It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (Lam 3:22-24)
Notice this verse from Lamentations 3. It is a very grave chapter where the afflicted is overcome with fears and is surrounded by troubles. Yet right here in the middle of the chapter we see our great hope. Indeed the Lord’s compassions never fail, His mercies are new every morning and great is His faithfulness. We have hope because He is our Lord. There is a tryranny of yesterday and fear for tomorrow and they are chains which are designed to drag us down. Oftentimes the older we get the heavier the chains are because many are our yesterdays and fewer are our tomorrows. Yet, praise the Lord the antidote to these fears and these tyrannies is the now. We serve God today and we are assured that His mercies are new every morning. It is the enemy that reminds us of our yesterdays, it is the enemy that sows fears in our heart for tomorrow. And why? He want to rob you of today. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not guaranteed. All we truly have is now.
I want to encourage the saints today. Live and walk in the Lord today and forget yesterday and care not for the morrow for Christ is in you today. Today is the day of our salvation. If the enemy has stolen from you yesterday, do not allow him to take tomorrow as well. Awake each day and give glory to God. Our circumstances may not change but we will. Arise with the sun tomorrow morning and know that the Lord Himself directs the tides, makes the moon to rise and the sun to set. He holds it all in His hand and remember this more than anything, He holds you in His hand. You are His servant for His purposes and you are called to rise every day and seek the Lord and serve the Lord. In this is peace and from the peace springs joy and that joy, the joy of the Lord is our strength for a brand new day.
Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. (Psa 102:13)
I am rich in the mercies of Jesus
My wealth is measured by love
I have a fortune in grace and mercy
And my treasure is in the one from above
Righteousness adorns my temple
And forgiveness hangs on the walls
The floors are covered by holiness
And Gods justice fills the halls
All of these treasures are priceless
And in these shall I place my trust
I’ll stand on the one who gave them to me
And all else is but ashes and dust
Born into the world children of men
Born into the kingdom sons and daughters
One in Christ and Him alone
This is what the Word has taught us
The glory revealed that we should be one
United in Christ this race we should run
Standing together and never apart
Hand in hand into the Father’s heart
United in Spirit intent on one purpose
Wrapped in His arms He will surely encompass
His Body, His children who stand as one
Who will fight the fight until the fight is done
Stand together and be of one mind
Embrace one another be loving and kind
Believing together one heart and one soul
Rising as one, the Body is whole
Behold how good and how pleasant it is
For His children to dwell together
To come as one, worship and adore
Blessings and life forevermore
Can you see I’m coming with my glory in the sky?
Put division aside and to your flesh die
For by one Spirit you were called into love
To glorify and honor your Father above
As long as I know I am loved
I can still go on living
I can rest my head tonight
Because I am forgiven
As long as I know You are there
I can walk in the dark of the night
I can lay down in the valley
For in the dark you have given me sight
As long as I know I am Yours
Then joy still dwells deep within
I can smile where others cannot
For I am delivered from the curse of sin
As long as I know You today
I can mourn with another’s loss
I can open my heart and pour out my love
Because of what you did on the cross
Now this ” knowing,” is not in my head
Nor is learned or given to me
To know Him is when two become one
And that one is surely set free
Free to plunge the depths of His love
And to scale the heights of His glory above
Free to know the comforts of His rod
Free to know the fullness of God
Free to swim in a perpetual sea
A never-ending ocean of love
Free to fly in an endless sky
For I was given the wings of a dove
An eternity to search the unsearchable
Forever to know the unknowable
What seems to the world the narrow way
Is the entrance to eternity which starts today
Yesterday today and forever
Is the Kingdom of God in my heart
It all began when two became one
Now every day is a brand new start
Will you search out the glories of Christ today?
To be known is to truly know
When you walk in the shadow of Christ your King
Wherever He goes you surely shall go.
As I walked this morning, the song that was on my heart was ” I Am holing on to you.” The line from the chorus is ” I am hold0f0ing onto you, in the middle of the storm, I am holding on to you.” It is a beautiful sentiment and one I have felt deeply so many times in my life. Many times, I have hung onto Jesus with everything that was in me. As I continued to walk, I realised that just as many times I had no strength to even hang on. I felt the Spirit say to me ” just add an ” is,” to the chorus. Now the line reads ” I Am is holding on to you, in the middle of the storm, I Am’s holding on to you.” Maybe today you need to be reminded that when you have no strength to carry on, He will carry you.
Many saints I know ” pray,” as though they are not talking to God. They lecture Him, they teach Him, they use prayer to teach others, they do all these things but the one thing they are not doing is talking to God, at best they are talking to themselves. If you do not believe that you are talking to God, then you are not. Your own unbelief has become your ceiling.
