Archive for the ‘the gospel’ Category
Posted by appolus on September 3, 2020
Whatever the day brings oh Lord, then you should be right in the midst of it. Whatever the day brings, whether its a day of war, then we should war in you. If it is a day to mourn then we should mourn in you. If it is a day to love then we should love by the power of you oh Lord. Whatever the day brings then we should bring you right into the center of it. Forget about yesterday. It is done. Pay no heed to tomorrow for you oh child of God do not know if you will see tomorrow. Tomorrow does not belong to you, it belongs to the Lord. What you do have is today, this day. Lord let this day be your day and let us walk with you in this day.
Let us throw of fear brothers and sisters it is not of God and does not belong in your day. Let us throw of worry and anxiety as the Lord commanded us to, it does not belong in this day, only the Lord belongs in this day. The God of all creation. The God who laid the foundations of the earth and set the stars in the heavens. The God who feeds every sparrow and who clothes the common fields of the earth in more glory and splendor than even Solomon was ever clothed.
Saints, imagine the revolution that would take place in your life if you lived only for this day. Imagine that fear and anxiety was banished from your day, that your day was taken up with seeking first the Lord your God and His kingdom and His righteousness. Imagine the power as you threw of the shackles of yesterday. Imagine the glory as you threw of the tyranny of tomorrow which may never come. Imagine the absolute adventure of a single day with God having no thought for tomorrow. This is walking with God brothers and sisters.
This is Kingdom living. This is walking in the Spirit. It is your promise. Jesus said take no thought for tomorrow, Jesus said be anxious for nothing, Jesus said not to worry about the things the gentiles worry about. He said all that to clear the decks. Wont you clear the decks today saints? Will you not live in obedience to your Lord and your God? You do that today, you take God at His word, you be obedient to His commands and your whole life will be revolutionized.
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Posted by appolus on August 27, 2020
As I was walking this morning and praying I was telling the Lord that I was wearied of the flesh in all of its many manifestations. This daily fight can be very tiring and I was sharing with the Lord how lovely it would be when it was all over. As I rounded the corner on the path, I heard two different bird noises. I knew what they were, I had heard them before. One was a bird in distress and the other was a hawk screetching. Although I could not see what was going on, I have seen it before. The hawk undoubtedly had caught the small bird and the small bird was making very distressed noises, as were his little buddies all around him. The hawk would be unmoved by these noises and would never lose his grip on his little prisoner.
As I pictured this in my mind the Holy Spirit spoke to me, He said “Something has to die so that something can live.” It just seemed so profound to me because of the image in my mind of the hawk and its prey. Yet, this concept is fundamental to all of humanity. Every time we eat something, something had to die. It had to die that we may live. Dying and living, in that order, it is what sustains us. It is elemental.
As I walked on and pondered this, I thought about a show Angie and I watch on National Geographic. It is called “Alone.” The basic premise of the show is that they take ten people and scatter them in a rough wilderness area, and they have to survive for 100 days. This year the location was just 250 miles from the Arctic circle. A brutal place with limited resources. What actually happens is that they slowly begin to starve to death. When they do catch something, like a fish or a rabbit, they are so overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness that they often embrace the catch that they have just killed and weep. This is life and death and they know it. It seems to be a very spiritual experience, small c of course.
The relationship between death and life is so elemental to humanity, this notion that something has to die in order for something to live lies at the root of who we are. If Christ is to live in me then something has to die. There are no ways around, something has to die. I have to die, my flesh has to die so that Christ in me shall be manifested to the world. I have to d3crease so that He may increase. Jesus, of course, is the perfect example of this. In order for us to live then He had to die. Without His death we would not live. In John chapter six Jesus teaches that we must eat His Body and drink His Blood.
Jesus is the Living bread that came down from heaven. In order for us to partake of the this food and this drink then Jesus had to die. Something has to die so something can live. Jesus had to die so that we could live eternally. Now my flesh has to die, with all of the distress that accompanies that and all of the noise that I sometime make in the process. My cross taken up daily is the means that has been prepared for me by the one who bore the ultimate cross. An instrument of death that produces life. Lord, may I take up this cross daily so that something dies daily and from this death comes life.
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Posted by appolus on August 25, 2020
Consider what Wayne Jacobsen says in his book “Finding Church.” In comparing meetings to gatherings he says “What’s the difference? Am I just splitting hairs here? I realize the terms can be used synonymously, but I’m not doing so. A gathering brings people together to celebrate relationship. It is heavy on conversation, often multiple conversations, because people are nor forced to follow an agenda. Meetings, on the other hand, bring people together to accomplish a task even if that task is to perform some ritual. They demand conformity and people have to cooperate for them to work. Relationships are not critical, which is why you can attend meetings for years, even small ones, and not get to know or care for others in the group….. success is measured not by the size of the group but by the quality of relationships.”
