Hi guys, as anyone who has read the material on this site, you will know that I typically avoid politics or the issues of the day, because typically they are a symptom of a larger disease. In order to become whole, one must treat the disease, not the symptoms. When we arrive at the heart of the matter, this is where Jesus does His work, everything else is usually nothing more than getting ” caught up in the weeds.” It is important that we have eyes to truly see. The general reaction to the release of the young American soldier is a good example of a symptom of a disease. It is a deep malady and has a central cause which exhibits itself in anger and hatred and mistrust, bitterness and fear and loathing. I want to suggest that none of these things are the fruit of the Spirit of God working in our lives, they are the fruit of another spirit that wars against our souls in an effort to pull us away from God and render us powerless and without light in an ever darkening society. We Christians are the salt and the light of the world. If our light is covered and we have lost our saltiness, what good are we for the cause of the Kingdom and to a desperate and dying world?
I recently wrote about this very spirit, based on Luke 9:51 where the disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven and destroy, and presumably kill everyone in a Samaritan village because they had insulted and rejected Jesus. Jesus rebukes His disciples , much like He rebuked Peter when Peter told Jesus he would not be crucified. Jesus says to the Disciples that this anger in them, this reaction was not of the Holy Spirit in fact they did not realize ” what spirit you are of.” I would like to share a word of caution to my brothers and sisters. Do not get caught up in these situations and throw your lot in with those who are given over to a spirit that is not of God. In this particular case there is more than likely major negotiations going on with the Karzai government , the Taliban and America about America leaving. This young man is undoubtedly just a bit player, a smoke screen to cover the release of those high-ranking Taliban members.
The war in Afghanistan is coming to an end and I say praise the Lord. The day that the last young American leaves that terrible debacle will be a fine day. And if the Taliban turn on the government there, then that is their own problem, it is not worth the life or limbs of any young American. When America went to war with Afghanistan , I do not know anyone who believed anything other than that the sole purpose of going there was to punish and dethrone the Taliban for aiding Bin Laden and of course trying to capture him. No one I knew believed that America was going there to ” re-build,” that country over a period of decades, or that trillions of $$$ and countless lives, blood and treasure, would be spent on trying to create a democracy. If the American public would have been told that up front, I believe there would have been little to no support for going there.
Most of us and I would include myself in this, first instinct is to draw the sword, and when it is a seemingly ” virtuous,” thing to do, the sword comes out all the quicker. This is of the world, it flows not from the Spirit of God, but from the spirit of man. What spirit shall we be of? Shall we mind the things of God or shall we be found to mind the things of men? Jesus identifies this spirit with Satan himself. Let us walk in the Holy Spirit. This gives us the freedom not to render evil for evil. In this Spirit we can love our enemies and do good to them that would spitefully use us. The spirit of the flesh says ” strike back, lash out, get justice for yourself, destroy your enemies.” The Spirit of God say ” Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” What spirit shall you walk in? We get the choice. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.
Tis a foolish task to urge the blind to see, let first his eyes be open by a greater one than he.
We can operate in our own strength and talents and the world can mistake it for anointing and blessing. At the very same time we can be moving ever further away from the Lord by the arm of our own strength yet still appearing spiritual to men. Those who do this have to glean what is going on in the realm of the Kingdom by listening to other men who are simply following the Spirit. So, we can be followers of men or followers of God but we cannot be both.
As I walk each morning I am always on the lookout for deer. It is a heavily forested area I walk through and so it can be difficult to see anything. Of course you could walk at dusk or dawn and increase your chance of seeing them, but you just never know. I was walking the other day and looking into the foliage and suddenly realized that I was looking right at the deer and she was looking right back at me. It was as if just one second before she was invisible but then she just appeared before my very eyes and I wondered how I did not see her before. The whole time my grandson was visiting me a few weeks ago, I was desperate for him to see a deer. I took him at the right time and the right places but we never saw one.
I thought about the manifest presence of God. I thought about seeking God. I thought about the wind and how we never know where it will blow next. It seems to me this is the way with God. If I only walked every now and again, or gave up walking because I never saw deer, it is likely that I would never see the deer. Yet, because I walk every day and seek every day, all of a sudden, there is the deer right there, looking at me. As it is with the deer, so it is with God. He is looking for those who will search diligently for Him, in fact the word says He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And the reward? To come into His presence. To ” know,” that He knows you, that He sees you, that He is watching over you. May our souls long after Him today and every day and if they do, all of a sudden, there He is.
