The Answer is NO

Somewhere just before (or just after) the panic attack, I realized that my life's ebb and flow was running out of me. It was almost like a screw press had its grips on my heart, slowly compressing and squeezing my emotions with a relentless pressure. The pulsating pain that I was feeling was draining my strength, evidenced by an invisible drainage that felt like it was running and dripping from every finger of my hands.

I had let down the guard of the seat of my emotions, which had led to momentarily losing my spirit's reflex to turn only to God for help. My heart had lapsed into a limbo of forgetfulness which made it all but impossible to cast my cares upon the truth of His sustaining character. I was paralyzed while staring at my infirmity, and the thought of God involved ... troubled me.

The amazing thing about our God; although we are great at wasting time with our parties of pity, He knows that time is a resource that drains ever so quickly from our lives, but if redeemed it lifts the eyes of the heart in His direction, and brings a renewed breath to ask the questions that fasten us to Him.

His truth that intervenes with purposeful questions will jog our memories to those nights where our soul sang His Song because of a sensing of celestial air and a granting of sweet sleep. I stopped the self affliction, and thought on those miraculous entries in scripture of His loving kindness to His people. This allowed the resurgence of those memories of His intimate rescues, that were slowly fading, to now come back into focus. Strengthened, I asked purposeful questions:

"Will the Lord cast off forever?" ................................................... NO!
"And will He be favorable no more?" ........................................... NO!
"Is His mercy clean gone forever?" .............................................. NO!
"Does His promise fail for evermore?" ......................................... NO!
"Hath God forgotten to be gracious?"........................................... NO!
"Hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies?" ........................ NO!
SELAH. Psalm 77:7,8,9

"And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." Psalm 77:10

At this point, the mud chains forged by my wallowing in the mire of self pity began to drop one by one, and shatter with each question that had demanded the resilient answer of ... "NO!"

Oh, Pain need not have us focus on any other frame, but cause us to wholly lean on Jesus' Name.

Six powerful questions with only one answer: NO! Even when the pain drives us in the wrong direction, He remains faithful and true in His love and compassion for us. He does not cast us off, He desires to show us favor, His mercy endures forever, His promises never fail, He never forgets grace, and Anger is not His choice in how He deals with His children ... Think about it!

"Be careful (worry filled) for nothing; but everything by prayer and supplication WITH THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6

HLFA,

Jeff

File 13 or File 7

The definition of success has been highly distorted to the point where is has become a corrosive entity to the undoing of so many lives. Success, as you might suppose, for many is an elusive thing such as a get rich scheme, a miracle windfall, or the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. However elusive as it may be, success will be chased after by many a "hopester" with a passionate pursuit, until somewhere in the mad dash a disqualification is etched into the life of that seeker. A fall will take place, a judge disqualifier will arise, and a soul will be devalued and cast into the "circular file" of uselessness.

Note to the Judge: The strange thing is that the disqualification is usually carried out by an individual who has used the disciplining of other's shortcomings as a cover for their own personal punishment of their disqualified putrefying death of a life. "How long will you imagine mischief against a man? Ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall ye shall be, and as a tottering fence." Psalm 62:3 Living to undo others and get glory from their demise is nothing but the disintegrating fortress of the dead.

Pulling the newspapers over not only himself, but also the warm pan of meat that hopefully would squelch the groaning noises coming from his bloated midsection. Possibly the newspaper insulation would quiet the sounds of the never ending flow of the city night time traffic. "Keep a stiff upper lip" was the motto he tried to apply to his life.

The night did hold a pleasant surprise ... a manhole above a boiler room of a nearby business was creating a foggy covering of warm steam that could keep the stranger and his food warm for the night. (Can you picture this of your brother, your friend, your son or your daughter?)

A fall in this one's past had wounded and marked him, but when he went to find support to heal the scars ... good people saw his stained visage and turned him out to the be ravaged by "to each his own". He was curtly and coldly told what he couldn't do because of his fall, but a plan for his future was simple - File 13. "They only consult to cast Him down from His excellency: they delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah." Psalm 62:4 ---- what you do unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto ME!

Whom you fiercely judge out of a darkened heart of forgiveness lost - You judge against the will of Jesus.

