Archive for the ‘the gospel’ Category
Posted by appolus on December 11, 2020
One week before my son Daniel was born, I came home from church on a Sunday afternoon. The Lord whispered in my ear to sit down with a pen and write whatever He put on my heart. I was to mail it to my Mom and Dad, I had no idea what I was going to write. I also had no idea that just a week later Daniel would be born with Down Syndrome and be so sick he would almost die. I also had no idea what depths of despair and darkness would overwhelm me because of his birth.
Dear mum and dad
There is not a hair on your head that the Lord does not know. The Lord Himself, in the garden of Gethsemane was tried to His very core, even His closest friends had fallen asleep on Him. And in His agony, in His despair, He cried out to His Father, βFather, take this cup from meβ, at that very second we see the Lords humanity, He is so able to understand our situations.
Sometimes we would question ,βwhy Lordβ, but there is always a reason.The lord cried from the cross βmy God, my God, why has thou forsaken me.” At that very point He touched manβs lowest ebb, despair, hell itself. I do not know, but I imagine that this was the hardest moment for our Father as He watched His Son hang from that cross and withdraw His presence.
The Father in His infinite wisdom and mercy and love for us, sacrificed His Son. Oh the agony the Father felt, but now the perfect wisdom of our Father is shown. There is nothing now His Son does not know, His dying and rising, formed in perfection, is now the hope of mankind. Our Jesus is alive and He knows us inside out. He will never abandon us.
And when our time arrives to come into the very presence of the living God, when we kneel before the precious lamb of God, when we become one with our Lord, then we will know all that the Lord has done for us. It is an honor and a privilege to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I tremble at the very thought of coming into the presence of Almighty God. We simply canβt imagine, our minds are totally inadequate to realize the Glory of our Lord. May the Lord strengthen you and fill you with His glory. The victory is already won, let us wait upon the Lord.
This letter arrived back at my house two weeks after Daniel was born. My mother informed me that the Lord had told her that letter was not for her, but was for me. I sat down and read the letter and wept when I realized that the Almighty God of the universe had not only sent me a letter, but that He was sharing some of His pain as a Father with me.
Not only was He healing me at this point, but my mind snapped back to the time when my older son had been very badly burned,third degree burns over 60% of his body. For the first several days as part of his treatment to avoid infection and death, the hospital would force him down into salt baths. They asked for my assistance. It was so hellish that there are no words to describe it.
He was only two years old but it would take everything that I had to put him down into that bath and hold him there. He would flail and scream. My own inner scream, if heard, would have caused the stars to fall from the heavens. His eyes would burn into mine with confusion. I was the his father, I was supposed to protect him, he could not possibly understand why I was doing this to him. Over those days my hair started to fall out even although I was only 20. Big circles of missing hair such was the trauma of it all. Now all these years later I was being given a little insight into what our Heavenly Father suffered as He watched His Son be rejected and mocked then tortured and nailed to a tree. And then have all the filth of the world put upon Him.
Our minds cannot comprehend the pain our Father suffered. And at any point He could have stopped it, why didnβt He? βFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish but gain everlasting life.β (John 3:16) This is a love that is beyond comprehension. We can feel pain and emotions and horror, one can only imagine what the giver of these emotions can feel. To reject this sacrifice is what separates the saved from the unsaved. This is what we will be judged upon. Not how good we are, or how holy we are, but have we accepted Jesus as Godβs Holy and only way to heaven.
I did find myself asking , βwhy Lord?β Of course the Lord knows the bigger picture. Can you imagine any Psychologist in the world, looking at two dysfunctional people and saying to himself, βyes, these guys need a mentally handicapped child in their lives.β Yet Daniel, with all his medical problems and challenges is a perferct gift from the treasures of heaven. God the Father reached into His treasury, pulled out Daniel and said to Himself , βYes, this is exactly what they need.β So great has been the effect that my unsaved wife, upon seeing a couples marriage in deep trouble, whispered to me βIts a shame they donβt have a Daniel.β How great is our God, how much higher is His ways than ours?
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Posted by appolus on December 9, 2020
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
The Word of God is immovable, it sits as the cornerstone of all that exists. The arc of our lives must bend towards the Word of God.Time and space itself bends towards the Word. The revealed truth of God establishes the foundations of all existence. In the beginning was the word and God created the heaven and the earth. The spoken word of God calls forth light and the light creates a separation between itself and the darkness. The light of God is still separate from the darkness. And in the end the Word remains and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
The word of God speaks to the sons and the daughters of light and it calls them to bend. If the arc of your life does not bend towards the word of God then the word of God does not hold sway over your lives. It may intrigue you. It may fascinate you. It may challenge you. You may argue about it and it may be philosophy to you, but if it has not bent you, if your life has not been broken by it and renewed and put back together by it then it does not sit on the throne of your heart. The truly broken shall bend, yet in the end all those who resist and reject the chief cornerstone, that stone shall fall upon them and they shall be ground to powder and be scattered like dust.
Have you been broken? The poor in Spirit are the ones who cry out from the depths of who they are to the One who is high and lifted up. The broken are the ones who cannot even lift their heads in the presence of God. Yet He gently places His hand under their chins and raises up their heads to look at Him. He pierces the souls of the broken and the contrite hearts as they look unto Him, the Author and the Finsher of their faith.
