The faith of doing.

Is your faith weak? Then who do you have to blame but yourself? It's ok, no need to be discouraged. But own your responsibility. If you are fat it's your fault, you control what you eat. If you are lazy, it's also your fault, own it. But now that the pity party is over change it. Exercise your faith and get rid of the doubt, just like you exercise your body to gain strength and get rid of fat.

Faith is doing, it's an action not a revelation. Stop praying for revelation, start exercising it. Continually through the scriptures the lord exhorts us to make strong feeble hands, not to sit and do nothing.

When faith comes act on it, put the fear out of your head and exercise it before the moment is gone. If you don't how do you expect things to change? If you're fat and you cry about it and don't use the feet you have to walk, can you really expect a change?

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God

Psalm 13

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

    ¹How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
         How long will You hide Your face from me?
    ²How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
         Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
         How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
    ³Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
         Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
    ⁴And my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
         And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
    ⁵But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
         My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
    ⁶I will sing to the LORD,
         Because He has dealt bountifully with me.


When you feel discouraged. When you feel alone. Don't worry, you're not the only one who has felt this way. You're not the only one whose heart has cried out, "where is so great a salvation?"


I think the verse that strikes me to the core is "How long shall I take council in my own soul?" Have you ever felt this way? How many times do we simply lock ourselves away to think, to plot out courses to find our solutions, our own happiness? I do this, I receive my own council readily, I weigh in the balance every option and never find peace in any conclusion.


The Lord is drawing us towards that which is simple, that which is eternal, and that which satisfies; his person. 


When you find yourself in these times, cling to what the psalmist discovers, cling to his heart cry. He shouts as we all do whether we realize it or not, "consider my heart cry!" or rather "Lord please don't forget me!" No dear ones, you are not forgotten, he will enlighten your eyes.


"But i have trusted in your loving-kindness" here is our part, trust. Faith is built on trust, not in ideas, but in a person. The cry is to "My Lord, My God." The temptation is to believe he is not ours, that we are apart from him. Don't forget the words of Christ, his prayer to the father. That we might know we are in Him and he in the father and the father and he in us. Here is the salvation in which we rejoice. We are not separate, we need not seek our own council continually, we only need trust in Him. 


So open your mouth and praise him. In times of loneliness and confusion confess out loud those simple truths you do know, those realities that supersede all emotion. He is our God, and he has delt bountifully with us. 

I have a message from God in my heart...

Psalm 36^[a]

    For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD.

 ¹ I have a message from God in my heart
   concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:^[b]
There is no fear of God
   before their eyes.

 ² In their own eyes they flatter themselves
   too much to detect or hate their sin.
³ The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;
   they fail to act wisely or do good.
⁴ Even on their beds they plot evil;
   they commit themselves to a sinful course
   and do not reject what is wrong.

 ⁵ Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the skies.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
   your justice like the great deep.
   You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.
⁷ How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
   People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house;
   you give them drink from your river of delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light.

 ¹⁰ Continue your love to those who know you,
   your righteousness to the upright in heart.
¹¹ May the foot of the proud not come against me,
   nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
¹² See how the evildoers lie fallen—
   thrown down, not able to rise!

I'm too smart to do this, but here I am. What is peace my friends? I've spent a lot of time dwelling on this idea, perhaps too much. I'm a creature of habit, I like my routines. I love coffee in the morning and knowing someone loves me, and knowing someone will hurt because they care for me.

"I have a message from God in my heart." 

That still small voice. That voice which reminds me of my need in the depth of my rationalizations, my explanations, my willful desire to be free of accountability. I'm not here to judge, I'm not here to say stop sinning. What use is that?


I long for peace. to close my eyes at night and rest...


"there is no fear of God before their eyes." Those stupid sinners, if they would just get right with Jesus this world would be a better place. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Dumb, that's quite simply a dumb thing to say, because I'm a believer, I'm right with Jesus and I still have a lot of "right" to be doing.


I think its right to say I flatter myself too much. I can think myself out of any hole, lie my way into any explanation, but I can't hide from the light. I can't hide from the light that sees light. 


