Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Posted by appolus on October 4, 2020
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
The Lord’s Holiness is seen in men and woman who have encountered the Living God. This radical conversion is seen in their walk. They are a living testimony of the power of God to change lives. The man who has never encountered God cannot be Holy. He can be self-righteous, he can be religious, he can be sanctimonious and legalistic, but he can never be holy.
The man who has genuinely encountered God always keeps his eyes upon Jesus. Others may flatter him but he never takes those words to heart because he has stood in the shadow of majesty. He has had the impenetrable light of Christ penetrate every part of who he is. He knows that outside of God he is undone. The foundation of his life will be love, for he himself has been swallowed up by love. The religious man can reproduce many things in this world for a time but he cannot replicate genuine love. He can seem to many to be upstanding, as were the Pharisees, yet God has considered the inside of the cup. This outward appearance is everything to the religious man because ultimately he fears man more than he fears God. His greatest fears are what others think of him, its what motivates him in all that he does. He is an actor and full of guile, yet, God has considered the inside of the cup because he looks upon the heart.
The child of God is not conformed by the thoughts nor the expectations of men. He is not moved by the tyranny of expectations no matter how good those expectations are. He is conformed to the image of God which is the Lord Jesus. He loves because he himself has been and is loved. He is merciful because he was and is the recipient of mercy. He forgives because he himself has been forgiven. He has joy because he has been ushered into the very presence of God. This joy is his strength. This love is his strength, this mercy is his strength, the forgiveness he finds is his strength. His greatest strength is his love for His Lord. And he knows that even this he only has because he himself was first loved. And this love is the singular motivation for all that he does. Out of genuine love flows obedience. It is the motivation of the child of God. He has called us to holiness and the path to holiness is paved by a loving obedience and a desire to be like the object of our grand obsession, Jesus.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Christendom, Christianity, daily devotions, devotional | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 29, 2020
There is an ocean of pain within her heart
Each chamber filled up to the brim
Full up with tears from all of the years
And in them she perpetually swims
The walls of her heart stands strong as a dam
Mighty bulwarks that hold back the pain
Yet the waters are dangerously close to the top
And dark clouds always threaten to rain
As He lay on the cross His hands were pierced
So to the dam which began to crumble
A life-time of pain and a lake full of tears
Washed away with a frightening rumble
Like Jericho itself the walls came down
And the river flowed again in her heart
He took her to Himself and she was born anew
Eternally and forever set apart
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christian poetry, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, spiritual poetry, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 23, 2020
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ(2Co 10:5)
Its a terrible thing to be held captive by our own thoughts. How exhausting it can be when we allow them to consume us and overwhelm us. They can begin to eat away at us. They can even rob us of sleep and leave us tired and weary. I thank the Lord that He freed us and gave us the ability to take every thought into captivity and focus on Him. If a specific situation or trial has taken your mind captive today, know that there is a way of escape, you are no longer slaves to the flesh but bond-servants, willing servants to the Lord of power.
If you have been set free by the Lord then you are free indeed. You now have the power to take those thoughts captive, they must bow to the Spirit of God in you. By an act of your will, take your eyes off of that situation today and turn them to Jesus and draw close to Him and peace will flood your soul. Remember, if the Word tells us to take our thoughts captive, it is because it is possible in Him. There has been a conquest of your heart and mind and soul and in this Jesus is the conqueror. To the conqueror belongs the spoils. Your thoughts are for Him. He is a jealous God. He will have the reward of His suifferings.
Surrender any situation that drives your thoughts from the Lord. Let it die upon the cross. You take up that cross and let the Lord do the rest. You lift your eyes to Jesus and let Him do the rest. You raise your hands in worship and by the power of the Spirit He will do the rest. Your circumstances may not change but you will in the very midst of them. In one scenario you are a prisoner to your thoughts in the other you have taken them captive and you are victorious. Today is the day of victory. Let the Lord be high and lifted up in your heart and soul and mind, let HIm be preeminent in all things, including your thoughts and you will walk in peace and victory.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 22, 2020
Oh Adam wont you weep for your children in despair
And Eve how can you sleep when theirs hatred everywhere
We have lost our way and know not how we can forgive
For only in the light of love can this world truly live
Hatred and bitterness, this land is in despair
There’s something in the atmosphere, there’s something in the air
Stop just for a moment, and see whats all around
You’re sinking in the miry clay you need some higher ground.