I am broken, I am vanquished, I surrender. Is this your cry? To be broken is to see your flesh for what it is, in the horror of that you will be broken. To be vanquished is to be subdued by a superior force. And in your brokenness you are subdued and you surrender into the hand of God. Do not resist the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and in your circumstances, they are the hammer and the chisel of God. He will shape you.
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Posted by appolus on December 4, 2020
Who could know that the child who would walk on water
Was also the Lamb being prepared for the slaughter
Who could know that the man who would heal the blind
Would be reviled, rejected, hated and maligned
Who could know that the man who would walk in peace
Was God Himself,the Christ, a living Masterpiece
Who cold know that the man who would heal the lame
Would baptize, not with water, but with a burning flame
Who could know that the One who would turn water into wine
Was also the Branch, the giver of life, Himself the Grapevine
Who could know that the one who would raise men from the dead
Would die Himself with a crown of thorns upon His Holy head
We know that Christ was made in the likeness of man
He humbled Himself that He might fulfill His Father’s plan
He was obedient unto death and would die upon a tree
He would break the chains of hell and death and set the captives free
Who could know that the child lying there in the manger
Would face the wrath of hell itself and overcome all danger
The heavenly choirs of angels knew and sang with all their might
And the shepherds knew down in their hearts on that glorious starry night.
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Posted by appolus on December 2, 2020
In Psalm 84 we see this verse…..
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. This word day in the Hebrew is Yom, it quite literally means to be hot, as in the hot hour of the day. Sunrise, sunset, when the sun is high above us in the sky. The golden hours? Moments that pass quickly but while in them and surrounded by them they are warm and golden and unforgettable. Such are our moments in the manifest presence of God. They may be few and far between, they may be fleeting, but the warmth of their memories strengthen us in our inner souls.
A moment. Caught up in the vast expanse yet tenderly held in a warm embrace. Vast and intimate all at the same time. And these moments linger in the depths of our spirits. We remember every word we hear and how they flowed, like each word was a musical note and the song that is played becomes the melody of our heart, our song in the night. Our word from Him spoken into the deep.
So, one day, one moment in His presence is better than a thousand sunrises and more beautiful and inspiriting than a thousand sunsets. In these golden hours on earth where everything is brilliantly illuminated by the rising or the setting sun, we bask in their beauty and warmth. Now imagine a world and your life illuminated by something so vast that it could hold the sun in the psalm of His hand. The sun becomes a mere spark in the presence of our God. This is the source of all that we are. This illumination is life itself.
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Posted by appolus on December 2, 2020
So the Cross is as much a part of the consummation as it is of the initiation, and by its operation in the life as a principle and power the Lord will come for “a people prepared.” This preparation relates to heart condition and not to mental apprehension of prophetic truth. (T.A.Sparks)
A great truth revealed hear by brother Sparks. If all we have is initiation then all we would have is a loveless marriage that was never consummated. In the natural a marriage that is never consummated is grounds for annulment.
There are people who come to the cross because they desire to be saved. They are looking for all the benefits that come from salvation. They want to enjoy the blessings and the grace and the mercy of God. Yet they want no part of the suffering of God. They are quite happy that Jesus picked up His cross but they themselves find the notion of picking up their own cross an offensive one.
There are whole theologies devoted to the notion that since Christ suffered then we do not have to. And it attracts millions of adherents. Cross-less denominations and movements. There can be no consummation with Christ outside of the cross, our cross, willingly taken up. It is as much a part of the genuine saint as is the abiding.
As we abide in Him and willingly take up our crosses daily, then we get to “know,” the truth. Joseph did not “know,” Mary until after Jesus was born. Know, in this context, is the Biblical word for intimacy between a man and a wife, where they become one flesh. One must “know,’ the Lord spiritually. No one ever wants to hear the words “depart from me you workers of iniquity for I never “knew,” you.
An annulled marriage is erased from a legal perspective, and it declares that the marriage never technically existed and was never valid. Think about that, a marriage that was never consummated and then annulled means that in never actually existed and what did exist was never valid.
Jesus is coming back for a consummated people, a people made ready by “knowing,” and abiding in Jesus. It is indeed a heart condition and has nothing to do with any mental apprehension of a prophetic truth. A mental assent to an abstract prophetic truth in no ways prepares anyone for the fulfillment of that prophecy.
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Posted by appolus on December 2, 2020
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
All the sins of the world would be laid upon Him. And in the darkest moment of history, one that cannot be imagined, the Father turned His head and looked away. The full horror of hell, now visited upon the one who was one with the Father. And He would suffer our punishment in our place. And in the most agonizing cry ever uttered, Jesus cried out, βMy God, My God, why has thou forsaken me.β Only when one comes before God for judgment, and then is cast away from His presence, will that one even begin to imagine the horror Jesus suffered for each and every one of us.
The Character of Jesus is higher than the highest heavens. His love and compassion and mercy and obedience are beyond what our feeble minds can comprehend. And since we can only compare with what we know, we can say with full assurance, and still fall pitifully short, that our Saviors love would render the deepest ocean to but a single tear from the Masters eye. The sun that blazes brilliantly in the sky, but a spark compared to our Lords burning passion. The universe and all others combined, smaller than the smallest chamber of His heart. This is the God we serve; this is the Jesus of the Gospels; this is Jesus, God among us. Bow down to Him and enter into the glory.
