Moving forward in time...

4-1-00

Isaiah 33:2

O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.

Do you long to be with God?  Do you long for His Grace?  Do you call for Him to be your Strength in the morning - to be your Peace at night?  When you are in distress - do you call out to Him first?

LORD, be our All in All - the Great I AM...  Help us to seek you all day long, in all that we do - that we might long for your Holy Spirit.  Reveal to us your ways that we might know that you are with us always, even to the end of time...

Grace and Peace be upon you all in Christ Jesus' Holy Name - as we long for Him together,

Let your light shine...

4-4-00

Matthew 5:16

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

When your light shines - is it a candle lit in a large house --- or is the whole house on fire!?!?!  When others see the good that you have done, do you get the credit --- or are you sure to always give Glory to God that your Father might be praised by all men???

May your Light Shine in Christ Jesus,

Answer me...

4-5-00

Psalm 4:

• 1 Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
• 2 How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
• 3 Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call to him.
• 4 In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.
• 5 Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD.
• 6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.
• 7 You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.
• 8 I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Grace and Peace be upon you all in the Name of Christ Jesus, the LORD of our waking and sleeping,

Live eternally free...

4-7-00

1 Peter 2:16

Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

Are you living a happy Christian life?  Do you still sin, yet use your faith as a shield for your bad behavior - knowing God will forgive you?

If we are to live as free men, we are to live free from sin and guilt.  If we do happen to sin, then truly, our God will forgive as far as East is from West.  Yet, in the course of our sin, we should not use the freedom we have received in Christ to hide from the same Christ who has given us freedom.  In other words - do not continue in your sin because you have a Merciful and Forgiving Father - rather - acknowledge the Mercy and Forgiveness of your Father which can lead you to a life of freedom, even from the sins that plague you.

So how do we live as free men - men who do not use their God's name to cover up for their evil ways?  We must submit to God.  Simply humble yourself before God, confess your sins and walk in obedience to His Word.  Oh, how much easier our lives are when we walk in submission to our LORD.  When we submit, we do not sin.  When we do not sin, we walk in God's Freedom.  When we walk in God's Freedom, we walk in the Light.  When we walk in His Light, we allow God to reveal the darkness in and around us.  When darkness is brought to light - there can be no cover-up for our evil deeds nor the deeds of those around us.

We are not called to use the Light of God to cover up the darkeness in our hearts.  When we put on a happy Christian face, play the part, and secretly die inside - we greive the heart of God.  First, we greive His Name that He has graced us with.  Secondly, we greive Him by using the liberty He has given us in His Word through Jesus Christ in order to pridefully and selfishly hide from Him.  Thirdly, we grieve His Heart because He desires a contrite heart in all men that hearkens to His voice and follows His steps which He desires to lead us to a great life both here and for eternity.  He desires for us to have a great life - and that life involves a freedom in Christ and His LOVE.

1 Peter 2:16

Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

Grace and Peace in Christ Jesus,

freeing God...

4-8-00

Genesis 18:14

Is anything too hard for the LORD? ...

Are their things in your life that just seem too difficult?  Maybe things that you want to change, but just don't?

How often do we stop to listen to God's plans?  Do we really pursue the One who can do all things so that we might see what He has in store?  Maybe we will cry out for days or months or years - but at what point do we say 'God cannot do this for me, therefore I must live without - or - depart from God and do it my own way?'  We live in a fast paced, name it - claim it, instant gratification culture.  Yet when we do this, we tend to shrink wrap God and put Him on the shelf when we do not get our way.

Many biblical characters did this, so why should we think that we would not?  Often, though, the missing ingredient is not that we think that it is too hard for God - but rather - that since God has not done it yet, then He will never do it.  Yet, we know from His own lips that He is a faithful and On-Time God.  But we struggle with His timing.  A lack of expediency on His part often gives reason to the impatient and unwise man that he must do something FOR God.  When has it ever been the case that we struck out on our own and God said, "Hey!  I never thought of that.  I must have missed your prayer and I am glad that you decided to do it on your own."  Never, and we know that it was the mentality of not waiting on God that lead to Adam and Eve's fall. The verse above comes when Sarah laughed at the Lord who said He would give her, an old woman and past the age of childbearing, the child she had prayed for and even used other women in unrighteous ways to get children for her husband.  Yet, the faithful Lord came and answered her in His time, according to His plan...