In the name of Jesus I call on you this day
The ruler of the darkness says there’s no time left to play
He is coming in his fury, he is coming for mankind
The dark horse it is riding with the pale horse right behind
We shall either love each other, greet each other with a kiss
Or we shall meet upon the battle-field, on the edge of the abyss
Inflamed with indignant righteousness and blind to one another
If we refuse to love then it is brother against brother
Will you wrap yourself in glory, in impenetrable light
Or shall you march against each other into the darkest night
The red horse it is riding and the white horse right behind
War and conquest, ravenous, shall swallow up mankind.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, spiritual poetry, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 21, 2020
For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. (2 Cor 4: 15-16)
Lord I pray that my heart would be forever fixed upon the horizon of thankfulness. I can see how love and joy and peace and contentment and life are all attached to a heart that is fixed and focused upon thankfulness to God. When we take our eyes off of this horizon, when we deviate to the left or to the right from this perspective then the floodgates crack open and into the fields of our hearts bitter waters waters begin to seep. Discontentment begins to rise, roots of bitterness begin to break through the surface.
All this begins to happen when our horizon changes, when thankfulness and gratefulness are no longer our dominant state of mind. We all know folks whose hearts have been flooded with bitterness. They have no peace. They have no joy. They are quick to anger. They cannot appreciate anything they have, they are consumed with the things that they do not have, the things that they have missed out on or lost in life.
And they begin to die, spiritually. The bitterness that seeped into the innermost fields of their hearts begin to seep up to the surface. What was once hidden away in the heart begins to manifest itself on the outside. Family are the first to suffer, then co-workers and friends. They do not see someone who is filled with the love of God and the light of His life, but someone who is embittered and filled with darkness. Unless their eyes are drawn back again to the horizon of thankfulness then there can be no hope. Those afflicted with this malady, this disease, lets call it what it is, this sin, will wander in the wilderness and they will die there.
The antidote to all of this is a life of thankfulness and a heart that always leans towards being grateful in every situation. Give thanks to God in all things. No matter the darkness of your surroundings, you give thanks to God. As a saint you have the greatest gifts of all, you have the treasures of heaven, you have eternal life in glory bought for you at a terrible cost. We could live a thousand lives and never be able to repay the cost of the cross.
Run to thankfulness when you are hard pressed on every side. Run to thankfulness when you have been crushed by circumstances. Focus on the light when darkness presses in all around you. With your dying breath give thanks to God. This decision of the heart, this deliberate act of the will, is the power of God in your life. This is enduriing. This is overcoming. This is the fire. This is your sanctification, this is your narrow path that leads to life. Find it, walk in it and keep your eyes fixed upon its horizon.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 17, 2020
The paradoxical realms of the Kingdom utterly confound the creatures of this world. They see a crucifixion and they see defeat. They see someone carry a cross and they turn away. They see hard and brutal circumstances and they shudder. What they do not see is a refining fire in the midst of those circumstances. They do not see the lively stones being shaped, they only see and hear the blow of the hammer on the chisel that cuts deep the stone being shaped.
They are taken up with the pain, being oblivious to the clay being pounded and crushed and formed on the Potters wheel. A sculptors block of stone, a forgers raw material, a pile of ashes, that is all they ever see. They cannot foresee the magnificent statue, they cannot envision the sword, they cannot behold the beauty. A two dimensional world full of people with two dimensional minds with eyes that can only see in black and white.
The Kingdom of God is multidimensional and is festooned in blazing technicolor. We saints are called to walk in this Kingdom and see His hand in everything. See the genesis of His creative power actually creating us in real time. Saint, you are being shaped as you read this. You are His work of art in progress, for His will and for His good pleasure. The child of this world was created in his mothers womb, fashioned and shaped and perfected until the time of his birth.
