The Word of God is full of distinctions. It distinguishes between right and wrong. It distinguishes between heaven and hell. There are saints and sinners and the list goes on. There is a troubling distinction between professors and false professors. What is a false professor? Someone who claims to be a Christian but is Christian in name only. Someone who has never actually been born again but would count themselves as “believers.” In James 2:19 James says “You believe there is one God? You do well, the devils also believe and tremble.” So obviously being a “believer,” does not necessarily equate to being born again.
The word “believe,” is “pisteuo,” in the Greek. It means “to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ): – believe (-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.” Now obviously the devils do not put their trust in Christ. They believe in one God and have entirely rejected God. So you can believe in God and entirely reject Him. We need a better term than “believer,” for believers encompass many distinctions. Whitfield, for example famously accused the vast majority of the Church of England pastors as “knowing nothing of the new birth.” There was so much anger aroused by that statement that it got him banned from a majority of pulpits.
Ravenhill famously suggested that 93% of “professing Christians,” in America also knew nothing of the new birth. Tozer suggested that there were but a remnant among those who counted themselves as believers. Jesus says in Revelations ” I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” (Rev 2:9) to which Matthew Henry observes ” God is greatly dishonoured when his name is made use of to promote and patronize the interests of Satan; and he has a high resentment of this blasphemy, and will take a just revenge on those who persist in it.”
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day………..that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in you and you in Him.( 2 Thess 1:10-12) Our high calling brothers and sisters is to be a saint in whom Christ is glorified. He in us and us in Him. Let the world marvel at the manifestation of Jesus that is in His saints. In verse 11 Paul says “we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling.”
In Matt 10 :37-39 Jesus says he that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that takes not his cross, and follow after me, is not worthy of me. He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. These are the distinctions that the Lord makes. Those who love Him with their whole hearts, those who take up their crosses and follow Him and those who lose their lives for His sake, these are the ones who are His disciples. These are His saints in whom He is glorified and by whom He is glorified. That is our high calling brothers and sisters. Let us be found to glorify the Lord by our lives.
There may be real submission to the will of God while we can’t help wishing things were otherwise. God does not ask us to feel that everything is for the best, but He does ask us to believe it (Andrew Bonar)
This is a deep truth. It is learned in the deepest valleys and the sorest of trials and loss. It may be well with our souls, as the beautiful old hymn goes, but our hearts can be broken. It is in the midst of that brokenness, that pain, that loss, that we draw near to God and He draws near to us. A broken and a contrite heart O God you will not despise (Psalm 51:17) Suffering produces endurance which produces character and hope (Rom 5:3-5) Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial ( James 1:2 ) The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit ( Psalm 34:18 )
We are to be rewarded, not only for work done, but for burdens borne, and I am sure that the brightest rewards will be for those who have borne their burdens without murmuring (Andrew Bonar ) A thankful heart in the face of great trial, is the ultimate in believing our God, in trusting Him, it is the very essence of faith. It causes that old liar, the devil, to shut his mouth and his accusations against the most high God that His people only love them because of favorable circumstances. It is out of darkness, that God Himself has commanded light to shine forth. And that light is the very essence of glory and love. It is a tangible force that heals and restores and draws us very near to our Lord and our God.
In the solemn days of our times who will search His word, who will search their hearts? Shall we ignore God? Shall we desperately try to keep going and keep doing what we were doing before? If the locusts descended upon you and the whole earth shook should you not look to the heavens and cry out to God to know the error of your ways? The Lord tells us in His word that we should let our tears run down like a river day and night, that we should give ourselves no relief and no rest. We should rise up from our slumbers and cry out in the night. Do we observe any of this brothers and sisters? The Lord also told us in His word that the He has caused the appointed feasts and the Sabbaths to be forgotten, In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest.The Lord has spurned His alter and abandoned His sanctuary.
Lam 2:7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
One of our favorite portions of Scripture says “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed because His compassion fails not. They are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul therefore I hope in Him” These words were penned in the midst of great affliction. They were the hearts cry of a man drowning in darkness, crying out to the living God. In the midst of those cries he discovers mercy and faithfulness and hope. Another favorite portion of Scripture is “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (2Ch 7:14) Do you ever wonder why we never quote verse 13, the verse that comes before ” if I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people.”