I could not agree more with this brother on that subject. For years, decades, centuries, people have sat together in meetings and had no idea who their neighbor was. Yet, gatherings promote true and genuine fellowship. People are starving for true and genuine fellowship. They desperately need to be edified in relationship. Rather than one more teaching they simply need to be heard and to be able to share what the Lord has and does through them. I am not speaking here of novices or babes in Christ, I am speaking of true and genuine saints who have been on the road for years and decades. God is raising up a last days people who long for and desire true and genuine fellowship that is bathed in love for one for Jesus and for one another.
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Posted by appolus on August 5, 2020
In the very first verse of Titus we see that Paul is a servant of God and an apostle. He is these things by his faith in God, just as all who know God are His according to His grace through faith. Yet Paul also adds “and the acknowledging of truth,” to faith. We know that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,” then you are saved. (Rom 10:9) So, acknowledging the truth is a vital part of who are are in Christ. Truth is foundational to all that we are. It is by knowing the truth that we are set free. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life.
Now on the other side of this equation are principalities and powers. They are the opposite of truth, the opposite of freedom for they serve their master the devil who is the father of lies. Truth dwells in the kingdom of light and lies dwell in the kingdom of darkness, each has its own realm. I would argue that as the Lord’s return draws near, then the intensity of each kingdom increases. We live in a day and age where it seems that truth lies broken in the streets. Lies and deceptions have mounted an all out campaign and seem to be gaining the upper hand around the world. The world for the most part have rejected truth in favor of the lie.
To acknowledge truth is to not only proclaim it but also to live it. What we say, what we share, what we teach must be recognized in us. The Greek word for acknowledge is Epignosis. Nosis meaning knowledge and epig meaning precice, or to recognize. You see actual truth lived out is absolute and recognizable. If we are to proclaim and acknowledge the truth of God then it must be recognizable first in us and be readily apparent. Now I would argue that genuine saints know and understand this and strive towards that end, the living out of the faith that they proclaim.
Yet in Titus we see two distinct groups. It is not the saved and the unsaved, rather it is the saved and the ones who profess to be saved. In Titus 1:15-16 we see these two groups described. There is the pure and then there is the defiled. “To the pure all things are pure but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure;but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him.”
So we see a battle being set up here between two groups. One group is a a denier of God’s truth, and the other group are acknowledgers of God’s truth in life and in deed and in word. Even today we see so many professing Christians deny the truth found in the word of God. They are ashamed of what the Word teaches on many of the so called social issues of the day. These would include issues such as homosexuality and transgenderism and Biblical truths such as Adam and Eve and the creation account of Genesis. To the defiled nothing is pure. That word defiled means contaminated or tainted. The word to them is tainted, it is a mixture. So, they take what they like and they reject what they do not. To the saint, the Word of God is pure. It is untainted and is not contaminated with error. It is infallible.
So how would you know what group you belong to? Surely no one would put themselves in the category of the defiled? Well in Titus we see some of the marks of the younger men and the older men that mark them in the group of the pure. These marks are as follows 1.Sober.2.Reverent.3.Temporate.4.Sound in faith.5.Walking in love and patience.6.Integrity.7.Incorruptible.8.Sound speech. These are the marks laid out in chapter two for the pure of the Lord. In verse 14 of the same chapter we see that the Lord had come, not only to deliver us from “every lawless deed,’ He also came to “purify for Himself His own special people.” These are the pure, they are zealous and in the process of being purified they will become, with every passing season, more and more like the points mentioned in 1-8.
The defiled have no such ambition. In the end they serve themselves. In the end they belong to the world. The purification by the Lord for His saints, the refining fire of this process produces fruit. There is also a process that the defiled go through and by it we see their “fruits.” As the world presses in and demands compromise, as the pressure mounts on those who merely profess to know Jesus, we see them, slowly at first, begin to deny Jesus. Each step of the process is their attempt to keep their place in the world. Whatever has to be denied and given up in order to stay in the good graces of the world is denied. They reject the grace of God in favor of the good graces of the world.
It is a great tragedy. For many started out being redeemed “from every lawless deed.” Yet, they made that the end of it when it fact it was just the beginning. They wanted nothing to do with being purified by the Lord. It would be like being delivered from Egypt but dying in the desert. Grumblers and unthankfull in heart, disobedient deniers of God’s truth which precludes them from ever entering into the promised land. Rather than unashamedly acknowledging the truth of God by their lives and by their words and abiding in the Word, they run after the favor of the world. They are adulterers, fornicators, seeking pleasure and place in the world at the expense of the one true Living God.
Yet dear saint take heart, God has indeed purified for Himself His own special people. As the days tick down on the prophetic clock each group will become more apparent. The defiled will become more defiled, but praise God the pure will shine out all the more in the darkness of a sin sick world. Gold, purified in the refiners fire. Impurities burned away and removed with every passing season and trial. Shining brilliantly against the black velvet backdrop of our own personal Calvaries as we take up our crosses daily and die to this world. Purified by suffering. How frustrating it must be to an enemy that the more he comes against the saints, the more purified they become. Shining like a beacon to a lost and dying world. A witness, a martyr for the cause of Christ. Glorifying the Living God whether we live or whether we die.