The saint is being shaped and perfected in the depths of the Fathers heart. A raging furnace of love and mercy and forgiveness and brokenness and a thousand other flaming coals, all contained within grace. You may not always understand saint, but today, remind yourself that you are being shaped BY the hand of the Master and He will complete that which He has begUn in you. You are a work in progress, a work of art unfolding by the hand of God Himself.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 16, 2020
Five years ago, boy how time flies, my sister who was only 52, died. She died on Aug 29th but was not buried for over two weeks, so this week five years ago, she was buried. It was a terrible loss for me personally and for our family. Elaine had an aneurysm at the age of 39. To say the next 13 years was a hell would be no understatement. We often overuse the phrase “we would not wish this upon our worse enemies,’ but in Elaine’s case this was all too true. Yet near the end of her time she came to know Jesus in a quite remarkable way. I still have the old recording on my answerphone the night she called me up to tell me she just gave her life to Jesus. And then again the next day to affirm what she had did the night before.
“Frank, I need you to call me tomorrow, for I gave my life to the Lord. I have forgiven Joe (her ex husband whom she despised) I have asked Jesus to be with me and help me though these days. I am so sorry for all these sins I have committed and I said Lord I need your help, I cannot do it without you. I need you to make me a new person. I just keep crying out to Jesus. I know He is with me. I am fully committed to Him. I want to be healed and become a new person.” The next day she left this message on my phone……..
“Frank, it’s Elaine, I know the Lord is with me. I got up this morning and saw a lovely part of a rainbow (prior to Elaine getting saved, the blinds were literally shut 24 hours a day, she could not stand the light) and it was surrounded by thundery gray skies. The Lord said He would help me every step of the way and I look forward to see what He is going to do.” All of this was said through tears and sobbing. All of this after decades of Elaine hearing the Gospel from my mother, myself and others and she was very stubbornly resistant to it. None of us knew at that time she had less than two years to live, in fact two days after this she had another brain bleed, 13 years after the first one. The Lord’s timing is so impeccable. Thank you Jesus. I wrote this poem below the day that she died and the next one a few months after that.
A poem for my sister
When my heart is overwhelmed
And grief comes flooding in
I lift my eyes to higher ground
Where there is no pain or sin
Yet deep within my heart
Amidst the savage waves
There is a calm repose
That’s with me all my days
I lift my eyes amidst this storm
That’s raging all around
He lifts me up above the waves
To stand on higher ground
And in the light of glory
That pierces every night
I catch a glimpse of majesty
And what a glorious sight
I see my sister dancing there
Amidst the saintly throng
Hands raised in heavenly splendor
And singing a heavenly song
The night has passed, the dawn has broke
There’s no tears to be found
For those who’ve left this world behind
For heavens higher ground.
I wrote this next poem based on the last thing my sister said on this earth. She was lying on her death bed and holding my mum’s hand. She called her mam. She was unconscious but awoke for a moment and said ” mam,” and then slipped away as my mom held her hand. This is quite a Scottish poem so my fellow Scots will probably understand it better. (Whiskey was the name of our cat growing up and chip was our wee dog)
Mam
Take my hand mam
It’s time for me to leave
Why so sad mam
I see those tears upon your sleeve
Don’t cry for me mam
This life has not been good to me
Yet in just a moment’s time
I’ll finally be free
I remember ally bally
And sitting on your knee
I remember Whiteside’s flowers
And being late for tea
I remember summers long ago
And swimming in the dam
Fires on Kilgreggan’s beach
But most of all my mam
I remember daddy kissing you
Me jumping on his back
I remember wee chip standing there
And whiskey getting whacked
I was young them mam, you know
I could never guess what lay ahead of me
Just as well, don’t you think mam
That the future’s something we cannot see
I lie here now I see your face
My hand in yours a warm embrace
He’s coming now, the Lord for me
And with Him forever I will be
Goodbye mam it’s time to go
I loved you always, this you know
Take my hand and lay it down
For I’ve exchanged it for a crown
Close your eyes and think of me
Tighter mam, now can you see?
