Heavenly Truth***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Evil has struck again and this time on our own shores.  America is under attack and it seems to have come from within.  If ever there was a need for wisdom and discernment from Heaven, it is now.  The Lord has drawn me into His Presence with confidence that I have standing to petition for His intervention not because of who I am but because of who Jesus is.  

This morning He speaks soberly "Why have you not asked to be lead into ALL truth.  That is the reason I sent the Holy Spirit to indwell you."

I find it amazing how long it takes for me to appropriate things that were promised by my Lord so long ago.  Really, at the very beginning of the new covenant  between God and humanity,  Jesus promised that our Heavenly Father would send a Divine counselor, comforter, and friend to occupy a place in our hearts that had previously been empty.  The Holy Spirit comes to fill a void we are born with that only God can fill.

Knowing and growing in the wonderful relationship with the Holy Spirit, I delight in all the new information yet always regret how long it takes me to appropriate and apply His wisdom. 

I have for a long time asked for His wisdom and He has been gracious to deliver.  He has opened my eyes to the better ways of the Lord when I ask.  But today I realize how I have not asked Him to lead me into all truth.  There is a difference in my mind between situational wisdom and "All Truth". 

The Holy Spirit does as He always does and takes me back to the Word.

John 14: 26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you".

The Holy Spirit is our bridge to the Trinity. He will teach us all things...and that means He will teach us Heavenly things as well as earthly things. Through His wisdom, He teaches so we can handle all of life's sometimes confusing situations.  But in Truth He stands ready to open up Heavenly things and give us a Divine Godly perspective with an eternal view. 

Since the fall of humanity back in the garden of our origins, we have been infected with a virus known as sin and the symptom of that virus is great confusion when having to distinguish between good and evil, truth and lies. And furthermore there comes the impossible mandate to act in a holy way acceptable to a Holy God. We were created in innocence so we are not naturally wired to make such distinctions between good and evil, truth and lies, so any judgements we render according to our carnal minds are flawed. 

Thankfully the Holy Spirit within us provides a Godly discernment and gives us the ability to gain the Lord's determination as to what is good and what is evil, what is truth and what is a lie.  The question is whether or not we will rely upon His leading us into all truth and teaching us all things and then will we follow His lead?

Our first dose of Truth is the knowledge about our Savior, Jesus. We learn enough to trust Him initially but there is so much more to learn. As we grow into maturity I believe we grow in curiosity about our Lord and God so that we may discover more about the mystery and majesty of our Triune Godhead before we meet face to face.

The Holy Spirit is our truth teacher, our comforter, when truth may be hard to handle (especially about our own carnality or difficult life trials) and He is our advocate. As our advocate His presence assures us that we belong to the Lord and nothing the enemy conjures up can take us out of The Lord's hands.

The truth is that we have been redeemed out of the hands of the devil and through Jesus our original dominion over the earth has been reclaimed and reinstated to our control. The Holy Spirit is our source of Godly wisdom and through such wisdom we can know how to maintain our reclaimed dominion here on earth.  But Truth reveals the battle before we are given our part to play.

As I now petition to be led into all truth, the Holy One will provide the Heavenly perspective along with the wisdom to operate according to it.  Our nation needs Divine protection and Divine perspective of our original purpose on this earth:  To accurately represent the One True God and His Son Jesus to the lost, dying and deceived world around us, and to live in a peaceful land that is founded upon Biblical freedoms.

The enemy wants to silence our message and our example.   While we have in the past betrayed our mission and struggled with becoming one with the world, today we have the opportunity to return to our Lord and retake our dominion until we die here or are supernaturally taken out so that prophecy can be fulfilled.

Let us pray in the Truth that the Lord has NOT abandoned His people nor the Nation of people that have been called by His Name.  For the sake of His name let us cry out for His Divine intervention and protection so that we can once again be the light in the darkness and operate in unity as One Nation under God.   This is the responsibility and privilege of the Church of the Living God.         

