For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa 55:8-9)
The context of these well known verses comes in the verses prior. It is an appeal to the wicked to repent and He will “abundantly pardon.” Imagine that, God calls you to repentance with a promise of an abundant pardon. It is hard for us to imagine that in our earthly minds. If someone consistently sinned against us, over weeks and months and years, decades even, it can be almost impossible to think that we could so forgive them as to never even give all the previous crimes against us a second thought. To have the slate so wiped clean as to be brand new. This is miraculous. We could, in and of ourselves, never do this.
Yet, out thoughts are not His thoughts. His ways are so much higher than our ways. In our own power it would be beyond our ability to grasp. You might as well throw punches at the moon. Yet we do not stand by our own power. Those who know Jesus stand by the power of God, by His Spirit. Now, if the Lord our God offers such an abundant pardon to the wicked what does He offer to His children? “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” An abundant pardon leads to an abundant life. You may think that you have blown it with God but His thoughts are higher than your thoughts saint. If you have been hiding behind the tree with some fig leaves, it’s time to emerge from there and to stand before God.
The rain that falls from heaven falls also upon your head. And the snow that falls from heaven and waters the earth waters you too oh child of God. It causes the buds to bloom and the seed to come forth and gives bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty. This is the Word of God and it does not return to Him void. It speaks life to you and prospers your soul. You shall go forth from here with joy and His peace shall lead you as the mountains and the hills break forth in praise and worship and the trees of the field shall clap their hands in wonder at His ways. A word to one of His children today.
I thank you for the righteousness you see
For it is the righteousness You imputed to me
My chains fell of and I was healed
When this truth to me was finally revealed
I bring nothing to His righteousness
And the Spirit of this truth has guided us
That even on my very worse day
Tis your truth alone that lights my way
Not by might nor power I stand
But by the righteousness found in thy Hand
That flows from feet and wounded side
In the shadow of thy wing is where I'll hide
This is my life tis from above
It hovers over me like a heavenly dove
This truth alone has set me free
Higher than the heavens and deeper than the sea.
When my wife and I came back from vacation, we discovered that one of the plants that stands guard at our door, had been over-watered. The one on the left was fine, and flourishing, the other had wilted and the blooms were dying or dead. When we researched what had happened, it seems that if you over-water a plant to this extent then the soil will be rancid and the roots themselves will be rotting from the bottom up. There is a slight chance that you can save the plant, but only slight. It involves uprooting the plant and laying it to one side, removing all of the soil, cut away as much of the roots that you can, then replace all of the soil and replant it.
We did this and just as the research suggested, the soil was rancid, so bad that we had to wear masks as we removed it. The roots were rotten almost all the way to the top, we cut them away. And now the replanted plant will either live or die, no one knows. Can I suggest that the Western world is over-watered. We are rancid as we drown in our abundance. The very roots that held us are rotten from the top on down. The flowers of our culture are dying on a rotten vine. There is drastic change to come. There is an uprooting so that which can be saved and shall be saved. The soil which has held us will be removed. The roots of everything we know is being cut away. We shall be replanted in different soil.
Will you survive the cutting brothers and sisters? Shall you resist it? The old soil is being shoveled away as we speak. The saints of God shall be ripped away from this world and all its hold upon us. We shall be laid bare and put aside while the Master deals with what is left of this world. We shall not be watered for a time. It is vital that we “dry out.” Think not that we have been abandoned. We have not, but it will seem that way. This time of of our troubles is for our saving.
The new soil will be rich and deep. It will be watered by the blood of the martyrs. The name of the new soil is persecution. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. Can you hear the drumbeats of war brothers and sisters? A war that for all intents and purposes will be one that we shall lose. For a time it shall seem that all is lost. Not just for a day or a week or even a month, this season shall be much longer than that. It will be long enough to make you doubt everything that you have ever believed. You will be tried in this.
