In the Midst of the Sea

In the midst of the sea is where you find me held captive and tossed about.  

The inner most chamber of an unlikely source. 

LORD God, now, yes now, Your hand is upon me. With a heavy heart I cried out and You heard me.

I am completely surrendered to You.  

I remembered You in my darkest moments and once again 'saw Your faithfulness.'  My soul fainted within me, remebrance kept me from dying.

Life speaks of excess.

I shall speak of mercy and grace, found only in You. 

Release me my God, not as Your bond servant, but from my bonds that keep me from serving You.  

Salvation is of the LORD.

Touch--Part 02

There is a song we sing at my church every-so-often, called "Spirit Move". It is a simple song, not very long.  Yet, the words within the song convey a longing that every born-again believer in Jesus Christ desires, or has asked at some point after salvation.

                                       Spirit move, in this temple

                                       Spirit move, in my life

                                       Spirit move, I am calling

                                       Spirit move, I am Yours

As I look out at the waters of Lake Irene, I see the early morning mist ebbing across the top of the water,as the sun rises majestically taking its place in the eastern sky.  Surrenity all around.

At one point several thousand years ago the Spirit of God hovered over the waters waiting for God's command to "give life."  Today in my life and quite possibly yours the Spirit is waiting to come in and once again "give us life."  It is the Spirit of God who makes the word of God come alive for me and brings meaning to the words contained in the holy scriptures.  

Lately I have been reading from the prophetic books of the bible and much understanding has been given to me.  But on the flip-side, some passages remain a mystery to me.  I'm ok with that.

Jesus says in John 6:63 "These words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life."

My soul longs for the touch of the Holy One because without Him I have no life.

Just as the Spirit waited in anticipation to come into the waters and give life, so to, do He long to come into me and make me alive.  

Unless I allow the Holy Spirit to do His given work, I shall remain like the waters before His touch "full of potential, yet empty of life."  

God bless.

The Call For Reapers

This morning has been a battle for me.  I struggled in my prayer time, trying to focus my heart on the Lord.  I struggled reading the scriptures because of no direction.  For a few minutes I walked to and from my living room and kitchen in silence hoping for a resolution.  

I asked God to forgive me and sat down to sing a song of praise to Him.  As I looked through my hymnal the Spirit lead me to this song "The Call for Reapers."

I don't recall having heard this song before yet it had the desired effect...peace, and it brought the desired result...perspective.

V.1 Far and near the fields are teaming with the waves of ripened grain; 

      far and near their gold is gleaming over the sunny slope and plain.

      

V.2 Send them forth with morn's first beaming; send them in the noontide's glare

      when the sun's last rays are gleaming , bid them gather everywhere.

V.3 O thou, whom thy Lord is sending, gather now the sheaves of gold;

      Heav'nward then at evening wending, Thou shalt come with joy untold

Chorus:  Lord of harvest, send forth reapers!  Hear us.  Lord, to Thee we cry.

God bless

Just Breathe

Breathe on Me, Breath of God

Fill me with life anew, that I may love what Thou dost love

and do what Thou wouldst do

Until me heart is pure, until with Thee I will one will

to do and to endure

Till I am wholly thine, until this earthly part of me

glows with Thy fire divine

So shall I never die, but live with Thee 

the perfect life of Thine eternity 

Amen.  Amen.  Amen

The Cloud of Knowing

How precious are we in the sight of the LORD?  

The LORD will wash away all of our filth, our sin and shame.  And He will purge the blood, from the actions of our sin, from within our midst.  

The spirit of judgment is making its way across this land and it will fall upon each one of us.  None shall escape.  This judgment comes because we have turned away from THE GOD who created us and the world we live in, and turned to gods of our own making and the god of this world Satan.  Times are changing, and with it the hearts of mankind.  

Consumation will be our end.  Those who choose to stay in their sin will be consumed by that sin.

Sin, when fed and nurtured, becomes like a small spark in a very dry forest.  We as a nation have turned from hearing the voice of God, namely our conscience.  We intellectualize our reasons and compromise our beliefs, therefore nullifying any morality we have and causing a famine of the spirit.

Amos 8:11-12 "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD GOD, "That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.  They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but shall not find it."  

Are thes words true of today?  You better believe they are.  

The fires, floods, droughts, diseases, tornadoes, hurricanes are the tell-tell signs of this coming famine.

All that we hold dear will become as the withering grass and fade away.

Take heart people of this earth, for God has made a way of escape.  His name is Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus is the only hope for mankind.  Not for the physical things of this world, but for you and I, the spiritually lost and dying.  Jesus' death on the cross of Calvary does for us what the judgments of God will do upon this nation.  HIS blood will wash away the filth of our sin thereby cleansing us and making us new.  HIS blood, will purge away the blood upon our hands and clothing, thereby making us righteous in the eyes of God once again.  When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour a new dwelling place is created within us for the Holy Spirit of God to now fill.  Now, we are covered within and without (inside and outside).  With the covering of the blood of Jesus on the outside and the Holy Spirit on the inside, the Glory of God will now cover all that is His.  

