Unforgiveness?

Someone once said that unforgiveness is like taking poison in hopes the other person will die. Problem is unforgiving is so subtle that most of us don't realize we are. That we are unforgiving. Unforgiving? What does that mean for most of us? Since we don't realize we are not forgiving when we are unforgiving.

For most of us it's when we don't like to be around a certain person anymore. For others it's when we feel uncomfortable when that certain person walks in the room. But, sometimes we justify it. We just aren't going to forget.

Unforgiveness!

Webster says forgiving is to cease to FEEL resentment against an offender. It doesn't stop there, it goes on say that forgiveness is to pardon. Further, it says forgiveness is to GIVE UP RESENTMENT for an offense or wrong that has been done to you, to cease to claim exaction for the debt owed you.

So UNFORGIVENESS would be to hold on to feelings of resentment, to refuse to pardon the offender and not to give up the resentment against the one who has offended you. Worst of all, you intend to make that person pay until you are satisfied.

UNFORGIVENESS. By the way, the word 'unforgiveness' wasn't even in the dictionary I used.

To many, perhaps most, unforgiveness is not a big deal, it's a way of life.

Unforgiveness.

So what! Just get on with life. Life? No, life stops as long as unforgiveness rules our hearts. It's so subtle. That person owes us! We have a right to exact SOMETHING for our pain, grief or trouble, right?

Problem is we get more than we bargain for when we refuse to forgive. We take the poison but the offender lives and we die. We die a slow miserable death. Infection. Everything in our life soon becomes infected, sour and bitter.

The biggest problem is that we can't put our finger on the root cause as time slowly rolls on. Everything gets so confusing that we lose track of what went wrong and when.

Unforgiveness stops life. Then we just exist.

That's why Jesus taught us to pray, "and forgive those who owe you a debt, so your heavenly Father can forgive you the debts you owe Him." If we hold on to our unforgiveness in any way, we hold our own sins within and slowly die a bitter death.

On the other hand, it’s like the famous rescuer of Jews during World War 2, Corrie Ten Boon, when she came face to face with her sisters executioner. She saw him come down the isle in a church 40 years later, she recognized him and said, “God I can NOT forgive that man” . Then she heard Jesus in her spirit say to her, "No, you can not, but I can - will you let me forgive that man through you?" Corrie said yes and was set free to be all she was meant to be without the resentment and pain. Her forgiveness for his offenses set HER free.

What's deceived you and me into holding on to our UNFORGIVENESS? Lets let go and let Jesus forgive THROUGH us and find the life He came to give us. Without forgiving we can not be forgiven by God Himself. He said so.

So...

THINK ABOUT IT!

Prayer Does NOT Change Things!

She was very nice and I needed to talk to someone at the mixer. I came with my wife but she was busy talking to everyone but me. The nice lady seemed friendly and so we began talking. Just then my wife came up and said to another lady, "he belongs to me" referring to me. At that my confidence bolstered. The nice lady and I kept talking about our kids.

She knew my son and was impressed with how he had turned out. She was very concerned about her oldest boy as he was now 17 and being recruited to a strange cultish belief system by his boss at work. The pressure to please the boss, while at the same time curious about the claims the boss was making disturbed this mom.

I assured her that since she had already planted the Word of God in him since he was a young boy that she should trust in God's promise. That promise is that HIS Word will not return void.

That simply means that God watches over every seed of His Word when it is planted in good ground. Good ground being a heart that is honest and open to obey God. A mom can pray, trust and hope: but, ultimately it's always God who gives the increase and brings the harvest He wants when He wants it. Of course we have a part to play, but God has a way of making each person He's dealing with willing when He wants them to be willing. After all, Jesus promised that NO ONE can pluck the sheep His Father gives Him out of His hand.

In our conversation, she made the statement that PRAYER CHANGES THINGS. To that my response was: NO, prayer doesn't change things - GOD CHANGES THINGS. Lots of people pray but nothing changes. The Bible teaches that God only does things according to His Own will not our will or our neat little prayers.

What if two people with two completely different desires pray to the one and only God asking for the same thing? What if two mothers during the civil war, one from the South and one from the North, both prayed - sincerely prayed: God make my son's army win this civil war!

Well, both sides can't win a civil war, and God is going to have His will triumph in the end. So how DOES prayer work anyway? Jesus gave us some clues. Since He is the only man who ever had ALL His prayers answered by God, let's take a look at some of His secrets.

They're really not secrets at all because Jesus own words, along with many other scripture quotes tell us exactly how to see prayers answered by God. Remember, PRAYER DOES NOT CHANGE THINGS - GOD DOES!

First of all Jesus told us that He only said what He heard the father say. So when He prayed He only prayed the Father's will. He NEVER initiated one thing on His own - He only said (prayed) the things He heard His Father say to Him. He even taught his followers to pray, "Thy Will Be Done..." That would be a major breakthrough for most folks if they only prayed the Father's will because that's what they heard the Father say.

At the dead man's grave, just before Jesus raised him back to life, He said to His Father: "Father, I thank you that you ALWAYS hear me." What confidence. Jesus only says what He hears the Father say (the Father's will) and because of THIS the Father ALWAYS hears Him.

Should it be different for the followers of Jesus? Jesus said His followers were the sons of God too - born again! Born from above. Children of God through Jesus Christ. He said that they would do even greater things then He did! So then, why aren't all our prayers answered?

The Bible teaches us that if we ask ANYTHING according to the Father's will - we will have our prayer answered. Now some like to water that statement down by saying, "of course your prayer was answered - it was either yes, no or not now." BUNK!