I’m beautiful, He’s made me whole
He’s replaced everything the locusts stole
Mam, we’ll meet again one day
When you come to the end of the narrow way
And together we’ll dance and praise and sing
The glories of our risen King.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 16, 2020
Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.Isa 26:20
When the indignation of the Lord comes, when the Lord steps down and the judgement begins, then we shall enter into our chambers. The children of Israel in the Passover not only had to have the blood of the lamb over the lintels of their doors, they had to be inside their chambers. This word chambers is from the Greek word cheder which means innermost. In the time of our troubles we must enter into the innermost chambers of the Lord. We must be found in the Holy place, the place of holiness. The Lord our God is a shelter to His children, He is a strong tower that protects us from our enemies. We shall abide in His tabernacle and trust in the cover of His wings. The name of our Lord is our strong tower, the righteous run into it and they are safe (Prov 18:10)
This is a call to come out of the world and enter into your high tower, enter into your chambers, the innermost depths of His heart. Come away from everything of the world, everything that is not of Him and in this place you shall be safe. Do not be found with the world for you shall be judged with them. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.(Psa 27:5) This high-tower, our high-tower, is the Lord Jesus, He is the Rock upon which we stand, He is the tabernacle in which we fellowship.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.(Col 3:2-3) In order to stand in the evil day, in order to endure and overcome until the end we must be hid in the Lord Jesus. The seat of our affections, everything that we hold dear must be in Jesus and Jesus alone. If you set your mind on the things of the world, if there has been no clear separation from the things of the world then when the world is shaken and everything begins to spin out of control you will be tossed around like a wave upon the sea driven by the cultural winds. Only those whose sails are fully unfurled will be able to be controlled, not by the cultural winds but by the wind of the Holy Spirit who charts a course into the depths of the Father’s heart where we will be safe.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 14, 2020
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.(Joh 14:6)
There are many earth shattering moments when Jesus spoke. Moments and words that changed everything. This scripture is among the most profound truth ever written. This is why in the end of end days it will become the most infamous of all Scriptures. This will be banned and become illegal to share in our life time. It will be deemed as hate speech and once that occurs, almost all of what Jesus spoke will be considered detrimental to the spiritual health of the population at large. His words will then be cherry picked and the rest will simply not be spoken of.
Let us affirm this truth. Jesus is the only way to heaven and every other road leads directly to hell, whether that be the Islamic road or the Judaic road or the Hindu road or the Buddhist road. The only way to God is through His son Jesus. He is the way. And in the depths of that meaning we are shown that it is not good enough to say that you are His or that you believe in Him, there must be fruits of your salvation. We will know a saint by the way that he or she walks. In the days of the inquisitions, many saints were identified for persecution because it was said of then that they lived “exemplary,” lives.
This is the way of Christ. We live and we strive to live as He did and taught. The truth is the word of God. It is not open for debate among saints, starting with the above Scripture. Jesus is the Truth and Jesus is the word made flesh and we stand upon it, even with our very lives. It burns at the center of our souls, it is a fire in our bones and flames upon our lips. The truth spoken in love scorches a Godless earth. To the ungodly it is a fire that must be extinguished.
Finally He is the life and no man truly follows Him without having His life in Him. His life in us is joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. It is peace when all around us is turmoil. It is joy even in the depths of despair. It is love when we should hate. It is self control and meekness. It is a giving of ourselves and a crucified life. In all of this we are long suffering and the very least those around us will say is that we are good people. And so saint even in these ever darkening days let us stand upon the fundamental truth of our Lord and never waver even as the inevitable assaults come flooding in. He is true and let all men be liars.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 11, 2020
He is the still small voice. His presence has weight, it’s the weight of His glory. The atmosphere of the earth is dominated by gravity, it holds all things down, yet this law does not apply to the Kingdom, it has its own gravity, its own weight. It is like the fabric of space. It appears to be just empty space between the planets and the stars, but it is not. It has substance and the planet weighs down the fabric of space it rests upon and this causes the light to bend.
The weight of the presence of God causes us to bend. Not only bend in our spirits but also causes the head to bow down. With fabric of His glory all around, the head bows low and hands are lifted by a rising tide of His glory. The seen being affected by the unseen and in that space, in that atmosphere we are stilled. And in that stillness, in the throes of His glory, we are completely surrendered to it. We find perfect peace and a realm where there are no impossibilities. All things are possible here. A place of pure joy awash with a river of tears. The manifest presence of God.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 11, 2020
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
What a great tragedy that all men sinned and had fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus our Lord is the glory of God. When men fall short of God’s glory they fall short of Jesus. He is our prophet, our priest and our King. The prophets had longed to see the day that the Messiah walked the earth, and now, here He was. Yet He had come not to bring righteousness to men through the law, but by grace through faith. The unmerited favor of God would be extended to all men, the Jew and the Gentile. All had fallen short of the glory that was manifested in Christ the King. Yet now all the world would be extended this righteousness of God by faith. Trust in God and believe in Him and you shall be saved. Saved from sin, saved from death, saved from darkness saved from eternal darkness.
