Here are bits and pieces of this week's swirl ---
(Bear with me for a moment as you peek into my mind, Oh Boy!):
Wave One of the Swirl: From II Kings 19 (one Angel) and Matthew 26 (12 leagions of Angels), I considered a doomsday total of 185,000 x 6,000 x 12 = 13,320,000,000 people “waking up dead men” allowing for a one night angelic destruction potential of our current population of 7 billionish people (no problem to wipe the globe clean in one night).
Wave Two of the Swirl: A God who is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" so He offers Power-filled praises, and a two-edged sword alternative to global annihilation (hopefully someone will listen).
Wave Three of the Swirl: A "hook" that can end a conflict with the choice of catching a untamable sea monster or a common fish with a coin filled mouth - Job 41 and Matthew 17.
Wave Four of the Swirl: Thoughts of our God who has planned, that in His Invisible/Visible Kingdom, He will pour His love to and through our "occupations" - "I know your works"Rev. 2-3 - mentioned 7x.
Wave Five of the Swirl: And passing thoughts of what was left of an "Andes" after dinner mint left on the steps to the third landing of a five story motel(what?), that I passed 5 times in taking the stairs instead of the elevator. What does a tossed aside mint have to do with it? Here we go into the swirl!
Jesus has command of Heaven's Angels, who are poised and waiting for a signal from the King for vengence or deliverance, while the Servants of the King carry the alternative response. According to Psalm 149, the Saints have the honorable authority to let their high praises and God’s spoken Word (the two-edged sword) to be the determining factor that executes vengeance, punishments, chains and fetters, and/or offers forgiveness and deliverance upon the people of the world. We seemingly have no idea of this power of “life and death” that has been linked to the speech of the Saints. Be careful your words carry power... they can chain or set free. Look to the Cross, the Crux, the Hook!
Those who stand in the conviction that "the Hook" is directly connected to the Cross (and the Cross is the Scandal to end all scandals) stand strong. They stand strong ...
… in that the Cross shouts the Love of God louder than any and all disruptive offences,
… in that the Cross can cover all the stains of sin by the effectual washing of Jesus’ life giving blood,
… in that the Cross is "the hook" that can drag away the enemy to destruction.
... in that the Cross is "the hook" that can produce the perfect satisfactory payment for any conflict.
… in that the Cross can fully raise to life all those whose wounded and broken hearts agree that
Jesus is ALL in ALL, and Jesus is in you and Jesus is in me (He is the only Answer for the lost soul).
Without Him We can do nothing.
Job saw the uselessness of a hook to catch the sea monster known as Leviathan, but Peter in Matthew was brought to realize that to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s … allowed Him to hook a small fish to handle a world connected problem ... taxes. The Tax collectors (Jesus said … “Lest we offend them”) should receive the paymant of our Tax. It is not wrong to connect with the world where we are responsible to the world. That is our connection to walk the cross to the lost.
We all start in a "swirl", and we all need "the hook". All of us started this day by carrying our past. Many of us treat the things that we decide to carry with us, as our reason to have the right to be disappointed and bitter as we launch into another day. Others of us will begin by trying to live in the blissful denial that we have never been offended. (The next statement is sarcastic) There are a few of us that have the perfect ability to forgive, forget and move forward with an open armed approach to every offence … telling ourselves it is for our good and for God's glory. I am sorry to announce this, but we all are in the swirl of life caused by the fact that we are still on this side of Heaven.
Our vision of living for Him can be like a dropped Andes mint in a rarely uses stairway of a motel. Too many, because it touched the ground and could be soiled, kick it into the spider webbed filled corner of a 3rd story motel stair landing, and leave it there. Too many of us will just walk past it without a thought. Please, dump the pious act that “everything is ok”, you are making the kingdom look ludicrous. Your moments of discouraging connections are really the ingredients that make you truly valuable (if you haven’t kicked them to the corner like the Andes mint).
Now here is the conclusion to the swirl --- Listen up Children of the King! You carry amazing power within fragile earthen vessels. This power can set men free and can stave off the tide of destruction.. Trusting Christ is not just something we do to secure a residence in Heaven, but it is an active acknowledgement of the power to walk with Jesus daily. “We die daily” and “we live daily” in Christ, and the life we live can be abundantly filled with deliverance of souls. John 15:5 – (Jesus said) “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
The key … the Hook ... abide in Him.
Who ever would have thought that a discarded Andes Mint could cause such a stir?
HLFA,
Jeff