Forgiveness is a river that flows from a mountain of grace and runs into and ocean of love. And mercy falls like rain, again and again, and soaks us to the bone as it continually falls from up above.It falls, it falls into the deepest part of me and transforms me again and again until Christ is all you see. In the Kingdom of God there are times and seasons and they ebb and flow. And we are called to fall into their rhythms so that we take root and grow. Growing beside the river, the evergreens take their place, fed from the waters of life with the Son upon their face.
In season and out of season we are ever ready and I’ll shall walk in the way He leads, for He has ever led me. He leads me through the mountain passes and down into the valley, and we ford the raging spring time river. This river that flows from the mountain high, it continually flows forever. So there are times and seasons and mountains and valleys. There are times to live and there are times to die. I often look and wonder why. Yet only for a moment for then I lift my eyes to the one from whom all seasons flow. I shut my eyes and now I know the way that I must go.
The older I get in the Lord, the more I see it’s not about answers from God. Self seeks answers. The immediate problems of life presses in and we desire to be through it. We want acceptable solutions. Yet where is God in our many graspings? What good is the glory gained on the mountaintops if it can not be seen in the darkest valleys? Should not our greatest desire in the world be that the valley is, to us, the mountaintop?
In the end, the glory of God covers everything, as the waters cover the sea. Whether that sea rages or is tranquil, should we not lie down and sleep in the boat? Shall we not sleep in the lions den? Shall we not praise Him in the dungeon? The mountaintop experience should only serve to give us the strength to reflect His glory in the valley. Did not the Lord come down from the glories of heaven? Did we not see Him glorify His Father in the deepest valley as He hung there nailed to a tree? Shall we not enter into His rest and cease from our works? Cease from our running to and fro.
Oftentimes the sadness of loss or trials becomes dark clouds that obscure the sun. Yet above the clouds, above the mountain tops there is a perpetually blue sky. Sometimes we simply need a single ray of sunshine to penetrate the dark clouds to remind us of this truth. And that ray reminds us of the glory that we reveled in and will one day spend eternity in. A shaft of light is what we must pray for when we are in the darkest reaches of the valley, and this light shall lead us through it. Our lives are like a vapor and soon enough we shall stand in eternal glory, but before that we must find the glory now.
He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies so that we may, with Paul and Silas and every other saint who suffered unspeakable losses down through the ages, glorify God in the very midst of our situations. In the light of this glory all loss is subsumed into Him and our spirits can truly say that our eternal desire is to be found in Him. The road home to glory will be a difficult one for all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus, but it will be a vital one.
See God’s glory and live. Cast your eyes unto the heavens and live. Cast your eyes to that eternal horizon and live. There is life in His glory and life more abundant. Find that now brothers and sisters, right where you are, and the road forward will open up before you, one day at a time, indeed one step at a time. The difficulties of life will become open doors to the treasures of heaven. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and the glory.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Heavenly seeds are sown in the shadows of winter Where the only light to be found is but a flicker Yet come the spring, that which fell and died Rises with the summer sun and is glorified
Tribulation may be the soil beneath our feet Yet the glory is the blossom and the fruit And storms and trials may be our lot But Christ Himself is our very root
We can glory in the cross and in the shame And we can do it all for the sake of His name Yet the seed that falls and dies in the ground Shall rise again in glory, and in Him shall be found
So cry aloud with all your might beneath the soil For neither principality nor power can despoil The coming glory of the day that follows night And the saint who praises God with all their might!
If I could capture the light from a million sunbeams And grasp every falling star from the sky And be filled with the light of a thousand suns Then I'll be ready when the time comes
When the time comes to walk into your glory Where the brightest sun simply hides its face in shame And the universe itself bows down in humble adoration And we leave behind the very edges of our imagination
A place where the ocean is rendered to but a single tear And all the heavens above cry out in resounding glory And a million upon ten million incorruptible saints Sway in the wind of the Spirit and know there are no restraints
No eye has seen nor has any ear ever heard Nor has it entered into the hearts of those who love Him Of the glory and the majesty of this heavenly place Where we gaze upon His throne and look into His face.
I wrote this song a few years back for my wife. I wrote it in a melancholy mood as poets often do. It was entitled “If I ever have to leave you.” I had no idea when I wrote it that just a few short years later I would face this cancer so the song took on a new meaning.Mary Greig, my dear sister in the Lord came up with the melody and sings it beautifully. Thanks also to Mark Dunsmore who produced it and can be heard on it as well.
I could not sleep last night, a mixture of the chemo and the prednisone no doubt. It has happened many times since I began treatment, but last night I awoke with the phrase “entertain or enter in.” The Lord was laying something on my heart. It occurred to me that if you take the letters “ta” out of entertain you are left with enter in. And yet, the definitions could not be more different. The Greek word for entertain is “psychagogia,” meaning “amusement-diverson-distraction.” The Greek word for”enter is “bo,” meaning “to go out or to come in.” The choice seems clear, be amused, diverted or distracted, or enter into His presence.
Interestingly enough, if you look at the two letters “ta,” in the Greek it means “the third person,” meaning “when you are speaking ( or singing) about someone else rather than directly addressing that someone.” Speaking in the third person you remain detached. Are we remaining detached from God in our modern day version of worship? Are we merely being entertained, an amusement or a distraction? A distraction from what? From actually entering in. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise (Psa 100:4) Enter into the joy of the Lord (Matt 25:23) For He who has entered into His rest has himself rested from his works (Heb 4:10) Not everyone that says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter in (Matt 7:21)
It makes my heart long for stripped down, simple/profound congregational worship, something the modern day worship ” team,” has wholly set aside for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is to entertain. We don’t need to be entertained and sit by as mere spectators/fans, we need to enter in. Enter into what some might say? Enter in by the only door available, Jesus and Him high and lifted up. And let every voice sing as unto the Lord and face heavenwards and not towards a “stage,” a place for actors. Let us take the “ta,” out of entertain and let us who know Jesus, enter in.
A Call To The Remnant 