He is with you, and in this we rest.
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Posted by appolus on August 18, 2020
Jer29:11 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.
This is a very well known verse, and like many well know verses it is, for the most part, quoted without context. In Jer 29 Israel is in a very dark place, a place of judgement and captivity. It is in this context that the Lord assures His people. While all around us may be falling to pieces, while the hand of God may be moving against those who are far from Him and have turned away from Him, God assures His people. There is the danger that God’s own people will think He has turned on them, but here the Lord assures them that quite the opposite is true.
The judgement upon Israel was not for her destruction, it was for her correction. God chastens those that He loves and it is for the purpose of turning His people back to Him so that they shall call upon Him. Maybe today you find your own life is in something of a turmoil? Perhaps you face trials on every side and conflicts at every turn? You wonder does God really love you. You wonder what God really thinks about you. You are plagued with doubts. Seek the Lord and keep seeking His face with all of your heart. He shall be found by those who diligently seek Him. His presence shall be your reward. Your captivity to thoughts and doubts and fears shall be loosed.
In these times of darkness, in these days when Christendom is falling away and judgement has begun at the house of the Lord, it is critical that we seek Him with our whole hearts. Let the darkness draw you closer to the Light. Let the fear and uncertainty that is all around you draw you closer to the peace and contentment that is only found in Jesus. Seek Him with all of your heart and be found in Him. As the storm rages all around you and seems to grow more intense, let your gaze upon Him grow more intense. Situations and circumstances will do everything they can to draw you away and avert your gaze, do not look away. Endure, overcome, stand brothers and sisters and know that His thoughts about you are more than the sands of the sea. And His plans for you are to hold you and keep you in the midst of the madness. In the Lord their is hope and in Him we have our future. He is our exceedingly great reward.
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Posted by appolus on August 14, 2020
Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.(Jer 9:23-24)
In the day of your calamity where is your strength? When the doctor tells you your child shall surely die, where is your wisdom? Can your strength save the child? Can all the money in the world raise up a child from the dead? The man of God’s strength lies in the fact that he knows God and is known by God. To know God and to depend upon Him is true wisdom. To know God and to be found in Him is true strength. To know God and to stand in His presence is riches beyond measure.
In the evil day to come we shall find our wisdom in the Word of God and the power of His Spirit. In the evil day to come when all true saints are brought low and among them there is no distinction, we shall find that in Him we are stronger than we ever could have imagined. We shall discover that it is His strength flowing through us when all our own capabilities have been stripped away. In the evil day to come when the world has taken back from us all of its treasures as a measure of punishment, we shall discover a depths of riches from the treasures of heaven that enrich us with true riches.
God’s wisdom is pure and eternal and His strength knows no bounds. The treasures that He bestows upon His children will stay with them for all eternity. Knowing Him is abundant life even in the midst of death. Knowing Him is light even in the depths of darkness. Knowing Him is rivers of living waters in a dry and dusty wilderness. Knowing Him is heavenly food for a starving soul in the midst of a great famine. Knowing Him is to have access to resources that are without limit, they are are spiritual and not carnal. The Apostle Paul proclaimed that the loss of everything he ever had in this world, including its wisdom and power and riches were as nothing in comparison to the excellency of knowing Christ his Lord and to found in Him and to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.
Can we make such a proclamation brothers and sisters? Is knowing Him our all in all? Shall we gladly suffer the loss of all things to be found in Him? This is the mark of the saint down through the ages. Let us take our place with the Body of Christ that went before us , that great cloud of witnesses, and let us proclaim with them and with Paul that to know Him and to be found in Him is the all consuming treasure of our heart.
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 August 12, 2020
Tozer writes “The church that can’t worship must be entertained. And men who can’t lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment.” I would argue that all across Christendom in the west we are seeing leaders who lead the people by providing entertainment. And if it is not entertainment, then it is some form of nationalism/politics.
