Freelance Collision

Deuteronomy 18:21 - "And if thou say in thine heart, how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?"

Some human vocabulary studies, that have been carried on since 1957, have revealed that humans can carry about 27,600 (plus or minus 800) vocabulary words in a life time as compared to a more modern touting of 100,000 to 160,000 vocabulary words. The average individual has a vocabulary of 8,000 to 10,000 words, and the mode of daily usage can increase or drastically decrease that number. Use it or lose it!

There are 8,674 different Hebrew words in the Bible, 5,624 different Greek words, and 12,142 different English words in the King James version of the Bible alone. When you take into consideration the conjugation and translation there is enough entertainment there to keep the imaginations of Hollywood screen writers busy warping the stories of the Bible for millenniums. Yet the "devoted" faith follower has a very low tolerance for reading the scriptures daily, let alone once a week in a Church service or Sunday School hour.

Did you know that "All Scripture" (the Bible) was given by the breath of God? ... Are you aware that "men set apart by God" were carried through the prophesy process by the Spirit of God to speak and write God's very word? Did you know that their choice to obey allowed them to be used for God's purpose?

Do you know that within the very written words of the Bible are packed all the necessary informational needs for time and eternity? Did you know those words are for our eternal rescue from sin's penalty and our daily deliverance from sin's persuasive pull? Have you discovered the creative hope filled treasures that capture our hearts, and will promise a final deliverance from sin's presence at that moment when we are in the Presence of "Love Letter Writer"?

Did you know that the "Lover" behind the writing is Jesus? Did you know that the scriptures are what Jesus guided the religious leaders of His day to study if they wanted to know eternal life, and He said "These scriptures speak of Me!!" The Scriptures, the written word of God, the Bible, are His words to draw us into a saved, direct, eternal, and extremely creative relationship with Him, the Living Word.

We all (for the most part) want to be recognized (in a good way) for our uniqueness. We all kind of want to do right (as long as it doesn't mess up our plans), but according to our terms we regulate our lives because that makes us unique, right? We are taught that God creates us all unique, and to motivate us to believe that truth,  we may hear that not one snowflake is identical. However, every snow flake with its beautiful unique identity always ends up in a pile and then melts together, and the uniqueness disappears into a puddle of water.

"Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, For what is our life, it is like a vapor that appears for a little time then vanishes away." James 4:14  This truth about the "end" is the part of our DNA, that we most often do not want to face. We all ache to be appreciated and not to be thrown on to the mound of mundane humanity.

We all observe that sooner than later people die, a hole is dug, a eulogy is pronounced, the body dropped and covered, a marker set up; and then the mourners move on to another grave site. Sorry for the cruel almost machine-like description of our end, but ... "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Romans 5:12 "For the wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is "eternal life" through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

Why will so many spend their days trying to know "words" that are not God's words and some will even reduce the influence of God's Verbs in their lives by succumbing to the notion that the Bible is nothing more than just a "good book" or "the best of books". This belief started in the Eden of Creation when the serpent slithered in his negative two cents worth - suggesting alternative choices and total denial of the consequences in disobeying God's Word. "Has God really said that?" "You shall not surely die!" Genesis 4: 1-3

Your eternal life, Your uniqueness now, and your mark made on this planet will be only as effective as your impression connection with The Living Word, Jesus ...through His written word, the Bible ... molding and making you in His loving pleasure. Read the Word with a royal reception and let the Spirit of God, through His word, soak your soul with truths that constantly deliver you from the purposeless piles of human disconnect. Know Him, let him love you and truly live.

Freelance your life trying to know what is not His Word, without His word and you will be heading for an inevitable collision that you were doing everything to avoid... Cooperate daily with Love's correspondence or collide eventually with Love's unheeded warnings.

Read, listen, heed ... His Word ...Daily!

HLFA,

Jeff

While We Look

2 Corinthians 4:18 - "while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

"While we look" ... OK -- maybe this will help us get the passage above, maybe not. Do we focus on things that last forever? Or do we live a life that gets its satisfaction by focusing on things that fade away? Things that are "seen" are temporal, ever fading; and things that are not seen are eternal, ever renewing.

"While we look" ... What is the point of pain's compression that causes a sustaining of our focus on the eternal? What can cause the real beauty of our lives to ring longer and more true? Answer: Instead of squandering our momentary afflictions and oppressions in the marketplace of self pity, lay open our debilitating moments to minister to others by entrusting our pain to His unfailing care.

For this affliction (that compresses our vision right where we are, right now), if given to God ... trusting in His love and grand design that is far beyond our personal pain and profitable gain ... will urge us forward with the sustaining of an eternal vision. We will begin to more fully understand that our Jesus story is strategic and consequential in the lives of others. The precarious state of the souls of lost humanity, the proclaiming of the Gospel of Jesus, the lost turning to faith in Christ ... will weigh in as more important than our momentary pressures and pleasures.

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us as a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory:" 2 Corinthians 4:17

My friend, the cross of Jesus Christ is enough evidence that Sin brings the death of an Eternal Hell; for otherwise there would have been no need for the suffering and the brutal death of God's Son, the only Savior, Jesus Christ. Were there no Hell there would be no need for anything other than our full bore consumption of whatever life affords us.

