Newness of Life

  Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen. Revelation 1:17 All the people of the earth are on a collision course with the heart of God. The end-time wickedness seducing the people of the earth into murderous rage is on a crash course with the heart of God that knows no bounds. Many waters cannot quench this love, for is stronger than death, stronger than the strongest hatred. Fallen man knows nothing of this love, for it is holy, for it is God. And those who follow the Lamb will follow him into this radical love. It is the love that Saul beheld in the face of Stephen. It is without guile. It is without thought for self, it is without vengeance. It is heart wrenching. It is Joseph holding out his arms to his brothers who betrayed and sold him into slavery-and it broke them. It is the Father's love in Christ that mends as it tears us asunder, for in his...

 This morning I happened upon this commentary about the underlying heart motives that caused the people to choose Barrabus over Jesus. The bloodlust for their nation, prosperity, and political power led to their rejection of their Messiah, and reading this commentary made me think about our own rejection of the gospel. In times of prayer I have felt the Lord's passion and desire to correct our idolatry and  misdirected allegiances to cause us to return to our first love. Why? Because the sacrificial love of God is the only revelation that leads to our salvation-and this is our highest calling. How can we prepare to love our enemies when we are fighting them? Of course we can get out and vote, that is not what I am saying. We all know that anything, anything at all can be an idol, even our "ministries" can become the love of our lives. Satan is cunning, sly, and infinitely subtle.  Can our own nation and sense of nationalism become as important as our love for Christ and H...

" Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up." Daniel 3:3 How did the godless King Nebuchadnezzar see Jesus? He saw Jesus as he gazed into the fire of persecution that he himself was inflicting on God's people.  God is always glorified in he midst of persecution and, godless people will be saved. I'm talking Sauls turned Pauls, for when we suffer as Christ,  He is glorified as nothing else can glorify him, for it is Jesus that the people will see. When 2020 hit, I sought the Lord in prayer. Like most others, I was desperate. On the first day, I opened directly to the book of Daniel.  Since that day, I have gleaned so much from Daniel and Revelation, two books that I had read portions of many times but had never...

I truly have great news this morning! All that we have to do is to become like little children, and then we will enter more fully into the things of God. We have to grow down. How wonderful is that? We tend to complicate things, but it really is that simple!   And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3 I tend to  think of faith in terms of a strong belief in the miraculous, and yet it's so much more. Faith quite naturally springs like tender lilies from the soil of heart that sees God.  Jesus often interrupted his own sermons to ask the religious leaders, "why are you reasoning in your hearts?" as if through applied thought they could apprehend spiritual reality. Jesus, on the other hand, never reasoned anything. He simply listened for the Father's voice and perceived the truth. Man reasons, Jesus perceives. When Peter famously declared that Jesus was the son of Go...

  Today I was delving into the book of Hebrews more deeply than ever before. I noticed that the writer repeated himself a few times when speaking of this new covenant that we have in Christ Jesus. I wanted to pay attention because I figured that it must be important if he mentioned it twice. And here it is: Speaking of the passing away of the Old Covenant between God and Israel that was based on keeping the law, Paul writes: “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises.” (8:6).   Oh I love the word promise! That always gets my attention because I live by God’s promises. I immediately thought of one of my favorite verses that says that we acquire the divine nature through God’s promises. Why do I like this? Because my ability to generate freedom from sin’s clutches came to a screeching halt at the relatively young age of 19. If there is one thing that I know down to ...

Be Still, and Know.  This word came to me after I quieted my heart this morning and felt that it was the Lord speaking a word of caution and encouragement.  "Practice solitude often. Solitude increases your spiritual perception. The spirit knows and perceives while the natural mind ponders, divides, considers, reasons. Guard your mind from distraction. Knowing in the realm of the spirit is much like a man who looks into a calm pond and sees his reflection in the stillness of the water. He can see his image until a pebble is cast into the water and he loses the image just as it is taking shape. In the same way, silence is the calm water that allows you to hear my voice, for I speak to you in the silence. Emails, T.V., talk shows, intrusive cell phones are the little pebbles that disturb the water just as knowledge is forming in the depths of the spirit man. You may guard yourself against the "giants in the land" but miss me in the distractions of life. It is death by 1,00...

