Those who dwell…

Those who dwell in the house of the Lord will ever be praising Him. This isn’t about where one worships. It’s about a heart posture that the Lord honors. Those who dwell in His house are those that epitomize Matthew 5 and these are the ones the Lord will have around His throne for all eternity, beholding His glory and becoming His friends.

I am still amazed how much life distracts me from this high calling/invitation. No matter what happens, the best thing that will ever happen to me is that my voice raises heavenward in agreement and exaltation of the person of Jesus Christ. Lovesick worship, that’s what’s on His heart because that’s how the son relates to the Father and that’s how the Holy Dove relates to the son. It’s a big circle of worship and praise, all pointing to the other. I wanna be in that big circle.

The Lord’s mercies are evident every day.

Today I woke up cranky. You know the day, where for some reason you just start sour? It’s not like anything bad happened or anything, just the wrong side of the bed kind of thing.

Well I was sitting in my car, finishing my coffee before i headed into the prayer room. In all honesty I didn’t want to even go inside. I felt like turning the car back on and driving to Mexico, just going, somewhere. It was hard enough to get in the car to come to work, now I didn’t want to leave the car once I got to work. I was struggling. Lord, I said, I need to know that you’re here. Just then a bird flew by my window and the Lord spoke so clearly. Look at the birds of the air, they do not worry for I feed them.

It was so simple and so profound. All created things are sustained by the Lord’s mercies. They are new every morning and they have not once failed. In six thousand years they are as fresh and new as they were when the lights were set in place. So why do I worry?? He cares for us and if we could only see the details that He arranges for our benefit….if we could only glimpse into the ways that He blesses us, we would be completely different people. What is there that you need? Ask Him.

Realization hurts……and heals.

I realized something today. If I want more of Jesus then there must be less of me (my fleshly me). John the Baptist said it best when he said, “He must increase, I must decrease.” There is a constant struggle in my body between my nature and the nature of Christ within. Both still exist within me, the one by law, the other by mercy. I must cultivate the nature of Christ if I am to be an overcomer. This is the crux of sanctification, the “working out of my salvation with fear and trembling”. I have a nature that necessitates sacrifice yet I also have a nature that gravitates toward selfishness and pride. The part I have before God is the outworking of my choice to exalt His son in my members. God won’t do my part for me; love has to choose to prove its worth here. This is the dignity of walking worthy and also the pain of this temporal body. The assurance in all of this is that the Spirit bears witness in me that I am a son of God through the realization and conviction extended unto provocation into the reality of the better part. This is a joy and a pain but the pain is only short term for it will pass away. That which I have labored for, however, will bear fruit eternally. This is my hope, the resurrection from the dead, for in it wisdom will be justified. Now……..on with the struggle.

Do we stand out?

We, as believers were never meant to go with the flow. The flow implies majority movement, all streams flow to the sea as it were. If anything Jesus said is true then we should probably steer clear of majority agreement, for the time being. We are not supposed to go down stream. We aren’t to “fit in”, be popular, or even mostly appropriate and acceptable. Christianity cannot, if it’s true Christianity, be name brand. We are to be different. Different looking, different tasting, different smelling….so much so that to some we should be the aroma of death leading to death (2 Cor. 2:16). “Woe to you when all men speak well of you!” (Luke 6:26). For too long we have been sheepish disciples, at least I feel the sting of conviction in my own heart. Maybe it’s just me, maybe not. You can go through life wearing the name badge of Christian but if you open your mouth about it, be prepared to lay down your life. Silent faith is easy to accomodate and “get on” with; it’s when you speak out that you get in trouble. So why is their no trouble in America when it comes to the Christian faith?? I wonder if it’s because no one is saying anything. Ear tickling is so unoffensive. Don’t get me wrong, I love peace and good times but the more I sit in the place of prayer the more I realize that peace is an allusion if it doesn’t start and end with Jesus. If He’s not here, with us in the flesh, we have no peace, just allusions; smoke and mirrors. Contention is the name of the game until that day comes, and diligent sobriety is the necessity of the hour.

Jesus Christ…the Faithful witness.