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Posted by appolus on July 20, 2020
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Daniel speaks of a time when the saints will be worn down. I believe the process of the saints being worn down has already begun. Times have been changed and wrong has become right and truth, at best, is relative. This is wearing the saints out as they struggle to come to terms with these fast changing circumstances. There has been a blitzkrieg so to speak in the realms of the spirit. Compromise and unrighteousness has surrounded the saints. We are an obstacle that at some point will have to be removed if the enemy is to have total dominance. More laws will be changed and we will witness more compromise by Christendom
Now we know we are called to gird our loins with truth. Satan has furiously assaulted truth in our day. Truth has become anything you need it to be, it has become relative. Of course truth is absolute, but that is no longer accepted. We are called to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Righteous living and holiness has become something of a quaint notion in our day. Between the word of faith and the prosperity gospel, cheap grace and hyper grace, actual holy living has become something deemed as a work when of course it is one of the fruits of genuine salvation.
Our feet are to be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Our hearts must be right and this keeps us ever ready to walk in the peace that comes from the truth of the Gospel which has set us free. It also keeps us ever ready to share the gospel with others. Satan has done a great job in quieting the saint when it comes to the Gospel of truth. We are constantly afraid of offending someone. The bold notion that there is but one way to heaven, through the Lord Jesus Christ and that all other paths and religions lead to hell has become all but illegal and in fact it has become unacceptable in so many arenas of public life.
The shield of faith is one of our most important parts of our armor. It protects us from the fiery darts of the enemy. Yet in the last several decades we have seen movements like the word of faith literally destroy the meaning of the word faith. The essence of faith is trusting in God despite our circumstances, yet Satan has turned that truth on its head by teaching that our circumstances are the results of our faith or lack thereof. So, when trials come, rather than people trusting in God they begin to despair and the fiery darts of the enemy find their mark.
Last we have the Word of God which is the sword. We can say with great certainty that the enemy has fought this for countless centuries but in recent decades has made enormous strides in taking the sword out of the hands of those who oppose him. We are an illiterate generation. This lack of knowledge is killing us. So it is clear, in order to stand in the coming evil day we must rediscover the armor of God and wear it at all times. Cry out to God today saints, have Him help you put on the armor. It will save your eternal life.
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Posted by appolus on July 14, 2020
As I was walking and praying the other day the Holy Spirit laid this thought upon my heart. “Unless we understand the culpability of man we are not qualified to speak to the grace of God.There is an intimate connection between guilt and grace. It is when we realize the depths of our sin and rebellion against a holy God that the power of unmerited favor is truly realized.”
I went on to write about this as I felt led by the Spirit. Oftentimes I read a few books at a time. Picking up one, laying down the other and sometimes just laying them down altogether fro months and just read the Word. A good brother of mine had given me a small book by Art Katz entitled ” The holocaust:Where was God.” A heavy title for sure and a heavy subject. Today I picked up the book and read a couple of pages. Here is what jumped out at me.
“To have a view of God that exempts the judgement of God as being a central facet of God’s character and way, is to have a warped view of God. To know Him as He in fact is, in both His severity and His goodness, is to know Him in truth. And to know Him as “that,” God is to be saved by Him out of extremity and calamity of our fallen nature. To know God as Judge is therefore one of the eminent prerequisites for the true knowledge of Him. God is indivisible, and we cannot parcel Him out and enjoy certain of His attributes to the exclusion of others. The consequence of an inadequate faith and an inadequate knowledge of God is tragic beyond all describing. What are His mercies but for His judgements? And what are His judgements rightly understood but for His mercies? To see God in His acts as both the God of judgment and the God of restoration is to begin to catch a glimpse of God and His fullness.” ( Art Katz)
Brother Artz said so much in this paragraph.It is worth reading it a few times over and ponder the truth of what he is sharing. To truly know God is to know the fullness of God. We live in a generation whose favorite saying is “don’t judge me.” Now they may say it to Christians but for sure this extends to God. They are simply not interested in God or His word or His people who would draw any kind of lines in the sand when it comes to sin. This sentiment is rising into a rage because we live in the days of the great falling away. The Lord Jesus is coming back soon and the rebellion is intensifying.
This generation will bend their knee to God or they will have their knees bent for them. They may reject a God who judges but that in no way changes the goodness or the severity of God. He is a holy and righteous God, a God of both justice and of mercy. It is a dangerous thing to trifle with God for He is high and lifted up and His glory fills the temple.
