Thu, Jul 29th - 1:04PM

Fox News Today

 I watched some small portion of the television news today and then proceeded to receive several of my regular emails. Generally, here is what I learned:

1. The “world” system represented by our government, or any other, can't seem to put Humpty-Dumpty back together.

2. Today, we have no more answers and no fewer problems than we did yesterday.

3. The world is headed into the abyss of hell, and is doing so faster today than it was yesterday – and it’s getting closer to the edge of it’s destination.

4. No one has ever discovered a Bible prophecy that even hints at mankind being able to effectively solve his own problems, i.e.: the real Messiah has already come, and most people are still rejecting Him.

 I’m betting I got a lot more out of today’s headlines than any of the media personalities! Not too shabby for fifteen minutes of my time.

 So how should we prioritize our lives, interests and activities? Considering that even the pagan hordes realize we are running out of time on this planet, why would we give our only lifetime moments placing temporal things in front of eternal – at the utter expense of eternal? Or maybe some would say we give eternal it’s due on Sunday mornings…no, I’m not saying we should all don robes and sit under trees until the End, but I am saying there should be a dramatic change in our perspective. 

 While we can't seem to fix anything temporal without breaking something else temporal, we are still able to fix our PRIMARY focus and concern on the only One Who ever told us the truth: Jesus, the Christ of God. 

 Jesus was either a cosmic lunatic or the Son of God. For some, the issue was up in the air until the resurrection – which was predicted well in advance by numerous biblical prophecies we can find, by the recorded, quoted words of Jesus, and numerous eye witness accounts still contemporary with the New Testament authors who recorded the events.

 So I have to wonder – why is it that the average American spends much more time soaking in media baloney every day – and almost no time during the week reading the words of truth in the widely available Christian bible? It should come as no surprise why so many professing Christians are fearful in these days. Hand wringing seems to be a national past time in 2010! Worse, the only projected hope for the world is said to reside in the upcoming elections in November. 

 Face it, while we are privileged to have the right to vote, no vote will save the world from the abyss. Those of us who have stood at the very edge of the Grand Canyon have felt the pull of that abyss – and for the world, hell is much more compelling!

 Jesus is coming back very soon, just as He said He would, but He’s only coming back for His own. If you are not first and foremost one of His, you can learn of the event after the fact - on the morning news!

John

Tue, Jul 27th - 11:45AM

Garden of God

 It took me over 60 years to truly understand and accept the fact that God loves me. And although I’m astounded by the reality, I’m also saddened so much time was wasted. Please learn from my mistake.

 No created thing has the ability to exceed the Creator in substance. It works that way because we were created with our very abilities! Therefore, if we have the ability to experience, it is only because the Creator has the same abilities. In fact, I’m sure He has abilities we don't, and never will have – but we do have the ones He gave us.

 Remember your first love? Remember how utterly intense it was? Remember how your lover would smile, or move, or say something and your heart would flip over? Remember that? Love would just sweep over you, and to avoid exploding with it you’d say, “I love you!” Remember? 

 You wouldn’t have the ability to experience or remember it if it wasn’t first available in the heart of God. He feels the same exhilaration of love towards each of His children! But with Him, this ability cuts both ways, because He also feels the equally intense rejection by those who are not His, and although He is the Judge, it will not be a good day for anyone when they are put into hell. It will be tough love, and it will be tough.

 God is overwhelmed with love for us, and often He blurts out in exuberance, “I love you!” but we have a hard time hearing Him because we are so very busy being self-absorbed. We spend too much time thinking about ourselves – even when we fail to recognize the habit. It’s hard to hear God when we are preoccupied. 

 We starve for the love we can't find within. We become disappointed with God, and our roots become bound as we grow bitterly inward, following the direction of our focus. We must change the direction of our focus and follow it to Him (repentance) before we self-destruct. Our roots can only be unbound and replanted by Him. Remember – He was the original gardener! 

 And as the Master Gardener replants, He also re-seeds. He will provide seeds of love, seeds of faith, seeds of cheerful service, etc. – He has loads of seeds!

 Our job is to protect the seeds and allow only Him to nourish them. In a sense, you might say we are (becoming) the Garden of God!