May all of our endeavors ring loud and clear with this reality. Jesus’ life and ministry pointed to the Father of Glory. Everything He said and did was for the glory of the Father’s will. Can we have an aim such as this?? With men it is impossible, with God all things are possible.

There is no limit against such things if we truly rest in the promises of God. What then does it mean to be a faithful witness, how do we point to another, the Father, what must we do? I believe the simplicity is so staggeringly close to grasping that few will do it. I feel this to be true in my own life. The answer: we love not our lives, even unto death. As long as we’re alive in the flesh we will love our lives; as long as we’re alive in our spirits we will deny the flesh with joy, knowing it brings Him pleasure. Walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

This is the great endeavor of all Christian theology, practice, responsibility and discipline; to take up our cross, follow Him, and become a faithful witness. This is what the Holy Spirit also longs jealously to do within those who are willing vessels and He yearns to help us in our weakness by granting us groanings and desires akin to Christ’s. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But you can only walk in the Spirit if you talk to the Spirit.

The key to overcoming in the Christian faith is in the depth of our communion with the 3 persons of the trinity. Sadly, the Holy Spirit is mostly neglected from our prayer lives. We must engage the Spirit to live above the natural plain, we must learn to abide in the invisible. Happy holiness is found here, rivers of living water run freely where the grace of the Holy Spirit abounds. Set you seal to this, to be a faithful witness.

It’s so stinkin cold…..when you’re riding in 25 degrees…on a bike.

So I just got into the sport of mountain biking……and it’s awesome. So awesome in fact, that I have been riding everywhere……..mostly to work, which is like 2 miles from my house. But it feels a lot farther away than that, especially when it’s 25 degrees outside. Going up hill is fine, it’s when you start bookin it downhill that is almost unbearable. The could, brutal wind almost made me cry this morning. Ok ok, I did cry, but hey, it was an outlet for the pain my entire body was feeling, harsh needle like pain. But alas, I’m at work, safe and sound, can’t feel my feet (why did I wear sandals today??????!!!) but I’m here. Praise Jesus.

Today’s thought…..just one, here it is.

I live on the border lands of eternal life, unspeakable glory and the curse of sin and death. As I go through the lands which are allotted to me I continue to look for truth, beauty, and goodness in a world of death, decay, and wretchedness. How do I make headway when all that is bad is clearly seen and all that is good and right is invisible? The answer: faith, hope, love and a continual leaning on the Beloved. As Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord and came away from the encounter limping, so I will wrestle with this falleness until the glory of mercy permeates my being and I pass from the shadows of doubt into the eternal light of Christ’s peace and blessing. I want no substitute, no false grace. My command from my chief and overseer is to wrestle through, and though I limp He has promised me the overcoming by His blood and the word of my testimony. Forging a life of love is only proven by the obstacles hurdled; I dedicate this days struggles to the heart of my God. Father, be pleased with my pressing today.

Christianity is in the not giving up…

Humans are quitters. Eventually we quit everything on this side (except sin). We get bored, we grow weary. We aren’t robots that move mechanically with little maintenance (though sometimes I feel that way, especially pre-coffee am). We are so incredibly responsive as beings that generally, our emotions take us to the end of the rope and we look for an out. Life is hard. But we are also incredibly resilient too. So we can press through and do, a lot of times, mostly when convictions press us to determined ends. The more I walk a life of faith the more I come to realize that this life is impossible on our own strength, obviously. Which leads to the simple yet profound truth that if we don’t quit, even unto death, then we win. We hold fast to the name of Jesus, day in and day out, up and down, this way and that way until eventually, we die or are martyred……and we win. Sound bleak?? Maybe it is but it is worth every moment if you believe the promises of the Bible, which of course you have to believe them if you’ve started on this journey in the first place. God motivates us to not quit by giving us precious promises. Think if we didn’t have Revelation 21 and 22 to fuel our going forward. Would we even be able to go forward. What promises fuel you? They have to be eternal promises if they are worth being fueled by, or else that fuel will run dry and your tank will be empty. We need living fuel to keep going. So don’t give up, find your fuel. A little hint; it’s Jesus.

“But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14