You Will Find Him There

IN CHRIST

What an intense week!!! How much more can people take ...?
- A friend, a brother, a dad, a son "passes" unexpectedly... alone, away from family and friends with no chance for a "good-bye".
- A mom, a wife, a grandma grows weaker as cancer continues to have the upper hand diminishing the life that once was so vibrant.
- Families ravaged by floods of personal troubles as well as waters.
- Rumors of threatening legal and financial struggles bruising the present morale and quenching future hopes.
Things and events that are supposed to be so wonderful are overshadowed by the specter of death.

Where does your heart run?
Where do you find refuge?
What keeps you from growing apathetic or numb?

In all the turnings of our way of life,
in the shining of our personal character,
in the pattern of our daily walk,
let our lives be without a love of gain that devalues the worth of others;
and be filled with the unfailing protective strength of contentment,
contentment that is elevated and lifted or offered "up",
Contentment with what the things that are near, at hand and ready;
BECAUSE HE HAS ETERNALLY ESTABLISHED US BY SAYING:
"I will never, no not ever...
leave you, never send you back or away, or loosen my distance from you.
I will never, no not ever... neither will I ever abandon, desert or leave you helpless or utterly forsaken."

Heb 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

In the midst of these things that shake our world...
1. Remember Him.
2. You will find Him there.

IN CHRIST

Be there for others,

HLFA,

 Jeff

Abandoned House

What fascinates your eyes when you travel throughout the countryside? Is it the beautiful foliage? Maybe it is the majestic hills or the cascading streams that set your mind aglow. Could it be the city skylines or quaint little artsy villages you pass through that excites your senses?

I may be a little strange (please no snide comments from the peanut gallery), but I am immensely fascinated by the tattered, broken down, abandoned structures that are scattered across the miles of the back roads of America. My mind has to ask the questions, and of course the questions will turn on the lights of the imagination...and if my imagination runs to God's Word then the story could turn upward, inside out and easily up-side-down.

Song of Solomon 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned.
This is an awesome picture of the power of love to burn brightly through many torrential troubles, to resist dilution caused by many discouraging floods of separation, and to utterly abandon even sacred shelter for its singular focus...to love.

When I see the abandoned homes collapsing because of neglect and poor maintenance, at first I am irritated and then fascinated. What happened to cause such a sorrowful scene? After a few temporal and typical thought scenarios...my mind turns...

The Creator, embodied in flesh, stepped out of His heavenly dwelling place to offer an irresistible proposal of love to a race of...
ungrateful,
unloving,
unknowing,
in-seeking,
uncaring,
self-centered,
sex intoxicated,
violence proliferated,
vision eliminated,
hate elated,
and idols elevated beings...who could care less about His love offer.
Did Heaven start to feel the neglect of love focused man-ward? Did the streets of gold begin to tarnish due to the lack of Godly foot contact and the heaven sent tears of Jesus? Did the single pearl gates of the city begin to be clouded over by the dust of his departure? Was the celestial wonder beginning to collapse under the weight of Love's abandon? Did the winds of resistance to His love offer begin to ravage the beauty of holiness. Was Heaven all but boarded up for eternity when the Savior was "forsaken" on the cross by His Heavenly Father...for you and for me?
Jesus knew the cost...He knew that He would give it all up for the opportunity to offer enduring, everlasting love. Hmmm ...approximately thirty-three and a half years of potential neglect of Heaven.
3 days and 3 nights of total disappointing foreclosure and eviction. LOVE..
Trust His sacrifice for us and we LIVE.
Turn our backs on the cost of His love and we are abandoned forever.

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life;
but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him. John 3:36

He abandoned Glory for us,
Now because He Arose from the dead, He Lives,
He prepares a place for us...Be Glad.

HLFA,
Jeff

And the King turned to His beloved with...(continued),

And the King turned to His beloved with...(continued),

The wild thing about authoring a fairy tale, is that I may or may not know where the story is heading. Huh?? Really, It has to affect me to affect you or at least that is the hope (so once again hang on until the end).

What would you do if you found the enemy hanging so close that you could feel the very breath of Hell hissing its way into your course of life. That sinister breathing voice with its oppressive fury tries to draw you and me into agreeing to stand with "it" against the wants and desires of God. If we could feel "it" or know "it" for what "it" really is, we would be stunned with the subtlety; for sure Satan doesn't work like "Hellywood" portrays him. Sorry!!! He is far more cunningly common than that.