So great a salvation, we neglect so great a salvation. I've neglected it, and if you're honest with yourself you have to. No I'm not judging you, this is not a call to righteousness. I'm not the holy spirit.


This is a call away from self delusion. I'm guilty of it, why should I say otherwise? I own my behavior, no one else does. Nobody forces any of my actions.


I have been told to do a thing and it hurts, it hurts because it's familiar as all old friends are. I know every thought and every way of the beast. I can explain  its actions, I can see where it goes, I know in my heart it's motivation, but I posses no justification. 


Perhaps, I think myself to complicated, to exceptional. I can change it! I'm a believer I can redeem this! I can show forgiveness! In me a light will be seen!
What a fool's errand.


Yes I'm a fool. I'm a fool for listening to my rationalizations rather than my maker. The Lord hates. Yes, you read that. He is not all love. Shocking I know. He hates because he loves. He is not duplicitous in love as I am, no he is singular in motivation. His love is everlasting and sees past temporal logic. 


My friends, you find yourself confused, you find yourself down, you find yourself saying where is my salvation?! 


I'm laughing...I'm laughing because I am with you. I am laughing because the answer is so simple. We don't want to listen. Don't get mad at me for saying so. And don't look for some deeper meaning. The promises of God are yes and no. How much simpler could it be.


Love is clear, love casts out fear. Why? because it is as simple as yes and no. There is no argument, there are no grey areas between yes and no. 


"they plot an evil course on their bed" I am guilty. Why because I look to justify. I look to my explanations of simple truths, my yes is maybe, my no...perhaps. 


No the evil is not I shall kill and deceive, but.... I know.


I simply must shift. I must yes or no. If yes requires rationalization, it is no. And if no the weight of all my being and mental strength...


Peace is simple, love is simple. Such are these that no argument can come against them. His love, his love for me has no conditions, no arguments save yes I do. If he says to let go, let go. Let be, let it be. His words are simple, I should let my actions be too. 

Neglecting so great a salvation.

How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Hebrews 2:3

I know the majority of those who read this verse think of unbelievers who neglect the salvation of the lord, but I have no mind for that tonight. I suppose I have a much more selfish ambition in my mental wanderings.

Intimacy, what happens to us when we as believers neglect such an intimacy with the Christ?

I was driving the other day and I realized so many men are chasing power. We seek the lord to control his might power, that somehow through our prayers we can tame the lion of Judah and bend him to our will while all the while we confess to ourselves I am serving this beast I contain.

But power is nothing. If my heart craves the lord's power I've damned my ownself as a fool.

No the presence of the Lord is what I must crave. But how many times do I neglect such a salvation? I forsake him, I hear and preach his message, but I forsake him. I crave his power, but I hide from his presence.

Intimacy with the lord is accepting his presence, it's allowing his light to shine and light my eyes. It's meeting him on his terms and seeking his face as my vital need.

In the words of the Psalmist..."you said to me seek my face, your face o lord will I seek."

When did we lose sight of this revelation? That the deep seated desire for power stems from a craving to know his presence as our own? Do we feel that if we master his power as our own we are free of the loneliness of absence?

I cannot ignore any longer this sin so embedded in my heart. I'll call it a sin, I see no other name for it.

Intimacy with the lord is your vital need, there is no escape. Christ said if I be lifted up I will draw all men to me. He is lifted up in an embrace, offering his person. I cannot ignore his face any longer while seeking his guidance. If his eyes burn me till I know my every weakness I can no longer look away.

The disciples said to Christ, "to who else shall we go? you have the words of life." This is the fervor I need, I cannot run to doctrine to thoughts, to prayer. I must first run to him, hunger for his presence above all and through that hunger learn to be satisfied with the bread he offers of his own person. Before I seek any petition I must first seek his face.

I must address my intimacy with the savior and my desperate need for his presence above any other need.