Have you caught a glimpse of His glory? John writes “We have seen His glory.” Jesus says in John 17 when He is praying for those who would believe in Him “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them.” So the Apostles saw His glory and those who would follow them would be given His glory. Do you have it? Have you stepped into it? Have you slipped behind the veil and been transformed by it? He gave it and promised it for three reasons. Firstly “that they may be one, even as we are one.” He gave us His glory that we may be one as He and His Father are one.
Secondly. “That the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” Unless we walk in the glory and the oneness we cannot be a witness to a dying world that God so loved them that He sent His Son to die for them. Thirdly. That they may “be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory.” The glory leads to the glory. The glory of our Lord Jesus Christ leads to the glory of our heavenly Father where we behold, as Isaiah beheld, the glory of our God who sits upon His throne. And in that we are changed from glory to glory for His glory. Β
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Posted by appolus on November 28, 2020
We have fallen from Grace
In the west there is a very low view of God. Some kindly grandfather? A benevolent Santa clause? A buddy?. Of course He is none of these things. Familiarity has bred contempt and the traditions of men have caused us to fall from grace. It has caused us to forget who God really is. He is high and lifted up and the train of His robe fills the temple. He is majestic in holiness. He is awe-full, meaning full of awe. Those around His throne can only cry out βHoly, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.β
It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God. (2 Chron 5:11-14)
As the people stood as one, no hierarchy observed, and the Ark found its rightful place in the temple, the glory of God came down, God Himself took possession of the Temple and it was filled with a cloud of glory. His true unadulterated presence would have obliterated these mere mortals. Impenetrable light hidden in the cloud and still the people were overwhelmed. In Job chapter 26 the righteous man of God cries out as he explains the unsearchable glories of God and says “He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.” The cloud, the glory, the manifest presence, all of this and more when the children of God become as one.
Unless the people have an encounter with such a God, they will continue to have a low view of Him and worship some weak anemic cultural god of their own making. The church in the west is starving to death, they are dying of thirst and the tragedy is that for the most part, the majority that are called after His name do not even know that they are in the midst of a famine and drought.I thank God for His remnant people who do know. Who agonize over the state of the church. Who cry out to God and who want nothing less for the multitude of people to experience the majesty and the glory and and anguish and the joy of falling down before the throne, to be ruined for life and to walk with the grand obsession that is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God. Now brothers and sisters, we know that we are the house of God. We are His temple. Each one of us is a living stone. Each one of us are priests in a Royal priesthood. Has God so taken us, so fully possessed us that we could barely stand? Have you experienced God is such a way? When His presence falls upon you and there is a weight of glory where you can barely lift your head? You barely dare breathe as He fills every part of you. Tears flow freely, trembling hands find their way into the air in surrender, surrender to the glory. It is not a passing moment, rather it is a passage from the temporal world into the glory. And once you have slipped behind this veil then nothing can ever be the same again.
This is what the people are starved of, this is why they are dying of thirst. There is a famine of the Word of God in the land, not the Word preached, but the Word preached with the power and the presence of God. The crisis of the age is a lack of Godβs empowering presence in our assemblies.Can we do anything outside of His presence? Unless the Lord builds the house then we labor in vain. It is very clear that the Lord has an issue with us. Every church , every gathering throughout the land should shut down their activities until they have the presence of the Lord walking in their midst, until the people know that……
“the heavens shall be shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against You; if they pray toward this place, and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them, then hear from Heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, when You have taught them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.β
The people must realize how far they have wandered from the Living God. When they are desperate enough to cry out and acknowledge how far they have fallen, fallen from grace, then and only then shall they have the ear of God. Falling from grace is the result of trying to complete the Christian journey in the flesh, when it can only be completed by the Spirit. The Galatians problem was the Law, they were trying to live by the law. Christianity today tries to live by its traditions. It is as much ruled by its traditions as the Galatians were ruled by the law and the result for both groups is the same, a falling from grace.
Falling from grace is a cutting yourself of from the vital connection from Christ that gives you life. Build your life upon the law or upon the traditions of men and you have cut yourself of from the very real relationship of Jesus Christ. The traditions of men, no matter how good, are but a mere shadow of the reality. The object itself casts a shadow, and while the shadow has something of the image of the object, it has no substance. It cannot edify, it cannot sanctify, it cannot instill abundant life, and so those who rely upon the shadow begin to die. Where the shadow abounds, death abounds. Where the substance of Christ is and along with that and His actual presence, there is life and liberty, and grace to be found.
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When the people who dwell in great darkness see the children of the living God set on fire among the cloud of glory, when they see that the glory of God has fallen upon the temple, when the glory of God fills the temple, then those who dwell in the darkness of this world will be drawn to the light of Christ that burns at the center of our hearts and souls. Will we serve the Lord our God with all of our hearts? Are we ready to throw off the things of this world and enter into the Holy of Holyβs? The Kingdom of God dwells within us.
