I think we need to redefine the word “blessed,” in the Christian world. The scriptural word means to “be fortunate,” “to be well off.” Now this has long been associated with material things. Yet as always, context matters, it gives meaning to the words that we use. Consider the most famous of all uses of this word, when Jesus uses it in the Beatitudes. The context gives us the meaning. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger, blessed are those who thirst. Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart and the peacemakers. Blessed are the righteous who are persecuted. Blessed are the reviled. Given who Jesus says are blessed, do you still want to be blessed?
If it means “drawing closer to God,” then to be blessed is to walk the narrow path that leads through the valley. To shine like the morning sun in the midnight hour is to testify of God’s blessing upon your life. To look upon material gain as a measure of God’s blessing is to find ourselves in the same ranks as Job’s friends. That’s not to say the Lord cannot bless us materially for His own purposes, it’s just to say that it carries no particular anointing. Consider the words of Peter when he says “silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give to thee.” Peter gave to the cripple out of the abundance of what he had. There are very few today who could say the same as Peter, perhaps that is just one of the reasons we see so little of the miraculous.
How long have we associated the word blessed with some kind of material increase? How far we have fallen from believing we are blessed when we are hungry, thirsty, hated and reviled. What blessings fell upon Paul and Silas in the midnight hour having been hated and tortured and imprisoned for His name sake. See the blessings pour forth from heaven and shake the earth. How blessed was brother Stephen as the cruel stones rained down upon his mortal body and the heavens themselves parted and he was caught up in his heavenly vision. Where are the men and woman of today who count it all blessing and all joy when they fall into various trials, knowing just how much the testing of their faith produces. It produces glory to God as they stand upon their faith and become a living testimony to the power of their heavenly Father.
The grace that I've found is not exhausted It rises still like the incoming tide And my heart is flooded to overflowing From the fountain that comes from deep inside
There is a fountain in the depths of me The Father, the Son and the Spirit three Who came to forever set me free All glory to my King.
Our fountain-head of blessing here is grace And is our strength, and strength alone to run the race For on no other hand I can rely but the hand that stretches down from up on high
I fall into His arms that are surely everlasting And to never leave this place is all I'm ever asking Even the sparrow and the swallow are found within this place My prayer is that I am found in your glorious warm embrace.
I wanted to address something. Many people have messaged me and told me how strong I am in the midst of this cancer and how they admire my faith. I do not want to give the impression that going through cancer is easy and “all you have to do is,”……….fill in the blanks. A test is a test, a trial is a trial, not because it is easy but because it is not. Jesus is the star of this story of mine. He is strong, He is faithful, He is my high tower. I run into Him. I cry out to Him, I rely upon Him for the little strength and faith I do have. It is an honor and a privilege to represent Him no matter what my circumstances are. Consider these verses from Psalm 37. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD; and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him:
In this portion of Scripture we are instructed how to walk in the power and strength of the Lord. We are to trust Him and do good. We are to delight ourselves in the Lord. We are to commit all our ways unto Him. We are also told (NKJ) to ” feed upon His faithfulness.” I left that to last because this has been my primary source of strength. I feed upon His faithfulness. It edifies my very soul and gives strength to me physically.I have been through enough trials in my life that I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that He is faithful. He has never left me nor forsaken me. It is His faithfulness I celebrate, it is His strength in me that makes this weak vessel strong. I am nothing without the Lord and would have crumbled and fallen into the sea of life a long time ago without Jesus. I feed upon the faithfulness of my heavenly Father and I am well fed. It is well with my soul because of His residency there. In and of myself I am weak, yet, His strength is only highlighted in my weakness.
In the quietness of peace and in the beauty of Holiness we should make our way through this noisy world. Like an elegant sailing ship making its way through calm waters with a beautiful fresh wind in its sails, we should walk through this world as peacemakers, drawing men and women to Jesus. We must not simply be a believer in doctrines but rather we must be a manifestation of such doctrines. Living epistles read of men. If men could read aloud the story of our hearts would it draw them to the Father? The narrative of our spirits should be like manna in the desert and water that bursts forth from rocks. In short, we should be life among death and light that pierces through the gross darkness of this world. A lighthouse that stands tall upon the Rock.
