Archive for the ‘the crucified life’ Category
Posted by appolus on August 2, 2016
What is around the corner for the Body of Christ? I believe that within the next ten years we will be living in a society that will not accept the fundamental teachings of the Bible. How will this play out? We are heading for a time very soon where born again Christians will not be allowed to teach in public schools first, then in any schools. We will be banned from colleges and universities. We will not be allowed on the police force or the armed forces. There will be no government job open to any genuine saint. Media will rid themselves of anyone holding to views that run counter to the popular culture. Homosexuality and your views towards it will be a litmus test in every sphere of life, and not just public life. You will be deemed as unfit parents if you teach the biblical truth that homosexuality is a sin. For homosexuality will move fully into the category of civil rights. No pastor will be able to refuse to marry two men or two women, and if he does, he will lose any official capacity. Christian businesses will be boycotted at the behest of the state and then banned outright.
Now the strange thing is, outside of irony, that none of this will have anything to do with homosexuality in and of itself. No, this has to do with the truth. It’s always been about the truth. In every century and in the last two millennium its been about the truth. After the litmus test of homosexuality will come an assault on the great pillar of truth itself. Jesus says ” I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6) This, even more so that people’s views on sexuality, will be the rod that will be used to strike the backs of every genuine saint. You see, the world will demand that all those who believe that there is only one way to heaven and that all other paths lead to hell, be “put away.” And so it will all come down to truth and our love and commitment to it. The thing about truth is, no matter what the subject, whether it was as in previous centuries infant baptism or transubstantiation, its adherents will not yield. Not because they are particularly invested in one subject or the other but they are sold out to all of it and all that it encompasses even to the point of death. And why? Because the genuine saint has fallen in love with Truth. Jesus is the way and in that way we must walk. Jesus is truth and upon His revealed truth we must stand. Jesus is life, and only by walking in Him and standing upon Him can we have that life.
So get ready saints. It will be difficult but is there anything too difficult for God? We will have to persevere and overcome but remember all the promises of the Lord are made to those who overcome and endure till the end. For a long time in the West we saints have had little resistance from the authorities. It will not be so anymore. The Son of man is coming back in all of His glory and the enemy of our soul knows it well. The Lord has prepared a place for us and we must take hold of that place. For those who stand upon the truthΒ have a high tower in the Lord. For those who do not yield to the world but trust the Lord in all their ways, they will have a peace which surpasses all understanding. There are no surprises to God, He knows what is coming against His children and He has equipped us for such a time as this. Hold all things loosely but never let Him go. Esteem not the praises of men and do trust in them, but look to Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. He and He alone is able to fulfill and complete the work that He has begun in you and He will be faithful to do just that. That part is His work, our part is to trust and obey and we will see that there is no other way.
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2Th 2:10-12)
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, End Times Eschatology, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 28, 2016
In the emptying process He removes the stones and rocks and the 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 surgeonβs knife? Shall we yield to the sculptorβs 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 those captivated eyes, the color begins to return but itβs not the color of the world, itβs 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. The mountains raises me up to higher places,to the place where they were born. The stars in the heavens draw my eyes upwards and my spirit follows the path of my gaze and I find myself in higher places. The hand of a child, a single ray of sunshine through 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. The kind of love that would fill an ocean with tears. The kind of love that was birthed in heavenly places. 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 in seeing Him we see everything in a single moment. Now with eyes that have gazed upon the Master we see it all so differently. Have you seen Him? Can you see the world through the eyes of Him who made it all? It’s a glorious vision and it continually draws us.
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Posted by appolus on July 15, 2016
Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a cover from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. (Isa 32:1-4)
When Christ rules in the heart of a man or in the Body of believers then righteousness flows like a mighty river. When Jesus has His place among us then and only then are we salt and light to the world. In a dark world which grows darker by the day, the Lord has called forth such a people. Not a people who are corrupted by the things of this world, not a people who are compromised by the cultures in which they live, but a people who dwell in the Kingdom of God here and now and who worship that Kingdom’s King, Jesus.
Then we shall be a hiding place from the wind and a refuge from the calamitous storm that is slowly but surely engulfing the whole world. God has His people and He is calling on them in this day, the day before He returns, to come out of the world and be found in Him. When we are found in Him, when we have separated ourselves from the compromised then we become as a river in a dry and thirsty land. We become the shadow of the Rock, which is Christ, for those who are caught in the unrelenting demands of a Babylon.
When the Lord rules and reigns in our hearts we will have eyes to see what is truly unfolding around us. We will see with Spirit’s eye the schemes of the enemy and the snares and the traps of religion. We will hear what the Spirit is saying to the Body of Christ, we will hear and we will know. And when we hear and when we see we will have tongues to speak plainly of what we have seen and what we have heard. Without the Lord ruling and reigning in our hearts we are as blind men stumbling around. We are no better than those who hunger and thirst in a dry and weary land. It is our calling to be like the moon. The moon is a dead object that primarily lights up a dark work by reflecting the light from the sun. The moon, by its position affects the cycle of life and the tides rise and fall because of it.