I have met two groups of people in my life. The first group is small. They have wisdom and understanding. They draw from a deep well placed within their hearts by God Himself. From there they bring their buckets of water and if you desire more they simply draw again from the limitless source placed within them. The second larger group have buckets of water too. Within these buckets are knowledge. The contents of their buckets they have gleaned over the years from other men and from their own wisdom. Some may even have more than one bucket. But when these buckets are spilled out and shared, there is nothing left. These men have no eternal resources within themselves. They have to begin again and collect from those who do. These men are shallow and two dimensional. They do not have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. They only have ears to hear what other men are saying. Second hand information is a cheap commodity in a day and age where one more quote is merely a touch of the finger away. To know God and to hear His voice is to swim in a perpetual sea that has no end. That which flows from the throne through the saints to the hearers is recognized by the hearers as touching God.
In Numbers chapter 13 we see the story of the spies sent in to spy out the land by Moses. In verse 23 we see that they come to the Valley of Eshcol , near Hebron. Now Eshcol means cluster. It was from that valley that they took a branch with one cluster of grapes. Now, the Bible says it took two men to carry one cluster of grapes, they had to put a pole through it and carry it on their shoulders. This was an extraordinary fruitful place. Can you imagine the contrast between the desert and this valley? It must have seemed like heaven itself.
Now brothers and sisters, we know that the majority of spies gave a bad report, not least because very close to that valley dwelt the Anakim, the giants. It was also in this region that the Patriarchs were buried. So we can see just how significant this particular area was. By their burial in this land, the patriarchs were keeping watch and giving claim to the land of promise.
And so what can we take from that? Where the truth and promises lies there is great riches, great abundance. Yet, barring the way to this abundance is the fear of giants. We know that there is an abundant life to be had in Jesus. We know that the Lord came to give us life and that more abundantly. But let’s be honest brothers and sisters, how many saints do you know who are living that abundant overcoming life in Christ? Is it not true that out of the twelve spies, only two had the audacity, the faith and the boldness to go and take the land right away? Perhaps that ratio holds up till this very day? So many, held back by their fears, their lack of boldness. There it is , tantalizingly close, an abundant rich valley with fruit so large it takes two men to carry a cluster of grapes, yet the decision is to turn back into the desert.
As I was walking tonight, I pondered my place in the river. Now, in Scotland, I grew in the shadow of the mighty River Clyde. It touched all of our lives. We lived by the estuary and it was probably four miles wide and tidal. It was teeming with life, we even saw whales in there every now again. Glasgow, at the head of the river was at one time the second largest city in the British empire and so many ships sailed up and down the river carrying goods to and from every corner of the globe. Almost all of the men of my home town, Greenock, worked in the ship-yards building some of the largest ships in the world. So you can see how this river helped to shape me growing up as it touched every aspect of our lives.
And so in my writing and poetry I relate very well to rivers. Two rivers dominate my life as a Christian and they are polar opposites. One is the river of God and it has always been my goal to be fully abandoned to this river, not just ankle-deep nor knee nor waste but fully immersed in the river that flows from and too God. I have always wanted to be in the very midst of it where the current simply takes me where it will. The other river is the river of life. This I have always struggled with. It has always seemed to me that I am swimming up the river of life. It’s current flows in the opposite direction to my spirit. I think about the salmon. The tremendous journey it undertakes to come back to the point where it all began. The salmon is driven and overcomes every obstacle or dies trying as it returns to the place of its birth.
So there to me is my dichotomy. In life I swim against the current and it can often times be exhausting and weary. It has been that way all of my life. I wonder if it will ever end but I know the answer. Like the salmon, the journey must be completed. I am driven by a force that draws me home, the hand of God. And yet there is a place in God where there is no effort at all and I am going down river in the current of the Holy Spirit. It is effortless and liberating and is a place of rest. I cannot separate these two rivers, one I feel in the flesh and the other I feel in the spirit. Yet I know this, they both lead me home. And whatever obstacle comes against me in an effort to stop me going further, deeper, closer to the source of life itself will be overcome or I will die in the process and even then I will be home. What comes by nature to the salmon, has come to me by way of the Spirit.
The song on the video was written last year after I cried out to God. As was walking I remembered this testimony………..