Today may we cry out to Our Heavenly Father that He send the Holy Spirit to teach us all truth, repent for our corporate sin and wait with excited anticipation on Him to deliver those priceless lessons.  Our God reigns! 

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

The End of The Enemy's Reign***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  The deepest issues of life with my Lord cannot be discussed in the hallway and in passing.  Some issues require days to navigate the deeps for understanding to shine a light in the dark catacombs of my mind.

The temptation is to stay busy.  So much to do and so little time in the bigger spectrum of what the world deems as "urgent".   But I know in my heart that I must forsake the urgent to focus on the important and I must determine "important" as defined by my Lord.

I want to understand life and to know my God to the greatest of my ability given the carnal mind I was born with.  To gain the mind of Christ is not just an instant thing and thoughts must be tested and checked against the Truth of His written word and that takes time. 

Evil is running rampant and much of my struggle is in the need to refuse to take the bait and surrender to the lies that the devil whispers in my ear.  Yes, I do hear voices other than the Voice of the Holy Spirit.  The Word tells us that Satan, our enemy, is a liar.  A liar speaks lies.  Therein is how we come to be deceived.  He speaks.  We listen.  And we fail to discern and refute his lies, which then gives him the power over us.

The Holy One speaks into that struggle this morning,  "Satan was created to be a servant of the Most High.  He was created to serve the Will of the Creator." 

With that statement the Light shines in the darkness of my room and wrestle.

Drawing down has taken some time.  But in the sweet place of His Presence, the random thoughts of late are like dots on a board about to be connected. 

One of my favorite all time chapters of scripture is Isaiah 54 and for years I considered Isaiah 54: 16-17 NKJV to be like a life verse that when I found that truth, it was a game changer:

"Behold I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work.  And I have created the spoiler to destroy".

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from Me says the Lord."

Being of a warrior mentality, these are victory words and a promise I have claimed for all my battles here on earth.  Understanding that our battle is not against flesh and blood was another piece to the picture as was given in Ephesians 6.  These verses together helped me get a perspective that God is in control of the spoiler and the amount of chaos he can inflict.  I grew to understand, that what the enemy brings to harm us, the Lord merely uses to strengthen and not defeat us. 

But lately as the world is inching toward the final battle here on earth, there was a question in my mind and a deeper wrestle about what that verse might mean in these more desperate days of persecution. 

Since the wake up call, by the Holy Spirit, thoughts keep streaming into my brain. Thoughts about Satan and his created status as a servant.   Only man was created in the image of God Himself and only "saved" man can claim the position and relationship as sons and daughters.  If pride caused the evil insurrection and rebellion of his role to serve the Creator, imagine the rage at knowing that for all of time he would be in servitude to the sons and daughters of the Creator as well.

So, the epic journal reveals that Satan went off the reservation, rebelled against God and left his role as servant.  Angels have free will, since we read and understand that 1/3 of the angelic host chose to follow Satan in that mutiny. But they have no remedy for rebellion and no opportunity for salvation.

Lucifer wanted to be god and in that drive for power and control he set about to deceive the rightful heirs (humanity) of all that the Creator created.  Having lost his place in Heaven, he was catapulted to earth.  He set up camp here and brought the same temptation that drove him to rebellion and placed it before Adam and Eve.  The desire for independence from our Creator. 

Satan took our dominion and enslaved humanity to do his evil bidding. Thus came the fall and how we ended up here with evil dominating and humans being in servitude to the enemy of our Heavenly Creator.

The roles got switched and evil took up the reins of power over the Lord's Beloved.

But GOD.....who so loves the world (of people) that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ into the world not to judge but to save us.  His love affair with us has been in operation since the beginning of our world and time.   

Satan and his hordes hate their designated role as servants and seek to rule over God's Beloved during this "age" on fallen earth.  To do so they have to divide us from our ordained inheritance and destroy the Truth about ourselves and our Abba Father.  Jesus came and set the record straight as well as fulfilled the Holy requirement of death for sin.  Jesus redeemed us out of the hands of the evil one. 

