Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him (Jas 1:12)
There is here a blessing for the saint who endures his or her trials. Not just here on this earth in the midst of your trials, which of course is supernatural and draws the attention of all who witness this to Christ, but also a crown of life in the next. And therefore, those who are tried and endure are those who are crowned with life. These promises are made to those who love Him. A sure sign of our love for Him is how we conduct ourselves in the midst of our trials and suffering and temptations. It is the measure of us saints. And love is the key. Without an overarching love for God and His Word, then there can be no enduring with joy in the midst of the fires and floods of life.
There are three broad categories of saints in this life, and if you have lived long enough you will have met them all. There is the man and woman who are ruled by their souls. Then there are those who are ruled by their heads. And finally there are those who are ruled from their hearts, the seat of their affections. Where does you spirit dwell saints? Does it roam the endless seas of the soul where it is driven by the winds of emotions? Typically driven onto the rocks or near enough to hear the ancient sirens call that would lure them away unto destruction? Or does it roam the endless corridors of the mind where the brain rules supreme. Each door in these endless corridors having to be opened in the futile task of trying to figure everything out. Or, does it dwell in the throne room of your humanity, the heart, where the throne of the Lord dwells?
The soulish man loves himself and is driven by his emotions, self love. Self love cannot endure trials, rather it cries out in anguish and torment. The man who is ruled by his head is driven by his intellect, self love. This self love cannot endure trials and torments for it cannot figure out the purpose of it all, and therefore ends up like the soulish man or he stoically endures and love is driven from him by circumstances. Those who are ruled from the heart where Jesus rules supreme, and loving Him means obeying Him and seeing Him high and lifted up, endure with joy and to them there is promised the crown of life. We know that we have been called to confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts. The Spirit speaks to us, not in the soulish realm nor in the realms of the intellect, but via our spirit which dwells in the new heart that the Lord gave us. The royal law is written upon our new hearts. Only those who truly love Jesus will follow His commands and be His witnesses, and to them is promised the crown of life.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into various temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith produces patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. (Jas 1:2-4)
To be joyful when you are being tested is the high water mark of the saint. It separates us, in a supernatural sense, from all others. It separates saints from the world and it separates saints from people who merely profess to be saints. There are plenty of people in this world who can be stoic in the middle of a severe trial and testing in their lives. The Brits call it “the stiff upper lip.” It comes from the head. It is a mere philosophy. It has many admiral qualities but they all reside in the realm of this natural world. Much of the world knows how to grit their teeth and put one foot in front of the other. Only the saint can be joyous in the midst of a trial and it stems from the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Yet we still have to “count,” it all joy, meaning it is up to us to decide how we shall react and when we have made the decision, then the Holy Spirit enables us. The joy of the Lord is our strength therefore we are strengthened by our decision to follow the commands of God.
When we realize that each trial can draw us nearer to Jesus then we press in. We rise up in our spirits and lift holy hands to the heavens. We cry out to God. As we rise up, as we are drawn heavenwards, with our eyes looking unto Jesus, then we rise above the circumstances. The trial still rages, the fire still burns, the water yet rises, but we rise higher. He raises up a standard in us. A flag of victory is hoisted over the battlefield of your life and we charge on-wards and upwards and we exhibit the joy of the Lord and the world marvels. Our friends marvel, our families marvel as they gaze into your situation and see one like the Son of man in the midst of it all. Glory to God. It is He who is elevated and when He is elevated, when He is lifted up then He draws all men to Himself. This testing and finding that God is faithful increases our faith. Our faith only ever increases as a direct result of seeing Him who is faithful to us. And in this, He gets all the glory and we get the benefits of becoming more like the One that we love.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.(Heb 6:4-6)
This has always been a controversial subject, that which is spoken of in these Scriptures. Theologians of every stripe have applied it and misapplied it in order to make it fit into their own dearly held doctrines and theologies. In the first sentence of these verses we see that it uses the word impossible. You do not need to be a Greek scholar to figure out that word, it means what is says. The word enlighten means to illuminate. It is the Holy Spirit who illuminates. He does not bring illumination to the unsaved. The saints minds are illuminated and the revelation of the Word is illuminated in our hearts. This is the heavenly gift whereby we, the saints, are made partakers of the Holy Spirit. We, the saints, have tasted, have glimpsed the power of God and the Kingdom that is and was and is to come. If we, the saint, fall away, we are told, it is impossible to be renewed again unto repentance, seeing that we would crucify Him again and put Him to an open shame. Now that is the plain word of God saints.