Yet God has cultivated a people for Himself. They have a few banners that fly over their lives and the battles they have waged. One of the banners that flutters in the wind of the Spirit says “Even if He kills me, yet will I trust Him.” Another banner reads “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” There are two more banners. One says ” And they loved not their lives unto death,” and the last one reads “If God does not deliver us from the fire, let it be know, we shall never bow down to the gods of this world.”
It is these saints that shall survive the uprooting. All others shall die in the rottenness that is this world. This mindset of the saint is to glorify God. It is to yield and to surrender to His will for their lives. It is what the Master wants that is all important. It is His desires that fill the hearts of the saints. It is their blossom that causes color to exist in another-wise black and white world. Shall the flower bloom? Shall it survive the trauma of the uprooting? Some will, most will not. In the end, the heart of the matter is revealed as everything is stripped away. It cannot be otherwise. The heart of the matter, the only heart that matters is the Heart of God the Father and Christ His Son. Let us be found there, even if He slays us. For the things that we see are temporal and of little value, but the will of God is eternal and flowers in the heart of His children.
I was made to see, that if ever I would suffer rightly, I must first pass a sentence of death upon everything that can be properly called a thing in this life, even to reckon myself, my wife, my children, my health, my enjoyment, and all, as dead to me and myself as dead to them. The second was to live upon God who is invisible as Paul said in another place the way not to faint is to “look not upon the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen, for the things that are seen seen are temporal, but the things which are seen are eternal (John Bunyon)
Our brother John discovered the great depths of what it means to serve God with all of your heart. He knew he was going to suffer, and suffer indeed he did for the cause of Jesus. And yet, to “suffer rightly,’ he must count all things as loss. All the things of this world must be dead to him and he must be alive to God. This in no way meant that he did not love his family, clearly from his writings the opposite was true. Consider his agonies of knowing that his wife and family suffered greatly, especially his young blind daughter, because of his stand for Jesus. It tore him to pieces…….
“The parting with my wife and poor children hath often been to me in this place (prison) as the pulling of the flesh from my bones……I should have often often brought to mind the many hardships, miseries and wants that my poor family was like to meet should I be taken from them, especially my poor blind child, who lay nearer to my heart than all I had besides; Oh the thoughts of the hardship I thought my blind one might go under, would break my heart to pieces.”
You see brothers and sisters. Bunyon’s faith that led him to prison and his knowing that he must die to everything of this world, including his family, was not the actions of a cold, religious stoic man, quite the opposite. Amazingly, John could have spared himself the 12 years in prison and all the suffering he undertook and that of his family by simply recanting his faith. He could have walked out of prison at any time. How cruel the enemy is. Yet here is what he said in that regard ….
“If nothing will do unless I make my conscience a continual butchery and a slaughtershop, unless putting out my own eyes, I commit me to the blind to lead me, as I doubt not is desired by some, I have determined, the Almighty God being my help and shield , yet to suffer, if frail life might continue so long, even till the moss shall grow on mine eyebrows, rather than to violate my faith and principles.”
John would suffer the loss off al things rather than to violate his conscience in regard to preaching the Word of God. It did not come easy, it was in fact an agony, yet his great desire was to “suffer rightly.’ How then brothers and sisters, should we live in such a dark age as ours? Should we not also desire to “suffer rightly,” for the cause of Christ? Should we not love the Lord out God with all of hearts and all of our minds and bodies? Should we not love Him above all other things, even the most dearest things to our hearts? We should. God bless you and help you as you follow hard after God.
When all the world has lost its appeal to you When you find yourself wandering in the wasteland dunes of anxiety and emptiness and disappointments, know that God is near. You must know it for you will not feel it. Keep walking saint, this is the desert place known as despair. No man or woman can help you. This is simply between you and God and the refiners fire. You will be tested in this. God is looking for a people who seek to worship Him with their whole hearts.
And if you think that all of your troubles are without purpose then you are wrong saint. There is a purpose in every trial, in every trouble, in every disappointment. There is a purpose in every step you take through the desert of despair and loneliness.
