The Holy Undercurrent

Joel 3:18 – “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.”

“That Day” spoken of above ...is a day where there flowed out an abundance of life. “That day” the mountains would drop down an over-abundance of “New Wine” (freshly squeezed grapes producing uncorrupted juice spilling forth health and recovery). “That Day” the hills would flow with milk (the needed staple to strengthen those to continue their recovery). “That Day” the source or the fountain head of “Judah or Praising” would come forth from the House of the Lord. This fountain would cause an abundant watering of the Valley of Shittim (The Valley of Acacia or the Scourge).

The words “valley of Shittim” (if researched) will lead our minds and hearts to thought provoking events and places. The Acacia or “Thorned Tree” will bring us to the burning bush, the tabernacle, the ark of covenant, the base station for Joshua in conquering the promised land, the crown of thorns, the scourging … and sooner or later our hearts will rest in Jesus' sacrifice for us. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed”.

The undercurrent that creates this flow of life as pictured in this amazing prophesy, has its source in “that day”. As a result of “that day” there was a fountain head of abundant flowing life established in the House of God. If we can but submit our lives to the power of “That Day”, and allow “that day” to affect every area of our life, then our living becomes a portal of the abundant healing, recovery, strengthening, and fearless encouragement for others.

This life, although it is filled with movement and purpose, sometimes brings the snow, the ice, and the chill that brings a stillness to the lives of so many. I am not talking about weather … I am talking about seasons of life where we feel useless or are made to feel worthless in the circumstances we find our selves. Sometimes the feeling of uselessness is compounded by the abandonment that takes place by those whom we choose to count on for encouragement. This not to be forever, but it is a cold dark place that makes it hard to begin again.

A parallel thought is found in Psalm 147:18 – “He sendeth out His word, and melteth them: He causeth His wind to blow and the waters to flow.” Psalm 147 is an unbelievable song of provision, but there is a subliminal truth hidden in the undercurrent that I would like to leave with you. The power to encourage, to comfort, to recover, to heal, and to strengthen is not found in the world that has turned its back on God … it flows from Him and through those who belong to Him. Those whose hearts are downcast need Gods people to truly allow the undercurrent of “That Day” to flow through their lives.

(Oh, If I could shout the blessing of this undercurrent living into you with a simple Word) …. Where would Naomi be without Ruth, David without Jonathan, James without John, Nathaniel without Philip, Andrew without Simon Peter, Paul without Barnabas or Jeff without Joe? Jeff without Joe? 

Joe, my brother, was determined to love me “no matter what” when we were but toddlers. We were two peas in a pod but not because of Jeff, but because of Joe. We drifted apart a little as older teens because of sinful choices and friends attached to those choices. But the season came, Joe found himself in the snow, the ice and the chill that sin actually had brought into his life. Joe took a long look into “That Day” and saw Jesus' sacrificial love for him, heard the Word, melted before Him and the Wind of God's change began to blow as the water of life began to flow through him. That love for others began to stir passionately in Joe as one by one he led his family to Christ. Joe let us see “that day” through him and in one night both my future wife and I, and other family members heard the Word, melted and God's Wind and Water began to flow through us.

Oh, If I could shout the blessing of living into you with a simple Word, that word would be LOVE. Not the noun that the whole world sings about, but the Heaven sent verb that is willing to lay down its life for a friend. For God so loved the World … so now, should we.
Begin to Love with the greater Love that God wants to pour through us.

“That Day” … from the scourging … to the surging... through us ... to them ... for Him. Amen!

HLFA,
Jeff

Where is the Hem?

I knocked softly at the door because I wasn't sure what I would find. Years of doctors prodding and poking; countless surgeries and contorted procedures that left her so embarrassed and humiliated. I was worried I would just be another voice that could cause her more pain than comfort. The door was opened and we were greeted with a smile of friendship and true appreciative love... “Come in and see her, and please pray with her”.

What we found as we walked into the room where she was curled up under several layers of soft blankets, was one of God's precious ones … suffering. The doctors have turned her over to those who now work with her to manage her pain. She still loves her husband and her family. She prays for her friends,and those she learns of who are hurting. She still reaches out from behind those tired eyes to offer a kind word to let you know how beautiful you are in the sight of God. Even in her suffering she wants to know if you are well, and to make sure that you know you are loved.