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Posted by appolus on July 12, 2020
The picture above is a picture of a door I installed. It meant removing the old door and the frame, and replacing it with the one that you see. If you look at the top right hand side of the door, you will see there is a space of about nearly an inch, now look at the bottom, no space. Now, the door is hung level and plumb, but the trim is the problem. Look at the space between the trim of the window and the trim of the door, it is equal. This hides the fact that the window is almost an inch of the plumb in just a few feet. If I had made the trim of the door plumb, as it should be, then it would have been instantly noticeable that something was not right.
You see, I had a choice to make. I could do it correctly which would have made the work that I did look off the level and off the plumb, or I could hide it my matching the existing work. Only the trained eye will now notice that the work that I did was not plumb. This is often done with kitchen cabinets when the ceiling is not quite level. You measure down an equal size from one side to the other and snap a line and that forms the top line of your cabinets. No one will ever know that your cabinets are not level.
It occurred to me that we often bend what we say in order to make it fit in with the world. In order to not stand out so much, we take our measurements from the world as our plumb line and it leads to everything being off the level. We do that so that everything will look right, nothing stands out too much. I think it is one of the great tragedies of the age, that we use anything other than the Word of God as our plumb line.
Rather, we use sentiment and humanism to guide and measure our words to a world that is completely off the level and plumb. This simply leads to more things being off the level. Our lives and our words need to be measured exactly by the word of God which is perfectly level and plumb. Anything else is simply pandering to a lost and dying world no matter how good it looks or sounds.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 10, 2020
Psa 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
When David left the Ark with Obed -Edom, it was reported that all that pertained to his house was blessed of the Lord. Our modern day prosperity teachers would convince us that God enriched Obed-Edom but Jewish history shows that Obed-Edom’s family were enriched by the birth of many children in the short time the Ark was there. Women of the household giving birth to multiple babies. There was life in the house of Obed-Edom and that more abundantly. The presence of God gives us life and that more abundantly.
Life in God, life in the Spirit, the overcoming power of God that comes from walking in His Spirit. Obed-Edom would later be found as a guard of the Temple treasure and involved in the worship in the temple. It seems he followed the Ark, he followed the presence of God and dwelt there as a door-keeper. Have you been touched by His presence? Would one day in His presence be better than a thousand elsewhere? Will you follow Him where He leads? Has the presence of God taken hold of your life?
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Posted by appolus on July 8, 2020
Rom 1:5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Imagine you are crossing a great river. The world is on one side and you are headed toward the other side, the heavenly side. Each time you are obedient, each time you turn your back on sin, another stepping stone appears before you and you move forward towards your goal. One step at a time on the road to glory. It is by obedience that we make forward progress towards a deeper walk with Him and we overcome.
Now, there are two main categories of obedience. One is a legalistic obedience and the other is glorified obedience. Brokenness, submission, surrender and love must be the building blocks of our obedience. If we simply try to be obedient without first taking these steps, revealed to us through the word and a revelation of it, we will discover that there is an obedience that binds us in chains and the weight of these chains will drag us down and drown us. Yet, obedience born out of love and a desire to please the one that we love frees us and fulfills us and propels us on.
Glorified obedience, one motivated by love and awe of a righteous holy God and a revelation of Calvary is like the watering of a tree. There can be no fruit produced unless that tree is watered by the living waters of obedience. Striving to be obedient without the fruits of brokenness will lead to a desert landscape in which nothing can live. The motivations of our heart, the seat of our affections that sets our eyes upon Jesus and the Holiness of God takes us from glory to glory.
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Posted by appolus on June 12, 2020
Not so long ago, in a word given to me by the Lord, I warned of possible famine. The word was based on Lamentation four. We failed to repent when the virus hit and the Lord showed me the next judgment would come quickly. Then came the riots and the looting and the further spreading of the virus. I believe the next judgment will come quickly. A famine? An earthquake? Locusts? God knows. Everything is being shaken, everything.
The wisest men in the world are being shown to be fools. The culmination of anger and bitterness and hatred is spilling out, spewing forth. We are an unthankful people, a discontented people. Even the poorest people in the country are living better than most of mankind that went before them. You see, even if people had a whole glorious garden set before them, they would complain about the tree they did not have access to.
And there it is, the fatal flaw. That snake who once whispered into the ears of Eve, now screams from the mob. The devil is on the march and his followers have murder in their heart. The divided house will fall. A third of the angels fell, they fell from paradise. Even there they were not content. Free will, it will either draw you to a loving God or it will destroy you. And the next judgement came quickly.
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Posted by appolus on June 9, 2020
This morning the W.H.O announced that it is highly unlikely for asymptomatic people to spread the virus. This is a direct contradiction to what they have said before and it directly contradicts what the CDC tell us. It was several weeks ago that we were told that masks were of no use in fighting the virus if we were healthy, now of course they tell us the exact opposite. What is going on here?
