Fighting Not to Fade

John 19:28 – “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” (He would now take a sip of vinegar and give up the ghost, but not without this last display of humanness.) He fully understands your most desperate needs.

When I come home, tired after a long day or a long trip, all I want to do is to stay up that evening, just long enough, so that I can appear to have enough energy left to care. That may sound strange but it is true. Sure, my entire being wants to crash into my bed and enjoy the oblivion of “Winkin' , Blinkin' and Nod”. But my soul longs to prove to my beloved that I have enough energy at the end of the day to be there for her.

The inevitable will happen, if I don't do anything to keep consciousness, I will fall asleep. My problem when I am really tired is that I don't know what I really need. So, I will get up from my “nodding out” state and wander to the kitchen (choosing any other room will cause a wandering- zombie-like-state that irritates the fire out of everyone else trying to get to sleep). The kitchen is kind of a neutral ground, and there I have acceptable choices although it boils down to two … Eat or drink? Both seem to have the same immediate affect … a temporary recharge in the strength department (but trust me, it is very temporary).

This will open another can of worms because of the potential for “goodies” to be hanging about that have been either newly purchased or skillfully prepared that day. If I could keep my focus on the purpose of the visit I would be okay. Usually though, I will be thinking “drink of water”. But soon, due to my tired and unwired state, I will find myself over compensating in the eating department instead. Which of course will drain my strength and deplete my sleep also (oh, my tummy hurts). Trying to stay up and not fade into the night is so frustrating at the end of my strength...so EAT?

It is so typically human that when I am hungry I eat too much or when I am thirsty I drink too much. If I have the means, I will fill my closets with a relentless reserve of “what will I eat, what will I drink, and what shall I put on?” But put me at the end of my strength and life is simplified … I must go on. Let me live.

True strength for life is found in a lifestyle that daily recognizes God's provision. He has and is all that I need for life and living. True abundant life is not found in hording God's goodness for ourselves (can't happen anyhow) but in openly sharing His goodness with others. Psalm 92:1,2 – “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High; To show forth Thy loving kindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night,” .

Here is the kicker … so many of us who are connected to the Cross of Christ will be content to live in the discontentment of having no outlet to see God work in our lives. We will eat, drink, and be merry in the land of oblivious bloat, so overstuffed with trivia and cliché that we can't see how awkward and how obnoxious we are in a world dying to know God's love. (Right now, some of us, because of our insatiable desire for self gratification, are fading, nodding, and bowing out in the spell of “I already knew that!”).

The last words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John were:  “I thirst” … Wow!! Meditate on that one. Knowing the character of our Saviour … His thirst was for me, His thirst was for you. Greater love hath no man than this…that a man lay down His life for His friends (and He was laying it down so even His enemies … all of us … could be His friends).

Don't just lay down and go to sleep in the midst of the needs of others … drink in His awesome love and let it spill all over those around you.

Live openly for Jesus ...He lives openly in and for you!

Now I can go back to bed.

HLFA,

Jeff

The Sign

“The Sign?” - “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:39,40.  The only sign that Jesus would give to those facing the Truth with animosity and antagonism would be the characteristics of the time between His death and His Resurrection ... Let's go there for just a moment to get the picture!

The occupants of “Abraham's Bosom” (known as Paradise) had received a Visitor that had brought them the reality of Heaven; while the prisoners of Hell (Separated by a great chasm) were now finding their hopeless end expanding ... but this is unseen by all creation. The groaning of Creation had ceased for this moment in painful anticipation of “what if?” … hanging in the void of “Three days and Three nights”.

While on the surface of the World … right amidst the adornment:

• The fearful Jewish rulers wanted guaranty that “the body” would remain secure in the tomb, so their guards and their feeble seal were employed and waiting. He was dead … but that word ..”It is Finished!”, sounded more like victory rather than defeat.  
• The crowds had watched the show, beat their breasts in disgust (the show didn't go on for days like it normally would), and went home.
• The Roman Crucifixion Team was left with an awe of the man who was posted “King of the Jews”.
•  Joe and Nick, two secret believers, did what they could to provide Jesus a hurried but decent burial.
•  The women followed to the tomb so they knew where they laid him, then went home to prepare spices to apply to the body after the Sabbath, and then rested. 
• The disciples mourned and wept … they had been so full of living because of Him, and now He was dead.
• The words of the Resurrection were muted by the moments horrendous reality... He was crucified, died, and was buried.