 These days we hear so much about God giving us "keys to the kingdom" and very often modern believers hear this as an understanding of our power and authority. Power and authority are imperative if we are to claim that we know God, for He came to overthrow Satan's lies, and to release us from the authority of Satan. The Kingdom of heaven is of power, or it is nothing at all! That said, the keys to walking in the kingdom of God are often at variance with our human understanding. Most modern churches would not consider humility to be a key to power and authority, and yet it is at the heart of the kingdom of God. First and foremost, all that we have in Christ, the riches of our inheritance, are experienced by faith, and faith comes from God. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit.  Hearts full of pride cannot see God because the ground of the heart is full of rocks and weeds and nothing can grow in it. For a season of my life my faith eyes grew dim, and I discovered that my heart ha...

Before I start this, I want to say that I believe strongly that we are in the midst of Revelation 6 where we read about the four horses riding forth into the earth. Consider these things by way of a tyranny refresher, lest we become numb to it all: (If you feel totally “woke” regarding the tyranny, feel free to jump down to the First Horse heading.) 1.      Global house arrest. 2.      Most or all international travel stopped and many places saw total restrictions on local travel. 3.      Global arrests for working, or keeping your business open. 4.      Global rules keeping people from gathering in groups. 5.      Global rules keeping humanity from sick, elderly, and dying loved ones. 6.      Global rules preventing humanity from holding weddings and funerals. 7.      Global rules dictating the wearing of masks. 8.   ...

While his disciples were plotting revenge, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. Peter saw tragedy; Jesus saw glory. The "sons of thunder" saw offense; Jesus saw God’s perfect plan unfolding.  Today while I was talking to the Lord about some difficult things, He whispered this: “I don’t just use what the enemy means for evil… I require it.” That really threw me for a loop and yet, when I considered all of the saints, from Abe to John on the island of Patmos-it rang true. I think that problems arise when we expect God's goodness to appear good to our human understanding. This problem is seen clearly in the way that Jesus had to rebuke his disciples for unknowingly interfering with God’s will. One of the most famous examples, of course, was when Jesus rebuked Peter for suggesting that Jesus shouldn't have to die.    “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Matthew 16:23 We ar...

  “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads ; for your Redemption draws nigh.” Matthew 24:39 In Matthew 24:6, after describing the signs of wars and commotions, Jesus says, “For these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. ”   However, later in the passage, after certain events have taken place, Jesus indicates that NOW it's time to look up because now the end is nigh.  “Look up, and lift up your heads” is a distinct shift from, "this is not the end." It is a shift in vigilance and expectation, like the difference between when kids expect Dad to come home for dinner, and when they know that Dad is actually pulling into the driveway. Since Jesus came the first time, believers have been admonished to live in the expectation that He will return one day, and to watch to know the season in which His return is imminent.  A man can plan his whole career to retire, and he will live differently than the o...

  I was meditating on this passage this morning and saw a beautiful thing. I saw a picture of the end-time bride whose heart was no longer weak and fickle, but strong as the Lord’s love is for us, for it is His love in us. In the past we have been given to idolatry, and the love of the world, but now we are maturing into a dependent bride burning with the same love that Jesus has for us- a love that is stronger than death itself. His love is undeterred by our unfaithfulness, unwavering in consistency, constant in trials, and passionate when we are cold and indifferent. It burns with an unquenchable flame! His love has never failed us, and now, in these last days, a faithful bride is arising with like faith, love, and His very own strength of heart!  “My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey wherewith I fed thee, thou has even set it before them for a sweet savour; and thus it was, saith the Lord God… How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing...