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.
The grace that I've found is not exhausted It rises still like the incoming tide And my heart is flooded to overflowing From the fountain that comes from deep inside
There is a fountain in the depths of me The Father, the Son and the Spirit three Who came to forever set me free All glory to my King.
Our fountain-head of blessing here is grace And is our strength, and strength alone to run the race For on no other hand I can rely but the hand that stretches down from up on high
I fall into His arms that are surely everlasting And to never leave this place is all I'm ever asking Even the sparrow and the swallow are found within this place My prayer is that I am found in your glorious warm embrace.
Your presence fills me with great joy And turns every shadow into light Great consolation is mine Which feeds the deepest part of me, and sustains me though the night.
Oh blessed joy is mine divine The eternal longing of my aching heart For the day when the morning star rises And then, forever, we shall never be apart
To look into the depths of who You are Even for a moment, gives life unto my weary soul The one who took the many broken pieces Before the throne and the Father made me whole
I will awaken the dawn with the praises of my King You will hear, from the ends of the earth, heavenly choirs sing Look through the door of your heart that He has knocked upon And hear the angels singing their golden heavenly song
Then shall heaven and earth be one together And we shall abide before His throne forever I in him and He in we Cast upon an eternal holy sea.
Trouble came knocking at my door And a voice inside said don't let it in I opened it And it knocked me to the floor I got backup on my feet And it knocked me down once more
Chorus Jesus pick me up so I can stand again Jesus pick me up, I so dearly need you friend You are my Lord of Lords and King of Kings The man of many sorrows If you do not pick me up today Then there will be no tomorrows
I came to a bridge over troubled waters But the bridge was swept away I went down into the waters And in the darkness I heard Him say I will be with you as you pass on through And suddenly the waters withdrew
Then I came upon a mountain high To scale it I would surely die I asked the Lord to remove this thing So that I could rejoice and praise my King No My son, ask of me to give you power To climb every mountain and to scale every tower
Bridge
I'll be with you as you pass on through I'll be with you in all that you do.
Trouble came knocking at my door And a voice inside said don't let it in I opened it And it knocked me to the floor I got backup on my feet And it knocked me down once more
Chorus Jesus pick me up so I can stand again Jesus pick me up, I so dearly need you friend You are my Lord of Lords and King of Kings The man of many sorrows If you do not pick me up today Then there will be no tomorrows
I came to a bridge over troubled waters But the bridge was swept away I went down into the waters And in the darkness I heard Him say I will be with you as you pass on through And suddenly the waters withdrew
Then I came upon a mountain high To scale it I would surely die I asked the Lord to remove this thing So that I could rejoice and praise my King No My son, ask of me to give you power To climb every mountain and to scale every tower
Bridge
I'll be with you as you pass on through I'll be with you in all that you do.
When the stroke goes down to the soul And the billows they begin to roll When the lightening fractures the sky above Shall we be found to be anchored in His glorious love?
When the ship is swamped and going under And the rain so loud and the clashing thunder Cause you to cry out and look up towards heaven Shall we stand upon God and not be so driven?
Surely goodness and mercy despite our afflictions Will follow us forever without contradiction And a table before us, a feast for a King Will cause our troubled hearts to sing
Of His majesty and glory and joy without measure As we gaze upon His righteousness, His heavenly treasure He maketh me lie down in pastures so green And beside the still waters eternally serene.
I wrote this poem yesterday while I was having chemo. It was a long day but I very much sensed the presence of the Lord, in divine appointments and also a message from a dear friend who had just recorded the message in the middle of their prayer meeting in Estonia. He prayed for me and then his dear wife prayed for me and I could hear the other saints praying in the background. I was quite overcome to think how honored and how privileged I was. I was humbled, shed a few tears, then wrote this poem. You will notice that I use the word infused a couple of time 🙂
When hope gives way to presence.
When the desire comes, it's a tree of life to me. And the tree nourishes the parts you cannot see Hope deferred causes my aching heart to long And in the longing creates in me a song.