You must pass through these places in order to continue the journey home on the narrow path. there are no short-cuts, no way around these difficult places of death. The enemy will whisper in your ear when you seem to be surrounded by darkness and defeat ” what was it all about?” He will ask you to consider the possibility that your life has been for nothing and that there has been no purpose in any of your suffering. Liar! Brothers and sisters, he is a liar and I know I speak to someone who needs to hear that today.
Psa 84:6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
The Valley of Baca, the valley of weeping, the valley of tears. The road to the altar, traverses many valleys. Some are narrow some are deep . There is no avoiding them. You will shed tears in these valleys. You will often times feel abandoned in these valleys. What should you do as you travel through them? Dig deeper. Dig holes in these valleys brothers and sisters. These valleys are without rain and it would seem to many that they will surely die as they go through them. You will not die. So why should you stop and dig holes in this valley? Why not rush through as quickly as possible? The truth is this valley cannot be rushed. No matter how much you run you still have to go through the valley. Even if you run with everything that is in you, the valley will last exactly how long it is supposed to last. So when you stop in the midst of it, when you resist the urge to panic, when you embrace the fact that this valley has to be gone through, these “dark nights of the soul,” will become an oasis and a place of refreshment to those who have faith and continue to trust in the Lord.
You will not be tempted more than you are able. The Lord has not abandoned you. He will minister to you. When you dig deeper, you are emptying yourself in preparation to receive the Lords presence. He will come to you on your journey, on your pilgrimage , in your deepest valleys. And to those who dig, their holes will be filled abundantly when the flood of His rain comes. The steeper the valley, the bigger the flood. The holes ensure that when the flood ends, their will be pools of water left over that will not only minister to you, but will comfort and encourage those who will come along after you, for remember, there is only one path, the narrow one, and all must traverse it. Let your tears fall saints, your tears shall remain. They shall refresh another. Stand fast brothers and sisters. You keep on walking no matter how dark it has become. You are surrounded by troubles on every side and inwardly there are fears? You are not alone, this is the path and you are where you should be and it shall not overcome you.
Inside of you lies the treasures of God, inside your earthen vessel. You have been called to comfort those with the comfort you yourself have been comforted with along the way. When you pass through this place of death and you are not overcome, you will testify of it and comfort others and glorify God. Remember saints, we are always bearing about in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus, the life of the cross, the way of sacrifice, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our lives. The greater the trial the closer our God. You say ” but this trial is such that I cannot feel Him, I cannot sense His presence.” Saints, one of the greatest trials of all is trust. Our foundation is built upon faith. The enemy will try to pull you down and destroy you by coming against the very foundation of your life, your faith. Your life in the Spirit stands upon faith in Jesus. Stand today brother, stand today sister.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Wait upon the Lord and He will come to you. Wait, wait, keep waiting, keep trusting, keep abiding, keep praying, keep trusting, keep praising, keep reading His word. You will not faint, you will not fall in this desert. When the rain comes and it will come, you will walk and you will run and you will mount up with wings as eagles and you will revel in the presence of God. One day, one moment in His presence is better than a thousand elsewhere. In one moment, in one word, in one breath of the Holy Spirit there is life and eternity and hope and joy. One more thing brothers and sisters, and never doubt this. Your Father loves you. He sees you. He has not forgotten you. His love for you is an everlasting love. His thoughts towards you cannot be numbered, they are greater than the sands of the seashore. Stand fast in this and know that you are known. Let your tears fill the valleys, none are lost.
How to rule the emotions? It is imperative in the life of the saint, to rule the emotions. They have to be taken captive, much like the thoughts. Emotions and thoughts are not in and of themselves bad of course, they are a vital part of our humanity, they are what makes us human. Yet, if we allow ourselves to be ruled by our emotions and we do not take into captivity our thoughts, we shall be like waves tossed upon the sea by strong winds. This can develop into hurricane force winds which then become highly destructive to everything it breaks upon.
