Winnowed and Sifted

On the wings of the morning He quietly comes
Lighting nearby, patiently waiting

Dis-ordered thoughts begin to wander
Soon upon waking, toward tasks ahead

Spirit is tethered, grounded by gravity.
For life itself is very grave

Every struggle becomes a link
In the chain, growing heavy

And still He waits.   I know He is near
And then He speaks: “Why do you carry these?”

So as not to leave them littered along the way

How long have you carried them?

My, I couldn’t say.  Some of them are so old I feel they’ve always been there.

What good are they?

Good? What do you mean?

Why did you not lay them down?

I thought I was meant to keep them.

But why would you think that?

Well, they bear my name

Are you certain?

Last I checked!

Checked lately?

Well, no, but I count them pretty often

What on Earth for?

A habit by now, I suppose. Keeps me humble.

Humble?

You know!  Grounded!

Oh, I get it, restrained, repressed?

Yeah, something like that, I guess.  I mean, it feels like that sometimes.

Why would you want that?

I don’t want to be.  I just have been for just about as far back  as I can remember.

As far back as you can remember, or as far back as you dare to remember?

What’s the difference?

The difference is, I created you for more than this. You knew that once upon a time!

Yes, I know.  “Someday” I’ll be free from this sin nature and…

No, even now! Cast thy burden upon Me, and I shall sustain you.

Yeah.  I read that.

And?

I don”t deserve for You to carry my load

That’s true!

<shrugs, eyes downcast>

Look at Me! Do you see anyone here who condemns you?

I condemn me!

Ah!
I see.
Do you know what the word “deem” means?

To reckon something as being so?

That is pretty close, but more succinctly, it means “to judge”.
Do you know what redeemed means?

I guess that would mean “to judge again”?

You were deemed guilty but once you repented and asked for salvation, you were re-deemed to be “not guilty”.  Do you know that being “not guilty” is not the equivalent of being innocent?  “Not guilty” merely means that no punishment will be accounted to you for the crime.  As I said to Job, “I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.  Wilt thou also dis-annul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?” I have declared you “not guilty”, yet you persist in self-condemnation. Who is right, Me or you?
You are, Lord

Where is your Bible?

Right here.

Open it to John 8:36 and read to Me what it says.

If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, then ye shall be free indeed. I know, Lord, but…

I don’t see a but in that verse.

Ok.  What about everything else?

What else?

Our life seems like an endless series of “unfortunate events”, trials, setbacks, obstacles, whatever you want to call them!  It feels so relentless.  What are we doing wrong?

These “other things” you speak of, the trials, who has told you that they come due to something you are doing wrong? These things are so, that My works might be displayed in you. (John 9:3)  In my winnowing I separate wheat from chaff, using the wind of adversity to blow off the chaff, which is just an impurity, and retaining in you that which is good. On the other hand, Satan desires to sift you! (Luke 22:31)  Sifting is agitating in a way that shakes out all that is good, so that the only thing that remains is the bad.  He doesn’t touch your life without my permission.  What he means for evil, I use for your good.

I have prayed for you.  Right now, chaff fills the air, the shaking and the tossing feel turbulent, but trust Me.  I will complete the good work which I have begun in you.

Jesus prays for His own

*

Sermon: Pastor John Reynolds, Temple Baptist Church (30 min)

Goin’ home!

What Resurrection Sunday Means to Me

Every pain that you or I ever suffered, multiplied by all of mankind through out all of time.

Every sin, every crime, every wrong.  All of that was poured onto Him on that cross.  We ask “why do evil men get away with evil things?”  They do not.  God will deal with their sins.  All sin.  How about yours?

It is no wonder God had to look away.  And Jesus who had never been separated from His Father, cried out “Why hast thou forsaken me?”  God cannot look upon sin.  And in that instant, Jesus was covered in it.  He took it into His body and by submitting to it, He conquered it.

They mocked Him, they beat Him, they whipped Him, they spat upon Him, but they did not kill Him.  No one could take His life from Him.  Though He was fully human in that moment, He was still fully God, having chosen to refrain from exercising His Godly ability to come down off that cross, just like the mockers challenged Him to do, He remained there, held not by the nails, but by His love for you and me, He was the willing sacrifice, the lamb that was slain for the sine of the world.

When all of it had been paid for.  Every last sin.  Every last injustice, HE said “It is finished”.  He commended His Spirit unto the Father.  There are a good 44 prophecies in the old Testament that I know of (probably more) about the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  And every one was fulfilled to the letter.