Today we are being driven by the form and not the substance. Jesus is the substance. Jesus is the primary object. Jesus is the preeminent one. Without Him high and lifted up, front and center, without His presence in our midst we only have a form. A religious structure built by human hands to house our own desires. We have abandoned the real Jesus and constructed another Jesus. This other Jesus serves us. He serves our needs and desires, he entertains us through his creators. This other Jesus has never carried a cross nor does he require his followers to carry one either.
This cultural Jesus is a mere reflection of his adherents. He never judges, he never corrects. He has no particular requirements. He is a genie in a bottle even although they vigorously rub and he never appears. He does not walk with them, they walk alone. He does not talk to them, they merely engage their own imaginations. He lies to them through the prism of their souls. They hear him say peace and prosperity. He is a reflection of the better part of their natures and they do not realize that the better part of their natures is like filthy rags to the true and living God.
If these people ever actually encountered the true and the living Christ He would devastate them and upturn their lives. Everything they know or thought they knew would come crashing down. A God who judges? Hear the screams. A God who calls them to enter into His sufferings? Hear the wails. A God who requires their whole lives, their whole hearts, their whole allegiances? They writhe in agony. The flesh that refuses to die is enmity to God. He bids that flesh to voluntarily pick up its cross, the means of its own death. It shall surrender or it will rage against the author of the cross.
The narrow path never deviates as it winds its way home. It is fraught with danger. It slowly strips away all of the baggage that we took with us for our journey. It tears away at the flesh and passes through refining fires and floods. It often winds it way through hot and arid deserts. The narrow path has many exits and every exist is a path of least resistance. As soon as one steps onto it one can hear the haunting intoxicating sound of the siren call as it draws that one away from the narrow path.
For those who stay the course and stay on the narrow path, every so often, always suddenly, the Lord comes to us. He reminds us that we are His, He encourages us. He bids us look down and see that the path itself is the Word of God and that the path lights up and directs us in the way that we should go. We are instructed to turn neither to the left nor to the right. The Lord embraces us in His love and His kindness.
He heals our wounds, He tenderly touches our weary hearts. He feeds the deepest parts of us and sustains us for the journey. He restores the brokenhearted and gives strength to the weary. He gives us hope when there seems to be no hope. He gives us joy when there is nothing at all to be joyful about. He gives us a garment of praise and takes away a heavy spirit. He bids us to lift up our eyes and see the celestial city, from where our help comes from. Stay the course brothers and sisters. Stand fast in the time of our vexation. Our Lord is coming soon and our journey will be at an end.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 10, 2020
It’s not good enough to come to the cross, one must come to the cross and die. The ultimate offense of the cross is death. Jesus said that whoever seeks to save his life would lose it, but whoever loses his life for His sake would gain everlasting life. In Roman times, the one thing you knew if you saw a man with a cross was that the man was surely going to die and the dying would not be easy.
The message of the cross remains the same ” I bid you to come and die.” You cannot accept the benefits of the cross while refusing to suffer and endure the agonies of it. In order to live eternally one has to die. It is a very rare thing to hear this message today. The message for the last few decades typically begins with “All you have to do.” This is not the gospel. This is some abomination. See Jesus in the garden and see the agony. For us mere mortals the flesh will not go quietly into that good night, it will rage against the coming of the light.
It will demand to remain in the darkness and there it will make its stand. Salvation is a brutal bloody thing and the flesh must be found dead upon the brazen altar. It is the work of the cross that slays it and today Satan is still selling that old lie “surely you will not die. Bow down and worship me and you will not need to die upon a cross.” Will you die that you may live or will you live this day and bow down to the world? It must be one or the other. Cheap grace has given the illusion that there is a middle ground, there is not. The middle ground is a chasm that swallows men whole. To be found there is to be engulfed in darkness and mediocracy.
In the Kingdom of God there is no ordinary, there is only extraordinary. It is your calling to rise above the clamorings of men and do exploits for God. To simply shine your light among the darkness of this world is extraordinary. To praise God from a sickbed is extraordinary. To have a thankful heart quite apart from your circumstances is to live an extraordinary life. Being joyful, being at peace, being content, conquering fears, enduring and overcoming. These are the extraordinary and the supernatural elements of our life.
