He has bound up the brokenhearted
and set the captives free.
He came from the glories of heaven
to proclaim sweet liberty.
He opened up the prisons
and anointed His very own
He opened up a door that would
lead to His very throne
He has anointed us to preach
to the poor and to the wretched,
The forgotten and the broken
the despised and the rejected
He sees all of our afflictions
And every heart that's crushed
He rends the heavens and comes down
And every voice is hushed
And trembling hands are raised
In the presence of our King
And all of heaven praises
As the choirs of angels sing
And from this place of majesty
My heart is flooded deep
Overflowing with His glory
All I can do is weep.
And the tears they fall like rain
Watering crops of His salvation
And raises up His very own
In every generation.
He picks us up, He wipes our tears
His perfect love casts out all fears
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 my heart when I'm depleted,
He gives me vision to see Him seated.
High above and on His throne
He tells me that I'm not alone
So take me to Your highest mountains
And fill me from inexhaustible fountains
Every mountain high and every wide river
Every sin and temptation, from them deliver
Draw me into your presence sublime
Don't move the mountain, give me strength to climb
Angie and I went to Maul over 20 years ago. It really was an enchanting place. We took a helicopter ride into its deep canyons. We snorkeled in its pristine waters. We drove up to the top of Haleakala which is a dormant volcano that towers 10 thousand feet above the ocean and above the clouds. We stood in awe and watched the gigantic sun sink slowly beneath a flat calm sea just as a sailing ship sailed across its blazing hues of orange, silhouetting itself in black and white and looking like a glorious oil painting. It was easy to see why some people considered this paradise. It was easy to understand why honeymooners from all over the world flocked to this place. Yet one of the highlights of the trip was our visit to Lahaina. It was a glorious Maui night and the sun was setting and we were seated at an outdoor restaurant that was positioned on a boardwalk. As the waters quietly lapped around the piers, I thought about all the sailors over the last few hundred years who had witnessed this very sight.
And so it was with great horror that I witnessed on TV the destruction of Lahaina. It was distressing to find out that no alarm was sounded. What madness? And no water to fight the fire? The man said he did not want to confuse the people therefore he did not sound the alarm and now it is possible that over a thousand people, many of them children, may be dead. So thoroughly burned as to not even leave any DNA. Just ashes in the wind. He would not sound the alarm lest people be upset and confused. Before we rush to judge this man, is not the Church in a similar situation? Are we not assured that there is a great fire coming upon the earth? Do we not know that there is a fire that shall burn for all eternity? Do we sound the alarm? In an age of seeker friendly policies, sounding the alarm is no longer acceptable. To speak about the wages of sin being death is frowned upon. All day long we speak about the gift of God but we have ceased to speak about the wages of sin being death.
The man who refused to sound the alarm has been fired. Yet imagine having this on your conscience? Imagine you had some information or some ability to warn people, to wake them up, to cry out to them that a great fire is coming and that you must flee from the place that you are and make your way to higher ground. We have the information. We have the Word of God. We have the Holy Spirit (if indeed we do have Him) we have everything that we need to warn the people of what is to come, but most of us remain silent. And we typically call it love. Is it love? Or is it simply a lack of boldness, a lack of true and actual love for the people of the world? God knows. God help us though if we have taken our lack of power and our lack of boldness and our fears and we have wrapped them up and presented them as a virtue. It is one thing to be a coward, it is quite another to pretend to be otherwise. The Lord out God would rather we were hot or cold but this awful thing in the middle, this lukewarmness. He said He would vomit it out of His mouth.
Thus says the Lord, will you dwell with me?
In a place, in a moment, in a time that's always free
Who will ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who will stand in this holy place?
Those with clean hands and a pure heart
Shall gaze upon My face.
It is my joy to dwell with the
broken and contrite
Who have walked the darkest valleys
and have travailed all through the night
who have endured till the sun rises once again
who have suffered and who have overcome the pain.
And in this place I revive my very own
who have humbly fallen before me
who have come before my throne
Who have walked with me through fire and flood
Who loved not their own lives, who are covered by my Blood
Who knew in the depths of their heart they were never alone.
Who is this King of glory, mighty in battle?
Who bids us come into His glorious tabernacle
A place of quiet wonder, a place of majesty
A place where all the world ceases to be
A place that is vast beyond compare and deeper than the sea
A place, a place, where I am surely free
A place where He dwells with the contrite and the humble
A place where nothing ever causes us to stumble
And in the glory I am whole before His nail pierced feet
Before His throne, before His glory, weeping at His mercy seat.