John

Tue, Jul 27th - 10:50AM

Mélange – God Thoughts

Mistrust:

 Mistrust should never spring from a root of bitterness (‘Once burned, twice shy’), but should come from the realization that the structural integrity of the mistrusted is currently impaired, and cannot be trusted – like thin ice should be mistrusted. If mistrust springs from bitterness, there will remain a cloaking of unforgiveness.

Responsibility:

 I assume all responsibility out of obedience, not duty, and obedience springs from my love for Him, not from my obligation.

Immensity:

 God’s immensity can be immensely tiny or immensely large. He alone can be perfectly both at the same time – a divine at-once-ness. He is at once totally theory and totally pragmatic, and He creates tangibility from His thoughts. In our creativity, we were made to create like Him. Here is where Philippians 4:8 comes into play!

Blending:

 As husbands and wives are considered ‘one flesh’ by God, God desires our spirits to become one flesh with His Spirit. In this, we do not lose our uniqueness, but rather, we find it. We become distinct, unique representatives of Him – one constant + many variables = an expression of God.

Love:

 Just as young lovers are sometimes overwhelmed in their love for each other, so God is often overwhelmed in His love for us. Often He whispers, “I love you so much!”, but we fail to hear Him.

Works of God:

 In the 70’s, we “watched Him work”, but now, He’s empowering the Body to work as a body. The revealing of the Glorious Head empowers and reveals the Body.

Listen while you pray.

John

Mon, Jul 26th - 7:42PM

Prayers of Remembrance

 I love it when God speaks into my spirit and gives me His tidbits; little pieces of His wisdom that no earthly treasure equals. Sometimes I’m reminded of how parents instruct the children of their love, like how to tie a shoe, or how to iron a shirt – you know, there’s a better way to do almost anything, and parents like to pass on these tidbits to their kids. They pass them on out of love, and God is no different. 

 While I was sitting on my prayer rock today, I was reminded of my prayers of remembrance. Mind you, I’m praying to the God who knows and remembers everything, to the minutest detail – (except what He promises to forget). He knows how many hairs we have, our tears, the secret thoughts of our hearts and everything else about us. He forgets nothing because without willing to, He can't. And I began to pray about one of my major issues….

 If you pray like me, you probably pray in rough draft form, constantly revising the words to match your heart, and every now and then you pray the final version! And you just somehow know that prayer hit the heart of God with the full, intended expression. Well here’s the tidbit God showed me:

When you finally pray the “perfect” prayer, name it like you would a file folder and  ask God to remember it (and answer it) in detail, when you recall it to His mind. It works like this; I prayed and asked God to transform me, and somehow it came out just right! I told Him I was naming it my Prayer of Transformation, and asked Him to remember it, and answer it when I referred to it by that file name. 

 And if sometime later I want to edit or delete the prayer, I can do that too. So far, I’m up to three prayers of remembrance, and when I refer to them by name, I remember their general content and trust God to remember them in detail. I know He will. 

 The whole process becomes much easier if you add on a plug-in feature: God absolutely loves to answer our prayers – that is, the ones He can, so ask Him to give you the prayers He will just get excited about answering! There’s no reason you both can't have fun!

 Works for me, and I think you’ll like it too. 

John

Mon, Jul 26th - 5:40PM

Trustworthiness

 Personally, I think it’s high time that God’s people become concerned with their own trustworthiness. If we are going to carry the name of Jesus, worship Him and serve with His authority, it’s time we became known for being different from the pagans we live among – and I believe the difference, and the first that others notice, is found in the little details of how we deal with every day issues.

 Ask yourself some questions: 

 How much difference do you see between Christians and pagans when you leave a message requesting a call back on their answering machines? Most of the time, probably not much. I know it’s true because most people are just astounded to receive a (timely) call back. Sure it’s a small thing, but someone took some of their irreplaceable time to ask for a call back. The message shouldn’t drop off the planet, at least not with Christians. There is absolutely no excuse for that!

 How many times do you see a difference when loaning something to Christians and pagans? Frankly, much of the time, both groups don't recognize the difference between loans and gifts. Don't you just hate to have to track something down that you loaned out? True, we all forget – but Christians ought to be much more reliable, don't you think?