Today I have a greater understanding of the verses so dear to my heart. Today I see the magnitude and power of these verses.  These verses come alive in the Truth of the Lord's death and resurrection.   Knowing in advance everything the players in the Garden of Eden would do before they were ever placed there, the plan for our rescue and deliverance was already in place before the fall.

Knowing that humanity would fall in free will and not be able to save themselves, and since the Holy terms of a Holy God for reconciliation could not be met by sinful human flesh alone,  God wrapped Himself in flesh to pay the price that no man in and of himself could pay.  One act, one Man, one remedy for all humanity.

The destroyer had a purpose in God's design and that was to deliver up the Son of God/ Son of man to be crucified. In the death that the evil one arranged, was brought to fulfillment the penalty for man's sin and the God provided reconciliation with the Creator which ended the enemy's ruling authority over the Lord's beloved.  God's purpose has been fulfilled.  Our purpose is now to enforce the victory that Jesus provided His Kingdom Kids. (that's us)

By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony, we overcome the devil in our lives. (Rev 12).  Therefore, "no weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord".

The lies of the enemy have been silenced by the truth.  But an action on my part must follow  It is not good enough to know the truth and not declare it.  A testimony is a declaration and a verbalizing of a personal experience. 

Taking the graphic of the Blood of the Lamb during the Passover and Exodus of the Nation of Israel out of Egypt,  the blood  had to be applied out of a basin and onto the door. Left in the basin, the blood of the lamb did not protect the household.  It was a applied to the doorway of the house by a bunch of hyssop.  This hyssop is symbolic of our testimony and our statement of faith.   

We must speak about our belief in what the Blood of Jesus has done for us, not from a podium unless you are called to speak to an audience,  but to the liar and the multitude of witnesses in the unseen realm.   Our declaration activates the power of the Blood over our lives like placing it on the doorpost provided protection when the angel of death passed over Egypt.  Faith speaks...and Satan leaves.

The ultimate end of the enemy will take place at some future time, but the end of his reign over us was accomplished by the Blood of the Lamb shed on that Cross over 2000 years ago.  And now by our testimony of that Holy Blood we have the power to conquer, prevail, get the victory (aka) overcome Satan. 

It's time for all of us to realize the power in the Blood of Jesus and by the word of our testimony make our declaration of victory and thereby end the enemy's reign over our lives.    

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him? 











 

         




 

The Power of the Blood of Jesus: God's Antidote for Guilt ***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  "Be still and know that I am God"  has been the message from Holiness to me for several weeks.  Lessons have come from various studies and sources.  Even the weather has been a situational hindrance from any outside busyness.

The quiet down time has allowed more opportunity to see the outside world turning while my inside world seems to be standing still.  The Holy One speaks with the soft insistent rain falling on my window.  "The rain is cleansing the atmosphere just like the Blood of Jesus cleanses your mind.  Remember and declare that truth"

True to form, the Holy One speaks into my deepest wrestles.  I know that since Salvation I have been forgiven for all sin in my life and through repentance for any misconduct since that day keeps my chart of accountability free and clear.  The nagging question is, "if I have been forgiven and I believe that, why do I still feel guilty?"

This has created many wrestles over the years and most end with the cloud still hanging over and no real relief.  I know that I have an enemy who is the accuser and he drags out things that I  have been forgiven for just to torment my righteous soul.  Understanding his MO explained some things but the question changed to "am I the only one who feels this way?"

Honest friends have confessed they wonder about that too.  Today I am so ready to hear what the Holy One has to say about the cleansing of my mind.  He draws me to His Word.

Hebrews 10:19-22, "Therefore Brethren, having boldness to enter Holiest (The very presence of God) by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil that is His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart sprinkled (with the Blood) from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." 
  
