Tag Archives: Faith

Resolutions? Maggie Knows The Best!

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In fact, there is no need to wait for a calendar change or ‘ball drop’ to start these….

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”  (Hebrews 11:6)

maggie-reads

                                               “I will seek Him with all my heart…”

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior;  my God will hear me”.  Micah 7:7

maggie-at-window-1

                                                     “I will wait upon the Lord”

“I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”  Psalm 4:8

maggie-snoozing

“I will rest on His promises”

I pray that we find the Lord in greater measure.  And that God’s word encourage us as we wait upon Him through trial and storm, finding rest through the Holy Spirit.  

May the Lord order our steps into the New Year.  God bless you!

World To God: “DON’T DISTURB OUR CONSCIENCE!”

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The below posted brief film gained notoriety as it was recently banned in France. (Perhaps being banned brought it forward to greater limelight than otherwise possible!)

Films and literature are subject to scrutiny and outright ban when governing authorities deem the content to be intolerably offensive – politically, morally, and/or socially. Banning films or literature serves to punctuate the prevailing values and agendas of society.

So why was this film banned in France?

“The court said the video’s depiction of happy Down syndrome children is ‘likely to disturb the conscience of women who had lawfully made different personal life choices.’ “

(Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/442735/dear-future-mom-down-syndrome-anti-abortion-video-ban-france)

In France, 96% of unborn babies found with Down Syndrome are aborted.

From the beginning of time, man embraced the delusion that the freedom to rebel against God somehow empowers us. This ‘freedom’ and heady independence from the ways of God emboldens us to rename immorality and cloak it with glamour and allurement. We boast ‘we are free!’ while in fact there is no greater task master than sin.

Biblical passages, such as Ephesians 2:1-3, describe this present world as under the dominion of Satan,

“..the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient”

In Ephesians and elsewhere, the Apostle Paul declares that ‘rulers’, ‘authorities’ and ‘powers of this dark world’ dominate our culture. There is a progressive course of rebellion, laying foundation to accept and redefine sin, deceiving man into celebrating sin and finally and futilely, raising up standards against the inner conviction of sin.

                       WORLD TO GOD: “DON’T DISTURB OUR CONSCIENCE!”

This is a sobering quest of the last days.  It is the dark zeal that animates parades and entertainment that celebrate offenses against God.  Killing our conscience, that alarm installed by God to warn of danger, consequence and judgment is a futile and desperate denial of Sovereign God.

The final destination of man’s darkened heart, revealed in the fearful coming judgment….

“The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.” (Revelation 9:20-21)

… appears to be an inability to repent in spite of horrific acts of judgment.

Revelation chapter 11 describes ‘two witnesses’, sent by God and endowed with His power. Ordained by God to prophesize and testify for 1,260 days, these two messengers are murdered and their deaths are celebrated by the whole world…. “Don’t disturb our conscience!”                                                

Jesus, the Light of the world, left us here to be the light of the world. Light of the world, not friend to the world. The gulf between light and dark is broadening and fortifying.  Those  Brethren who choose to stand in God’s light, upholding Biblical truths in the power of the Holy Spirit, is shrinking.  We can expect this: the ‘church’ will continue to downward spiral, compromise and apostasy will make nominal Christians enemies of God. As the great ‘falling away’ steadily progresses,  the Body of Christ will be His remnant left in the world.

Our plea to the world has not changed, “Be reconciled to God” (II Corinthians 5:20) Neither has the message of salvation by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, His forgiveness of sins for all who sincerely repent. And steadfast is the promise of the resurrection, new life and life eternal for those who trust and obey. We cannot change, soften, or compromise the message as the darkness aggressively resists.

Our call, from before the world began, also remains. “Stand”, “watch” and “pray”, steadfast in faith wherever we are, believing that He has put ‘the parts of the body exactly where He wants them.’ Be ready with that undying plea to man from heaven. No one knows who around us will hear and receive the Gospel truth and cross over the gulf from death to life.

The celebration of sin, the banning of life and hope, should truly propel us deeper into the word of God and separate us further from the ways of this world. Viewing the world with the heart of Christ should birth in us both discernment and deep grief.

“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” 1 John 5:19

Let us commit to exalt and honor God. In mercy for our fellow man and in defiance of the wicked one, let seek God each day, speak the truth of the whole gospel of Christ wherever He assigns us.  Let us pray fervently that the Holy Spirit will enable us to  disturb the conscience of those who are perishing, that they may come to their senses and be reconciled to God.

Revival In America? What Do You Believe?