Shall we take our place before the throne? Is the Lord inviting us to the marriage feast and tragically we are too busy? Do we make excuses as to why we do not come fully before Him? In Luke chapter 14 the call goes out to come to the great banquet and any number of excuses were made as to why they would not come, in short they were too busy living in the material world and living material lives. He is knocking at the door of your heart, will you open up your heart and let Him reign upon its throne today? Will you give Him your all today? He will have all of us or He will have none of us. To look back at the things of the world disqualifies us from serving Him.
Come brothers and sisters with our whole hearts. Come to Him and cry out with a desperate cry “Lord I die of hunger today, I desperately need your word with your power and your presence. Lord today I am dying of thirst, I have an unquenchable thirst for the Living waters of life and I desire to be fully immersed in this river and want to be taken to wherever it will take me. Lord I would rather be in the center of your will and die today, than to live 30 more years of compromise in a dry and thirsty land.β
What hinders you today brothers and sisters from entering into the fullness of God? It’s not the Lord. His desire is to possess all of you and be the Lord of your whole life. So what hinders you today? Your life, your traditions your place in the world? Lay it down and come and walk in the fullness of Him. Let His glory fill the temple. Let His glory take full possession of you. The day is coming to and end and the great persecution will soon be upon us. Unless you are filled with His glory, unless He has full possession of you, you will hear yourself making any number of excuses as to why you cannot serve Him with your whole heart and join the oneness that is also soon to come.
Persecution will burn away the kindling and the broken branches and the branches that no longer are fed by the sap of the vine. When the smoke clears there shall be the oneness left. The oneness that Jesus spoke of in John 17 where He said that we would be one just as He and His Father are one and we shall be where the glory is, the glory that He has given to us. This glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea and every nation will see it. The glory of God come down upon those who walk as one, just as they were called to. Cry out now with A desperation and repent if you have fallen from His grace. He waits, He waits to lifts us from the valley of dry bones, but He shall not strive forever with us.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, testimony, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
Posted by appolus on November 23, 2020
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 the 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 through us into the darkness of a world reeling from gross darkness and fear. Saint, there is power in the Blood, the blood of Christ that flows through your veins. You are a move of God!.
People who understand who they truly are in Christ do exploits for their Lord. This is no mere mental assent to an abstract truth. First and foremost, the power of the Living God in us changes us. This is a move of God. And as men see this change in us, they are drawn towards the agent of that change, Jesus. For God to move in the world, He must first move in us. You can cry out from here to eternity for a move of God but unless He is moving in you, you will not see the supernatural God moving. Stop waiting for a move of God and understand that God is waiting for you to move. Christ in you is the agent of change in the world that you inhabit.
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Posted by appolus on November 23, 2020
2Co 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
Every triumph we have we have in Christ. He is our victory and in Him we have victory. If we overcome it is because He overcame. If we love it is because He first loved us. If we forgive it is because we are forgiven by Him. When we weep, we know that He wept first. And when we give comfort to others it is because we ourselves were first comforted by Him. Every good thing, every triumph we have we have in Christ. This is why He leads us in a triumphal procession. And as we follow Him in victory then the world gets to witness the knowledge of Him and His victory over hell and sin and death.
They get to see how He broke every chain and how He healed our broken hearts. Every obstacle removed. They see a new creature in Christ who in Him has taken captive that which had formerly held us captive. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. You see that phrase “in Christ.” This is the key to everything. We must be found “in Him.” Paul suffered the loss of all things to be found “in Him.” And when we are found in Him, then and only then is the fragrance of His beauty and glory and majesty and knowledge spread abroad in the hearts of man everywhere.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on November 20, 2020
Eze 47:3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.
There is a river that flows from heaven itself. It flows through our hearts and beckons us to come deeper. This river is spoken of in many places in Scriptures. It is the presence of God and it brings us deeper into the heart of the Almighty. There are trees on either side of this river and their roots are directly connected to the river and they are perpetually green, evergreen trees for the healing of the people and the nations. The river itself brings healing everywhere it goes. To be walking in the Spirit is to be swimming in the river of life.
As we see in Ezekiel 47, the Lord brings us to through the waters. Always the Lord, compelling His children to come deeper into Him. Not ankle deep, not knee deep or even waist deep but fully immersed in a river so vast that it cannot be crossed, it can only be swum in. We must give ourselves to the river, let go and give way to the current of the Holy Spirit. Whether you are ankle deep, knee deep or even waist deep, you are still standing on your own two feet. In many respects you are still in charge. Yet to give ourselves completely to the river we are no longer standing.
When we are fully given to our Lord. When we are yielded to the depths and the power of this vast river, the power of the Holy Spirit, only then can we truly be led. All resistance is gone in its depths. It is carrying you towards the sea, the vastness of God Himself. Ever closer, ever deeper into the Father’s heart. And the Lord says to to you “come, I will bring you through the waters into the deep.” “Seek me with your whole heart and I shall be found and you shall be rewarded for your diligence, I am your exceeding great reward.”
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Posted by appolus on November 15, 2020
Sanctification. We could spend years speaking on the subject. The shaping of a man or a woman. Imagine a glacier cutting its way through solid granite. In its wake, mountains and valleys and paths for mighty rivers to flow.It moves at its own pace. There is no force in all the world that could stop its inexorable forward progress. It will meet the sea when it meets the sea. And when it is spent, there is a whole world created in its unstoppable often violent wake.