To borrow a few word's of a contemporary song writer if we believe that there is no place in the Kingdom for suffering ... "take our souls and throw them away, they're not needed in this new world where there is no one left to save". The problem ... we are not home yet, the momentary suffering of our souls is purposeful and needed in this fading world. But the beauty of this life in Christ is that "All things" push forward the need for us to know Him on a more intimate level.

This "While we look" at the unseen has the potential to actively engage us in His purpose "to seek and to save that which was lost", unless we are are looking with our eyes closed. Eyes Wide open please!

No matter how much the clamor of the temporary tries to drown out the voice of eternity ... Be courageous "God's Kids"! ...Rise up from your momentary affliction, bow before His saving vision, and sing the song of a Soul Set Free.

Fearlessly share your Jesus Story with all who will hear! If someone doesn't want to listen, sing on to another soul.

HLFA,

Jeff

Moment Maker

Zechariah 13:1 - "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness."
God is truly the moment maker... "In that Day".

The Sparrow Watcher, the Hair Counter, the Flower Tailor, the Binder of Hearts, Father of the Father-less, the Spouse of the Widowed, the Chief Shepherd, the Great Physician, the Good Samaritan, the Storm Calmer, the Wave Walker, the World Lover...Jesus, the LORD and Savour, is not an ambiguous untouchable phantom that has absolutely no care nor contact with the recesses of our brokenness. He has not positioned himself to be untouched by all the groaning from His love image that was formed from the dust of the garden and brought to life by His breath. On the contrary, HE CARES BEYOND OUR MOST DESPERATE NEEDS AND LOVES TO LOVES US BEYOND ALL OF OUR BURIED DESIRES. Only sin stands in the way.

On that day, there was a Well ... that so engraved and so scarred time and eternity that it drove a chasm clear and clean through an otherwise impenetrable barrier. Flowing from the engraved wellspring, clean and clear, came the purest of springs, a river of living water. This Wellspring would be The Way to the heart of God, that could only be made by God Himself; for it had to totally satisfy all the eternal demands of His Righteousness and Holiness; and at the same engraving had to shout the Glory of His Grace, Mercy, Truth and Love. This Well would contain all the fullness of the provisions of the Godhead bodily.This Wellspring would be there to take care of the initial offense of sin, it would wash and refresh the offender, and it would be the payment for the eternal consequences of the offense. Free for the asking ... the first moment of eternal connection.

Jesus - Is the Master Moment Maker - He has the ability to take the obscure rays of light, the slightly noticed events, the broken pieces in time, and bring them all together in a surprise package of His wellspring Care for us. Long may it have taken to pull all the painfull pieces together to give us the full impact of the puzzle; but "that Moment" when it all comes together and our eyes tear up in the overwelming moment of His love on display...please, don't deny Him that time to love just you.

There is a KEY connection that keeps the flow of the Wellspring alive in our lives - Gratitude. Gratitude is a pride killing, life changing venture that starts off as an intentional "Thank-you", but then develops into a lifestyle of dancing in the multitude of daily blessings that God orchestrates to shed His love abroad in our hearts.

YES ... be joyously surprised at all of the moments, the detours, the roses, the "ahas", the full circles of time, people and circumstances that reveal His finger prints all over the windows of our soul. Don't let our fake pious pride kill the thought that "God did this just for me!" ... dance fearlessly as a child in the Joy of this truth ...that ..."GOD ARRANGED THIS MOMENT JUST FOR YOU!"

  "I can't believe this, the timing ...everything was crushing in and then ...you came and spoke these words ...it all makes sense now ... I truly am loved ...for God arranged this moment to rescue me, forever." Thank you Jesus! You are the moment maker - You are the fountain, You are the wellspring!

 HLFA,

 Jeff

The Blessed Broken

Psalm 34:18 - "The LORD is near unto them that are of a broken heart: and saves such as be of a contrite spirit."

The loud crack of what sounded like thunder had left a portion of his clothes ripped from his body as he spun out of control. When he finally could shake himself from the moment, he realized that not only were his clothes torn from his flesh, but his flesh was ribboned by whatever heinous devise had encounter his already broken frame. "Life had dealt him a cruel hand in the game of chance", he thought for a moment; but knowing the meticulous details of the human body brought in another thought "There is no game of chance, so how could the Creator with all of His grand plans and design ...just toss away one of His creations like this?" Similar to the closing of a Roman shade, he watched the light in his life fade as darkness lowered its cruel and haunting mysteries.

There seems to be an immense disconnect concerning our relationship with disappointment and pain, and our relationship with God. Somehow there has been an ancient measuring vessel filled with a weight of heavy poisonous lead, that has been used by success driven obsessors, to ostracize and cast aside the broken and suffering since the fall of man. Good health and wealth weigh in heavily because they are nice to have unless they become a mandated proof of a Godly life.