You see, we don’t like that part. We like all the benefits of Calvary but we do not like the cost. What cost you say, Jesus did it all. Yes He did but He directly commands us to take up our own crosses, every day. We are told that we must lift up the Lord Jesus Christ and He alone must be preeminent in the midst of our lives and in the midst of our gathering. We are the Ekklesia, we are the called out ones. And in the midst of those called out ones who gather together, Jesus and He alone is to be lifted up. He directs His people and He does it through the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we do indeed lift up Jesus and magnify Him, then the power of God comes down and rests upon us.
What is the Lord saying in the midst of a world consumed by darkness ? Is He saying “hold on, eventually you can go back to business as usual?” Really? You really think He is saying that? If He is not saying that then what is He saying to us in the days that we find ourselves in? Literally, everything in the world that can be shaken is being shaken. If we will not ask ourselves hard questions and search our hearts then the darkness of our hearts prevail and the storms shall continue to come and batter us only with every year the intensity increases, and I am talking about the spiritual state of our world, not the climate, although the judgment that rains down upon us is total. Like a building storm in a vast ocean the waves get higher and higher.
There is mercy to be found for the broken and the contrite. We have trampled His name in the street. Shall He cut of the rain, shall He send the locust? Or shall we return to our roots, our Biblical roots, all the way back to the beginning, the old paths? We have gotten terribly off track. We have so many centuries of tradition and error upon error that we bear little or no resemblance to what we read in 1 Cor 14. The simple organic worship of the called out ones. Ones who desire to be led, wholly led, not by men, not by traditions not by liturgy or by program and deadly routine. God is speaking to us loudly and clearly. The question is, are we listening? If we would indeed humble ourselves and turn from what? Our wicked ways! Who is He talking about here? The people who call themselves by His name. You, and me. Our wicked ways brothers and sisters. We have denied and defied the Word of God in favor of our wicked ways. You cry out “how are we wicked?” Then I will tell you We hold the covenants of God in our mouths and we declare His statutes. Yes indeed, it is part of our indictment.
And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shalt glorify me. But to the wicked God says, What business do you have declaring my statutes, or speaking my covenants ? Seeing that you hate instructions and put my words behind you (Psa 50:15-17) You see brothers and sisters He is not speaking to an unbelieving wicked world, He is speaking to those who call themselves by His name (If my people who are called by my name) It is theirs/our wicked ways He is speaking to.
The Lord tells us to call upon Him in the day of trouble. Call upon Him in repentance and contriteness and brokenness. If we do this and pray and seek His face, then He will hear from heaven and forgive our sin. What sin? All of our sin but especially the sin of having demoted Jesus to some kind of mascot or figurehead and raising up the idol of the pulpit in favor of actually hearing from God. We have a million little Moses who willingly ascend that pulpit every Sunday, elevating themselves and taking the place and the role and the authority of Jesus. These men should tremble and repent and we should too for allowing such a travesty to unfold. And in that trembling and in that repentance we shall find a merciful God whose mercies are new every morning.
It is not that men are inherently weak, it’s that’s God is inherently all powerful. The strongest man that ever lived, whether in body or mind or spirit, finds his proper state before and all powerful God. He falls on his face as one who is dead. He would cry out with the prophet “I am undone. He would not have the capacity to stand in His presence. He would only see his unworthy state. It takes fire from the altar, to alter his state, to enable him to stand, to have the audacity to say “here I am, send me.”
In Isa 40:28-31 God speaks. He announces Himself as . The everlasting God. 2. Lord. 3. Creator of the ends of the earth. He never faints. He is never weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He is not powerful, He is power itself and the very source of it.It is His to give and He gives it to the weak. He is not mighty, He is might itself and from the abundance of His eternal strength, He gives to those who have no strength. Who are these recipients? Who are these weak people? They are the ones who have come to understand that apart from the Spirit of God, they can do nothing, therefore they wait.