 If you tell someone you’ll pick them up at a certain time, or call them back at a certain time, doesn’t being a person entrusted with Jesus’ name mean anything? Shouldn’t you at least make a decent stab at being a person of your word? Do you? 

 Again, (and in bold letters), every human makes mistakes, but with Christians they should be the exception – not the rule, and should be genuinely regretted. Why? Because mistakes eat away at our credibility with others, and lack of regret eats away at our credibility with God.

 While I would expect another Christian to readily forgive me for making mistakes, it’s unrealistic to expect him to ever replace his trust if poor performance is my standard operating procedure. Nowhere are we commanded by God to trust the untrustworthy. Love them, certainly – but trust them…..? 

 If we can't keep our word, how can we be expected to keep His? If we play fast and loose with the little details, we will do the same exact thing with the bigger issues of God – and He knows it.

 God has set a higher standard for His redeemed – He’s set the bar higher for those who bear His name. (Remember, ‘Be holy because I am holy.’)?  That’s how it works. We are expected to live out the little details of our lives with the same care we live out the big ones:  as His redeemed. We should know by now, with God, nothing is hidden, and He’s in the business of building character. Nothing is overlooked in this pursuit.

 While faith is something we exercise and practice towards God, trustworthiness is something we build. I want God to make me into a person He trusts. I know if He can trust me with a little, He’ll eventually trust me with more – and I want His trust!

 I want to be that person, and I hope you do too. We all have to begin with the little stuff and build lifestyles that demonstrate God’s people are in fact a different race. 

 It’s the small lifestyle changes that pave the way to big responsibilities. Even God won't give us the keys to the car unless we've had driver’s ed.

John

Thu, Jul 22nd - 6:48PM

Magnitude

 Like a strobe light illuminating details in a pitch black room, I had a flash of God’s magnitude in my mind, and I’m writing this to maybe help me remember what few details I saw in that flash of clarity.

 The first thing I was struck with is how small I’ve made Him out to be. Why do we persist in dragging God down to a digestible size? Why does He have to fit into our ideas of proper size for us to “understand” Him? Why can't we just glory in His true, unending, indefinable and immeasurable magnitude? Why can't we accept and worship Him that way? It must be possible! It just must! 

 The first thing I understood after my flash was this: our words, whether in known languages or not, simply do not apply to God. They don't! We use them to express ourselves, or to express God to ourselves or others, but against His majesty, words do not really serve to express His essence. They are utilized by us, I mean, it’s what we were given to use, but outside of ourselves they are irrelevant set against His magnitude. It is not that our words are too small in a comparison to His size – it is rather that they frankly don't compute to relevance because they don't contain the capacity to adequately communicate His being. 

 God has spoken to us in words so that within our very limited parameters we could hear and partly understand. But isn't it true that even God’s words to us appear constantly multi-faceted and multi-dimensional? In fact, the deeper we are willing to dig, the more unlimited the treasure, and the more unending the digging! We only hit bottom when we either stop digging or don't have the internal, spiritual capacity for any more treasure. This is the point at which we lose our vision.

 The second thing I understood was that Jesus, in His earthly body, represented the Father’s heart; He never even tried to represent the Father’s scope, or breadth. No human body could do so – even His. We err to think that Jesus in His earthly body was just a smaller depiction of His Father’s – He was not, and as I said, He represented the Father’s heart towards us rather than any comparative substance or composition.

 While God is all God and all human (in Jesus), yet He remains all God, and as so is not human. He transcends our composition as an eyeball transcends a rock, and maybe that is still too paltry. I struggle with words here because they have no practical way to create a graspable communication.

 Suffice it to say, all my wants, needs, struggles, labors, priorities, turmoils and the pains of a lifetime, if placed in material form, could not even be a viable comparison with this God. To use inadequate human words: He is so much bigger than my mind is even equipped to understand!

 Consequently, I’ve asked God to impart to me the ability to worship Him without resorting to re-sizing. He already knows what I am trying to express because He completely understands the hearts of His creation. 

