What Is Your Will In Christ?

Change has become a key word in American society perhaps more in the past few years than in many years preceding. People are tired of bloated self-serving government, the same worn out lies, the same deceptions, the same lack of hope, the same injustices, the same wickedness and the same old struggles. In my own humble mind, it's as if America has lost its' favor with God and as a result, its' people have lost hope. I'm not necessarily declaring this to be true. But looking at the worlds' past history, our situation may not be any mystery at all and if so, neither would the cure be. History Echoes ... Not only does history repeat itself, but it has repeated itself over and over again. The reason? Cause and effect - our God refuses to change. You might find yourself a little confused saying "What?". The cause: God's told us (man) what He'll do if we turn away from Him in an effort to drive us back to Him and yet we keep focusing on other t...

Affection [uh-fek-shuhn] "a disposition or rare state of mind or body that is often associated with a feeling or type of love." Wikipedia "fond attachment, devotion, or love: 1. the affection of a parent for an only child, 2. Often affections. a. emotion; feeling; sentiment; over and above our reason and affections. b. the emotional realm of love: a place in his affections." Dictionary.com "tender attachment: fondness" Meriam Webster It can be found in a tone of voice, a touch, or a manner of addressing someone. It can be displayed in any number of ways. It causes people to do all kinds of things. It has motivated people to accomplish tremendous things at times and yet, still others have suffered horribly for the want of it. If it's real, it can be priceless and in it's true form it can't be purchased. Shared mutually it tends to act as a binding agent that cements people together and gives life to relationships....

Given that I believe that our Lord, to a degree has varying expectations of each of us based on the gifts He has given each of us and our individual spiritual maturity, I find myself a target of my own writing ... because with His help, ... I can do more ... and I can do better ... As righteousness fades and the differences between right and wrong become increasingly obscured by the world as it continues to justify it's self serving and self centered existence, the time for decision fades also. As prophecies continue to find their moment in time to be fulfilled at Father God's direction, the foretold schedule of His plan draws closer to the earth's final act. Yet so many people remain oblivious and unresponsive to the late hour caught up in other preoccupations - and many of them are Christians. A high percentage of people will call themselves Christian and an even higher percentage will confess that they believe in God. But which God? If one takes these facts in...

Who Will See ... How hard and unrewarding it is to the loving heart of a good parent to receive grief and ingratitude from the children they raise toward Gods' standard. Do not good, wise and truly understanding hearts receive correction gladly? Who will have Gods perspective to accept His correction and training with a glad heart? Who will have the wisdom to greet the disasters in this life with praise for Gods investment? Who will have God's eyes to see that these disasters are the investment of His valuable time and effort in the growth of our character to prosper His children for eternity? Who will have tears of gratitude for His great caring in the midst of the throes of tribulation rather than tears of disappointment or for the pain dealt to worldly flesh? Who will have the wisdom to offer gratitude in these moments when His tender heart reaches out to teach us and give to us lessons of refinement for the prosperity of our eternal lives? If in His Fatherly love to us...

Lord, how will we worship you in the short time you have given? Each passing moment represents a lost opportunity to give you thanks for the gift of it. Will we continue to be silent as they continue to pass us by? Or will we acknowledge our error and begin to sing your praises in earnest? Will we acknowledge the wealth of your works and generosity to us giving thanks for them all? Or by our continued lack of excitement for your gifts or even by silence shout our ingratitude? Will the worship we offer you be worthy of the God of the universe? Or will our excitement for our Father God be less than the praise we give to the mere dust of mortal men? Will our praise in worship and exaltation be worthy of the only one who is God? Or by our restrained worship or even our silence show our lack of regard for all that you have done? We can never repay what you've already given. But do our hearts offer true gratitude or only further request of your favor? Will the praise and worship w...

To The Hand That Holds Me Up Oh Lord, when I allow myself by your conditions to remain in your presence, I have no fear that I may be brought down. For the hand that holds me up is not my own, but the one that cannot be shaken. Every assault of my adversary only brings new opportunity for blessing. Because I cannot lose when you fight for me. Held tight in your bosom, I have only to watch your faithful love for me play out. What can be taken that you have not given? What joy eternal given by the God that dotes on me that can be brought to end? In your bosom I find myself complete. My face hidden in the fold of your robe, I have no care. I pray only Lord that your great wisdom will lead my heart always to remain in your presence and that your will born of your great love for me will forever be my lot. Forever, praise and glory be to the hand that holds me up!