That religious cop-out wasn't what Jesus taught. He said, "WHAT-SO-EVER you desire when you pray, believe you have the things you SAY and you will SHALL have those things you say." WOW! That's too bold, we better water that one down with some religion just to cover ourselves, just in case...

NO WAY! Let's just admit that we pray our will most of the time because we don't take the time to learn HOW to hear the Father speaking to us. Want proof? OK, how many of your prayers are answered with RESULTS? Forget the yes, no and not now excuses. Just RESULTS! How many?

How do you know that the lady dying from a car wreak last week isn't supposed to die? Your will or God's will? Perhaps she is reaping as a result of a bad turn or the result of speeding. What if she is perishing because of a lack of knowledge about God's Word (same as God's Will)? What if her accident has caused her whole family to turn to God from a life of sin and rebellion?

What if she was careless about her words? What if she didn't know that the angel of the Lord encamps round about those who fear the Lord? What if she didn't even know what the fear of the Lord was about? What if she didn't know that the fear of the Lord has to do with keeping our lips from deceit and our tongues from speaking lies? What if she was a person who caused a lack of peace everywhere she went?

If she didn't understand the importance of walking in the fear of the Lord, then the angel of the Lord wasn't guaranteed to protect her according to scriptures. Now, God watches over lots of ignorant folks - or most of us wouldn't be here to even read this today! His mercy endures forever and His kindness to all generations. But Jesus said to ask largely so our joy would be full. Prayers answered with RESULTS brings joy where I come from - how about you?

But this thing about prayer changing things just isn't accurate. What if we all had to admit that God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a lot bigger than our religion? God wants prayer to be accurate! The Bible teaches that the fervent and effective prayer of a righteous man avails much. What does that mean? Hey, I want my prayers to avail much with God - or why pray at all?

First, fervent prayer alone won't avail MUCH. Maybe a little, but when it comes to prayer, we want the MUCH. So what about this word EFFECTIVE? That's where the nice lady at the mixer lost her confidence about her son's future. She just didn't feel confident. She knew it and so did I.

Let's look at more teachings from Jesus: the man Who had EVERY prayer answered because He knew the Father's will. The Bible says if we ask anything according to His will and we KNOW He hears us - then we HAVE the petition we ask of Him. Pretty easy. Just know He hears you. Know you have heard Him and get your effective, fervent prayer availing much EVERY TIME. Hearing HIM is hearing the will of God, praying it back to HIM is the prayer that avails MUCH!

Jesus actually said He would build His entire church on this principal of REVEALED knowledge from the Father to the sons (children) of God. Are you a child of God? Do you know HIS voice? Jesus said if you know His voice - YOU ARE HIS SHEEP, YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD.

Here's our challenge. Stop making excuses for our unanswered prayers (no results). Dare to listen to the Good Shepard's voice and then ONLY pray what we hear Him say and watch the non-religious answers come. God's not religious and never has been. That's how Jesus did it. He didn't pray for every dead person or even every sick person. Want proof? Look at the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. The Bible says MANY sick and impotent folk were there, but He heard the Father's voice send him to JUST ONE MAN at that pool of Bethesda.

We're way too religious! We need to be relational with our heavenly Father and base our relationship on His Word, which is His WILL! As we dare to get off the religious merry go round somebody placed us on and dare to follow the real Jesus we too will hear the Father's voice. He's still speaking and showing us the Father's will. Jesus never said have faith in prayer. NO. He said have faith in God! It's about God not prayer. Yes, He said men ought to pray and not faint... but we must never forget prayer is TALKING TO GOD!

THINK ABOUT IT!

My Dream Safari

This story is from my best African Safari. I invited my brother and his son as well as my two best friends from my high school days and their sons. Of course my own son came along too, and I was even able to get my three daughters to release their husbands for the most exciting 2 weeks of all our lives.

Our hunt took place at Chete, on the south shore of Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. Our guides were my mentor from South Africa, Neil plus my old friend Attorney Richard. Also joining us on this hunt were my very good friends Big Robert, Pastor John, Bruce Almighty, Seed-Bearing Bob, Car-Selling Jim and Senator Larry from my church. A lion was one of the animals we were after. This was not that big a deal to me in some ways because my home in the Northern California foothills is not unknown for our share of mountain lions. Every now and again these cats will visit a nearby ranch. These lions take out sheep or attack a horse. But, those are 200 pound cats. This hunt is about the 600 pound king of beasts.


There are two ways of hunting a lion here. One is to find a recent track and follow it. The other way is to put some baits up. When a lion comes and feeds, the bait is generally replenished, and a blind is built to sit in to get that lion.

I have shot three lions on previous hunts and actually had to deal with a mountain lion with just a butcher knife once, in my imagination, and all these giant cats were tracked. Here in Africa we've put up baits on previous hunts, but we never managed to get any to come and feed while we were there.

We follow a very simple procedure here in Africa. I do the hunting and my guests do the shooting. This plan has worked over the years. I just tag along a step behind my guests. On this occasion I decided that we should put up a bait in a dry river bed about 200-300 yards from the Lake. I had some lions feed there before, and thought others might do the same. We built two blinds, one on each hill overlooking the river. This should give us a better chance to approach the blind, depending on the wind direction.

We shot a zebra and put it up for the lions. Next morning we left the camp at about 3:30am to be able to get to the blind before daybreak. We stopped the truck about ½ a mile away and walked the rest of the way to the blind. No luck this time, as nothing has come to the bait.

Big Robert, a seasoned hunter, was a bit nervous but I managed to calm the big guy by explaining that the big cats are no different than the our cats in Northern California, just three times bigger and a lot hungrier. That didn’t help Big Robert much, but it made me feel like a hero just to tell the big guy and act like I was the bigger man. Of course everyone on the hunt, my son in laws included, knew I was just blowing smoke. After all I don’t shoot anything anymore on these hunts, that is nothing but a Nikon.

The next day we passed by our bait and found that the zebra had been eaten. It was late in the afternoon, and we needed to get a fresh bait up quickly. We could hear a hippo making some noise in the lake not very far from where we were. And my son-in-laws Anthony, Clinton and Shane suggested that we go and get that hippo. We tried, but the hippos did not co-operate. They stayed too far off shore.

As luck would have it, Senator Larry shot an elephant the next day, and Car-Selling Jim put one of his legs up in a tree for the lions to feast on (not Car-Selling Jim's leg - the elephant's leg). We decided to try to get into the blind in the afternoon, as the lions might decide to have an early dinner. Seed-Bearing Bob and Bruce Almighty heard some noise coming from behind us, and then all was quiet. The sun went down and we had to go back to camp. Big Robert thought a lion probably made the noise, as he might have smelled us on his way to the bait. So another early start in the morning was on the agenda.

Again, we left camp at 3:30am, and when we got close to the bait we could hear lions feeding. Our excitement mounted. We got to one of the blinds, and we could see a lioness walking away from the bait. We thought she must have been the last one to leave the bait. There was still quite a bit of meat left, although the aroma coming from it was not very pleasant.

A few yards from the blind we could hear some growling at the bait, which shot our pulse up. It was our lucky day! As we could see a very large lion standing on his hind legs feeding very noisily. We watched him for a few minutes. He got down and turned towards us at a slight angle. I am not so sure he suspected anything, but I did not wait any longer. I aimed my Nikon at the big cat as Big Robert and two of my son in laws and even Pastor John set their sights on his neck and left shoulder.

It was Big Robert that sent a 300-grain Barnes X bullet into his neck. Everyone else was so over excited they either hit the tree or just missed altogether. He flopped over, got up, and walked a couple of yards and started rolling on the ground and biting himself (not Big Robert but the cat).

Before Big Robert had a chance of giving him another bullet, he disappeared from our view into a gully. We could hear growling for a couple of minutes, and then all was quiet.

The lion could be lying there stone dead, or he could have just followed that gully into the hills, or he could be waiting there for one of us to appear to even the score with us. My son Andrew, to my surprise, jumped out into the open and darted towards the last place in the gully we saw the lion. The rest of us decided to go up the hill on the other side of the gully, and try to see if we could see him from there. We made a detour and went up the opposite hillside. We could not see the lion, but we could see an awful lot of his blood on the ground where he was flopping around.

Then Andrew disappeared into a thicket of tall grass. That gave us a bit more encouragement, because the likelihood of the cat being alive after loosing all that blood was very remote. I was a little concerned about my son, but then remembered he had spent more than 20 years living in lion country at our Northern California ranch-ette.

Yet with a lion you really do not want to take any chances, we got back to the side where we had originally shot from, and went into the gully looking for Andrew and the lion. Rifles loaded and ready. But now we had two problems. A wounded lion or Andrew could easily mistake our noise in the brush and charge or shoot.

By this time our trackers had arrived, as we had left them at the truck. They came over as soon as they heard the shot. Big Robert was about 5 yards from the lion, but he could not see it. Then Andrew popped up from seemingly nowhere, he saw it. We were all very relieved to see it was dead, and especially relieved to see Andrew was out of danger. We found that Big Robert’s bullet hit it exactly where he had aimed, going through his neck, and coming out from just behind the opposite shoulder. We loaded up our lion, and headed back to camp, to share our trophy with the rest of the gang there.

Just as Bruce Almighty and Seed-Bearing Bob were loading the lion into the truck and pulling out to head for camp, my alarm clock went off. Darn! It was just another dream! Now it's time to get up again and get ready for another dangerous day at my office talking to senior citizens about long term care planning.

Well my best African Safari Dream must have been triggered after exploring the Internets African Safari list last night before I went to sleep.

How dangerous were your dreams last night?

(My fabricated dream was inspired from a real hunter's story - Ganyana Safaris, Zimbabwe- Africa 1999)

THINK ABOUT IT!

Tis So Sweet...

The pain was panic. The thoughts were crowding. Suffocating. Sleep where are you? Then I heard it. Over and over they came. Stonger and stronger they rang. The words were coming from way back in my mind. Marching forward the words came stronger and stronger. “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus”. Those words dispelled my anxiety. Their sweetness calmed my fears. He was coming to me in the night again. I was not alone.

Pain. Such a tool. Such wisdom. Oh, it’s only temporary. But it seems eternal when it roars. Physical, mental, emotional. Pain talks. Pain positions. Pain focuses. Where does it take me? What does it accomplish?

If I fear the pain it controls me. It tries to threaten me, especially when it comes in the night seasons. Sleep don’t run from me now I need you to take me away from here. But where can I go that He’s not there?

My days are full. Busy. Too busy, too distracted. Thank you pain for finding me in the night. “Tis so sweet to trust”. My hiding place is You, my God. My Savior. My Hope. I’m awake. I can not hid from You but I can hid in You.

Choices. I want to hid but You force me to choose. I search for my heart. Where is my heart? Who am I really? I can’t hid. You’ve discovered me. You’ve cornered me. You have captured me. But it’s not the me that I think I am that you want, it’s my heart. My secret heart. I struggle, "but it’s MY heart".

Why do I keep it back from You? What am I saving it for? I’ve been deceived too long. “Tis so sweet”. Trusting you is the sweetness I’ve been searching for all my life. All my quick, fleeting life.