Your presence fills me with great joy And turns every shadow into light Great consolation is mine Which feeds the deepest part of me, and sustains me though the night.
Oh blessed joy is mine divine The eternal longing of my aching heart For the day when the morning star rises And then, forever, we shall never be apart
To look into the depths of who You are Even for a moment, gives life unto my weary soul The one who took the many broken pieces Before the throne and the Father made me whole
I will awaken the dawn with the praises of my King You will hear, from the ends of the earth, heavenly choirs sing Look through the door of your heart that He has knocked upon And hear the angels singing their golden heavenly song
Then shall heaven and earth be one together And we shall abide before His throne forever I in him and He in we Cast upon an eternal holy sea.
Sometimes life can be just too much and it threatens to overwhelm us and drown us beneath the waves of afflictions and trials. Many times in my own Christian walk I have fallen to my knees and cried out to my Father in heaven. And He heard me and He “knows.” And just knowing that He hears and knows begins to lift our heads above the waters. Sometimes we are called to walk upon the waters, other times He takes us in the palm of His hand and lifts us above the fray, lest we lose our very minds.
He will not let us go under. He lifts us up to higher ground. The Lord intercedes for us before the throne. The Holy Spirit strengthens us and enables us to run and not grow weary, to walk and not faint. To rise up on wings like eagles! Glorifying God and praising Him and testifying of Him gives us strength and promotes in us joy and that joy is our very strength. We have joy where there should be no joy. We have peace when all around us is in turmoil. We love even when we are hated. We stand immovable upon the Rock that is higher than us. When life makes our head hang low, then He calls us to look up. Look up into the heavens from where our help comes from.
In all of these things we have choices. We choose to worship Him, not because we somehow are trying to manipulate the Lord, but rather from a deep wellspring of love. From out of the depths of this love we cry unto God with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a mark of the saint. A heart that is full of thanksgiving is a heart that has encountered the presence of God and in that encounter peered into the depths of Calvary. And the vision that we see infuses itself into our spiritual DNA. The “knowledge,’ of Calvary informs every part of who we are. Without this “knowledge,” we can only be, at best, two dimensional. The head knowledge of Calvary can only promote the soulish elements of religion. Yet to encounter Calvary is to “know.” And it is from this “knowing,” that our hearts are primed.
There is a process of sanctification and it takes the wisdom of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to discern and navigate our way when we are dealing with others. Are they babes in Christ? Are they immature? Are they our weaker brothers?
Forgiveness should always be readily available from us, given what great forgiveness we ourselves have received. Yet oftentimes, as the flesh is being killed daily, by the cross we take up daily, we exhibit its characteristics until, slowly but surely, little by little, precept by precept, death upon death, we become more Christlike.
The process never ends, we never arrive, but the genuine saint is always making forward progress, even when he stumbles, the very stumbling becomes one more lesson to him. He hates the stumble, he agonizes over the failure. And in the agonizing, in the fire, we are being shaped and molded. The great impetus for it all is the burning love of God that blazes at the center of who we are. Our love for Jesus, our love for the Father is so great, because He first loved us, that our singular desire is to never let Him down, never disappoint Him.
When we inevitably do, the work of the cross and the love of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit comes to bear upon us and we are changed. This is the genius of His love for us, we who are mere wretched creatures outside of Jesus. This is the astonishment of principalities and powers when the gaze upon us mortals and declare “What is man that you are mindful of us, and the son of man that you visit him?” ( Psalm 8:4)
They are astonished that our Father in heaven pays us any mind at all and visits us and loves us, even while we were yet in our sin. Astonished that He would sacrifice His very own son for us. We deserved nothing but hell and yet through His love and through His grace we received forgiveness and an eternal place in the heavenlies.