The Unfolding of your words give light

Psalm 119

פ Pe

¹²⁹ Your statutes are wonderful;
therefore I obey them.
¹³⁰ The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple.
¹³¹ I open my mouth and pant,
longing for your commands.
¹³² Turn to me and have mercy on me,
as you always do to those who love your name.
¹³³ Direct my footsteps according to your word;
let no sin rule over me.
¹³⁴ Redeem me from human oppression,
that I may obey your precepts.
¹³⁵ Make your face shine on your servant
and teach me your decrees.
¹³⁶ Streams of tears flow from my eyes,
for your law is not obeyed.

I have been thinking a lot about this particular verse:

Psalm 13:3

"Consider and answer me, O Jehovah my God: lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death:"

I do not think I am alone in saying this, but depression is something in which I am prone to wander. I tend to wonder in my own thoughts and let the molehills become mountains, I let my inner doubts and calculations dictate the light of my life and it shows. You know you are around someone who thinks to much when there seems to be a dull haze that fills their eyes. There is life there certainly, but it is far from appealing.

I could give a thousand reasons to pick oneself up from the bootstraps, to change modes of thinking, to focus on the positive, but in the end too many of these fail. Because the truth of the matter is this, where there is no light there is no life.

So how does one address this issue? Are we alone in these feelings?

The psalmist cries and I find myself joining his his cry. "Consider and answer me," haven't we all prayed this? Haven't we all at some point thrown our hands up in exhaustion and said hear me now! I could give biblical examples, but in the end they are just that, examples. Here, in these words, I am asking have you reached this point. The point at which your own honestly compels you to cry out, "Hear me and answer me now." The point where you stop seeking others to bear you up and change your thoughts. Hear my and answer me, Jehovah, my God.

Jehovah my God, what a phrase that is to read. Hear me now, Jehovah, my God. In a very real sense, it is to lay all down and cry out to my God and my God alone, not to men, not to circumstances, not to an opaque deity, but to my God. This is to recognize He is our own, a recognition of his authority, and his willingness to aid us.

"Lest I sleep the sleep of death" have we reached this point? Do we know in our bodies, not just our minds what is the need of a savior; the need of having my God. I don't want to scratch lightly this issue. It is one thing to know you need help mentally, it is another completely to have this need become the hunger of your being, mind body and soul.

The psalmist cries lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Give me life, give me your person or I die! This cry is the ultimate confession that all in life is vain unless it is true life, given not obtained.

So now I arrive back at my initial psalm, "The unfolding of your words gives life." Do I know, do we know the full depth of these words?

We like quick fixes, quick answers, quick solutions and I'm hear to say we have these. But receiving and answer and following through on the solution or two different matters.

The Lord says in this passage the unfolding of his word gives life. I must cling to this answer, I must pursue this word. I must as these verses go on to say long for the decrees of the lord. I am not here advocating ideas of commandments, but rather a person. Christ, the beginning and the word made flesh.

Why do we fail when the light has left our eyes? We fail because we look to decrees to give us life, we look towards our own understandings, our own interpretations. Stop it! I must stop it! Christ himself is the unfolding word. This is not to discount the others, not by any means, but it to shift our focus to the power of the author. His words are our life, take them as such. Lean on his person to unfold and reveal himself, his holy spirit to guide and comfort. Stop believing that by reading enough, praying enough, and confessing enough things will change. Start believing first and foremost, believe not just that Christ is able, but is willing, that he is! Only then, when based on a foundation of belief, will reading the word, praying, and confessing his truth bear fruit.

Arise shine for the light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon us. Do we have a realization of this truth or do we hope for it? I have spent to much time trying to wrap my head around the idea of a light shinning on me and where has this lead me? only to further darkness. Why? because I don't turn to that light, I just try to understand it. I look to the promise of peace without a relationship with its author.

So here I am now, I'm turning away: not from sound council, not from searching the word, but from the excuse of these. The excuse that these give me to not first seek their author, an author who will unfold their truth to me and make this simpleton wise with complete disregard to his own abilities.

The unfolding of your words brings light, I want to know this. I want to know that the unfolding of Christ himself within me brings light to my eyes.

Atrophy in a state of Grace

I Samuel 17

2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.

3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them

8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me...