 He just loves it when we try.

John

Thu, Jul 22nd - 12:45PM

Daily Bread

 I’ve come to the realization that most of the Bible metaphors contain incredible realities so easy to miss, especially if my realization is limited to metaphors.

 Today I was enjoying a brief moment of summer sun on my deck and I began to pray – nothing formal, just a conversation with God. I found myself telling Him how unusual it seemed that no matter how glorious I might have found His Presence yesterday, I always wake up the next day reset to zero. Why is it that sometime during the night my awareness of the Glory that I enjoyed so much yesterday is so diminished? It’s like remembering a dream from a distance.

 Gently, and with great softness God spoke into my spirit and asked me why I eat breakfast every morning. I told Him I eat breakfast because my body runs out of food while I sleep. I anticipated His next comment: “For the same reason you need your daily provision of bread from Me.” I then understood that encountering God only in church on Sunday mornings would be a spiritual diet I could not survive. Simply put, I’m created to eat more.

 Have you ever noticed that most meals take much longer to make than to eat? It never frustrated me until I was put in charge of our breakfasts. Somehow, fixing a meal for 20 minutes and cleaning up afterwards doesn’t seem to justify the 5 minutes I spend eating it. But if the only alternative is to not eat breakfast at all, I’ll do the work. 

 So how difficult was prayer this morning? Not very! I spent 10 minutes praying and heard from the living God! In this context, I suppose you could say my breakfast with God lasted 10 minutes and I didn’t have to prepare or clean up – He did it all! And the food I received from Him will not only last all day, but help conform me to living in His Presence for eternity. 

 I’ll never look at ‘daily bread’ with religious glibness again!

 I had a 10 minute breakfast with the living God – and He’d love to have it with you!! It isn't religious – it’s a meal.

John

Wed, Jul 21st - 3:18PM

Slow To Forgive Is No Forgiveness

 Proverbs 9:10-12 says:

‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 

For by me your days will be multiplied, and years of life will be added to you. 

If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, you alone will bear it.’ (NASB) 

 Notice not only the oft quoted verse 10, but that the next two verses belong with verse 10 in context. In regard to these verses, I would like to point out what many men of God in America have already noted, namely, we seem to exhibit little or no fear of God in this country. If indeed ‘Wisdom is vindicated (identified) by all her children’ (Luke 7:35), her children seem to be few and far between.

 What if you found yourself standing in front of a mighty king. He sits on a magnificent throne, and you fall on your face before him – begging for mercy with your very posture. The king speaks, and gives you a command; an order to do something….how long would you wait before obeying the order? I don't know about you, but I wouldn’t rest until the order was obeyed! I would run to do it without delay! In fact, without hesitation or conscious thought, every detail of my schedule would be sacrificed until I had performed the commanded deed.

 Don't we recognize Jesus Christ as a (the) Mighty King? Aren't we familiar with His teaching concerning forgiveness? Don't we hear sermons about ‘seventy times seven’ and if we don't forgive those who sin against us (subjective), God will not forgive us? Aren't we already responsible for this knowledge? 

 When I was a youngster my mother practiced her version of “Delayed forgiveness”. When she became upset or angry with me, she got real quiet – but for days! I realize now it was her attempt at extracting “payment” for the slow to follow forgiveness. Withholding her forgiveness (and warmth) was my punishment. I had to earn her forgiveness – on her installment plan. 

 During that tense period of silence, she would put me on the hooks of her unforgiveness until my payment was complete. It was control. Did you get that? I wrote, CONTROL, and this procedure is nothing short of witchcraft in two ways:

 1. When we seek to control others, we are operating in witchcraft.

2. When Christians delay obeying God’s clear command – they are in REBELLION 

 (or, insubordination).

 Read it from 1 Samuel 15: 23:

 ‘For rebellion is as the sin of divination (witchcraft), and insubordination is as

 iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has

 also rejected you (from being king’).

 My mother later became a child of God, and changed her lifestyle, but here’s my Kingdom math:

 [Slow to forgive = no forgiveness = rebellion = insubordination = witchcraft/control]

 Our Father greatly desires to bless us. He’s a good God, and when He observes us,  He’s in a good mood. How it must grieve Him when we knowingly take His Word lightly. How it must grieve Him when we withhold obedience, for ‘if you scoff, you alone will bear it.’

