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SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE - Allah or Jesus
- All together
- A special baptism
- A brick wall
- A new command
- A Judas goat
- Ambience
- April Fool's Day
- Bad Shepherd
- Bait & Switch
- Be Complete
- Be Filled
- Be Godly
- Be Ready
Allah or Jesus
I
attended my annual training session that's required for maintaining my state
prison security clearance. During the training session there was a presentation
by three speakers who represented the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim
faiths who explained their belief systems. I was particularly interested in
what the Islamic Imam had to say.
The
Imam gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam complete with a video.
After the presentations time was provided for questions and answers. When it
was my turn I directed my question to the Imam and asked: “Please, correct me
if I'm wrong, but I understand that all of the Imams and clerics of Islam have
declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world. And, that
by killing an infidel, which is a command to all Muslims, they are assured of a
place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an
infidel?"
There
was no disagreement with my statements and without hesitation he replied,
"Non-believers!"
I
responded, “So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah
have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can go to
heaven. Is that correct?”
The
expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a
little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He
sheepishly replied, “Yes.”
I
then said, “Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine the Pope
commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Pat Robertson or Dr.
Stanley ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go to heaven.”
The
Imam was speechless.
I
continued, “I also have problem with being your friend when you and your
brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask you a
question…would you rather have your Allah who tell you to kill me in order to
go to heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you because I am going to heaven
and wants you to be with me?”
You
could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame.
Chuck
Colson once told me something that has sustained me these 20 years of prison
ministry. He said to me, “Rick, remember that the truth will prevail.”
And
it will!
ALL TOGETHER Acts 2:1
And when the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place.
Peter
stood with a sword to fight an army to protect his friend Jesus only to
collapse in curses because of a servant girl’s accusations and then dropping to
his knees when the Lord forgave him. As he was volatile and bore his strengths
and weaknesses, so do we in our everyday lives.
Unbelievers
look in and see with natural eyes and marvel that even though we have many
denominations, we have one Lord, one faith, one Bible and we are in one accord
in the same baptism. Our unity as a family, as brothers and sisters in Christ
is baffling to those without any objective truth.
The
vocabulary of Christians has been twisted and distorted by the devil so
completely that we, believers and unbelievers can use the same words while
having two different understandings of each other. This has caused the majority
of onlookers and seekers to despair and revert to relativity: this is what I
believe. With all our outward appearance of dispersion, the Body of Christ
undamaged, fully armored and battle ready. When the right moment in his-story
arrives, rest assured our swords will all be pointed in the same direction; at
the demons.
So
many doubt that we are one body and in one place: holy ground. We have always
been scattered throughout the nations of the world. We have only one flag and
an allegiance to the only King, Jesus. No country has any grip on us more
powerful than God’s hold. There is this beautiful blue pearl hanging on
nothingness that is our temporary home untiiil He makes it new again.
Sadly,
to our shame, some mock us and we often deserve the ridicule. Slowly but surely
the demons have slipped into our tent and have made laughing stocks out of us on their wide-screen IMAX theatre in
Hell. While we have been re-arranging the deck chairs the ship has continued to
go down. They don’t understand that we have been filled to the brim with the
same Holy Spirit into one filling: one baptism.