The thing about pain. When you hide a darkness in the deepest recesses of your heart it defies the depths and it shapes every part of who you are. You think that you have compartmentalized it, yet even the deepest chambers of our heart has fissures. No matter how tight the cell door, no matter that it lies at the center of your soul, the darkness bleeds out. It bleeds into every part of who you are.
Then suddenly the light. An impenetrable light that penetrates every part of who we are. All at once? The light of God marches towards the center of your soul. It takes captive every darkness as it makes its inexorable way to the very core of who you are. The light will not co-exist with the darkness. Sanctification will have its way. To the saint of God it is unstoppable as a jealous God takes every part of who you are and shapes you by immense forces beyond your capability of understanding.
I am 17. My wife has almost bled to death in the process of giving birth to our first born son. The cord was wrapped around his neck and she was hemorrhaging. An emergency cesarean section was carried out and our son was born. He was immediately moved to the intensive care unit and there he lay, attached to a machine that breathed for him and who knows what else. And there I sat beside him alone. A heart already darkened by a dark childhood. I will not let this child touch me.
The doctors recommended that he be taken of the life support machine. Two months premature and several minutes without oxygen, they said. The plugs were pulled. Two days he stayed alive. The nurse says “would you like to hold him?” I heard myself saying no. He was dying and I was dead and the gross darkness poured into a ship that had already overturned in violent seas. Stephen died. On the day of his burial they placed a small white coffin on my knee as I sat in the back of the hearse. I felt nothing until the hearse took a corner too fast and I felt Stephen’s body move within the coffin and a gaping hole was violently torn into the very depths of who I was. I would spend many many years plugging that hole.
Ten years later I got dramatically saved. All the years and overlays of the results of my sin were slowly but surely being removed. With every inch, the glacier was slowly reshaping me. Breaking down everything that stood it its path. The force of this change was unstoppable. And very suddenly after many years, the inner chamber was breached. I did not see it coming, I was not even aware of its existence. Yet one moment in a shower, singing praises to God was suddenly and violently replaced with cries from the very depths of my heart. This man, always in control, was not in control. I fought to control the sobs and the racking of my body.
I put my hands over my mouth but could not contain the pitiful noises that were coming from this ancient chamber, locked away for so very long. My poor wife heard me and rushed into the bathroom in time to see me clinging onto the tiled walls. I can still see that look on her face. Total confusion. More than that, she was terrified at what she was looking at. I could not articulate what was going on. Darkness and shame and guilt and pain and sorrow were pouring out of me and there was nothing to be done until it had emptied itself. And just as suddenly as it had begun, it was gone, leaving me physically and mentally exhausted. Yet, I felt so much lighter. A profound change had occurred. It was 15 years in the making but it was now God who was doing the making and He leaves no stone unturned.
The thing about pain, it leaves an indelible mark upon our soul. The thing about change, it uncovers every indelible mark. Sanctification, the process of being set apart and becoming more and more like our Lord means there is no hiding place. There is no chamber that does not belong to Him. Buy an old house and everything left in the attic and the basement belongs to you. We have been bought with a price, everything belongs to the Lord. He is Lord of all, every part of who we are. He is always in the process of changing and renewing and remaking. What could resist a glacier? Who can resist the Lord? The Potter and the wheel and the clay.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, sanctification, testimony, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 20 Comments »
Posted by appolus on November 13, 2020
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.Dan 6:10
Wicked men who hated Daniel and who were jealous of him came up with a decree that they persuaded the king to sign. This was a trap. By decreeing that no man or woman could petition their God for thirty days they knew they could either control Daniel or destroy him. Now Daniel certainly knew this. What he did was instructive for us today. Now perhaps many of us would go home and shut our windows and pray to God anyway despite what had been decreed. Maybe some of us would follow the decree and rationalize it by thinking that it was only 30 days, what harm would it cause? Daniel went home, and with his windows wide open, prayed unashamedly to the one true God.
Now saints, we are living in a day when many traps are being set for us and there will be many more to come. The enemy will not be satisfied with “30 days.” If Daniel had relented, then another decree would come along more intense and longer in duration than the one before. It is not good enough for the enemy to see outward compliance. He will demand much more than that. He will demand that you bow down to him and acknowledge the lie as truth. Compromise leads to disaster. It is one step down a slippery path and at its end lies destruction. The two wonderful aspects of Daniel’s story was that he unashamedly, in the face of certain death, refused to deny God or bow down to the decrees of this world that demand we deny our God and His truth. The second wonderful part was the fact that God was with Daniel in the lions den. What was decreed for his destruction only strengthened Daniel in the end.