There was a knock at our door. When we peeked through door peep hole, what we saw appalled our senses. There was a derelict at our door. No not a neatly dressed and finely groomed visitor, but A refugee of sort and a "bum" in appearance... He was leaning against our door with one of his filthy unwashed and scared hands. Instead of neatly combed hair, his hair was matted, soiled and gnarled. His beard that was rudely, almost rebelliously, unkempt ... torn away in patches possibly to state his need to protest?  

His body was bloodied and soiled as if he had never bathed a day in his life. His clothes were ripped and torn with signs that he had been in a violent altercation; and the more we stared through the door's peep hole glass the more we despised the individual that we saw. Personally, I am not sure if he was a man or an animal because his visage was so marred.

I held my breath and said not a word as he knocked again in hopes that he would turn away. And to my relief, the knocking did stop; but was followed by the sound of something heavy being dragged against the pavement as the appalling derelict walked away from my door. One more glance though to be sure he was gone -- through the peep hole I saw only the image of a large crudely hewn wooden "X" over the shoulder of the man ...fading into the distance. File 13 or File 7?

They are all "Jesus!" File 7 - the definition of success:

"He hath shown thee o man what is good, and what doth the LORD require of thee: but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." Micah 6:8

"My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him." Psalm 62:5

Is our life leading others, no matter their situation, to the love and compassion found in the Salvation found of Christ Jesus?

HLFA,

Jeff

Love Marker

There it was, standing in front of her, in all of its mysterious glory; this was to be The Love Marker. Every passing of this purposeful piece of creation was to be a reminder to look. Look toward the direction of the rest of the trees, look with love and longing; but not for a tempting to be independent from the love of the Creator. For so soon she would see the Creator walking towards them in all of His majesty, in the “cool of the day” ... with faith, hope and love. So soon they would be filled with His joy that would immediately effervesce with the delights of Eternity and reverberate with celestial praises throughout not only the Garden of Love but it would ripple out to all of Creation.

"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" -- These were first words of doubt that were ever thrown into the innocence of the Garden. These like many words that have spouted from the cesspool of Hell, start the distraction; they cause man's focus to shift from the Creator to the creation.

And of course woman would sense that the serpents words were in error, and that she may have a chance to argue for truth. Unfortunately woman had a fatal flaw ... She possibly felt she could add to the truth to prove her pho-zealous attitude towards the truth. "And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat it, NEITHER SHALL YE TOUCH IT, lest ye die." Careful!!! Did God say this Eve? Stretching and adding to the direct commands of God can cause the participant to focus more on the temptation than the truth.

And focus she did ... She paid attention to the words of the serpent, she looked for the advantage of eating the fruit, and decided to transgress the safety of staying focused on the Creator.

America is very much like that today ... We have forgotten our Godly heritage that was based upon the Words of Scripture that were carried in the hearts of the first pilgrim and sojourner to this amazing gift of a spiritual refuge, that we call America. Within the freedom provided by the framework of our early forefather's prayers (which we have long since tried to blot out of history books); America had a of a miraculous start ... America started on its knees looking to the Creator. {This is a fact of the history of America's humble beginnings, but is being belittled and degraded by so called "experts" of history who have been offended by the Cross of Christ}.

The past has had a multitude of polluted clouds pushed over America's humble beginnings by self-serving representatives of the people. As a people… we have allowed our leadership to exchange a prayerful posture in leading for an expose' gossip mentality in our governmental gatherings. We have allowed for the loss of focus on the Creator in order to protect our own wallets and wildest selfish dreams. We have allowed our teachers and media to focus on any flaws that our forefathers had so that we can justify our own selfish decisions.

Out of the darkness still arises the "hissing" reasoning that ... To trust the Creator is outdated and erroneous. Loudly proclaimed false injustices have given credence by the deepest pockets and the most greedy. The new style "more educated" and "more enlightened" leadership build on emotional arguments that pull on the minds of the naïve with promises that "we, the more enlightened can do Freedom better" than those "misguided believers" who hold to Neanderthal Dark Age Superstitions.