Hold on My Heart, Await O my soul
My pulse has faltered, and my life interrupted...
While I wait for the grave to cry “I can ne'er hold him!”
Let God Arise!

This is such a dark place to be
...in between the reality of history noted: Jesus was crucified, died and was buried (THIS IS A HISTORICAL FACT THAT EVERY MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD LIVES WITH)
... and His-story to be revealed – He Arose!

Satan knows the Resurrection is reality, and that if believed it frees men from the curse of sin for eternity. If he can just keep men in the slumber of “the sign” – If he can just keep the cross immovable. If he can just keep faith “deep and personal and silent”. If he can convince believers to “cloister”, to separate, to segregate, and to keep to themselves … he can perpetuate this Dark moment with Jesus forever in the tomb. Hear him hiss his advice, “Go ahead and celebrate your holy days. Go ahead and gather around the message with rejoicing, but keep it in your congregations and out of the market place... you don't want to offend anyone.”

Prior to His Death and Resurrection, Jesus laid out the plan that would break “the sign of Jonah” for those who were waiting to believe... it is noted in Matthew 16:24, in Mark 8:34, and  in Luke 9:23 – this is a familiar passage to any that have frequented the congregating of saints; but let's hear it in light of the moment: “And He said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself , and take up his cross daily, and follow me”.

Come to the Cross. You who are washed of your sins by the blood of the Cross, lift it up, carry it and its effects away with you into the lives of others. If you will come after Him this day, this moment … His cross must be your cross. Don't feed the slumber … don't leave the world around you in the history of the cross ...awaken them with the reality that you live in Him and He lives with you... daily.

Awake – live loudly for Him – love others with Him. He is Alive!
    
HLFA,
     
Jeff

PS. The world is not threatened when your faith stays contained in a tomb, a place, a book, a building, a day, a time, etc....but the world panics when your faith goes mobile because there it has unlimited capacity. “Go into all the world!”

The Acquainting

I’m really not sure what had driven my hastened steps to the back end of the dark alley. I had a twisted feeling inside of me that I couldn’t hide not even remotely. My skin rippled with the sense of a fearfully threatening encounter. Even my breath became rhythmically shallow. My whole being seemed overwhelmingly oppressed by a specter of someone or something that had positioned itself well out of my control.

There was definitely someone following me. Although it had appeared as the tip of an extending shadow, the shadow had crept over me to the place where I was being engulfed by its darkness. Pushed forward by a great need to survive, I knew someone with an unknown and uncontrollable power had to be attached to the shadow. I am not quite sure what happened at that moment but I found myself unable to move forward, almost like I was stung by an immobilizing neurotoxin. So I turned to face my adversary.

There he stood…but there was nothing about His appearance that even remotely held my attention in a threatening way. I tried hard to find anything about him that would infuse admiration, but I was at a loss. I needed to grab for something that I could use to validate the fear filled feelings that actually carried me into that alley. But what stood before me was so unassuming and so unthreatening that my blushing countenance sunk in despair. I had nothing to begin to contrive a story that would explain my uncontrollable actions. And He, in all of his lack of luster, just stood there looking at me. The only thing that was left to do was to study the man standing before me.

A more focused look revealed that there seemed to be something about Him that was so bruised, so wounded and yet so free. The longer the gaze, there appeared something very broken about Him, and yet in the brokenness there was an undeniable dignity of wholeness. His garments appeared rumpled, unkempt, stained, and soiled by some earlier tragic abuse. There was noticeable physical evidence of violence that his body had borne and was still carrying. But the humble way he held his battered frame carried no cry for “pity me” as with most men in his condition. What happened next would alter me for the rest of my life.

He stepped forward slowly and deliberately stretching out his scarred and gnarled hand in my direction. For some uninhibited reason I moved toward His wounded outstretched hand. Something deep inside me needed His touch. I somehow knew this was His introduction to my grief. I knew this was the connection that He was longing for and that I desperately needed. Why did He want to make a lasting connection with the deepest grieving burdens of my life? Why did He want to fully identify with all that would and could destroy me? Why did he count me worthy to take on my pain? That touch, that longing connection, though momentary on this side of the veil … had my heart on its knees and the eyes of my soul thrown open wide.