Matthew 11

12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

It is simply to easy to say the church needs revival. If only only the church would awake. My friends this is the coward's answer to his own hearts cry. He lays this burden at the feet of other's because he too often lacks the conviction to take up the mantle himself. A coward's cry to an idle of hope.

The battle is arrayed. Philistia stands across the valley in full array. My challenges present themselves fully, they don't hide as I would pretend. They are enemies both within myself and without, but they are there. But where am I? I am sitting in the midst of my brethren; safe and comfortable talking of the power of my God, the strength of my convictions. But still I do not move. I am unmoved. I am scared and I am complacent. The side of the Valley on which I camp is still a mountain and to meet my enemy I must cross the valley and take from him what is mine. But I don't cross. I sit and I stare.

So there am I, cold, and still. Arrayed for the battle, given arms, given commission, but still I sit. I sit to afraid to move because my comfort makes me grow small while all the while my hope grows ever stronger because that hope is never tested. My faith is never tried, so why shouldn't it grow stronger in its own convictions?

Faith never tried will atrophy into the vain hopes of a man to afraid to realize what true hope and faith are.

I atrophy. I atrophy in this state of grace where God has said all my promises are yours through my son, Christ Jesus. I atrophy because in my DNA is this new creature, remade into the image of God's own son who rather than join the fight after his hands have been taught to war, sits on one side of the Valley waiting for this great host of the church to rise. But I know unless I lay a hold of the one who is the author of my faith, I will never rise and I will always be looking for a David who is willing to make my faith real, show me what hope really is. I will always look for Gideon to tear down my idles of hope and force me to realize victory.

My heart's cry will never be realized until I stand up as David did and say "who is this....this challenge," and "whose am I."

So today I stand, and I know I am not the only one standing, in the middle of a great host raising cries of hope, but never acting. So today I must change my cry, I must no longer cry to hope, cry to God, but cry out as David did, "I am come in the name of Lord." My faith must become real. My faith must be tried.

The full might of Israel may have been in the army for they are the ones who pursued and crushed the enemy. But the victory of faith was in David, because he stood and rebuked the decay of hopes deferred.

If our God is real and if he is who his promises claim him to be: if my faith is as he said it can be, I must arise and shine for his light has come upon me. I have no more excuses not to run the race and fight the fight of faith. I have no more reasons to build alters to hope, alters that destroy my faith rather than worship the author of the victory.

I need thee every hour.

I Need Thee Every Hour

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

Chorus: I need Thee, O I need Thee;
O I need Thee every hour;
I need you Lord, O bless me now,
My Savior, I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain
I need Thee every hour, teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill
(Repeat Chorus)

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son
(Repeat Chorus)

Though I should beat my fist against these stones and tear against this mountain side, though I bloody my fingers heaping earth upon earth, building habitation upon habitation, I find no rest.

I seek comfort in words, praying and confessing, but all depart as winds before the gale. Empty are my habitations, empty my storehouse.

"I need thee every hour." Do I know the truth of this?

"Have faith!" they exclaim. "Trust and Obey!" they implore. But where are they to say, "know Him?"

We love Jesus, we trust Jesus, but do we know Jesus?

I love my dog, I trust my dog, but I know my dog.

This heart lacks peace, this faith flounders, and this life has no passion because it does not know the man, the Christ. My purpose here is not to discount the others, but to say know him. Know him on which all else hinges.

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. 2For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. 3And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. 4I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.

This is the way, to know him. Know him my soul, know him before you know his peace, know him before you know yourself, know him so you can believe. Because without knowing him, you are not able to have peace, you are not able to live with life.

"I need thee every hour" how true, but seldom heard. I need thee Lord, I need thee. I don't need to prosper, I don't need peace, I don't need to succeed, but I do need thee. "seek first the kingdom,"

seek first the Christ, knock on the door till he bids you enter. Dine with him, drink from his cup and eat his bread.

All other things he will provide. His peace he gives for us to take, his blessings do flow, his supply is our storehouse. But his person, his person is ours and we are to abide in it. WE are to know him. Before all else we need him, we need his person, we need his friendship, his conversation.