As a Christian, while I listen to the advice of doctors and specialists, my final arbiter is always God. He is my expert. At one time in my life, shortly after becoming a Christian, I was diagnosed with third stage pulmonary fibrosis. A third of each lung was covered with irreversible fibrosis and would lead to the need for a lung transplant. It was not curable but with high doses of prednisone, they would try and keep the spread of the fibrosis at bay. Long story short, the Lord said I was to trust Him and not take the pills.
Non Christians tend to rely completely on doctors and specialists and experts. They are their final arbiter. What do they do when the people they rely on the most tell them completely conflicting things almost on a daily basis? It must be horrific for them when the wake up one day and realize that politics rather than science tends to determine what these experts are saying or that science is not as reliable as they thought or were led to believe. It creates fear and insecurity. There is a dying world out there desperately looking for something they can hold onto. Something they can actually trust.
I believe that the world is being primed to receive a king. A strong man that they can entirely rely on. The stage is set for a person to step forward. A person of wisdom. A statesman, a strongman. A charismatic man. A man of peace who will bring peace to a world in turmoil. Then the world will celebrate that peace. They will cry out in the streets “peace, peace.” And with a viciousness never seen before, they will turn on anyone who is in conflict with their man of peace. The mob that you see today, will tear into anyone who disagrees with them and their man.
Twelve weeks after refusing to take any medication for my pulmonary fibrosis, and having great difficulty breathing, I received a call from my mother at 5.30 in the morning. She had received a word from the Lord. She apologized for calling me so early but the Lord had told her that he was going to heal me. It was a Monday. She was to go to a prayer meeting on the Tuesday and ask for prayer for me. On the Wednesday I went for my regular x-rays from the specialist who had been so angry with me and who had told me I was going to die. He came into the room and before he switched the light on for the x-ray board to see the x-rays he said this, “I don’t know what you are going to call this.” He flicked on the light to reveal perfectly clear lungs. The “irreversible,’ fibrosis was gone.
God alone is a lamp unto our feet. He alone leads us and guides us. He is out light in a very dark world. In a world that is constantly changing and lurching to and fro He never changes. Who will you follow? Experts? Doctors? Specialists? Politicians? They all have their place and it is somewhere far beneath the throne of God. The wisest man in the world is as a fool unto God. In all your ways trust in HIm and lean not upon your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all of your ways and He will direct your path.
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Posted by appolus on May 27, 2020
Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
It can be very difficult in times of peace and prosperity to stay as close to God as we should like. I wonder if it might be near impossible? I think about the Scripture ” My grace is sufficient for you.” There is, it seems, a unique grace to be had in times of trouble. The memory of that grace, the knowledge and the experience of knowing that no matter how difficult our situation was, the Lord never left us nor did He forsake us, is an attribute of the mature saint who has learned to be content whether in the stormiest of seas or tranquil windless days.
The closeness and the dependency that we discover in the midst of troubles and sufferings is a resource that we carry with us as we move along the narrow path. When we come across others in similar situations we are then able to comfort them with the very same comfort we ourselves were comforted with. Living waters flowing through us, through tried and tested vessels, brings life to those who receive it. Broken vessels cannot withhold living waters, it simply, by nature of its brokenness, allows waters to flow freely from the depths of who we are and who we have been shaped to be by the one who dwells in the very depths of us. From whom all living waters flow.
Then what is our part as we walk down this narrow pilgrims path? A desire to be used. A willingness to be broken. A perseverance that stands firm in the midst of the flames. A knowledge that God is with us as we pass through the waters. A deep desire to please our Lord and be obedient to Him. Perseverance and overcoming. Having this at the center of our heart ” Even if He slays me, yet will I trust Him.” Even if He does not deliver us from a certain situation, we will never bow down to the gods of this world. These, I have discovered, are all attributes of the saint who walks the narrow path.
So, whether we are full or whether we are hungry we shall praise Him. Whether we are rich or we are poor we shall adore Him. Whether we are naked or we are clothed we shall sing of His praises. Whether in sickness or in health we shall lift our eyes unto the hills and see where our help, our grace comes from. Whether life works out the way we had envisioned or takes a totally unexpected turn we shall trust Him. Whether we feel His presence or not we shall love Him. Whether our prayers are answered in a fashion that we expected or not we shall testify of Him. For in Him is our all in all. In Jesus is our very life and sanity. He exists outside of our imaginations yet fills every part of who we are. Eyes have not seen nor ear has heard nor has it entered into our hearts the plans of God for us yet we know Him and more importantly He knows us and He beckons us to move ever closer to Him.
Be encouraged today saint. The Lord is with you no matter what your circumstances are. In the fire, in the flood, on the mountaintop or on a windless still ocean where it appears that we are dead in the water and making no progress. Be assured that today you are one day closer to coming into the fullness, one day closer to coming into a place that the Lord has prepared for you that you have not even imagined. One day closer saint. Every day we are one day closer, one day further down the narrow path that leads to the fullness of life and the completion of the work the Lord has done in you. Celebrate your journey today and celebrate the faithfulness of God in your life. It shall release power into your spirit.