Prayer is something that most of us struggle with at one time or another. There is a direct correlation between your walk with the Lord and your prayer life. There can be seasons of dryness, seasons of drought, seasons of abundance, there can be deep dark winters from which we may think we shall not emerge from, all of this is common to every saint.
Many saints I know ” pray,” as though they are not talking to God. They lecture Him, they teach Him, they use prayer to teach others, they do all these things but the one thing they are not doing is talking to God, at best they are talking to themselves. If you do not believe that you are talking to God, then you are not. Your own unbelief has become your ceiling.
We see here in the Scripture that every man shall bear his own burden. This seems to contradict verse 2 of that same chapter where we are exhorted to ” bear you one another’s burdens.” Now we know that in this world we shall have trials and testings and so on. No one walks this earth untouched by its brokenness and sin. Some , it seems, have easier lives than others, some seem to have trials beyond measure, yet the one thing that is sure is that we all have burdens of one degree or another. Certainly we are called to love one another and to reach out to those who are going through trials. We are to love and support them in any way that we can or that we are led. Yet as we all know, there are certain things in our lives that we simply have to endure, to bear, they are uniquely our burdens and no one can help us but the Lord.
How we deal with such burdens, whatever they are, certainly determines how we walk this earth. And how we deal with such burdens also determines how heavy the burden is. Two different people can have a very similar burden. To one it is such a heavy load that it pulls them down, to the other it encourages them to go deeper into the Father’s heart and they become stronger and the burden becomes lighter. In the previous chapter of Galatians we are reminded of what the fruits of the Spirit are. Can I assure you that how we react to our burdens will be measured by the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Now the fruits of the Spirit are these…..love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. As you carry your burden are you loving? Do you have joy? What about peace? Are you patient with others? Would people consider you gentle and good? Do you trust the Lord? When you are provoked by others, do you respond in kind or do you exercise self-control? You see, our burdens are our teachers. Are you teachable? Our burdens shape us, do you allow yourself to be shaped?
When the sculptor starts he starts with a large heavy block of stone. Each blow from the chisel not only shapes the stone, it also lightens it. If the stone could resist the sculptor and refuse to be shaped, it would remain merely a shapeless heavy block of stone. Do you resist the hammer’s blow? Have you been reacting correctly to the burden that you have been called to carry? Does it seem to you unbearable and heavy? Can I encourage you today to go deeper into the Father’s heart today? You know this burden is something that is not going to go away. It has to be dealt with and no one on this earth can help you with it. Jesus says “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Mat 11:28-30)
You see brothers and sisters, the burden is not removed but it can be made lighter. It is made lighter in Him. And as we come closer to Jesus, the very thing that could destroy us if allowed, begins to shape us and teach us and produce fruit in us. I grow up in a city, I could not tell you one tree from another, but I know what an apple looks like. The fruit identifies the tree to those who do not know. What fruit do you bear this day as you bear your burden? How heavy is your burden? The weight is determined by our proximity to God. Can I encourage you to today, draw closer to God and you will produce much fruit and your burden shall be light.
Forgive us Lord in this land for our willful disobedience to your word. We are not ignorant in this land, we are rebellious. We ask for spiritual awakening yet we have no desire to do justice. We ask for mercy yet we show none. We cry to the heavens and complain about the flood of evil, yet we do not repent that we ourselves unlocked the flood gates for our own wicked gain. We cry out to you for unity of thought while we remain behind the walls that we ourselves built for our own glory. Lord, tear down the walls that your people have erected to separate themselves from each other and build a name for themselves.
Lord forgive our pride that deafens us to the cries of the laborer in the field. Can it be Lord that you would hear us when we refuse to hear them? We jealously guard this land that you made available. We reject the tired, the poor, the huddled masses, we the oppressed have become the oppressors and it causes us no shame. You say to us ” I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, you afflict the just, you take a bribe and you turn aside the poor in the gate from their right,” and Lord we do it all with pride and are justified in our own sight, forgive us Lord and heal our land.
Society is changing at a rapid pace as many are aware. The goal posts of ” normal,” are constantly being moved in a never ending downward spiral. The old analogy of putting a frog in hot water and it will jump out, but put a frog in cold water and gradually heat it up and it will stay and die no longer really applies. The pace of spiritual demise has become frantic in the last few years. The enemy knows that time is short and that the Lord is coming back and so the heat is being turned up around the world in order to make way for the lawless one. And so, it is very clear now that ” normal,” depends upon the tone of the culture and Christendom at large is doing nothing to slow down the rapid downward cycle of society, quite the opposite in fact. The salt has lost its saltiness and the light, if it exists at all, is hidden. Much of the Evangelical world is simply a reflection of the world at large as it caters to the needs of it’s worldly adherents.