Emotions serve us well. They are most often delightful and cause us to laugh and to cry, to be angry and to be sad. These are all safety valves for us in our human experience. Yet, when they master us, when we serve them rather than they serving us, we fall into a world of trouble. The vast majority of people I have ever met have been ruled by their emotions, for the most part. So, what brings the emotions into line? The will. And for the saints it is the will empowered by the Spirit of God. And where does the will take its cue from? The Word of God and the still small voice of God.
When the will is yielded to the obedience of God, the emotions are kept in check. We walk in a broad place in this situation. When the will gives way to the emotions then we have opened ourselves up to great danger. In the middle of a storm, the ship has her hatches battened down. This stops the mighty waves that crash over her from pouring into her holds, flooding the interior, and potentially sinking the ship. This action is carried out by the will. When the emotions are in charge then the hatches have been thrown open. Every wave that assaults us can now possibly sink us.
The Spirit empowered and yielded will is the sentinel that stands guard over the doorway of our hearts and minds. It follows the directions of God and is anxious for nothing. It yields itself to Jesus and His word and It stops us from getting on the rollercoasters of every situation we face. It keeps us walking in a sure and broad place. Get on that rollercoaster and there will be huge ups and downs and turns and twists. There will be fear and screaming and all manner of noise as we are tossed about by the situations we face.
To be ruled by the emotions is to walk according to the flesh. To exercise our wills in the way that we have been directed by God is to walk according to the Spirit. No disobedient servant can walk according to the Spirit. How then do you walk saint? Are you storm tossed by the circumstances of life? Does your life consist of highs and lows and twists and turns that leave you exhausted in mind and body? Do you find yourself forever on the rollercoaster of life and circumstances? The key to life in the Spirit is to yield to God and to be obedient to His word. You will undoubtedly suffer loss in your pursuit of following hard after the Lord. Yet, what is loss in this world is gain in the next. Surrender today saints and walk in the peace that surpasses all understanding.
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
The Holy Spirit spoke to me the other day in answer to an inquiry as to what was going on with me. “You have been holding on for so long that you do not know how to let go.” Let go of what you might ask? Everything.
It is within my own grasp that all fear exists, and the tighter the hold the greater the fear. And so this new place that I have been walking in with the Lord is the place that appears when you let go.
And the letting go was such a foreign concept to me that the Holy Spirit had to tell me what it was. And I thought to myself “surely it cannot be that simple?” And the answer is that it is, it is profoundly simple. And the cost? Everything that you have. Let it go. Hand it over. He who the Son sets free is free indeed.
Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
The freedom to do what is right, towers above the prison and the chains of commandments. One is initiated by love, the other is enforced by the whip. Holiness comes from freedom and freedom comes from love . And this love inspires and draws us and compels us to honor and respect and obey our Father in heaven. His love is the very air that we breathe. The air before His throne is rarified air and if we cannot breathe this air then we die. The impetus for us to follow the commands that are written upon our heart is love. It is more powerful than the commands that were written upon tablets of stone. Those who would sin without conviction and use some kind of legal fiction (cheap grace) to excuse or justify their actions simply do not have the laws of God written upon their hearts.
The grace of God is such a beautiful and dynamic and fundamental part of our relationship with the Lord. It is never a license to sin, God forbid. It is the very opposite for those who know Jesus. When we sin there is a separation between ourselves and the one that we love. We cry with David “restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” The blood bought heart can never be at peace when there is any kind of distance between it and his Lord. Love compels us to humble ourselves, broken and contrite, and come before our Lord in confession so that we may once again walk in the beauty and closeness of His presence and holiness.