They laid his body in a borrowed tomb, and rolled a stone in front of it, and set guards around it so that His followers could not steal the body and “stage” a resurrection.   But death could not keep Him.  He rose up from that grave on the third day, and appeared to hundreds of people over several days before He ascended up to Heaven from the Mount of Olives, with a promise to his followers that He would some day return to that very spot, just in the way they were watching Him go.  Oh yes, I do believe it.

His resurrection is called the “firstfruits”.   It is a promise that we all will be resurrected some day from death.  There will be a “first resurrection” unto life, for those who have Him as their Savior and have already been judged in Christ Jesus, and a second resurrection unto judgment for those who have rejected Him.  (Revelation 20:4-6)

What Resurrection Sunday means to me, is that my sins are held against me no more by God.  I who am guilty, stand as innocent because Christ already paid the price for me.  It means one day an angel of the Lord will sound a trumpet, and give a shout, and those whom Jesus has redeemed, will go to be where Jesus is. No more sickness.  No more sorrow.  No more pain.  The former things will have passed away, and all things will become new.

I have been around the block a few times in this old world.  I’ve had my share of troubles, as everyone has.  There is nothing this world has to offer that I would trade my life with Jesus for.  It has been an awesome ride, hardships and all!  And His resurrection encompasses the promise of a whole other life ahead to look forward to.

A baby in the womb does not know it has not even been born yet.  It likes it where it has been, safe and warm, floating in it’s familiar surroundings.  When the contractions start, that baby gets active.  A pre-determined course of events follows God’s design, and with or without help, that baby makes it’s way out into the world, kicking, screaming, not happy for the rude introduction.

He didn’t know that all those days and hours were in preparation for “real life” that was yet to come.

God created us to glorify Him.  This life actually is a dress rehearsal.  We are not bodies that have a soul.  We are souls temporarily residing in defective earthly bodies for a relatively few short years.  There is more to life than this! Yes, a million times yes!

But only in Jesus.

Do you know Him today?

Be encouraged

Thanks Wy and Liz

I like the Gadsden flag, but I’m calling this one the “God’sdone flag!” ‘Cuz the day is coming when God’s done putting up with that old serpent!

The Evil Day: Are you ready to stand?

Got Your Armour On?

Breastplate

The breastplate is the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

The breastplate covers the heart, the motives, the desires of our inmost being.

Shoes

The shoes are the preparation of the gospel of peace

The shoes protect our feet, that nothing may impede our carrying out the goal of winning souls for Christ.

Shield

The shield is faith

The shield covers the body and quenches the enemies’ fiery arrows, Satan’s barbs

Helmet

The helmet is our salvation

It protects the mind from spiritual attack

Sword

The Sword is the Spirit is the Word of God

Can be weilded against unbelief, pride, hatred, etc.

The more of the Word you have hidden in your heart, the “bigger” your sword is!

Belt

Having your loins girt about by truth

The belt is the truth of the whole Word, and also it stands for the believer’s integrity.

This truth-belt is what holds the entire ensemble together.

Tale unto ou the whole armor of God, that ye may be abe to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand.

******************************

Ephesians 6:10-20

Ref: Bible Pathway Devotional Dec. 2010

Can God Bless America Again?

Last year for Independence Day our church choir sang a patriotic cantata titled “This Is My America” (By: Steve and Jennifer Hall, Bibletruthmusic.com).  Several other churches across the nation sang the same cantata on that day.  Several choirs from various neighboring states also gathered together to do a combined performance, along with a weekend of old-fashioned tent-revival type preaching.  The focus was on national repentance before God, and praying for our troubled and ailing nation.

I am not ashamed to say I love America and know how honored and blessed I am to have been born here.  I have made it a point to be an informed citizen and voter, one who sends e-mails and makes calls to state and US congressional leaders, and speaks out about the wrongs.  But while learning this cantata and practicing it for several weeks, I was troubled in my spirit about it.  One reason for that is because I have loved the USA so much, my passion and fervor for her was every bit as encompassing as my passion for the Lord.  I had previously wrestled under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that we Americans tend to have our Christianity so deeply intertwined with our Patriotism that we’ve nearly merged the two and begun to forget where one ends and the other begins.  I had to step back and go before the Lord in prayer to help me extricate one from the other and put them in their proper order of priority and place.  There is a danger of our righteous indignation over what’s happening to this nation, becoming an idol.  There is something very wrong as Christians, if we have zeal for saving a nation, but not for saving the lost.  Jesus didn’t die to save America.