And now we who know Him, do not fall short of His glory. We stand amazed in it. We revel in it. We children of the living God are one with the Father and the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:(Joh 17:22) We are one in Him and we have beheld His glory. We no longer fall short of it, we are immersed in it. This is our destiny, that the world will see Christ in us, that they will see His glory from afar, and be drawn to it so that they too may behold His glory and not fall short of it. If He be lifted up by sanctified saints baptized by fire, then they that are drawn to Him shall also be engulfed in the fire of His glory.
God has no pleasure in those who draw back from the glory. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.(Heb 10:38) The saints of God ever want to please their Father in heaven. God’s overcoming saints are not those who draw back. They are those who with boldness enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ our Lord. By a new and living way we draw near, through the veil, into the presence of our High priest; with true hearts and holding fast the full assurance of our faith. Men who profess His name may draw back and fall short of His glory, but we saints shall draw near and stand amazed in the glory. And the world will know that Jesus and all His glory was sent from heaven as the manifest expression of God’s great love.
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Posted by appolus on September 7, 2020
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith, what an incredible word. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Think about that for a moment. Things hoped for has no substance in this material world. Yet it forms the foundation upon which we stand. It exists in a realm we cannot see. Yet in the depths of our heart and the heights of our spirit we know it to be true. By this understanding we know that the Word of God Himself framed this world and every star in the night sky. The things that are seen was not made by what can be seen. It is only by faith that this can be known.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Think about that for a moment. It is a totally otherworldly statement. In this material world in which we dwell, evidence consists entirely of things seen. Yet in the Kingdom of God and the hearts of men, the evidence of things unseen is the entire basis for our existence. We believe in the unseen world. We believe in the unseen God. We believe in the unseen heaven and we also believe in an unseen hell.
This knowing that has been given to us, is the evidence of the things to come. The evidence of things not seen, that sentence absolutely runs counter to everything man is and knows. There in enmity between the heads of men and the hearts of the saints and never the twain can meet. There is a vast gulf between the two and it is impassable. The man who follows his head can only believe in what he can see. He will say “show me.” The man who follows the dictates of his heart and the leading of the Spirit will simply say, “I believe.”
Only by knowing God can these truths be known. It is in this realm of the knowing that we exist as saints. We walk in that realm. This is walking in the Spirit. We know what cannot be known. We know beyond the knowledge of man. There is an old song called “He lives.” The chorus goes like this…..He lives , He lives, Christ Jesus lives today He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way He lives , He lives , salvation to impart, You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.
Ask me how I know He lives. You see He lives inside of me. He walks with me as the old song says. He talks with me. Faith may be the evidence of things unseen by this world but I have saw the Lord high and lifted up. I have knelt before the throne of God and all His glory filled the temple and it filled my heart and it filled my very soul. I have sat at His feel and He has taught me. I have cried out in the night watches and He has wiped away my tears. I was dead in the valley of dry bones and He raised me up. He gave me a new heart and He breathed His very life into me.
Yes, I trust Him and my hope is in Him but my hope is not like the hope of this world. My very hope has substance even although you cannot see it. My hope is Christ Himself, the Christ that dwells within my heart. The Christ that raised me from the dead. The Christ who whispers in my ear. The Christ that conquered every fear. The Christ who showed me how to die and the Christ who taught me how to fly. He is my sunrise in the morning and He is the sunset of my life. The beginning and the end and everything in between.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 3, 2020
We know the Bible is true not by long painful reasoning, but by a flash of inspiration from the throne and from the Holy Ghost that brings the flash. The big problem is not whether the Bible is true. The big problem is whether it is true in you. It is not whether the Bible is true, but it is whether these things are true in you and me. (Tozer)
Do you see what my brother is saying? It is not the Bible being true, for of course it is , it is about whether that truth is revealed in you. Many men spend years learning apologetics. They have a tremendous head knowledge of the word, but the magnificent truth found in the Scriptures is not found in them, it has left their own hearts untouched. Their heads may be inflated, but their hearts remain hard.