I have been doing a study on the Blood of Jesus and its Power to cleanse my carnal mind because I came to realize that the catacombs of my mind hide the flesh mis-information that evil uses to defeat me. That probably runs counter to the argument that I have the mind of Christ (which I do), however diving deeper into the Power of the Blood of the Lamb...it is the word of our testimony often so neglected that is the true power over the enemy.   Rev 12 confirms that truth, "And they (true believers) overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."  The word of my testimony is a verbalization of my belief and faith in what the Blood of Jesus has done for me.
 
To take from the symbolism of Passover and the Blood of the Lamb applied to the doorpost with a bunch of hyssop, I see that the Blood of the Passover  Lamb was drained into a basin....but in faith it was applied to the doorpost to activate it's powerful protection from the angel of death sent out over the entire land of Egypt. If the blood remained in the basin, not applied to the doorpost, the children of Israel would have died within just like the Egyptians. They would have suffered in a sense like the unsaved...

As Christians we have lost our understanding or never been deeply taught of the power that is available through the Blood of Jesus applied consciously and by faith to our lives. It has been left in the basin so to speak. We understand that it is important to our eternal destination but fail to grasp how it is to be applied to our lives here today. 

Consequently we suffer like those around us, who are going through life without a clue and without the personal knowledge of so great a rescue and protection from out of the grip of the evil one. That is after all what we have been redeemed from. Death is Satan’s signature of possession and bondage to his evil control can continue after our Salvation unless we enforce our freedom in redemption.

The Blood of Jesus has a Power that is undefeatable. That power is ours to apply but as scripture says, “my people die from lack of knowledge”, so here is the Truth about the Blood of Jesus in case you have forgotten or have never been taught.

Through the Holy Blood of Jesus:

We are forgiven of all sin.
We are redeemed (bought back, delivered from sin) and out of the hands of the Devil.
We walk in the light and we are cleansed now and continually being cleansed from all unrighteousness and a guilty conscience.
We are justified and can know that God sees me just-as-if-I’d never sinned
We are sanctified…made Holy and set apart for God.
The enemy has no place in me, no power over me and no unsettled claims against me (even as he tries to use accusation and guilt to hold me in emotional bondage, there is no legitimate claim he can use)
All claims against us have been settled by the Blood of Jesus. There is no condemnation (adverse sentence) against us in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came to set the captives free. It is the shed Blood of the Holy One that sets us free. Many of the “captives” are among the Lord’s very own people inside the Church of the living God.  The enemy is called the "accuser"   He accuses us of all sorts of things and mental guilt holds us in chains. 

I think it is the time to “resurrect” all the reminders and lessons of what the Power of the Blood is and provides as we take it out of the basin and apply it to our lives.
 
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

If My People***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  With all the chaos in the world we call home, the Lord's promise in II Chronicles 7:14 is always somewhere in my thoughts:

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways  then I will come and heal their land". 

This morning He draws me to His Word and that promise:  "Humble yourself, pray, seek Me and turn from YOUR wicked ways".

Now it is getting personal.  I find that this is a promise where I have blame shifted and I need to talk this over with my Holy Counselor to see what He sees.  I know that this is a word addressed to only one group of people:  those who are called by His Name, (that name is Christ) and who are Christian by title and claim.

In this world of evil it is not the unsaved, non believers that this Word and promise applies to.  This is clearly a call to God's people.

As I ponder His personal words to me I have to stop and see where I have been acting in any wicked ways.  Since I have the vestiges of a carnal mind and the pride that goes with it,  I sense I need to let Him reveal such things to my heart and then listen to His strategy to fix me. 

Always thinking I am better in my own estimation than  I find myself to be in His, meetings like this are indeed lessons in humility.  Recently He has shown me the truth about rebellion and that it can be in the form of bitterness toward Him or others for my life situations.  These are the situations that He has ordained for my life.  The bitterness can be hidden in a bad attitude especially if we come to feel justified in self-pity. But that is only one side of the problem as I am about to find out. 