In Chapter 12 of Hebrews, after going through a long list of heroes of the faith in chapter 11, we are reminded that we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses. We are told that we are to lay aside the sin that so easily besets us. We are to run the race with endurance. We don’t tend to like that word, endurance, to endure. Yet we are reminded that our Lord Jesus endured the cross. He also endured hostility from sinners. We are further reminded that the Lord scourges every son and that we have not to despise such scourgings, rather we are called to endure them and if e do God deals with us as sons. In this, our subjection to the King of Kings, as His precious bond-servants we become partakers of His holiness and despite the pain of it all, it leads to the “peace-able fruit of righteousness to those who “have been trained by it.”
A standard sized apple tree can take up to eight years to bear apples after it has been planted. There are multiple seasons that must pass before we begin to see the fruit of the tree. The enduring of chastening and our “subjection to the Father of spirits,” in these seasons causes life to spring forth from that which formerly had no life. We become partakers of His Holiness and this leads to the bearing of much fruit, the peace-able fruit of His righteousness. Those who will not endure, despite the fact that they have been enlightened, they have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, shall fall away and not be renewed again. There are sons, and there are those who render themselves illegitimate. The things that can be shaken are being removed and the things that cannot be shaken shall remain, shall stand. For you saints have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn. You are registered in heaven to God, the judge of all. (Heb 12:22-24)
There is a tectonic shift taking place in the realms of spiritual darkness and the prophetic calendar. The plates and the under-girdings of the world as we know it are moving. I wrote last week about the word the Lord gave me about a singular disaster that is about to change everything. https://acalltotheremnant.com/2022/02/26/a-word-from-the-lord-a-singular-disaster/ There is a new world order incubating, and following its birth it will come forth and be the deadliest enemy of the saints. All of the religions of the world will fall in line and form the great whore church.
In the run up to the WW1 we see rising and declining empires. When this happens huge wars typically follow. The 19th and 20th Century saw it all. There was the Napoleonic wars, where Napoleon sweeps across Europe, ultimately destroyed by the Russian winter. The American civil war where 600,000 were killed and slavery abolished. There was the Austrian Hungarian Empire (the old so called Holy Roman Empire) The Prussian and the Russian Empires. The British Empire of course and the Ottoman Turks. Towards the end of the 19th century we see many of these empires compete against each other while some were in decline and others were rising. At the same time the Industrial revolution was in full swing and science and technology were exploding. Automatic weapons of all kinds, and mechanized weapons were invented, and of course chemical warfare. All would be used in the coming war of the empires.
We face such a time once again. The empires are different yet in many ways still the same. We have what is left of the old Soviet Union. The Americans, The West and of course, China. Some are on the rise, well at least one. Most of the rest are in some stage of decline whether militarily, economically and certainly morally. A moral collapse has left them weak and vulnerable. We too in our age have seen a revolution, computers and technology has far outstripped anything that we saw in the last two centuries combined. Weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons and biological weapons. Information has risen to dizzying heights as one of the greatest of all weapons of all. Yet, just like our ghosts from the past, we will use all the weapons at our disposal as well. It is what we do, we are fallen.
When the smoke clears and the plates stop shifting, this world will have given itself over to a reprobate mind. War shall be openly declared on the saints, not the religious, the saints. 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 (Rev 13:7) Only those who walk in the Spirit will survive spiritually intact. They may be martyred, but they will pass through the fire with Jesus. In order to find gold in the earth a massive amount of earth has to be moved. It is referred to as overburden. Heaven and earth shall be moved and the saints will be brought forth. The great sifting and separating. Fires and floods, we shall walk through them all with Christ in us the hope of glory. Stand strong saints, in the power of His might. He is coming soon.