Genesis 18:14

"Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

So can we all agree that it is all in God's Power to do as He pleases?  Then if it is in His Power, then it must be in His Timing as well.  To set limits on either His Power or His Timing is to try to restrict or ignore the Supremacy of God in our lives and in all creation.  In a sense, when we humble ourselves - and our time - before His great Power and Mercy and Perfect Will, we learn to trust our God, who is a gentleman and not a dictator.  We must retreat from our selfish ways that he might be invited to come and reside in us as Freedom.  To see that He is All Powerful and Diligent, and Patient, and Peaceful, and perfect in His Plans, we can truly know His as I AM - that is, as our All in All.  So let Him take up all your light or hard burdens and don't give up on Him because of your time constraints.  Be patient and know that He is an All Mighty Super Natural Alpha and Omega God!

Genesis 18:14

Is anything too hard for the LORD? ...    

A most resounding NO!  Hallelujah!

May you all rest knowing that Nothing is Impossible for the One who created us each, atom by atom, cell by cell, family by family, nation by nation - all By and In the Holy Name of Jeshua,

melting in fear...

4-14-00

Joshua 2:9
I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.

What has the Lord offered to you that you have not entered into and taken according to His Word? Could it be that even the area which is to be conquered, taken, or received is already trembling before you? Why are you waiting?

I don't know who you are, but this verse came out of the blue. God has given you a vision - a land of promise has been presented to you - and you are still waiting to go forward. Yet the Lord has spoken - He is your banner and He has gone before you and He has set the enemy trembling before you. Maybe the road seems rigorous or the journey a bit dangerous - maybe the enemy is still putting up a front that he can beat you, but it is bravado and he fears your every step towards him. Your enemy knows that he will be displaced by you - that by the Word of the Lord on your lips, you will destroy his foothold - his very existence in your promised land. The enemy fears you - actually - the enemy fears that you will believe upon the Lord and His promise unto you.

So humble yourself before the Lord. Clothe yourself in Christ. Take Him up as your armour. Gird yourself with His Truth, His Strength, and His Promise. Know and Trust in His promise even more than your own life. Walk forth into battle knowing and believing that the battle is already won and Praise His Holy Name - Jeshua, Yahweh, Holy Spirit of Israel - Hallelujah!!!

The promised land is yours... Walk forth in the Glory of the King of Kings - Yahweh!!!

Joshua 2:9
I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.

More than conquerors in Jesus' Holy Name,

tax time...

4-15-00

Mark 12:17

Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.

Give it all to Jesus in the Messiah's Holy Name,

I am unworthy, yet he calls me child...

4-19-00

Romans 5

• 1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
• 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
• 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
• 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
• 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
• 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
• 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
• 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
• 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
• 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
• 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--

Who is good enough to stand even browed with the God of Israel? Who can say, I have done no wrong? Who can walk along the seashore and leave no track that is imperfect? Who of us has no sin...?

None... None at all... We all fall short of perfection. Like a clock - we can all keep correct time, yet we will not keep the time if we have not received any power to do so. In as much, we will not stay true to the path or timing of God if we are not hooked into Him as our source of power and sureness. We are flawed - some in more - others in less visible ways - but we all need the mercy of a Loving God who desires to set strait the hands of our internal clocks. Our hearts try to tick according to the tock of this world's beat, yet it is only the heart of God that will give us the beat in our own hearts that will give us true joy, righteousness, love, peace, and hope.

And there is no one who can fix his or her own internal clock. Sure, there are week long seminars, there are self-improvement books that cascade from one side of the bookstore to the next, there are cults that try to fulfill particular needs, and there are even churches that teach us that we have to reach inside ourselves to find the strength we need - to make ourselves have enough faith to believe. None of this will ever do. There is only one thing that makes us Holy. There is only one thing that reconciles us to the Lord. There is only one thing that makes us worthy. And we can do nothing to 'get it.'

Quite the opposite in fact - we must know in our heart of hearts that we do not deserve it before we can ever receive it. For all that we have done, are we deserving of love, life, even immortality with our Creator? No. Do we have within us the power or the strength to lay hold of righteousness? Not on your life... but on Christ Jesus life - we have hope - we have saving grace...