It’s all speeding by so quickly now. I can see the blur of my childhood. Bits and pieces. Was it really me or just a movie I saw once long ago? Where are the days rushing me? Of course, it’s to You. Without Your interruption my days would swiftly take me the way of all flesh. But then I hear You singing to me again far off in the distance…“Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to take Him at his word. Jesus. Jesus. How I love you. How I’ve learned to trust you more. Jesus. Jesus. Precious Jesus. Teach me Lord to trust you more”.

Peace settles into my spirit again as You sing over me from deep within. In all my confusions I almost forgot that You live inside me. I relax back into His arms, His everlasting arms. I don’t really know how long the journey will be or where it will take me next. Pain? Sorrow? Fears? They all try to bully me. Then way down deep I hear Him gently singing again. “Tis so sweet…” then I remember His promises. ‘He gives His beloved sleep…and when I awake I shall see His face.’

Fear where have you gone? Pain you can’t rule over me for ever!

I always have a choice in this life…and so do you.

THINK ABOUT IT!

The Burning Heart

Who lights your fire? Remember the song, "Come on Baby, light my fire". That fire will eventually go out ya know. How do we burn brighter and last longer? Who can and will stay fresh, radiant and fulfilling - more satisfying as the years roll by? Will that touch still electrify as time goes on or will the flame die down? What keeps a heart burning? Love and Romance? Yes! the burning heart does need love and romance. But not all romances are between a man and a woman.

The highest form of love is a burning heart set ablaze by God Himself. A heart overwhelmed with desire to know the King of Heaven and earth.

Religion? You've got to be kidding. Religion isn't romantic its rigid, demanding and harsh the whole world over. Anyone who says they enjoy religion is probably lying. Of course they feel like they are supposed to enjoy God, but religion has never found a way to enjoy the Creator, only hid from Him or try to perform for His approval.

No, the real joy, the real heart set on fire is the heart that has caught a glimpse of the One Who came to give us that ignition. Without Him revealing Himself to us we can only play religious games.

Today, while shopping with my wife, we ran into a gal at the store that we had not seen for some time. She shared about her little 4 year old...a singer! He sang a song to her the other day about Jesus dying on the cross and about bowing down to Him. As the little guy sang, our friend began to weep. She said she had always seen Jesus on a cross, but as the boy sang to her she said she saw all her sins hanging on the cross instead of Jesus.

She realized that her sins put Him on the cross. She was overwhelmed with the vileness of her daily sins. She began weeping right there in the store as she told us about her experience. My heart burned as I wished for the same intimacy she knew.

This was the heart of Mary, of John and of the two on the road to Emmaus that day as they talked with the risen Lord. Their hearts burned as they realized what He had done for each of them. I want this burning heart not some religious routine or experience. I want to know Him and appreciate what He paid for me every day until I see Him face to face. How about you? Does your heart burn for more reality of His love and beauty? He's waiting for us to seek Him in a new way...

THINK ABOUT IT!

The Great Pretender!

At the end of the service the visiting minister gave an invitation to come forward for prayer. The prayer was for those who felt distant, dry and out of touch with Jesus. As I stood there in my pew, I felt such a pressure. The pressure was from God. My need was to step out into the isle and go forward for prayer. But there’s a problem: I’m the pastor.

Let me phrase that a little clearer. I’m the Pharisee as I stand in the pew. You see a Pharisee is a religious fraud. He looks good on the outside but inside he’s dishonest. He’d rather look good than be honest with God and admit his failings. That was my problem that Sunday morning. Was I willing to humble myself and come clean with God?

To step out into that isle, I would have to admit that the pastor had the same problems everyone else in the room was struggling with that day. My peace and sanity were raging war in my mind. Would I be a humble worshipper of Jesus or would I stay a fraud, protecting my own self righteousness?

As I stepped into the isle, I felt a wonderful relief take over my whole being. I was trusting again instead of trying. Trusting or trying? Worshipper or Pharisee? We all choose daily – moment by moment.

I see Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. I see her pouring out her life savings, an alabaster box of precious ointment, – a years wages – on Jesus head and feet. I see a woman of infamous reputation coming into Simon the Pharisee’s home - uninvited.

She can’t stay away from Jesus. She drops to her knees and begins to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. I see her again weeping at the foot of the cross. All the big strong disciples have run for their lives, except for John, another worshipper. Now I see her at the tomb weeping. She just can’t stay away from Him.

Mary intimately knew him while Simon the Pharisee only wanted to know about him. She loved him because he’d forgiven her much, therefore she could love much. Simon invited Him to his home so he could feel important. After all Jesus had just raised dead Lazarus to life and now both Jesus and Lazarus would be in Simon’s home for all to see!

In loving Jesus, Mary chose to worship him in every way, every creative way, she could. Do you and I want to know Him so we can feel important and personally blessed or do we want to know Him because we have caught a glimpse of WHO He really is?

Mary was a Jesus worshipper. Simon was a Simon worshipper. What are you, what am I? The chief aim of a true believer is “that I may know Him !” Mary knew Him. Do you and I know Him where we are today? If not, then we are failing Him. We are not here for self-actualization, but to know Jesus Christ. To often our Christian efforts are motivated by the work to be done and we feel we must do it. But the upward call is to know Him in all we are and in all we do. Yes, we must do the work but let’s do it unto Him. Then it’s true worship! If He’s not in it – what’s the point?

Jesus is still looking for true worshippers. The cost? Just everything! What will you pay? What will I pay? He paid it all. Everything! Nothing held back. After Mary’s humility in washing his feet with her tears Jesus told her that her sins were forgiven. Did she earn it? NO! No one can earn what only Jesus blood can do. So why could Jesus tell her that her sins were forgiven?