Back to my origninal question.  How precious are we in the sight of the LORD?  

VERY PRECIOUS.  We are now His chosen.  Priests and Kings and Queens.

The cloud of knowing is the very presence of God over us.  

The cloud of knowing is the voice of God being heard daily in our lives.

The cloud of knowing is the Spirit of God leading us.

The cloud of knowing is the Son of God coming down to rapture us and take us home.

God bless

Is There One

The Book of Ezekiel tells of a priest and prophet by the same name, that ministers during the darkest days of Judah's history: the seventy year period of Babylonian captivity.  

God is upset with the United States.  Why? 

We have become united in forcing God out of our schools.  

We have allowed praying to become passé.  No longer allowed.  

We have passed laws supporting and legalizing same-sex marriages.   

Sin, is the new standard for living among the people.  God has clearly reached the point where enough is enough, and is now become ready to judge US (people 'US', United States 'US').  

Israel fell into the sin of spiritual idolatry, continuously.  Their history is ripe with accounts.  Is not America in the shadows of Israel?  Yes.  We have fallen in line with wordly thinking and spiritual fornication.  

W H E R E     I S    G O D?  

God is standing at the ready...to judge.

Chapter 22  (v.4) "You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made.  You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries. (V.5) those near and those far from you will mock you as infamous and full of tumult."

Even though these words are directed at the nation of Israel, how can we not see America in the subtexts?  Go one step further and include ALL the countries of the world.  

Morality is non-existent.  Compassion is non-existent.  Peace is non-existent.  Because God is non-existent in the hearts of mankind.  

W H E R E     I S    G O D?  

God is standing at the ready...to forgive.

Same chapter (v.30)  "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one."  

HE found no one worthy among men.  

Praise be to the God of heaven.

HE found ONE in heaven willing to stand in the gap before Him.  

HE found ONE worthy to carry the banner.

HE found ONE to bare our sin and shame

HIS name is Jesus Christ.  

Only those within the body of Christ ,can present Christ, to this lost and perverse generation.

Only those of this earthly royal priesthood, can stand before the MOST HIGH.  

If you are numbered among them, will YOU be the one to take the message of sin, salvation and repentance to the world?  

IS THERE ONE?

Pockets of Praise

The Book of the Revelation has been a mystery to me for some time.  In my early days as a believer I tried reading it and got awfully confused.  But as I have grown personally and read more of the scriptures, the book of Revelations has become clearer to me.  (Only because of the teaching and direction of the Holy Spirit.)

As I read this book I am, troubled, no stirred, to commit myself all the more to sharing the gospel of salvation.  In the midst of God's judgments there is sprinkled, pockets of praise, as to not let the reader become overwhelmed with all the suffering and death.  (This is especially true of someone who reads this book and tries to understand its signs and symbols, without having read the other books of the bible.)  I was such a person.  

Chapter 11 ends with the 24 elders, the the twelve tribes and apostles, are bowing before the Most High  God worshipping Him.

v.17 saying:  

"We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned.  

V.18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged,

and that You should rewardYour servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth."

Looking at the world to come and the world now, we believers have our "pockets of praise".  

We see the current condition of the world and long for the God to call us home.  

"How long, O Lord, Holy and True, until You judge?" becomes our prayer.  The walls are closing in and we are closer to our redemption.

Looking at the world to come, we see offerings of praise given to God because He Is.  

Verse 17 (end portion) because You have taken Your power and reigned.  

God is still in control.  The judgments being poured out on mankind during the Tribulation period is from God.  Why?  His own creations have turned their backs on Him.  They have rejected His free offering of salvation at the cost of His Only Son, Jesus Christ.  

Despite all we go through in our daily lives , we can still offer God pockets of praise.  

When aches and pains riddle our bodies, we can offer praise.

When financial difficulties threaten our way of living, we can offer praise.

When personal failings seem to overcome our confidence, we can offer pockets of praise.

In everything, we can offer God pockets of praise.  Good or bad.

Jesus reassures us in John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

In Jesus we have peace.  It is an everlasting peace.

In the world we will have troubles.  Temporary troubles.

Nothing associated with our flesh will last forever.  The body dies, our personal possessions become someone else's and we leave this earth, as we were brought into it.  With nothing.

However, those who accept the Cross of Calvary, gain eternal life, a glorified body, and heavenly riches that will never rust or decay.

                                                       

                                                             P R A I S E     G O D 

As we draw closer to the time of the Rapture, let's us not forget why we have this hope.  God.  That is why we offer pockets of praise to Him.  Our daily menstrations now, only serves to prepare us for heaven.  Those same menstrations we read of in the book of the Revelation, are thanks to God for fulfilling our hope.  

My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus' blood and righteousness.  On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.  

God bless.