I knelt beside her and put my hand on her blanket bound hand. This was not good enough, she would not allow herself to be treated like the untouched leper; so we wrestled momentarily to free her hands from the constriction of the blankets. A light glimmered in her eyes as we were now able to hold hands to pray. Oh how I reached for words to pray, but I felt I wasn't even coming close to addressing my concerns for her let alone pleading for her life. Truly from my vantage point this prayer of mine was so awkward and anemic in its presentation that possibly it was just bouncing off of the ceiling. But something transpired there, she seemed to react as if Jesus was holding her hand, and she breathed in a calm resolution that if it was His desire she might get that opportunity for a miracle. We all gathered with her to hold on to that moment hoping that somehow this moment would make it all go away and that this moment would be the end of a long bad dream.

“Who touched me?” (Mark 5:30) Seemed to shout from my heart that was connected to Heaven. Lord, there are so many pressing in on you. (Mark 5:31)With so many needs how can you sense just one? And all she did was touch the hem of your garment, your virtue went out of You, and that woman in Your Word was healed. “Who touched me?” (Luke 8:45) Lord, I am still waiting and listening. Please speak the same words to this suffering daughter of yours... “Who touched me?” (Luke 8:45) And if so be she hears, her eyes that are so tired from the pain shall regain full youth as the pain flees away as a light driven shadow. Let your virtue flow back in to her and rid her body of the ravaging disease that is now ripping life away from her... piece by piece. Please, she is almost gone. Where is the hem?
 
I reached for the hem … and found it not there.
I listened for the voice … and longed for the care.
Then what swept through my heart at that point of despair?
Indescribable.

Something moist grazed my cheek and found its way to my heart.
Something eternal that reached and touched a deep unknown part.
What did this moist heavenly wind bring... a brand new start?
Unimaginable.
 
To join you Lord in my sister's hour of need ...as you halt all time and stop all speed.
To be arrested by truth and covered by light … to rob death of its sting and the grave of its might,
O hear the coo of your wounded and fearful dove,
As we reach for your hem please flood us with your love.
For there, in your love, is no disappointment.

“And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto Him before all the people for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately.” Luke 8:47

This is where we must start in our daily efforts to live as well as our hours of gravest need. We must realize we have no one else that has full power to care; and so we reach out and touch him without regard for the past, the present or the future. Here is where we reach out with the expectation that whatever happens … Jesus is not our last hope (though He is the First and the Last)...Jesus is our Hope! Here is where we risk all, without fear of reprisal for our reckless abandon to place ourselves in His desire. Here is where we do not measure our ability to perform but our inability to be able to live one more moment without Him. Just like our eternal salvation in which He offers the consolation, “For whosoever shall call upon Him will not be ashamed”. He is not in the midst of us to dishonor us, discourage us, or disappoint us. He will not abandon us, nor allow us to stand there without healing … But will we (with the touch's virtuous response) acknowledge that He will not, no He will not, ignore our desire for Him?

 Luke 8:48 – “And He said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace.”

HLFA,
Jeff

Again? ...Again!

God Placed Himself in the Middle of Our Needs

 Psalm 42:7 – “Deep calleth unto the deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts: all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me.”

A woman became pregnant during her engagement, but her condition was not caused by her fiance. (It was rumored to be a divine intervention). Her fiance really loved her but wanted to do right, which meant he had to break off the engagement to save face. Though it was his right to terminate this engagement, his love for her would not allow him to make a spectacle of her in her time of great alienation. He had figured a way to break it off privately so no one local would know, but this would only buy her a brief reprieve before she would begin bearing the marks of fallen woman, single abandoned mom, and a potential societal outcast. His conundrum, yes, still loving this woman at risk, yes, caused him to fold as a special counsel offered an alternative to his plan. The counsel's plan was risky but would at least keep his “wife to be” out of harms way. The special counsel convinced him to marry her immediately to eliminate suspicion of her pregnancy as being untimely, and move on with their life together. Done, it had become their secret (except for the knowledge of the pregnancy by a cousin).

As timing would have it, love would allow the purpose of this child in the womb to fade to gray (though the special counsel had admonished the young fiance and his new wife that this child was destined for unusual greatness). To add obscurity to the picture...The birth was kept completely out of local view by a mandated government required trip which had them travel away from their home town. Plans for the trip were so hasty that the couple failed to secure reputable lodging at the other end of their journey. This failure to plan, placed them smack dab in some makeshift overflow lodging that was only reserved for those of questionable repute (it was usually the lodging of the questionable outcast and needfully unnoticed).