Our understanding of our own weakness kicks down the door of our ego’s and allows the light of God to penetrate the very depths of our beings. Death to “self,” is an emptying process. We must decrease so that there can be an increase. An increase of what? The Lord Himself, in us. By dying to ourselves and emptying our “self,” we are creating capacity. And into that capacity flows the fullness of God. ….That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with the saints, what is the width and the length and the depth and height -to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:14-21)
For those who are filled with the fullness of God, having waited upon Him in our weakness and low opinion of our “self,” shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint. And so the “weak,’ and those who have no “might,” shall fly, shall run and shall walk. In the dying to their “self,” they have increased their capacity and are therefore filled from inexhaustible fountains.
This is the making of the mighty men and women of valor. Warriors for Christ in the battle of the ages. Those who have humbled themselves. The broken and the contrite. The weak and the meek. They all fellowship with God in high and lofty places. To get there they need the wings of eagles. To run the race we need the strength of God. And to walk this narrow walk of faith we must have the power of God
Some poor deluded folks think that by attending a church they are being disciples. Very sad. I’ve known disciples who attend a church, I’ve known disciples who gather together in small groups, I’ve even known disciples who meet just “where two or three are gathered,” but I’ve known very few disciples. They are the few. They are the remnant. Just as the Lord said it would be. The vast majority I’ve known are church goers, which is a world apart from disciples……bro Frank.
Charles Simeon 1759-1836 wrote…………
Isaiah 29:13, “The Lord says: These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me!”
In our church services, we go through all the external bodily motions; but as to the prostration of the soul, we are for the most part oblivious and unconcerned. We think that we have done our duty to God, if we have gone through the appointed external rituals, though our heart has not accorded with the body in any part of the service. In truth, our services have been hypocritical throughout.
Had a stranger come into one of our church services, and overheard our glowing praises, and our solemn confessions, petitions, and thanksgivings–he would have supposed that we were the most humble, spiritual, and devout people in the universe!
But had he been privy to the real state of our hearts–then how little would he have seen: of earnest ardor in our praises, or of honest humiliation in our confessions, or of sincere fervor in our petitions, or of genuine gratitude in our thanksgivings!
He would see that the state of our hearts indicated that we felt nothing, and meant nothing–at the very time that we professed to mean so much and feel so much!
For the most part, he would have seen that the whole of our service was only a solemn mockery; that instead of being genuine worshipers of our majestic and holy God–for the most part, we were but insincere hypocrites!
Let me ask, in the name of God Himself: What reason you can have to think that God would accept such services as these?
If, indeed, God were like ourselves, and could see only the outward appearance, then we might hope that, being deceived by us–He would be pleased with us.
But when we bear in mind, that the omniscient God knows . . . our every secret thought, our every secret desire, our every secret motive, and that He perfectly searches our heart, and knows our thoughts–then we must be sure that our very services are an abomination in His sight!
“Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me! They worship Me in vain.” Mark 7:6, 7
J.C. Ryle: In all our Christian duties, whether giving or praying, the great thing to be kept in mind, is that we have a heart-searching and all-knowing God! Everything like mere formal worship, is abominable and worthless in God’s sight. The one thing which His all-seeing eye looks at, is the nature of our motives, and the state of our hearts!
“Serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts!” 1 Chronicles 28:9
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 5:22 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 7:15 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 7:13 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.
The sands of time are running low
Yet the river still continues to flow
It flows for you and it flows for me
And it still flows from Calvary
His Blood cries out and still it saves
It pulls men out from stormy waves
His Blood shall never ever fail
In the shadow of the Almighty we shall prevail
Who shall stand in the final hour
Who is held by His great power
Who shall rise above the flood
Those who are covered by His precious Blood
His Blood is still a mystery
It echos down through history
Those who are dying they fail to see
That victory was nailed to a Bloody tree
And from that tree it flows still yet
For you and for me and for our debt
We surely owed what we could not pay
Yet our sins were surely washed away
Washed and delivered I know not why
Yet the Son of God He came to die
And on that cross He took our place
Our sins were forgiven, were surely erased
And now I stand high above the flood
Washed and redeemed and covered by His Blood
Who shall take me out of His hand
There is none there is none for In Him I stand.
Thank you Jesus, for you died for me
Thank you Jesus for you set me free
Thank God in heaven that He sent His only Son
Thank you Father in heaven for victory won.