All our blessings have been privileges.  I was having trouble with this demanding of our “rights”.  The Constitution and Bill of Rights as our forefathers wrote them, have proven to be the best framework upon which any nation has ever been founded, ever.  It worked.  It was a smashing success as long as we followed it.  The basis was that we had been endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.  All men.  Everywhere.  But these were not mans’ ideas.  The principles this nation was built upon were from God Himself.

That leads me to the other reason I was troubled in doing this Cantata.  Because the underlying purpose in this undertaking, by the pastors who initiated it (it was several years in the planning), was to seek God’s blessing for America again.  I have mourned, prayed, and fasted personally in repentance for America, and still I am so grieved at our sinfulness, that I was having a really hard time “looking God in the eye” with a straight face and having the unmitigated gall to ask Him to bless us, after all the blessings we have already so heedlessly squandered.

Do I believe America is experiencing judgment right now?  Not necessarily.  But I do know from my own sinful past, that when we choose to go our way and follow our sinful inclinations, God will let us do so, but we forfeit His protecting hand over us for as long as we persist in that pursuit.

It’s a fine mess we find ourselves in.

Can we in good conscience, ask for His blessing at this point?  I was, a year ago, inclined suppose that depends on the tenderness of your individual conscience.  But I have come to realize that is not, at all, the determining factor.  I think my study of the Old Testament over these past few months has something to do with that.  I “watched” anew, as Israel went astray over and over, and read of God’s grace and mercy, so undeserved and unmerited.  When Jesus said forgive seventy times seven, God had already set that example for us.  Is repentance a key ingredient?  Yes.  Because of another principle established in the Bible, and that is, “Don’t throw your pearls before swine”.  The value of precious jewels is lost on a pig!

And I fear that the value of what we had and are throwing away with both hands, is lost on a lot of Americans.

The unfathomable wonderful news is this:  God’s mercy and compassion and longsuffering are greater than our capacity to take them for granted.

I picked up this months “Sword of the Lord” newspaper at church last night and read the article which was the inspiration for this post.  Dr. Shelton Smith had somewhat to say on the question, in his article entitled “Can God Bless Our Country Once Again?”  His simple, believing answer was an incredulous and unequivocal “Of course He can! Absolutely, positively, He can!”

He went on to say that “the full flood of Heaven’s blessing can come only when God’s conditions are met“.

These are the conditions Dr. Smith enumerated:

Recognition of God.  Give Him place! Listen to what He says and follow it!

Realization of our sinful state. We are sinners, weak and unable on our own, to be what we ought to be! (Know our place)*

Regeneration.  That’s salvation.  It’s neither religion nor reform!

Righteousness.  “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”–I Pet. 2:9 (This speaks to Christians in America and our responsibility to honor God.  If we do so as individuals, we do so as a nation)*

Reconciliation.  You cannot stay at odds with God and expect His blessing to be flooded upon you.

Revival.  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.–II Chron. 7:14

*parenthesis mine

Now, to be honest with you, that last verse was one of the reasons I struggled with the cantata.  It was the verse the whole conference and “This is My America” rally were predicated upon.  But it is written to the nation of Israel in scripture.  God has a covenant with Israel.  There is no such covenant with America.

However, through out scripture, God tells us He is no respecter of persons, is the same today, yesterday and forever, and clearly establishes spiritual laws.  So even though America is not Israel, the principle still applies.  It applies to nations the same as to individual people.

When we repent, (that is to have a change of thinking, to stop believing what we want to about ourselves–that we are good people and fine the way we are–and instead believe what God says about us in His word: All have sinned. AND, when we stop believing whatever we want to believe about God, and instead believe what He tells us about Himself in His word), then God can bless us again.  If we know who God really is, instead of scrappling together a version of “god” of our own imagination, then we will fear him.  Not in a cowering, cringing way, just the way a child “fears” the ire and wrath of a loving but firm parent.  Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom–Prov. 9:10  The beginning!  No matter how “wise” we think we are as a person or as a nation, we have not even begun to have wisdom if there is no fear of the Lord in us.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man–Romans 1:22-23a

Dr. Smith concludes His article with these inspirational words:

We Must Not!

We must not surrender to the enemy!

We must not become monastic and hide ourselves from view!

We must not be intimidated and fearful!

We must not be discouraged and disillusioned!

We must not be sidetracked by the myriad of clamoring voices!

We must not give up, back off, or cave in!

We must not quit until the trumpet sounds!

But we Must!

Therefore, in pursuit of God’s anointing and His blessing upon us,

We must be at our posts of duty early and late.

We must herald the truth of God’s Word fully and fervently!

We must stand up in our hostile world to be counted for the Saviour.

We must build strong local churches all across the nation!

