He who casts his lot in with the people of God must prepare for loss as well as gain. He must count the cost beforehand and be ready to pay it when the day comes for payment. There is the taking up of our cross, the denying of self and forsaking all. He loses……… 1. This world. Whatever may be in it of pleasure, satisfaction, pomp or merrymaking, he loses for he cannot have both worlds. 2. His name. Perhaps he stood high in reputation with the men of this world and had a name for many things, but then loses this, for his name is cast out as evil. 3. His religion. For the likelihood is that he had a sort of religion or religiousness like Saul of Tarsus. All this past religion must be left behind. It will serve him no more. 4. His goods. This may not always be demanded to the full extent, as in days of persecution, but still he must be prepared to part with everything, counting it no more as his own. (Horatius Bonar)
There are few people in this world who count the cost and are ready for such loss as Bonar was talking about. Paul famously says “for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.” (Ph 3:8) He said he counted the loss of all things for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord. His greatest desire was to be found in Him. Moses famously chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, the pleasure of all the riches of Egypt, for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than all the treasures of the world (Egypt) It was faith that caused him to turn his back on the world (Heb 11-24-28)
How this flies in the face of what passes for much of modern Christianity. Their “faith,” causes them not to turn their backs on the world, but rather to pursue the pleasure of all the riches of this world. You can do that or be found in Christ but you cannot have both. One must chose between this world and the Kingdom of God. Broad is the path that most choose (speaking of Christendom here) and narrow is the path of the few. God has and always has had His remnant. You will know them by the cross on their back. You will know them by their joy in the depths of affliction. They will be known by their love for one another. There passion will be the one in whom they are found. Out of the abundance of their hearts their mouths will speak, and it wont be about the things of this world it will be about Jesus.
If your faith causes you to pursue the things of this world rather than the things of God, you are probably in some version of the word of faith movement. If you find yourself in such a place, now is the time to flee from its false premise of “faith,’ and run to the true faith in Christ alone and in His word. True faith (trust) counts the cost. True faith causes one to pick up his cross. True faith counts all loss as fleeting and but for moment in the light of eternity. Counterfeit faith will never teach you to take up your cross. It will always point you in the direction of the treasures of this world. It will commend you to live your best life now. And if this is your path, then you should indeed eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die, and not just the death of this world but rather an eternal death. Choose this day whom you will serve.
We are warned in the Scriptures that the times would come when men and women will not put up with sound doctrine, instead, in order to suit their own desires, they will gather around themselves a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears desire to hear. They will turn away from the truth. (2 Tim 4:2-5) We are warned that there are whole groups of “teachers,” ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach, and that for the sake of dishonest gain ( Titus 1:11)
We are instructed by Paul, therefore by God, to watch and remember. Remember what? Watch for what? Remember that for three years he did not cease to warn us, night and day….with tears. Warn of us what? What would disturb the Apostle so greatly that it was his daily warning for years? Savage wolves that will (not might) come in among you and scatter the flock. Also, from among our own ranks, men would rise up and draw away disciples for themselves. False representatives of Jesus, stealing His preeminence and all for the sake of “dishonest gain.” Their gods would be money and reputations, power and prestige (Acts 20:28-31)
Part of the problem is that these hirelings, these wolves in sheep clothing, preach to willing dupes. The people, for their part, have embraced a system not found in the Scriptures. They wanted a king and they got a king.This is not the first time God has been rejected in favor of a king. Think about King Saul or even Moses, where the people would rather have Moses talk to God then to them, as opposed to them talking to God themselves. Jesus was rejected for a man of the people, Barabbas then the crowd cried out that they have to king but Caesar.
The very heart of man always wants an intermediary rather than deal directly with God through Jesus. A priest, a prophet, a minister, a senior pastor. Each of those positions not only come with finances but come with power and authority and position. They love to pray publicly to be seen, they love the best seat at the table , they want men to call them teachers, or worse, fathers.All of this appeals to the Lucifer in them, to the Diotrophes in them, to that part of the soul that wants, desires, craves for, the preeminence. It’s truly the original sin, the sin that caused Lucifer to fall, and it beats at the heart of every human in their flesh. It should never be elevated, it should be crucified.