Luk 6:32 For if you love them which love you, what credit is that to you? For sinners also love those that love them.
It is said about free speech that it only really counts when you tolerate speech that is extremely offensive to you. That is actual free speech. If you only tolerated speech that you like, then you are actually devoid of toleration and you are a totalitarian. You are headed down the road of dictatorship, the same road that Mussolini went down, the same road that Hitler and Stalin went down, the same road that every tyrant went down and all of them ended in pure hatred and destruction of whole groups of people. When I first came to America, it was liberals who defended neo-nazi groups and the argument went something like this “I hate what they are saying, but I will die defending their rights to say it.” It was liberals who had the saying “live and let live,” meaning let everyone do their own thing, lets not compel anyone to be something they are not. You do not have to major in political science to know just how much that has turned around in 30 years, the former guardians of free speech have now traded places with those who would have suppressed it. So, only tolerating speech you like is no toleration at all but rather it is the opposite, it is fascism.
For if you love them which love you, what credit is that to you? For sinners also love those that love them(Luk 6:32) Jesus is saying, in effect, “so you love those who love you, big deal, everybody does that.” True love, Jesus love, is measured by how much we love those who do not love us. How do we react to those who do not like us? To those who hate us? To those who reject us. To those who cheat us and harm us? Are we just like the world or do we have something supernatural inside of us, Jesus, that has changed our very disposition? Too often brothers and sisters we are just like the world, it should not be so. The world only tolerates those who agree with them, they do not have love they have hate. How about us? Do we love even when we are not tolerated? Do we render evil for evil? Imagine if God the Father had rendered evil for evil? We would all be dead and rotting in an eternity separated from our Creator.
If we can recognize the truth of what free speech means, then surely we must recognize the truth of what true love is? It blossoms not on decadent beds of roses that we ourselves made, no, it blossoms in the fire and the dungeon and the heat of hatred. True love finds its expression when it is reviled. True love finds its expression in the arms of forgiveness. It is cradled in a cot of mercy. When it is attacked it has the opportunity to render its attacker of their true power, the power they have over you. True love stands alone atop the highest mountain for all to see. It is unsullied by the rage of human emotions and is grounded in the will of man surrendered to the heart of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the days darken, true love, the love of God, will be assaulted on every side and if we respond correctly then God shall be filled glorified around the world “for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.” Let us glorify God in this manner.
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
God does not give a person a new body when he or she is saved, the body is the same, but a new disposition is given. God alters the mainspring-He puts love in place of lust. (Oswald Chambers)
He alters the mainspring. The mainspring in a clock regulates the workings of it. It’s the central force that propels all of the gears and wheels within the mechanism. God alters the force that drives us. Lust is a powerful force. Rage and anger is a powerful force. Greed and desire is a powerful force. They all rage against the spirit and demand to be heard, demand to be obeyed. It must be satiated. It knows it’s time is short and its moment will pass quickly. Love is sacrificial and is patient and kind and it waits. Lust is self serving and demanding and simply takes what it wants. It is blind to the consequences of its actions. Rage is the same. Adultery and murder, they both take what they want in the heat of the moment and so many times there is a lifetime of reckoning. Esau with his appetites sells his birthright and Jacob waits patiently for seven years for Rachel.
Love is always the antidote. The sermon on the mount is a breakdown of love and how is actually operates. For God so loved the world……..Jesus being the expression of that love. He loved us when He created us and He created us in His image. We are designed to love as He loves. It break the bonds of murder and lust. It does not rage that it is compelled to carry a load a mile, it carries it two miles. It does not rage that it is assaulted rather it loves the one who assaulted it. “So that the world will know that You sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” What manner of love is this? God sent His only Son to show us what love looks like. He walked out the sermon on the mount and completed it on Calvary as He cried out “forgive them Father.” Only through Jesus can we know this love. Only through the Holy Spirit can we love as He has loved.