 My own translation of the title of this piece goes like this: Lack of Obedience Is No Obedience, and I think my math will bear up under scrutiny.

 We can pay attention now – or we can pay eternally. It’s our choice.

John

Tue, Jul 20th - 11:25AM

Beware of Witchcraft in the Camp!

 It’s only Tuesday and I’ve had an interesting week! I feel spiritually and emotionally battered – but victorious, so I thought I’d broach a tough subject. I want to make my ordeal worthwhile to the Kingdom, so here goes:

 As my son-in-law once said (tongue in cheek), “It’s important to be aware of being aware.” In that vein, it’s vital we understand our warfare responsibilities concerning Christian Witchcraft. I told you it was a tough subject – you were warned!

 Christian Witchcraft occurs when praying Christians pray for others in a wrong spirit, i.e., any spirit other than the Holy Spirit. You would be wrong to think this never happens – it happens all the time among professing Christians. The witchcraft spirit is easily spotted by looking for Control, for it seeks to control, not guide. And if you don't know to look for it, you won't see it. 

 The Bible says ‘He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet, receives a prophet’s reward.’ (Matthew 10:41). It is also true in the spirit realm that he who receives a witchcraft spirit receives a curse, and it’s most insidious when it arrives via the words of other Christians. 

 Here are two easy examples: 1) I’m angry that another Christian is in sin, so I cry out to God, “Just fix him!”, or 2) I’m angry with another Christian, but to hide the anger (even from myself), I tell him, “Bless you”. In these two examples, we have to ask – which G(g)od will answer those prayers? 

 Now, I’m not about to make rules here, but in either case mentioned, it is the responsibility of the receiver to willingly receive, or reject the “blessing”. Like I said, I’m not making rules, but I believe that in certain circumstances we should reject the “blessing” for our own safety and peace of mind, for it’s masquerading as a blessing, but in fact it’s a witchcraft curse, and it will control if not rejected.

 In order to reject a “blessing” of this sort, it is necessary to keep Proverbs 26:2 in mind: ‘Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, so a curse without cause does not alight.’ Rejection doesn’t work well if we give the demon access to us by being angry ourselves, or unforgiving (offended), or vindictive, etc. We need to clean up our act so the demon has no ability to affix itself to us. It’s still going to take our resistance, but with the proper groundwork and discernment, the rejection is handily performed by the Holy Spirit.

 Many people reading this piece will think I’ve gone over the edge with it, but I assure you, this is real, serious, and real serious stuff.

 Remember, there is no victory without a contest.

John

Tue, Jul 20th - 10:36AM

Truth In The Dock

 I was thinking about Jesus in front of Pilate, and then I pictured Him in an English courtroom standing in the dock and on trial. At least in the Bible we have the real Jesus on trial. I thank God for His truthfulness in the Bible, because I seriously doubt we’d encounter it anywhere else today.

 By the time I was a one year old in my Christian life, I had read the Bible cover to cover, but as pleased as I was with that accomplishment, I have to admit that over 99% of it went right over my head. Figuring that with time and more study, I’d understand more of it, I kept right on reading, but I’m not sure I changed the percentage to any remarkable degree.

 Strange how we humans read…we glean the surface of the material and park the unknowns in a soon-to-be forgotten bin somewhere in our minds. It’s like a basket of laundry in the middle of the living room floor; we get so used to walking around it, we simply don't see it anymore. And with every re-reading of the Bible we get comfortable with looking right past the stuff in the bin. 

 We mentally organize the unknowns by re-categorizing them into the ignored (must equal “unimportant”) bins. Then we get comfortable, and we find churches that pander to our comfort. We become good people – what more is there? Don't know about you, but at that point my salvation is written in the Book of Life with indelible ink, and I don't have to think about it again. How comfortable is that?!