Mat 14:28Β And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
Peter sees Jesus walking on the water in the midst of the great storm. Jesus says to them that are on the boat to “be of good cheer, for it is I, do not be afraid.” Just seeing Jesus put their minds at ease. Our hearts are at peace when we “know” that Jesus sees our afflictions. And yet we see Peter, caught up in the presence of God. It is not good enough that he sees him from a distance, he wants to be right where He is, no matter the circumstance, and he is taken up by the Lord’s presence. In the Lord’s presence, when we are captivated by Him, then the roar of the wind dies down. The tumultuous waves that were otherwise so terrifying, cease to present any threat in the manifest presence of God. Nature itself loses all of its power as the water loses its ability to swallow whole those who stand with Jesus.
And we see what happens when Peter takes His eyes off Jesus. Immediately the noise of his present circumstances comes roaring back and would have been deafening. The waves would rise up and reach out to take him under to his watery grave. Nature comes back into its own and Peter begins to sink. Yet Jesus. He is still there even when we have momentarily lost our focus and our faith. He will not let us drown. He is faithful even when we are not. He will catch us. He will come into our boat and suddenly the storm is completely gone. And then all who witnessed this fell down before Jesus and worshiped Him. Brothers and sisters, we are called to come to Jesus. Oftentimes we are so tempted to “batten down the hatches,” yet in many cases this just delays the inevitable sinking of the ship in the great storms of life.
We must come to Jesus and follow Him. Whether out of the boat into the teeth of the storm, or out of the storm back into the boat. Where He is there is peace whether in the eye of the storm or the stilled storm. It is all the same. He is our peace. Where He is there is glory and all things are possible. Perfect peace casts out all fear and only in Jesus can we stand, whether that is upon solid ground or on the water. Let the whole world shake. Let the mountains begin to crumble. Let the seas rise up and roar. Let the skies fall down and the stars fall from the heavens. He still rules and He still reigns. No matter what you are facing today saints, He still reigns sovereign over all that exists. Look to Jesus today. Step out of the boat. Or reach out and take His hand. Or follow Him back into the boat. Wherever He goes, let us follow Him to the ends of the earth and to the gates of eternity. He shall lead us home.
Probably the most damaging feature of Calvin’s liturgy is that he led most of the service himself from the pulpit. Christianity has not yet recovered from this. Today the pastor is the MC, and CEO of the Sunday morning service-just as the priest is the MC and the CEO of the Catholic mass. This is in stark contrast to the church meeting envisioned in Scripture. According to the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is the leader, director and CEO of the church meeting. In 1 Cor 12, Paul tells us that Christ speaks through His entire Body, not just one member. In such a meeting, His Body freely functions under His headship (direct leadership) through the working of the Holy Spirit. First Cor 14 gives us a picture of such a gathering. This kind of meeting is vital for the spiritual growth of God’s people and the full expression of His Son in the earth. ( George Barna, Frank Viola-Pagan Christianity-pg 59)
The liturgy or order of service is almost exactly the same in the vast majority of churches throughout the land, whatever denomination it is. Over the last several decades, some have flirted with allowing the Holy Spirit to move among them, but have inevitably fallen back on the order of service. To follow the instructions laid down by Scripture, almost all of the so called clergy would render themselves surplus to requirements. So the clergy have always been the keepers of the status quo. A union of hirelings who have usurped the actual workings of the Holy Spirit among the Body of Christ. I would think that the vast majority of them down through the centuries have been somewhat ignorant of the fact that there is simply no clergy in the Body of Christ, and that the Priesthood of all believers cannot function and be led by the Holy Spirit where the bondage of this system exists. We can have the clergy/laity system or we can have the Holy Spirit operate among us, but we cannot have both.
George and Frank say that this kind of meeting is vital for Spiritual growth, I would agree. How can we say that we have no need of the manna that falls from heaven, but rather we have our own means of feeding ourselves? It is delusional. Spiritual growth only comes from edification. A group can grow religiously under our present system, but they cannot grow spiritually. Stagnation, with occasional bursts of energy from fires of our own making is the best that we can expect when man is in charge of the service. The numbers attending “church,” are now in free-fall all over the world. Is this the inevitable end of a system that is collapsing under the weight of its own works? I would say yes. The church system worked in a mostly religious world. We no longer live in such a world. The paradoxical difference is that while the weight of men’s works crush people spiritually, the weight of Gods presence, His Holy presence liberates them and elevates them to high and lofty places and changes them. It exhorts them, it edifies them, it humbles them.