How indeed can we not forgive others in the blazing light of such forgiveness? Today is the day to forgive anyone, it’s such a thing of beauty and a reflection of the very God who forgave us!
Trouble came knocking at my door And a voice inside said don't let it in I opened it And it knocked me to the floor I got backup on my feet And it knocked me down once more
Chorus Jesus pick me up so I can stand again Jesus pick me up, I so dearly need you friend You are my Lord of Lords and King of Kings The man of many sorrows If you do not pick me up today Then there will be no tomorrows
I came to a bridge over troubled waters But the bridge was swept away I went down into the waters And in the darkness I heard Him say I will be with you as you pass on through And suddenly the waters withdrew
Then I came upon a mountain high To scale it I would surely die I asked the Lord to remove this thing So that I could rejoice and praise my King No My son, ask of me to give you power To climb every mountain and to scale every tower
Bridge
I'll be with you as you pass on through I'll be with you in all that you do.
Trouble came knocking at my door And a voice inside said don't let it in I opened it And it knocked me to the floor I got backup on my feet And it knocked me down once more
Chorus Jesus pick me up so I can stand again Jesus pick me up, I so dearly need you friend You are my Lord of Lords and King of Kings The man of many sorrows If you do not pick me up today Then there will be no tomorrows
I came to a bridge over troubled waters But the bridge was swept away I went down into the waters And in the darkness I heard Him say I will be with you as you pass on through And suddenly the waters withdrew
Then I came upon a mountain high To scale it I would surely die I asked the Lord to remove this thing So that I could rejoice and praise my King No My son, ask of me to give you power To climb every mountain and to scale every tower
Bridge
I'll be with you as you pass on through I'll be with you in all that you do.
When the stroke goes down to the soul And the billows they begin to roll When the lightening fractures the sky above Shall we be found to be anchored in His glorious love?
When the ship is swamped and going under And the rain so loud and the clashing thunder Cause you to cry out and look up towards heaven Shall we stand upon God and not be so driven?
Surely goodness and mercy despite our afflictions Will follow us forever without contradiction And a table before us, a feast for a King Will cause our troubled hearts to sing
Of His majesty and glory and joy without measure As we gaze upon His righteousness, His heavenly treasure He maketh me lie down in pastures so green And beside the still waters eternally serene.
It has been a night of grief, yet a night of blessing. A night in which there may have been many things which we would wish forgotten., yet many more which we should wish to be remembered for ever. Often during its gloom, we called it “wearisome,” and said “When shall I arise and the night be gone? (Job 7:) Yet how much was there to reconcile it, rather, to fill us with praise because of it! It was then the Lord drew near, and the world was displaced and self was smitten, and our will conquered, and faith grew speedily, and hope became brighter and more eager, and the things that are unseen were felt to be real and true. (H. Bonar)
Brothers and sisters, suffering draws us close unto the Lord. The long night of illness or trial draws us closely to the fires of heaven. We see with eyes that can peer through the night and give us sight to see our heavenly Jerusalem. The fading parchments of this life become somewhat crude in the light of heavenly fires. What comfort the children of Israel must have garnered as the fire by night nestled above them in the calm assurance of His presence. The cloud by day that would shelter them from the blazing desert heat. Our songs in the night give birth to sight. Out of darkness there comes a sure knowledge that He is with us. To not just follow Him closely along the narrow pilgrim way, but rather to walk hand in hand with Him and hear Him so sweetly that our hear burns within our chest……bro Frank
I wrote this poem yesterday while I was having chemo. It was a long day but I very much sensed the presence of the Lord, in divine appointments and also a message from a dear friend who had just recorded the message in the middle of their prayer meeting in Estonia. He prayed for me and then his dear wife prayed for me and I could hear the other saints praying in the background. I was quite overcome to think how honored and how privileged I was. I was humbled, shed a few tears, then wrote this poem. You will notice that I use the word infused a couple of time 🙂
When hope gives way to presence.