And so the Word of God came by revelation, but the understanding of it comes by inspiration. It is not an art,neither is it a science, its the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and its proof comes by way of a changed life. Never once since I was born again by the power of God have I doubted the word of God. The same revolution that took place in my life took place in my mind and in my spirit. I knew all at once that it was all true. My journey through the Word has been led and guided by the great teacher, the Holy Spirit. I, a peasant, have sat at the feet of the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Men boast about having gone to Harvard or Yale or Cambridge or Oxford, they are mere illiterate fools in comparison to the students led and taught by the Holy Spirit.
So let me ask you brothers and sisters, are you a living epistle read by men? Can the world look at you and see the Word of God manifested and demonstrated in all its glory? You see, the word of God changes and enlarges the heart not the head. Those taught the Word by the Holy Spirit are known by their love for one another. They are priests in a royal priesthood. They are better than scribes, they are better than scholars, they are children of the living God. Renewed, regenerated, being sanctified having been justified.
You see brothers and sisters, I will know how much you actually know of the Word of God by how much your life demonstrates the life of Christ in you. You can know about the word and you may even be able to quote chapter and verse, so can the Pharisee. It is not knowing about the Word, it is about knowing the Word. This intimacy with the Spirit of God is revelation and inspiration. You can know about the Word without being intimate with God, but no one can know anything of the Word without the inspiration that comes by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
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 22, 2020
Shame is the shadow that follows us. A dark specter from our past, a half life of an incident or multiple incidents all seemingly running together as one. It speaks to you and pretends to be something of a friend, something that promises to keep the secret, it warns you to keep the secret. It demands that you stay in the shadows, in the hiding places. It draws you into a melancholy world, a place of shadows and quicksand, a world that keeps you in the darkness.
Then there is the light, the light of Christ, and with that light comes transparency and vulnerability, the deadliest enemies of the ever burning embers of fear and shame. Living waters poured upon burning coals. Light that floods the darkness and illuminates every dark part of what helped to form us, or deform us. The light of Christ shone into the deepest recesses of our souls and dispels the darkness and renews us.
We are renewed, brand new creatures in Christ. The mud and the muck falls from us as He lifts us up from the bottom of the bottomless pit and sets our feet down on level ground. No longer to stumble around in the dimness that passed for light, but to stand steady in the light of Christ. Grave clothes removed after rising from the dead and walking out of the darkness at His call. Can you hear Him calling us to come forth?
The stone of sin and shame that kept us captive in the grave is rolled away and the light of God penetrates deep into the darkness and delivers us. Only in Him, only in Jesus. He came to set the captives free. He came to set at liberty the crushed and the bruised and the broken. He came to take them out of the darkness into His marvelous light that they may recover their sight.
For so many, the bars of their cell, the closed door, does not represent confinement but containment. In Jesus we are neither confined nor contained, we are set free. But it is one thing to cross the river Jordan, it quite another thing to possess the promised land. The high walls of Jericho have to come down if we are to progress deeper and deeper into the promises of God. Coming to Jesus is not the end of the journey, its the beginning. The cell door being opened is the beginning. What a tragedy it would be if the cell door was opened yet we never walked on through the door, rather we felt safer within the confines and constraints of what we knew.
It would also be a tragedy if, after being delivered from Egypt, the Israelites continually wandered in the desert, too afraid to cross over into and possess the promised land because “there are giants in there.” Giants have to be engaged and defeated by the power of God if we are to take full possession of what He has for us. Walls have to come down if we are to continue the journey. What are your giants? What great walls are keeping you from taking possession of what God has for you?
In the Lord, by obedience and trust and action, we are more than conquerors. In Him we conquer fear. In Him we conquer shame. In Jesus the walls will come down. By the power of His love and the Holy Spirit death has lost its victory and the grave has lost its sting and His perfect love casts out all fear. We overcome because He overcame. We endure because He endured the cross. We are a victorious people because Jesus was victorious over hell and sin and the grave. He arose that we might arise. Arise in new birth to a new dawn that we might sing the glories of our risen Saviour. Arise today in the power of His might and slay those giants. It is your calling.