What is pressing upon you saint? What decree is the world demanding that you compromise your faith for? Do not do it. Like a paid blackmailer, it will not end there it will only get worse. Better to go down into the lions den and meet God there. One is temporal and the other is eternal. If you cannot run with the footmen now without being wearied, how then shall you contend with the horses when the world is drowning in gross darkness? Stand upon the truth saints and do not be moved.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on November 10, 2020
Many Christians have what they call β life Scriptures.β Particular Scriptures that have been most applicable to them in their lives and in their situations and these Scriptures have grounded them and kept them on the narrow path. This is one of my favorites….For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2Tim 1:7) Fear can so dominate out lives in all its many shades and hews. It fuels anxiety and stress. Fear is gasoline poured upon your troubles. Troubles is certainly something that we shall always have, but fear is unnecessary. And by that I mean living in fear. Slavish fear, fear that binds us hand and foot. Fear that captures the mind and overwhelms it, rendering us captive to it. How do you know if you have been captured? Do you have a sound mind? Have your thoughts taken hold of you? Can you β turn them off?β Can you sleep at night? Do you β walk the floor?β These are all symptoms of not having a “sound mind.β
In days long past it was referred to as having a quiet mind. Oh the beauty of a quiet peaceful mind. Itβs in this quiet peace that we can hear the still small voice of God. The enemy seeks to take this quiet from us so that we cannot hear the lord. He seeks to have our minds like the sound of many waters, roaring seas, a din that cannot be stopped. It is vital, absolutely vital that brothers and sisters have a quiet mind. The fear that fuels the noise is not of God. First it comes from our flesh and then is magnified by the enemy. Distraction is the order of the day, but it’s not Gods order. You have to confront your fears in the power of God. He has given you power over it. In the yielding of our lives to Him we have been given a spirit of power and love and self-control. Make no mistake, this is an enemy that will shadow you all the days of your life. You have to be vigilant and put on all the armor of God to do battle with the enemy of God and the enemy of your soul.
There is a reward to those who overcome, there is a reward to those who endure, there is a reward to those persevere. Stand up brothers and sisters. I know you may have fallen down, maybe even multiple times to the enemy which is fear, but stand up. Count all things as loss for Christ and to be found in Him. It will not come naturally, in fact quite the opposite, which is why it is a battle. But be of good cheer, for we worship a supernatural God who hears the cries of His people and who is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and His presence. Who, with discipline and single-mindedness continue to seek out their God no matter what situations come along. Do not condemn yourself if you have despaired. The great men of Scriptures despaired. The levels and the depths of your despair is often the height and the measure of your trial. Stand up, stand strong, stand in the power of God, stand in the evil day.
It is not the falling down that is the measure of the man or woman of God, it is the rising up. Rise up today from your bed of fear and anxiety and cast all your cares upon Him. Trust Him. Know that we can lose everything in this world but we cannot be taken out of His hand. You may not feel His presence today, but He stands with you and goes before you. You may not feel the heat of the sun at night but nevertheless it is there and come the dawn the sun shall rise. This may be a dark time in your life but this I want you to know, the sun will rise again, there shall be a dawn that follows the darkness of your situation. Persevere saints and one day soon we shall gather before the throne and praise together. The Bible tells us to put on a garment of praise for a Spirit of heaviness and that the Lord inhabits the praise of His people. Begin to praise the Living God today in a sacrifice of worship and wait and see the fire of God fall upon that sacrifice.
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Posted by appolus on November 9, 2020
Saints are you ready? God is sending a refining fire. Our God is a consuming fire. The fire, as we speak, is being kindled. You may have heard talk of revival. There is something coming that is so much higher than revival. There is something coming that the world has never seen before. A Church united by persecution. An ancient unity first spoken of in John 17 by the Lord Jesus Himself. A Church arising from the ashes of mediocracy. A Church ushered into the glory.
And on the other side of that is the unity of the world. A world unified by the brotherhood of man. A world united by it’s hatred of everything that opposes its own virtues. A bold enraged world that is about to initiate a grand inquisition. In every town and in every city and in every nation of the world there will come the question. “Will you bow down?” Will you bow down to the gods of this world? The tower of Babel is rising from its ancient foundations. It will rise up in rebellion against Jesus.
If you refuse to work on the construction of this tower then a united world will turn on you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.(Mat 10:21-22) Saints, your family will turn on you. If liking President Trump split families, what do you suppose will happen when Jesus becomes the issue?
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another (Mat 24:9-10) This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come…..they shall be…without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, without self control, fierce, despisers of those that are good….traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God……having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof(1 Tim 1:5) I put it to you saints that this generation has arisen before our very eyes. We raised them.
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…..For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet…..And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. (Rom 1:21:28)
Saints we are dealing with a world given over to a reprobate mind. We are that generation and as such we have been called to stand in the evil day, to not be ashamed of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole Gospel, and the truth upon which it is founded. This is the power of God. This is the fire of His refining. The fire comes in the reaction of a Godless world to the God of all creation burning in the hearts of His saints. We are the match that lights the fire. It is the Truth and our love for it that will be the last piece of evidence against a world that has rejected God.
We have been called for such a time as this. A glorious calling. A final calling at the end of the ages. A calling that sees us walk in the unity that Jesus spoke of. The glory of that unity shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. The cost? Everything. The enemy is coming in like a flood and God is raising up a standard. He has called us up to higher ground. He has called us forth to raise His banner high. The banner of Truth. And when one of us is taken by the enemy and destroyed, another rushes forward and hoists it high over the battle-field.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high his royal banner,
It must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory
His army shall he lead,
Till every foe is vanquished,
And Christ is Lord indeed.