God's ways and perspective is higher than ours and we need to be careful about what we see as an inconsequential stubborn mood that might be a huge betrayal to our Lord and even a denial of His Lordship if we go too far in self-comfort and self-will.

Today, the Holy One takes me to the book of Acts chapter 7 to make His point.  This is the account of a man called Stephen who became the first person martyred for his faith in Christ Jesus.  He was seized and brought to a council of Jewish scribes and elders by those who wanted to stop the spread of the Gospel.

He began to testify to them of their own history that pointed to the Son of God and that Son being Jesus but then in his final remarks, he said, "You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you". Acts 7:51 NKJV

What could this possibly mean to me?   Then The Holy Spirit began to connect the dots:   "When you entered into the Salvation agreement you willingly made the great exchange.  You gave your life to Me, but then proceeded to live it your own way. You have asked Me to bless your way and rarely ask to know MY way."

Grief floods my heart with that truth.  Conviction becomes repentance. How many times have I resisted the Holy Spirit?  How many times has this servant said "No Lord, I will not go there", "No Lord I will not testify to them" "No Lord, my plate is too full, I am too busy with my life and my plans".  "I know I gave my life to you but it is really mine to live".  "I am more comfortable serving you in this church rather than in that mission field".

I know that I cannot turn from my wicked ways without His Spirit.  I cannot lay down my life for Him the way He laid down is life for me without The Holy Spirit. I know I have His Holy Spirit.   The question He has for me today is  "Will you listen and then obey Me?" 

I know that we are all in a process so I do not lose hope even in the rebuke.  I am thankful that My Lord cares enough to correct me when I am wrong and is patient in the process.  His best for me is what we both desire.  His best for all of us is what He desires.  I long for Him to come and heal our land.  "If ...Then....."   Since there is a condition to that promise, I must press in to meet it. 

If My people.........

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?               

         

                

The Truth That Sets Us Free***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  The world is in such chaos and it is apparent that evil is on the march.  We, as Christians, know that in the last days we are to keep our eyes on the Middle East for the last great battle on earth will take place there.

To see it all start to play out in real time speaks to how man's technology has developed in God's great plan as to how every eye will be able to "see" the return of our King, Jesus and even witness the lead up to that great battle in a land far away.

I confess that I struggle with God's Sovereignty knowing it is nothing for Him to intervene in our days and yet there is a time table for man's days upon the earth that is not altered even by the evil that I see.  There is Divine purpose for each and every one of us in the time we have been given to spend on this planet.

The Holy One speaks into the early morning darkness and calls me to conference.  "Sometimes you have to feel the lie in order to know the truth".

It is understood that we must walk by faith and not by sight.  The "sights" we see generated by the evil one triggers our deepest emotions and that is where our faith can fall to unbelief as we begin to "feel" our way through the assault.

The Lord takes me back to His Word in Rev 12:7-12 (NKJV), "And war broke out in Heaven;  Michael and His angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in Heaven any longer.  So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast with him."

This entire chapter speaks to the birth of Christ Jesus and the battle Satan is waging against those of us who "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" on our lips and in our hearts. (Rev 12:17 NKJV) .

Jesus came in flesh form.  He came as the Creator in flesh form to identify with us, His created.  He was born in our same flesh form with a human brain, nerves, emotions and all that we are born with.  The only exception and due to His virgin conception and birth, He was born without a sin nature that dictates our human vulnerability and failure in flesh temptation.

I know my Savior "feels" and because He suffered emotional pain, He validates my feelings.  But then He asks me to get past those feelings and walk on the higher ground of Holiness. In some cases that means forgiveness and in the bigger picture that means trust.

The Holy One knows me well  He knows all of us well.  He has taken me today to the very place in His Word that draws me out of my funk.   Satan is the accuser.  He has been cast down and no longer has a place of authority in the Kingdom of our God or over me.