Sing my heart, sing of all His glory Create in me the desire to tell Your story. To scale the highest mountain, just to shout your name Consumed by your majesty, ignited by your flame.
Come to me, draw me to your throne To that place I know that I am truly known And the tree of life infuses me with peace And your glory, from the depths of me, released.
Beyond the falling leaf there lies the pastures green And a heavenly river infused by glorious streams. Beyond the troubled waters you have surely come to me And you take my spirit over, to that place beyond the sea.
Sorrow leaves it's mark upon the soul As the Lord shapes us and takes back what the enemy stole With an iron pen and lead in the rock, it is written The genuine work of God, His composition
He has written His word upon the heart that He has given And with many a blow, sin from our soul is driven Shall we not welcome the rod that can never miss? And with a warm embrace, direct it with a kiss
We can count the cost, then embrace the cross or lay it down and suffer the loss Remember each one is crafted by His hand And are designed so that no man can still stand It's by His Blood and sorrow they were crafted And they seal the wounds whereby we are grafted.
It seems to me that an old soldier’s life would be marked by the battles in which he fought. He could look back and remember the wars in which he participated. He would remember certain foxholes. He would remember the comradery with his fellow soldiers. He would certainly remember the ones he fought back to back with. In many ways he would acknowledge that he had been shaped by each battle. Little by little, precept upon precept, he would become the soldier he is. And even when his wars are all fought, he will always be a soldier. I know that the battles I have fought have shaped me. The seasons that I have walked through have molded me. I remember well the foxholes I have been in at particular times with saints, brothers and sisters, that I have loved as David loved Jonathon.
The seasons of loss, the seasons of victories, the seasons of crying out to God. There are secret times when I have despaired. Times when only the Lord would see the tears upon my pillow, many a sleepless night I have walked where it was just me, all alone, with my Lord. Yet I can say that while all of those battles and seasons have shaped and molded me, none of them has identified me. I am not the guy from the broken childhood, not the guy who lost a son, not the guy who has a special need son. Not the guy whose son went to prison, not the guy who fought for his grandson. And now, not the guy who has cancer. My sole identity is the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. No neighbor or friend would know my background, unless at certain times I could share small portions of my life to comfort them with the very same comfort I have known. Each poem I write I write is either from the battle-field or from the memories of a battle fought. They are forged in the fires of battle or spring to life from from heaven’s throne-room. I wrote this one yesterday. A soldiers poem from a present battle.
THE THORN THAT PIERCES
Shall I shrink back from the crown of thorns Shall I fall away when I’m battered and torn Shall I not rise though broken and wasted And declare heavenly treasures that I have tasted.
This earth is neither my portion nor my rest And these thorns are but my heavenly test Pierced and broken but never defeated I look to heaven where soon I’ll be seated
I cast my eyes upon dark Calvary’s hill And from the valley floor seek to go higher still Closer and closer and closer to thee Where chains are broken and from fetters set free
The night is far spent and the day is at hand And with Your help alone I will surely stand The storm may rise and the waves grow higher Yet to be where you are is my one desire
Nearness to God is the source of it all Whether we walk or run, or stumble and fall Through the storms, through the rain, the day or the night He is there upon the waters, what a glorious sight.
The Lord, of course, was acquainted with sorrows and sufferings and this gives us strength to know that He knows and He sees all of our afflictions. In the end, our walk must simplify as we mature in Him. We must decrease and He must increase. This decreasing is something of a mystery. Perhaps diminished is also a good word, to be diminished in our own estimations of our “self.”
The greater damage we do to self, the clearer the two kingdoms become. The kingdoms of this world and its ruler, and the Kingdom of God, that was, and is, and is to come and it’s ruler, the Lord Jesus. How do we “diminish,” “self?” How do we decrease? How is the hold that self has on us loosed? Only by the cross. Only ever by the cross. The flesh refuses to die, it refuses to relinquish control. We cannot negotiate with it or compromise with it. Absolute surrender, which is so offensive to the world and self, is our stance. Therefore it’s a battle to the death. No quarter to be given.