The Lord, in His manifest presence, always speaks to the whole. If a saint needs to be encouraged, then he is encouraged. If another needs to be humbled then he is humbled. If another needs to be lifted up from the valley floor of depression and discouragement then he will find himself flying where the eagles fly and his joy shall be complete. The sinner shall find conviction that he will have to bend to, or he will have to run into the night screaming. All of this and so much more comes when the Body operates as it is instructed to operate and where the CEO is the Lord Jesus Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus must be preeminent. We must follow the dictates of the word of God or we shall simply be taken by the tide of this world and religion and be lost at sea. I would argue that for the most part, that which calls itself Christianity is lost as sea and the only way back is a strict adherence to the revealed word of God. It would not be a revival, nor would it be a reformation. It would be a revolution!!!, where the powers that be are upturned and the Lord Jesus takes His rightful place.
Can you imagine the weight of all the sorrows
From our yesterdays and all our tomorrows
All the stripes that belonged to all of us
Would be laid upon Jesus as He bore our curse
The wounds that tore His Body apart
Belonged to us, right from the start
His humiliation as He hung naked upon the tree
Was ours, it belonged to you and to me
And the nails that pierced His holy hands
Surely belonged to us, as justice would demand
A crown of thorns battered into His head
Pierced the glory and was taken in our stead
A spear in His side and nails in His feet
Brought victory in Jesus as opposed to defeat
The victory was His and He gave it to us
When glory came down from up above.
Gal 3:1Β O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,
Are we modern day Christians really any different from our Galatians brothers and sisters of old? Paul says to the Galatians that they have fallen from Grace, those who desire to be under anything other than the Gospel that he himself had presented to them, but now he was an enemy to them for telling them the truth. This word “bewitched,” means to be “fascinated by a false presentation.” In the Galatians case it was the law they were fascinated with and men, who should have known better, who seem to be something in Christian circles from Jerusalem, had enticed them away from the truth, away from the Spirit and away from freedom. A fall from grace is a tragedy for it is by grace through faith that we are saved and not of works, including the works of the law, less we should boast and then the free gift is not free indeed but rather debt.
We have so many in our day who are “fascinated by a false presentation.” Consider the Charismatics and their prosperity gospel? How about men like Benny Hinn with a singular obsession with healings? MacArthurΒ and his denial of the sign gifts of the Spirit? Catholics and every other denomination who are fascinated by their own dogmas and decrees which are quite apart from Scriptures. One man rodeo shows in the non denominational systems who promote themselves. What is the one thing they all have in common with each other and the Galatians? “They zealously court you, but not for good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.”(Gal 4:17) Think about the horror of that statement. Men and systems of men set up to promote themselves and in doing so, exclude those who follow them from entering into the freedom that Christ brought for them. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. It is for bondage that men would have you zealous for them and their systems that elevate them. Jesus has been usurped.
Who is hindering you from following the Word? This is not from God. Who elevates themselves rather than the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. In the third epistle of John he writes to “the church,” in Asia Minor. He runs headlong into a man called Diotrephes. A man who had zeaously courted the church in that region to elevate himself. A man who loved the preeminence and just like Paul, John had become their enemy because he spoke the truth. Yet there were still men like Gaius and Demetrius. Good men. Men who followed after Jesus and who “walked in the truth.” There are good men and women today who still walk in the truth. God has His remnant. They are few and far between. And there are is a scourge of men like Diotrephes who would hinder you from walking according to the truth because when we do that, Jesus, and only Jesus is elevated.
There is an inevitable clash between God’s people and men who promote themselves. John would clash with Diotrephes if he traveled there. Paul clashed with the Christian religious men of his day, and even with Paul and Barnabas over what was right and what would cause men to fall from grace. If one were in MacArthur’s church and criticized him openly, the same fate would befall them as those who criticized Diotrephes. They would be removed from the church, with violence if need be. To criticize the Catholic church over 1500 years would cause one to be excommunicated and most likely burned at the stake. To criticize the reformers would have resulted in certain banishment and oftentimes imprisonment and burnings too. It is the mark of insecure men who have set up their own systems in direct violation of God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
And then of course there is the genuine Body of Christ to be found everywhere. Oftentimes isolated perhaps. Lonely and without a church home to call their own, but always part of the Body of Christ and the family of God. Sons and daughters scattered to the four winds but not abandoned. Faithful to the Word of God and the leading of the Spirit. Illuminated by the light of Christ and the freedom that dwells within them. At liberty to speak the truth in love despite the consequences. Seeking no office and seeking no titles. Only willing to wash the feet of their brothers and sisters and feed them spiritually. Discipling everywhere they go whether to the one or the two or the two hundred. The number is not important. I encourage you this day my brothers and sisters. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made you free and do not be entangled by the religious systems of men which causes you to become entangled by a yoke of bondage.