All of these things, while carrying your cross, makes the foundations of hell shake. Forgiving your brother and loving your enemies makes the foundations of hell shake. The gates of hell themselves suffer defeat by an army of fragrant saints who march upon their knees with their hands raised high to heaven and their voices raised in praise. This is why the devil and the flesh rage against the coming of the light.
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 August 10, 2020
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.(Mic 7:8)
When everything else has failed. When we have no wise counselors left . When in the blackness of our situation there seems to be no way ahead. Rejoice not against me oh enemy of my soul, for though I fall, I shall arise (Mic 7:8) I shall rise up for in Him there is no darkness. I shall rise up for He is the light of my life. I shall rise up for He has not finished with me yet. I shall arise in the morning, I shall rise up in the evening, and I shall worship God. I shall rise above the storm. I shall rise up for He is High and lifted up and He beckons me to come to where He is. The darkness of my sin is swept away by the light of His forgiveness. The tears of my brokenness shall fall into the waters of life and they will cry out “You are the light of the world and in you there is no darkness.” Yes I may fall but I shall rise up for He rose up. Rejoice not, oh enemy of my soul, for unlike you I will rise again, for that which I have committed unto Him He shall keep unto that day. He shall complete the work He has begun in me. When there are no more tears to cry, I shall arise. I will leave the darkness behind me. I will awaken the dawn with His praises and follow the still small voice. I will rise up on the wings of victory only because He rose triumphantly and ascended into the glories of His Father’s house. To the saint who has fallen, you shall rise up. You shall endure and overcome. He has not forgotten you.He sees the afflictions of His people and His knowing is your light. Trust in Him, wait for Him, and follow Him for He is the light of your life.
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Posted by appolus on August 7, 2020
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns Jer 4:3
What would become of seed scattered upon ground not broken up and not tilled and spread among the weeds and the thorns? In the parable of the sower and the seed in Matt 13 Jesus explains that the seed sown among the thorns is the man who hears the word of God but the cares of this world and the pursuit of its riches choke out that word and the seed dies. Fallow ground, fields that have not been broken up and tilled, cannot produce fruit. Only hearts that have been broken, tilled, turned over and made ready can be productive for God.
The average man today who professes to be a Christian has a heart that is like a field that is unbroken and fallow. He scatters seeds upon it and then wonders why it does not yield a crop. A generation or more of professing Christians have been raised on a steady teaching of cheap grace to be saved and hyper grace to be sanctified. None of this represents the broken-hearted saints who follow the risen Christ and surrender to the purifying process whereby Jesus creates His own special people.. A people who every day arise and take up their cross and follow Him. To take up your cross in this instance it to be plowed. The heart must be tested, it must be broken, it must yield to the Master’s hand. It must endure suffering and trials. Each furrow in the field is a trial endured by the saint and overcome by the power and the glory of the risen Christ. Into this field, into these furrows the Lord will scatter more seed. And because it is a work of the Lord this field will produce fruit.
Saint, do not resist the testings of the Lord. If you desire to be fruitful then you must allow the field of your heart to be broken up, to be plowed and to be furrowed for the removing of the weeds and the thorns and the clods. Let every suffering saint glorify the Lord in the midst of this plowing knowing that this surrender, this yielding to the hand of God is for the sanctification of his soul and that he may be useful in the Master’s hand. Every true saint wants to produce good fruit. Even nature tells us that there is no other way to produce fruit from a field than for it to be tilled and to be plowed. Saint, do you wish to be fruitful? Then today, yield and rejoice in the fact that you have been counted worthy to be plowed.
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Posted by appolus on August 5, 2020
In the very first verse of Titus we see that Paul is a servant of God and an apostle. He is these things by his faith in God, just as all who know God are His according to His grace through faith. Yet Paul also adds “and the acknowledging of truth,” to faith. We know that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,” then you are saved. (Rom 10:9) So, acknowledging the truth is a vital part of who are are in Christ. Truth is foundational to all that we are. It is by knowing the truth that we are set free. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life.