Now
the evidence of this radical conversion is that we are all together and
repenting of our sins. This is repulsive to the lost. We have been baptized
into the oneness of the Triune Godhead: one God-Jesus. And as I write this, you
and I are receiving to this moment the teaching and illumination that all
believers are blessed with together in unity of being all together. John 1:6
6 There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. A SPECIAL BAPTISM
Luke 3:21 (NASB77)
21 Now it came about when all the people were baptized, that Jesus
also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,
Let’s join for a
moment and take in the wonder of why our Savior would willingly experience the
outward manifestation of baptism by immersion. Jesus was sinless, so what was
the significance of this unique event? First of all it
was to equip, anoint and strengthen the manhood He has clothed Himself with and
secondly to demonstrate obedience, humility and prayer to all generations that
would follow. What an astounding
set of circumstances that clearly brought together the visible and audible
Trinity of the gospels. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all sharing
truth in a single verse. How blessed is the Word of God to us as it shares this
precious and golden moment, never to repeat itself in the infinity of time. What a wonderful
seal of approval for our God-man to launch His ministry of salvation and begin
His death walk to the Cross, one firm step following another. From this point
forward, He never looked back. Oh, how I wish we could do the same and not ever
be ashamed Him with our doubts and fears. Just to put on the armor of God, lift
up the sword of the Word and firmly place my feet on holy ground is my fervent
prayer! The dove quietly
settled in peacefulness, not known to mankind until that moment. The gentleness
of the flight, the landing and the harmlessness of the message of affirmation:
the Holy Spirit had arrived to anoint Christ the man for the timeless message
of the ancients who spoke of Him in times past. The voice rang out
to a startled universe of angels and every devil shook in mortal terror. God
became man on a mission that only the Triune god could ever accomplish. In an
eye-blink, salvation arrived with healing and deliverance in the wings of a
dove. The provision of love for His elect and eternal doom to those who would
reject and murder His Son as your sin does to this very moment. Submit to the
reality that you are owned by the Father, saved by the Son and anointed by the
Holy Spirit and you too will have that once in a lifetime special baptism a was
demonstrated by our Lord Himself. A moment that will change a lifetime of
eternities if only you will accept and savor the fullness of the Trinity of
which you were made in Their likeness: body, spirit and soul.
A BRICK WALL Philippians 3:12
12 Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that
I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Physics has taught me that
if I apply a constant pressure against any object, in time, it will move. It
may take a thousand years of my diligent effort, but the wall will go down and
the bricks will be scattered until they become the dust from which they were
made. So it is with sin and all the agents of corruption: they will come down
and return to dust if only you will apply the pressure long enough: persistence
of the saints.
Take for example the
allurements of the world and all the creature comforts that we are inundated
with in every area of merchandising. I expect that when all the surfaces have an
advertisement on them, someone will figure out how to project ads on the face
of the moon for the whole world to see!
It is second nature to covet
or lust for all those things that are dangled just out of our reach. This includes
advancement in our career moves. I was so diabolical that I would teach those
under me only to a point and I would keep key information and training of
special skills to myself so that they would never threaten my position of power
and authority. The presumption of corruption and underlying schemes was
elemental and necessary to outmaneuver those clamoring to take me down with a
smile on their wretched faces. The old leaven surely does foul the whole being
and cause a tension of heart-ache only the blood-soaked Cross of Christ can
heal.
When your soul has lost
ground and Devine life has declined, take a good look at that which was and
remind yourself: I can, I will and I must overcome in Him. My heart has lost
its softness and my conscience is no longer tender. The Cross has lost its attraction
and grace no longer seems sweet to me. I’ve lost my mind to the seclusion of he
Netherlands and iti is read meat for the prowling and devouring lion, I am
terrified!
Bring me back Oh Lord the
convictions of my offense before your holy throne with a godly sorrow that is
couched in true humility and confession. I ache to return to You and the sweet
comforts of your embrace.
That brick wall will come
down and my effort will persist. I will persevere against the immovable
obstacle of sin in a measure consistent with my renewed and growing faith. The
victory is ours, mine and yours as my besetting sin crumbles into the oblivion
of my past, gone and never again an obstacle to the gateway and cornerstone of
deliverance.
The wall has come down!
A
CALLING
If I condemn you Blame Me
not!
FAITH:
Faith sees the invisible,
believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.
Faith is to accept the
impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable.
Faith is ideal when
circumstances are right, only when they are adverse is one's faith in God
exercised.
Faith, like muscle, grows
strong and supple with exercise.