Satan uses a 3 pronged fork of accusation in his war for our hearts, minds and our souls: First and foremost,  He accuses God to us.  That makes for unbelief.  Then he accuses us to ourselves.  That makes for self-defeat.  Then he accuses others to us and us to others.  That makes for division and therefore corporate weakness and dis-unity.  But before we throw in the towel and head for the hills to hide, let us remember:  We have the power to overcome him by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

Heaven rejoices because this nasty accuser has been silenced by the only means whereby God could save man and maintain His Holiness in judgement.  God became like man in flesh to take our place.   Satan thought he had God over a barrel seeing how humanity could be tempted to rebel as he did, whereby God would have to send all His beloved humanity into the lake of fire for their rebellion too.

But the Creator had a plan from the very beginning that the devil knew nothing about.

The Cross was that plan.  Jesus came to earth as the Son of Man AND as the Son of God and was sacrificed to preserve humanity AND God's Holiness in judgment.   Satan's nefarious plot to hurt the Creator by seducing His created, making us liable for Divine Judgment was foiled when Jesus died in our place.      

Heaven rejoiced on the day of his eviction but then grief came to earth's inhabitants because of the wrath of this celestial being (AKA Satan) who makes war with those of us who keep the commandments of our God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Satan threatens death, but the Cross promises life.  The power of the Cross is the Truth that through the sacrifice Jesus made in His flesh body and the life blood He shed, the death sentence for all humanity was paid in full.  And His resurrection is the proof of that final verdict:  God is still Holy and humanity is now saved.  That is the testimony we are to give to the world that God so loves.

The message of this morning calls me out of the "feeling" that evil is winning, and encourages me to beef up and shout out my testimony of his defeat.  I am reminded that the devil is a defeated foe.  His outrage is temporary and by the Blood of Jesus who died in my place and by my testimony of faith in His death and resurrection, the enemy's power over me is neutralized.

The message of the Cross is that all humanity has been saved, but not all people know or believe that as Truth and this is the challenge and task for all of us who know we have been saved:  To share our testimony of the power and purpose of the Cross.  The Cross is where God's ultimate judgment for sin was poured out.  Jesus died the death penalty required for all who have sinned and fallen short of the Holiness of our Holy God.  His resurrection is the fact and evidence that the penalty has been paid and accepted by the One who gave the law: death for sin.

Today at first light, I did "feel" the lie but that despair drove me to know and remember the truth and it is the truth that did ultimately set me free.  Now to share it!

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?









  

         

Get God's Eternal Perspective***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Lately I have been overwhelmed by all the evil that is being brought to bear here at home and around the world. From the earthly perspective, things relative to our persecution as devoted followers of Christ, are not looking so good for the home team. 

It is a time when many are in deepest despair and yet for others, it is a time of great anticipation as we await the return of our King.  What makes the difference seems to be whether or not we possess an eternal perspective over the events unfolding in our lives.

I have been asking my Lord for help since He has told me that to focus on the evil robs me of my peace.  I need His help to understand how to look at the evil and not allow the despair to take over.  Today He speaks of a perspective:  "The eternal perspective of temporal circumstances is crucial during these end times of the enemy's rage". 

With that He takes me back to a familiar passage in Isaiah 54:16-17, "Behold I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the spoiler to destroy.
 
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper.  And every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord."NKJV

This was for many years my "life verse".  It is a battle hymn in my heart.  I found it years ago when trying to grasp the evil, that was coming against me at that time, much like it is coming against all of the Lord's Beloved today.  I was trying to grasp the lessons tucked within the circumstances of my life.  For to understand the Lord's ways is to have a greater understanding of  Him.

When I found and pondered Isaiah 54, much came in to focus and vs 16-17 provided a picture of the "spoiler" aka Satan, as under the ultimate control of the Creator Himself.  We get a more detailed picture of this ancient foe in the first two chapters of Job.