I now understood his appearance, because with the addition of my deepest darkest pain, his countenance grew even more unremarkable. He was wounded for my transgressions; the chastisement that would produce my peace was upon Him, He walked away beaten and I was left healed. He clung to and removed my deepest darkest burden, and wrapped that burden within and around His own dignity. Though devastatingly leprous, He held me close. I knew that this was love. Now, I was beginning to understand the essence of real beauty and the lasting consequences of His acquaintance with my deepest need.

The end of our sin is where our life begins with Him.

“But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8
“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” I John3:16

Let Him touch us, and we will live.

And as she slept, I laid my hands upon her pain and wept knowing He feels her pain deeper than I ever will. And He cares way beyond what I can imagine. He lets me care with Him. Praise His Name!

Isaiah 53 HLFA,

Jeff

Change - Stinky fish or Welcome Rest

Holy mackerel!!(Sanctified Stinky Fish?) Did you see that? Did I see what? … This type of conversation could go on for hours (minus the sanctified stinky fish) if a child is given full authority to ask questions, and he (or she) is strapped into a car seat with nothing else to do but look out a window as sights and sounds flash by their world. Most children will not keep looking and asking about the ever-changing scenery, but after a short period of time they will drop slowly into a stupor until their eyelids lock shut and sleep engulfs them. We may comment that “they were so tired”, even though they had fully rested prior to the trip. What is the deal? (Now this is the point where we can discuss all the possible reasons for this phenomenon happening, or not happening, so as to compare stories of our children or our childhood memories … I will give you a few moments …. OK, enough!)

What made them so tired (or what wore them out)? It is the same thing that wears us out … CHANGE. We can only take so much change and then we begin to shut down. Change is inevitable. Change is happening all the time. It can be unnoticed until it is a surprise. It can be resisted until it causes submission. It can be enjoyed if it is our plan, or loathed if it imposed by another. Change that is looked forward to with pleasant anticipation we may call adventure. Change that feels forced upon us because we had no say in the matter is always spoken of as “unfair”. We will live through everything from “nuisance” to “earthshaking” but will always come out of the “change” with the lasting effects of different degrees cause by the stress on our lives. Our reaction to change makes us what we have been, what we are and what we will be. Our attitude and responses to change will create the legend of who we were ("Remember Jeff, Boy he was a grouch!).

There was a man in scripture whose name has been intertwined with this concept of painful change – “Job”. We have seen the “patience of Job” attributed to those who seem to be able to put up with a lot and still come out mild mannered. Remember though, patience is not a virtue …it is a choice. It is only seen as a virtue by those observing one that appears to be handling suffering well; it is a different story when seen from the vantage point of being the one suffering.

Job’s life changed radically in a moment. He went from prestigious prosperity to pity-filled poverty overnight. In the book of Job chapters 12 -14, you can read Job’s amazing self-reflection of his situation while struggling with the change in his life. Here is a sound bite from Job’s wrestling with all the dimensions of the radical and disappointing change in his life: Job 14:14 – “If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come”. Job here is viewing death as a welcome change because of the intense struggle he is trying to endure. Most of mankind will only struggle for a while. We have a limit, and when it wears us out, we crave rest no matter how it may come. BUT … THERE … right in the midst of the change … is our unchangeable God. “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6 (Therefore, placed in His care this change is never “wasted”)

It is easy to fast forward to the fact that if we know Jesus, then we will be with Him in Heaven, and all this will be over. But God never has intentions of “wasting” our lives and allowing this time of change to pass without reward. He doesn’t want our lives to be lived in vain. Change is a constant gift of a renewable vantage point in which we have the opportunity to see Him in His unchanging glory. This glory is evidenced in His active role of loving us through the change. He is the supply for all of our needs according to His immense riches that are amassed for our sake during this life of ebb and flow.

We will change, times will change, positions will change, possessions will change … everything changes but our God. Strongly note this: He is appropriate in His care for us in all of this change. Trust Him. The only time change is a waste is when we decide we can handle this ourselves. The life that is truly blessed is the life that acknowledges that HE WILL TAKE CARE OF ME. So as I am strapped into this car seat of life, when I am overwhelmed by my vantage point, I will lay my head back, close my eyes and trust Daddy to get me to where ever he is taking me. It will all be good. It will be Okay. “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” II Tim. 1:12

HLFA,

Jeff

PS. By the way – the picture has a subtle message for me as I view it –“resting while trying to go too fast”; There is a limit to what we can handle … (reminds me of the awkward position we put ourselves in when we really aren’t trusting God).