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Posted by appolus on November 6, 2020
There is a direct correlation between unconditional love for God and peace. Is your love for God conditional? In many ways we wont know that until we face a certain set of circumstances and those circumstances are different for everyone, God knows though. That is why that while there is one narrow path through this world the saints experience that path differently.
The circumstances of your life will tell the tale. The more we love God unconditionally the more we walk in peace. The greater the witness. One might argue that unconditional is unconditional. There cannot be more unconditional or less unconditional. I would agree with that in the abstract. Yet in the practical working out of our lives and our salvation, we often discover, to our horror, that we are not what we thought ourselves to be. Meaning that we fail in certain circumstances. We fall down. In the failing and the falling down, we see how far we fall short of His glory. We see our desperate need for Jesus and the absolute imperative that we surrender all, actually surrender all as opposed to merely singing with feelings that precious old Hymn “I surrender all.”
So unconditional love for God means that we make no deals. It is God that says to us “if you do this.” The Scriptures are full of the word “If.” What can never happen is the opposite. We can never say to God “if you do this.” We worship a Holy God for no other reason that He is a Holy God and He is deserving of our worship, quite apart and distinct from our personal circumstances, no matter how good or how dire they are. Unlike our circumstances, God never changes.
In the natural we understand the phrase “Unconditional surrender.” The Germans and the Japanese both discovered what that meant. Have you unconditionally surrendered to God this day? Have you surrendered your husband or your wife? Your nation? Your children? Your finances, your standing in this world? Your reputation? Whatever percentage you hold back for yourself, it will directly detract from your walk with Jesus and the peace that surpasses all understanding. Identify within yourself what you have held back. Surrender it. The high water mark is complete and total unconditional surrender. How do you measure up?
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Posted by appolus on November 6, 2020
βLest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.β (2 Cor 4:4)
I want to focus on βThe Gospel of the glory of Christ.β What is the Gospel of the glory of Christ? We know that the word Gospel means good news, so we could say it is the good news of the glory of Christ. Do you know the glory of Christ? If the good news itself is about the glory of Christ, is it possible to share the Gospel if you yourself have not experienced the glory of Christ? And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one (Joh 17:22) Jesus is saying that His glory comes from the Father and that He has given us this very same glory. And why? So that we may be one. So, without the glory we cannot be one with Father and the Son and we cannot be one in the oneness of the Body. Have you been given the glory? And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) Have you saw His glory?
Do you know the Glory, have you been given the glory and have you seen the glory? In the year of King Uzziahβs death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple ( Isa 6:1) Have you had a vision of God? Have you experienced His manifest presence? In Hebrews chapter one it is stated that Jesus is the radiance of His glory. And so, if we know Jesus then we know the light that emanates from God Himself, this light is the glory of God. Many of have seen the corona of the sun when an eclipse occurs .The corona is the aura that surrounds and emanates from the sun. It is only at the moment when the moon blocks out the sun that we dare gaze upon it and see the aura. To gaze fully into the sun itself would render us blind. The glory of God is the aura that emanates from Jesus. He is so Holy that we can only know Him by His aura. Jesus is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature. By taking on flesh Jesus was like the moon that enabled us to look with unveiled eyes about the radiance of the glory of God without destroying us mere mortals in the process.
We must know His glory. His glory is a gift from the Lord Himself, He allows Himself to be seen by the power of the Holy Spirit. We see His glory, we stand in awe, just like Isaiah, at the glory of God. We ourselves would be undone if it were not for Jesus. We could not stand in that place unless we were covered by His blood. By becoming one in the Father and the Son we can stand in the glory. We can bask in the radiance of His glory. We are empowered and renewed and strengthened by the glory. We rise up by the power of the glory. We speak of Him only by the empowering presence of His glory. In short, we do all things by the glory of God and for the glory of God and without the glory we can do nothing. Can you see how important the glory is? It is the power of God and the beauty of God and the holiness of God. If we would walk in the beauty and the holiness and the power of God we must know the glory of God. Do you know His glory?
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on November 2, 2020
1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
The greatest revelation of God in my life has come in the midst of my needs. It has not come in my wants or desires or accomplishments it has come in my needs. The greater the need the greater the revelation. The second time of greatest revelation of God in my life has come when I have sinned against Him. There is no deeper humiliation for a saint than to have failed his Lord badly. Yet, when I approached the throne of grace with my head hung low and with a spirit within that was crying out ” woe is me for I am undone,” then suddenly I am encountered with love and forgiveness even although I myself had desired punishment and penance to atone somehow for my sin. Now I am undone not because of my unworthiness but because of the realization of the depths of His love and faithfulness to me. It is His holiness that saves, it is his grace that is sufficient and it is His faithfulness that will never fail. He increases in my heart and I decrease as I realize the very source of all that I am in Him and in Him alone.
If our sins lead to humility and repentance and brokenness before the throne where we receive a greater and deeper revelation of who God is, and they do, then would not the enemy of our souls do everything in his power to keep us from this place? And the easiest and most effective way to do that is to convince us that we never have to seek that place out. Do not be fooled saints, God is glorified and revealed to us in the depths of our needs, our infirmities and our failures. Should we then seek to be in need or to be infirm or to sin so that God may be glorified?