Mat 21:12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
What a tragedy that in order to sacrifice in the temple you had to pass by the merchants and through the money-changers. Hirelings that were ripping of ordinary folks and pricing it beyond their means. Jesus was so angry that He violently kicks over the tables and drives the merchants from the temple. And what do we see after that? Mat 21:14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. Praise the Lord. I imagine that the blind and the lame had been the poorest in society, beggars even, yet when the hirelings were removed there was open access to God in the temple. There was such a buzz in the temple that even the children cried out with praise and delight.
For the most part saints, we see no healings in churches today, even although they so desperately pursue them. Yet, are they not, in so many cases, run by hirelings? Unless we have a cleansing, such as Jesus carried out, we should not expect to see healings. Now of course, the pharisees rose up to challenge Jesus. They were indignant at the actual works of God. The same pharisees and so called scribes are in charge of the institutions today. They are and would be highly indignant at the notion that their “temples,’ even required to be cleansed. They were more interested in authority. They knew theirs was being challenged and they wanted to know by what authority Jesus spoke and did these things.
Jesus says “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” He was not speaking of the temple. Later on He says to the Pharisees ‘Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” (Mat 23:38) There is “My house,” and there is “Your house.” Two houses. One house built by men, the other built by God. In the Hebrew, the word house can also be translated “prison.’ The house that man builds is a prison. Jesus stood up in the temple and said that He had “come to set the captives free.” He removes them from one house, the man made structures run by merchants and hirelings, and takes them to His own house and His own house is a house of prayer. And in the Lords house we find the poor, the blind, the lame, the broken and the outcast. It’s a house of prayer and its a house of praise and there is healing its rafters. Which house do you belong to?
Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God
Now some may say that the rest that remains for us, that is spoken of in Hebrews chapter four, is the eternal rest after we have departed this world. We are told in verse 11 that he who enters such a rest has ceased from his own works, but then in verse 11 it states that we are to ‘labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” It sounds a bit confusing, what are we to make of it? Is it the sabbath rest? Is it the eternal rest? Is it both somehow? How can we cease from our own works and at the same time labor to enter in?
The Lord has made a way for us to enter into His rest in this world. No longer is “one day holy,” but every day is holy to the saints. It is not just one day that is holy, but every day, for our whole lives are dedicated to God in the reality of the relationship He forged for us at Calvary. We are new creatures in Christ, behold all things are new. The Spirit of the Living God dwells in every single genuine saint. He teaches us, He leads us and He guides us. He enables us through Calvary and the Blood of the Lamb to come before the throne of grace. He enables us to come into His presence. To renew our strength and and run and not grow weary. He is our rest. He is our eternal rest and He is our rest here on earth. This word labor means to be diligent. Just as the Word tells us in Heb 11:6 that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
In order to diligently seek Him you must humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will raise you up. You must be obedient to His word and abide in it. You must take up your cross daily. You must love, you must forgive, you must never be ashamed of the Gospel, you must not deny your Lord by your words of by your deeds. You must put on the full armor of God. You must endure. You must suffer, you must overcome. This, and much more is the diligence that leads to your reward, His presence and walking in it. Remember from the psalm as the deer panteth for the waterbrooks so my soul longeth after thee. If the dear is panting, then the deer has been diligently searching for quite a while. The deer is thirsty and determined to find living waters. Are you thirsty? Are you panting to enter in? There is such a place saints. Paul had learned to be content in every situation. The same Spirit that abided in Paul abides in you. There is rest to be found in Jesus now and then there shall be an eternal rest. They are both the same thread.
Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
The Lord Jesus Christ “learned obedience,” by the things He suffered. Though the Lord was never disobedient , He had never before wore the outer garments of flesh and walked the world as a man. And in that capacity, He learned in the Garden the full weight of His calling which was to bear the cross for all mankind. We must learn from this brothers and sisters. We must understand the nature of suffering and its value to us as eternal beings. It is easy enough to say that we would never deny our Lord, it is quite another to not deny our Lord in the flames of trial and tribulation and suffering.