Rain down you heavens from above
Let the skies pour forth in righteousness
Be drenched by His glorious love
And let His light expel all darkness
I am the Lord your God and there is no other
Look to me alone as your narrow way
Do not be distracted by any other lover
And I will lead and guide you every single day
I have formed the light and created the darkness
I make peace and hold the reins of calamity
Yet in my Hands you are safe from all the madness
And despite all you see there is only my reality
Darkness and light are both the same to Me
And I have created the path that lies before you
Whether mountains or valleys or the wildest desolate seas
I will forge your steps and I will take you through
You shall walk through fires and you shall not be burned
You shall wade through floods and not be overwhelmed
You shall keep your eyes on me and never be turned
When you are covered by My Blood you are never condemned.
Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
When we suffer for His sake brothers and sisters and rejoice in the midst of it, then we disarm principalities and powers. We “prove,” to that old ancient liar that this is exactly what he is and we do it all by the indwelling power of the risen Christ. He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. His perfect love demonstrated through us casts out all fear and makes a public spectacle of principalities and powers.
It diametrically opposes their lie that force must be met with force, that evil must be rendered for evil for good to triumph. Jesus overcame them on the cross and He cried out to His Father to forgive His enemies. The first martyr Stephen cries out even as He was being cruelly stoned, that this would not be held against the ones stoning Him. This is the power of God that breaks ancients chains of evil and establishes the witness of Christ to the world and to the principalities and powers.Can you
You have been called to this brothers and sisters and it is a high and noble calling. It is a calling that requires our old man and woman to die. For in the flesh we are no different from anyone else in the world. We would simply be frail creatures who could laugh when the going is good, who could be happy when in the midst of prosperous circumstances and who could praise God as long as He “blesses” us. Yet in this higher ground that we have been called to we praise God not only from the mountaintops but from the lowest valley’s. We praise God whether we walk as free men on this earth or enchained with fetters of iron.
We praise God for better or for worse. We praise God in sickness and in health, we praise God whether rich or poor. We who love our spouses know that this is our commitment to them, we who love God know that His calling is on another level altogether. The marriage of the flesh is one thing and it is noble, the marriage of the spirit is high and lifted up and it is holy. We are one flesh in our marriages, we are one spirit in Jesus and when we walk according to that spirit we walk in power and in love and with a perfect peace that triumphs over principalities and powers for all the world to see. Your light is the life that draws the world to Jesus.
It is a beautiful thing when you begin to realize that you are God’s work. When we discover that we need only to yield to the hammer and the chisel, give way to the potters hands. The only thing that holds us back is our resistance. It is our dreams that hold us back. Our desires, our ambitions. They may all be perfectly fine dreams and desires, but not for us saints. In the end it is about walking with God and that being the desire of our heart, to be like Enoch who was like Adam, prior to the fall.
The world is full of smoke and mirrors. It is full of expectations. And for the most part, even the most beautiful expectations are tyrannical. They compete with God and God is jealous. To know God fully we have to give ourselves to Him fully. He stands with open arms, we need only cast everything else aside and walk deeper into His heart.
For God’s children, it all comes down to time. this is our most valuable commodity, and it is typically right here where we “rob” God. Where we choose “other lovers.” God is jealous for our time, for our thoughts. If I were a great artist and somehow deemed to paint you and told you that it would take many sessions to complete but in the end it would be a masterpiece and would be shown in the finest art galleries all over the world, would you show up for your sessions? Would you be easily distracted and forget about your appointments with this famous painter? And if you did forget about them, then in the end your painting would simply be incomplete. The Artist awaits, where are you?
For those who give themselves fully into the Masters hand, for His will and for His good pleasure, they become something beautiful, something marvelous. We were not much at all to start with but somehow, with limited materials, the God of all creation has crafted something outstanding. He has taken ashes and out of that He has created His own personal work of art, you. Has He finished His work in you? Are you missing your appointments? Give Him your most valuable asset, give Him your time?
Do not get distracted by the shiny objects of this world. Do not get distracted by your husband. Do not get distracted by your wife, by your family or your work. You must love Him more than all of these things otherwise you are not worthy to be His disciple, you will be an unfinished piece of work on the shelf. God wants to display His work. You are His work, His witness, His light, Christ in you the hope of glory!