Don't be afraid to take a
big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
A little faith will bring
your soul to heaven; a great faith will bring heaven to your soul.
Faith is not believing that
God can, but that God will!
Faith is to believe what we
do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.
Faith in God is
indispensable to successful statesmanship.
Arabic
Proverb
He that knows not and knows
not that he knows not:
He is a fool; shun him!
He that knows not and knows
that he knows not:
He is simple; teach him!
He that knows and knows not
that he knows:
He is asleep; wake him!
He that knows and knows that
he knows;
He is a wise man; follow
him!
A NEW COMMAND
Matthew 13:34
All these things Jesus spoke to the
multitudes in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable,
I have often imagined myself
the President of the United States and the most unnerving ability I can imagine
would be the office of Commander of the Armed Forces. All other duties, however
important, would pale in comparison to having the lives of a million young
soldiers in your hands. How his heart must break in wars when these men give
their lives for their country as my Dad did in WWII.
When Jesus commands His army
to war He provides the armor and sword. His victory is in the heart of those
that are His because that’s where the war is waged. He commands us not just to
love one another but to love our enemies “for they know not what they do.” As
soldiers in God’s army we are to dig in our cleats and unleash the dynamite of
the Holy Spirit that is within us at Rev. Lucifer and his wimps. The battle and
victory belong to Jesus and the peace resides in our hearts that are joined to
His.
Jesus breathed a soul into
Adam and His mind and heart followed. So reason and emotions are the pathway of
comfort to the soul, in His image and likeness. Satan’s whole being is
committed to snatching your soul into his fiery clutches. He knows his time is
running out and like the desperation of a rabid hyena facing death, he is
determined to take you down with him; he’s that evil!
Your mind is where the
backsliding thoughts are hatched if there is nay fertile ground for them to
grow such as: pornography, drugs, booze, gambling, etc. When your mind is in
the gutter your heart will follow and your soul will fall from grace. All you
have to do is blink and Satan will slip into your mind with the flesh not far
behind.
So loving each other with His
love is not an option. Our Commander-in-Chief demands it because He knows that
love is life and without it you become a casualty and a victory for Lucifer and
his hell-hounds.
Receive your marching orders
like a good and obedient soldier for Christ. Each time you say no to Satan
temptations you earn higher rank in the Savior’s Survivors Squad of warriors.
You have His strength as the Holy Spirit partners with you in the conflict for
your soul. Jesus says for us to love and then watch the feeble efforts of the
devil wither before our very eyes.
A JUDAS GOAT
Matthew
25:45
45 "Then He will answer them,
saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the
least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
When you look carefully at
the division of the sheep and the goats in chapter 25 of Matthew, you will
notice that it wasn’t what the goats did that sent them to hell; it was what
they didn’t do. They didn’t pursue holiness and the effects of genuine works
that are not masks of self-gratification.
The evangelicals like to throw
around the label “carnal Christians” to describe plastic believers that are
attached to the world and measure their faith by what power, money, prestige
and influence their church may have. I once preached, “Is Judas still treasurer
of your church?” at a large Baptist church. Needless to say, they never invited
me back!
Holiness and good works was
in the air the Lord breathed. As St. Francis of Assisi once said, “All I want
to do is go about the work of the Lord and not know it.” You can’t be a
practical atheist for too long before true Christians take your mask off and
uncover the horror of your twisted motives: a midnight of your soul in the
abyss of endless shock and awe. The hell that is displayed will startle you
into insanity if you look long and too hard at the truth of your depraved mind.
If you really believed in Jesus, you wouldn’t embrace your favorite sin: it was
the weapon that killed God’s only Son!
There was a time in Rome
when the dead body was attached to the murderer, chest to chest until the
corpse rotted off of him. Such is the sin you willfully acknowledge that you
love more than the Savior. It would drive the Roman prisoner over the edge of
rationality and you are also on your way to a chaos of mental confusion, such
as you may never recover unless you’re repent.