We must train our people to walk with God, serve Him daily and to win souls.

We must delight ourselves in obedience and give ourselves in sacrifice wholeheartedly.

We must keep ourselves in position for the blessing to be poured out to us day by day by day.

******(End of Dr. Smith’s article  content)

Let me ask you something.  Have you ever given a dog a bath, or washed the hair of a squirming toddler?  You can’t pour the water over them from 20 feet away.  You have to be over them.  They have to be under the stream of water you are pouring.

If we want God’s blessing, we have to be UNDER GOD.  Just like that dusty old Pledge of Alliance says.  Well, what do you know!

It’s Really Not That Complicated

Life’s circumstances can be overwhelming.

As human beings we often follow a convoluted path through our challenges, demands and finding the answers to our questions.

God is certainly complex, but His solutions are actually very simple.

The simple truth of Christian living is this:

There is only one day.  (That’s today).

There is only one God.  (The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the great I Am)

There is only one way to God (through Jesus)

There is only one course of action God requires for every single obstacle and question you face (Converse with God)

Conversing with God consists of two parts, hearing Him, and speaking to Him.

Hear God by studying His Word

Speak to God about everything by petition, praise, and always with thanksgiving.

Abiding by these things will simplify the complicated, soothe the anxious heart, and declutter the troubled mind.  Apply it to whatever is troubling you today, and see what a difference it makes.

If you don”t know what to do about some specific thing, you can at least do what you know to do.  If you do what you know to do, you’ll be surprised how other things will fall into place!   Study your Bible and pray!

Simple prayer for today:

“Lord, please make me what I ought to be, and please prepare me for what You know lies ahead of me.  In Jesus name, Amen”.

 

 A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. –Proverbs 16:9

We Can Only Imagine!

There are few pastor who will preach on Revelation today, or any of the other prophecy books, for that matter.  Sadly it is because most of the seminaries have become so liberal that they have dismissed the entire book as figurative language or do not even offer courses on it at all.  This has resulted in confusion, in “private interpretation”, which the scripture prohibits: (2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost).

Even less-spoken of from the pulpit, is what happens after the tribulation.  The Millennial reign of Christ on Earth.  Again, there is much mis-interpretation of this as well.  The so-called prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation would have you to believe we are living in that 1000 year “reign of Christ” and that He is reigning through the church.  But the Bible doesn’t teach that.  The Bible says Christ will come back and rule with a rod of iron for 1o00 years physically on this Earth.  (Revelation 2:27, Psalm 2:6-9)

I have been studying prophecy for 3 years now.  Not for the sake of teaching, but for my own understanding.  I often lie in bed at night and contemplate the things I have studied and read.  I like to go to sleep meditating on these things.   When Jesus comes “for His own” at the rapture, we will go up to heaven with him.  While we are there, (outside of time) the 7 years of tribulation will take place here on Earth.  At the end of that 7 years Jesus will come back “with His own”, (that’s us) on white horses (Revelation 19:14) to defeat the remaining rebellious armies of the Earth.  His feet will literally touch down on the Mt. of Olives.  (Acts 1:11, Zechariah 14:4) Note: When the scripture uses the phrase “fine linen” it is always in association with/or reference to royalty or someone or something that is consecrated unto God, like the priests, the temple, or as a”type” of the Bride of Christ the church.  Even in Proverbs 31 which gives us the template for what makes a “Godly Wife”, it sets the example for the role of a wife in an Earthly marriage, but also for the church. (See also Ex: 39, Luke 16:19)

I hope that most of God’s people look forward with great anticipation to the day when we will be caught away out of this corrupt world to forever be with the Lord.  However, I think we also all go through, to varying degrees, a sort of mourning over the hopes and dreams we had for this life, which we may not see come to pass.  One of the things I had always hoped to do was to travel, see more of God’s creation.  Well, it occurred to me while I was daydreaming about the things “that come hereafter” that since we do come back with Jesus for the millennium, I will still have the chance to do that traveling.  Better yet, I’ll get to do so in my glorified body.  Do you realize what that means?  No planes, trains, or automobiles, and endless miles to travel.  When we see Him we shall be like Him.  (I John 3:2). He appeared, from place to place, at will after His resurrection.  We could see the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China, whisk over to stand on the craggy cliffs of Scotland, all in one day.  And what’s more, God will have removed the curse from the Earth.  Now, granted, there will have been some changes, (Isaiah 40:4) but it will be even better than it is now.