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Posted by appolus on May 8, 2020
Phil 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
Paul is a great example to us when he tells us that he had “learned” to be content. There is no magic wand to arrive at this position. We must “learn” And we learn by walking through the fires and the floods. Giving ourselves over and surrendering in every situation so that we can find the freedom that is found in the darkness. What do I mean by that? Well the greatest freedom ever wrought was formed and delivered to us from Calvary.
It is on the tree that Jesus set us free from the laws of sin and death. Gethsemane, Calvary, the cross, the resurrection, this is the path. There has to be a willingness to take up our crosses and die. I do not believe it is every forced upon us. Well I remember the day in 1995, four years after I came to Jesus, that I cried out to my heavenly Father” whatever it takes Lord for me to be useful to you.” One of those prayers that you know that you know that was heard before the throne.
The next 20 years there was one trial after another. The kind of trials that make you fall to your knees. Over and over again. Yet, I began to discover deep truths in these trials. After so many of them it occurred to me how faithful God was to me in the midst of them. How He was always there. How disappointed I was by my lack of total trust in Him as I walked through them. How I was determined in my spirit to walk through the next one, which I knew was coming, with more faith and trust in the faithfulness of God. I discovered that this journey was a journey not about my own faith but about discovering just how faithful the Lord was to me. It was all about His faithfulness!! And the light bulb began to come on. I was “learning.” And my own faith was strengthened in the midst of it all.
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Posted by appolus on May 1, 2020
As I was walking today and praying, the Lord laid spoke to me “batten down the hatches.” Usually when you hear that phrase it is a warning to do just that, but the Spirit of the Lord was showing me something altogether different. It was particularly directed to men. I have watched a lot of National Geographic programs, especially on disasters, like plane crashes and so on. The last series that I watched was about disasters at sea. I watched the whole season. Each show was about a particular sinking. As you watch the whole season you see one reason for sinking coming up time and time again. In a storm, the hatches were not battened down properly. Often a water tight door was not shut correctly. So in huge storms, the water comes over the deck and instead of just washing of as it is designed to, if a hatch is open the water pours in there. Millions of gallons of sea water pouring through and it often led to the boat becoming unstable and then sinking.
There is something in all of us, especially men, that instinctively knows how to batten down the hatches of our hearts when we face our own disasters in life. When assaulted from every side we retreat into ourselves and close the doors and the hatches behind us. It is a survival instinct. Yet what would happen on a ship if we did indeed batten down the hatches and close all the air tight doors. Initially it would save us. Yet, when the storm was over, if we kept the doors closed and never reopened the hatches, then the air inside, the atmosphere would begin to become stale, maybe even toxic. We would not be able to got out on the deck and feel the wind on our faces. Stuck inside we would not be able to see the ocean or the sky above or the brilliant night stars that illuminate the heavens.
In Britain, where I was born, it may be called the stiff upper lip. In other places the word stoic may be used. Yet in both cases the missing ingredient would be feelings and the ability to be intimate. The man or the woman who has closed down, who has battened down the hatches of his or her soul, breathes stale toxic air. They cannot feel the magnificent wind of the Spirit on their faces. They may long to breath pure fresh air, but that would involve opening up. And tragically for many, they keep the hatches battened down and they have tightly sealed their heart.
An open heart is the answer to the storms. It defies common sense, it is not natural. It is supernatural. To remain open, open-hearted, when all around you is in chaos and you are surrounded by trouble on every side is supernatural. When we have learned to rely upon Jesus and not upon ourselves then our hearts can remain open because He elevates us above the storms, above the waves. In this higher place above the waves, there is no need to shut everything up. Have you ever noticed the saint who while going through some great trial, is actually ministering to others? You go round to comfort them and they end up comforting you. This is the power of God in the saint above the waves whose eyes are fixed on Jesus. Opening up to Jesus means to open up the windows of your soul and the door of your heart. The only thing that comes flooding in is His love and grace and mercy and power. And this flood does not sink you, it elevates you.
Are you in a dark place saint? Are you tempted to close down? In 2Cor 4:6 we see that God has “commanded the light to shine out of darkness.” It is the light of heaven and it is the knowledge and the glory of God reflected in the face of Jesus our Lord. Look into His face in your darkness and you will see the glory of God and in this knowing, the darkness is dispelled. This light is the treasure of heaven and He has seen fit to fill our broken vessels with it. No vessel filled with the glory of God can ever sink. You will not sink and you will not founder. Lift up your eyes today and look into the face of our Lord and He will bid you come.