It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (Lam 3:22-24)
Notice this verse from Lamentations 3. It is a very grave chapter where the afflicted are overcome with fears and are surrounded by troubles. Yet right here in the middle of the chapter we see our great hope. Indeed the Lord’s compassion never fails, His mercies are new every morning and great is His faithfulness. We have hope because He is our Lord. There is a tyranny of yesterday and fear for tomorrow and they are chains which are designed to drag us down.
Oftentimes the older we get the heavier the chains are because many are our yesterdays and fewer are our tomorrows. Yet, praise the Lord the antidote to these fears and these tyrannies is the now. We serve God today and we are assured that His mercies are new every morning. It is the enemy that reminds us of our yesterdays, it is the enemy that sows fears in our heart for tomorrow. And why? He wants to rob you of today. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not guaranteed. All we truly have is now. Live and walk in the Lord today and forget yesterday and care not for the morrow for Christ is in you today. Today is the day of our salvation.
If the enemy has stolen from you yesterday, do not allow him to take tomorrow as well. Awake each day and give glory to God. Our circumstances may not change but we will. Arise with the sun tomorrow morning and know that the Lord Himself directs the tides, makes the moon to rise and the sun to set. He holds it all in His hand and remember this more than anything, He holds you in His hand. You are His servant for His purposes and you are called to rise every day and seek the Lord and serve the Lord. In this is peace and from this peace springs joy and that joy, the joy of the Lord is our strength for a brand new day.
The title of the last poem that that William Cowper wrote, in 1773, was “Light shining out of Darkness.” It became known by the first line “God moves in a mysterious way.” John Newton would publish it the following year. It might help to understand the original title when we consider that William wrote this poem after attempting suicide. And so the darkness that he is writing about was gross darkness indeed and how sweet the light of Christ that rescues us even if we make our beds in hell, even the darkness, shall be light unto Him. He also wrote “There is a fountain filled with Blood,” and “O for a closer walk with God.”
These words written, have comforted countless millions over the last 250 years. William, in his serious battles with depression over his whole lifetime could never have imagined the impact his life would have, how it would continue to resonate down through the centuries. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in a man who walked in the darkness of depression for much of his life. Light shining out of darkness. God indeed moves in mysterious ways, who can explain our God? I tell you this though, you rarely if ever read words like this anymore. Savor the words below, they are rich in depth and meaning as opposed to so much of the shallowness that today passes for writing.
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs
And works his sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purpose will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
the bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain:
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
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. I took my grandson with me a few times, I really wanted him to see the deer, he really wanted to see them. 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? “I am your exceeding great reward.” 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, He is there.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8)
Faith delivers what Grace provides-Don’t measure your faith, measure your God (David Legge)
If faith is the evidence of things not seen, and it is , then it is first and foremost the evidence of God. We see God in the man who walks in faith. We see God in love and hope and mercy and forgiveness. We see Him in joy and peace and self-control. We see Him in all of these attributes distilled in us and we see Him more clearly the darker the background. The more difficult the circumstances of our lives then the greater the canvas for memorializing God in the hearts and minds of the world.
And so, if the unmerited favor of God first and foremost provides salvation, justification, then it also provides us with the means of how to live out that justification. Grace gives us access to faith and faith is the evidence of the man or woman who walks in close proximity to God. The closer the walk, the greater the faith. The greater the faith, the deeper the love. The deeper the love the more abundant the hope. The abundance of hope leads to an abundance of mercy and forgiveness and thankfulness.
And finally, the greater the faith the greater the expressions of joy and peace and self-control. And all of these add up to an expression of the reality of God seen in us. An expression of the reality of the unseen God. A light that pierces the darkness of this world, the hope of this world. The measure of your faith depends upon the vastness of God in your life. An all consuming relationship with God produces the greatest expressions of faith for a dying world to see.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ(2Co 10:5)
Its a terrible thing to be held captive by our own thoughts. How exhausting it can be when we allow them to consume us and overwhelm us. They can begin to eat away at us. They can even rob us of sleep and leave us tired and weary. I thank the Lord that He freed us and gave us the ability to take every thought into captivity and focus on Him. If a specific situation or trial has taken your mind captive today, know that there is a way of escape, you are no longer slaves to the flesh but bond-servants, willing servants to the Lord of power.