The events of this monumental birth were only captured by the “normal” amazement of a small band of outcasts. Their claim that “Angels told us of this birth!” would only cause a brief stir among those who put little faith in the words of an outcast. To the outcasts, there would be the wonder of why a carpenter would be birthing his child as a shepherd and why this was so important that Angels would announce it to them of all people. …..Again?

Again. Yes … we have back tracked to Christmas again, and we are well on our way to Valentines Day or so it seems by the grandeur of the changes in the department stores. It seems taboo in our humanness to keep bringing up the past … “move on” … “get on with your lives until next year”. “There is so much more Bible to discuss” and “this Christmas story is found in just two of the Gospels” is the whining statements that I always hear from the peanut galleries filled with those who get easily bored with their God because of their nearsighted devotion.

This story keeps me amazed year after year and (at least in my life) will be my way back home each time my value is dashed against the “jutting rocks of uselessness” by the Dream Hater and his Hell-stench hoards. It paves the way to Calvary by gathering in all the beggarly elements that Christ would intertwine His life with in an indelible and undeniable identification with our needs. The greatest place for doubt is the greatest opportunity for faith … Think of all the contradictions of God's way in comparison to wisdom of the sages of this shallow world.

Instead of positioning Himself aloof from our struggling existence, He places himself right in the midst of our greatest needs...and even partakes in the feelings of our crippling inabilities and inadequacies.
He extends pardon to our vilest offenses and He grants forgiveness to our most ungodly choices: Offering position to the meek and humble,
Lavishing joy upon the broken in heart and contrite in spirit,
Establishing greatness for the servant,
and Fully investing in the castaway, the downtrodden, the purposeless and the profitless.

Jesus brings eternal value to those whom the world deems unfit for anything ... by bring the vibrancy of eternity right into the hearts of those who believe. This life in Christ can be the most awesome unfolding of mysteries right before our eyes. Every turn in the road is a new revelation of His love and plan for me and you. Don't miss out on the adventure by being in a hurry to stake your claim in the “I know that” camp. Pack up your tent of the need for temporal contentment, and keep moving further into the uncharted regions of personal intimacy with your God. No matter where we turn we will find Him there, waiting to lavish His extravagant love upon us.

Are you overwhelmed by uncontrollable waves of joy by the revelation of His care for you? No?Stop ...lift your arms to the Father. Let your crushing cares go. Stay there until He lifts you into His everlasting arms. His desire is you!
 Merry Christmas Again! And Again!
The never ending party for You!
HLFA,
Jeff

Through the Vale of Tears (Cut and Bleeding Trees)

Was it fair to be on this dark and twisted road, where every turn seemed to scream out injustice? Surely, I am neither blind nor stupid, so I am able to intuitively cut through the laughter and frivolity that I am passing through and leaving behind. Don't be fooled it doesn't even remotely begin tell the story of the consequences that I am now just beginning to enter. The consequences of the desires and actions of “them” are beginning to cut, tear and rip at me as I trod forward...feeling more and more violated.

I stop to catch my breath. What is this that I hear far behind me?

A sound of sweet innocence singing its way from Your House that now seems so very far behind me. So many voices of reason shouting to me of “opportunities” for a closeness and of “experiences” for wonder found only in Your House. Yes, how beloved and beautiful it is there, even upon entering the outer courtyard my entire being begins to fade as I to cry out for Your life to pour in and over and through me. Oh, how I cry out for that moment with You to last forever. I must move on!

My mind races back to standing on the street and gazing with envy at Your House. Even the sparrow has a nonthreatening and happy nesting place in the crevice of Your eves. And oh how satisfied are they that get to stay there day and night … I can still see them there, still praising Thee! Why did I listen to Your voice that called me from beyond and above. Why did I believe that my strength was in Thee?

Following Your voice has led me down this dark and twisted road. Moment by moment my heart is feeling the anguish of “them”, whose life without You has brought such tragic consequence. Why can't I stand in Your House among the singers singing and the praisers praising? Why must I smell the stench, see the filth, touch the corruption, hold the brokenness, hear the cries and taste the tears as they mingle with mine. This is not how I envisioned the “bliss of serving You”.

I have come to realize how temporary my movement through this deep vale of tears actually is. I am always passing through. I allow myself to be a victim in covenant with those lost in these dark places. I will soon pass by but I must not be completely overtaken by “their” fault. I must not be captured completely by “their” season of pleasure for so soon its effects could leave me clinging to the root of bitterness. Though I am also cut by the consequences of “them” whose dark road has become so much a part of my heart … I will dig a well of redemption, I will carve out pools of restitution, I will uncover springs of refreshment, and I will challenge others to do the same. For I am "them".