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

If we come before Christ and confess that we are not good enough to receive His Love - His Salvation --- if we are humbled before His throne, knowing that we do not have a chance in the world - that we only have a single hope in the singular death of one man - we can plead for a Mercy that we do not deserve - a Grace unmerited... It is on our knees and with our ego strewn at the foot of the cross and in our dying breath as we realize that we are truly dead without His Life --- that is when we are washed in the torrential waterfall of His Cleansing Blood that strips our unworthiness and cleans us from head to toe. It is when we confess to our Lord and Saviour that we can do nothing to receive His Love and that we are not even worthy to be in His presence that He ushers us into His Kingdom of Light, washes us clean, renews and reconciles our spirit by His crucified Body and Blood, and pronounces us WORTHY.

Worthy to wear His Name.

Worthy to stand in His Presence.

Worthy to seek His Face.

Worthy to receive His Eternal Life.

Worthy to receive His Holy Spirit.

Worthy of His Death.

Worthy of His Resurrection.

Worthy of suffering with His Church.

Worthy of knowing and loving and understanding the Fullness of I AM.

So - have you a faith that bears the fruit of Him calling you Worthy? If you do, then praise the Lord and sing to Him - and why not right now? - a song of praise of rejoicing in our God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

However, if you have not been deemed worthy by God - if you think so much of yourself that you can come into the presence of the Most Holy God, our Creator, whenever you want and on whatever terms you have deemed right... know that your days are short - that your internal clock ticks only so many times before it stops. I say this not to bring fear into your heart... No, never - for that is not the way of a loving and merciful God... Rather I say it in this way - do you know how your heart will sing to the Lord for the heartbeats you have remaining --- 'if' you humble yourself before the Lord of all things? Do you know how great it would be to live a life assured of the things to come? Have you ever considered what the great joy and importance and pleasure of every breath - every heartbeat - would be like if you knew, and not simply believed in, the Author of YOU? Every heartbeat that we waste by not coming to the Lord is a heartbeat that does not have the opportunity to beat to its fullest.

It is not only that we are found Worthy when we lay down our own perceived worth, but how much more so are we given a new lease on life - an Eternal One - that begins with faith in our hearts, the name of our Lord and Saviour on our lips, and a new heart that beats to the tune of our Love - our precious Yahweh.

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Peace, Joy, and Righteousness be unto you all in the name of our MERCIFUL and WORTHY LORD Christ Jesus,

The Grave...

4-20-00

Hosea 13:14

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?..."

The Grave. Jesus was anointed to go to the grave. He had a great work to accomplish there. From His birth, He walked headlong into the gaping jaws of death and the grave. Death and the grave were no easy matter to overcome, either. Our flesh resists and utterly hates finality - and death is certainly the greatest finality for the flesh. Even Jesus' flesh was sentenced - sacrificed - unto the most hideous and long-suffering forms of torture ever created to bring the flesh into submission of the grave. Jesus petitioned His Father in Heaven for another Way... yet, the Will of our Father could only be known to the whole world through the conclusion of Jesus' life. 1 Corinthians 15:3 "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,"

The Grave. As I grow older, I see each illness as a possible call to the grave. My body naturally fears such an end. Yet, in my spirit, I know that death is not all that it is cracked up to be. Sure, my body will surely perish - with all of its self interest, pride, arrogance, and sin. Maybe I should be thankful that I will not have it forever - and I think that I am.

The Grave. Jesus' body - our bodies - will find conclusion there, all in His time. Yet, there is more. Is it not amazing that we have such a hard time discarding the outer shell, when we, who know Christ, know that we have something far greater inside? And this greatness that is within us - is it not more amazing that we found it in the grave - and - even more amazing that we found it in someone else's grave? Yes, my friends - at one time the tomb was filled - with a sacrificial Lamb named Jesus. The grave called Him, and He submitted for the sake of all men. And when we know of His death, and we, too, surrender our lives for the One who answered - who died in each of our places as He humbled Himself before The Grave's call - THEN we shall find ourselves laying side by side in the tomb with Jesus. And that is where we find it - receive it - and begin to live in something greater than our natural bodies - we begin to live in a body of faith - a body of believers - a resurrected spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

The Grave. Is it not amazing that when we are baptized - immersed - into Jesus' death --- that instead of death we find LIFE!!?!?!? Colossians 3:3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Jesus died in the body for the salvation of all men, but His Spirit was never shaken or destroyed.

1 Peter 3:18

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

I am sure that what was spoken before time, what was spoken by Hosea - was surely spoken by the King of Kings after He breathed His last and succumbed to the grave and death. Can you hear Him entering the dark chambers of the grave - can you hear Him crying out so that death cowers in the corner ---

!!! "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?..." !!!