Just as the Lord Jesus put on flesh to come to earth, so we must put off flesh to go to heaven. We know the instructions from the Lord, take up your cross, daily. If any man or woman would follow Him, they must also follow Him by learning obedience in the midst of suffering. It is, to coin a phrase, a required class. Those who suffer with Christ will reign with Him, It is a door we must pass through, it is for the testing and refining of our faith. Blessed are those who suffer for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. The valley of Achor is the valley of tears and it is a door of hope brothers and sisters. In the wilderness and in the midst of suffering He will come to us, He will visit the very depths of our souls.
In that place you will learn intimacy in ways you could never truly understand. And in the depths of this intimate relationship you will learn to stand. You will take on Christ and the armor of God as He meets you there. You will set your face like flint for the joy set before you, for as He endured then so shall you. He endured the cross and the shame and He sat down at the right hand of His Father. By the strength that comes through suffering and by the obedience that we learn in the midst of it, we shall be empowered to radical obedience. An obedience not born of passivity but rather an active obedience. The former is good, the latter is great. Let us learn together brothers and sisters so that we can say along with brother Job, even if He kills us yet shall we trust Him.
If we walk in the Spirit we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Gal 5:16)
Our life shall thus be transformed from a defensive warfare, in which we are always attacking evil, to a glorious consciousness of God only, which shall exclude the evil from our thought as well as from our life. We shall not have to constantly clear the sunken rocks from our channel, but on the high and full torrent of the Divine life we shall rise above every obstruction and move, as in Ezekiel’s vision, in a river of life which shall be above our ankles , and above our loins, a river to swim in, carrying us by it’s substantial fullness.( A.B.Simpson)
Walking in the Spirit, walking in the obedience of God. Coming into the fullness of His glory. Engulfed in a river that flows from heavens eternal majesty. Being carried by its “substantial fullness.” Glory to God. Is that not what we want brothers and sisters? Leaving behind the cursing of the darkness and proclaiming instead of God’s ineffable glory. Rather than fighting through the thickets and dense forests of life, we should be engulfed and taken by the depths of His river. Paradoxically, walking in the Spirit is to flow in the glory of God’s river of life.
One of man’s most natural fears is to drown, to be taken by the depths and given over to it. To open up ones lungs is to be immediately drowned. To walk in the Spirit, to flow in Ezekiel’s river is not that much different. To be swallowed whole by the Spirit of God, to be fully given to Him fills us with great fear. What will happen to us? Where shall this take us? We have been so used to hanging on, we have no idea what letting go even looks like. To no longer stand upon our own two feet is to walk in the Spirit and be engulfed in heavens purpose, which is to be fully focused on gazing into impenetrable light in which God dwells. And from that place ceaseless streams of praises flow. Open up your lungs and breathe the rarefied air of heaven brothers and sisters.
The ultimate judgement of God and the ruin of man is when God gives a person or nations up to their own uncleanness that flows from the lusts of their own hearts. They are consumed by their vile affections, so we are told in Romans chapter one. The morning has come for the nations and the day shall have its end. The rising sun of the morning casts a light upon their corruption. It is clearly seen. No longer is it hidden in the shadows. It does not skulk in the dark recesses of the alleyways. Rather, it marches boldly down Main St. It celebrates its sin openly and brazenly and not content with that, compels others to bow before it and acknowledge it as their own.
A disaster, a singular disaster is at the door (Ezek 7:5) and it will effect all of the nations. It is the beginning of the end when this disaster strikes. God will not spare, the nations shall know that He is the God who strikes. Pride budded on the rod and now it has come into full bloom. There is no longer any pretense. God is wholly and fully rejected by the nations. Once they had for a pretense an honor of God but now the halls of their power, their institutions and all their ways have become corrupted. It is one thing to conspire in the shadows, it is quite another to break into open rebellion and raise an angry mocking fist at God. And therefore God will strike, He will rob the rebels of hope and they will be overtaken with fear. Their legs will not work under them for fear and they will not be able to run or stand and fight.