As we go down this road, by the power of the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit, we begin to turn a corner at some point. As we surrender to surrender our eyes begin to “see,” things more clearly. We begin to hear the call of heaven more loudly. It begins to fill us and fill us with a greater longing to only live in the Kingdom of God. The things of this world begin to lose its grip on us. We can picture ourselves in the dungeon with Paul and Silas, praising God in the darkness of the midnight hour.
Paul “learned,” to be content. He did not just suddenly arrive at the place where he could declare all things loss as dung in comparison to be found in Him. He walked through many fires and afflictions. He suffered greatly with infirmities. He was hungry and naked, shipwrecked, lashed to within an inch of his life. He was despised and rejected. All of this happened to him as he walked down the path the Master has blazed for us. Shall we continue down the narrow path brothers and sisters?
This narrow path leads to Calvary, the ultimate death. Can we say, with our Lord ” for the joy that is set before me?” What joy is this? The joy of fulfilling the will of God in our lives. His will, not ours. His will, which is so violently opposed by our flesh and fights so viciously to exercise its own will. His will is the solid Rock upon which we stand. His will is the center of all that exists. His will is our very spiritual existence. Death to the flesh begins to leads us to an unobstructed view of His will.We see more clearly His desire for us. His desire for us becomes our desire for ourselves. The desire of our hearts is to glorify Him in all that we do.
Let everything that does not bring you peace, let everything that does not bring you to this place, go. In the end we love Jesus more than everything. Which was our genuine declaration in the beginning of our walk. Our peace in Him, our joy in Him, is our strength. Without this strength we can do nothing. When all those around us are floundering, when all are losing their heads, then we must be found in Him. We cannot go down with the ship, rather we must walk upon the water and reach out our hand to them. We walk upon the water by keeping our eyes on Jesus. Lift up your eyes today dear brothers and sisters, and see where your help comes from. Reach out to Jesus, take His hand, and never let go!
Deep calls unto deep At the noise of your waterfalls And in the daytime Your loving-kindness calls And when the nighttime comes Your song shall be with me And even in the darkness, I shall see.
To the Lord my Rock I run beneath thy wings And in the night watches I listen to the angels sing When darkness is all around Send out Your light to me Shackles are broken, and I am free
A very present help Though the mighty waters roar And mountains they fall down Yet your Spirit helps restore My troubled heart in times of need Within my chest it surely leaps As the deep within my soul calls out to Deep.
This is the word from the Lord that led to my last poem. This video is an update of my current sitution, may the Lord be praised through all of it………………..bro Frank
“And in the silence there is peace. It dwells above the noise and the din. Above the begging and the pleadings and the raging storm, there sleeps Jesus in the boat. Shall we too arrive at the place where sleep is not dependent upon the storm being stilled? Where trust lies down among the lions. Where perfect love casts out all fear. This is the Kingdom of God, this is the rarified air of heaven. This is the shaft of light that pierces the darkness and guides us home.”
This a a poem I just wrote based on a word the Lord gave me last week due to my current circumstances (cancer)
And in the silence there is peace It dwells above the noise and din And faith from heaven is released And fills completely from within
Beggings and pleadings are not heard By our own hand we are not kept afloat Yet Christ Himself in the midst of it all Keeps the storm at bay, asleep in the boat
I shall lie down, at peace in the silence When all around, the storm rages still Safe and secure in the depths of His glory In perfect peace at the center of His will.
I sleep in the midst of the lion's den They are held at bay by His heavenly hand His perfect love casts out all fear And in peace or storm I shall surely stand
I breathe in deeply the air of heaven It fills me and fills me with His perfect love A shaft of light shatters the darkness It leads me and guides me to my home high above.
The Lord is the strength of my life He is the ground upon which I stand And though war has risen and come after me I'm confident in the God who has set me free!
And in the secret place of His tabernacle He's set me high upon the Rock And His pavilion is a home and shelter to me I am confident in the God whom I can see.