The Truth Hurts? Really? I'm sure many of us have felt a sting at one time or another when confronted with truth. But is it really the truth that brings us pain? Or is it really the sudden sharp acknowledgment that we're faced with? I tend to believe that it's the recognition that we're in error or that we've been deceived that causes us pain and that it's the acknowledgment of, and compliance with the truth that brings us healing and life. For example, the need to express individuality and intellect in radical ways seems to be a wide and common goal in the world among people today. But I harbor a fear of the extremes of independence I see many striving to achieve. Because the truth is that the spirit of independence can be a spirit of deception. The quest for independence has the ability to separate us from truth and life. The truth is evident whether we choose to acknowledge it or not and that is that we're totally dependent on ...

I recently re-read the books of Leviticus and Numbers. I'll admit that it's been a while since I last spent the time to read them in their entirety. In the past, while reading these books, I've felt somewhat disconnected. I'm a Gentile so my salvation lies in the richness and grace of the New Testament or the New "Covenant". Previously what I gleaned from these books was not without value - I learned a great deal about the personality, likes and dislikes of our Lord. But I saw it as a history of a people that was not my own under an old covenant that didn't apply to me directly. But this time was different. Instead of reading these books with a sense of "duty" to do so, this time I was searching with an openness to what richness I might find. The Lord had placed in me a curious desire to read them again and in my little world, that's a signal of a promised blessing. So with a hunger to find the treat that I knew was to come, I began to ...

Lord, let this one prayer rise above all others that I have prayed... and above any other supplication ... It's a simple thing I ask Lord ... yet I ask it with all that I am ... The granting of my request will rock the earth and the thundering power of it echo in the heavens ... At Your response ... the whole of Heaven will shout with joy in anticipation ... because they know Your heart ... My request Lord ... the one thing I ask above all else ... is that Thy will be done in all that You have created ... and let it begin with me ... In all that exists ... there is one power that cannot be contended ... one wisdom that cannot be compared ... and one heart purely righteous, all holy, faithful and true beyond any other ... and they all belong to You ... There's no brighter hope ... and no greater gain to be desired ... than Your plans for our lives .... and all of creation ... What must be suffered ... must be suffered ... what must be taken a...

Like Josephs' brothers, if we didn’t know the whole story of God's plan to include the rest of us in His family as well as the Children of Israel, we might be asking "what about us?". Not knowing might tend to make us jealous of them. And not understanding God's secret plan, as Paul referred to it, might make us resentful or even angry toward the people that crucified our Savior and King. But I thank God for the truth of His Word and His grace. Not only for us, but for them also. Christ's invitation, as Paul clearly stated was "to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles." There are many who believe that the Jews have lost favor with God. But if any might doubt the continuing relevancy of Israel in the history of the family of God, Romans 11 is a must-read for those who truly want to understand Israel's importance to our Father and the relationship that does exist between us. The truth substantiated by God's word is that the true child ...

So far, we've just been revisiting history that many are familiar with. Most Christians are familiar with the fact that the Children of Israel are God's chosen people. But the important connection between us that I want to point out is yet to come. Be aware that I'm not attempting to reveal some "never before revealed information" - that would be impossible. Our Bible has been scoured faithfully by scholars and those thirsty for knowledge of our God for centuries. But what I am hoping to do, is to bring back into focus some details important to our knowledge of who we are, who the Children of Israel are, and the eternal relationship that exists between us. So, on with the mission ... We're surrounded by worldly ideals, attitudes and theories. They come to us in the news and in all forms of political, social and even entertainment media. But if they're not consistent with the word of God, then they're the ideals and values of frail and perishable...

Authors Note: It occurred to me after I put up the previous post, that my goal may be more correctly stated: There are numerous parts of Christ's Church that are called on a regular basis to pray for the people of my focus in this writing, but not everyone understands why. I'm hoping to bring some clarity to them... Being human with all of the physical and intellectual limitations of beings having a typical life span of less than 100 years, I think it's hard for us sometimes to keep in mind the realities of an infinite God. If our entire lives were to be examined by someone else, and we were asked to describe exactly what we were doing at an arbitrarily chosen minute, say 10 years ago, we couldn't recall. But our God, being omniscient and infinite can instantly recall every moment not only of my life and yours, but of every human being He ever created from the moment He created Adam. He suffers no limitation of His ability to recall. His memory is without fail. Th...

I'd like to share something that I know some Christians recognize fully, but that others don't yet grasp. As you read this series of posts, please take your time in reading and check my references to scripture so that you can be at ease with what I'm sharing. It's nothing new, but something that not everyone recognizes and appreciates. And it's not something that I feel a lot of Christians are taught to understand with any recurring frequency to keep it in mind. The subject is one that the Lord's been speaking to my heart about for the last few months. It's taken some time in meditation and in checking it against His word in order to be able to share it. The subject first came up in conversation with a trusted spiritual brother a few months ago and without further discussion between us, it's continued to come back to my thoughts like an unending echo. It deals with the wholeness of Christ's Church - God's family, and the fact that it ca...