Men have always sought solace in the usual hiding places. They hide within the confines of their own bravery. In their pride they hide. In rebellion and hope for tomorrow they find their last stand,but they cannot stand from the God that can and will strip them of all of these things. They have put much stock in their wealth and their prosperity. They have built castle after castle with them. Yet one by one these castles will fall as the sanctuary of their wealth is taken from them. Up to this point it has been the solid ground upon which they stood, now the very ground beneath them shall give way. In that day it will be better to have “fields of corn rather than mines of gold.” Their gold will be useless to them.
Men seek no messenger to rebuke them of their sin rather they seek council from lying prophets who will tell them what they want to hear, for a price. And these prophets promise them peace but peace shall not come. Men have despised God with rebellion and mixture, mixture being a thing that God despises. Therefore in the coming days of their calamity there shall be no help from God for He is the author of that very calamity and those who speak against it speak against God. The kings of the world shall mourn and its princes shall be dismayed but they will not repent. Rather they shall turn on God’s remnant saints. This singular disaster shall usher in the days of the great tribulation. There shall be no pre-tribulation rapture. They shall make war on the saints and the saints shall be overcome as they fall into their hands (Rev 13:7)
Yet take comfort in this brothers and sisters, the Lord Himself shall be with us in the midst of the fire. Our tormentors shall look and see and know that Christ is in us and with us. The whole world shall look and see that Christ is in us. As we are martyred then we shall be a witness to the whole world. Those who endure to the end shall be saved. The world will witness Christ in us and their guilt shall be sealed. The Kingdom shall be demonstrated to all the world as a witness and then the end shall come (Matt 24:14)
Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. (2Ti 3:11-12)
Paul says that out of all his persecutions the Lord delivered him. Amen. Yet, before you wholeheartedly agree with me with your own modern day amen to these deliverances, you must ask Paul to remove his shirt. You see, Paul’s notion of deliverance and the modern evangelical notion of deliverance are two entirely different things. It is even more different than the Charismatic view of deliverance. Yet essentially the Evangelical and the Charismatic view are the same. In their view there are no scars. Deliverance does not, for them, come in the midst of suffering or persecution, rather it comes by avoiding them altogether.
Paul and Silas were delivered in the dungeon, not from the stocks but from the darkness of hopelessness. They sang out in the midnight hour, they rejoiced that they were found worthy to suffer for Jesus as did the disciples. And in this they elevated themselves above the storm, they were delivered from the storm in the very midst of it. Victory comes not by avoiding storms or avoiding persecution or suffering, for all who would live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Victory comes in the presence of our enemies. Deliverance comes when the fire does not consume us. Deliverance comes when we can cry out with Stephen ” hold not this charge against them.” Deliverance comes when you can say”forgive them Father for they know not what they do.”
When Paul was beheaded had he been abandoned? No, he was delivered. When the saints were burned at the stake had they been abandoned? No, we could hear their deliverance in the spiritual songs that they sang in the midst of the flames. Paul says this “what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me.” We do not like that word endure or the notion that the deliverance comes after endurance. Saints, we who live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution and we are called to endure, to overcome, it is to those who do that all the promises are made which include deliverance. Endure today brothers and sisters like good soldiers and glorify God in the midst of your suffering and great will be your deliverance.