The goat turned his life
toward the wider road that led the sheep to slaughter. The Judas goat gets his
name from the fact that he is trained to have the sheep follow him to the
butcher block. They blindly line up behind him and he returns again for more that
dutifully follow him to certain death. The Judas goat isn’t doing evil, he just
isn’t doing anything but leading to a oblivion of endless torture without
relief, ever!
And so it is also with you
not what you are doing as much as what you have not done. No decision to repent
is a vote to reject salvation. Following the goat soon transforms into being
the Judas goat as others see and imitate your example by what you didn’t do.
When faced with sin, just stop, stand still, turn around
and return to Him. No decision is a decision to be a Judas goat. How many souls
have you sent to Hell? When is the time to stop? What or who is holding you
back?
Slay the goat and line up with the sheep that the Good
Shepherd has chosen for His today!
AMBIENCE Acts 28:2
the natives showed us extraordinary kindness; for because of the rain that had
set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all. There
is a special comfort in building a campfire to gather around in Christian
fellowship. The chill of the winter air is so refreshing but the crackling
flames, songs that fill the air and wholesome laughter transform both body and
soul. Such is the emanation from Holy Spirit from the pages of God’s love
letter to us. The Bible brings an enlightenment that awakens a love within that
only His cross could provide. It embraces our body, mind and soul in a rush of
His resurrection and the enablement of the Holy Spirit to step forward as an
ambassador of the King, in peace. Prayer
is that special ability to bridge the gap from the created to the Creator: this
is a privilege for believers only. In private, we can dialog with Jesus our
deepest secrets and fear without restraint. It’s a social intercourse that
words sometimes cannot capture. The Holy Spirit intercedes, the Lord brings our
praise or petition to the Father and He nods His approval. Think of what can be
accomplished in our church society if we would all point our swords in the same
direction: that’s when the warming assurance and comfort comes up on the Body
of Christ. We
then lift our spiritual ears to the heavens and have that special communion and
fellowship with Jesus. Meditation is the lesson we receive from Him often
prompted by our prayers. For a seeking sinner or forgiven saint, it’s a big
bear-hug from our best friend, Jesus. If you are astute and have your spiritual
antennae up you feel that in the fellowship of like believers. The Body of Christ,
the church, the visible and invisible engulf our very being when this
experience occurs with a repentant heart. The
fellowships of Christians help us to return to our first love, to worship and
enjoy our Savior and Lord. The Holy Spirit invites us to join Him in the
friendship and love of fellow believers. This is a fulfillment of returning to
our first nature of actually being love in His Shekinah light: perfecting once
again an ambience that only a submission to Him can provide in holiness. APRIL FOOL’S DAY It’s
amazing how the years slip by but we are past our 25th anniversary
of Mission Gate. It seems just like yesterday when Trish and I were standing in
our living room the first day of our new commitment to the Lord and I asked
her, “What day is this?” and she replied, “It’s April Fool’s Day!” I couldn’t
believe it. I was convinced that I was either daffy, in mid-life crisis,
anointed or some combination of the three but I knew the Lord was playing with
me our first day I called the Pastor that led me to Christ and I asked him,
“What verse do you think of when you think of prisoners and our ministry?” He
replied, “John 10:9 where Jesus said, ‘I AM the Gate.” Amen! We knew the name
of our ministry would be Mission Gate Prison Ministry and that’s how it started
and I continued to be fascinated in that verse. Let’s take a closer look at it. John 10:7-10 7 Therefore
Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
8 All who ever came before me were
thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 I am the gate; whoever enters through
me will be saved.
He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal
and kill and destroy;
I have come
that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Allow me to
make a few points about this revelation of the “I AM.” First, thank
you Jesus there is a gate! Stepping through the gate into and then out of
Satan’s mansion called The Department of Corrections (prison) was a nightmare.