Staring Too Long

Just try to listen to someone talking to you about something that is not even remotely catching your interest! The phone rings, and the telemarketer (first of all they can't even pronounce your name) begins their rambling diatribe from a “throw your brains away”script with a tone of voice that is almost as interesting as an automated attendant.

"Blah – blah-blah-blah-blah-blah" ...The disconnect is inevitable.

The way we view God's care for us is many times much the same. We seem to qualify or disqualify God's care for us by filtering His response through our self-disappointment and self-devaluation. This has us abandoning hope in God while we try to measure our loss of worth as a reason that He hasn't or won't hear our voice. Why should He care for us?

Holding to the false opinion, that God will only answer our prayers because we are “somebody” or have "done something worthy" of His care, is extremely detrimental to our total well-being. If the truth shall set us free, then there is a good chance a lie will ensnare and enslave us. Why are there so many “Christians” on drugs for depression and drugs to manage undiagnosed pain?

Sure there are a lot of reasons for medicating ...physiological, psychological, sociological, but could looking too long at our problems and looking too little to the One who can solve them be KEY. Do we remain in prayer? Do pray to prevail? Or do we pray because we get tired of hearing people say “Did you you pray about it”? If we would be honest, we plan and worry in larger chunks of time than we do in waiting on our God in prayer.

The likelihood of our even beginning to see the miracle of God's forgiveness and continual care for us, while we continue to stand and stare into a sordid sinful event in our life, is close to "nil". And until we back away from our sin, stop being the judgmental spectator of our hearts, and truly focus our concerns in His direction ... “nil” will keep recurring.

Someone close to me has written a song entitled “My Pain, My Healing” – The bridge of the Song reads :
            “Longing for shelter- from the cold-you give me strength when I’m not bold -
              If pain is healing - I want more - I’m still here kneeling - please restore.” 

There is a truth in these lyrics possibly hidden even from the song writer just as it was from David in Psalm 66 (and to the casual reader of the words of this Psalm contain a healing treasure that may be missed). If David stopped at verse 18 like a lot of us do – “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:” … we may not catch what he really has said. We may not hear that what he has said is this – “If I continue to stand and stare as spectator and judge of the discrepancies of my heart, I may be silent and there is a good possibility that the Lord will not hear me speak from my need, because I am so overwhelmed by my discrepancy it may seem louder than my prayer)”.

You may even hear the Psalmist say … “I have sinned, God won't hear me”.
The sad thing is this may create an addictive loop, and we may continue to choose sin because we feel He doesn't care ... but He does, please read on!

Right now there is someone still punishing themselves by disagreeing with the interpretation of verse 18. Without knowing it, you have stared way too long at your problem, and think it has gotten bigger than God's provision to rescue. Read the passage in its entirety and trust the discovery of the Psalmist.

Psalm 66: 18-20.
“If I regard (by staring too long at) iniquity in my heart, (there is a potenial) the Lord will not hear (from) me:
but verily God hath heard me; He hath attended to voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.”

God, in His love, grace and mercy extended to His Kids, Hears and Attends to the voice of our prayers... no matter how faint, how tainted, how small, how long, how seemingly insignificant, how embittered, how broken… God doesn't turn away from your prayer and never turns away His mercy from you.

Trust – Pray – Rest – Breathe,

HLFA,

Jeff

Stuck in the Middle

“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also is in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Gen. 2:9
  
“But the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Gen 3:3 ( This was Eve's flawed explanation to Satan of her “middle”situation... what is with the “touch it”, God never said that.)

“O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known, in wrath remember mercy.” Hab. 3:2

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Re 2:7

If you have surmised that the verses above are nothing more than random statements from Scripture, then there is a good chance you are over burdened by your current state of affairs. You have no time for mind games or puzzles that are presented by mad men. You are pushed by an inner pressure that screams “you have to arrive somewhere soon or your life will implode”. With this pressure you feel that you may explode, lose connection with gravity and float into uselessness. We have all been there at one time or another, but some with less frustration than others. What is it with this “middle” land, this place of waiting, longing, hoping, doubting, and disappointment, that holds us in depressing captivity?

I hated it from the “get go” when I was pulled into the playground game known as “Monkey in the Middle”. You know how that game works: two bigger kids (or more talented in ball handling) begin tossing a ball back-n- forth with you in the middle. They just happen to toss the ball high enough at the point where you are standing that you have absolutely no chance of getting the ball without exerting a massive amount of useless energy. And even if you get the ball, the other two players walk away and the game is over. Stupid! And this is supposed to be fun? (Right now the ball handlers are saying “I don't get it?”)