Now on the other side of this equation are principalities and powers. They are the opposite of truth, the opposite of freedom for they serve their master the devil who is the father of lies. Truth dwells in the kingdom of light and lies dwell in the kingdom of darkness, each has its own realm. I would argue that as the Lord’s return draws near, then the intensity of each kingdom increases. We live in a day and age where it seems that truth lies broken in the streets. Lies and deceptions have mounted an all out campaign and seem to be gaining the upper hand around the world. The world for the most part have rejected truth in favor of the lie.
To acknowledge truth is to not only proclaim it but also to live it. What we say, what we share, what we teach must be recognized in us. The Greek word for acknowledge is Epignosis. Nosis meaning knowledge and epig meaning precice, or to recognize. You see actual truth lived out is absolute and recognizable. If we are to proclaim and acknowledge the truth of God then it must be recognizable first in us and be readily apparent. Now I would argue that genuine saints know and understand this and strive towards that end, the living out of the faith that they proclaim.
Yet in Titus we see two distinct groups. It is not the saved and the unsaved, rather it is the saved and the ones who profess to be saved. In Titus 1:15-16 we see these two groups described. There is the pure and then there is the defiled. “To the pure all things are pure but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure;but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him.”
So we see a battle being set up here between two groups. One group is a a denier of God’s truth, and the other group are acknowledgers of God’s truth in life and in deed and in word. Even today we see so many professing Christians deny the truth found in the word of God. They are ashamed of what the Word teaches on many of the so called social issues of the day. These would include issues such as homosexuality and transgenderism and Biblical truths such as Adam and Eve and the creation account of Genesis. To the defiled nothing is pure. That word defiled means contaminated or tainted. The word to them is tainted, it is a mixture. So, they take what they like and they reject what they do not. To the saint, the Word of God is pure. It is untainted and is not contaminated with error. It is infallible.
So how would you know what group you belong to? Surely no one would put themselves in the category of the defiled? Well in Titus we see some of the marks of the younger men and the older men that mark them in the group of the pure. These marks are as follows 1.Sober.2.Reverent.3.Temporate.4.Sound in faith.5.Walking in love and patience.6.Integrity.7.Incorruptible.8.Sound speech. These are the marks laid out in chapter two for the pure of the Lord. In verse 14 of the same chapter we see that the Lord had come, not only to deliver us from “every lawless deed,’ He also came to “purify for Himself His own special people.” These are the pure, they are zealous and in the process of being purified they will become, with every passing season, more and more like the points mentioned in 1-8.
The defiled have no such ambition. In the end they serve themselves. In the end they belong to the world. The purification by the Lord for His saints, the refining fire of this process produces fruit. There is also a process that the defiled go through and by it we see their “fruits.” As the world presses in and demands compromise, as the pressure mounts on those who merely profess to know Jesus, we see them, slowly at first, begin to deny Jesus. Each step of the process is their attempt to keep their place in the world. Whatever has to be denied and given up in order to stay in the good graces of the world is denied. They reject the grace of God in favor of the good graces of the world.
It is a great tragedy. For many started out being redeemed “from every lawless deed.” Yet, they made that the end of it when it fact it was just the beginning. They wanted nothing to do with being purified by the Lord. It would be like being delivered from Egypt but dying in the desert. Grumblers and unthankfull in heart, disobedient deniers of God’s truth which precludes them from ever entering into the promised land. Rather than unashamedly acknowledging the truth of God by their lives and by their words and abiding in the Word, they run after the favor of the world. They are adulterers, fornicators, seeking pleasure and place in the world at the expense of the one true Living God.
Yet dear saint take heart, God has indeed purified for Himself His own special people. As the days tick down on the prophetic clock each group will become more apparent. The defiled will become more defiled, but praise God the pure will shine out all the more in the darkness of a sin sick world. Gold, purified in the refiners fire. Impurities burned away and removed with every passing season and trial. Shining brilliantly against the black velvet backdrop of our own personal Calvaries as we take up our crosses daily and die to this world. Purified by suffering. How frustrating it must be to an enemy that the more he comes against the saints, the more purified they become. Shining like a beacon to a lost and dying world. A witness, a martyr for the cause of Christ. Glorifying the Living God whether we live or whether we die.