Was it fair to be on this dark and twisted road, where every turn seemed to scream out injustice? I have found myself on my face, not wet with the dew of the morning, but drenched in the tears for my sins and others. Oft I have begun to try to sing the songs of “Your House” only to find You have somehow placed my voice among “them” and “their” songs of sorrow within my heart. Strangely, this is when you pour Your strength and Your joy in and over and through me. I now have power to pass on Your love to others.

I stop to catch my breath. What is this that I hear not so far ahead of me?

A sound of sweet innocence reborn singing its way from Your House that now seems just ahead of me. So many familiar voices beckoning me to join the closeness and rest in the wonder found only in Your House. Yes, how beloved and beautiful it is here, as I pass through the outer courtyard my entire victimized being begins to fade as your eternal love pours in and over and through me. Oh, how I joyfully cry in this moment with You forever.

             “O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.” Psalm 84:12

HLFA,

Jeff

Baby Jesus Had Blond Hair?

And Baby Jesus Had Blond Hair? (One more shot at an awesome Christmas Thought)

Applied Math for the Heart 101: Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake + ½ glass of milk + 10:30 PM = mmmmmgood @ 10:30PM but heartburn @ 2:12 AM + a need to stop the discomfort.

Applied Math for the Soul 101: Lust of the Flesh + Lust of the Eyes + Pride of life + any time in life = heartache + confusion + a desperate need for a personal rescue.

Advanced Fuzzy Math for Life 101: Pain + a humbled heart + a crushed spirit + a devotional cooperation with the truth of God's Word = healing in God's Time + rest.
  
It seems the further down the turnpike of life we get, human-kind as a resource for “smart”, always finds itself on a detour to stupid. Now, don't get too self-righteous in your thinking … this detour for the most part has provided a few chortles along the way {def: chortle – laugh in a noisy, gleeful way – sometimes a chuckle and a snort}. For instance - Christmas Eve, the big headlines for a local but an extremely admired weatherman fell off his lips in the form of the following: “Even tonight’s snowfall won't stop Santa!”. Now pinch me if I'm sleeping but … snow … reindeer...sled ...Rudolf ...Isn't snow something that should get me excited in the scheme of things. We were always concerned how the Jolly Old Elf was gonna make it without snow. Probably not too funny to you … but I don't even need eggnog to get a chortle out of this.

I truly think that God had one of those “chortle” moments when He brought Christmas to the planet. One illustration that stands out from the rest is the FIRST ANNOUCEMENT after the Babe was born. While the self-righteous religious world was busy writing out bills and IOU s to God, and while continuing to reference their religious endeavors as collateral, He revealed The Most Awesome Truth of the Ages to a group of common, hardworking, though many times irreverent, always earthy, occupationally smelly … "outcasts"... known as shepherds. Although the religious community couldn't do without these “unclean savages”, they did their best to minimalize contact with them. In the midst of the biased blurb by the religious teachers of the day, God would deliver The Announcement of the ages to those who would keep it simple because they lived life and didn't fake it. 

Think of the event and feel the chortle of God --- An angel appears to the outcast shepherds … they are mega-slammed with terror that makes them want to run. But the Angel's message stops them in their tracks; “Fear Not!” “BECAUSE OF and FOR YOU is born this day in the city of David (the Beloved), a Saviour (rescuer, deliverer, preserver) which is Christ the Lord, And this shall be a sign BECAUSE OF and FOR YOU; You shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

What? God entering the normal … because of and for them? Now that was a miracle they had to see.

Try to understand all the arrangements made to bring this night to pass BECAUSE OF and FOR YOU and it will blow you away. God moved the hands of time, birthed nations, formed hearts, bartered unions, empowered the political realm, motivated the moment, positioned the places and players... and then released the message on those he planned all this for … shepherds... BECAUSE OF and FOR YOU.

Step back and it all makes incredible sense – The Babe, wrapped in common utility cloth, and cradled in a feed trough..because of and for the faith of Shepherds and you. God will make sense to those who see Him in the normal... for He is Emmanuel, God with us.

Don't ever write yourself out of God's plan, He is and will continue to move and mold the events of time and space because of and for you. But here is where His Story will collide with us. And what we do at the point of impact is critical. The fact remains, He didn't do what He did the way anyone expected it. How we deal with this “unexpected gift” of Heaven will mold and make our lives for eternity.