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Everyday there is a new celebrity push to GATHER TOGETHER or MARCH AS ONE or somehow STORM THE CAPITAL FOR JESUS. Whatever the launch, the driving force is the same: ‘Bring America into Revival!’ ‘Bring America Back to God!’ Many of the involved Christian leaders are well respected pastors, authors, and servants of God. Of course, to gather, march, or otherwise make an impact there must be a concerted ecumenical effort.

As a plea to other believers I humbly suggest to please stop and consider the Biblical basis for these popular movements. There are no such events organized in the New Testament. No such campaigns are found in the Old Testament, where godly prophets risked their lives to admonish and warn, preaching repentance to the nation. They stood alone unlike leaders today who strategize national repentance.

When Christians – or any people – strategize, they are in the flesh, utilizing human capabilities of cleverness, intellect, creativity, social and political connections, and media blitzes. How could this possibly align with the teachings of the apostles that we are admonished to follow?  “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings that we passed on to you…” (II Thessalonians 2:15)

John 6:63 records the words of Jesus,

“The Spirit gives life but the flesh counts for nothing.”

Similarly, collaborative ecumenical efforts toward the goal of national repentance have no grounding in the New Testament. The most powerful, Spirit filled men, launched by God into the world, did not rely on money, media, strategies, collaborative committees, or social/political connections. They were separated from the world system, they did not try to employ it to ‘help’ God.

WHEN was America a ‘Christian Nation’? When were your neighbors truly your ‘brethren’? Yes, historically the United States has been prosperous and upright in many ways, but godly? Only selective memory can lead to that conclusion. Our country’s long standing and deepening love affair with sensuality, sexuality, greed and violence has opened doors of sin in other nations. When we study the scriptures we must conclude that there is no ‘Christian nation’, every country is included in the ‘world system’ and every country is under the domain of the prince of this world – Satan. Every country will willingly and without exception join into the one world government. Christian nation? The United States may be the driving force plunging us into these dark last days.

Outside of our borders, no one thinks we are really a Christian nation, in fact, most of the ‘heathen’ countries are being inwardly destroyed by our exportation of gross immorality.

815606        Neither one of these represent Jesus Christ…. Which                                             american-homosexual-flag                           one represents America?

 

 

 

 

So, what’s wrong with all these grand revival plans anyway? Aren’t these rallies better than just watching the country implode like a slow train crash? Sadly, no….

Intertwining ‘nation’ and ‘God’ does not revive true faith but truly revives NATIONAL PRIDE. Pride skews our thinking and separates us from God. Creating a ‘vision’ and ‘formulating a plan’ blinds us to God’s ways and view. How does the Lord see the United States of America?

“Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales….” Isaiah 40:15

Strategized events with emotional and ‘spiritual’ fervor, formulated and launched by man, can never amount to anything of eternal value. If we’re doing something that God has not ordained then we are missing what He had planned for us to do. It will count FOR NOTHING (Matt 7:21). ‘Servants’ don’t busy themselves with self-assigned projects and missions, they wait upon their Master. More powerful than us in every way, would the angels of God ever think to devise their own plans to serve God? Never! The “good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” may not be grandiose, emotionally tantalizing, or popular amongst the masses but those ‘good works’ will never fail to yield God’s intended eternal fruits.

God’s way of salvation calls for the old man to die. Many of those gathering with revivalists do not subscribe to foundational tenets of salvation. “Godly sorrow brings  repentance that leads to salvation.”  (II Corin 7:10) God does not lead men into godly sorrow through prosperity but through severe chastisement, sometimes devastation. While many are calling for ‘national repentance’ there is hardly a cry for godly sorrow. And who would rally around such a cry?

The Old Testament prophets carried the burden of the Lord with much grief and sorrow – knowing that destruction and judgement were in store for backslidden Israel. Separated from the world with words from God, they were unpopular and persecuted. Nobody rallied around them. They did not work up a cheering crowd or organize media blitzes, financial backing, or celebrity participants. They were compelled by God alone.

I pray that we do not rob God of what He truly wants to do through us in these last days. May we be watching for His return, praying, and “making disciples of all the nations” – perhaps as far as our next door neighbors…engaging in those “good works prepared for us” noted in Ephesians 2:10.

A drop in the bucket

Here we are as a nation…a drop indistinguishable from any other.

We as believers are called out of the world by God who “rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves” (Colossians 1:13) It’s time for us as true believers to give up ‘national pride’ and dreams of ‘past traditional values’, and get deeper into the Word of God.  God has placed us in His Body exactly where He wants us, (I Corinthians 12:18) with ‘good works’ prepared for us, rooted in the heart of Christ that He may welcome us on that soon coming day,

“Well done My good and faithful servant!”