It’s the mystery of faith. Faith is not really a mystery. It’s just amazing. Amazing that God, the Holy God of heaven and earth, would allow us to believe, trust and demonstrate that believing and trust in true worship.

True worship IS faith and true faith is the action we demonstrate TO HIM. Look at the original passage from the New Testament book of Luke. “Wherefore I say unto you, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. And He said unto her, Your sins are forgiven. And they that sat at dinner with Him began to say within themselves, Who is this that also forgives sins? And He said to the woman, YOUR faith has saved you; go in peace. "

Do we love much? That much?

THINK ABOUT IT!

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

Behavior! It’s all about behavior to God. The White Throne Judgment for sinners condemned to Hell, the Judgment Seat of Christ for the saints rewards:

Behavior!

Jesus said upon His return His main objective was to bring Rewards. He promises to reward everyone ACCORDING to their works. He warned us not to judge others lest we be judged. What or Who motivates YOUR Behavior?

Sowing and Reaping – good actions or bad actions – this law of return is based on behavior. What we DO! God offers us a new heart and a new spirit SO THAT WE CAN BEHAVE OURSELVES in a way that pleases Him. In a way that is acceptable to Him.The fruit of His Spirit in our lives all plays out in our behavior.

The fruit of our flesh in our lives also plays out in our behavior. It’s all about how we ACT. Jesus warned us. He taught us about a place called Hell. He warned us not to fear the one’s who could kill the body, rather we are to fear the One who can cast the body and soul into an eternal, never ending torment, a world without end: HELL.

As one so aptly stated, “Don’t Piss God Off”! Rather crude, but you can’t say you don’t get the message. Some fool said it’s all about the Hoky Poky – wrong! Pleasing God is what it’s ALL about. Thank God He is willing to work with us to bring us into the image of His Son, the Son who pleases Him because He only did and does God’s will.

We really need to get it straight: God does NOT owe any of us anything! That’s why we call Him GOD! We owe our Creator what ever He requires – or have Hell to Pay.Fact is God is LOVE!

Love?

What’s that? We have our opinions, but what is real love? Real love lays down its life for its ENEMIES. The Bible teaches us that while we were yet enemies God sent His own Son to die in our place so that we could be brought back into the a right relationship with our Creator. That's what He designed us for in the first place: RELATIONSHIP.

However, before we could do anything about any of this, back in the garden, our original father committed high treason against God for us! From this original act by our father Adam, the cancer of rebellion and SELF-will against our Creator spread through all of mankind. It required our Creator to DEMONSTRATE what true love was in order to buy back a corrupted human race.

HOLY !

We have not even got a clue what HOLY means! We somehow think it’s some kind of religious word. Some of us might even picture stained glass windows in a stone cathedral with strange off key chanting in the background by a bunch of depressed looking guys wearing white robes. But the opposite is true. The Bible says all of heaven REJOICES in His presence and commands the earth to do the same!

The Bible goes on to say God HUMBLES Himself to even look on the things of heaven and earth. Wow! We have no point of reference without a REVEALING from God himself enlightening our darkened mind. God has to bring light to our darkness or we continue to define black as white, defend evil as good and argue our opinions as truth.

Only God’s ways and words are truth. Our thoughts are lies without this HOLY light from His very Self showing us His pure Truth. Pure Truth is a Person. That Person is God Himself as shown in the face of His Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus came to earth to put an end to lies. He showed up to put a face on God. He came to BEHAVE before us and demonstrate how God expects us to live the life He has breathed into our bodies of clay.

Are we interested in changing our opinions? Can we consider there is a greater truth than our own?

The Bible teaches us that it’s appointed once for every man to die and then the JUDGMENT! Judgment is the measuring of you at the end of the road of life. It’s the accounting of our time on earth so we can receive our just dues, our reward.

For obedience to the demands of a Holy God it will be the reward of eternal life and pleasures forever more. For a life of SELF-WILL, self obedience and personal opinions it will be a reward of eternal punishments.

But that doesn’t seem fair. But who are You or I to judge God? Who are you or I to say to the Potter who formed us anything but “YES SIR”!

God knew we could not pull it off by our selves and yet He can not stop being God, Holy God. So in His LOVE He sent Jesus to solve the impossible for us.

Are we crazy? How dare we neglect so great an offer of salvation and still expect to escape the WRATH of an angry God? Why and who is He angry with? He is angry with those who REJECT His best offer to fix our failure - our failure is our trying to offer our best efforts to a Holy God. How did we do that? We rejected His Son’s blood to pay for our blood, His Son’s perfection to pay for our failure. We insulted his GIFT of Jesus blood and tried to be good without God, for God, better than God, on our own.

Thank God He IS true love. Thank God He already chose us BEFORE time ever began. Thank the only true God that He is HOLY and JUST. This Holy God, this JUST God spells His name L-O-V-E.

LOVE is unreasonable! Love is never subject to reason. Love is always right when it is God’s love. Love will send the rebel to a real fire and brimstone Hell. Love will do the right thing every time. Love will offer His only Son as a Paycheck to fully meet the demand for our judgment. Love already came and took our place on a cruel cross until the full payment for every man, woman, boy and girl’s requirement for missing God’s demand for behavior was fully paid. Love found a way to buy us back from our high treason. Love is Jesus Christ - the very FACE of God.

They call this Gospel the good news. It’s only good when we realize we are hopelessly doomed because of our behavior. Our behavior comes out of a heart that is hopelessly at odds with it’s own Creator. Without Someone taking our place and paying the price we could not and can not pay – there’s Hell to pay. Without Jesus as our Lord and King WE will pay the bill with our very soul and body.

GOOD NEWS: Because of Jesus’ behavior our bill is paid in full.