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Posted by appolus on August 5, 2020
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.(Joh 1:1-5)
All praise to God, the Word was made flesh. The love of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God, the mercy of God, the glory of God, the plan of God, the long suffering of God. All of this and much more manifested in the Word made flesh. The very representation of the God-head, manifested in the Son of God and walking among us. God commanded that light would shine out of darkness, and so into the darkness of our world stepped the Word of God made flesh, Jesus. Life, overcoming death. In death He would bring forth life. Out of the darkness of Calvary, the greatest darkness ever known, shone the greatest light ever known. The culmination of the sin of man was overcome by the one without sin.
This great light than shone out of the darkness of Calvary is the life of men. Men may be dead in their sin but the light that shines in the darkness brings life to those who are dead. This is the work of the Lord and it is a marvel to behold. In Him is life and those who know Him walk in the newness of that life and it dwells within them. This light beckons to those who are dead in the darkness of their sin to come to Him and let His light shine upon them. Man will do one of two things, he will run to it or he will run from it. Those who run to it are consumed by it. It overwhelms them and transforms them and fills them with unspeakable glory. They have penetrated and have been penetrated by impenetrable light. The glory of God and the redemption of man and purified as His own special people.
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Posted by appolus on August 4, 2020
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.(Mat 6:33)
Here we find one of the key Scriptures in all of the Bible. This is the cutting edge of what it means to be sold out to Jesus. The high water mark of walking in the Spirit. It comes in the context of the sermon on the mount, the most revolutionary teachings ever delivered where everything we know of humanity is turned on its head. The revolution goes so deep that it reaches down into our DNA. It is so counter-intuitive to who we are as a race. No matter what culture we were born into, the basics of food and clothing and a roof over our heads are fundamental to our survival. So when we are told by the Lord that the primary object of our lives is the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of a holy God, it sets up a direct conflict with the basic nature of our humanity.
Self preservation and looking out for our own dies a death when we are walking in the Spirit. To be Kingdom minded is to be transformed and transported from one world into another, while still walking in the former. It is supernatural. In the last verse of this chapter the Lord tells us not to worry about tomorrow, but rather focus on right now. Do you live that way saint? Can you imagine the peace that would rule and reign in your heart if you followed the direction of the Lord and simply lived for this day? If indeed you took no thought for tomorrow, no thought for the food on your table and the clothes on your back. Imagine living like the sparrow, the Lord says that they neither reap nor gather into barns yet our heavenly Father feeds them.
How about the clothes on your back? The Lord says that we are to consider the lilies of the field how they neither toil nor spin yet Solomon in all of his glory was not clothed with such splendor as the common grass of the field was. There are many degrees in our walk with the Lord, but the two broad categories are these. Kingdom minded or worldly minded. Your effectiveness for the Kingdom of God cannot begin until your primary focus is on the Kingdom, on the Lord Himself and on His glory and His beauty and His majesty and indeed, on His righteousness. Make this the focus of your life and the struggle, the rat race, becomes something entirely different. The rat race is exhausting, particularly to the saints. It wears you down and depletes you. It diminishes who you are as a mother, as a father, as a human being. Maybe you are feeling depleted today and exhausted, worn out and worn down. Let this be the day that you turn your attention to His instructions, His commands.
When you do, you will find something remarkable. Living the exact same life, getting up and going to work every day, running your household, raising your children, being a husband or a wife, instead of being depleted you will find yourself strengthened. For when we seek first His Kingdom in everything that we do, when His righteousness in our lives is our primary concern, then when once we were weary now we are strong. You shall renew your strength daily when you make Him your daily focus. You will indeed mount up with wings as eagles and the former obstacles that would have defeated you, you will now soar above them as you walk and then take flight in the Spirit. You shall run , just as you ran before, but contrary to the human experience you shall not grow weary when you run in Him and towards Him. God bless you this day saint.
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A Call To The Remnant 