Walk in and according to the Spirit and men shall know you by the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, gentlesness, and self control. They shall also know you by your fierce loyalty to the Lord and to the Gospel of the Kingdom and to the Word of God. Live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and you shall avoid jealousies pride and envy. Those who sow these things shall reap everlasting life. We shall run and not grow weary, we shall walk and not faint. We shall not lose heart when we pay due attention to the condition of our heart and walk in the aforementioned fruit of the Spirit. Love the Body of Christ with a lavish and reckless love. Let us boast in nothing other than the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and the cross upon our own backs. Let us rejoice in infirmities that God may be glorified by the excess grace He pours upon us. The world has been crucified to us, it no longer courts us. We have been crucified to the world and we no longer have any taste for its pleasures. Let the peace and the mercy and grace of God fall apon the genuine saints today and let all who read this be encouraged.
A dear sister in the Lord asked this question in a private message. My answer is below.How would you answer her question?………………..
Dear brother Frank. May I ask a question from your experience, please? (I need to sort it out with myself, by Him.) Is “JOY IN AFFLICTION” (affliction by heartache which seems to me to be with me at my old age to my end here) Is the joy an ‘outflow’ of our security and contentment in THE TRUE LOVE PEACE AND PRESENCE AND INHERITANCE IN HIM. Or is it something that comes ‘naturally’ by The Spirit …an anointing of His Spirit, amidst the affliction of broken-heartedness and loss, failure in close relationships? Or is joy an action of the will? Please could you share some Wisdom or advice with me. Thank you!
The short answer sister, its all three, or a combination of the three and any of them individually depending upon the circumstances. I believe first and foremost it is founded upon our freedom to respond. We will not automatically respond with joy in afflictions and loss and failures or when our hearts have been broken. It depends who and what we have run to in the past, who we run to in the here and now. Do we tend to run to the world? Run to our brothers and sisters? Run to the pastor or folks in the church? If we do, we will suffer longer. When the Lord Jesus has been our high tower in all things and we run to Him then we shall know joy in the midst of these situations. Joy because we know that despite all of our dire circumstances, the Lord is with us in the midst of it. The Hebrew children were sustained in the fire by the the Lord Himself who was in the fire with them.
We know that the Lord suffered and we shall suffer to. We know that we have been called to suffer and those who suffer with Christ for His sake shall rule and reign with Him eternally. We know, we who are of the Spirit, something of what the Lord suffered for us on Calvary and how much God the Father suffered to see such things. And because we “know,’ such things we know that we could never suffer as our Lord suffered. This brings us peace. What joy for the disciples, almost drowned at seas, to see the Lord come walking on the water towards them. What joy Paul and Silas found in the depths of a dungeon, beaten and broken for His sake because the one they were intimate with was with them. Out of His presence rang the praises of God and down came the power and shook the whole building. And even if they did not sense His presence initially, as they began to praise Him, despite their circumstances. the presence of God flooded the darkened chamber. Oftentimes the darkened chambers of our hearts, darkened by loss and persecution, are flooded with the light of Christ and joy comes.
There is also an element of endurance and overcoming involved in those who suffer for the Lord’s sake. If joy came forth immediately or if the presence of God came down powerfully every time we suffered then we would all want to suffer. Yet it is to those who endure and overcome are all the promises given. Weeping may endure for a night or a season but “joy comes in the morning.”Will we “endure the night?” The Hebrew children were willing to go into the flames because of their love of God and were sure God would save them “but,” if He would not save their lives in the fire they were still not going to bow down to the gods of this world. It was not about deliverance, it was about the fact that even in the presence of our enemies who hate us, God prepares a table before us. Jesus prepared a place for us and gave the Holy Spirit that we might run to that place in times of need.
Every good soldier must be willing to die or to be maimed in the battle. We know this, the the Lord Jesus will not leave us dying on the battle-field. He will ride though the fire and through the flood of the enemy to take us up upon His horse and deliver us. At the very heart of the matter lies this from a blameless man whom God loved. “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord. He is our joy. He is our peace. He is our everything and though though the whole world hates us and though we suffer the loss of all things we shall never suffer the loss of Jesus and the more we know that, the more joy that we have in every situation. We learn to be content.