“…God Sends Them a Powerful Delusion..”

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“They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” (II Thessalonians 2:10b and 11)

No matter how you turn these verses, the core meaning is fearful – God is taking action that will seal the doom of those who refuse to love the truth. Note, the verse does not point to those who don’t know the truth, but those who refuse to love the truth. This chapter speaks of both apostasy – “the rebellion”- and the antichrist, “man of lawlessness”. Many people, believers and unbelievers alike, lend an ongoing and lively curiosity to the arrival of the antichrist, sizing up various politicians, religious leaders, and world leaders. Many take great care to somehow ‘discover’ who this diabolical leader will be. However, few Christians are lamenting over the “great falling away” spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24.

Pastor David Wilkerson spoke of this ‘powerful delusion’ and the’ lie’ which the fallen will believe: “…the ‘lie’ is the same one Eve believed, ‘you can sin and get away with it. God will not punish you.’” I believe that the seeds of this lie grow and bear fruit as they are watered by love of self and a fearless propensity to contort the word of God. A demonic empowerment, grossly mistaken for anointing, emboldens church leadership to wrap Scripture around human logic and reasoning…“You can get away with sin, God will not punish you, He’s a God of mercy…wait a minute, is this really a sin? ‘This’ is love…love can’t be sin so this cannot be a sin, therefore God would not punish this and, moreover, God agrees with this. This is a good thing! Yes, that’s right, we should celebrate!”

“’Delusion’ is stronger than deception. Deception means that a person can be fooled about something. Delusion is a way of life in which one is perpetually deceived. People under delusion harden their heart permanently.” Dr. Grant Richison, Verse by Verse Commentary website

A tremendous amount of money, public relations, political backing and cultural grooming has been invested into transforming homosexuality from unnatural and ungodly to innate and celebrated. Is it ungodly? Even a spandex Bible could not stretch the truth far enough. Is it unnatural? Can anyone really insist, “it is natural for a man to put…” no, it isn’t.

The power of this agenda further creates a cultural divide as it asserts a wrong accusation:  if you’re not aligned with us, you are haters.  What?  Any loving parent – any loving person in fact- knows that love can withstand and exist within disagreement and differences.

As a parole officer I once supervised a middle aged masculine lesbian who lived with her ‘wife’. She was hostile to law enforcement which was greatly heightened toward me when I violated her parole. After spending time in jail, she was released to my caseload again, much to my dismay. I was amazed however when she came back into my office….her whole countenance had changed, she had a true peace. She shared with me, “I came to know the Lord in jail” and described her baptism and Bible study. She left the ‘gay’ lifestyle. I was in awe of the Lord’s transforming power as every week she presented as more and more feminine until she was wearing dresses.  She often shared about the life changes God brought about in her, lamenting one day, “How could I have done such disgusting things?”

Today’s apostate church would have celebrated her fallen state, validated her sin and obscured the life transforming power of Christ’s salvation and deliverance.  

The sinful seed in the demonic challenge, “did God really say” – is brought to utter fruition by the delusion sent by God. While the Lord invites the sinner and mercifully chastises the carnal Christian, there is little hope for those who rush forth to misrepresent and slander the word of the Sovereign and Holy God. Who can deliver you if God Himself sends a powerful delusion upon you, a precursor to condemnation?

There is a dark net launched and hovering over the world in preparation of the antichrist. The corruption of entire denominations facilitates the ‘coming together’ of many into one faith, with compromise as its cornerstone. True believers in the west will be tested as the Lord calls upon us to “stand”, “watch” and “pray”. “Let us not give up meeting together” but commit to encouraging, admonishing and ‘loving one another deeply’ in the Lord. As is the Body of Christ elsewhere in the world, we will be hated and ostracized by unbelievers and worse – by those who have fallen away. Those who have known the faith have the greater vantage point to oppose and betray. But the Lord is our Defender, our Advocate, and our High Priest.

May we stand faithful in the shadow of God’s Son, together under the authority of His sovereign Word and be that ‘one’…

“This is the one I esteem; he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 66:2)

The Most Devastating Sign of The End Times

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Bible believers, followers of the Lord, are increasingly engaged with scriptural studies of the end times, eschatology. This is a good and vital part of our faith as believers of both the Old and New Testaments were called to watch for the fulfillment of prophecies. The prophets of the Old Testament had their spiritual eyes set upon the coming Messiah and today believers are called to focus on His glorious return. While so many are busy with timetable charts and configurations, few are expounding on the most devastating indicator of these end times. It is prevailing, overwhelming, and prolific enough to undergird every sin and pave the way for other end time events…even ushering in and celebrating the rise of the Antichrist.