If you have been set free by the Lord then you are free indeed. You now have the power to take those thoughts captive, they must bow to the Spirit of God in you. By an act of your will, take your eyes off of that situation today and turn them to Jesus and draw close to Him and peace will flood your soul. Remember, if the Word tells us to take our thoughts captive, it is because it is possible in Him. There has been a conquest of your heart and mind and soul and in this Jesus is the conqueror. To the conqueror belongs the spoils. Your thoughts are for Him. He is a jealous God. He will have the reward of His sufferings.
Surrender any situation that drives your thoughts from the Lord. Let it die upon the cross. You take up that cross for the Lord has done the rest.. You lift your eyes to Jesus for He has done the rest. You raise your hands in worship and by the power of the Spirit you will enter into His victory. Your circumstances may not change but you will in the very midst of them. In one scenario you are a prisoner to your thoughts in the other you have taken them captive and you are victorious. Today is the day of victory. Let the Lord be high and lifted up in your heart and soul and mind, let Him be preeminent in all things, including your thoughts and you will walk in peace and victory. Enter in and take possession of the land already conquered.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
What a great tragedy that all men sinned and had fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus our Lord is the glory of God. When men fall short of God’s glory they fall short of Jesus. He is our prophet, our priest and our King. The prophets had longed to see the day that the Messiah walked the earth, and now, here He was. Yet He had come not to bring righteousness to men through the law, but by grace through faith. The unmerited favor of God would be extended to all men, the Jew and the Gentile. All had fallen short of the glory that was manifested in Christ the King. Yet now all the world would be extended this righteousness of God by faith. Trust in God and believe in Him and you shall be saved. Saved from sin, saved from death, saved from darkness saved from eternal darkness.
And now we who know Him, do not fall short of His glory. We stand amazed in it. We revel in it. We children of the living God are one with the Father and the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:(Joh 17:22) We are one in Him and we have beheld His glory. We no longer fall short of it, we are immersed in it. This is our destiny, that the world will see Christ in us, that they will see His glory from afar, and be drawn to it so that they too may behold His glory and not fall short of it. If He be lifted up by sanctified saints baptized by fire, then they that are drawn to Him shall also be engulfed in the fire of His glory.
God has no pleasure in those who draw back from the glory. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.(Heb 10:38) The saints of God ever want to please their Father in heaven. God’s overcoming saints are not those who draw back. They are those who with boldness enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ our Lord. By a new and living way we draw near, through the veil, into the presence of our High priest; with true hearts and holding fast the full assurance of our faith. Men who profess His name may draw back and fall short of His glory, but we saints shall draw near and stand amazed in the glory. And the world will know that Jesus and all His glory was sent from heaven as the manifest expression of God’s great love.
My hope is in the Christ that dwells within my heart.
It also lies within my Lord who quenches every dart
The Christ who came and died for me and raised me from the dead
And who for you and me , gladly died and bled
My hope is in the Lord my God who whispers in my ear
The Christ who by His very walk conquered every fear
The Christ who showed me how to live and also how to die
The Christ who taught me how to run and also how to fly
He is my sunrise in the morning at the breaking of the dawn
And by His hand transformed me and forever He holds on
He is my sunset in the evening at the end of every day
He came to show me how to walk, to walk a different way
He is the beginning and the end and everything in between
He is the power that transformed me, by His Blood I was made clean
Rising from the ashes of sin and death and hell
He raised me up to where He was and there forever I shall dwell.