The Grace. Jesus died the death of His body to redeem us from our sin. Instead of the grave, to those who receive Him and follow Him to the grave - acknowledging what He did on the cross - AND in the grave, He gives Eternal Life. We deserve the grave, yet His Grace is sufficient for all who desire His Life. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful is the knowledge that my body will someday be held by The Grave - yet my spirit shall - always and forever - be held in the Holy Hand of The Grace of God.

HALLELUJAH!!! 'O - all praise be to the one who went to the grave and conquered death so that He might set the captives free - that we might have abundant life today in Christ Jesus!!! In Him is Life and Light and there is no death - no darkness - no, none at all! In Him is victory over death and the grave. We need fear them no longer.

Revelation 1:18

I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Are you living in His Eternal Life today? If yes -or- if no - He continues to proclaim throughout time -

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?..."

May His Love for you - for all mankind - echo in your heart in this Holy season...

May we all be dead to the world - and Alive in Christ Jesus,

Laying down your life...

4-22-00

John 10:15
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10:17
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again.

John 10:18
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."


What if all animals and plants were allowed to ask themselves the question: Why live? One day I saw a cricket with one leg ripped off. It circumscribed the floor - spinning its last minutes of life away. I wanted to know why it was still living. What if the cricket were allowed to ask itself the question? Would it commit suicide? Image that, a mass suicide by all of creation on Earth. WoW. If plants and animals have no use but to reproduce, and then only to keep other animals and plants alive, why live in such a vicious cycle? If these animals and plants have no plans for greatness, no chance to aspire to a higher evolutionary form, no real use but to keep the next link in the food chain alive, why bother? What do they say when they are being devoured by some other animal. Do they say "Oh the heck with it, life is not as good as they showed on the 'Got Life' advertisement anyway." But, since we believe that they do not think such things, why do they fight to stay alive? Where did this instinct to stay alive come from? I cannot believe that there is some type of DNA molecule or strand that evolved from the ordinary bacterium and amoeba --- one that made all creatures want to live - especially realizing that animals and plants must understand death or they would not try ferociously to stay the hand of the one who wields the sickle of death. Do they have a great grasp of death? Do they understand the world's ecosystem? This must not be true or they would willingly give up a few of themselves to be eaten every few days or so the next link would not perish. The only answer that one must conclude then is that God has given to all creatures of the earth an understanding about life and how truly special and precious it is.

Jesus is the precious Life that all creation knows. We humans, the most knowledgeable, adaptive, creative creatures on this planet, however, have continually been found rather ignorant when it comes to appreciating His Life - and even life in general. We kill and destroy - as if we were simple finger puppets - acting out a horrid play according to the power of this world that we conform to and allow to control us. We are murderers - and even the interaction between the world's first brothers, Cain and Able, could have been an excellent episode for COPS or Law & Order. Yet, for all the killing we do, even we - yes, all human kind, have a forceful desire to live. Yet it is only when we know the One and only Life, that we can truly live the Life we all so desperately crave.

There was no one more qualified than Jesus to tell us what Life is all about. He lived a perfect life. More than that - it was a wonderful life because He had Life as our Father has Life. Jesus flesh, however, needed to die in order to dismantle the claim death had on all flesh and so that the Glory inside Him could be revealed as The Life. His flesh, like ours does, fought for every last breath. Yet even as the flesh fought, it was no match for the Life within. Like Christ, we, too, must submit our flesh unto death so that Life may triumph and be revealed in us. To do anything less is to live as any other creature would do - which is to hold so tightly onto our fleshly life that we end up spinning in circles - until our very last breath - never getting the Life we desire.

Yet, we have hope in He who came to give us Life through His death - that we should never fear our own. Jesus laid down His life in the body by His own will - His flesh submitted to His Spirit. He rode triumphantly in to Jerusalem and received the cross with open arms. Jesus, in His Holiness, sacrificed His flesh on the cross so that He might destroy the works of the devil that began with Adam and free all mankind to know and love The Creator as He did.

1 Corinthians 15:22
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Hebrews 9:15
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Jesus has shown us that if we, too, give up our lives, we will be freed from the sinful nature that held us hostage and be returned to our rightful place in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. Thus, we can be sure that if we lay down our lives in the flesh, before the flesh meets its end, the nature of the flesh shall be crucified with Christ in His death and we shall arise with Him in His resurrection Life!
Romans 6:8
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Mark 15:39
And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

My friends - Surely this man was the Son of God!