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Posted by appolus on April 27, 2020
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Brothers and sisters, when I look up to the cross I see humility. I see my Lord humbled and naked for the whole world to see. Nothing hidden. When I look up to the cross I see justice. I see sin condemned. O brothers and sisters when I look up to the cross I see mercy. Mercy for me. I do not see my own condemnation, I see my Jesus condemned and rejected by the world, willingly taking my place. There is therefore, now no condemnation, because He took my condemnation, to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
O what a glorious freedom. Free indeed. Free indeed to stand and fight. To battle even unto death, with my fellow freed men. I pray today that those whom the Son has set free will catch a glimpse of who they are in Christ. Royal priests in a royal priesthood. Children of the living God. Loved and redeemed and reconciled and called to walk in the beauty of holiness. That the world may know that Jesus was sent by the Father. That the world may see something of the glory of God which was given to Jesus and which He has given to us. Rise up and shine today saints of God, rise up and shine, for you are loved so much. How much? Look up to the cross!!!!
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Posted by appolus on April 17, 2020
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
There was a famous group of warriors from the Highlands of Scotland. The “Highland Charge,” was one of the most effective field combat strategies in the arsenal of the Scottish army. Imagine facing hundreds of large screaming Highlanders coming at you at full tilt screaming their lungs out and swinging broad swords that measured six feet. Many armies who faced this charge simply broke ranks and fled. These front-line warriors always took great casualties but they were abandoned to the battle and they died with honor. Are you abandoned to the battle that you have been called to? Is the fear of life or death, success or failure, your standing in the community or rejection holding you back from serving the Lord with all of your heart.
The Spirit that was in David compelled him to not only challenge Goliath, but to run to the battle. The Hebrew children said to that wicked old king that their God would save them from the fire. Now, how many in Christendom would say amen to that? Yet, what is not often quoted in many circles is what they said after that which is truly a statement of faith “But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up.” (Dan 3:18) You see, whether they lived or died, they would glorify their God. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” (Job 13:15) Job is saying that even although he has lost everything and even if God would kill him, still he would trust his God. Paul says “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”(Php 1:21)
Can we say that brothers and sisters? Can we truly say that this is our chief end? Whether we live or whether we die we will glorify God? There is a Scripture often quoted by many in Christendom and it is this “By the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony,” and this is how we overcome the evil one. Yet the full Scripture 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.”(Rev 12:11) Brothers and sisters, this is the mark of the genuine saint, not that they are delivered from every situation but that they glorify God despite their circumstances, even in matters of life and death. This is normal Christianity. This is a witness to the world.
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Posted by appolus on April 16, 2020
Every now and again there are scales that fall from my eyes and I catch a glimpse of how the Lord sees me. For the most part this is shrouded by flesh and insecurity and the noise of this world. If the heavens were a scroll and the darkness of the night was a veil and the stars in the heavens mere pinpricks of light from behind, then this light that pierces through is my glimpse. For a moment I see what lies beyond the darkness of space, not beyond it, behind it.
What lies behind the darkness? A light so bright that it renders our own sun to a mere flickering candle. In Rev 6 we are told that the stars of heaven fall to earth, what beautiful language. This happens when the heavens are rolled up like a scroll. Take away the veil of darkness and the pinpricks, the stars, they fall away for the light that is revealed behind the darkness is all consuming. Every mountain and every Island is moved. All men, rich and poor, free and slave try to hide in rocks and caves and cry out that the very mountains would fall upon them and hide them. Hide them from what? From the face of God Himslelf who sits upon the throne. The fabric of space is removed like the mere curtain that it is, and the Word tells us that suddenly all men can see the face of God.
So what is my glimpse? How does the Lord see me? I can see that the Lord loves me just as I am. And just as suddenly as it came, it vanishes. I am left with the lingering warmth of what lies behind the fabric. A cloud of witnesses indeed who dwell beyond the veil, who dwell in the majesty of impenetrable light. Yet the light penetrates the darkness, penetrates the flesh, penetrates the noise. When all the world is silent then I can hear the choirs of heaven. They reverberate in my soul and they penetrate my spirit and I am left with a longing.
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Posted by appolus on April 13, 2020
Psalm 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.
As the deer panteth for the waterbrooks so my soul longeth after thee oh Lord. It cries out in a dry and thirsty land. Revive me oh Lord. Feed my soul that hungers after heavens food, refresh my spirit that longs for waters that flow from heavens throne. I have tasted this food, I have drank of this water. I am ruined for all of life’s food and all other waters are foul tasting to my spirit. Lord Jesus, you are beautiful beyond description, to marvelous indeed for words. The moments I have spent in your sanctuary rob me of all of my words and render them all perfectly meaningless. I feel heavenly words running through me, it’s in my very essence.
When I am in your presence you penetrate my very DNA. I know that I cannot dwell there for I would that I would never leave that place. And so that I can go on living I must only dwell there for a moment, but oh what a glorious moment. It is these moments that help strengthen me to endure all things for I know that there will come a day when it will not just be moments anymore. Eternity will stretch out its arms and usher me in and there will be the eternal moment, the eternal now, the eternal Lord my God. And it makes me tremble all the more when I realize that this place of eternity, this uninterrupted unadulterated presence of the living God has not even entered into the hearts of man.