His name is like honey on my lips, His presence , the source of my life and my joy and my peace. Where could I go but to the Lord? He is the light of my life, the breath in my lungs, the very reason that I exist. His majesty and His glory tower over me.His love, as vast as the endless sea. His faithfulness as endless as eternity. In Him I have been gloriously set free. Oh for a thousand years to sing of the reason for my joy. It is complete in Jesus. Teach me Father how to glorify that name which is above all names. The name given, that name honored, that name high and lifted up, that name which fills the temple, which fills all of heavens chambers. It fills the nigh skies and the vast seas, it fills my endless soul and brings me to my knees. Jesus, Jesus, walk with me and by the power of your Holy Spirit let all the world see that when they see you, they have seen the Father and the glory and the majesty.
In every storm, the saint has an anchor and His name is Jesus. We are out there in the roiling seas and He is the forerunner. He goes before us into the harbor and draws us in. In ancient times when the sea was too stormy to enter the harbor and giant waves would crash against the harbor walls and the ships would drag their anchors and be in danger of overturning and being swamped, they would lower a skiff, a forerunner. The anchor would be placed on the small boat and the boat would make its way into the harbor and the anchor would be dropped in calmer waters ,then the boat would be pulled into the harbor.
Jesus is our forerunner, Jesus is our anchor and He has went before us and prepared a place for us. A place of peace and stillness, His very presence speaks to the storms, be still! When you flee to Jesus He shall be our Rock, our strong high tower. Come to Me, He says, and I will give your weary souls rest. God and His Word are immutable, that is to say unchanging over time, any time, eternity even. God is unchanging and the Words that He speaks are unchanging. He never lies and this immutability, the Word says, is so that we “might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” There it is, its right there, take a hold of it, grab onto to it, never let it go, let it take you into the still calm harbor of His presence so that you might survive the storm. Take hold of this brothers and sisters, and you shall not drown.
I wrote this poem yesterday after the report that the cancer in my colon was gone. It reflects upon the storm my family and I have navigated in the last several months with a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. It was not my first storm and I am sure it will not be my last but the one ever present help has been Jesus. I have lived as a Christian long enough to know that Jesus is the anchor of my soul. I still have a pet scan next week to determine if the cancer is still in the rest of my body, but the same God who rules and reigns this week, shall be ruling and reigning next week and I will be careful to give Him all the honor and all the praise. Peace, in the midst of the storm, is among the most valuable treasures from the vaults of heaven. If you are in the midst of a storm today, come to Jesus and He will give you peace and rest for your weary soul.
The strength that takes me through.
The anchor of my soul When I was on my knees Is the harbor of my life Amidst the stormy seas
You are my strong high-tower You're the one I run into When I'm weak you are the power The strength that takes me through
The waters shall not overwhelm The fires shall not consume When Christ my Lord is at the helm When His presence fills the room
You were there from the very start You are there when I'm all alone You dwell in the very depths of my heart You are there upon your throne
So I'll praise you lord forevermore You're my life, my breath, my all When you knock I'll open up the door I will answer when I hear you call.
The more I study church history the more I see a recurring problem in every age. There is a cycle of revolution that returns us to the old paths and then within a generation or less, that which revolted against the traditions of men return to what they had left behind. The second generation worships the works of their fathers and fall into traditionalism. Even as early as 85ad we had Diotrephes, arguably the first senior pastor, building his own kingdom and rejecting the preeminence of Jesus. Now, there is no doubt that he would never have said that out loud or ever actually acknowledged that to himself, but John calls him on it.
And less than 10 years later comes the book of Revelation with its dire warning to the “churches.” So, this usurping of the preeminence of Jesus in our services or order of service or liturgy or call it what you like lies at the heart of the downfall of Christendom ( not the Church, rather the system of the churches) in the west and beyond. Add the clergy/laity system and the downfall was always inevitable even if not overt.
The solution is the same as it has always been over the last 2000 years, getting back to the Word and rejecting everything that is not found within the Word. For me, it starts with 1 Cor 12 and 14. If we strove for anything that looks like that, we would be on our way to recovery/revival/reformation/revolution, call it what you may, but in it’s essence it would simply be a return to our roots and our foundation, the Lord Jesus Himself and Him high and lifted up.
And unless we stay there, within the confines of the Word of God, the coming movement would barely last a generation. Where are the men and woman who will stand and challenge those within the church systems? In the Hebridean revival the leaders asked of themselves “are my hands clean, is my heart pure?” They looked first to themselves. What does it even mean now to your average church to desire to not lift up their souls unto vanity? Rather, to desire to ascend that hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place?
