Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Heb 11:1, 17-19
The nature of faith is this: to regard the promise as certain, to hold as a certainty the impossible, to dare to hope in the face of resignation.
To exercise faith in the face of impossibilities is to acknowledge and exercise the divine nature of Christ within, the hope of glory. It is said without faith it is impossible to please God, can anything be more true? It is faith in Christ that saves us, and it is our faith in Christ that moves the very heart of God to action.
The temptation of resignation is a strong elixir. It teaches us to be stoics and bear under pressure. But that pressure will destroy, making dust the coal of the furnace. NO faith is active, it does not endure the pressure but exercises it to work out that salvation, to bring out that God nature, to say I in Him and able to do all things, to endure all things, to suffer all things, and to forbear with love all things.
No faith is not a hope in the peace of resignation, faith is the active heart cry of a trues son's nature. That says, "this, this faith is the proof of all my hope: not the surrender of my dreams."
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Psalm 38
Psalm 38
1O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.
3There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.
4For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
6I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
7For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
9Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
10My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
11My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
12They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.
13But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.
14Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.
16For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.
17For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.
18For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.
19But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
20They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.
21Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.
22Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation
There is nothing hid; why should there be? There is nothing unknowable. Hold fast when they arrows stick; let them fell your pride. He will not break you.
Declare yourself to him, be your most base in his presence. He sees your heart, he is not set to judge, but to make righteous.
Let go of the sin, let its confession escape your lips and be made whole.
1O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.
3There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.
4For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
6I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
7For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
9Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
10My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
11My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
12They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.
13But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.
14Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.
16For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.
17For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.
18For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.
19But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
20They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.
21Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.
22Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation
There is nothing hid; why should there be? There is nothing unknowable. Hold fast when they arrows stick; let them fell your pride. He will not break you.
Declare yourself to him, be your most base in his presence. He sees your heart, he is not set to judge, but to make righteous.
Let go of the sin, let its confession escape your lips and be made whole.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Rebuild the Temple
Ezra, chapters 5 & 6, why? because the Lord pointed me to them.
Rebuild the temple, cast your burdens on him and set you hands to the work he has called you to do.
In this passage of scripture work had begun on the temple that had been destroyed during the Babylonian conquest. And as the work progresses, some people wrote to the king of Persia and asked him to check his notes, just to make sure he and his ancestors really meant to let these pesky jews rebuild their temple.
The Lord has called us to repentance. He has called us to take upon ourselves his yoke, to let him do the work of building and rebuilding our temples. But you see all to often we allow ourselves to be the ones who send out letters asking if we really should be building the temple.
We keep sending out letters looking for the cause of guilt that will keep us from moving forward. We keep saying to ourselves, "I had betters study a little more to see if I really should be working."
But praise God he takes us, he lifts us, and he does the work even while we are waiting. You see these jews didn't wait until all the letters came back saying they had all the right contracts. They knew they did. They just kept working and let God establish his will.
So here is what I have to do. I have to keep working. I have to do what I know.I have to rebuild my temple. I have to trust that as I do the work he takes care of all the details. So why should I worry about them when he doesn't?
Rebuild the temple, cast your burdens on him and set you hands to the work he has called you to do.
In this passage of scripture work had begun on the temple that had been destroyed during the Babylonian conquest. And as the work progresses, some people wrote to the king of Persia and asked him to check his notes, just to make sure he and his ancestors really meant to let these pesky jews rebuild their temple.
The Lord has called us to repentance. He has called us to take upon ourselves his yoke, to let him do the work of building and rebuilding our temples. But you see all to often we allow ourselves to be the ones who send out letters asking if we really should be building the temple.
We keep sending out letters looking for the cause of guilt that will keep us from moving forward. We keep saying to ourselves, "I had betters study a little more to see if I really should be working."
But praise God he takes us, he lifts us, and he does the work even while we are waiting. You see these jews didn't wait until all the letters came back saying they had all the right contracts. They knew they did. They just kept working and let God establish his will.
So here is what I have to do. I have to keep working. I have to do what I know.I have to rebuild my temple. I have to trust that as I do the work he takes care of all the details. So why should I worry about them when he doesn't?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
This is the generation
Psalm 24
1 The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
2 For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that has clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek your face, O Jacob. Selah.
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be you lift up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; even lift them up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
Accept no substitutes. We claim we want the best, but we settle for the first. We claim we want all removed except for him, but we cling to the dust.