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days, people will be lovers of themselves…” II Timothy 3:1-5

eselflove

If religion is “a system of faith and worship” then self-love would be today’s prevailing faith.

The cost and consequence of this love of self is rarely truthfully exposed. Self-love corrodes marital foundations as spouses increasingly seek to ‘fulfill themselves’ with selfish pleasures. Youths are encouraged to explore every venue of sexuality without restraint or consequence. Lovers of themselves put themselves before their unborn child, their spouse, their neighbor, and their Maker. From this root of‘love’ springs forth the “lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power…”  (II Timothy 3)

Why should this self-love concern ‘believers’?

“Lovers of self” is foundational to end time apostasy, ‘the great apostasy’, the great falling away. How so?

Through our worship. “Do not love the world” declared the elderly Apostle John but if he were to enter into much of our worship he would see both a love and imitation of the world. The spirit of this world appeals to our flesh and leads us to gratify ourselves in every way. Godly wordage aside, much of the ‘worship’ thronged after in American churches tantalizes our flesh and elates our emotions. This euphoric experience utilizes the same dynamics as a rock concert – invigorating music, strobing lights, even fog machines. Nothing is missing in these massive gatherings except the Holy Spirit.

Through our compromise. If there be lacking in the ‘whole counsel of God’ there is no counsel of God therein. In our ‘love for the world’ we have become like the world, excusing and redefining sin, omitting the preaching of hell, and neglecting the Lord’s admonishment to watch for His return as Judge and King. Not wanting to miss what this world has to offer, many throng to megachurches where the leadership enjoys kingdom living in this world – private jets, elaborate compounds, and extravagant incomes. Worship and church together are formidable and lucrative businesses today and sadly, we are content with euphoric worship and prosperity. Sanctification, a pursuit of holiness which is the crux of our Christian walk, is the most unpopular doctrine of the day.

Through our ecumenicalism. We are surely called to embrace our brethren from every tribe, every nation, and every tongue. We are to love the Body of Christ as we love the Lord Himself. But we are not called to – and strongly cautioned against – embracing every church doctrine, belief, and practice. “Small is the gate, narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” declared Jesus. However many believe that this gate can surely be widened for the sake of love, to include lifestyles, beliefs, and practices forbidden by the Word of God.

Who are we appeasing in this great movement of ‘togetherness’? Our carnal nature is that which wants to belong, wants to be loved, wants to be affirmed. Churches no longer esteem humility and fear of God but empowerment, success, and celebrity status.

The most devastating sign of the end times is not the sinful state of the world, it’s the worldly state of the church!

The Apostle Paul warned “there will be terrible times” and our only refuge as believers is to trust in the Word of God, His whole counsel and to do so we must know the Word of God. Orderly worship, the singing of hymns, presenting a word of instruction, “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” describes church life of the early believers, those who had closest proximity to Jesus and the Apostles. There would be nothing to inflame the flesh, no lofty goals to fill giant stadiums, nor slogans to ‘change the world’ for Jesus.

There are perilous days ahead and a grooming underway for a one world church. Christendom will come to a great divide. Do we recognize the Jesus of the Bible where we worship?  He is found on one narrow road…

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”      Luke 9:23

A church with such followers – even if just two or three are gathered – have the greatest worth as useful vessels for the Kingdom of God if  Christ be in their midst.

God’s Candidate Will Win

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elephant and donkey

We, as a people and nation, are in a different place than we were eight years ago. Without delineating the prevailing issues, it is enough to say that the church has become increasingly irrelevant except where it is seen as a voting bloc. Data bases of megachurches reveal clusters of thousands in the US and an unknown vast number of smaller community churches. When has so many people had such little impact at such a critical time?

Even worse, the churches ‘call to action’ amounts to courting political candidates whose views may be somehow contorted into a moral or religious framework. Christian colleges, ministries, media programs, and countless churches rally around a prospective president as if he or she could be a mini-savior, representing Christian viewpoints to our country. As citizens it is our right to vote. However, wooing worldly men to represent godly views is fruitless. The Lord saves us and calls us to represent Him ourselves – to abdicate this holy call to anyone else, to a politician, disqualifies us in the race.

Why coddle candidates or strategize campaigns? Be assured, God Himself has chosen a candidate and no one will thwart His plans.