We, as a nation, have allowed for the substitution of scriptural taught Godliness for a rationale of a goodness that is based on the temptations that stem from a greedy and selfish need for …"more for me" …with no cost or obligation. We have exchanged the rewards of hard work for a bully inmate style of entitlement by Whosoever has the loudest mouth, the money and the ability to create chaos. These brute beasts (as Scripture calls them) claim they have the right to anything that the quiet, hard working, Godly masses have produced. They have changed the words of a patriotic anthem "This land is your land, this land is my land" and have all but rewritten it to be sung by those in power as "this land is not your land, this land is my land, give me".

We must get on our knees and focus our vision on the Creator once again ... For we have grown numb with our eyes being opened to sin’s momentary pleasures. We are callous to the fact that we are naked without defense before the Creator. We have grown satisfied with the flaws of a fig leaf covering to justify our godless decisions. We continue to hide ourselves from God ...and sorry to say, even as Christ Followers, our first love that was born of the old rugged cross of Jesus...has turned to cowardice, shame and embarrassment.

Rise up O children of God, fall to your knees, and let your love for the Savior bath your soul once again. If you have bought into a lie that has lead you to believe that your are powerless and hopeless ... rise up with the truth of God that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Hear the tender steps of the Creator, the unshakable constant voice of love ... We are facing "the cool of the day" again with our God -- will we lift up our hearts and hands in reception of His Faith, Hope and Love -- once again? What will we do at the Love Marker?

Revive us Oh Lord!!

Fast and Pray on Tuesday, Nov. 8th - and vote for righteousness.

Everything is changing no matter what the outcome, but let's bow our hearts before the Author of Life for mercy for our nation and its future for the sake of our children and our children’s children!

HLFA,

Jeff
 

Seven Year Itch


"Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. Unto the ends of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me top the rock that is higher than I." -- Psalm 61:1,2

This week end was a slightly irritating race. Running and gunning, Going and getting from point A to point B. (or was it B to A?). It was everything I could do to keep focus; and in the midst of "constant camera shuttering" of events there seemed to be an extension granted on the insanity caused by a "full moon". People were out of sort doing normal, and it seemed like the mode of communication all around us was cruel and loud. It is hard not to take some of it personal.

Mawcore (our awesome opportunity to serve the Lord in dark places), had a concert last Sunday Night ... but that meant leaving early that afternoon and getting back early the next morning. Not knowing the comfort of the destination, there was a decision for our better halves to stay at home (was probably the right decision). As a band we are able to enjoy some of the discomfort as an adventure, but that doesn't always work with the ladies.

We were to go on and play at 7:00 but that didn't happen... home was still relying upon the communication of that time frame when we left our maidens waving "fare ye well" from the doors of "get back soon". We arrived at the venue safe and sound...unloaded ... set up ... and waited... and waited (and waited - Oh, I said that already)

While describing to the home base that there were delays in performance via text and goofy photos... (there still was a long distance expectation of a 7:00 O'clock "show time" -- and when that wasn't happening?) ...somehow the communication came back to me (after a few delayed goofy pictures and text delays) --a text came to my phone that read: "What is it the seven year itch?" ... So I thought "Huh?" I better Google this... It did come from my wife to me!

Words ... they can be worse than sticks and stones --- (check it out, there is a creepy "worldly" meaning behind "the seven year itch"... If you check it out for yourself, you will walk into another negative prophesy that has once again inflicted the human race. There is a weird belief that every seven years, of a marriage, it will face a threat of a desire for infidelity ??...What? How sick can someone get (Oh yea! Satan gets pretty sick!). So of course I was wondering where this text had come from being very concerned, and my answer had a typical "too deep"explanatory reply that got a text back that said "what the heck r u talking about????? (Glad there wasn't another seven sent back?)

Well let's stop this week's rambling just for a minute with some "number" thoughts on Seven --- God's number, the seventh day He rested, seventy x seven, forgiveness, jubilee, resurrection, and on and on ... Oh if we could lay down the sevens before Him with a desire for - more of us for Him and more of Him for us.

Granted the text sent to my phone was was way out of context, but so is the life that pays no attention to the things, the days, the hours, the minutes, the seconds that are ordered by our God. Let's spent the next days ahead thinking of Him with every "Seven" that we encounter; and just stop and Praise Him who is the Rock that is always higher than us ... for us!!

HLFA,

Jeff

SEVEN ... Praise God!!
Every Seven, love my wife more!
Every Seven, think on His things!
Every Seven! He is the answer.