If we want God's best, we must demand his best. But more than this we accept nothing other than him. "This is the generation that seeks him." This is the generation that says enough! I want the truth, Jesus I want the truth. I want to know you, not about you. I want you not messages and books about you. I want you not trendy sermons and heart salves. I want you! I want you! I want you!
We are all faced with choices. And here is mine, I want the truth. I'm tired of chasing fruit that is only dust in the mouth. People with answers, who don't know the one who speaks them. I want the truth. I want to know why I hurt, I want to know their is pain. I don't want to know someone's enlightened opinion. I want to know what it means to be all in all.
I am weak, my flesh is brought low. But in all this I see only one thing. This is the generation that seeks him. My friends, we must seek him. We must seek him because he is truth. He isn't a twelve step program, He isn't a book. He is I am. HE is the word made flesh. Seek him though it kills you. Seek him though it cost you everything you have.
The lord may not demand of you your goods, your family, your friends, but be assured of this. When you seek him all other things become tasteless clay until you find him. All other things become lifeless caricatures until his light fills us to see.
I know there are those who say, "I see God in everything." But I would say this to them, don't just look at the shadows. Don't be content to see the evidences of his work, demand him! If he has said he will be your all in all, demand it.
God put eternity in men's hearts, he says so in Ecclesiastes. But he said he did so so men would never be satisfied and would never see what he was doing from start to finish. I'm fine with this. I know the world will spin regardless of my seeing it. But I want the creator. I want more than life, I want the creator of life.
Don't settle, don't let your hearts grow cold, don't be satisfied. And for goodness sakes, don't look for another retreat! Charge, charge towards his heart. Beg to seek. Beg for him to break, so that no substitute will heal the wound.
Jesus said he came that he may show men the Father. Well, take him at his word! Look at the Father, ask for eyes to see. Ask for words to praise, ask that the cold hard soil of your heart be broken so that it can receive the still small words that fall like seeds.
This is the generation that seeks Him!!! Seek him, seek him, seek him! And when you do! when you know you do, when your heart bears witness that you do. Raise your eyes and see the king of glory enter!!!
1 The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
2 For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that has clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek your face, O Jacob. Selah.
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be you lift up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; even lift them up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
Accept no substitutes. We claim we want the best, but we settle for the first. We claim we want all removed except for him, but we cling to the dust.
If we want God's best, we must demand his best. But more than this we accept nothing other than him. "This is the generation that seeks him." This is the generation that says enough! I want the truth, Jesus I want the truth. I want to know you, not about you. I want you not messages and books about you. I want you not trendy sermons and heart salves. I want you! I want you! I want you!
We are all faced with choices. And here is mine, I want the truth. I'm tired of chasing fruit that is only dust in the mouth. People with answers, who don't know the one who speaks them. I want the truth. I want to know why I hurt, I want to know their is pain. I don't want to know someone's enlightened opinion. I want to know what it means to be all in all.
I am weak, my flesh is brought low. But in all this I see only one thing. This is the generation that seeks him. My friends, we must seek him. We must seek him because he is truth. He isn't a twelve step program, He isn't a book. He is I am. HE is the word made flesh. Seek him though it kills you. Seek him though it cost you everything you have.
The lord may not demand of you your goods, your family, your friends, but be assured of this. When you seek him all other things become tasteless clay until you find him. All other things become lifeless caricatures until his light fills us to see.
I know there are those who say, "I see God in everything." But I would say this to them, don't just look at the shadows. Don't be content to see the evidences of his work, demand him! If he has said he will be your all in all, demand it.
God put eternity in men's hearts, he says so in Ecclesiastes. But he said he did so so men would never be satisfied and would never see what he was doing from start to finish. I'm fine with this. I know the world will spin regardless of my seeing it. But I want the creator. I want more than life, I want the creator of life.
Don't settle, don't let your hearts grow cold, don't be satisfied. And for goodness sakes, don't look for another retreat! Charge, charge towards his heart. Beg to seek. Beg for him to break, so that no substitute will heal the wound.
Jesus said he came that he may show men the Father. Well, take him at his word! Look at the Father, ask for eyes to see. Ask for words to praise, ask that the cold hard soil of your heart be broken so that it can receive the still small words that fall like seeds.
This is the generation that seeks Him!!! Seek him, seek him, seek him! And when you do! when you know you do, when your heart bears witness that you do. Raise your eyes and see the king of glory enter!!!
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Take Strength in the Journey
Psalm 38:10
My heart throbs, my strength fails me; And the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me.