Grace and Peace unto you all in the Name of the Holy Son of God - Jesus Christ,

Psalm 22...

4-23-00

Psalm 22

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.
4 In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8 "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast.
10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him-- may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him-- those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn-- for he has done it.

My friends - He has Done It! Jesus has died and has risen again! He has done all that He came to do! Now, we must ask ourselves - what are we going to about it???

Change our hearts O' God in Christ Jesus,

I will go ahead of you...

4-25-00

Mark 14:28
"But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."


No, this was not the Pillsbury Doughboy speaking - this was the spokesman for something far greater - the Kingdom of God! The Messiah has risen and has prepared a place for us in Heaven.

John 14:2
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Yes, he has prepared a place for us in Heaven and is awaiting our arrival in temporal terms. But there is so much more. That place in heaven is a wonderful eternal abode with our Lord and Saviour. However, do you not know that He is, even now, going before us and preparing a place for us wherever He has bid us to go here on earth. Hallelujah! - He is with us now! We do not have to wait until we die - He has already sent us a Holy Spirit who councils and blesses and convicts. Jesus told the disciples that He would go ahead of them into Galilee. He did this in His body then, and He still does it for His disciples through His Spirit today. So remember, when you are called by the Almighty God to go to a new place - know that He has already gone ahead of you, prepared it for you, and anointed it with His Holy Presence.

It has been about 2000 years since Christ Jesus rose - yet it is still He who goes before us to straiten our paths and prepare a place for us to meet Him. If He is calling you, will you go forth and meet Him? He is waiting with His arms outstretched in Love.

Mark 14:28
"But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."


May Christ arise in you all - in Christ Jesus the King,

I will go ahead of you...  (part 2)

4-26-00

Mark 14:28
"But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."

As I sat thinking about what God wanted written tonight, I pondered that maybe some of you are in a place and God does not seem to be there with you. Could it be that He has abandoned you? Could it be that you have somehow sped ahead of Him and you are waiting for Him? I think that His Word below speaks the Truth of the matter...

Deuteronomy 31:8
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Interesting that in this verse - again - we see that He is going ahead of His People and preparing the way. Even after stating the promise that He will do this, He still reassures His People that they should not be afraid or discouraged. We are finite in our minds and actions and He knows that our hearts and minds stray and wander and worry while we are on a journey. We tend to make unnecessary stops along our journeys to taste the cuisine, smell the roses, experience the culture, and are constantly looking for a quicker way to get where we want to go. As much as we desire to go where He desires us to go, we often get in the way as we try to change the destination or the timing of the journey.

Most likely, the reason that you do not see Him where we are today is because He is still awaiting your arrival at the place he originally called you to. Maybe you hopped on a little 'bunny trail' to a destination He did not call you to - or maybe you made a wrong turn at Albuquerque - you wascally wabbit! - or maybe you are simply too early or too late...

Fear not all of you who feel lost! He is both with you --- pointing to the place He called you to - AND - He is awaiting you arrival in the place you are supposed to be (kinda neat how He does that Omnipresent thing, eh?) So if you feel that you are somewhere, but not quite comfortable that it is where or when God wants you, then backtrack to the last place that God 'surely' called you to. Then make effort to make sure that you have arrived there, on time, AND have accomplished all that He purposed in His Will for you to do there. Many times there are things that He has called us to complete before we can continue building the Kingdom of God on Earth - like a puzzle that must be completed one step at a time in the correct order. This lesson was taught to me by a very good friend and it has allowed me to evaluate where I am in life, especially in those times where I have doubts that I am in the place God has called me. I hope this helps you, too.

Mark 14:28
"But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."

Go forth in Christ Jesus,

Marriage and funny...

4-27-00

Matthew 22:30
At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

Shalom in Christ Jesus,

cosmo

Below is something that is funny, yet true.


A teenage boy and his grandfather go fishing one day. While fishing, the
old man starts talking about how times have changed. The young man picks
up
on this and starts talking about the various problems and diseases going
around.

Teen says, "Grandpa, they didn't have a whole lot of problems with all
these diseases when you were young did they?"

Grandpa replies, "Nope."

Teen says, "Well, what did you guys use for safe sex?"

Grandpa replies, "A wedding ring."

repeating the Word of the LORD...

4-28-00

Matthew 10:27

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

Grace and Peace in Christ Jesus,