As life moved on, with out being cognizant of it, this game would become a strange omen-like shadow that would continue to position itself across most of our lives. Somebody, something or some event would put you right smack dab in the middle. The basic problem, that we all share, is that we think “the middle” is a place of worthless existence. We see the intense struggle, and wonder why no one else is having a rough time (not true). We are very uncomfortable with being in the middle. Our knee jerk reaction is to declare a pity party and send out invitations; but we either don't invite God or we lose His invitation because we are convinced “He doesn't care anyhow”. When in reality it is where our God is and desires to be...He is in the midst, in the middle, with us.

This is the place where we can allow Him, or trust Him to show Himself “Mighty” to our benefit. This is where all the conflict of life converges – the disease, the healing, the storm, the rainbow, the fire, the chill, the famine, the feast, the praising, the confusion, the clarification, the cursing, the blessing, the waiting, the movement, the roaring of our enemies, and the reviving of life. This is the place where He saves us. This is the place where He rejoices over us with great joy. This is the place where He rests in His love for us as we can bask in that truth. This is the place where He will “joy over you with singing”(Check out Zephaniah 3:17)........BUT IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED...O people of God, of all people you will remain even more miserable than those who have no relationship with God!

The danger of “the middle” is we can shut down, talk to our own pain and listen to our own words. In the middle we may even agree with our false assumptions and write out the sure failure of our own futile destiny. Do you feel you are in the middle? Feeling you are nowhere and you are nobody? This is deceiver's easiest illusion, because it agrees with our deceitful hearts and keeps us from seeing Jesus there. Catch your breath in the middle and listen to God's Word. Get your second wind in the middle and share every ache of your heart with Jesus. This is where He is, take full advantage of the middle... it is to your advantage that you are there.

Rejoice with Him, Rest with Him, Sing with Him … He is yours and you are His … nothing can change this truth poured upon by the unlimited supply of Heaven.

Take hold of the throne grace and climb up into the Daddy chair … right now!

In the Middle.

HLFA,

Jeff

PS. The Picture attached is the rock that marks the spot where Flight 93 went down on 911 - America was and still is in the "middle" ... Oh how we need a Heaven sent rescue!

The Arms of the Sea

Have you ever stood on a beach just looking at the waves crashing, turning and churning right before your eyes? Standing on the sand of the beach, you can only imagine the force of that point of impact where the sea's arms reach out and begin to affect not only the surface of the sandy beach, but also the essence of the contents of the ocean's own substance. The sea and the beach meet in a collision that produces all that defines the character of the beach.

Have you ever risked standing in that point of impact? Oh, the fascination of what might be churning at your feet and the feeling of being suspended between forces that are wrestling for your will and attention. Attention? You best pay attention, and maintain your footing or you could soon find yourself swept into the fury of the point of impact or caught in an undertow that could separate you from the safety of the shallows of the shore.

This point of impact of forces, this place where the arms of the sea reach into the sands of men, is a graphic description of what it is like to preach the Gospel of Christ. Standing in the churning, Paul used this term translated “necessity” to describe his passion of heart as an Apostle in I Corinthians 9:16 - “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” For the churning arms of the sea is laid upon me.

The word translated “necessity” here has also been translated other places in scripture as “needs, distress, must needs, necessary, compulsion, constraint, hardships, inevitable, obliged” – literally it means “within the bend of the arm”. This is the place of the joining of two strengths … it is a place of vulnerability. It is neither the lower arm nor the upper arm. It is neither the sand of the beach nor the waves of the ocean. It is a place that must move, and therefore it can be a source of both work being done and pain in the process.

Can you see the heart of the issue? If you decide that you will not only hear the call to “Go and preach the gospel” but you actually surrender to the call, and preach. Once preaching, you will find yourself in the place of “necessity”, the arms of the sea. It has the strength and rewards of both Earth and Heaven colliding there. The reward of preaching the Gospel (that fastens itself to the soul) is hard to describe to the one who just stands fascinated by the sights and sounds and never puts a foot into the surge. Step into the churning, step into the surge! 