Question is: What are YOU and I going to do with Him? The answer is we’re going to CRY OUT NOW! "God please have mercy on me – you are right about everything and I am wrong about so many things! HELP ME NOW, I’M BLIND AND I AM LOST!" Will we humble our protected and highly esteemed SELF and accept His perfect Love TODAY?

(The key thoughts are HUMBLE OUR SELVES, CHANGE OUR MINDS, ACCEPT GOD’S MERCY AND LOVE, ACCEPT JESUS AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR – NOW!)

[see Matthew Chapter 24 and 25 - Holy Bible, New Testament]


THINK ABOUT IT!

A Royal Flush?

Last night I had a dream. It was of a group of people - all in prison. A secret command has come to all of them in their cells. Most are in cells with small groups of 3, 4 or more. The command is to dig out a place under the cell by getting into the toilet. It is tight, narrow and difficult to get into this small space and be out of sight - even when the enemy looks down into the toilet, the captive people must push themselves into the side of the hollowed out space so they are not seen.

Next scene, after all the people have dug their hiding places out in the deep wall of the toilets suddenly every one is told to run for their lives but to be ready at any point to go down into the nearest toilet, because all the people have prepared the hiding places in their own toilets. So the great escape begins and all the people are running out of what seems to be a huge prison complex.

Without warning the troops are upon them. They must get into hiding NOW or die! One individual won't go into the nearest toilet because it requires more than one to go into a toilet at the same time and they are not familiar with this particular toilet. They freak because it looks too small and they are sure they will suffocate.

I awake. The toilet is clearly a symbol of humility and humbling oneself - REPENTING. The message is clear to me: CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST - HUMBLE YOURSELVES, ONE BY ONE OR ...! Judgment is on the way and will suddenly appear. If you are sticking out in your sins and iniquities you are caught short....

I have a flash back of yesterday... I know what I, personally, must change before God. Its one on ONE time. Pay attention or just pay!

Enough said?

THINK ABOUT IT!

The Lost Generation...

Never in the history of the world has there been a need to love and be loved like the day we live in. When referring to the lost generation, I'm not referring to the confused mass of my own 'ME' generation. No, I'm referring to the masses denied the right to experience their own birth – their life. The millions who were destined to love us in our old age, give us the joy of our middle years and teach us the beauty of a selfless life in our young adult years.

Instead, we served ourselves and lost an entire generation. Not all of us, but the rest of us didn't speak up, protest and stop the genocide. We didn't just lose many of the greatest minds the world had ever hoped to see; but, we lost, perhaps the cure to cancer, diabetes, and heart disease and who will ever know what else? We lost the breakthroughs God had planned to bless us with as we terminated and exterminated the greatest generation the world ever hoped to see: THE LOST GENERATION.



Yet there is good news to this sorrow. Sorrow to the many awakening to realize what a deception has been played on them - to give up the treasures of their life for convenience sake, or to hide the shame of a mistake or a passion. The good news is that each life, each precious life has been found and held dear for eternity to cradle and keep. The Creator looses none that are His, only we lose our greatest blessings - and yet their is a redemptive hope in even this greatest of sorrows.

If what Jesus said is true, and it is, then not even one sparrow falls to the ground unnoticed by the Heavenly Father. Then how can such a travesty happen to the innocent, unborn helpless life, pleading for their right to enter our troubled world, to be loved and protected by us?

When God gave the whole world to the first man, Adam, He put that first man in charge and told him to keep and care for the planet. But, that man chose to act independently of His God and ever since he traded THE God of heaven and earth for the god of this world system (with the hope of becoming his own god) man has fallen to depths to low to even speak.

But each man and each woman, for it takes both to make a new life, still has opportunity to acknowledge their own independent act of treason against their Creator and in so doing to change their mindset. The God of heaven is full of mercy and kindness and even though we must reap from our independent actions - we still have His forgiveness available if we are willing to ask Him for it.

The lost lives, perhaps as many as 40 million or more in the last 40 years, cry out before God Almighty Himself, asking Him to forgive us for allowing such selfishness and horrors to exist. God Himself put this loving forgiveness in the hearts of all children towards their own parents so we can find a way to forgive ourselves.

I can speak strong on this wretched topic because my wife and I almost gave in to the fears of what looked like a less than normal child being born to us - our forth child was ebbing away in what looked like a miscarriage. But then it passed the miscarriage point to likely be born with horrible handicaps. When asked if we wanted to terminate the pregnancy, we thought, perhaps that would be best. But we were ignorant of what 'terminating' a pregnancy actually meant. Fortunately, we mentioned this to our closest friends and they knew what 'terminating' meant and rocked us to reality saying, "how dare you!"

How dare we? How dare we what? Once we realized what the Planned Parenthood nurse was offering we were in shock! We were naive! ignorant! foolish! Today, that 4th child, our first son is a wonderful young man, husband and father. Thank God we were stopped before it was too late.

But what about those who were deceived and lost their opportunity to stop? More good news! God forgives and God has their babies with Him even now! Question is, 'can and will they forgive themselves and change their minds and trust their God for the peace and joy that only comes when one trusts the shed blood of the Savior to wash away all the guilt and pain of their sin?

Its not too late for anyone in this great land we call America. Its time America goes back on her knees and seeks the One, the only One, Who can save us and assure us that this lost generation has never left His sight.

Its really us in the final analysis who are lost, its our generation that has lost its way and our God. Our Creator is saying - "America, don't cover your sins, come home to Father, I'll forgive if you'll but acknowledge your sin, humble yourself and exchange your rebellion for trust - I love you America, return home while there still time for restoration."

THINK ABOUT IT!

POW Man...