“A man I know of, went into the supermarket to buy his wife a rose. It was his practice to do this every week. He picked the rose that he wanted and made for the checkout lane. As he walked toward the line , the Holy Spirit spoke to him, that small still voice from the Shepherd. “Give the rose to that woman.” Immediately the man resisted. “Lord, that makes no sense. What if she thinks I am hitting on her? What if she thinks I am crazy? What if others hear and think I am a weirdo?” There was such a resistance in his flesh, yet he knew the voice of the Lord, and he knew he had to be obedient. So, he took a deep breath and walked over to the lady and said to her “The Lord wanted you to have this rose.” The woman looked at him for a second, then looked at the rose, and as she reached out to take it, she began to weep. She explained.”My husband died several months ago. Every week , for years, he would buy me a rose. This morning I was feeling so lost and forgotten, I cried out to God and asked Him if He had forgotten me, I told Him that I needed to feel loved.” The man cried too. You see how the Lord loves us? You see how He speaks to His people?”
Well that morning as I was walking and remembering that story, I said to the Lord ” I need a rose Lord.” Later that day I got a call from a dear saint who I had not heard from for over a year. The conversation really lifted my spirits and this person really likes me. You know how it is nice every now and again to talk to someone who thinks you are special? 🙂 Anyway that is where the lyrics for the song ” I asked for a Rose, He gave me a Garden,” came from. Maybe you need to hear from God today. I pray that He talks to you through this song. Aileen Gilchrist wrote the music and sings it with the anointing God has given her
” It is amazing how unbelieving a believer can become. One might as well call Christ a liar, and His apostles false witnesses of God, as to deny that God is going to have a Body functioning in absolute unity of the Spirit, with each member in his proper place, and all members working together as one harmonious whole. Here again, there is only one reason why ” believers” refuse to believe it, and it is because we have never seen it wither in our own experience or in the history of the church…….The churches long and bitter history of disunity and strife does not prove that God’s word means disunity when it speaks of unity. If God said it, it is going to come to pass; and if Jesus prayed for it, all the devices of Satan cannot prevent the glorious fulfillment of that prayer of faith.” ( George Warnock)
I read this passage from George Warnock the other day as I was reading a small book by him a friend and brother from Canada sent me. He sent it a couple of years ago and I am just getting around to reading it. It is always exciting when God confirms a word that He gave to you and that is what the above passage was for me. The Lord burned the above truth into my spirit last year. I was out walking in the springtime last year and I came to the entry point of a path that I walk. I was amazed when I looked down the small hill. The path was gone, and had been replaced by a raging river that could not be crossed. The Spirit of God fell on me and He began to show me things.
The Father’s heart is more understandable when we are father’s or parents. We always want the best for our children. We always want them to be safe. Our greatest desire is to hear their heart. The smallest communication on an emotional level is treasure beyond measure. If that is our position, if that is what brings us the greatest joy, now imagine our Heavenly Father whose thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts. Praise God, we were made in His image and He breathed life into us. All good things come down from the Father of lights. That word “light’s,” from James1:17 is better translated “rays of sunshine.” Even on cloudy days, rays of sunshine can break through.
This is the Father’s heart, He never changes, He is always our Father and He always wants the best for us. He desires, today, right now, even a single thought sent to Him. Can you imagine how you would feel if your child, young or adult came to you right now and whispered in your ear ” Dad, I love you,” or ” Mom, I love you,” for no particular reason. Joy would fill your soul and reach the deepest parts of who you are. How can we reach deep into the heart of our Heavenly Father? A gentle whisper, through-out the day ” Father, I love you,” for no particular reason. Expressions of our unconditional love like these are like musical notes sent heavenwards. Let us create today, a symphony together, from all over the world , with mere whispers to the Lord that brings great joy to the Father’s heart. ” Take joy my King, in what you hear, let it be a sweet, sweet sound, in your ear.” http://youtu.be/FcezxpnqFLY
Trust is the foundation of our unconditional relationship with Jesus. Jesus said it in the Garden ” thy will be done,” even although He asked for that cup to be taken from Him. It is so important because without trust and obedience there can be no relationship with God. Just imagine not being able to trust our husbands or our wives, we would have no relationship.It is the same with God and it must be unconditional trust. This mirrors His unconditional love for us. The Word of faith movements and the prosperity teachers urge us to trust in faith and the power of our words to achieve what we desire, yet what does God desire?. Trust and faith and obedience is matured in the crucible of life and its many trials. Jesus is the Way-Not my will but thine be done. And then He set His face, He steadfastly embraced the cross to the Glory of God and the redemption of man. Will you set your face today? Will you simply trust and obey?