This is our calling brothers and sisters. The Holy Spirit is the mainspring of our lives. It is by His power and His force alone that we can sail upon the ocean of this life. We can have sails but without the wind of the Spirit where are we going? We would founder and die in the doldrums where there is no wind. In order to wind up the mainspring there has to be a key, Jesus is the key to everything and the Holy Spirit is the power. The word of God alone will not give us the power to walk as we have been taught to walk by Jesus, the word must be combined with the Spirit. Look at the word “word.” Now add an S to it. It becomes “sword.” The S is the Spirit and when we combine it with the Word then we have the power of the s-word which pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Many evangelical churches and most pentecostal or charismatic churches you go into today, raise their hands in worship. Like everything else in Christendom, there can be the mechanical act of doing something because it is supposed to be done, or there can be the true living dynamic response to the very presence of the Living God. Every single aspect of the natural worship of Christianity can be reduced to some dusty empty ritual that has long since replaced the living reality of God’s manifest presence. It is interesting when you watch secular concerts that you see arms aloft all over the stadium or concert hall, swaying to the rhythm of the song. Good music entertains us and can move us, Gods manifest presence invades every part of who we are and never leaves us the same. It creates in us a thirst that can never be quenched by anything other than His presence. It tears down and builds up, it raises us up from the dark valley floor to the lofty heights of His glory.
There is the presence of God to be found in glorious, enthusiastic and energetic worship, the kind of worship that lifts your spirit. It can lift up the head and invigorate the heart and fill you full of joy and you leave strengthened. This is good worship. Yet there is another kind of presence of God in worship, the kind of presence that there seems to be such a famine of throughout the land. The first kind of presence we spoke of lifts your heart, the second kind of presence invades every part of who you are. It falls from heaven like a heavy dew, heads are lowered and hands are raised. All becomes quiet, one barely breathes as the Spirit of God slowly penetrates our very being and the ground upon which we stand becomes Holy ground. It saturates our very DNA.
The first kind of presence uplifts us, the second changes us fundamentally. As living waters pour into us then it rises up like a great river that is so full that it overflows its banks. The banks themselves begin to crumble and fall into this river of pure life as it swells up and floods every part of who we are. The landscape is being changed by this flood, the very topography of our lives is being altered by its powers and everything that is not securely rooted to Godly foundations are simply swept away. Changed forever. And when the flood recedes we are left with a glorious afterglow. As the deer pants for the water-brooks, I wonder, do our hearts pant after this kind of encounter.
The Lord Himself does not need professional worship teams. He does not need people to encourage us to stand up, jump up and down and raise our hands. In the Welsh revival two young women singing either acapella or simply backed by a piano typically sang “Here is love, vast as the ocean.” And there was love, in the very midst of them, vast as the ocean, flooding the hearts and minds of all who attended. Brothers and sisters, in all our modernity, what have we lost? In the program of churches and the professional class of worshiper leaders and pastors we have lost the simplicity of it all. And in the losing of it we now have to entertain the people. Spirit led worship is exactly that, it is Spirit led.
In work we have a routine. In life we have a routine. Prisoners in prison have a routine. Oftentimes we are slaves to the routine, it is what gets us through life. Yet, there is nothing routine about the Holy Spirit of the Living God. He is dynamic and you can never know what way the wind will blow next. Have we sold our souls for a routine? Routine in the home, routine at work, routine at church. Routine people do not change the world. Routine people do not do wage war on the battle-fields of life. The Spirit of God is dynamic and those filled with His “dynamis,” change the environment around them because the environment inside them has been filled to capacity and is overflowing its banks. Lord fill us again to overflowing with the kind of presence that invades every part of who we are.
At the beating heart of everything that we are and do must lie the Golden chalice of Christ Himself filling our heart to the brim. Our relationship with Jesus quite apart from any religious externals must be the driving force of our lives. Externals can change and even fall away but our relationship with Jesus never changes. He walks with us daily, He comforts us hourly, He intercedes for us at all times. It is Jesus that is the centerpiece of who we are.
I know people, good people who will say things like, ” you must come to my church, you must hear my pastor, you must come and see our worship team,” and so on. What happens when your church fails, when your pastor falls, when your worship leader runs off with the youth pastor? I say it tongue in cheek but you get my point. Each one of us should have such a relationship with Jesus that if we have an opportunity to speak to anyone about the One that we love then we are able to speak by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We are for the most part, a spiritually impotent generation. And let me say first and foremost that it is our own fault. Each of us who know Jesus have the ability to share with others. Remember that the steps of a righteous man and woman are ordered of God. If you “happen,” to be speaking to someone and that conversation turns towards the spiritual then know that God knew that and the fact that you are speaking to that someone is no surprise to God who brings order to the universe. He knows that person and He knows you. He makes no mistakes.