God gives + you believe + you receive = you shall live.
God gives + you don't believe + you don't receive = you shall perish. ( John 3:16, John 3:36)

To this day He doesn't do things the way we expect it. He is still in the business of creating an unexpected awe from the normal. How we deal with these “unexpected gifts” of Heaven will mold and make our lives while on this side of eternity. Gifts come in all shapes and sizes, and will create different points of pleasure and pain depending where you are in the reception line (which starts at the perception line). Unless our thinking conforms to a grace outcome even in the most catastrophic situations, our lives will be handicapped by our inability to see the good, and will be further frustrated because we will lose control. This is where we have to apply Advanced Fuzzy Math for Life 101.
    
Pain + a humbled heart + a crushed spirit + a devotional cooperation with the truth of God's Word = healing in God's Time + rest.

    
Carefully Check out the picture attached ...you will notice as I did that the baby Jesus has blond hair. We have had these manger figurines for years and I never noticed this until I removed them from the house, placed them in the snowy grass of our side yard, framed the picture, snapped the picture (I still hadn't noticed the Blond hair yet), pasted it on this communication, opened the attachment to see if it was there.... What? Baby Jesus has blond hair. What does that do to you? Not what I expected.

What will you do with what you don't expect … even if it is painful for the moment...
Because of you and for you?

HLFA,
Jeff

Welcome to Bethlehem

What a weird time in history! The world at large seems to be mentally deteriorating around us. So many were waiting on the end of the world based on the skewed calendar of an ancient and extinct people whose worship service included bowling with the severed heads of excommunicated worshipers. Though the Mayans may have been brilliant in their discoverable advancements, their genius was not enough to secure their existence. Even with these obvious facts, many were resting their security on this so-called doomsday calendar. However, the broken people of Newtown, CT have lost all sense of stupid clocks and calendars as they mourn their many losses.

These are disturbing times if we add up the tide of ignorance and lack of personal integrity that keeps threatening us with a tsunami of lost life and lost liberty. We need Hope! Merry Christmas? Yes … rejoice and remember The Hope that came to us on that very first Christmas.

“NOW unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20,21

Just for a moment, let's lay aside all the trash the world is trying to dump into our hearts. Let's leave the mad dash for the bargains. Let's move out from the masses rushing to the cash registers and office parties. Let's breathe in the Spirit of the Eternal Season to regain some sanity in the midst of this crazy world. Just for a moment!

Welcome to Bethlehem! The “House of Bread”, had become a den of thieves; but did the character of the city derail the plan of God for the World without End? Although there was no room in the Inn and the initial welcome party would be the local animals instead of family and friends, would this have God cease His plan to call out a people that would hold Him in their highest opinion? Who will look and take His Birth to heart? Shepherds were called near to witness ... that the God that held them in celestial wonder night after night, now lay helpless in a feed trough wrapped in the garments of those needing healing. The gaze of the local worshipers and magistrates that had turned to gain and greed, would not even remotely be distracted from the clutter that was blinding their vision. This worldly distraction would create the perfect protective canopy to allow for the events of this wondrous evening to unfold without threat.

“Now unto Him who is able”...God, this night, would become helpless. He literally committed His power and glory to the care of two individuals, that by worldly standards, were inconsequential and undeniably inexperienced to care for history's Game Changer. While the visible world was being conquered and enslaved by powerful rulers of darkness in high places, God had begun His unstoppable invasion. He would bring His Kingdom without End into the world of broken men by breaking along side of them. This breaking would begin by experiencing all the benefits and handicaps of needing to be cared for as the “babe of Bethlehem”. This breaking would be effectual.

“Now unto Him who is able”. This night in Bethlehem would begin the living illustration of the truth of Emmanuel, God with us. In the essence of its signature proof : “You shall find the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger”. ...we find the tender hand of Mighty God becoming ... God with us. “Exceeding abundantly above all”...”above all that we ask or think”. Stand with me a see the truth unfold and you shall find:
The Babe – God, a baby, joining with us in the struggle of our beginnings, even from birth. Wrapped in swaddling clothes – He had no choice of status but like with our beginnings, He will be reminded daily of our ending. He was clothed in the most versatile cloth – for throughout life it would meet the basic needs for health and hygiene but also at the last would be the choice of cloth for His grave clothes. Can you not see the shadow of the cross already in the life of this child?
Lying in a Manger – The Bread of Life, the gift of God, lying in a feed trough, was and is absolutely no threat to those who choose to bow their brokenness before Him. Lying in this manger is everything that is “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think”.