Jesus says ” In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ” (Joh 14:2 ) Jesus has already prepared a place for us. Can I ask you if you have taken possession of that place and abide there? This place that the Lord went ahead of us to prepare, is a place in which we abide in and walk in. It takes faith to enter into this place, in the first verse of John 14 Jesus compels us to believe in Him. We must believe in the Lord, we must walk in trust and in faith, this is the walk of the Kingdom.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (Joh 14:3) Brothers and sisters, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that way and truth and life is found in Him and in Him alone. He has called us to be where He is, this is the place of abiding, this is the place that the Lord has prepared for us. It is not a future event, although it will find its fulfillment then when we are raised in incorruption, it is a present reality. The Lord begins the chapter by telling us ” Let not you hearts be troubled.” This place that the Lord has prepared for us is not a troubled place, it is not a place that is filed with anxiety, it is a place of trust and of rest and of peace as we walk in the place and way that He has prepared for us. In this place we abide in His truth and as we follow His way and abide in His truth we are filled with His life.
And ultimately life is the proof , the fruit, the evidence of the place in which we abide. All those who abide in God , in that place which was prepared for us, will have the life of God in them and they will have it abundantly. Jesus walked in this place when He walked on the earth. Jesus did not say that He had come to show us the way, He said that He was the way. The way, the place of abiding, the place prepared for us is no place at all but is Jesus Himself, He is our place of abiding and in that place, in that perfect place, all fear is cast out. We must not be drawn away from this place, for Jesus is the eye of the storm and in the midst of the storms of life, there is perfect peace when we stay there.
Because of the nature of hurricanes, there can be no winds in the very eye, the winds revolve around the center and there is a place created at the very heart of every storm where its devastation cannot manifest itself. Now all around there can be madness and chaos, but at the very heart there is a place of peace, Jesus is our peace and this was His walk on the earth. he too was surrounded by trial and temptation. He incurred the wrath of men as He disrupted the established order of the day, He learned obedience through suffering, He was rejected and despised by men, all around Him there was a constant storm, but He abided with His Father and in that place He overcame the storms of life.
If you are where Jesus is and you abide there, you too will overcome the storms of life. They will follow you no doubt, they will surround you as you walk in Godliness and walk in the Spirit, but they will not destroy you and the life of Christ in you will manifest itself to the world and the world will be amazed at the life you exhibit despite the storms that surround you. It is because of the storms of life that the world is amazed at the life of Jesus in you. To Him who keeps us in His perfect peace, who stands with us through all the storms of life and preserves us in the very midst of them, to Him belongs all the glory.
You cannot appease God by working for Him. You cannot become spiritual by keeping very active in some form of church activity, or the like. Gods cry and longing throughout the ages of eternity has been for a home, a resting place in a people made in His own image…. and God will not allow you to find rest in your own works. God will not allow you to rest until you find that rest in UNION WITH HIMSELF ALONE. (George Warnock, Feed My Sheep, pg 7)
You see what George is saying? God is looking for a home. He is looking to abide not just in the individual believer but in the Body of Christ that stands as one. No amount of work or activity can make this come to pass for unless the Lord builds the house then we labor in vain. What house does God want to abide in? He wants to abide in the Body of Christ. A collection of stones does not make a temple. Yes we need the stones and they must be cut from the quarry of this world and they must be taken and shaped.
I’m just lookin for some higher ground
But life keeps tryin to drag me down
When your walking with your face into the rain
Sometimes you wonder if you’ll see the sun again
Eyes down, one step in front of the other
Until you think you can’t go any further
Then the rain gets heavier and begins to take its toll
Until your stripped down to your very naked soul
The waters rise and cover all of me
Until there’s only waves and nothing left to see
I am dying there somewhere beneath the flood
Covered by the waters and feet caught in the mud
And suddenly a hand appears from up and out the waves
And a man walks on the water, the storm He calmly braves
He takes my hand and stills the storm and suddenly there’s no sound
And all at once I find myself alone on higher ground
I hear His voice, He speaks to me, it’s time to journey on
In the darkest storms I have discovered just where faith is born
Transfigurations on the mount are such a glorious sight
They give me strength to journey on into the darkest night
We are called unto the battle of this there is no doubt
The faith that’s born from every storm enables us to shout
When the battle it is raging and the enemy’s all around
We know that we are standing with Him on higher ground.
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).