Modern day Christianity has lost its way, has lost its focus. The central truths upon which we have stood for two thousand years has been lost in a fog of noise and distraction and in the rise of humanism and the flesh. Never before, in the history of the Western world have we seen such an indulgent , entitlement-minded people. And since a great majority of the Christendom is just like the world, then we see an indulgent, entitlement-minded church.These people have produced preachers and teachers that will tell them what they want to hear. It is often hard to tell the difference between a motivational speaker and a preacher. Instead of teaching and preaching based upon the central truths of Christianity, there is preaching and teaching on how to get the most out of life. They teach that God would never call you to something that you do not like. Can you imagine your kids telling you that they are not going to do their chores that you have set for them because it does not bring them pleasure? Would you indulge your kids in this behavior? Or would you take the time to explain to them about building character, about sacrifice and about servant-hood? Are these three elements some of the things that are missing from the church? It’s strange that Christendom would condemn the “If it feels good, do it,” generation yet at the same time teach this from their own pulpits.
The short post below is my reply to a sister in Christ who asked ” What does absolute surrender look like?” I thought it worthy of a post since it is such a great question……bro Frank
I believe absolute surrender comes at genuine salvation. It is a hearts attitude that says to God ” I give you my life, my whole life, holding nothing back.” I then believe that sanctification is a process whereby God takes what has been freely given to Him. We are not now our own, we have been bought by a price, the blood of Jesus. The more we give to God, the more we live out that surrender actually. The more we empty ourselves of the things of this world and the flesh, the more the world will see Jesus. We must decrease and He must increase. Yet, the work is all the Lord’s and He gets all the glory. He does this work for his will and good pleasure. He heals, He restores He replaces the things that the locusts have devoured, He refines. He, through the Holy Spirit sanctifies, we surrender. So, ultimately surrender is a response to God. How we respond determines how we live and how we glorify God, which is our chief end in this life.
God is never to be trifled with. We must indeed fear God in this context. He is not my buddy nor my pal although He has called me friend. This should only make us reverence Him all the more. He is high and lifted up. He is majestic and glorious and all of heaven bows down to Him and cries ” Holy.” Indeed we have been allowed to boldly approach the throne, but not glibly. We do not skip into His presence although we can run into our high tower. We must bring to Him the sacrifice of praise. He is my savior and He is high and lifted up. He is my personal Lord and still the train of His robe fills the Temple. He comes to me in sweet and glorious fellowship and yet He holds the whole universe in the palm of His hand, the same hand that holds mine. It is a glorious mystery how one so vast as He, knows and cares for one so small as me.
Hi guys, as anyone who has read the material on this site, you will know that I typically avoid politics or the issues of the day, because typically they are a symptom of a larger disease. In order to become whole, one must treat the disease, not the symptoms. When we arrive at the heart of the matter, this is where Jesus does His work, everything else is usually nothing more than getting ” caught up in the weeds.” It is important that we have eyes to truly see. The general reaction to the release of the young American soldier is a good example of a symptom of a disease. It is a deep malady and has a central cause which exhibits itself in anger and hatred and mistrust, bitterness and fear and loathing. I want to suggest that none of these things are the fruit of the Spirit of God working in our lives, they are the fruit of another spirit that wars against our souls in an effort to pull us away from God and render us powerless and without light in an ever darkening society. We Christians are the salt and the light of the world. If our light is covered and we have lost our saltiness, what good are we for the cause of the Kingdom and to a desperate and dying world?
I recently wrote about this very spirit, based on Luke 9:51 where the disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven and destroy, and presumably kill everyone in a Samaritan village because they had insulted and rejected Jesus. Jesus rebukes His disciples , much like He rebuked Peter when Peter told Jesus he would not be crucified. Jesus says to the Disciples that this anger in them, this reaction was not of the Holy Spirit in fact they did not realize ” what spirit you are of.” I would like to share a word of caution to my brothers and sisters. Do not get caught up in these situations and throw your lot in with those who are given over to a spirit that is not of God. In this particular case there is more than likely major negotiations going on with the Karzai government , the Taliban and America about America leaving. This young man is undoubtedly just a bit player, a smoke screen to cover the release of those high-ranking Taliban members.