Psa 38:12
Those who seek my life lay snares {for me;} And those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction, And they devise treachery all day long
Psa 38:21
Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.
Psa 38:22
Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.
There are times when you don't feel you can go any further. You feel like each step weighs more than the last, even though you should be rested. You see your dreams falling all around you as you march on towards some unseen and undisclosed location. It hurts, I won't lie, and the more aggressive you steps the harder the ground seems to meet you.
I can think of nothing more painful than feeling alone. Nothing that steals away your strength than feeling like you are the only one fighting against yourself and the world you inhabit.
But take comfort in this. You are not the only one who has been here, in this place of utter failings. Where the world seems to stop and everything and everyone you love is stripped away. A place where food becomes tasteless and all pleasure becomes an artificial way to waste time.
The Lord is a hard master, he demands our all. He takes, he strips, he wounds, He destroys. I would like to sit here and say he only takes the bad, but that would be a lie. He takes everything that is not him, if even just for a season. He is in essence the most selfish being imaginable.
So why run towards this selfish desire, why cry out in the night, break me and take all I am? Why say, "you are enough," to one that takes all you have? leaving you the pot ash of your existence.
We cry because he is the only thing that is real.
We cry break me, because he is the only one whose rod is worthy of the task. We lay bear our chests to his wounds because he laid out his whole being to bring us into himself.
You see the lord demands of us himself that is within us. His holiness demands a complete setting aside of all we are and all we have; a complete exposure of his son. He is selfish, because he is holy and all we bring to him is our testimony of the breaking, and power of the blood of the lamb.
So if you are at that point, where the light of your eyes grows dim and your strength is failing. I Would say this, let them go, you've held on to long. Your eyes aren't worth the seeing, and your strength will never move a mountain.
Let affliction do its work. let the breaking expose the bone. When the psalmist cries out lord you are my only good thing. He means it. All else is removed.
If you ask, the Lord will break you, you will cry, you will want to quite, and you will think him the greatest evil you have known. But let me assure you of this, we can by faith be assured that when our eyes grow dim his light will shine the brightest through them, and when our strength fails, he will move the mountain, and when all is striped away, forcibly if needs be; he will be there our all in all.
My heart throbs, my strength fails me; And the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me.
Psa 38:12
Those who seek my life lay snares {for me;} And those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction, And they devise treachery all day long
Psa 38:21
Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.
Psa 38:22
Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.
There are times when you don't feel you can go any further. You feel like each step weighs more than the last, even though you should be rested. You see your dreams falling all around you as you march on towards some unseen and undisclosed location. It hurts, I won't lie, and the more aggressive you steps the harder the ground seems to meet you.
I can think of nothing more painful than feeling alone. Nothing that steals away your strength than feeling like you are the only one fighting against yourself and the world you inhabit.
But take comfort in this. You are not the only one who has been here, in this place of utter failings. Where the world seems to stop and everything and everyone you love is stripped away. A place where food becomes tasteless and all pleasure becomes an artificial way to waste time.
The Lord is a hard master, he demands our all. He takes, he strips, he wounds, He destroys. I would like to sit here and say he only takes the bad, but that would be a lie. He takes everything that is not him, if even just for a season. He is in essence the most selfish being imaginable.
So why run towards this selfish desire, why cry out in the night, break me and take all I am? Why say, "you are enough," to one that takes all you have? leaving you the pot ash of your existence.
We cry because he is the only thing that is real.
We cry break me, because he is the only one whose rod is worthy of the task. We lay bear our chests to his wounds because he laid out his whole being to bring us into himself.
You see the lord demands of us himself that is within us. His holiness demands a complete setting aside of all we are and all we have; a complete exposure of his son. He is selfish, because he is holy and all we bring to him is our testimony of the breaking, and power of the blood of the lamb.
So if you are at that point, where the light of your eyes grows dim and your strength is failing. I Would say this, let them go, you've held on to long. Your eyes aren't worth the seeing, and your strength will never move a mountain.
Let affliction do its work. let the breaking expose the bone. When the psalmist cries out lord you are my only good thing. He means it. All else is removed.
If you ask, the Lord will break you, you will cry, you will want to quite, and you will think him the greatest evil you have known. But let me assure you of this, we can by faith be assured that when our eyes grow dim his light will shine the brightest through them, and when our strength fails, he will move the mountain, and when all is striped away, forcibly if needs be; he will be there our all in all.
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