In our childhood many of us roamed through the native woods and seen some old fallen forest tree rotting where it lay. Through the decaying wood, the earthworms and insects burrow, and perhaps the adder has built its nest and raised its poisonous brood, so that we have feared to sit down on the old, putrefying mass, and have thought of it as a type of corruption and decay. That mass of putrefaction may well represent the ruin of our sinful nature. But have we not sometimes seen a little shoot of unsullied whiteness in the early spring growing up through the rotten wood, and rising out of the mass of corruption as undefiled as the sunny wing of a dove, or the gentle hand of a babe, beautiful and pure, and unstained even by the touch of corrupting elements around it, until it has grown into a tree and covered itself with luxurious green , and our hands have plucked from its branches the luscious berries of the summer woods? It was life in the midst of death, purity amid corruption, having no connection whatever with the soil in which it grew and incapable of mixture with its defilement. Precisely so is the life of holiness in the soul (A.B.Simpson)
Can you glimpse into the words of this dear old saint? He is talking about your sanctification. How out of death and corruption rises the holiness of God. The old man is decaying and dying and rotting where it lies as unattended death does. The dying and the death. The dying of the cross was a long business, it was designed to be so by those cruel Romans. They had perfected the art of having nailed a man to a tree but keeping him alive as long as they possibly can. This is the death of the cross. The flesh does not go quietly. It shouts and it screams its protests and we we hear it, dont we saints? We hear our flesh as it wars against our spirit. We long for its death to be done and even then for its body to be laid in the grave. Our spirit is willing and will live forever, but our flesh is weak and knows it already defeated but still it shall not go quietly, but go it shall.
In the natural the sicker someone becomes, the closer to death they get, the less that they can do. They can no longer climb a flight of stairs, no longer walk around the block, can barely bend over and if they sit down they have great difficulty getting back up. Old age and sickness robs the flesh of the strength that it once had. Yet, are you not glad that the Scripture tells us that the outer man may be perishing yet his spirit is being renewed each day. The dying of the flesh has no bearing on the life of the spirit, quite the opposite. Your spiritual tree should be covered with luxurious green. Fruit should hang from every branch. You roots should be fed directly because you abide beside the river. In season, out of season, you are a tree planted by the waters. A tree that grew out of corruption which you threw of daily by means of the cross until you rendered it all but harmless. The old corrupt tree lies formless on the ground. You, dear saint, no matter how old you are, stand tall and strong in the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom you can run and not grew weary, you can walk and not faint and you can rise up with wings as eagles. Rise up today saints, you who have waited upon the Lord.
Psa 42:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Many know the depths of despair. Many have been touched by a creeping darkness that threatens to overwhelm your soul and pull you downward. On such an occasion in my life the Lord spoke directly into the darkness and pierced it with this Scripture. He asked me a rhetorical question “why so downcast Frank, put your hope in me for you will yet praise me.” It struck me to my core. My tears had been my food day and night and my soul longed to be away from that place. And there, in a moment of time, My Lord came to me in the depths of my soul and lifted up the head that hung low. He dried my tears and I was like the deer that had panted for the water brooks and found it and found therein the waters of life that revived my soul.
If the waves and the billows of the deep are washing over you, know this brothers and sisters, they shall not drown you. You shall cry out to the Lord your God in the days of your distress and He will command His lovingkindness to envelope you through the day and in the night His song will keep you as you sleep. Many will say in the depths of your distress “where is her God now, where is his God when he needs Him.”And the answer that they will not be able to see is that He is in the very depths of your heart, keeping you and holding your head above the waters as you go through them. When they take their eyes off your situation and look upon your face, they will see the peace of our Lord. For out of the heart that belongs to God, shines the beauty of holiness that overcomes the darkness.
Many years ago my son Daniel, who has down syndrome, was attending a summer day camp. This particular morning they were going on a trip to play Frisbee golf. Needless to say he was very excited. When we got up that morning it was apparent the weather was not good. As we left at 9am for camp the skies grew really dark in a way that you would have to live in the Mid-West to appreciate. As we drove down the highway it was as dark as midnight and then the torrential rain came. There was thunder and lightening, it was a full on classic Mid-West storm, the kinda storm your eyes are pealed for clouds coming down in the beginnings of a tornado. It was clear there would be no Frisbee golf this day.
On our way to camp Daniel and I would always have a worship service and that morning was no exception. Daniels hands raised in worship, tears flowing down his face. About half way there he reached over and tugged my shirt. I turned the music down. Daniel says, with his broken language skills “I’m gonna sing to the storm.” It penetrated deep into my spirit. I knew what he was saying. He was telling me he was not afraid of the storm and that he was gonna sing it away. I turned the music back up and we continued to worship. Suddenly tears began to roll down my face. I thought about the very simple yet profound faith of my son. There was only five minutes until we got to the camp but in my spirit I asked “Lord is it possible you are about to suddenly calm this storm.’