 It reminds me of three famous evangelists who were discussing the offering money. The first one said his church drew a large circle on the floor and threw the offering money into the air; anything that landed outside the circle belonged to God. The second evangelist said they drew a small circle on the floor and anything that landed inside the circle belonged to God. The third evangelist said they had a better way of dividing the money. He said, “We just throw the money into the air and God can take what He wants.”

 Simply put, without great care, we will adopt some version of Truth. It’s our responsibility to test our versions with The Truth in the Bible. What is the test of this? How do we know if/when we are accepting less than The Truth? 

 If we value our opinions and/or our particular church doctrine over the words of the real Jesus in the real scriptures, we are believing to some degree – a lie. I know this is true because opinions and doctrines that supersede the biblical Jesus become almost immediately, idolatry, and carried far enough, our opinions can become doctrines of demons. And we won't even guess that it’s happened because we are deceived!

 I’m guessing you are one of those who would be more than willing to sacrifice your opinions and comforts in order to gain the real Jesus. Now there are many, but the Bible has only One, and His doctrine disables pride and hates arrogance. He still hates sin while loving the sinner; face it, where would any of us be if it were any other way? But – He still Hates sin. 

 He is holy, and He makes us holy, and it is incumbent upon us to allow his Holy Spirit to root around in our bins and expose the unacceptable stuff we look past. He sees it all, and He knows we’ll be better for the cleansing. 

 We can assemble our ducks in a row, but it’s the job of the Holy Spirit to knock down the ones that don't belong.

 It’s our job to let Him.

John

Thu, Jul 15th - 4:03PM

On Fellowship

 About a year ago it came to my attention that a poll of a certain group of believers clearly showed that they highly valued “Fellowship”. In fact, fellowship was so highly valued that several weekly home groups were encouraged to re-think their structure to reflect this poll. I know that some are going to read this piece and think to themselves, “There he goes again.”, but not so fast. I’m no different; I too value and enjoy fellowship, but I do have opinions about the pitfalls.

 First, what is fellowship if not being together, conversing with one another while sharing time in a social setting, like sharing food, drink and thoughts? That’s a great idea! However, in my opinion it’s critical to keep fellowship in it’s proper perspective. 

 Getting to know our fellow Family members has numerous benefits. Intimacy, sharing testimonies to help build faith, learning to be comfortable with each other in settings that encourage interacting with one another in love, and yes, fun – to say nothing of the increased opportunities to encourage others and maybe even pray for their needs and concerns. After all, we will be spending Eternity with these folks! 

 I should add that many times of fellowship are times of greater learning and insight than you’ll find at any other time! Not only that, we are told in the scriptures to:

‘not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but

exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.’ (Hebrews 10:25). 

 Thirty years ago, I was participating in a small group home bible study, with some coffee and tea provided. Gradually, a few simple deserts were added, and within months, the priority of the meeting reversed. When some people complained, their complaints were silenced using the Hebrews 10:25 verse, but only the first half of it. In fact, many other participants complained that the complaining few were ‘just a few (anti-social) fanatics’. It wasn’t long before the “Bible Study” was just a food party with Holy Communion thrown in to add an air of sanctity. 

 I learned an important lesson in human nature: without vigilance and defined priorities, we humans easily default to our Adamic natures, and it only takes weeks for our faith-based goals to be supplanted by the latest deserts and funny stories. So much for the Bible. Once the order is reversed, it’s hard to get back on track.

 I firmly believe that God is a fun God, among His other attributes, but I can't justify any focus on food and fun that supplants prayer, praise, testimony and worship. As much as I like a fun get-together, I probably need the second half of that verse as much, or more than the first half. 

 All said, I like to get together with Family members and have a relaxing time having fun, but in a Bible study meeting, I don't like fun to have more sway than study. I really want to get it right. 

 I know in eternity I’ll not get rewarded for all the fun I had – especially so if it came at the expense of furthering my relationship with my great, fun God. I’d really prefer my best party experience to be at His marriage supper.

John

Wed, Jul 14th - 11:37AM

Setting The Bar

 A very close friend of mine is grappling with love. She refers to her current boyfriend as “the love of my life”, and yet still has issues. In our conversations it seems obvious to me that her feet are not yet on solid, ever-unchanging ground, and any solidarity to her feelings is momentary. It’s a subtle endeavor, and yet, she has no lasting peace concerning this love, and as I inferred, she knows in her heart this love of hers should be more solid.