This one thing is the desire of my longing heart That I may dwell in His house forever And behold His beauty and His marvelous grace And forever and continually seek His face
I would have lost heart, but for this one thing His beauty and the glory of His might And when everything's gone and I'm all alone I shall seek His face before His throne
Wait on the Lord when it all goes wrong When the world and it's ways presses in When the night has come and there's no way ahead Wait upon the Lord and bow your head
Fall to your knees and lift up your hands Cry out to the one from above And without any notice, quite suddenly You shall drenched by His marvelous love.
My hope is in the Lord my God, who dwells within my heart
The one who came and died for me, His glory to impart
The Christ who raised me from the dead
To live forevermore
The one whose broken ever chain and opened every door.
He's the Lord who whispers in my ear, He listens to my cries
The one who never ever sleeps, the one who surely died
He died for you and He died for me
He surely rose again
Removing every doubt and fear, removing every stain
He's my sunrise in the morning, the light for every day
To chase away the darkness and in my heart He stays
And there He always shall remain
Until my day is done
He gives me strength to carry on, the victory it is won.
He's the sunset of my life, He is with me to the end
He heals the very depths of me, the broken He shall mend
He lifts me with the rising tide
To stand on higher ground
He's with me through the waters, in Him I shall be found.
It’s an erroneous idea that justification is an imparted robe of righteousness put over a dirty, filthy fellow who terribly needs a bath and is filled with cooties and the accumulation of the dirt of a lifetime, who stands boldly in God Almighty’s holy heaven, among seraphim and cherubim and archangels and the spirits of just men made perfect, and blithely and flippantly says “I belong in hell. I’m a filthy man, but what are you going to do about it? I have on me the robe of Christ’s righteousness and that’s enough.
God only saves sinners who know they are sinners. He saves only sinners who admit they are sinners, but He saves sinners and turns them from being sinners to being good men and full of the Holy Spirit. When we teach anything else, we are teaching heresy. John Newton was a Puritan and would have been horrified if he heard the doctrines we are hearing now. (A.W.Tozer The dangers of a shallow Faith pg 73-74)
Can you hear what Tozer is saying? He is identifying a teaching that has become a common doctrine taught across the board in Christendom. At best it’s a shallow faith, at worse it is no faith at all. A faith that is without transformation. A faith that seeks to hide from the fact that true faith transforms the bad man to a son of the Living God. A man who formally walked in darkness but who now walks in the light. A man whose righteousness in Christ and Christ in him reflects upon the unrighteousness of the world. A city set on a hill for all to see. He washes us by His very own Blood. And we are washed whiter than snow. We are indeed regenerated and only the regenerated can be sanctified.
In a desperate desire to please the world and not offend them, we have taken the stigma of sin from them. We have done the world no favors. Those of the shallow faith, born out of fear, say to the world that the Christian and them are both the same, the only difference being is that we have a technicality. That is a lie and, and Tozer calls it heresy. A cross-less Christianity has risen up in the ranks of Christendom and at the very same pace as it has risen up, the world has sunk down deeper into the mire of darkness and self delusion. A Christ-less Christianity, a whole generation of those who desire no Lord but only a Savior, is falling into the same dark pit of hell as the world is.
Thank the Lord for His own chosen generation. His own Royal Priesthood. His own, specific purchased people. A people intentionally called out of darkness, not to dwell there any more but to dwell in His marvelous light. A people who have indeed been regenerated, indeed been washed in the Blood of the Lamb, a people who fear God and not man. A people who have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a witness to the world and if need be, using the same word, a martyr for the cause of Christ. This is the true history of the Church. A people not ashamed of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus and not just the parts that are convenient to our own well being. Tell the world all day long that God loves them and the world will either like you or ignore you. Quote them the mostly unquoted portion of John chapter 3 and they will hate you.
Joh 3:18 He that believes in him is not condemned: but he that does not believe in Him is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
A Call To The Remnant 