Every time I have the gift of the moment, to walk a beach after the arms of the sea have had its tidal dance, it is hard to take my eyes off of the beach strewn with new found treasures and relics that the churning has left behind. With the break of dawn, my heart wants to leave its nighttime safety to be the first on the site to search the treasure trove of surprises laid out for me. Though I am able to pick up the remains of the dance, there is an ache in me to stand in the churning and capture the treasures that will remain hidden in the churning. I know the best stuff is there, I can can just sense the missed moment and the treasure that could have been mine had I been there at just the right moment.

I know this picture will have some of us shaking your heads at the awe, the beauty, and the wonder that is found in standing in the place where Heaven churns the earth. Standing where God's spirit brings back to life the deadened heart of man is a reward in itself. This is the place where death is banished forever by the song of the Savior's story. This is a place that we have the necessity laid on us. Woe unto us if we preach not the Gospel!

Listen to the churning as a tattered clad child with bended knee and folded hands, lifts its fragile little voice to the God of all creation, and prays ...“Please, Come into my heart Lord Jesus and save me!” Here is where the collision of Earth and Heaven define for eternity the character  of this soul set free. This is the treasure, this is the reward that keeps the heart of a preacher aching to stand in that place where the churning unfolds. Stand in the churning!

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

HLFA
Jeff

Just A Moment

Everything seemed “OK”, but the door opened and closed: the distance was determined, the house was emptied, the partnership dissolved, the shame arrived, the loneliness crept in, the pain was debilitating, the accusations began to fly, the health was gone, the dreams seemed over, the trust was gone, the covenant was broken, the truth was obscured, and the questions remained.

Life can collide and even collapse in “a moment” and everything has changed. Some changes leave scars and scares that last for a lifetime. Many moments have us spun around to the point that confidence is replaced by helplessness. Some moments do no harm, but leave us feeling that there is no going back from being odd. With time and distance these “moments” may become fading memories. Regardless, in these moments we need strong but tender arms supporting us. We need Jesus.

Isaiah 26:20 – “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” THE LORD IS NOT YOUR ENEMY. COME, you belong to Him. Enter into your innermost hiding place and secure all the low-hanging access doors to your life. This may seem to others a single unimportant moment, but outside of your innermost hiding place, indignation is working its way past your life. Stay there with Him until it has passed over.

Psalm 30:5 – “For his anger endureth but for a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” For that heavy scarey breathing type of anger lasts just for a moment; but His desire for you is a continual reviving springtime of life: sore weeping may come and lodge with you for the night, but the ringing proclamation of joy will be there at day break, hold on and let Him hold on to you.

Isaiah 27:3 – "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day". You are His special planting, his special vineyard, HE IS YOUR WATCHMAN AND YOUR CUPBEARER … if there is any one paying attention to your life for the purpose of harm, HE IS the watchman, the one who will protect you day and night.

Please, when you face a moment of disappointment do not call it quits. In a moment of confusion don't completely lose it. I beg you, that in a moment of joy and satisfaction, do not declare immunity and invincibility. Compared to eternity, a moment is a light affliction(whether bad or good). Where we allow it to carry our heart will determine whether it will become a weapon formed against us or a tool that can work in our favor. II Corinthians 4:17 – "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory".

Oh if only we could see that the value of “a moment” is found in the opportunity to let go and let God have us completely. By waiting quietly In that moment, we might find … a tender unfolding of His provision and care for us. This “moment” may be a practice session for that MOMENT – that “twinkling of an eye” moment... spoken of in scripture (I Cor. 15:52) where we shall be “changed”.
The moments will begin to change us, but that MOMENT will capture us completely changed forever.
  
Everything seemed “OK”, but the door opened, the distance was gone, the house was full, the partnership renewed, the shame was banished, the loneliness not found, the pain forgotten, the accusations unfounded, health renewed, dreams secured, covenant proven, trust regained, truth alive and all questions answered ... because in that moment we will be HOME.

What a moment that will be!
 
HLFA,
Jeff

Open the Repository - Dream Again!

Years ago John, the Duke of Redding, had settled his royal family in the Burgh of New along the murky Hudson River. This settling took place during some of His royal sons and daughters formative years of searching. It was during this time of life when the young Marquess were invincibly but not invisibly working their way through their early teen years (just beyond cookie grabbing and well into pizza grabbing).

There was an interesting crew of merry friends that ran with the older Royal Reddings. This crew seemed to be the masters of finding something mischievous to do. If they weren't building forts to run to when they had performed non-chivalrous deeds, they were escaping from stupid near death “dares” or exploring abandoned dwellings to find long lost “treasure”. AND there was always an adventure to be had waiting for them in the Mysterious SA Repository Box.