But now, there is another gate that offers life instead of death. Second,
thank you Jesus there is only one gate! I just know that if there were two
gates, with my luck, I would choose the wrong one. Third, thank
you Jesus the gate is a turnstile! We can go through one man at a time. We
aren’t herded like the cattle or prisoners in most institutions. We can put our
shoulders back, lift our heads and step through the blood of Jesus, one
born-again man at a time; each special in His sight. Fourth,
thank you Jesus it’s a strong gate! Jesus assured us that the gates of Hell
cannot prevail against us, that He will always provide us a way out, that He
will never give us more than we can bear, that no one can take us out of His
hand, that He will never leave or forsake us and that where He is we will be. Fifth, thank
you Jesus by stepping thought we pass from failure to victory, sorrow to joy
and from earth to heaven. Let me encourage you to step through the Gate for an
experience you won’t soon forget! Dear Lord,
some people just don’t know how to step through the gate. I remember running from you. It is so amazing that the sinful life we are
afraid to give up really amounts to nothing.
And the minute we believe, you offer us
everything…everlasting peace and eternal life. Galatians 2:4 4 But it was because of the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy
out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into
bondage. We
are so accustomed to the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 that it never occurs to us
that Satan would make every effort to be the counterfeit bad shepherd that
would entice us to follow him. The devil is deception personified, the father
of lies. His lure is the wide road that leads too many Christians to carnality and
false professions of faith: plastic Christianity. The
evil one is a master of scripture twisting and turning the doctrines of grace
upside down into works as the Church of Rome is severely guilty of. Popery spells out their faith in the
“Syllabus of Errors” and reading their doctrines will shock your protestant
senses. The original gospel of Paul as revealed to him by our LORD is trashed
for “another gospel” that is smoldering in the embers of the Hell it came from. The
demon of your most choice weakness will guide you to the nearest death house of
alcohol, drugs or sex. The flashing lights and energy is irresistible if your
invented god will wink at it. “Don’t repent until later” is whispered in your
ear by that moron devil assigned to your demise. All
the sensations of carnal satisfactions are already manufactured by the evil one
and marketed to you in a package of delights that will make your knees weak and
your will to resist collapse. He knows the buttons to push and you response
like an obedient, hell-bound sinner should; How stupid! He
won’t protect you from the consequences and you well know and remember the
insides of a drunk tank. The clash of bars, the smell of stale urine, the cries
of the raped and screams of the insane flash back to the jelly of your
spiritual spinal cord. He destroys anything that remains of your soul and
replaced the image of God with his mirrored mask of carnal, phony holiness to
mock our Creator and destroy God’s precious creation. Only
Jesus can heal this brokenness and you need to put your face in the mud, the
blood and he tears at the foot of the Cross and cry out “Lord save me!” because
Satan will never release you from his fiery clutches until you do. God only can
help you right now!
BAIT AND SWITCH
Acts 20:28
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with
His own blood.
The
sheep or our post-Christian era are being sheared by false shepherds that only
care about themselves. I have attended enough Baptist minister breakfasts to
know that the main topic of their passion is not baptizing new believers. I
spoke at a Baptist pastor’s conference and scolded them. I said that they had
fifty ministers in the room and collectively hadn’t had fifty baptisms in the
last ten years. I even preached on, “Is Judas still treasurer of your church?”
Needless to say, they gave me their left hand of friendship and turned their
backs on me ever since.
I’ve
had it with demons in the pulpit preaching another Christ. They have exchanged
the Word of God for the words of men! Emperor Constantine began the smoldering
sacraments and rituals of Father Satan and the Roman Catholic Church, cults and
the carnal Protestant churches have continued the apostasy. It’s called
religion. My unsaved, hell-bound half-brother once said, “All our world’s
problems can be traced back to their origin in religion!” He was dead-on right.
Religion
is man’s best effort to reach God, faults aplenty. Christianity is Christ’s
faultless efforts to reach man. Believers reach back because we are made in His
image and likeness. When someone insists on evolution I respond, “If you think
your great, great, great grandfather was a monkey, I am inclined to agree with
you.” So much depends on you believing that, “In the beginning was the Word,
etc.”