Morning by morning He shall awaken you
And be the stillness of your soul throughout the day
He shall touch every part of your longing heart
And the shield of your faith shall quench every fiery dart
He is in every tear that falls
And in the billowing waves He hears your calls
Deep cries out to deep at the roar of Your waterfalls
And Your waves crash over me
I am consumed by the mercies of the Lord forever
It lifts me up and carries me away
Higher, deeper ever closer unto thee
This journey possible for thou has set me free
You are my quiet peace as the sun rises in the morning
You are my calm assurance at the end of every day
You are my one delight in a world that's ever changing
And at the center of my heart Your glory is ever blazing.
In everything You are my laughter in the rain
And in troubled times my endurance through the pain
Because of You I shall never be the same
My heart cries out thee.
In the silence and in the ever increasing noise
I shall steal away into the secret place of my heart
Where I can hear Your still and beautiful small voice
And in all of this You give me the strength to rejoice
You rise up in my heart like the sun above the mountains
And fill the valley of my life with waters from Your fountains
Let my heart longeth after thee in this dry and dusty land
For even in this gross dark world I can still see You hand.
A few Friday’s ago I had a dental appointment for a cleaning at 4pm. I have not had my teeth cleaned since last November due to the fact I had my hip replaced in December. My specialist told me that from now on, every time I get my teeth cleaned, I have to take antibiotics an hour before every dental visit. So, I had a Bible study in the morning with two dear brothers, then got groceries, then picked up Daniel from his day care service. Got home about 2.30, had a coffee, put my feet up and the next thing I know I was awakened by my cell phone ringing. I looked at the time, it was 3.57. The call was from the dentist “are you close?” I was so embarrassed to tell them that I had forgotten and that I could not even rush in because I had not taken my antibiotics the hour before. The secretary seemed a wee bit put out as she rearranged my appointment. We settled on the following Wednesday at noon. For those who know me, they will know I never miss appointments , and, I am always, always early. Its kinda a thing with me.
The morning of the following Wednesday I get two calls from the dentist. One early in the morning to remind me of the visit and then another an hour before to make sure I had taken my pills. I felt a wee bit miffed that I was being treated like a child but thought that I deserved it π I was seated in the big chair and the dental hygienist came in. She put her hand on my shoulder and said “when I saw your name on the schedule, I knew that God was sending me help.” Now, she knew my name, but I was embarrassed because I did not know hers. I get my teeth cleaned every six months and this lady had done them for the last couple of years. I always talked to her about the Lord. I think for those of us who are in the habit of sharing the Lord with others as often as we get the chance, we forget conversations and names sometimes. This woman knew the Lord, I knew that. I asked her what was going on. She blurted out three things. She was having a crisis of faith. She was very angry at God and she had murder in her heart. A fourth point would be added later.
I said to her “what’s going on?” She proceeds to tell me that five months ago her 21 year old grandson died of a fentanyl overdose. For 20 minutes she and his mother tried to revive him, to no avail, he died in their arms. She was angry at God she said. She felt that she had promises from God and that He had let her down. She knew who had sold her grandson the pill and the person who had encouraged him to take it even although he had attended rehab and was doing well. She wanted to kill the drug-dealer who sold her grandson the pill. She had counted the cost of doing such a thing and was willing to pay the price. One last thing, she needed to know where her grandson was, heaven or hell. If he was in hell then she wanted to forsake heaven and go to where he was. Obviously the cleaning had to stop. I had listened to most of this with my mouth opened. I asked her to put her instruments down and I spoke to her. I spoke to her with a wisdom that I myself do not possess. The Holy Spirit of the Living God spoke to her heart. Each point was addressed. I then asked her if I could pray with her right then and there. At the end of that prayer I knew her heart had been touched and she thanked me with tears.
Now brothers and sisters. This woman only works on Mondays and Wednesday. If I had not missed my appointment. If I had not fallen asleep. If I had not forgotten to take my antibiotics, I would never have seen this dear woman. As I pondered this on the way home, I thought about a chess board and how I was but one small piece. God has a free hand to do whatever He likes with His own servant for His own will and His own good pleasure. He sees it all, we see but a snapshot. I was overwhelmed, with tears, at the privilege of it all. He has the sovereign right to do with me as He pleases. I was bought with a price. A price so vast that our minds cannot comprehend it. Even although it went against everything I am in my flesh, this missed appointment was overturned for aΒ divine appointment. He has come to set the captives free. He has come to heal the brokenhearted. He has set the steps of a righteous man. Glory be to God and may the Lord Jesus be glorified in all the earth.