- Can you see how even in His birth He has positioned Himself to under-gird our helplessness?
- Can you begin to trust differently so He can continue to unfold His exceedingly abundant care for you?
- Can you more deeply understand that His love for us goes above and beyond what we ask or could think to ask?

Once again we find that the evidence of His abundant care is to be housed in the lives of the inconsequential and the inexperienced of this world. Christ in You, the hope of Glory! Can you see the strategic nature of God choosing you? This has you positioned perfectly for the miracle of His revelation to you and through you … You are to be the evidence of “God with us”. You are the hope carriers and the praise makers. When you are living openly for Him you allow Christmas to come alive today... the song of angels can now be heard via the voice of men … “Glory to God in the Highest ...”

No doubt the world is going crazy …
possibly just trying to see …
that He lives in you,
and that He lives in me.

May Christmas 2012, be the Christmas where we continue to realize the gift of His abundant care!! The world around us is counting on it. “And on Earth Peace, good will toward men.”
HLFA,
Jeff

Shock Waves -- Go Crying!

Totally strange and disheartening times … Sometimes even dreams carry wonder for awhile until they collide with a catastrophic reality. The Events of Friday, December 14, 2012 in Newtown, CT, at Sandy Hook Elementary School, seem so surreal that we wish it were just another bad dream.  If so, then we would find the liberty to wake up unscathed. Not gonna happen unless we are comatose.

In a way this nation's courage and spirit is continually being disemboweled by incidents that throw great doubt into the arena of personal safety and security. Such horrendous events openly herald that the human race (with all of its advancements in communication and education) still continues to foster and unleash extreme darkness. This darkness is always lurking, always looking for the perfect inopportune moment to strike; and we are helpless to do anything about it.
 
We all have observed that just as seagulls will almost kill each other for an abandoned french fry, the fear mongers of this world stomp madly over each other to be the first to publish the sordid facts. Like tragedies before this, the facts will come out , will somewhat clarify, and possibly give us an opportunity to reassess the risks of living in our times. Those with deep political agendas will more than likely slither in and take advantage of the scared and uninformed public. Spiritual anarchists will heat up the situtuation by shouting harsh and critical doomsday prophesies from a safe distance (So as not to be directly involved). Survivors will be advised to embrace mantras that will get them further down the road where the pain and memory will begin to dissipate. But what of the Redeemed?

All of the Redeemed will have to face the questions of their soul and the Spirit will have us lift our hearts to cry “Tell me what You want from me!” Some will stand and wait for the reply while others will feel they have done their duty to pray and walk away.

If it is "the goodness of God that leads us to repentance" … what has happened this day? (Some may say “judgment” – but what of the children?) If "God is not the author of confusion" … then why are we confused? (Some will say – We are not confused, we had it coming – but what of the children?) If "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" ...what are we doing? (What?) If all we do is grovel in the paths of worms to find the answers to tragedy or pull out all the stops to accurately place blame, we will continue to plague ourselves with a paralysis that will have us rotting in the comfort of our own educated sanctimony.

An old friend told me one time that I was “incoherent, disillusioned and mad” … I was so grateful for his frank honesty because so often this is an acurate accessment. Possibly at this point (in the sharing of my heart) you may be feeling that way of me also, but Please listen on --- (it may get a little more incoherent especially if you read the next grouping of words just to get it done).  

In Jeremiah 9: 1, 2 “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.” , Jeremiah appears to be very much like us especially in the way we respond in our most desperate moments.

(Merry Christmas!) The world feels there is no Savior in the situation …
(Merry Christmas!)... in a world where we have all but given up hope.
(Merry Christmas! ) CRY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SLAIN IN THEIR INNOCENCE,
and if you must, RUN AWAY TO THE REMOTE SAFETY OF LIKEMINDED FELLOWSHIP – BECAUSE OF THE WICKEDNESS OF THIS GENERATION...  BUT then Go into the world and stand in the truth of “Merry Christmas!”

We could not continue this way and God knew it when He sent His Son … “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and THEY shalt call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with US.”  Who are THEY?
  
THEY are those who have believed and received the Christmas story.
THEY are those who are crushed by the pain of others.
THEY are those who choose to leave the safety of the fellowship to reach out.
THEY are those who SHALL CALL HIS NAME into a disheartened world around them.
THEY are those who proclaim that JESUS is GOD WITH US !