The dividing line between the clergy and the laity has fundamentally weakened Christendom. It has served to disenfranchise the believers and has turned most of them into pew warming spectating tithers whose main purpose is to pay the bills and play their part in a religious spectacle that typically serves to promote the professional pastor and the professional worship leader so that they can build their kingdoms and franchise their organisations. And since we now have the technology, when it is franchised then they can simply pipe in the original ” team,” into another location thus nullifying the prospect that anyone may rob them of any of the glory they have so dearly sought while typically hiding it under a mask of humility.
If our denominations and churches only exist on the plane of external religion, then how can they ever make any significant impact on our communities? If our communion, our fellowship, is not enthroned upon the Spiritual, if the central aspect of our gatherings is around anything other than a supernatural Jesus who gives sight to see that which is not visible and gives ears to hear that which is not audible then what do we have?
If we are left only with the religious externals then all we have is religious entertainment of one sort or another. A building or an organisation that only truly exists to perpetuate itself and promote certain individuals. We must cry out for Jesus and for Him to once again be preeminent in our gatherings. If we make Jesus the centerpiece of our life, if we allow Him through His Holy Spirit to be central in our gatherings then I believe we would then be truly equipping the saints to be witnesses to His glory in season and out of season and especially in this day which could very possibly be the end of the ages.
It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (Lam 3:22-24)
Notice this verse from Lamentations 3. It is a very grave chapter where the afflicted are overcome with fears and are surrounded by troubles. Yet right here in the middle of the chapter we see our great hope. Indeed the Lord’s compassion never fails, His mercies are new every morning and great is His faithfulness. We have hope because He is our Lord. There is a tyranny of yesterday and fear for tomorrow and they are chains which are designed to drag us down.
Oftentimes the older we get the heavier the chains are because many are our yesterdays and fewer are our tomorrows. Yet, praise the Lord the antidote to these fears and these tyrannies is the now. We serve God today and we are assured that His mercies are new every morning. It is the enemy that reminds us of our yesterdays, it is the enemy that sows fears in our heart for tomorrow. And why? He wants to rob you of today. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not guaranteed. All we truly have is now. Live and walk in the Lord today and forget yesterday and care not for the morrow for Christ is in you today. Today is the day of our salvation.
If the enemy has stolen from you yesterday, do not allow him to take tomorrow as well. Awake each day and give glory to God. Our circumstances may not change but we will. Arise with the sun tomorrow morning and know that the Lord Himself directs the tides, makes the moon to rise and the sun to set. He holds it all in His hand and remember this more than anything, He holds you in His hand. You are His servant for His purposes and you are called to rise every day and seek the Lord and serve the Lord. In this is peace and from this peace springs joy and that joy, the joy of the Lord is our strength for a brand new day.
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.
How many times brothers and sisters have we heard about sharing the good news? Do you share the good news? What is the good news? If you had one minute or less to share with someone the good news, what would share? Have you meditated on this?
In Luke chapter 3 we see that Jesus is Baptized and that the Holy Spirit comes down and God speaks from heaven. He then enters the temple and stands up and pronounces the beginning of His ministry, quoting from Isaiah 61, He pronounces the good news! Jesus tells us that He has come to heal the brokenhearted! He has come to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to those who are in chains He has come to loose them of those chains. He has come to say that today, right now, is the time to come to the Lord. He tells us that there is a coming judgement but that those who seek Him will find Him and find comfort and joy and a sweet release from great sadness. In fact He says that from the ashes of your life He will raise you up again and create great beauty out of those very ashes. He will anoint your head with oil, meaning that He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and you will run and not grow weary, you will walk and not faint, in fact you will rise up with wings as eagles and soar.