The war in Afghanistan is coming to an end and I say praise the Lord. The day that the last young American leaves that terrible debacle will be a fine day. And if the Taliban turn on the government there, then that is their own problem, it is not worth the life or limbs of any young American. When America went to war with Afghanistan , I do not know anyone who believed anything other than that the sole purpose of going there was to punish and dethrone the Taliban for aiding Bin Laden and of course trying to capture him. No one I knew believed that America was going there to ” re-build,” that country over a period of decades, or that trillions of $$$ and countless lives, blood and treasure, would be spent on trying to create a democracy. If the American public would have been told that up front, I believe there would have been little to no support for going there.
Most of us and I would include myself in this, first instinct is to draw the sword, and when it is a seemingly ” virtuous,” thing to do, the sword comes out all the quicker. This is of the world, it flows not from the Spirit of God, but from the spirit of man. What spirit shall we be of? Shall we mind the things of God or shall we be found to mind the things of men? Jesus identifies this spirit with Satan himself. Let us walk in the Holy Spirit. This gives us the freedom not to render evil for evil. In this Spirit we can love our enemies and do good to them that would spitefully use us. The spirit of the flesh says ” strike back, lash out, get justice for yourself, destroy your enemies.” The Spirit of God say ” Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” What spirit shall you walk in? We get the choice. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.
Tis a foolish task to urge the blind to see, let first his eyes be open by a greater one than he.
We can operate in our own strength and talents and the world can mistake it for anointing and blessing. At the very same time we can be moving ever further away from the Lord by the arm of our own strength yet still appearing spiritual to men. Those who do this have to glean what is going on in the realm of the Kingdom by listening to other men who are simply following the Spirit. So, we can be followers of men or followers of God but we cannot be both.
And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. (Luk 9:51-56)
What spirit were the disciples displaying in their zeal for the Lord? Is it not true that zealous men are often proud men? You see here we see what many today would have regarded as a virtue but in fact was a sensual earthly wisdom that led directly against the Spirit of God. Do you wish to call fire down upon your modern-day enemies? Homosexuals? Abortionists? Muslims? Do you incite others to do the same? What spirit are you of? Are you a son of God and a peace-maker? I have heard men who will endlessly recount gory details of martyrs. Now, what spirit is that of? Does it stir up within the hearer a Godliness and a love for their enemies? Perhaps the teller of such stories would say that he was only trying to wake people up from their slumbers? This is why I love the story of Algerius , the martyr from 1557. I have told that story countless times and never once gave the actual gory details of his three years of torture, enough to know that he was burned to death in the end. What spirit would I raise up in men and women by recounting the horrors of his years of torture?
No, just like the story of Stephen, the focus of the story is not the individual blows and what was happening to the flesh, the focus of the story is the visions each men were having, the encounter they were having with the living God thus proving the word that He would never leave us nor forsake us and that when the enemy comes in like a flood that He would raise up a standard within us. This is glorifying to God. Religious men always focus on the flesh, it is entirely their focus when recounting stories. And why? Because they are of the flesh, this is what spirit they are of. Flesh cannot discern spirit and indeed wars against it. Some men raise the spirits of others to look up to the glories of God, other men feed the fears and the paranoia and disgusts of the flesh and this in turn breeds mistrust and hatred. Religious men abound today and have found fertile ground in cultures that are in steep decline. Beware brothers and sisters, do not get caught up in this spirit. The Spirit of God encourages us to love more, especially those who are most un-loveable and yet in their sin. The spirit of man encourages fear and hatred and mistrust and all the while disguises it as a virtue and a service to God. What spirit are you of ?
As I walk each morning I am always on the lookout for deer. It is a heavily forested area I walk through and so it can be difficult to see anything. Of course you could walk at dusk or dawn and increase your chance of seeing them, but you just never know. I was walking the other day and looking into the foliage and suddenly realized that I was looking right at the deer and she was looking right back at me. It was as if just one second before she was invisible but then she just appeared before my very eyes and I wondered how I did not see her before. The whole time my grandson was visiting me a few weeks ago, I was desperate for him to see a deer. I took him at the right time and the right places but we never saw one.
I thought about the manifest presence of God. I thought about seeking God. I thought about the wind and how we never know where it will blow next. It seems to me this is the way with God. If I only walked every now and again, or gave up walking because I never saw deer, it is likely that I would never see the deer. Yet, because I walk every day and seek every day, all of a sudden, there is the deer right there, looking at me. As it is with the deer, so it is with God. He is looking for those who will search diligently for Him, in fact the word says He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And the reward? To come into His presence. To ” know,” that He knows you, that He sees you, that He is watching over you. May our souls long after Him today and every day and if they do, all of a sudden, there He is.
A Call To The Remnant 