He was born to live among our breaking.
He walked among us to feel the depths of our brokenness.
He died to own every situation of human tragedy.
He bore His sacrifice to reconnect sinful men with a Holy God.
He arose again to break the bonds of our brokenness and bind up our broken hearts.
He fully satisfied the requirements of Holiness to secure eternity for the believing.
He fully secures and empowers us in our brokenness by His indwelling Spirit.
He now wants us to join Him to be there for the traumatized, the confused , the hurting ... and let those robbed of hope know that
JESUS IS HERE.
JESUS IS WITH US!
so GO in Love with Him!
 
Merry Christmas !

HLFA,

Jeff

Silence

Silence
God had given us a moment together. We earnestly prayed for a genuine need. There was no audience but God. (I guess as always, He is not about the business of embarrassing His kids.) We placed the situation in God's hands trusting He would deliver. In prayer we asked God for the obvious - “Lord, Please let the employer not fire the employee. Please allow ______ to keep his job. We will trust you with this situation knowing that You alone know what is ahead and what is best … in Jesus' Name, Amen!” And we both left the moment feeling God would take care of the situation.

My brother was worried that he would lose his job, and in the story of his tenure he had reason to feel this way due to past blemishes on his record. But this was a new day, he was trying to walk honestly before man and His God. Although in times past he was labeled negatively, the new crew he was working with thought of him as “the best.” Once he may have tried to cover up the incident, but this time he would be honest, report it, risk termination, and trust God's mercy to deliver Him. He was going to do right no matter what.

 I Peter 2:12 – “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

I received a text mid-week that went something like this “Thanks for praying with me Sunday Night, they let me go but it is okay, I will be all right.” My heart sank and tears came for my brother. I felt a little bit disappointed that God had not done exactly what we had asked (… except for the reluctant, carefully chosen words that committed us to the thought of being "okay" with termination... if that was what God wanted). Although we know that better things are ahead, right now the silence of the moment is killing me.

 I Peter 2:19 – 20 “For this is thank worthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”

Under the pressure of the church congregation, we do our best to appear spiritually content with the decisions made about us and our brethren. We try to keep a Godly "stiff upper lip," although our spirit is broken, scarred, and scared. This is the moment that we feared would come, and now it has. Are we to be quiet when there is so much noise and turbulence in our souls? Will we find Him patient with us while we do our best to try and work through this moment of human mess we call “I'm okay?!”

The facts are thrown in our face by our adversary “You prayed he would keep his job, and he lost it!”

“What power is there in prayer if it “always” goes this way?”

These seething words always seem to hiss from the depths of Hell trying to alienate us from God who truly loves us, from the God Who stands, waiting at an open door. If we stay close to Jesus, even in disappointment, we will find Him already opening the way before us. He is not silent … we are not fully listening. Listen and we will hear and be refreshed!

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him for the help of his countenance.” Psalm 42:5

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. “ Psalm 42:11

 My hope, His help, My health, My God! I shall yet praise Him! Silence... I'm listening.

 HLFA,

 Jeff

There is Gold in Them There Words

“There is Gold in them there hills!” … was the one liner I heard as a child while watching particular “westerns” on the black n' white television screen. Using the theme of the California Gold Rush that began in the Mid 1800s, the movie industry would capture the imaginations of its fans as cinematic “Cowboys” would gallivant across the “big screen” in conflicts created by the rumors and discovery of gold.

Even today, gold captures the heart of men and women. And with a gem enshrined within its setting, gold captures the eye of the beholder. Scripture, however, pulls us from the focus on gold by letting us know that the Word of the Lord is to be desired more than even fine gold. Gold may give us temporary comfort in the acquisition and accumulation of things, but the Word of God can give the believer lasting and eternal comfort when our temporal comfort is threatened.

Digging for Scripture's treasures is only as rewarding as the heart allows the Spirit to capture the wonder of His truth. Weekly, I go treasure hunting for Scriptural-taught-thoughts in hopes of finding a “gold nugget” that might cause seekers to be captured more securely by these truths.

Psalm 27:10 was in this week's dig. “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.” [Please hang with me for a moment as I share an awesome truth buried just below the surface of this passage.] The word “forsake” in this passage can literally speak directly to an orphan, a castaway, the bereaved, the lonely, and the spiritually abused or abandoned. It must be noted that captured in the action of the word “forsake” is a momentary event that has left one without an earthly parent or primary caregiver.

