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...