Many in the church today try to determine the nearness of Christ’s return by reading the signs of the times. We see such signs in specific; for example, the return of the Jews to Israel. Yet one of the clearest statements Jesus makes about His second coming is contained in the verse above. The end will come only after the gospel has been preached to all the nations as a testimony. The word that Jesus uses for ” witness,” in this verse is the same Greek word for ” testimony.” In short, He says the Gospel we preach is effective only if it is backed up by a life that testifies to its reality. ( David Wilkerson)
Do you see what David is saying here? It’s not about the Gospel preached, it’s about the Gospel lived. The Gospel lived out is a testimony to the power of Jesus to transform men into new creatures. It’s not so much the correctness of the doctrine, although doctrine is important, it’s about the reality of the witness. The genuine saint living a life empowered by Jesus is a witness to the world. Can we say that Christendom today is a witness to the world? In the average church in America, all the stats of the world on matters of divorce and such are simply the same. The world cannot tell the difference between themselves and Christianity. So, not only is there not a witness for Christ, there is a vehicle for mocking.
Below are the poems and songs I wrote in 2013 all in one place. I pray that they bless you…………..bro Frank
TO HELL AND BACK
How to keep your soul
From burning in the fire
Sometimes to walk this world
Is to wade through muck and mire
To see what Spirit sees
Would drop man to his knees
And in agony look up
And see Christ drink the cup
All the hell in all the world
Came together in one place
Yet even in the midst of hell
There was love upon His face
If we could see this hell
Then what would be the toll?
Shattered in the night
And forever lose our soul?
Hell is fought by Christ alone
And we can look into His face
And as we look we’ll see it there
Tis mercy and tis grace
If you have been to hell and back
And survived to tell the tale
If you would laugh and love again
You must be found behind the veil
He that conquered death and hell
And broke those deadly chains
Is the one that can deliver us
Despite the awe-full pains
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TO BE FOUND IN HIM
Just to meet you in the darkest night
Sets my soul on fire, it gives me light
To meet you on the highest peak
Is to feed my soul, tis all I seek
Whether high or whether low
Is neither here nor there
For you alone I want to know
I want to see your face so fair
Can a valley be a mountain?
A prison cell a sanctuary?
Can a man in chains and fetters
Claim to be completely free?
There is a freedom wrought by man
He fights and kills to see it done
There is a freedom wrought by God
On Calvary’s battle-field was won
So whether in the darkest night
Or transfiguration on the hill
I’ll walk by faith and not by sight
I shall not run, I shall be still
Be still when all around are crying
Stand fast when all are set to flight
Know the Lord, and in the dying
His presence overcomes the night
Darkness ends and has no power
And Christ outshines the brightest sun
He is our Rock and strong high tower
No more to fight, the battle won.
— Read the rest of this entry »
Lord you are worthy and the weight of your eternal glory is a holy heaviness that is an anchor for my soul that keeps me in the midst of the storm.
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You never truly appreciate the wind at your back until you have walked into the eye of the storm.
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Many people I know spend their whole lives planning for tomorrow. The problem with tomorrow is that it is always tomorrow. Don’t let tomorrow rob you of today.
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The efforts of men cannot knit hearts together. The Holy Spirit knits the hearts of men for the glory of God through Jesus. He does not bond churches together, he bonds saints together and the saints form the Church.
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Its a terrible thing to be held captive by our own thoughts.
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You cannot be lovers of the truth unless you are a lover of the Truth.
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Men will always strive to maintain that which puts bread on their table or keep them in their current position. They are the keepers of the status quo because they are recipients of the status quo. Status quo is Latin for ” the current state of affairs.” This becomes more apparent when things are changing.