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:(Isa 44:3) What if we are so blind to our state that we cannot see the dry ground nor sense our state? Ask the average non denomination senior pastor how “his church,” is doing and almost to a man he will say “we are doing great.” Can the man who refuses to acknowledge his sickness be made whole? How can the Holy Spirit be poured out upon his seed and his offspring be blessed?
And since the gifts of the Holy Spirit have been almost entirely done away with in every church service, how will they be called back from their sin? Even although the prophets have been banished and usurped by “senior pastors,” who perhaps follow in the traditions of Diotrephes, they still have the Word of God. The first few chapters of Revelation still cry out to the churches. The warnings are still the same. And so in the end they shall be without excuse, for the Word never changes. So, if the Lord tarries, God bless the next generation of those who rebel against the traditions of their fathers which nullify the word of God, but beware when you stand, stay tightly within the confines of the Word or you shall fall in your second generation.
Finding our place within the bigger picture is about knowing the one whose painting the landscape. It’s about being content with being just one stroke from the Masters brush, but knowing that this one stroke causes us to be a vital part of the whole. To be amazed just to have a seat at the table, or to be a brushstroke on the canvas or a single thread in the tapestry is to have a peace that surpasses understanding. Finding our rightful place within the Kingdom is the journey and we discover that the journey itself is the purpose. The destination is simply the veil drawn back. And suddenly we shall see as we are seen and know as we are known. Jesus is the King, He is the Kingdom, He is the journey and He is our final destination.
I shall arise and go down to the Potters house. And there I shall hear the word of the Lord. I shall see a work upon the wheel. And the clay is marred in the hand of the Lord. And the wheel keeps turning. Brothers and sisters, have you put yourself upon the potters wheel? Have you put yourself into His hands? As it seems good to the Potter, will you allow yourself to be remade? Can I suggest the obvious? We are the clay, He is the potter and the turning wheel is life with all its circumstances.
Shall we yield to it all? Shall we allow ourselves to be broken to be remade? Or, shall we cry out to God night and day for a change in our circumstances? Shall we demand that the Lord heal us, that He deliver us, that He, in effect, serve us? If we ask for the wheel to stop turning then we shall cease to grow. When the fire comes, and it shall come, what shall we cry out? If we cry out that “even if our God does not deliver us, we shall never bow down to the gods of this world,” then the wheel keeps turning.
When we are faced with great loss and we cry out “The Lord gives and the lord takes away,blessed be the name of the Lord” then the wheel keeps turning. If we find ourselves in the depths of a dungeon with the skin torn from our backs and we begin to praise the Lord in the midnight hour, then the wheel keeps turning. Whatever is upon the wheel shall be either a vessel for honor or a vessel of dishonor. If the wheel stops turning then whatever exists upon the wheel is the finished vessel.
Jesus told us in Luke 14 that unless we love Him more than father or mother, wife and children, brothers ans sisters then we cannot be His disciples. And in Matt 10:38, in the same context as Luke 14 we see that if one refuses to take up his cross, that one “is not worthy of Me.” Is there a line in your sand? Is there a bridge too far? The day will tell that story. For when that day comes, and is surely comes for all who name His name, what cry shall we hear? “Lord please stop the wheel?” Or shall we hear the cry of the disciple “whatever it takes Lord, blessed be Your name.” For one, the wheel stops and for the other, they go on from glory to glory as they glorify Him. The choice belongs to us.
I awoke this morning (05/17/2024) from a dream about exalting the name of Jesus and I had this line in my spirit “perfect in all your broken pieces,” which prompted the writing of this poem………….
Made perfect in Christ
Perfect in all your broken pieces Perfect in the Blood of Christ alone His perfect love it never ceases As He draws you before His triumphant throne
Jesus, Jesus how I love you so I know you'll never let me go Beneath thy wing I ever stand Safe and secure in the palm of your hand
I'm healed by the Blood that never ceases I'm healed as I wade amidst it's flow And my cry to the heavens surely reaches It cleanses me whiter than the purest snow
I'm perfected by Christ my one Redeemer The one who died for you and for me I'm healed and made whole as I go ever deeper Deeper in Him shall set me free
His perfect love cries out in the darkness It cries out to you right where you are Conquering all sin and death and sadness He is so near who once was so far.