Religion
provides a manmade Poe or some other such officer that bloats with pomp, power
and becomes a despot seeped in tyranny. We are misguided from faith to
presumption and that we worship the creature instead of the Creator. It becomes
a satanic cult community.
Christianity
does not separate and isolate it’s followers. It unifies them in superior
splendor far above the hell bound fallen angels. The true salvation of faith
and fear can overwhelm trust Christianity has been marketed by bait and switch
con-men. They will attract you with enough plausible truth to disguise the lies
that are to follow.
BE COMPLETE John 15:11
These things I have spoken to you, that
My joy may be in you,
and that
your joy may be made full.
I
can’t help but think of the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem. What was
the donkey thinking? If it was me I would be astonished beyond belief that out
of all the donkeys in Israel, God chose me! Seriously, I know from whence I
come and I know the wretch I am. If you saw my heart as He see it, you would
stop reading and trash this devotional. I might add, if I saw your heart I
would run away from you as fast as I could. Let’s get this straight: He chose
us. WE had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with it. You and I have been
personally closer because of Him.
A
pregnant young lady walked into one of my ministry meetings saying that she was
going to have an abortion. This was her fourth pregnancy from a variety of men
she met at parties. My wife and I persuaded her to keep the baby. In time she
was arrested for shoplifting and sent to prison. We helped her out and when she
delivered the child in prison, we took it and came home with a two day old
baby. When she turned three years old we adopted her as our own. When I go home
to Jesus, my children will have to prove in court they are mine while my
adopted daughter will already have that record available to the judge. In other
words, my adopted child has preference over everyone else. Praise the Lord He
adopted us and our family has been made full.
We
abide in Him. Apart from Him we wither and dry up without value except to tinder
a fire. This means the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives in making us
complete. Here we are shattered and scattered in sin but thank you Jesus for my
conscience convicting me of sin. We are an empty earthen vessel that is filled
to the brim with all our Lord has to offer. That sure is a miracle in our lives
that only His unconditional love could provide.
Now
you and I need to be sensible enough to reach out to all the Lord has to offer.
We can’t be a partial Christian. We can’t be partially saved. It is not an
option. We must be complete in Him, period.
Once
we surrender all we are for all He is we become compete in Him. This is
impossible unless we tap the fullness of faith to be possessed by Him. It is
worded that we are His servant to sooth some sensibilities but the word is
truly not servant it is slave. It is the opposite of what your flesh craves but
with the help of the Helper we can be complete and experience a relationship
that can only be understood by someone who has experience in it. Press ON!
BE FILLED Acts 2:4
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
An
unbeliever cannot know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Only we
who have experienced being bowed again before Him can ever know, we know. When
the Holy Spirit comes over you there is an illumination. It’s like going from
black and white to color. You go from being a worm to being a butterfly.
Astounding!
A
wave of newness sweeps through you with purity, power, passion and prayer; The
old dies and the new stgeps from the grave in the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is the same power tht spoke creation into existence and lifted our Lord’s
corpse to life.
The
first change that others will notice is that you move from pride to humility.
When you know your heart as the Lord does, there is nothing to be prideful
about. Oh how Satan and his fallen angels knows this well. Father Lucifer, the
bright and morning star of heaven fell from grace because of pride to a
smoldering living torch of flames in an endless hell of regret.
The
selfishness that permeates with I, me and mine is exchanged for the He, Him and
His of perfect love. Simon the Cyrene walked in the bloody footprints of our
Savior, looking into His eyes and fell in love so much so, his two sons became
the first two bishops of color in Libya! Self will die as Christ lives in you.
Peter
was a very vivid example of a coward that became courageous when the Holy
Spirit enjoined him in his life and service to the Lord. He made a giant step
from earth into the heavenly places and he never looked back.