God forbid. I can guarantee that you wont have to seek out needs or infirmities or sin. They will find you because you are finite and corruptible. But an infinite God will one day raise you up in in-corruption. And until that day comes His grace will be sufficient for you. He will meet you in the depths of your needs. He will be faithful to forgive all of your sins when you come before Him and confess them. And in all of that you are drawn ever deeper into the heart of the Father.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on October 27, 2020
Religion is just one more form of enslavement. It wraps its tentacles around every part of who we are and crushes the life out of us. It portrays itself as the saver but is in fact the slayer. It is an imposter, a chameleon that pretends to be all things to all people. It pretends to give while all the time taking. It feeds its monstrous appetites while it’s victims starve to death. What a grand deception.
Starving to death and not even realizing your hunger and all the time you are wasting away. An emaciated people starved by a grotesque monster that presents itself as an angel of light. Look again, stare deeply into the eyes of this “angel.” They are blood red and cold. Merciless and without natural affection. This entity, even in the midst if its delusion, can barely conceal its maniacal hatred for the ones who follow it.
If religion is all about deception and taking then Jesus is the antidote to it all. While religion takes and enslaves, He sacrificed and freed the captives. While religion crushes the heart, Jesus restores that which was crushed. While religion starves its followers, Jesus feeds the hungry. While religion is aloof and separate from its adherents, Jesus makes His home in His children’s heart. He feeds us, He dines with us, he laughs with us and He cries with us. In short, He enters into a relationship with us and we become one with Him.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on October 26, 2020
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job
Can you even begin to imagine brothers and sisters, the Lord saying “Have you considered my servant…..” fill in the blank with your own name. What glory and honor that the Lord of all creation would testify of His servant before the throne-room of heaven, before the heavenly hosts. God is well confident in his servant. The accuser on the other hand has nothing at all to accuse Job of therefore he turns to the motivations of the heart of Job. And so unfolds the story of humanity.
The Lord knows you, He knows you through and through. The same enemy of Job is the enemy of your soul. And the same accusation that he made against Job he makes against you. In the eternal spiritual courtroom, God stands accused by Satan that no one actually loves Him, they only follow Him for what they can get from Him. This is Satan acting according to his character, nasty and vindictive, the father of lies distorted with hatred for God and for His children.
You, dear saint, are a witness in this case. You are called to testify. Your testimony is your life in God and the motivations of your heart. Every moment that you praise Him, give thanks to Him, rejoice in Him, glory in His majesty, you continue to make the case against Satan. You are part of the truth and he is all of the lie. Truth is victorious over lies. Your life is a testimony to love. God’s love for you and your love in return. This glorifies God, this is your primary purpose here on earth. And the darker your circumstances, the greater more powerful the witness. To glory in God and to give thanks to Him in the midst of trials and tribulations is your greatest contribution to the reality of your relationship with God.
So brothers and sisters, never stop thanking God, no matter your circumstances. You may not think that no one knows about your situation. God knows, the heavenly hosts knows and the fallen angels know. They know and they watch. This is why the promises are made to those who overcome and endure till the end. For love endures. It overcomes all obstacles and it even willingly dies for the object of its love. This is the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have been called to follow Him.
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Posted by appolus on October 21, 2020
I have no hesitation in saying that it is my honest and charitable conviction that the Christ of the average religion today is not the Christ of the Bible at all. He is a manufactured Christ, the Christ painted on canvas, the Christ drawn from cheap poetry, a Christ of the liberal and the soft and timid person. He is an imitation Christ that has not in Him the iron and the fury and the anger, as well as the love and grace and mercy (A.W.Tozer-Living a Christian life. pg 218)
Tozer was right in his day, and, I put it to you, we find ourselves in very much more degraded days than his. The Christ, for the most part, that is propagated today is a mere Santa Claus figure, gentle and timid and somewhat fearful of man. This man made Christ watches over men and smiles approvingly at all of their sins. Like a father who cannot discipline his children and they run wild, Jesus has been reduced to this in the minds of most men who would call themselves by His name. They have created this Jesus in their own image. They would gladly say “behold the goodness of God,” while not finishing the sentence “and the severity of God.”
They would gladly tell you that “the gift of God is eternal life,” while refusing ever to say that the “wages of sin is death.” They will gladly tell you that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but they will never mention the very next sentence which says he who refuses to believe is condemned already. There is no iron and fury and anger, as Tozer puts it, in the God that they have created and worshiped. There is only grace and mercy and woe betide anyone who suggests otherwise. In the end, this will separate the wheat from the tares. Those who refuse to acknowledge a God who will judge the living and the dead will throw their lot in with a world who will be taken up with the god of this world.
The only iron and fury and anger we will see will be that of the apostate and the fallen world who will come together to judge the saint who worships the true and the Biblical and the living God. Their fury will be great and their anger without measure. They will have murderous hearts and will gnash their teeth and fall with great fury upon those who refuse to compromise, those who love the Word of God and who long for His appearance.
Yet, like Stephen, the saints of God will see the heavens open in that day and will see the glory of God in ways and depths that they have never seen nor experienced Him before. It will be their honor to stand upon the truth and to suffer and die for it and the Holy Spirit will rise up in them in ways the world has never seen. God will be glorified in His children and that glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
A Call To The Remnant 