Oh yes, the SA Box … Back in those days if people saw a bunch of kids scrambling in and out of one of those crazy flip-door, playhouse-like, repositories for used clothing... they would look the other way as if it was taboo to tattle on Royalty. It seemed like when possessions were given to Royalty in this fashion, the possessions were no longer thought of as being owned by the giver. And as for us, these abandoned magical garments were an open invitation to adventure, to find the perfect attire for our imagination escapades that would flow throughout our day.

Once inside this world of the SA Repository, strange colors and smells immediately challenged the senses. There we would find ourselves armed with a boutique full of amazing choices to fulfill our desires to “BE” fashioned in the image of our dreams. We could transform ourselves (with the help of this treasure house of wardrobes) to higher levels of peerage. Here is the kicker though, we all seemed to try to dress to impress The One, The Very Best … “Wait until my Dad sees me”. What did the Marquess of Redding say? “You heard him, wait until my Dad sees me!” We all wanted our Dad's to be proud of us, or at least get a good laugh because of us. Really!! We loved to see and hear Dad laugh.

Though this was an increasingly rebellious time in our lives, some of us still would not cross the line of disrespect for the sake of our own entertainment. Perhaps that was the salvation of our days ...at that time in our lives faith was small but the investment in the simple things that God commanded (Honor your Farther and Mother) became the foundation for our lives, and created openness when the mystery of His Will was made clearer. Though later in life paternal relationship disappointments would come, we still chose to honor and love... “It is what Dad and Mom would have wanted!”

We pause from a brief informational message from our sponser - "What God Wants!"
{God's Will in the old testament is defined by the Hebrew word “Ratsown” -which means pleasure, delight, favor, goodwill, acceptance, will , desire, self-will. Psalm 40:8 - “I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is written within my heart”.}
{God's Will in the New testament is defined by the Greek word “Thelema” , meaning “What one wishes” or “What one has determined shall be done” translated will, choice, inclination, desire, pleasure. Matthew 6:10 – “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.”}
 
The movements in and out of those repositories for “cool” used clothing is a little like our lives in Christ. We search in and out of the faithful truths found within the Word of God. We find there an amazing boutique of holy adornment free for our choosing. And the blessing grows on us as the desire to please our Lord grows with every excursion. Do we truly lose anything in this life by following hard after God's heart and seeking what He wants? Do we miss something important out of life by desiring to do what pleases Him? When we get to the end of what “we want”, we find it is old. We can't even begin to get to the end of what “He wants” because His desire for us has no end, and He makes all things new.  We are admonished to press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And as royal Sons and Daughters of the King we need to yield to His desire.

Come closely and peer over the outer court hedge and gaze longingly into the throne room as the King dubs His own (Taken from Ephesians 1:3-12). Listen as He moves the royal sword from shoulder to cheek, from cheek to shoulder:
I, Jesus, King of Heaven and Earth dub thee:
Blessed with all spiritual blessings,
Chosen before the foundation,
Preordained unto the adoption of children with full rights to the inheritance,
Accepted in the Beloved to be loved,
Redeemed by My blood, and Continually forgiven;
That you might be Holy, without blame, wise, prudently knowing and fully loving My will,
and unified before me in love;
According as I have chosen you,
According to My good desire,
According to My riches of Grace,
According to My good pleasure,
According to My purpose … to the praise of the glory of My Grace … and to the praise of My Glory, .. I DUB THEE CHILD OF THE KING … LIVE HERETO FOREVER.

O the riches bestowed on us because of His desire for us...bask in this repository.
Be ye Glad!
HLFA,
Jeff

Afterthought: For those who may think it too much of a stretch of the imagination to jump from childhood adventures that came forth from a Salvation Army Drop Box to the magnificent gift of Jesus' Grace bestowed on those who believe, I leave with an afterthought. My heart is daily breaking as I watch the joyless shallow existence of God's children who rarely exercise their imaginations to rise to Him in praise. We have left our imaginations in the repository of worldly sorrow and checked our dreams in at the break of every day. For those who have such a magnificent future, why are we so afraid to risk openly loving Jesus before a world so in need of seeing Heaven's Royalty vibrantly living? Why do we waste our days in silent guardianship of the truth, keeping it locked so deep within our existence that the world remains hopeless to us and because of us. “Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven”.

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