We
live in an advertising blitzkrieg of sin that permeates any media or surface is
going to put a camera on a satellite and project ads on the moon for a world
audience to see and be moved to buy. Sound farfetched? Stay tuned and you will
see!
The
temporal or rather temporary toys of this world will join the worms that devour
your cadaver in the pit. There is nothing made by man that is anywhere as
valuable as man in His image and likness. You and I are His eternal trophies.
Nothing else created will survive the holocaust. But don’t despair, we will
rise at His call and eternal life will include a new earth and heavens.
BE GODLY 1 Timothy 4:7
But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other
hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;
Once
you are born again and have graduated from “Jesus IS Lord” to “Jesus AS Lord”
your all consuming passion begins to be to guard the true Gospel from
perversion of the truth. Jesus said that He was the Truth so to protect the
Word you are protecting the person of Jesus from further heartache. This means
that there is no speculation or new revelation. Truth is Truth: objective
truth. I accept the Word for it’s obvious message and avoid allegories like the
black plague. I have never even read Pilgrim’s Progress and never will. The
Gospel as the Holy Spirit authorized it is my life’s challenge to drain the
last drop of living Water. I’m convinced that if I had many lifetimes of study
I would still be just scratching the surface of the 66 books.
No
speculation allowed but I would suggest that you embrace a pure heart and a
good conscience. No money or king’s ransom will do that. Only a genuine faith
in Jesus, His words and works, sill start in your mind, seep into your heart to
point your soul to Jesus with a calling that cannot be resisted;
Our
acceptance saves us from the punishment of sin, the power of sin and in the
Lord’s Day the presence of sin. When we fight the good fight, the victory is
assured. This is much cause to pray and give thanks to our Savior for His
sacrifice of that death stake. The only route to a peaceful life is to follow
the bloody foot prints of Jesus.
When
you choose to be godly, Jesus owns you. You will suffer for teaching truth so
the use of your gifts for maximum performances is of paramount importance. The
mantra should be justice for all and to keep pure.
The
content of your character should mirror the souls of God and the content of His
Words. No lust’s allowed when the fruit of the Spirit ripens. When you are
wholly His you become holy and blameless in God’s sight. Nothing short of being
God is being godly and this can only be done by exchanging all you are for all
He is.
BE READY
When Jesus came to the place, He
looked up and said to him,
“Zaccheus hurry and come down for
today I must stay at your house.”
Luke 19:5
There’s
something special about friends having a dinner with friends. It just feels
good to enjoy a good meal with good people. In most cultures, it is a special
time that can go for hours. It isn’t fast-food firies, it is a golden moment
that remains in your album of memories.
How
startling can it be to have Jesus invite Himself to your home for quality time
of fun, food and fellowship? Would you be ready to have Him as your
house-guest? Something to think about isn’t it? So let’s think about it
together.
There
might be a spouse or child would object to this. It isn’t too difficult to d a
quick inventory of the magazines, CDs, DVDs, favorite TV shows and internet
history. These few areas might run a cold chill down your spine thinking Jesus
would notice and comment to you His displeasure for the sin you are tolerating
in your home under your nose.
So
right now, do an inventory of the objectionable items in your household. It is
good to do your dirty laundry and to begin a godly home because the Lord would
like to be the centerpiece. The Holy Spirit will not live in an immoral garbage
can.
What
if your objectionable friends should drop by to visit when Jesus is your guest?
What would He think about how they dress, what they smoke or drink and the
language they use? Think about it.
We
must be willing instruments of His. He is the one that orchestrates everything
in our lives if we have exchanged all we are for all He is. The question
remains; Are you ready for Jesus to move in with you and your family? Is there any
reason you might have that this would not be a good idea? If you have a home
prepared for your Savior, then invitge Him in right now.
Write this on the tablet of your
heart:
I can permit Him in my household,
I will ask Him to live with us,
I must!
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