Brothers and sisters, before we got to that camp, the light broke through the darkness and the rain suddenly stopped. I was quietly shedding a few tears at the Lord’s dramatic response to Daniels prayer , not Daniel. He gets out of the car and he is muttering and he is speaking for God to the storm and he says “see storm, you’re not the boss of me.” And as soon as he said it I thought of the Scripture, Mark 4:39– And He awakened and rebuked the wind and said to the sea “Peace be still!” And the wind ceased and there was great calm. I had such a time with the Lord on the way home as I considered who He was. When was the last time that you “sung to your storm,” brothers and sisters?
Maybe you are in the midst of a storm right now. Maybe it’s as dark as it ever has been in your life. Saint, this storm does not have mastery over your life. We serve a God that in the midst of the most violent storms can say “Peace be still.” And suddenly there is peace. Can you sing to your storm today? Can you praise God even in the midst of your greatest trials? When the enemy of your soul says “let’s hear you sing now,’ can you confound him and sing out? When your back is to the sea and there seems to be no way of escape, can you, in faith, begin to praise Him because you know that all power belongs to Him?
Our God has commanded that light would shine forth from darkness. This storm that you are in the midst of has a Master and it is not the enemy of your soul, it is the Liberator of your soul. Invite the Holy Spirit to speak through you by faith to the storm. Remind yourself that you will not be identified by this storm that you are in. Your identity is in Christ alone. Declare that to the storm. These momentary light afflictions works in us an eternal depth of glory, a holy heaviness if you like where the head is bowed in the glory and trembling hands reach up and touch the light that shines in the darkness. “You are not the boss of me.” Christ shall shine into that storm and the darkness will flee as peace floods your soul rather than darkened trouble waters.
Mar 4:39-40 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?
Have you ever stood beneath a violent storm? The lightening fractures the sky above and sends down bolts that touch earth and sky. The ground shakes as the thunder roars. The dark clouds swirl in violent contortions. Tornado’s begin to form as the earth is battered by giant hailstones. The immensity of the power that surrounds you overwhelms you. Have you ever been caught up in a storm as sea? Waves of tremendous power rise to towering heights and fall with unspeakable power. The wind howls as it drives the waves into a frenzy and the noise is deafening. You quickly understand your place in this world. Fear and humility course through your veins.
When a man encounters God he is quite simply undone. Everything he knows about himself convicts him in an instant. His very existence crumbles as he encounters the immensity of God. He falls to floor as if dead. He is man and God is God. He dare not speak unless he is spoken to. He understands that the very voice of God, a single word could totally destroy both body and soul. Does this God offend you? This is the God of the Bible. Not a kindly grandfather with silver hair. Not the “man upstairs.” He is God and you are man and when man encounters His Majesty then you are undone. In Christ alone we stand. In Christ alone we are ushered before the throne. In Christ alone we are swallowed up in the glory. Christ is the fire from the altar that has refined us and given us voice before Majesty.
God’s righteousness reflects upon our humanity. The righteousness of Christ in us reflects upon a a dark world untouched by the glory of God. Is there a fire that burns within you brothers and sisters and does the fire light up the dark deeds of this world? Does it reflect upon the shadows and the shades of grey? There is but one reason for the fire, one reason for the light. We have been called to go into the darkness of the valley. This world is the valley of the shadow of death. Yet we fear no evil, for we are bearers of the light. He has restored our souls and He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name sake. In an ever darkening world, remember your calling brothers and sisters.
Twenty eight years ago, just two years after being saved and six weeks after Daniel, our son with Down Syndrome was born, I began to have difficulty breathing. After the initial X-ray, it seemed likely I had lung cancer. I had been a heavy smoker from the age of fourteen until I got saved at twenty seven. Much of that had been smoking cannabis. The X-ray was followed up with a cat scan and then finally a lung biopsy. They discovered I had a disease called Sarcoidosis. It mainly effects African Americans in this country, I later discovered I had 5% African blood in my DNA.