No eye has seen nor ear heard nor spirit experienced the full measure of our God. It is above and beyond human description or even imagination. I come to the end of myself and it thrills my soul to know that at the very end of everything that ever was, everything that has ever been or ever will be experienced by man is the very beginning of you. My soul’s journey into eternity renders all mere trials momentary and light, I shall count them all as rubbish for the goal that is set before me. to be found in you. Oh the glorious wonder of a world that cannot be imagined.
You tell me oh Lord that it has not even entered into the hearts of man what you have prepared for us and I compare that with the moments I have spent in your presence and based on this alone my mind is staggered to a point that I cannot even comprehend the beginning of what you have said. Today brothers and sisters, God is ready to be encountered by the man or woman who has readied themselves, who has a desperate thirst for Him, who would draw near to Him. Do you hunger and thirst after the Glory of God? This great treasure is found by those who diligently seek Him, pray today to God to give you such a hunger and a thirst.
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Posted by appolus on April 10, 2020
The darkest moment in history can be found in Matt 27:45-46. We are told that from the sixth hour to the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. Jesus was not unaffected by this. In fact towards the very end of this supernatural darkness, when hell seemed to rule over the earth and all seemed lost as our precious Lord and Saviour is dying on the Cross, from the very depths of His soul, and oh the depths there was He cries “My God , My God, why has thou forsaken me.” Ponder that just for a moment…………Hell seems to be victorious. All seems lost. Every saint I believe will go through something of that in their lives at some point. And every saint that is called to be the generation that is alive at the coming of Jesus will experience the gross darkness of hell and seeming defeat.
In Exodus 10:21 we are told that the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. Imagine that brothers and sisters, a darkness that can be felt. A darkness that touches you to the depths of your very soul, so much so that it can be “felt.” Imagine living through that. Yet in the very depths of such a darkness we read in verse 23 that they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. So dark that they could not see one another, for three days, symbolic of the three hours of gross darkness on the cross, yet, praise the Lord God in heaven the children of Israel had “light in their dwellings.”
Jesus is the light in our darkness. We are His dwelling place and His light in us is the light to the world in the midst of gross darkness. We hold this light, we hold this treasure in broken vessels. He was broken for us on the cross so that we may have light in the darkness. Before that scene is over He cries out in Luke 23:46 Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now brothers and sisters we are told that He cried this out with a loud voice. With a loud voice and a cry from the same depths of His soul he commits everything to His Father.
Have you ever cried out to God from the depths of your soul? I believe every genuine saint has and will. When we are surrounded by gross darkness, even a darkness that can be felt then the light that shines from the depths of our dwelling, this tent in which we dwell, shall be seen by a lost and dying world which is literally drowning in darkness. We hold out hope to them for we ourselves have been plucked from the ravages of such gross darkness. The key to our lives and the delivery from such darkness is to shout out loud to our Father in heaven that we commit our hearts and our minds and our souls and our very spirit to Him. And from the midst of that commitment, light penetrates and overcomes the darkness.
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Posted by appolus on April 1, 2020
Heb 9:3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place.
For anyone who has experienced the presence of God everything else will inevitably fall short. In many ways it is a double edged sword. It’s not good enough to stand outside the door, it’s not good enough to remain in the courtyard, one must enter in. And the only way to enter in is to pass through the altar, the brazen alter. What will we bring as a sacrifice? How will we humble ourselves? What state are we in? Are we able to look at ourselves?
The only way we can humble ourselves is to be like David. When the prophet identified David as the man who was guilty, he was broken and contrite. He knew that against God alone he had sinned, it started there. He may have committed adultery and murder but his real crime was against God. And so the sin has first to be identified and after that it must be recognized and then it must cause a realization in the depths of our heart that we have fallen from grace.
If the Galatians had fallen from grace in that they sought to complete the work that was begun by the Spirit by the works of the flesh, then are we not today fallen from grace if Christ is no longer the preeminent one in our lives and in our gatherings? How would those who had went down a wrong road find themselves once again on the right road? They would have to repent, do a 180 and go back to the fork in the road. Could the Lord ever justify continuing down the wrong road? This is not only true in our personal life, but also in our corporate settings.
The Holy place is the Holy place. God is God and He never changes. He must be worshiped in Spirit and in truth. In truth, not just in Spirit, but in truth. Outside of truth there is no Spirit. Without truth there can only be religion, that is true personally and corporately. Oh foolish Christendom. Where is Jesus Christ our Lord? Can you complete that which was begun in the Spirit when you walk in the flesh? Can routine and liturgy and programs, the traditions of men complete you? Would you not exchange all of that for just one moment in His presence? One moment behind the curtain? Today is the day to turn away from whatever keeps us from entering in to His presence. No golden calf is worth the price of standing outside in the courtyard and not behind the veil in the Holy place before His throne.
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A Call To The Remnant 