Faith, what an incredible word. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Think about that for a moment. Things hoped for has no substance in this material world. Yet it forms the foundation upon which we stand. It exists in a realm we cannot see. Yet in the depths of our heart and the heights of our spirit we know it to be true. By this understanding we know that the Word of God Himself framed this world and every star in the night sky. The things that are seen was not made by what can be seen. It is only by faith that this can be known.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Think about that for a moment. It is a totally otherworldly statement. In this material world in which we dwell, evidence consists entirely of things seen. Yet in the Kingdom of God and the hearts of men, the evidence of things unseen is the entire basis for our existence. We believe in the unseen world. We believe in the unseen God. We believe in the unseen heaven and we also believe in an unseen hell.
This knowing that has been given to us, is the evidence of the things to come. The evidence of things not seen, that sentence absolutely runs counter to everything man is and knows. There in enmity between the heads of men and the hearts of the saints and never the twain can meet. There is a vast gulf between the two and it is impassable. The man who follows his head can only believe in what he can see. He will say “show me.” The man who follows the dictates of his heart and the leading of the Spirit will simply say, “I believe.”
Only by knowing God can these truths be known. It is in this realm of the knowing that we exist as saints. We walk in that realm. This is walking in the Spirit. We know what cannot be known. We know beyond the knowledge of man. There is an old song called “He lives.” The chorus goes like this…..He lives , He lives, Christ Jesus lives today He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way He lives , He lives , salvation to impart, You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.
Ask me how I know He lives. You see He lives inside of me. He walks with me as the old song says. He talks with me. Faith may be the evidence of things unseen by this world but I have saw the Lord high and lifted up. I have knelt before the throne of God and all His glory filled the temple and it filled my heart and it filled my very soul. I have sat at His feet and He has taught me. I have cried out in the night watches and He has wiped away my tears. I was dead in the valley of dry bones and He raised me up. He gave me a new heart and He breathed His very life into me.
Yes, I trust Him and my hope is in Him but my hope is not like the hope of this world. My very hope has substance even although you cannot see it. My hope is Christ Himself, the Christ that dwells within my heart. The Christ that raised me from the dead. The Christ who whispers in my ear. The Christ that conquered every fear. The Christ who showed me how to die and the Christ who taught me how to fly. He is my sunrise in the morning and He is the sunset of my life. The beginning and the end and everything in between.
And the remnant… shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. (Isaiah 37:31)
In the very depths of winter, spring can seem like a long ways away isn’t that right? This is also very true for our spiritual seasons for all of us will go through dark winters of our souls. Perhaps you are there right now? I would like you to consider the tree in winter. It loses all of its foliage. It stands stark and naked and bare against the cold winter sky. There seems to be no life in it at all. Yet there it stands.
All activity seems to be suspended yet the root system continues to grow as the ground temperature just a few feet below the surface is warmer. In the depths of winter, the roots grow deeper. This is the season of the remnant. We are in the midst of a long winter which will only end with the return of Jesus. This long winter is by design. God is establishing a people who cannot be moved. He is allowing everything to be stripped away. All the foliage, all the pretty adornments that we have added over countless centuries are simply being stripped away.
The traditions of men appeal to the world, it compensates for a lack of reality. Yet God has a remnant who simply must have Him. A people who, no matter what happens, will follow God and stand upon His Word. Stand firm brothers and sisters, be encouraged. You are not alone. Your trials, your tribulations and your feelings of isolation are by design. God must have an end time people who will follow Him no matter how fierce the storm. His people must have deep roots and these roots must be developed.
Yes we are surrounded by a hard freeze and all things that have no depth is perishing, but be of good cheer brothers and sisters, you have depth. That depth is the Lord Jesus Himself and He gives and sustains life even in the harshest conditions. When winter finally breaks we discover the tree has grown taller because the root system with its life-giving sap has been able to focus on that which remains. Branches and leaves, the circumstances and situations of our lives come and go but the root, the very depth of who we are remains forever and it alone is our strength.
A Call To The Remnant 