He will replace great sadness with great joy and from an ever flowing fountain that He will place in the deepest parts of your heart you shall be like a well watered tree that is planted by a river. You will be called trees of righteousness because that will be the fruit of He that dwells in the deepest parts of you. And the ruins of your life shall be rebuilt and that which was formerly desolate, perhaps even generations of desolation, shall be restored to what is should always have been.
You shall be clothed with garments of salvation and covered with robes of righteousness. You shall be as a bride who adorns herself with jewels for her husband. And just like a well watered garden, all of these things that the Lord plants deep inside you will spring forth in due season and you will glorify God before the whole world.
Now brothers and sisters, I don’t know about you, but that is good news, that is the good news of the Gospel. This is the message that the Lord brought to the peoples of earth with outstretched arms. And with those outstretched arms He beckons them ” come unto me.” And why does He reach out His arms to the world with this message? “For God so loved the world.” Oh brothers and sisters, can you rest awhile and simply consider those words. For in those words is everything, everything that ever was or ever shall be. Life has sprung forth from those words. The worlds and the heavens above and all of creation here on earth springs forth from that truth. ” For God so loved the world.” Have you shared that love , that truth, that message, that good news recently with those that He loved so much that He would sacrifice His precious Son? Find someone today and tell them the good news.
Started a new page on Facebook, just simply called The remnant. We are going to be holding some meetings in July in a church I consider my home church even although I have only been there a handful of times 🙂 We have a sister in the Lord coming over from Scotland to lead worship and you can hear her here at the new page http://www.facebook.com/acalltotheremnant. Please go there and click like if you want to get the details of the upcoming meetings. If you have a strong desire to experience the presence of God in His glory and His majesty and His awesome reverence, then perhaps you may want to join us as we seek nothing more than His presence. God is indeed drawing out a hungry and a thirsty people, a people for such a time as this. A people who have an overwhelming desire for nothing more than Him , and who have been ruined for this world.
Hi saints, many who have eyes to see can see a storm coming. Indeed the skies have already began to darken and the first bands have already arrived, birth pangs if you like. Slowly but surely Christendom is being surrounded by her enemies. How then shall God’s people stand in that day? How will you stand? Have you asked yourself that question? Will you truly have faith in the living God? Will you stand fast in that day?
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.(1Pe 4:13,14)
Brothers and sisters, I want you to notice the above scripture, especially the highlighted portion. Can you see what the Holy Spirit is saying? He specifically talks about the ” spirit of glory.” What is this spirit of glory that ” shall be revealed?” Obviously the context of 1Peter is suffering, For those who can rejoice in the midst of suffering there is a specific kind of glory revealed. Just like the refining fires reveals the gold that lies within the rock, then the refining fire reveals the gold that lies within the saint as it burns away the rock and the dross and we are left with pure gold. We see in Habakkak, in the midst of terrible suffering and judgement this scripture “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab 2:14)
Oh the glory saints, the glory of God’s love vast as the ocean. I came across this version today in Welsh
I cant speak Welsh, but my spirit witnesses with this and soars to think of this and makes me think of the glory of God and why they could not get them to leave prayer meetings in the Welsh revival. Its the presence of God, it’s the majesty and the glory and the holiness. Its the beauty of Holiness. Oh for the days saints when we come to dwell forever in this majesty. This is why Paul can count all things as rubbish. To be found in Him, to know Him, to rest in the excellency of the knowledge of our Jesus. Oh that that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, that my spirit would soar in glorious majesty and be oblivious to my circumstance but only be found in Him. I would love to be so lost in Him that when they come and look for me I cannot be found, only Jesus, only Jesus, all for Jesus…………..bro Frank
I want to be so lost in you
And have my heart be pure and true
That when they come and look for me
It’s Christ alone that they shall see
Look into the depths of me
Is it Christ my Lord you see?
Walk with me along the way
Have you walked with Christ today?
Listen to me share my heart
Do you wanna be a part?
Of Christ the Lord my risen King
And to His throne your treasures bring
When I’m caught up in the waves
Can you see the Christ that saves?
When all the world has turned on me
Is it Christ that they shall see?
When it’s time for me to die
Will I raise my hands on high?
And sing aloud with all my might
Of Christ my King, a glorious sight
A Call To The Remnant 