As a result of this life-challenging “moment...” “the LORD will take me up.” Where the “forsaking” was for a moment, the LORD brings in a season of active, personal and continual nurturing and care. Held within the golden setting of “take me up” are the following actions: holding us carefully with the eternal comfort of His love, gathering us into the company of others, taking care of loose ends (bringing up the rear), moving us from our loss to His hope (little by little), taking away the shame caused by the “forsaking,” and bringing value through us to others. ALL THIS FOUND WITHIN SUCH A SMALL PASSAGE? If you are saying “I don't get it” ...slow down. You may not need this but someone else near you may.

During the real California Gold Rush, many a man returned quite wealthy from his adventure, but many returned even poorer than when they had left. As with scriptural “treasure hunting,” the key is not to capture the Word for yourself, for with that selfish, pitiful purpose you could soon find yourself spiritually bankrupt. God is not a harsh, knuckle-rapping school teacher. He will bring truth to you with the hope that you start seeing the value of others around you. Try to hold on to this – “When my father and my mother forsake me ... (I may actually be abandoned and feel worthless at this moment) ...then the LORD will take me up” (but my Heavenly Father is actively involved in renewing that care for me, and bringing greater value to my life).

“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defense; I shall not be moved.” Psalm 62:5-6 Seek Him while He may be found,

Wow. There sure is gold in “them there Words.”
 
HLFA,
Jeff

Blessed Graciousness

Psalm 51:12 "Restore unto me the joy of THY salvation; and uphold me with THY free spirit."

There he was, so badly beaten by a gang of thieves that he couldn't move for the pain that tortured his body. He had seen incidents like this on TV shows, happening in a setting that possibly had numbed his sense of reality. It was so easy to watch the moment by moment , horrendous acts being performed against “acting” humanity, that it had never crossed his mind the curtain could role up, the stage could fade away, and he would be left standing there the vulnerable target of the merciless.
   
After all, wasn't it Thanksgiving? “Happy Thanksgiving!”… A time to be thankful, forgiving and offer acts of graciousness to anyone within the sound of our voice and beyond. That wasn't the case at this moment of his life. From the vantage point of a witness (had there been one); he was greeted kindly, and then physically beaten until he was a bloody, crumpled, naked mass of human rubbish. Thrown to the side of the road like the unwanted remains of the Thanksgiving dinner.

All form of emergency communication and identification had been stripped from his possession. Even if he had a cell phone, he was too badly beaten to use it. The phone wasn't the only thing missing...he had so alienated himself from his loved ones, that personally... he would not be missed by his family. He had severed ties long before this day, and to his dismay the family accepted this fact, counted him as dead, and washed their hands from any responsibility for his life. Thanksgiving was just another one of those really lonely depressing holidays … and this one was so lonely it could be the end of him. One other point to note, the neighborhood he was now abandoned in definitely was not a place for a man of his ethnic background to be in at all. He was definitely facing his last hour. He would close his eyes and accept his fate.

Although he had resigned himself to just die and be gone, Someone had other plans. He heard a voice that sounded so much like his attackers that he wanted to whimper and plead for his life, but he was too weak to make a sound. This individual who now invaded his dark hopeless space... just spoke and said “I am sure he is dead and to even touch him to check could be a violation of the law … disturbing a crime scene, I'm out of here!” And the stranger was gone.

A moment later a car slowed down to almost a stop just across from where he was strewn. The door opened and a voice was heard ...”Oh forget it, he does look dead from here, and to check him out I'd be late for our Thanksgiving get together … someone else will probably stop!” The car door shut and the vehicle raced on. All went black, this was what he had been waiting for, and just below the sound of his audible voice he whispered “Death ...thanks for coming and freeing me from this miserable end – oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!”

Wow what a morbid Thanksgiving story …but as reality would have it Death knows no holiday, and extending God's Grace to all we come in contact with should be the daily song of our hearts. Your life is so strategic when Christ has set up his abode in you.
 
I was looking over a list of famous folks who passed away on Thanksgivings past and I will only pick one of the many because his life in Christ still affects the lives of so many even today (although he went to Heaven 264 years ago): 1674-1748 - Isaac Watts was a famous British hymn writer , wrote about 750 hymns including "Joy to the World", "Oh God our Help in Ages Past" , "This is the Day the Lord Has Made" and "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."
 
I will leave you with the words of the last Hymn mentioned for your Spiritual pleasure:
  
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Jesus, because of Who you are ...Bring me back, restore and refresh the joy filled gladness contained in Thy victorious salvation; and when I begin to falter, support my leaning with the noble wind of Thy Holy Spirit. (Psalm 51:12 prayed through).

 Happy Thanksgiving 2012!!
        HLFA,
            Jeff