 So as humans, what do we establish as our measure of love? Growing up, it’s quite common for teenagers to question their parents, such as, “How do you know you’re in love?” Parents have always done their best to answer such questions, but the answers usually don't satisfy the hunger. The common fallback for parents goes something like this, “When it’s time, you’ll know.”, however, the wisdom of this kind of mystical answer seems to be easily refuted by divorce statistics. So what is the bar we can measure love against? How about God’s love for us?

 It should come as no surprise that while most “Christians” have a mental knowledge of God’s love for them, (thank you, Sunday School!) most of them don't have a real, experiential understanding. Why is that? 

 I propose that our knowledge of God’s love for us doesn’t penetrate our hearts because to do so requires revelation, sadly not encountered in many churches. For any of the words of God to get out of our minds and into our hearts, revelation is an absolute necessity, but revelation only comes from God’s Holy Spirit – as a gift. It’s a gift we can, and should ask Him for.

 I’m not anywhere near a spiritual giant – far from it, but at my age I have tons of stuff packed into my brain – tons of it! In fact, I’m cluttered. And regarding God’s written word, I’m loaded with it! My urgent problem is that on any given day I badly need God’s word in my heart, and that’s precisely where I suffer from lack.

 One of God’s most amazing acts of creation is the human brain, and I’m very thankful for it. However, head knowledge alone won't accomplish God’s will for my life on this planet. All that knowledge absolutely must journey from my head to my heart, and most days, the trip seems to be a long one. It’s the longest 18” in the universe! And guess what? Only heart knowledge has life. Do you see the problem?

 So here’s a revelation I can give as a gift, and I can give it because it was first given to me: God’s Holy Spirit is the only vehicle in the universe and beyond, who is tasked with the job of transporting God’s word from our brains to our hearts. It is His job to nourish the life of God seeded to us at the New Birth. That’s what He does. And because He is God, He’ll do it better than anyone else, if we allow it.

 So to my friend and any interested others, here’s some advice: set your bar for what love is, by the bar already set by God. Measure the truth of your love against His standard, for it never changes. And to understand what I just said, revelation is required, so on humble knees and faces, cry out to God for revelation. 

 He will answer that kind of prayer – He loves to, because it’s ‘His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom.’

John

Fri, Jul 2nd - 12:33PM

Godly Repentance

7/1/2010

 Only Almighty God loves us enough to tell us the truth, and do so in such a way that while we may be devastated by it, we are healthier for the experience. 

 Today I am so overwhelmed with remorse, and yet so much more intimate with God as a result. He alone has the ability to rip our souls apart and cause the experience to open a broad highway to His heart as He heals them. How can we respond to this kind of love?

 I am a little over half way through a book by John Bevere titled, Under Cover. I cannot recall ever reading a book so difficult, so personal and costly, and yes, so painful, while at the same time a book that is immeasurable in it’s value – at least to me.

 I’ve spent the day reading several paragraphs and then falling down in repentant prayer, then a few more paragraphs and more prayer! It’s been quite a day. If I had ever received this quality and quantity of correction from any source other than Almighty God, I guarantee I would be looking for a bridge to jump from! 

 Only my Almighty God and incredible Savior could have said these things to me, in effect telling me without equivocation I’ve been wrong every day of my life, while at the same time make me know how overwhelming His love is for me. Only God…

 Consequently, I stand corrected to my very core, yet without condemnation or guilt, rather a Godly remorse. And as I stand corrected, I also stand apart into even more of His incredible love. 

 My God, in His great love, gave me a shower today. It was painful as the dirt was separated from me, but I chose to bear it. He was only answering my heartfelt prayer of several days ago when I begged Him to have no mercy on me, even if I were to beg for it – and clean me up from the inside, out.  He has begun to answer my prayer, but I would utter it again, especially after today’s bout with God’s honesty. 

 I am shamelessly addicted to loving God, and I want MORE of Him – and no price is too great. 

 Today is a new beginning. Tomorrow I’ll want more of Him than I received today.

John