There will still be people in human flesh on this Earth when we return to rule and reign with Jesus.  Those who survive the tribulation will go on to have children and repopulate the Earth.  Generation after generation for a thousand years.  They will live a long time like they did in the days of Methuselah and Noah, still considered a”child” at 100 years old. (Isaiah 65:20).

After the thousand years there will be a final rebellion when Satan is loosed again for a time, a final judgment, Hell and Death and Satan and all demons and devils will be cast into outer darkness forever, and God will create the new Heavens and the New Earth, and the New Jerusalem will come down out of Heaven.  Earth (specifically Israel) will be the eternal dwelling place of the Jews and the New Jerusalem will be the eternal dwelling place of the Church, (though perhaps there will be freedom to travel between one and the other)    (See Revelation 20:7,14, Revelation 21: 8  I recommend you read all of both chapters).

Other than the little bit of insight the Bible provides into the conditions here during the Millennium, we can only imagine the rest of it, just like we can only imagine heaven.  And both are certain to far surpass anything we could dream up.  Like everything God does, He has His reasons for leaving out those details and I’m fairly certain He knows our imaginations tend to fill in the blanks.  (Don’t go overboard, though, the Bible also warns about “vain imaginations”).

Just like the anticipation and guessing that goes on at Christmas, about the gifts under the tree,  dwelling on the possibilities is all a part of the pleasure leading up to the actuality.   Unlike the gifts under the tree, however, these future surprises will not, indeed cannot disappoint! But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  I Corinthians 2:9  (Isaiah 11, 35, and 65 all describe the Earth during Christ’s millennial reign.)

Isn’t that exciting?  If you are in any wise discouraged over the conditions of the mess this present world is currently in, why not spend a little time pondering your glorious future! Here are a couple of links to some awesome artwork (copyrighted) that will help you visualize some of these exciting “coming events”!

Artist Pat Marvenko Smith’s “ Revelation Illustrated” Gallery

Pat’s Other Artwork

Refiner’s Fire

The Refiners Fire

There are times and periods in the Christian life when God runs our faith through the fire.  Back in Bible times bottles were made of skins.  The skins were smoke-cured and preserved via the process.  Gold and other precious metals are purified by super-heated fire, where the dross can be skimmed off.

When God puts our faith through the smoke and the fire, it is not a “test” in the sense we think of.  He doesn’t have to “test” our faith to know how resilient and strong (or weak) it is.  He is also not necessarily doing it to prove to us how strong or weak it is either.  He is doing it to solidify that faith.  Make it fixed and firm and pure and strong.   While in the process it is not pleasant.  It can be down right painful.  It chafes and can make you cranky and irritable and moody.

But ultimately there is always a “coming out on the other side”.  Everything “comes to pass” eventually.

Life is like that.  We like it when rough times end and we get to enjoy some smooth-sailing for a while.  Everyone looks forward to the smooth sailing.  But it is during the easier times that we screw up, let our guard down, become complacent.  All in all, I have come to the point in my life where I realize that I am so prone to that complacency, that God pretty much has to keep the hurdles, trials and challenges coming consistently, just to keep me out of trouble.   Don’t know what that says about me.  I guess it’s the nature of being human.  We can be so very faithless and quickly forget the last thing God saw us through as soon as we enter the current storm.

Thank goodness God knows our frame and substance.  We don’t ever disappoint Him, because He knew before we faltered, that we would.

Thank goodness, too, that God is merciful and patient and long-suffering with His children and is faithful to complete the good work He has begun in each of us.

The Christian walk can so often feel like that movie “Groundhog Day” where the guy just kept re-living the same day over and over until he finally learned some things.  Somehow we fail to “get it” so we get “held back” and have to repeat that course.

I recently watched a show on the military channel about the Green Beret selection process.  These men and women went through 2 weeks of grueling drills, sleep deprivation, extreme weather, marches, obstacle courses, and each time they passed a challenge and thought they could let up and take a breather, the next challenge came and was only that much more demanding.  But in the end, the handful who were left standing, were the best of the best and each and every one of them had attained a distinction that set them apart among their peers.  And that only earned them the privilege of entering the year-long Green Beret program, not the coveted Green Beret itself.

See, God is not interested in merely recruiting us.  He has plans for what He wants to make of us.  And ultimately those who will prevail in the end will be those who refuse to quit.  Those who choose to submit to God’s process, and go on with Him wherever He in His wisdom, chooses to take them.  Those are the ones God will make something of.

I don’t know about you, but I just want to reach that potential.  I want to be what it is God has in mind to make me into.  Whatever it takes.  Whatever He requires me to endure, I trust Him.  Even when it hurts.  Even when I can’t even begin to envision where He is going.  I trust Him.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6)