“No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. But it is God who judges: He brings one down, He exalts another.” Psalm 75:6-7

Sovereign God raises up prophets, kings, pharaohs and presidents. He uses the godly and wicked to serve His divine purposes: one to proclaim God’s truths that will ultimately reconcile man to God, the other to display His glory, His power and as His rods to chastise and refine, also to reconcile man to God. God declared to Pharaoh, the enemy and enslaver of His people, “I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you My power and that My Name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:16)

Rather than ‘picking up our cross’, American Christianity espouses a worldly mixture of faith:

  • Jesus came that we might have a good life
  • God is ‘for’ America and the ‘American Way’
  • God does not judge sin

Not only do these tenets bear bad fruit in our lives but worse, we export them to other countries through various prosperity ministries. If God loves us, if He is calling us and drawing us to Himself, He may raise leaders and circumstances that will set fire to our lukewarm floundering faith. After years of godly warnings, God raised up Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, to invade and desolate Jerusalem as a painful rod of chastisement to crush the unbelief and unfaithfulness of His people. His heart was to restore them as faithful to Him, separated from this world.  While as good citizens we may defend and protect our fellow citizens, prideful allegiance to any country, any world system or ‘way of life’ is adultery toward God. Except for the prophetic promises for Israel, God is not ‘for’ any country. Sad to state, God is not ‘for’ America.

“Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales…Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing.” Isaiah 40:15, 17

And, sad to state, America is not ‘for’ God. As all the world, it will voluntarily come under the domain of the Antichrist. What is of great and eternal worth to God? God’s people, true believers, are His treasured possession – He will defend us, protect us, and endow us with His presence wherever we are.

Who is God’s presidential candidate?

It is not the one who passes the ‘Christian Value Litmus Test’. We cannot try to elect a president to ‘sanitize’ or ‘Christianize’ the United States. Believers are not called in any way to pump life into this condemned world, to make America great, bolster the stock market, or champion civil liberties. Jesus said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” Do we believe Him?

God’s candidate may unknowingly hold a powerful unspoken promise, “Vote for me.  I will bring about the chastisement and discipline of God. Under my leadership, you will be brought to your knees, crying out to Him!” God may ordain the leadership and circumstances that shake us and bring us prostrate before Him: calamity, economic downfall, the uprising of enemies, natural disaster.  The Lord’s only campaign is for men to turn to Him and find eternal life and forgiveness through the cross of Christ.

Beloved, the alternative to God’s painful discipline is not prosperity, it is abandonment.

The Lord has already chosen His candidate and no amount of campaigning will change that. He Himself erects authorities in the world and they will suit His eternal purpose and fulfill the expressed prophecies of His unchanging word. I pray that we are not in the least swayed by political promises or put our hope in any man.  Pray that the Lord’s ordained candidate and circumstances miraculously and mercifully lead our nation into repentance. The fearful alternative is that God ushers in a president that sustains our implosion of sin and fortifies the lie we have been living, that we can sin and get away with it and by the way, there is no such thing as sin. A prelude to coming Judgment.

It’s time for us, GOD’S ELECT, the Body of Christ, to rise up and take up our office in Christ, shut in with Him and come forth with a fresh and living word to restore and renew our lost nation.

“No one is like You, O Lord; You are great, and Your name is mighty in power. Who should not revere You, O King of the nations?” Jeremiah 10:6-7

Christian Counseling or Counseling in Christ?

Posted on by Standard 6

Firstly, what is Christian counseling? Typically, ‘Christian counseling’ offers therapeutic interventions by a therapist who subscribes to the Christian faith. Reference may be made to the Bible and godly principles however a Christian therapist is trained to assess, analyze, utilize treatment modals, and maintain ongoing notes of a client’s history, presenting problems, coping skills, and treatment goals. Christian therapists are professionals that will employ techniques from various psychologists and psychiatrists to address grief, anxiety, depression, and averse or addictive behaviors. (Note: someone suicidal or homicidal requires immediate crisis intervention at the closest facility).

When the Apostle Paul declared, “Mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days”, he was not exaggerating, he was warning. Believers in Christ are living in those ‘terrible times’ and few are spared from the ravages of sin and the grief brought through others’ sins upon us, physical disease, great personal loss, and deprivation. Many of us find ourselves facing emotional pain and confusion. We belief in God, we go to church yet our lives become surprisingly ruined by calamity. Will Christian counseling help? What could be wrong with Christian counseling?

Today much of ‘Christian counseling’ is a misnomer, “a wrong or inaccurate name or designation”. What a Christian in crisis needs is counseling in Christ.

For the believer in Jesus, every painful upheaval, every fiery arrow, every fearful precipice, brings us to critical crossroads. Suffering can deeply challenge our faith and force us to reaffirm.
Do we believe?