As the so called "successful" create a robustly "blessed" superficial temple life to enshrine this false image, those blinded or beguiled by their own pain and suffering are assured that they are the losers and the failures. The gospel of the wicked Zechariah Ephah proclaims that "true success is manifested by a life that rises above poverty, brokenness, pain and disappointment." It is the life and message of the religious thief and the lying prophet who will swear by the measurement of wickedness. "Sickness and sorrow are evidence of sin and God's judgment, prosperity and health are the signs of a life that pleases God." saith the Thief and the Boaster.

A grateful life that sees the strategic positioning of every day's needs and provisions as a gift from God is a life unshakeable. This "grateful life" is not impressed by "having" and is not depressed by "not having" because it truly finds that "Godliness (taking advantage the eternal gift of a connective walk with God) and contentment (seeing things as a temporal gift of need supply) are great gain. A grateful life realizes that a broken and contrite heart and spirit are the sacrifices of the LORD, and are meant for us to know the nearness, acceptance, and deliverance of God who truly cares for his own.

Psalm 51:17 - The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise."

And when the blinds of pain and suffering began to lift, to his surprise, he was clothed, bandaged and being cared for by the Samaritan Outcast.

Oh to know the tender mercies and care of our God who sees us as His no matter what our social standing or circumstance.

HLFA,

Jeff

REWIND

REWIND: This moment has not left me and probably never will, so I will cautiously share it with others who might be listening: A humble Lover of Yours prayed last Sunday morning desiring to see You, Jesus, and to help us see You to as we moved further into our time of faith community worship. He began his focus on his amazement with creation and I began to slip away...

I closed my eyes and my heart was shaken by a vision of a "walking mess of a broken man" - covered by the stains of his own uncontrolled body releases; and at the same time I was overwhelmed with an almost oppressing tension. In the room a facade of wellness and nearness had been carried in by the unappointed actors that had gathered together as the "We are the OK Ones!".

Through closed, moistened eyes, the flood of broken sights continued - I saw endless check out lines of brokenness and sorrow....I cried out to You "lift me up to see the victory." You shook my soul with your still small answer, "Not yet?"

Your broken image was still pouring sorrow like waves...causing me to think of broken families, troubled and abused children, garbage cans full of aborted babies, shunned people, cold and resistant gatherings, closed doors and windows, abandoned buildings ,abandoned dreams, limited vision, walls, walls, walls...I sunk deeper and deeper into the bitterness of a dark thought, "that service to the King" was being defined in a convenient comfortable box that may be a risk???? What ???

Then I heard "the end of days!" I tried to shake the overwhelming thoughts of brokenness only to hear Matthew 25: 40 ... "Inasmuch (upon) as you have done it unto the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me". {This Biblical snap shot of our efforts is seen in the following capacity: Authoring the "do it", and doing whatever it takes to see the "doing of it" through to a result. Upon the orchestrated seemingly random moments of "doing" something (or not) for an insignificant individual, is doing "it" unto Jesus.}

I looked around at the gathering of souls trying...reaching...groping for meaning to their momentary existence and it hit me: What risk is there in staying within these walls? No real leper is welcomed here, no life threatening contagion of an outcast is desired here.

"Go" outside the walls ...WE ARE HIS BROKEN ONES reaching out to the lost broken ones ...fallen sparrows...lost sheep...lost coins...treasures plowed under...lame athletes...maimed warriors...halt messengers...blind watchmen...misplaced dowry...abandoned houses...fading flowers...withered grass...widowed...orphaned...miscarried...aborted...wounded...hopeless addicts...nameless beggars...lepers... the hungry ... the thirsty ... the lonely ... the naked ... the prisoner... and the masses of the reprobate became a blurr. (I am sorry but this is what I saw when my eyes closed as my brother tried to cause adoration of the beauty of your creation).

Zechariah 4:10 - "For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and they shall see the plummet ( the purification of the alloy) in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven, they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth". Then "I saw a golden candlestick" (or stand to support the light of a lamp) from Zechariah 4 and my mind did a Bible flash forward to the 7 candlesticks or stands of Reveation. Revelation 2:5 - "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent".

In this moment, I suddenly, but reluctantly realized: "The First Love" that was abandoned by the Revelation -Church of Ephesis is the connective source of real Godly influence in this world. To love Jesus Openly, means that we love people openly (even our enemies). The effectual connection in loving the insignificant ones, that are "least of these", is powerless without a daily effectual love relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Candlestand of Zechariah was a shadow of the Candlestand in Revelation which may be congruent to our First Love for Jesus. The Candlestand was a mere representation of God's provision of Eternal Influence via His Spirit through our love for Him. This stand, this First Love gives credence to the Light of the World in and shown by us. What we do unto the "least of these" is the natural/supernatural outpouring of our focus on loving Jesus secretly and openly in the midst of a lost and dying world.

His REWIND had graciously taken me to see the Jesus that I needed to connect to for an opportunity of lasting influence that can cause the "least of these" to love Him too. It is far more comfortable to connect with the perceived beauties of a fallen creation, than to love and serve the most dispicable and insignificant characters of humanity. BUT - Loving creation and hating people is hating Jesus.

Thank You Jesus for the rewind, play it again ... daily, so I break in Your love for all whom You have died.

 HLFA,

 Jeff