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Posted by appolus on August 21, 2020
There is an old hymn that goes something like this “Lord dont move the mountain just give me strength to climb.” I love that . I truly love that. So often in our beds of ease our cry would be “Lord remove the mountain.” Yet when He gives us the strength to climb we are at the same time plummeting the depths of His love, the depths of His glory, the depths of who He is. The narrow road that we find ourselves on requires from us things we could never do. It constantly takes us to the end of ourselves. And at the end of ourselves is where Jesus really begins to do a deep work in our lives.
Along the way we come to mountain ranges that are impassable. “Lord, help me get over. Lord if you dont help me my journey stops here.” And He says to us “put one foot in front of the other and I will take you over.” Further along the way we come to a raging river and we realize that it is impossible to get over. The Lord says to us “just put one foot in the river and I will take you over.’
One impossible mountain at a time. One raging river at a time. An ocean to cross and deep valleys to traverse and every step of the way we understand more and more about our limitations. Our self confidence diminishes. In fact everything about self diminishes. We understand that without Jesus we could do nothing. Without the Spirit of the Living God we could do nothing. He picks us up, He wipes our tears, He strengthens us when we are weak. He gives us hope when all seems bleak. He leads the way when I am lost, He lifts my eyes up to the cross. He fills me when I am depleted, He gives me vision to see Him seated, High above and on His throne and tells me that I’m not alone.
And when I near the end of this journey, so much of my flesh has been stripped away. Any confidence that I may once have had in myself is long since gone. Somehow I have decreased and He has increased. Every high mountain and wide river, every trial, every temptation, every persecution has drawn me closer to the one that I love. I have an ever deepening knowledge and assurance of His faithfulness. So Lord my God, carry me over the mountains, take me across the sea, that I would draw ever closer unto thee. Until only ever before my eyes is your presence and your glory and the realm of the impossible made possible. Do not remove my mountains Lord, just give me strength to climb.
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Posted by appolus on August 19, 2020
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
This verse is one of the high water marks of our walk with the Lord. Paul says that he had “learned,” to be content no matter what situation he found himself in. This learning did not come from his studies at the feet of human teachers. This learning came from having experienced everything that life had to throw at him, or better stated, everything that he had to suffer for the cause of Christ.
Whether it was being hungry or without proper clothing, having a lot of money or having no money at all, Paul had learned. Whether he was popular or whether he was rejected, he had learned. When he was shipwrecked and adrift in the sea, he had learned. Whether he had the skin torn from his back or stoned to within an inch of his life, he had learned. Whether he was a free man in this world or whether he found himself at the bottom of a dungeon, he had learned.
What had he learned? What had a multitude of afflictions taught him? He has learned that His Lord and Savior was always with him and always took him through. When you can look back at your own life and see what the Lord has brought you through, how He walked with you through a multitude of trials and afflictions you can see that He always took you through, through the fires and through the floods of life.
Look back and see where He has brought you from. See what He has delivered you from. See how He has provided for you. Looking back is very rarely healthy, yet when we think back to how the Lord has delivered us time and time again it builds our faith. It strengthens our tomorrows when we can look back at our yesterdays and see what the Lord has brought us through and how far He has taken us. We lean not so much about our own faith, we learn and appreciate the faithfulness of God. As we learn how faithful the Lord is, it actually grows our faith. All good things flow from God, including our faith, all the glory belongs to Him.
If we have come to the place that we can rejoice when our teachers are the bread of afflictions and the waters of adversity then we can say with Paul that we have learned to be content in every situation. Bread and water is the diet of prisoners, it is designed to barely keep them alive. Yet our life comes not from bread alone but from every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. A word from God is life to us. Water is the most basic need of man, but we drink from the eternal wells of living water that flow from heaven above.
Therefore, even in chains and in the most dire of situations we can rejoice. We will always have bread from heaven and the living waters of life to revive our soul. Therefore we can rejoice in the Lord our God just like Paul and Silas in the dungeon. Paul could be content in every situation because he had learned, by actual experience, that God was with him in every situation. Dear saint, He is with you, and in this we rest.
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Posted by appolus on August 18, 2020
Jer29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
This is a very well known verse, and like many well know verses it is, for the most part, quoted without context. In Jer 29 Israel is in a very dark place, a place of judgement and captivity. It is in this context that the Lord assures His people. While all around us may be falling to pieces, while the hand of God may be moving against those who are far from Him and have turned away from Him, God assures His people. There is the danger that God’s own people will think He has turned on them, but here the Lord assures them that quite the opposite is true.