Cry out you heavens and sing O mountains
For the Lord sustains you from inexhaustible fountains
He comforts His people and has mercy on the afflicted
He is never wrong and never contradicted
High above the trees in desolate heights
He warms us with His fire in the blackest of nights
And in the darkest depths of the valley below
He leads us and guides us in the ways we should go
In winters discontent when the days are dreary
He elevates His own and gives strength to the weary
Hope when no hope and joy everlasting
Clarity to confusion and deep understanding
We may well have troubles on every side
Yet are not cast down but we surely abide
In His glory, in His mercy in His very palm
The Lord our God the spotless Lamb.
Psa 51:7Β Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.Β
These are words from the man who is “after Gods own heart.” A man that the Lord loves greatly. Does He not love you brothers and sisters? Could we not pray the same prayer as David many times in our lives? Cleanse me for thy sake oh Lord and I shall be clean. Wash Lord and I shall be whiter than snow. The bones that you have broken Lord, heal them within me that I may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out my transgressions. Create in me a clean heart oh Lord and renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence oh Lord and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation. Deliver me from my guilt oh Lord for I acknowledge my transgressions, for it is against You alone oh Lord that I have sinned.
This is the heart of a broken and a contrite man. This is what the Lord loves. A man who has glimpsed into the depths of his own soul and found himself so very wanting. Yet he does not go and hide behind a tree and a fig leaf, rather he stands there, naked before the Lord, nothing hidden. While he was hidden the joy of the Lord was hidden to him. While he deceived himself the wisdom of the Holy Spirit was removed from him. The presence of the Lord had fled away and only as he emerges from behind the tree and from behind the fig leaf is David restored. Are you hiding today brother or sister? Shall you not come out from behind the tree and stand naked before the Lord? God does not require your sacrifice. He already required that of the Lord Jesus. He simply requires a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These things God will not despise. He will surely usher you back into His presence and He will restore the joy of His salvation to You. Goodness and mercy shall follow the broken and the contrite heart all the days of their lives.
There is no other Rock I know, not one
Sing oh heavens until His is work on earth is done
Break forth in rapturous praise you mountains set on high
For your peaks cry out His splendor, and His glory fills the sky
The Lord is our Redeemer and He formed us from the womb
He died upon a bloody cross and walked out from the tomb
He stretches out the heavens then He'll roll them into scrolls
This Son of God, what Majesty, this Savior of our souls.
His blessing shall pour forth like a mighty waterfall
Hands shall stretch to heaven as they hear the Masters call
We shall spring up like willows among the watercourses
We shall mount up and go forth on heavens mighty horses
Our spirits shall fly like the summer larks in the hues of the setting sun
Our hearts shall soar like the eagles when the day of the Lord has begun
He shall pour water on the thirsty and floods upon dry ground
He shall pour forth His Spirit and in His Spirit we shall be found.
2Co 2:14Β Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
Can you say, with all honesty brothers and sisters, that through you, the fragrance of Jesus is made known every where you go? By His presence in you and your presence in, say, your marriage, you “diffuse the fragrance,” of Christ? That phrase means to make manifest. Is it manifestly evident that you carry the presence of Jesus? How about at work? When you are driving? Interacting with your family? Interacting with people who do not like you? Is there still a fragrance that emanates from you? Are you like a flower? Beautiful to behold, something that others want to draw near to them and just breath you in?
Atmosphere, it is something we can control. We can control it because God has given us everything we need for He always leads us in conquest. He leads. He goes before. Shall we step back or shall we get out in front of Him? When we are wronged do we rush forward with our carnal weapons of warfare and then pat ourselves on the back because it was “self defense.” The clue is right in the words. We are defending “self,” therefore we add to the blackness of the atmosphere rather than allow the light to shine forth from our innermost being which causes the darkness to flee.Β The flesh demands to be defended and when it is the atmosphere grows darker. We must infuse into the situation the rarified air of heaven.
In one year, the average mature tree will absorb 48 pounds of carbon dioxide and in exchange release oxygen. We saints are the spiritual “trees,” in this world. We are uniquely designed to triumph over the toxic nature of humanity and the world in which we live. The one vital difference is this, what the trees do by nature and design, we must do by choice. We can exhale out both spiritual oxygen or more hellish carbon dioxide. In every single occasion it is a choice. The power resides within us. Shall we follow God? If we do then He always leads us to victory. If we follow the dictates of our own flesh then we shall find ourselves wallowing in the toxic nature of defeat.