Far more cunningly common???(sorry no pitch fork, ectoplasmic spew, no 360 head spinning)

The Adversary just wants to travel or to journey with you in order to sway your walk in his direction. He loves it when your character bends toward opposing God's desire for your life. Satan is awesome at accusing God ... with you. He will jump right in and back up every one of your disappointments with a roaring chorus of complaints to help you justify the way you feel...against God. He will do his best to throw a shadow of doubt over your choices of life, especially the ones that have a higher level of added responsibility. The "Accuser" becomes your closest adviser and "yes man" as long as you are willing to blame God. ( "...As a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" ...I Peter 5:8) {a roaring lion walking???}

And the King turned to His beloved with a look that spoke "love without end". He began to speak with a voice that calmed the storm and warmed the winter that had so quickly had set into her heart. The King's Beloved suddenly realized that the beautiful woman was there only to encourage her to go with her disappointments, instead of trusting her Love through the disappointment. The tentacles that seemed to wrap around the King were a mirage to convince the King's Beloved that He may not be faithful and true. The King now stood firmly in all of His glory as He continued to look at His Beloved.


She thought, "Had the King not seen her rags and poverty. Had the King not sensed her heart of hopeless stone. Didn't the King realize the past that now plagued their future?" There was no way this would work...Death had entered her life and she was for all intents and purposes dead. Her case was different from all others, surely she was outside of the power of His grace.

Suddenly the King's piercing flame-like eyes turned toward "Pethee Keseelooth"...(foolish, foolish, simply stupid but so intoxicating); and just as quickly as she had chilled her way into the scene, the look in the eyes of the King put to flight the beautiful stranger. 

Almost like waking from the longest dream, the King's Beloved found herself back in the safety of the Arms of the King. The chapter closes with a glimpse of the powerful prophecy that will carry the King's Beloved through her days ahead:
(Isaiah 25:8 - "He will swallow up death in victory, (I Cor. 15:54)
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off of all faces; (Rev. 7:17; 21:4)
and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off of all the earth: (Rom. 10:11)
for the LORD hath spoken it.) AMEN!

When I see myself as His beloved, and see Him as my beloved ... then I will respond differently to His words: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!" (Song of Solomon 2:10)

Come away with Him, He will strengthen you. Come away with Jesus.

HLFA,

Jeff

On My Knees - Will You Be My Eternal Beloved?

Woe...can't hold back the tears (now remember this is always written with somewhat of a incoherent vantage point, so do not ever jump to conclusions until you have taken the whole ride).
He is on His knees asking his beloved "will you marry me?" (shouldn't she be begging Him to marry her, He is...the King!) His garments glistening with Gold, Silver and Precious Stones while she remains poised looking so frail in her filthy rags. However, the look in His eyes(full of joyful tears) send Love's message deep into her soul as she melts into His open arms crying "Yes, I will marry you" (she'd be stupid not to, He is the King...Duh!). Then with His powerful but gentle hands He tenderly lifts her face to His and......

A scream rips through the airlock, and a cry comes that chills this beautiful love scene until all the decor drips with the frost and ice of the deepest darkest winter that you could possibly imagine...And the scream like a tempestuous wind rips at the core of there souls like a merciless flailing flesh hook, devastating the King's composure and His beloved's security:

"Now the Battle Will Rage!"...

"Now will be the death of love!"...

"Watch as trust diminishes and hatred arises!

I strained my eyes to see where these lethally poisoned words were spewing from, and to my utter horror they were coming from an extremely beautiful woman who had now wrapped her arms like an octopus' tentacles around the heart of the King. Her name was "Pethee Keseelooth"...(foolish, foolish, simply stupid but so intoxicating). She continued, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant"...

"Come the master will be away on a long journey

and will not even have a clue as to what we do

with our illegitimate but exciting love...

And look! Your beloved is looking the other way".

When we back away from the fairy tale for a moment there is a very real battle that rages within the support system of marital love.
Stage one: The battle starts when "Submission one to another" (the under girding empowerment of love) is demanded and/or expected; instead of being wholly given, tenderly guarded, and actively appreciated.
Stage two: The battle moves things backwards when love is seen as an "option" motivated by feelings; instead of an imperative that creates the ever growing summer that keeps the marriage together.


At this point winter-ravished love may think that a new direction could be the ticket to real life.

A re-newed direction maybe... but let's not throw caution to the wind unless we know for sure that we have heard his voice.

"And be not drunk with wine (intoxicated with the momentary release of Love's responsibilities) wherein is excess (absolutely NO LIFE), BUT be filled (completely full of the focus of loving as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it) with the Spirit (as He indwells and is given more of our life by acceptance of His loving support ,we truly live)." (Eph. 5:18 - expanded with the hope your heart will reach to love, where love seems to have grown cold).

And the King turned to his beloved with...(To be continued),

HLFA,

Jeff

PS: Be slow to judge but quick to deliver.