Today I met myself coming back from Viet Nam. He was more than lean, he was emaciated. Tattooed and scared. Bald and bearded. His walking stick was lanky and bent, carved with strange markings and he used it to steady himself as he entered my office. His wife told me he'd been in a coma and that when he awoke it was a miracle he was alive today.

I noticed a patch on his black leather vest, the vest covered the leather like tan on his skeletal frame. The patch said POW/MIA. Being a Viet Nam vet I immediately recognized it for what it was: Prisoner of War/Missing in Action.

Upon asking him when he was in Nam he told me this story. His best friend Bill had been there the same time I was - helicopters. He asked me what I did in the war. I told him river duty: bringing in marines and supplying river boats. He suddenly began to hail my experiences with an awe and reverence I'd never thought about - not then or since.

When I was in the war, the nation resented us. When I came home they rejected us. Many of the vets were either injured, wounded or mentally scared for life. His friend Bill was one of those who survived the bullet wounds but lost his entire company of trusted friends only to come home and mentally collapse under the guilt of being left alive.

Suddenly, a flash back hit me. I began to quickly lose my composure. I had to get up and fiddle with some papers just to keep back the tears. I remembered the many times my own life had been spared. I remembered the many times my guilt's and confusions caved me in - countless times over the decades since the war.

I was blessed. I was spared. I was set free and the freedom continues to unfold for me day after day. My life has been given back to me. It was such an overwhelming feeling to be honored by someone instead of resented because of the war. My generation didn't receive the thanks only the shame of a war that made no sense then - but looking back it was for freedom we fought. Not so much the American freedom, rather a freedom for people - a strange people to us then - but a people who were and are worth the fight.

At this very moment I have friends who are the children of parents my own age who were those people we fought to make free. Another freedom fighter fought and won a freedom that will never end for whoever is willing to receive it.

Today I felt the appreciation that He must feel when one accepts his gift of freedom and turns their life over to Him. That freedom fighter is Jesus Christ. It was for freedom we were set free by a Savior - the Savior of the World...for whosoever WILL...

...because people everywhere are worth the fight!

THINK ABOUT IT!

Love At First Sight!

When we first met, I could think of nothing but that encounter. It was the bliss of my life! Unwavering, Unrelenting and Undefined was this new love experience. I was 9 years old and had been in love, so to speak, a few times already.

But this! Nothing could compare. . .

I was at camp for two weeks when it all happened. I was swept off my feet. It was what I had been looking for all my short lived little life. But could it hold me for the next 52 years? That's right - it would have to hold me for the next half century!

Good news: It has held. Oh, I dropped the ball many times over the years, but my true love never let me go. I had only heard of this one who would be my soul mate and my truest friend. I can still remember asking my mother, at age 4 about this one who would one day be my true love. She described this person to me and yet I could hardly believe such a one could exist, even at 4 years old I had my doubts such a one could exist for me.

But there I was at camp. I had caught a glimpse of the one who would never leave me or forsake me. It was during a short movie that my heart was captured. The film showed thousands in India who had just heard about my lover and friend. They too wanted to know this man: Jesus Christ.

Yes, at age 9 I cried out to the One Who could change my miserable little life. Miserable? Yes, very unhappy and very lonely at age 9. I had already been ignored by my parents to the degree that I was a problem child. A BIG problem. The school teachers already determined to throw me out because I caused so much trouble everyday. I was even suicidal at 9 years old. This dark life had covered me when I was kidnapped off the streets at just 7 years of age - pulled right off the streets of Detroit one Sunday afternoon.

The court trial put the man behind bars, but his effect on my young life and what he did to me were to leave deep scars for many confusing years as I searched for meaning and peace. So that day at camp, when the movie ended, I found myself crying and even weeping - longing for this Jesus to save me.

He did save me, but the years that followed were still filled with pain and confusion because no one taught me about His LOVE - only about man made rules of do's and don'ts. But one day at age 29 a little lady came to town and she told me Jesus could untie all the knots in my life and set me free from all the tangles I had tripped into over the years. She told me about the kidnapping and even how I had lost the ability to trust anyone anymore. I was in shock! How could this stranger know all about my deepest secrets?

She told me Jesus showed her these things and that He had sent her to me to let me go free from the prison my life had become. She told me Jesus had heard the groanings of my deepest heart and then she asked me if I was ready to be free and give my life back to Jesus as I had done as a little boy of 9 years old.

I was weary, I was ready, I gave my life back to Jesus.

Now as the Apostle Paul, I too was "determined not to know anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified". No attraction would ever be able to hold my mind and soul captive ever again and I knew it this time.

To be worthy of this crucified and risen from the dead Savior we must learn to maintain an unbroken focus on the One Who has promised to keep us to the end. We must never allow anything to deflect us from the intimacy of our one true love affair with Jesus Christ.

As one once said, "the true test of a spiritual person is their unbroken focus on Jesus in the midst of life's best efforts to throw us off balance. To lose focus is the mark of an nonspiritual person. It means 'other things' have a growing fascination for us... "

But thank God, His Son, Jesus Christ has promised to keep us from falling and present us holy and blameless to His father on THAT DAY!

Have you met my lover and best friend? He's able to be your EVERYTHING and meet every need you will ever have in this short struggle called life! Only He understands your confussion and only He is waiting for you to call out ... Why not? Life, real life is your's for the asking...

THINK ABOUT IT!

Go Deep!

Most of us have been devastated at some time in our lives. Perhaps it was a loved one passing suddenly, a sickness that stole our future or a loss that never gave us a full recovery. No matter how devastating the impact or trauma, we found we must go on with our day to day.