If I believe and accept the Majestic and absolute Sovereignty of my Creator God Who is beyond our temporal universe and all circumstances on earth, then I must acknowledge that He knows exactly what this "spoiler" will do and has Divine purpose for me in what He permits, just like He did in the life of Job and I must pray to find it.

Once this becomes my faith reality then I can move on to live in the promise that; "No weapon formed against me will prosper and I will condemn every tongue accusing me.  Why?  Because my righteousness comes from the Lord.  The accuser is made silent and I am free from wrath or penalty executed by a Righteous and Holy God.  Jesus took my penalty and God's wrath. 

Now I am being prepared for an outrageous eternity.  I have been bought and paid for as a servant of the Most High, but then, even better,  I have been adopted into His family and with the inheritance rights of a child of the King.

The spoiler has but one purpose and that is to keep us from our Sacred relationship in knowing and loving our Creator Who, by the way, is his Creator God too. 

The "why" of it all is very simple:  Angels in creation were provided free will by design just as humanity has been given.  But for them, there is no savior for their kind.  Lucifer used his free will to rebel against the Creator and was evicted from Heaven with an irrevocable ultimate death sentence. 

One who was the most beautiful of his kind became proud and chose to make war against God in Heaven and was cast out and down to earth where he now and for a little while longer makes war with God's beloved.  (See Rev 12)

Having been catapulted to the earth realm,  yet being in essence more powerful than man, Satan has made it his ambition to tempt God's beloved humanity to follow him in rebellion of the Most High.  We were created in innocence to co-govern with the Creator over this earth realm,  but the spoiler's presence here is the very thing that provides a choice for our free will to make:  accept or reject God and His one and only way of reconciliation in relationship.

Satan uses the very same deception today as back in the Garden of Eden and that is to challenge God's rule and question His love.  His attack and attempted assassination of God's Character is relentless because he has nothing to lose, his fate is set.  Humanity on the other hand has eternity to lose if we miss and refuse the rescue that God provided through His Son Jesus.

The truly amazing part of our reconciliation is the priceless unity we now have with our Creator and that brings a whole new perspective to life on earth. Now I can process what I see and experience in light of eternity and there I can see the Lord's better purpose even in temporal suffering.  I can be like Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame. 

If the eternal purpose of my life is to testify about my eternal Lord and Savior to enlarge the citizenship of my eternal home,  then I must look to the people whose lives my circumstances put me in contact with and then testify to the goodness and salvation of my Lord.

The mercy of God may call me into untoward places.  But His mercy at that moment is not so much for me but for those who oppose me, even the unsaved.  His mercy for me is that I am already rescued and His promise is that "He will prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies".

As I pray for fulfillment of God's eternal purpose in my temporal circumstances my perspective changes.   Hard times will fade into a distant memory as I press on into eternity.  To be able to understand how my "hard things" are actually a sacred trust place here by my Lord to further His will, in the salvation of humanity, gives me the determination to look for and find the better and greater purpose He has than the personal pain I feel at the moment. 

His message this morning reminded me that while the enemy is attacking our temporal circumstances, the victory will be experienced as we look for and find God's eternal perspective.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?    

    

      

       



                       

God's Sovereignty In Light of Eternity***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Many deep wrestles have come in the hours just before dawn: Things that indicate the depravity of humanity and the evidence as to how evil has blinded some from the very identification with humanity.  The sanctity of life has been over ruled by monetary gain and babies are being butchered with none to stop the carnage.

Despair got a foothold and the Lord watched and waited for me to stop wringing my hands and start folding them.  The Holy Spirit is my faithful Counselor and does lead me into all Truth.   The truth is sometimes so hard to accept that we go into the denial of it.

I am learning that in seeing human depravity, the enemy of my soul tempts me to question the goodness of God's Sovereignty.

Today the Holy One draws me back into right alignment with Himself.  "As hard as it is for you to see right now, My Sovereignty is best understood in light of eternity". 

Rather than withdraw from my Lord, as the evil one wants me  do,  I know that I must press in and ask Him for greater understanding as my Holy Counselor and friend.