When the desire comes, it's a tree of life to me. And the tree nourishes the parts you cannot see Hope deferred causes my aching heart to long And in the longing creates in me a song.
Sing my heart, sing of all His glory Create in me the desire to tell Your story. To scale the highest mountain, just to shout your name Consumed by your majesty, ignited by your flame.
Come to me, draw me to your throne To that place I know that I am truly known And the tree of life infuses me with peace And your glory, from the depths of me, released.
Beyond the falling leaf there lies the pastures green And a heavenly river infused by glorious streams. Beyond the troubled waters you have surely come to me And you take my spirit over, to that place beyond the sea.
Sorrow leaves it's mark upon the soul As the Lord shapes us and takes back what the enemy stole With an iron pen and lead in the rock, it is written The genuine work of God, His composition
He has written His word upon the heart that He has given And with many a blow, sin from our soul is driven Shall we not welcome the rod that can never miss? And with a warm embrace, direct it with a kiss
We can count the cost, then embrace the cross or lay it down and suffer the loss Remember each one is crafted by His hand And are designed so that no man can still stand It's by His Blood and sorrow they were crafted And they seal the wounds whereby we are grafted.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
This word weight is used both times in the scriptures with the context being very different obviously. It can mean abundance or burden or load. Now clearly sin is a burden to the soul, a load not easily carried. It slows us down, much like if we were attached to an anchor and had to drag it behind us. We have all felt it. Yet Heb 121:1 is compelling us, with a vision, to lay that burden down. Look up with spiritual eyes and see that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. Those who have gone before us, the angels of heaven, the Kingdom of God. See the things that are eternal. See the Lord Jesus Christ high and lifted up. When we look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith then sin loses it’s power and its hold on us.
When we look not at the things that are seen, but rather the things which are not seen then there is a power released in us. The light of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ begins to shine forth from the depths of our very beings. This treasure that dwells in the depths of our hearts pours forth like the rising of the sun after the long night. What a welcome sight for all those who dwell in darkness to see the rising sun shine forth from us, and it draws men to God. Rather than our afflictions causing us to look down and to fall into sorrow, let our light afflictions cause us to look up and to be encompassed with the eternal abundance of His glory. With eyes to see, we peer into the glories of the world to come. We are overcome with His majesty, with His glory, with His holiness, with His joy. This power truly comes to pass in the midst of our afflictions for it is then that God has commanded His light to shine forth from the darkness.
It seems to me that an old soldier’s life would be marked by the battles in which he fought. He could look back and remember the wars in which he participated. He would remember certain foxholes. He would remember the comradery with his fellow soldiers. He would certainly remember the ones he fought back to back with. In many ways he would acknowledge that he had been shaped by each battle. Little by little, precept upon precept, he would become the soldier he is. And even when his wars are all fought, he will always be a soldier. I know that the battles I have fought have shaped me. The seasons that I have walked through have molded me. I remember well the foxholes I have been in at particular times with saints, brothers and sisters, that I have loved as David loved Jonathon.
The seasons of loss, the seasons of victories, the seasons of crying out to God. There are secret times when I have despaired. Times when only the Lord would see the tears upon my pillow, many a sleepless night I have walked where it was just me, all alone, with my Lord. Yet I can say that while all of those battles and seasons have shaped and molded me, none of them has identified me. I am not the guy from the broken childhood, not the guy who lost a son, not the guy who has a special need son. Not the guy whose son went to prison, not the guy who fought for his grandson. And now, not the guy who has cancer. My sole identity is the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. No neighbor or friend would know my background, unless at certain times I could share small portions of my life to comfort them with the very same comfort I have known. Each poem I write I write is either from the battle-field or from the memories of a battle fought. They are forged in the fires of battle or spring to life from from heaven’s throne-room. I wrote this one yesterday. A soldiers poem from a present battle.