  • that the Lord knows every minute detail of our situation and pain and understands every aspect?
  • that He foresaw every calamity and perhaps orchestrated the trial?  If our lives belong to Him, it is He alone who can lower the hedges of our life.  Do we believe that the Lord is sovereign,  with full control and authority over every power in heaven and on earth?
  • that, sovereign and all powerful, God alone can make our enemies His servants?  Do we believe that God can bring healing to deep wounds and deliver us from every snare?
  • that the power of the cross, the blood of Christ, cleanses us from every sin?  And moreover, avails to us His indwelling Holy Spirit with power to break every curse, loose every chain, and overcome spiritual and fleshly bondage?
  • that we are chosen by Him, His ‘treasured possession’ and that He truly loves us?

What do we believe?

The critical question at junctures of suffering and confusion is this: Are we determined to empower the flesh or defer to a living faith in the power of God?

“Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have understanding and power.” (Proverbs 8:14)

The Lord has no need to assess the problem, explore our family background, or development treatment options. He is not interested in certificates or diplomas – He declares “Jesus the power and wisdom of God”. “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? …For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom…” (I Corinthians 1:20-25). When we leave a counseling session, having poured out our emotions, described the pain, and handed over a hefty hourly fee have we found enlightenment, living waters, an anointing upon us…true power to heal and deliver?

Will we find relief in the next session? When will the ‘waters part’ for deliverance? What will we gain by unraveling quagmires of the past and explore the depths of our “exceedingly deceitful heart” which is “beyond cure, who can understand it?” Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with paying someone to listen to us and offer coping skills to lessen our pain. We may feel better, but no amount of money spent on clever interventions in timed sessions can bring about the presence, the power and deliverance of Holy Spirit.

As followers of Christ, God’s unchanging purpose is to “conform us to the likeness of His Son”. This is our destiny. There is no alternative for the Body of Christ – we will suffer in this world – but unlike those in the world, our suffering is appointed to bring about greater revelations of God and His power to deliver.

Christian counseling is a business that arose to address what is lacking in the Body of Christ – the anointed ministry of “iron sharpening iron”. Are we, the church, just too busy? Are we knit together with a body of believers? Have we come under the Lord’s appointed authorities – pastors, elders, deacons? This is the heart of Christ, that we as His Body “be brought into complete unity”. He commands, “Love one another. As I loved you, so you must love one another.” We are given gifts through the Holy Spirit – the Lord’s indwelling power and anointing. We have access to God’s throne for discernment and wisdom. It is God’s will that His Body minister to one another, receiving from Christ and ministering outward to our brethren. We are called to allay each other’s fears, encourage, exhort, stand alongside through dark storms…counseling each other in the power of Christ. Even the weakest vessel shut in with God, is mightier than a world power.

There is a place for doctors and professionals but there are times of confusion, turmoil, heartache and spiritual attack where God’s word states and demonstrates that, “The help of man is worthless.” That may seem offensive but in His exclusive claim over us as our Lord and Master, He calls us to trust in Him completely. Faith does not build our flesh but systematically kills it, a painful process that will cost us but lead to supernatural victory.

“This is what the Lord says, ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16)

  • Paths of untimed prayer, shut in with God with determination to wait upon Him and hear from Him.  The flesh likes control, but the Lord may call us to all night prayer, a meeting that may hold eternal value and reward.
  • Paths that open the Word of God as we prayerfully pore through, eagerly anticipating the ‘Wonderful Counselor’ to open up living waters into our soul.
  • Paths of deliberate praise and worship, even during emotional grief and turmoil.  The sacrifice of praise is a high expression of faith in God’s deliverance, even before it arrives.

In these ‘terrible times’ there is a great need for anointed servants of Christ, those prepared from the prayer closet and diligent study of God’s word with a burden to minister. We can find our very heartache, grievous loss even devastation in the Bible and also see there God’s power to heal, restore and renew. He longs to show Himself strong in our lives as we trust in Him. I pray we begin to understand the authority of God, the power of the cross, and the supernatural counsel of the Holy Spirit. As He breathes His Life upon us, may we glorify Him by serving others with the counsel of Christ.

There is no higher calling.

lazaraus-tomb

“Lazarus, come forth!”

Let us also come forth to Christ and go forth to speak life to one another.

 

(Disclaimer:  this website does not provide medical or psychiatric advice.  It is intended to provide spiritual inspiration and is not a substitute for medical or psychiatric advice, diagnosis or treatment.  Always seek the advice of a medical professional before changing or neglecting necessary treatment.)