From past conversations, and the sign of the times, I believe the day of our redemption draws near.   Patience is required as we get closer to that prophetic day on the calendar and yet live amid the escalating treachery in each temporal day on earth.

In light of eternity I am able to see how patient the Lord is in His dealings with humanity.   Long before I was ever born His Word has been in operation.  My impatience is galling and in need of repentance.  The Lord is about His business calling countless souls to be with Him for all eternity.  Many of them have not yet been born and would I, in my impatience deprive Him and them of such a wondrous eternal community and fellowship?

As hard as the subject of abortion is to my heart, in pressing deep, I find hope in the Heavenly wisdom and thought that these precious souls, while never permitted by depraved humans to see the light of day,  are welcomed into the loving arms of their Creator and have life eternal.

Abortion is an indictment of human depravity not God's good Sovereignty.

Heaven's citizenship is growing in each earth day that passes and for that I do rejoice....and find comfort from the heartache.  Truth softens some hearts and hardens others. Time is given for us to process and yield (soften) or analyze and reject (harden).  

Warnings abound in God's Word as well as promises for the faithful. Today the Holy One takes me to His word and what was spoken through the prophet Joel to reveal His plan that stretches throughout earth life and into eternity. .
     
Joel 2:28 "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;  your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions  and also I will pour out My Spirit in those days and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth;  blood and fire and pillars of smoke."

In order to grasp fully where we are spiritually, we need to see what is spoken before,  that,  the "afterward" comes. The Prophet spoke of the "word of the Lord" that was given to him.  It speaks of "The day of the Lord" and yet without a date on the calendar or clock of earth time.  It can be said that to  every generation these prophetic words can and do apply.

Our nation is reeling from situations coast to coast and in between that are "acts of nature" turned deadly and destructive.  If one does not believe in the God of all creation (and nature)  then these are merely due to global warming or bad luck, or cycles of weather patterns and human expansion into places of risk.

The threats of war are being heard loud and clear.  Any ability to control our own lives and protect our personal comfort zones is not to be found in and of ourselves and especially not in the governments of men.

For those of us who believe: in the Word of God as absolute truth, the Savior Son of God who came to rescue humanity and the day of judgment of our Holy God, then these signs and wonders are significant.  (wonders are things in the sense of conspicuousness)

We would do well to appreciate that the Lord may be trying to get our attention as the verses  speak that "In earth" we will see blood (as in blood that when shed causes death aka "bloodshed") and perhaps through the "fires" and pillars of smoke in Calif (and other places).  Without a doubt, He is after our attention. Not just the attention of citizens of any particular state but the attention of all of us who refuse to come to Him in times of our prosperity or while living a relatively comfortable life.

We know by the Word of God that the Holy Spirit was poured out after Jesus was resurrected and after He ascended to His place of origin AKA Heaven.  The day of the Lord can be interpreted as today...and every day since Pentecost.

These difficulties both here and around the world seem to be getting harder and harder and closer and closer together.

Our circumstances are like birthing pains....getting closer and closer from generation to generation to the return of the King and the birthing of His Kingdom on earth.  .  All the threats of war and rumors of war just help us to understand and long for peace, the peace that only King Jesus as the absolute Sovereign can bring to our hearts, minds, lives and world.

God is reaching out to us.  He has sent His Son and then His Holy Spirit to call us back to Himself before it is too late. The message is repentance and for us to turn from our own rebellious and wicked ways....rejecting God's authority over our lives.

I would add that all the prophets of old, who were told of things to come, walked with the Lord and listened to His voice.  They only spoke what they heard and were given by God with the directive to share.

That precious gift (He, The Holy Spirit) is available to all who believe and many will "prophesy" as in to "speak or sing by inspiration".

The rest of us can hear and know by the same Holy Spirit what is to come. I am reminded today that my eternal life began on the day of my rescue/salvation and with that knowledge comes patience and peace while waiting for the return of my King.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?