THE THORN THAT PIERCES
Shall I shrink back from the crown of thorns Shall I fall away when I’m battered and torn Shall I not rise though broken and wasted And declare heavenly treasures that I have tasted.
This earth is neither my portion nor my rest And these thorns are but my heavenly test Pierced and broken but never defeated I look to heaven where soon I’ll be seated
I cast my eyes upon dark Calvary’s hill And from the valley floor seek to go higher still Closer and closer and closer to thee Where chains are broken and from fetters set free
The night is far spent and the day is at hand And with Your help alone I will surely stand The storm may rise and the waves grow higher Yet to be where you are is my one desire
Nearness to God is the source of it all Whether we walk or run, or stumble and fall Through the storms, through the rain, the day or the night He is there upon the waters, what a glorious sight.
“How fast we learn in a day of sorrow. It is as if affliction awoke our powers and lent them new quickness of perception. We advance more in knowledge of Scripture in a single day than in years before. We learn songs in the night, though such music was unknown before. A deeper experience has taken us down into the depths of Scripture and shown us its hidden wonders.” (Horatius Bonar)
And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. (Isa 45:3)
When darkness comes knocking at our door and we come to the end of our own resources, we cry out into the night. There is a hidden treasure that awaits the saints who are overtaken by afflictions. Out of the darkness, God Himself has commanded that light would shine. It shines into the depths of our hearts and dispels all fears. Our perceptions change. Worldly things that were important yesterday, are no longer important today. Our hearts and our minds are drawn up into high and lofty places. Our brokenness allows the hidden treasures of God that lie within us to pour forth as never before. The night watches, so dreaded by men, becomes our sanctuary. A holy place where the Lord Himself gives us a song. Is there a more sweeter sound that the song that resonates in our heart in the night? The contrast of darkness only serves to illuminate the brilliance of the light of God.
Down we go, down into the depths of the Word and His truth and His promises. And as we are taken by the depths of His love, we are lifted to the heights of His glory. The precious hand of God wherein we lie, closes over us and holds us tight as the storms and the waves reach up to try and pull us down. Yet, they cannot, for nothing can pluck us from the hand of God. Every precious word of God becomes a shaft of light that pierces through the darkness. And that light warms us and envelops us and keeps us from the icy blasts of this world with all of its ravages. We become super sensitive to His presence and to His promises and to His love. We begin to actually live one day at a time just as our Lord and Master Jesus told us to. And what a glorious way to live with our eyes truly set upon Him.
As we consider the lilies of the field, as we consider the sparrows of the air, as we understand that His eye is on the sparrow and He clothes the grass of the fields with much more splendor that Solomon was ever arrayed, we understand His eye is on us. And in the knowing of this, in the depths of our heart, there arises great joy. Joy in the darkness? Joy in the affliction? Joy in the depths of infirmities? Yes, yes, yes!!! It is the joy of the Lord. And the joy of the Lord that rises up from the darkness is our strength in the night. You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psa 16:11) His presence is my song in the night. His presence is my fullness. His presence is my joy. He alone lifts me up to the mountaintops from the valley floor. In fact, they are both alike to Him for where He is, is Holy ground…..bro Frank.
Interesting story with this tree. Before it ever existed, I had a tree planted, by professionals, about six feet in front of it. It never flourished. I prayed for it as well but in the end it died. I pondered that as I removed it. Well, the very next year this tree was born. I did not plant it. It is, what they call, a volunteer. I watched it grow. I did not water it, pray for it, or do a single thing to enhance its growth. And here it is, several year later in all its splendor. The birds love it.
I think about what it means to try and produce things in our own strength, by the power of our own hands. Especially in ministry. And all the time the wind of the Holy Spirit is doing His work. Seeds come from who knows where and life begins. What God initiates, always flourishes. With men it is hit and miss but the Lord never misses, He always accomplishes what He sets out to do. This magnificent tree, it’s position in the yard, it’s incredible growth, all His work!
A Call To The Remnant 