The manifest presence of God is the tangible reality of the Lord in our lives. Too often we simply have fellowship with each other about fellowship. We often just simply talk too much rather than enter in. So many of our services are devoted to talking about the theology of God. We hear teaching after teaching and it takes up 90% of the service.
The sad truth is that we would rather hear about God than hear from God. To hear from God is to shake the very foundations of our comfortable lives. To hear from God is to cry out like Isaiah “I am undone.” The manifest presence of God leaves nothing untouched. The secret garden of our heart is penetrated.
If the garden is good then we are overwhelmed with His goodness. If the garden has weeds, has secrets, secret darkness, then the Light of God shall make it known. This is why our services, for the most part, do not resemble 1 Cor 14 with the gifts of 1 Cor 12 in operation. It would be too “messy.” The “order of service,” would be turned upon its head. The “liturgy,” would fall by the wayside. We would do real business with God and with each other.
Yet, I believe the main reason this is avoided is because most of those sitting in the pews know nothing of the new birth. And, sad to say, so many of them who occupy the pulpit in our day know nothing of the new birth either. One luke warm generation after another has caused the very idea of a 1 Cor 14 church to be an impossibility. One gift after another has been cast out of the service until all we are left with is 20 min of rehearsed professional music, and a regurgitated sermon and a plea for money.
It’s a sad indictment of our age. It’s the tragedy of our age. Yet there are a remnant of God’s people. There are still those who have been born again and know of His glory. Who have been touched and forever changed by His glory. Whose hearts are set on Him. Whose secret places are filled by His light and His glory.
Have most of these Spirit filled saints been chased away from the typical Sunday morning service? Yes indeed. They can find no place in the order of things, so they find themselves, often times, in a lonely place, a wilderness of sorts. And in this wilderness they find that God will meet all of their needs. Their intimacy with Him grows in direct proportion to their direct needs met. And one day soon enough, those whom God has called away unto Himself will come walking out of that desert.
Just as John the Baptist declared from the wilderness “behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world,” the remnant saints will declare “behold, the Son of God is coming in all His glory to judge the living and the dead.” They identify the signs of His coming and the world will mock them. And as each sign becomes increasingly hard to ignore, the world will increasingly hate them.
Yet they will find that this remnant has been individually and uniquely trained in the desert. They have been taught in the ways of endurance. They have walked through trial and flood and our Lord God has taken them through them all, they are overcomers. And now, they shall overcome the last great battle against them by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimonies of Christ in them, and , because of what the Lord has trained them in the desert, they love not their own lives unto death.
So dear lonely saint, be of good cheer, for the time of the Lord draweth near and let us ever draw near unto Him by entering into the manifest presence, the glory which the Lord Himself has given and revealed to us.
By embracing the possibility of death, this has released within me an abundance of life. Life and that more abundantly flows from the one who dies to himself. We know this. We learn this from the Scriptures. We are schooled by the Holy Spirit to take up our cross and die daily. In the midst of death to self, comes pouring forth life in Christ. There is an ocean that lies within us and in order for it to well up inside of us and come rushing forth like a mighty tsunami, there has to be an earthquake. There has to be a mighty shaking that sweeps away everything that is is not firmly rooted on the solid foundation of Christ my King.What an honor for me to be shaken in such a way that demonstrates to the world the immovable force that lies within me. Christ and Him crucified. The Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire. My Father in heaven who sits upon the throne.
Death may come barreling towards us like a freight train sometimes, but life in Christ falls upon us like a ateroid. Events of such magnitude threatens everything that we know and is the catalyst to change everything we have ever known. For out of death to this world springs forth life. Out of the gross darkness of our circumstances God commands light to shine forth in all its celestial glory. Not just any light, rather light that emenates from the fires of heaven. The same fires that a coal was taken from and touched the lips of Isaiah. In this light everything is on the line. Death where is your sting in the light of Christ my King? Oh grave where is your victory in the glory of His majesty? There is a love vast as the ocean and it dwells inside of me, there is victory over all my flesh for my Lord has set me free. There is a peace that surpasses understanding when to this world we surely die, one day at a time, anxious for nothing, tis our eternal hearts cry.
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.
A Call To The Remnant 