Could God Be Against Us?

Posted on by Standard 3

With a spirit of fearless irreverence, The Daily News has actually stated the truth. God is not fixing this.  He is not our servant, nor does He intervene with any position less than sovereign God, worthy of worship and praise. The question is not ‘will God fix this’ but rather, is God against us?

God front page

“Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 2:29)

God did not defend His people who chose to live in rebellion,

“He sold them to their enemies all around…Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them….They were in great distress.” (Judges 2:15)
“The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.” (II Chronicles 15:2)

Scriptures abound which declare God’s faithfulness to those who follow Him, even in their struggles and battles. The Lord upholds those who choose to align themselves with His Word and sovereign authority, however there are always consequences to sin and rebellion.
Our national security totally hinges on the answer to this question: Where do we stand with God? Do we have the right to call upon Him, standing under His protective hedge and sovereign power or…

removing 10 commandments

The Ten Commandments ordered removed from Oklahoma Courtyard

… have we blasted out His Word from our communities?

Have we spearheaded to the world celebrations for the things that offend God? We, as a people, have strayed so far from the Lord that we cannot see His hand removing His protective hedge.
We err grievously, believing we could be free to revel in sin when in fact sin always creates bondage and despair. The chastisement of God, even if He raises up our enemies, is a painful call to bring us into repentance and right relationship. Abandonment by God is not freedom from God but the fearful state of pending wrath.   The time is short,

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.  Let him turn to the Lord and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7

“I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”  Romans 6:2

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”  Acts 3:19

God’s Word warns of “terrible times in the last days”. He is not on-call to ‘fix’ this world, Jesus is returning to judge it. The only question is, on whose side are we standing, is God for us or against us?

“He who is not with me is against me” declared Jesus.

GUN CONTROL, Drug Control, God Control…..Making the Devil Laugh

Posted on by Standard Reply

“There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.”

While not quoted from New York Times, Washington Post, or Boston Globe this is an accurate description of our culture today.  It was written over 2700 years ago, Hosea 4:2, where the answer to moral decay, violence and treachery was not legislation.  There were plenty of laws already written with steep penalties  for violators.  The law merely served as a barometer , a gauge to measure man’s  innate potential for depravity.  If any law could successfully set boundaries  around man’s  behavior or curtail evil there would be no need for a Messiah, for Christ to die on the cross, for the Lord to come and “save His people from their sins.”

The timeless inerrancy of God’s Word continually exposes the futility  man’s attempts to create an orderly, civilized culture.  History will never record, ‘our society was out of control with violence, family destruction, drug and alcohol abuse and corruption but with the right laws, we put everything under control.’   Tragedies, vicious attacks, perversions, lying and conniving at every level are only fruits that we ourselves cultivate by fertilizing unrestrained freedoms, watering the lusts of our own fallen nature and lastly, cutting away that which would quicken our God given conscience.   Eliminating all shame, leaders puff up and posture around futile ‘controls’ to set boundaries around human nature, at which the devil laughs.

“What a man sows so shall he reap”. All the laws in the world cannot change these apples into oranges – a laughable endeavor!

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander”, declared Jesus in Matthew 15:19.  Change a man’s behavior without changing his heart?  Impossible if not laughable.

The United States can gauge the downward spiral by the leadership which we rally after and elect.  There were declarations for godly righteousness, there were cries for shame as the only impetus for change….      

 Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God…

And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon;

…to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

…. We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

…. I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer….

By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Secretary of State

Those days are woefully gone.

The Ten Commandments ordered removed from Oklahoma Courtyard

The Ten Commandments ordered removed from Oklahoma Courtyard

“…the decision to remove the monument under the cover of darkness was made to avoid disturbing workers at the Capitol and to keep protesters from demonstrating…”  (Reported by Sean Murphy, AP News, 10/6/15)

Removing the Word of God ‘under the cover of darkness’ to avoid a dust-up with mortal man?  A tragic laugh/weep moment in history!  The devil is laughing and we should surely be weeping.  The problem is not when darkness is dark, the problem is when our light is dim.  The ‘treacherous days’ marked by the Apostle Paul in II Timothy 3 are here but can be the greatest days for the Body of Christ in the world if only we would ‘lighten our ship’ of the useless cargo of sin – materialism, greed, lust, and carnality.