Are we having this kind of effect on the world? Do we, by being dead to ourselves, reflect the light of His glory into the darkness of our surroundings? Is there a spiritual gravitational force around us that pulls others towards Jesus? This is our calling brothers and sisters. This is the purpose of the Body of Christ and all the more so as we see those days approaching. Let Him rule and reign in your life today and lean not upon your own understanding and He will open your eyes and your ears and He will direct your mouth to speak to a dying world that stand on the precipice of judgement. Let all this be done for His glory.
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Posted by appolus on July 13, 2016
I am not waiting on a move of God, I am a move of God. ( William Booth)
Amen! Every genuine saint is a move of God, a force of nature, supernature. We are taken up with the Holy Spirit of God and we are a light in the darkness. We are not called to be a light, it has been declared that we are the light, the light of Christ shining into the darkness of a world reeling to and fro from a shaking. Saint, there is power in the Blood, the blood of Christ that flows through your veins. You are a move of God!.
The quote was not about separating who we are, mine or His, it is about the oneness of who we are in Him. People who understand who they truly are in Christ do exploits for their Lord. It is not broken down into a point of theology, it is the living reality of knowing that we are priests in a royal priesthood and that we are sons and daughters of the living God that truly empowers people to first be changed themselves. And as they live out that change and reality before men, draw all men to the very agent of that change, Jesus.
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Posted by appolus on June 6, 2016
Every person is a vast unexplored universe. Only Jesus has the ability to navigate the human heart and map it. Without the navigator, without the map all is chaos and darkness. Without the ship of God and Jesus the Captain, you will only ever stare at the horizon of your souls and be fearful of what lies beyond.
People are vastly complicated, God much more so. The door to the deeper walk with Jesus is the unexplained. When you come to the end of yourself, when your dogma fails you, when you cannot explain or understand your situation, then you are at the door. And the password? βYet though He slay me, even then I will trust Him.β If you want to go deeper with God, allow Him to search you. Join Him in the journey that goes beyond what you understand, into the deeper waters, and beyond the horizons of your understanding.
Every trial that you face, every difficult situation that arises is an opportunity to explore the depths of God and who you truly are in Him. Situations can either draw you deeper into the Fatherβs heart or they can cause you to bury your treasures in the sand. God has poured into His children wonderful treasures from the storehouses of heaven. What will you do with such treasures? Will you give to others the treasure of your love? What about the riches of your forgiveness?
So brothers and sisters will you explore the vastness of God today? Typically the vehicle used to go on this kind of journey is the vehicle of difficult situations. I am not sure what your difficult situation is today but I know that it presents to you an opportunity to praise Him in the midst of it which unleashes great power. God inhabits the praises of His people and no-where is the manifest presence of God so felt, so experienced than in the midst of great trials. Truly you can have the greatest mountaintop experience with God in the very depths of the lowest valley.
Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
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Posted by appolus on May 8, 2016
The story of Esther is a fascinating story. From the book of Esther we can see that she was a orphan, no mother and no father. Now, this would be difficult enough in any generation but it must have been very difficult in the ancient world. To add to Esther’s trouble she lived in a time when the king of all the land was looking for a new wife. The king was Ahasuerus and he was very powerful and his dominion was vast. It is reported in history that he had a bridge built near the ocean and it was destroyed by a storm. He had all the builders killed and he ordered that the sea be “whipped and chained.” They literally flogged the sea carrying out the orders of this man who had the power of life and death.
Now the reason he was looking for a new Queen was because his current wife and queen refused to appear before him and the royal court naked, wearing only a crown. apparently he had been boasting to other men just how beautiful she was and he wanted to show her off. She refused him and she would be replaced and banished and never be seen by him again. So, people were sent out into every corner of the vast empire to collect the most beautiful young woman who could be found and assemble them back in the capital city for preparation. Esther was chosen from her region, there would be 400 young women on all. Now you might think that this would be an incredible opportunity for Esther, but it was a truly horrifying prospect. Each young woman would be prepared for a year for their ” encounter,” with the king, meaning they would have to sleep with him. Out of these 400 he would choose a queen. The other 399 women would be, effectively, slaves for the rest of their lives. They would not get married or have children nor have a family. They would be kept in separate quarters and, unless they had somehow pleased this wicked old man, they would quite probably not be called upon again.
And so Esther’s life was one of many difficulties and she faced many trials. It is reckoned she would only be about 14 when she was taken. You can imagine the trauma. What really interests me is what happens after she is indeed chosen and becomes queen. She obviously has to make the best of it being married to a man famed for his hedonistic ways. Yet then comes the crisis that we know about from the book. The Jewish people face being wiped out and Esther is called upon by her uncle Mordecai, an honorable man, to make an appeal to the king. Esther has to break convention and enter into his presence without invitation, a crime whose punishment was death. So, she makes up her mind to do it and makes this statement in regard to it ” If I perish I perish.”
Although there is no mention of God at all in the book of Esther, I see her actions and her statement as an act of faith that can be found all throughout the Bible. In Revelation 12:11 it says “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” This loving God and following the truth more than loving one’s own life is fundamental in the examples of faith throughout the Bible. It is supernatural and can only be achieved by the power and the unction of the Holy Spirit operating in the depths of the children of God. I think of Job when he says in Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” Now we know the life that Job had lived and the circumstances that had befallen him.
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A Call To The Remnant 