Christendom has become a labyrinth. The faith has been split into a thousand little parts and you are made a heretic if there is one of them you do not accept….What can help? Only the one thing needful; return to Christ, looking to Christ as the only Leader, and walking in His footsteps, setting aside all other ways until we reach that goal, and have come to the unity of the faith (Eph. 4:13). As the Heavenly Master built everything on the grounds of the Scriptures, so should we leave all particularities of our special confessions and be satisfied with the revealed Word of God which belongs to us all. With the Bible in our hand we should cry ; I believe what God has revealed in this Book ; I will obediently keep His commands ; I hope for that which He has promised . Christians, give ear! There is only one Life, but Death comes to us in a thousand forms. There is only one Truth, but Error has a thousand forms. There is only one Christ, but a thousand Anti-Christs…..So thou knowest, O Christendom, what is the one thing needful. Either thou turnest back to Christ or thou goest to destruction like the Anti-Christ. If thou art wise and wilt live, follow the Leader of Life. But you, Christians, rejoice in your being caught up…hear the Words of your Heavenly leader , “Come unto me,’…..Answer with one voice, ” We come! (The Voice of the Morning , 1660)
There has been an ancient battle which will soon unveil itself once again. There are the genuine saints and then there are the religious, the people of the world. In the Reformation, Luther made a fatal mistake. He rejected the notion of a church of “believers,’ in favor of the State church. The State church gave aid and false comfort to the general population at large. It lulled them into a false sense of security, in effect it said “peace, peace, where there was no peace.” The State church today is represented by a thousand denominational and non-denominational churches. In the average church in America for instance, almost half of every congregation is divorced, yet the hirelings remain silent. Materialism and worldliness is rampant, yet again, silence. This modern church model is based on the Catholic model where the power lies in the hands of the priest, which we now call the minister or the pastor. It is true that he does not claim to turn the bread into the body of Jesus or the wine into His blood, but none-the less, the power resides within the one man, who relies on the people to put food on his table.
When this structure is swept away, then the genuine priesthood of believers will arise. This sleeping body of people will awake and walk in their giftings. Now Satan has always violently opposed the genuine witness of the the Lord Jesus here on this earth, and he has typically used the religious man and woman to do it, this tactic will not change. What now simmers under the surface, resentment of the religious man toward those who have a genuine faith and walk in the holiness of the Lord, will come boiling and bubbling to the surface and Satan will seek a “final solution, for the “Christian problem.” Yet, as the enemy comes in like a flood, so the Lord will raise up a standard, He will pour His Spirit out upon His children and they will walk in a biblical power that the world has not seen for a long time. The Lord always enables those that He calls, He equips us for what He calls us to do. And all of this is surely at the door. What will be the catalyst for this change? Only the Lord knows……………….brother Frank
The emptying process. He removes the stones and rocks and clods from our hearts and refines the flesh. The desires of the world lose all their allure as He draws us to Himself. If we yield to the process then He draws us closer. I would love to say that in my experience it has been a one time yielding, but no, not so simple. Time and again the calling comes. The deeper and the closer we come, oftentimes the deeper the cut. Shall we yield to the surgeon’s knife? Shall we yield to the sculptor’s chisel? I would say that only a vision of heaven itself could draw us to such yielding.
Just one moment in His presence. Can a single moment ruin us for the things of this world? Is it possible that after that moment the world turns to black and white? Then another miracle happens. As we begin to look at the world through these captivated eyes, the color begins to return but it’s not the color of the world, it’s the color of heaven. Now one truly sees the sunset because one has been intimate with the artist. I can see a waterfall and my spirit soars because I know the hand that crafted it. These majestic mountains and stars that fill the heavens raises me up to higher places than them , to the place where they were born. The hand of a child, a single ray of sunshine though the clouds, a wave that crashes to the shore, soon enough I see my Lord in all of it. I see His beauty everywhere.
Yet the darkness prevails and time and time again it comes against the light . Yet, out of that moment, out of His presence there is born an eternal longing that no darkness can quell just as no hand could hold back the tide. He comes. Yes and He comes again to those who would wait upon Him. How long shall we wait? However long it takes. This is the kind of love that would wait a thousand years. And so we yield , and so we die to this world. And we are drawn ever closer to the next until the day comes when we step over into the world that has touched us and called to us. There is glory in all of it. It is a grand tapestry and we are but a thread. Can we see the vision of the artist? Can we see the vision of the sculptor? It is not so important to see the vision of the artist or to see the finished sculpture , it only really matters that we see Him, Him who creates it all. And when we see Him the yielding is simply a matter of trust and of longing, of hunger and of thirst as the deer panteth for the water-brooks.
mediately the man resisted. “Lord, that makes no sense. What if she thinks I am hitting on her? What if she thinks I am crazy? What if others hear and think I am a weirdo?” There was such a resistance in his flesh, yet he knew the voice of the Lord, and he knew he had to be obedient. So, he took a deep breath and walked over to the lady and said to her “The Lord wanted you to have this rose.” The woman looked at him for a second, then looked at the rose, and as she reached out to take it, she began to weep. She explained.”My husband died several months ago. Every week , for years, he would buy me a rose. This morning I was feeling so lost and forgotten, I cried out to God and asked Him if He had forgotten me, I told Him that I needed to feel loved.” The man cried too. You see how the Lord loves us? You see how He speaks to His people?”
A Call To The Remnant 