The Lord Jesus, Creator of the universe, could have used the world as His podium.  However, He often displayed His power and deliverance by personally touching the lives of ordinary individuals.  While some wait for a  ‘call to great ministry’ the Lord is calling us to obey and enter into the simplicity of communing with Him, receiving the joy of His presence and allowing him to share His grief for the lost. Waiting upon Him, through prayer and study of His Word, enables us to break His bread with those ‘coincidentally’ around us.  The Word of God in us is a living word for the ‘woman at the well’, whether she is at the bus stop, market, the home next door or office across the hall.

Believers must ‘rally’ solely for the Word of God, embracing the truth –  the only source of ‘control’ – for peace, healing, deliverance, and restoration – is the Holy Spirit.   Contrary to popular mantras, we are not here to ‘change the world’ but called to represent Jesus Christ and enlarge His Kingdom as we anticipate His return.  It is impossible to legislate God or even morality but we can be surrendered and available vessels of truth for Him, in spite of the darkness, in spite of discouragements, in spite of a devil who laughs…temporarily.

“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur….tormented day and night for ever and ever.”  Revelation 20:10

CALLED TO STAND BY HIS SIDE

Posted on by Standard Reply

As the world spins faster and closer to Christ’s return, there is an ever increasing dividing line between Believers in Jesus Christ and the world.   Darkness seems to prevail as God’s people suffer near annihilation and the truths of God’s Word trampled upon.  As followers, not wanderers, we must stand in the only place of security and strength.  We must stand by Christ’s side.  There is no gray area, we are either yoked to this world or to Christ….free to live and move through darkness or walk toward eternity in the light of our Maker.  “Come to me” Christ calls, “all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28-30) The world and its false religions cannot give you this rest.

“For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.

Carnal Christianity builds a gospel around ‘easy’ and ‘light’.  Yet, without the Lord’s yoke and  burden, it is a useless gospel.  His yoke binds us to His side; His burden opens His heart into ours.

One's mobility, speed and direction are determined by Another.

Here, one’s mobility, speed and direction are determined by Another.

A yoke is forward focused, causing great discomfort when the bearer veers to the left, to the right, or turns to look behind. Under His yoke, through obedience and submission, we share in His burden to reflect the glory of God in this dark world. Here, at the Lord’s side, we will stand with Him and He will stand with us.  Before His arrest on the Mount of Olives, even knowing their weakness, the Lord said to His disciples,

“You are those who have stood by me in my trials.”  (Luke 22:28)

High accolades from God to mortal man!  What are the Lord’s trials – and how can we stand with Him?

The disciples stood with Jesus, God incarnate.  After the Lord’s ascension, the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell believers, giving us new birth, new life, and joining us together as the Body of Christ on earth.  If we would really stand with Christ in His trials, we must likewise stand with His Body in this world.   As Saul persecuted the brethren, Christ challenged him, “Why are you persecuting ME?” (Acts 9:4)

We must be challenged to stand with Christ as His Body is despised and rejected by men, suffers need, languishes in prison, tortured, widowed – humiliated and dishonored in every way.

Jesus proclaimed that eternal life awaited those who served His Body in this world – and damnation for those who neglected the same.  (Matthew 25:31-46)  Our world is exploding into an arena for the mocking and torture of Christ.  If we are not standing at His side, we are amongst the spectators, the condemned.  

There may be brethren in our midst who are suffering and discouraged, in grief and even despair. We must be available in Christ to minister to them. For certain though, a collective lament cries out from those who are persecuted and in the clutches of cruel and merciless hands.  We are accountable to hear those cries, to open our hearts, to “mourn with those who mourn”, and stand with them in their trials as with Christ….but how?

The devil wants to keep us as spectators, pitying the ‘foreigners’ who are suffering so much… out of reach, impossible to help.  Our unseen brethren are as foreign as the unseen Christ.  They are as unreachable as Peter in Acts 12, held captive by the most powerful world government.  No carnal plan or coup can subdue the powerful darkness consuming the world.  As with Peter, only that which is launched supernaturally through prayer can rescue, deliver and strengthen.  Esteem prayer as the Lord Himself did – reserving time and place as a supernatural encounter.  As “co-workers in God’s service”, our work in prayer yields rewards as the Lord answers. Believe that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”,  whether or not we see physical evidence.    Lacking fervency and passion?  When yoked to the Master and into His Word, His heart will rekindle our passion and zeal.

To stand by the Lord in His trials is to take His yoke and follow His lead.  It does not guarantee detour from pain, anguish, or even martyrdom but will assure this:  He will never leave or forsake us, He will stand by our side and indwell our hearts to overflowing that we may endure whatever He sets before us for the glory of His coming Kingdom.

We can only imagine hearing Him say,

“You are those who have stood by me in my trials”

“Well done, good and faithful servant.”