The judgement upon Israel was not for her destruction, it was for her correction. God chastens those that He loves and it is for the purpose of turning His people back to Him so that they shall call upon Him. Maybe today you find your own life is in something of a turmoil? Perhaps you face trials on every side and conflicts at every turn? You wonder does God really love you. You wonder what God really thinks about you. You are plagued with doubts. Seek the Lord and keep seeking His face with all of your heart. He shall be found by those who diligently seek Him. His presence shall be your reward. Your captivity to thoughts and doubts and fears shall be loosed.
In these times of darkness, in these days when Christendom is falling away and judgement has begun at the house of the Lord, it is critical that we seek Him with our whole hearts. Let the darkness draw you closer to the Light. Let the fear and uncertainty that is all around you draw you closer to the peace and contentment that is only found in Jesus. Seek Him with all of your heart and be found in Him. As the storm rages all around you and seems to grow more intense, let your gaze upon Him grow more intense. Situations and circumstances will do everything they can to draw you away and avert your gaze, do not look away. Endure, overcome, stand brothers and sisters and know that His thoughts about you are more than the sands of the sea. And His plans for you are to hold you and keep you in the midst of the madness. In the Lord their is hope and in Him we have our future. He is our exceedingly great reward.
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Posted by appolus on August 12, 2020
Tozer writes “The church that can’t worship must be entertained. And men who can’t lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment.” I would argue that all across Christendom in the west we are seeing leaders who lead the people by providing entertainment. And if it is not entertainment, then it is some form of nationalism/politics.
Today we are being driven by the form and not the substance. Jesus is the substance. Jesus is the primary object. Jesus is the preeminent one. Without Him high and lifted up, front and center, without His presence in our midst we only have a form. A religious structure built by human hands to house our own desires. We have abandoned the real Jesus and constructed another Jesus. This other Jesus serves us. He serves our needs and desires, he entertains us through his creators. This other Jesus has never carried a cross nor does he require his followers to carry one either.
This cultural Jesus is a mere reflection of his adherents. He never judges, he never corrects. He has no particular requirements. He is a genie in a bottle even although they vigorously rub and he never appears. He does not walk with them, they walk alone. He does not talk to them, they merely engage their own imaginations. He lies to them through the prism of their souls. They hear him say peace and prosperity. He is a reflection of the better part of their natures and they do not realize that the better part of their natures is like filthy rags to the true and living God.
If these people ever actually encountered the true and the living Christ He would devastate them and upturn their lives. Everything they know or thought they knew would come crashing down. A God who judges? Hear the screams. A God who calls them to enter into His sufferings? Hear the wails. A God who requires their whole lives, their whole hearts, their whole allegiances? They writhe in agony. The flesh that refuses to die is enmity to God. He bids that flesh to voluntarily pick up its cross, the means of its own death. It shall surrender or it will rage against the author of the cross.
The narrow path never deviates as it winds its way home. It is fraught with danger. It slowly strips away all of the baggage that we took with us for our journey. It tears away at the flesh and passes through refining fires and floods. It often winds it way through hot and arid deserts. The narrow path has many exits and every exist is a path of least resistance. As soon as one steps onto it one can hear the haunting intoxicating sound of the siren call as it draws that one away from the narrow path.
For those who stay the course and stay on the narrow path, every so often, always suddenly, the Lord comes to us. He reminds us that we are His, He encourages us. He bids us look down and see that the path itself is the Word of God and that the path lights up and directs us in the way that we should go. We are instructed to turn neither to the left nor to the right. The Lord embraces us in His love and His kindness.
He heals our wounds, He tenderly touches our weary hearts. He feeds the deepest parts of us and sustains us for the journey. He restores the brokenhearted and gives strength to the weary. He gives us hope when there seems to be no hope. He gives us joy when there is nothing at all to be joyful about. He gives us a garment of praise and takes away a heavy spirit. He bids us to lift up our eyes and see the celestial city, from where our help comes from. Stay the course brothers and sisters. Stand fast in the time of our vexation. Our Lord is coming soon and our journey will be at an end.
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A Call To The Remnant 