All flesh is grass and its beauty
Is like the flowers of the field
We are here today and still we sow
Yet tomorrow what shall we yield?
The world and all who dwell therein
Shall surely fade away
Yet those who stand in Christ alone
Close to the cross they always stay
And though all things shall fade away
His Word shall remain forever
And we who remain and are yet alive
Are taken by the crimson river
This river that flows from Calvary
Is an inexhaustible fountain
It carries us across the sea
And summits every mountain
To the lofty heights of heavens glory
His people shall surely ascend
And there in the sky they shall meet their Lord
Their King, their Master, their friend
And there He dwells with the truly contrite
With the lowly, the humble, the broken
Who stood beneath that Bloody cross
And who stood upon every Word spoken
They shall run and run and not grow weary
They shall walk and shall not faint
They shall rise up with the wings of an eagle
And there shall worship without restraint.
In every stage of our lives there are seasons
And almost always we never know the reasons
We live, we love, we cherish, we lose
And the sudden losses leaves us with very little clues
We look to the sky and we wonder why
One of our loved ones they had to die
Yet for the most part there is no rhyme nor reason
There is just the changing of the season
In the hand of the Lord there lies it all
The creation of man and then the fall
Sin and rebellion and death floods in
And Eden vanishes and loss begins
There is a time to laugh and then to cry
A time to live and then to die
A time to gain and a time of loss
A time to refine away the dross
We are called to walk through fire and flood
And sometimes called to shed our blood
We are also called to laugh and sing
And fall to our knees before our King
No matter the loss there is always a reason
For the fire , the flood and the painful season
For the joy, for the laughter for the passion and pain
Know this dear saint, nothing is in vain
God finds us like the wild donkey, our nostrils wide and our eyes blazing and our ears laid back, hating the touch of leather, hating the touch and smell of people. The Holy Spirit comes, takes over, and starts, as we say on the farm, breaking the colt. After that the whole nature of the animal changes. He perks his ears up and whinnies when he sees you coming. His eyes are calm now. Lay your hand on his neck and he will lean over and nuzzle you. The Spirit of God wants to do that for you. He wants to domesticate you, humble you and make you meek. The Christian who has been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into a docile, obedient, meek, trustful person has more treasure than all the wealth of the world (A.W.Tozer)
Brother Tozer uses an analogy that most of the world would hate. I can hear the protests now (mainly because my own flesh raged against the process) “what do you mean, breaking the colt.” The truth is we are much worse that any horse or mule. We rage against the light because it brings us to heel if we indeed surrender to it. The horse is broken, yet we, unlike the horse, must first surrender to the process. And if we just had to do it once that might be ok. Yet just like everything else in the Scriptures that brings life it must be abided in. We must abide in His word daily. We must abide in the Holy Spirit daily. We must take up our cross daily. We must be filled over and over again. And so, just like that, we must surrender over and over again.
Brokenness is a process of surrenders. Stronghold by stronghold, high ground by high ground, well defended positions must fall. Jericho walls must come tumbling down and it wont be by might and it wont be by power, it will be by the Holy Spirit. We cannot cause the walls within us to fall, only Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit can do that. We cannot form the cross that we take up daily, only Jesus by the power of the Spirit can do that. Just like it is not possible to strangle yourself, we could never create crosses strong enough to break us. The flesh would not allow it That is uniquely the work of the Spirit and every step of the way must be surrendered to it. We are called into the river, not up to our ankles nor our knees nor even our waists, we must be fully immersed in the river of life. We must surrender to the current. We cannot be standing on our own two feet.
You may believe that you are walking in the depths with Jesus. Yet ask yourself this saint. Are you still standing on your own two feet? Do you think you are doing good because the water comes up to your neck? In the final analysis you will be no better off than the fella that is only ankle deep. The real changes come when you are swept away by the river, everything else is religion and vanity and ashes in the wind. We have to come to the point where we are simply not in control, we are not in charge. The River, Jesus, the Holy Spirit is. He can only take you to where He wants you to go when you are fully surrendered. And now, just like the broken horse, we fall deeply in love with our Master and long to see His coming. We nestle into His loving arms and when the storms rage all around us, we see Him and we know we are safe. Will you surrender to the river today?