Sarcoidosis can affect any of the organs in the body, and in my case it manifested itself as pulmonary fibrosis in my lungs. These fibrosis are irreversible and as they begin to build up in your lungs, your lung capacity is diminished until at some point you die. A third of my lungs already exhibited irreversible fibrosis. I was told by my Pulmonologist that I was stage three of a stage four disease. There was no cure. There was, however, a treatment that could prolong your life. Very high daily doses of prednisone. IN my case, 60 mg a daily.
As Christians we understand that the more we rely upon Jesus, the deeper our relationship is with Him. Dependence is the key to the depth of our spiritual life. We often see the martyrs testify of how their relationship with the Lord grew to greater depths in the dungeons of this world. When everything is stripped away, when we lose the ability to control our own lives, then we discover that Jesus is fully in charge. As the old adage says, we have to let go and let God. The letting go part is the battle, it is the refining fire, it is our sanctification.
After less than two weeks of taking the steroids, that still small voice spoke into my spirit. “Frank, come away with me, I am your life, I am your stillness, I am your peace when all around you is falling apart, trust in me….trust in me.” I knew exactly what the Lord was asking of me, asking mind you. I was to stop taking the pills. I was to trust in Him, I was to put my life fully into His hand. As you can imagine, the opposition to this was great. My son with Down syndrome was only a few months old and had life threatening issues that would require more than one surgery. My wife was devastated at this decision of mine. She was not a Christian. Yet even Christians did not agree with me and let it be known. The pulmonologist was very angry and told me bluntly that I would die and that it would not be a pleasant death.
Several weeks passed, and the many voices seemed to be right. My ability to breathe declined. It is imperative to note that the still small voice of the Lord made me no promises, my only command was to “trust ,” Him. A well known man of God from the last century said this “Lord, may I be an ox on the altar or an ox in the field.” None of is really know our purpose here in life, what we do know is that we have been called to bring honor to the name of Jesus, regardless of our situation. Whether we live or whether we die we have been called to glorify Him. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
There will be times, in every Christians life, when the Lord will “make you lie down in green pastures.” You may think to yourself, what is so “Green Pastures,” about an incurable disease? I do not have the words to describe to you the place I found myself in. Enough to say that it was glorious. The warmth of the sun upon my face was indescribable. The blueness of the sky was glorious. The little sparrow sitting on the wall was altogether fascinating. I became super aware of things that I had routinely overlooked or had taken for granted. I was in this mysterious place called “under the shadow of His wing.” I had to rely upon God for every breath that I took and it took my spiritual breath away. I was not burning at the stake and singing psalms and spiritual songs, but I glimpsed into that realm.
The pulmonologist was part of a national study on this disease and had been taking X-rays of my lungs every two weeks, he wanted to chart my regression. He told me that this way, my decision would at least do some good. He was quite angry with me and never tried to hide it. One Monday morning, at 5.30am I was awoken by a call. It was my mother calling from four thousand miles away in Scotland. She apologized for calling so early, but she had been compelled by the Holy Spirit. She very simply stated “The Lord told me that He is going to heal you.” The Lord had instructed her to attend a certain prayer meeting the following night and have me held up in prayer. I find it significant that my mom was instructed to call and tell me beforehand. This was an act of faith, a “stepping out.”
As she spoke, I was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, I fell to my knees and in my spirit I knew that I was to be healed, I had no doubt whatsoever. I went for an x-ray two days later. The Doctor called me into his office, he seemed subdued. I had shared with him months before that I was putting my life in the hands of the Lord. He paused before flicking the lights on that would light up the X-ray and said words that i will never forget. “I do not know what you are going to call this.” He flicked the light on and pointed to my lungs, they were completely clear. Apparently the Lord does not know the meaning of the word ,”irreversible.”That was twenty eight years ago. Trusting God is the key to life. When glorifying Him becomes more important that anything else, including your own life, you will be propelled into new heights of glory.
A Call To The Remnant 