Eph 5:22Β Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
This might be one of the most controversial scriptures in the NT in our day. We are at least three generations into feminism and that very feminism has permeated its way through all of society. This is usually where we flip over to “yes but the men.” Lets not do that today, it has been preached ad nauseam. So Godly wife, do you submit and honor and reverence your husband? Could they put that on your gravestone? How are are to submit to the Lord? In everything, as they old song goes “I surrender all.” Now I hear the multiple arguments rising “but my husband doesnt …….” fill in the blank. If your husband does not love you as he aught (oftentimes subjective, not talking about abuse here) does that mean you can abdicate your role as a wife? If we flip the argument around and the wife is not Godly in the husbands opinion, does that mean a husband has no responsibility to love his wife even as Christ loves the Church?
Eph 5 goes on to state categorically, and all the many abusive husbands and wives in the past cannot change this truth, that within a genuine Christian marriage the husband is the head. This is what the world calls Patriarchy. This is what the world has rejected and has assaulted from every conceivable angle. This is the plan of God, and man, or woman cannot change it. Now that this has been stated, how do husbands or wives walk out their walk within less than perfect marriages? ( which I am assuming is most) What is always the final say, to either the man or the woman? The Word of God. That is our high measuring bar. How do we live up to that? Looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. What is His will for us? What does the Holy Spirit prompt us to do and say, and by the same token what not to do and what not to say? Shall He not lead and guide us in all things even though they be less than perfect?
Now this is not an academic issue for me. I was saved 10 years after I was married and my wife is not saved. So, for over 30 years I have lived with a woman who certainly does not go for “thus sayeth the Lord.” Can I now abdicate my role as a husband and father because my wife is not saved? The standard remains the exact same for me. I have been called to love my wife as the Lord loves the Church and I have also been called to be the head of the house, I have not abdicated either role nor would I. Now, as an unsaved wife she could have chosen not to stay with me.
1Co 7:15Β But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
We have been called to peace. I have peace in my house but if my wife had been a constant undermining influence, if she rejected my position within the household, is she tore me down at every turn and hated my Christianity and began to ruin our children (a house divided) then she would not have been a wife who was choosing to stay.
1Co 7:13Β And the woman which has an husband that does not believe, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
Brothers and sisters we are called to peace. My situation is actually less complicated than many I have encountered where the spouse confesses to be a Christian but is clearly not. Now that is complicated and God bless every saint who finds themselves in that situation. Yet here is the standard. We are called to peace. Does your house have peace? Or is it in constant turmoil and Christ is being perpetually undermined day after day? We have not been called to this. I am not saying we cannot be specifically called to this, God knows. He does the calling and sometimes spouses are called to stay in situations where all others would say get out. Only God can make this call. I grew up in a household just like this and in the end my earthly father was saved. God must be our guide and the Word must be a lamp unto our feet. Let peace reign in your house.
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope makes us not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.(Rom 5:2-5)
The opening verse to this chapter reads “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. And through Him we can rejoice in hope and the glory of God. Yet we are told that we do not just glory in God, we glory in our tribulations. Imagine that, glorying in our trials and our tribulations, in our sufferings. You will not hear that preached in Charismatic circles. Like Job’s friends they would accuse a suffering saint of sin, or lack of faith. They have tried to turn faith into a weapon that destroys and nullifies suffering and trials and tribulations. Yet faith is what gives us access to grace. By trusting in God we glory in His unmerited favor. By trusting in His Son, the Lord Jesus and His work on Calvary we enter into the glory.
In order to flesh out this blessed hope, we have to learn from suffering and tribulations. We learn patience and trust which leads to hope. Therefore tribulations is the birthplace of hope. By patiently enduring our cross, we begin to see how much the flesh dominates us. As we stand there in the fire, the flesh begins to burn away. And yes, if one were to peer into your trials and tribulations they would see the Son of man standing there with you. And this hope that is forged in the fires of trial and tribulation causes us to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. We are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for we know it is the power of God unto salvation.
Those who patiently endure and overcome shall stand in that day, unashamed of our Lord, for He has walked with us, every step of the way, through the high mountain passes and in the depths of the valleys. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts for our Lord for He has been our companion through it all. He has stuck closer than a brother. He has been so faithful to us and therefore we could never deny Him. This is our strength. This is our glory, the glory of the God that dwells within us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our closest companion, the lover of our souls and the one who has never left us not forsaken us. This knowledge, lived out in our lives, is the hope and the glory.
A Call To The Remnant 