Fortunately we are engineered in such a way that when the upper springs of life dry up we somehow go deep. We may not always recognize our inner drilling skills kicking into action. For most of us it seems we won't make it through this crucial moment, but somehow we move into a new gear called survival and on to what's more like existing than living. Yet something supernatural takes place, something few recognize at the time. A deep well is sunk into the abyss of our horrifying experience, our loss or sorrow, and another tunnel in the network of our pain is drilled to one day be the making of us.

As I look back into my own experiences and can see the broken heart, the loneliness, the pain was actually good for me. Of course I hated it at the time. The loss, the crush, the sorrow seemed to jar my very existence, to block my future and to rob me of my dreams.

The losses were real, the pain was felt and the sorrow cut deep leaving me spinning and wondering how I could survive until morning.

The first BIG devastation was at age 9 when the most beautiful girl I had ever seen came to visit her grandmother. She was tan and blond and somehow attracted to me. I couldn't eat or sleep. I was in ecstasy. She was better than anything my young life had ever experienced to that moment. Without warning, the end of the this bliss came when she left on that dark Saturday morning to go back to Florida. I never saw her again! I never forgot that week of heaven on earth. Some how I survived the loss and something almost magic happen inside me. I tunneled a memory, a feeling and a loss deep into my being at that young age.

Oh, many pressures, sorrows and loses occured over the years, mom and dad passing, my first grandson dying and the beat goes on. Yet each one burrowed a deep furrow into my subconsciousness leaving me the richer in experience but I didn't realize the wealth of it at the time.

One trauma that stands out in my memory is my loss of family and country as I left for Viet Nam. Larry, the 19 year old guy across the street had just been brought home in a box. The war had claimed a kid from my neighborhood. I didn't know him well, but seeing his family mourn was enough to shake me to my foundations. Off I went into the wild blue yonder. Off to face the most alone moments of my lonely life to date. And yet this loneliness was one of the greatest gifts of my young life.

I was faced with the stark reality that the strings had been cut and I was in orbit - free flying half way around the world with no one seemingly caring about me. As this loneliness settled in like darkness shrouding a black forest - I felt another deep well being punched down into my soul. I experienced the hot tears of anger and fear suffocate me as I tried to get my bearings.

It was then the revelation of His presence flooded me. It was at that moment of despair I cried out. He was there and I was no longer alone. In that far away land He was at my side in every assault of loneliness and fear. When the outer enemy fired on us in the jungle rivers or when my inner enemy crushed me - I could hold steady because He was there to comfort and guide me to sanity and safety.

That's been 40 plus years and yet the battle still rages on. A different battle, each crisis a new opportunity to seek Him and faithfully He is still at my side. He promised to NEVER leave me or forsake me.

I have had to privilege to dig deep and have found a network, a honey comb of tunnels with each flowing into rich memories of His abiding presence. How about you? Do your deepest pains link up with hope and does it leave you with Him watching over you? Why not ask Him to make sense of the confusion and the pain - He can you know, as a matter of fact that's why you're reading this right now...

THINK ABOUT IT!

Amazed!!!

When I survey the ponderousness of life itself and the fact that I have one - I am amazed! Did you choose to be? Did you choose when and where to exist? Either did I and yet here I am as well as there you are...

How do we explain such a miracle? How do we appreciate such an opportunity? Pain, sorrow, losses these are but experiences of being. Joy, happiness and ecstasy - again opportunities to experience this thing called life.

The other day I had some incredible chest pain and could not swallow. At first I panicked because I could not catch my next breath. Then a strange thing began to unfold in my MIND. I realized this unwelcome and alarming jolt was happening to me and that it might last for a long time. As I contemplated this unwelcome thought, I realized how time suddenly was moving in slow motion. The pain and starkness of this reality was taking over all my senses and I was pin-point focused on the event.

Now what?

I had a choice. I could dread this moment, a moment that seemed like a life time. Or I could settle into this experience. I decided to savor the journey instead of freaking out. I chose to take on this challenge with all the confidence my personal relationship to this point in my life with a sovereign God could afford. This was dangerous, after all, I might see HIM in a few minutes if this breathing thing stopped permanently.

I called out from inside my spirit - that part of me that's deeper than my mind of fears and dreads. I found my spirit calm and ready to respond to this God I needed more than my next breath.

As my wife nervously asked me if I wanted her to drive me to the hospital, I reflected back on my experiences with well meaning doctors and their best guesses and decided I would trust my Helper in the here and now instead. I hunkered down for the long haul, just in case.

Was it foolish male ego? Was it ignorant pride? Perhaps, one might wonder if it was just fear itself or denial.

No!

It was the calm only experience can bring. My experience's were rock solid. My experiences held stronger than even the pain and panic of the moment. My resolve was to walk it out confidently trusting in the One who has, in the words of John Newton from his world famous song, brought me "though many dangers, toils and snares - I have already come - tiz grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will bring me home.

"I especially like the Apostle Paul's famous insight on such troubles it goes like this, "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners."

I was amazed! I was not in fear but by the grace of my Father, I was experiencing an opportunity to develop a stronger resolve and endure this moment because I was suddenly aware that no matter how long this moment lasted - I would not be disappointed with God's love. Soon I was breathing normal again, Thank God!

How about your darkest moment? Trusting God isn't just for sissies or weaklings - some of the smartest and toughest have found Him there when they needed Him too. So take a deep breath and ....

THINK ABOUT IT!

Like a String Pulling You Up into the Sky

I woke up at 4:15 am again. Of course it was not all that surprising to be awake this early because a little after eight last night I snuck off to take a little rest for a few minutes in one of the spare bedrooms. Everyone was paired off and talking and I knew no one would miss me for a few minutes. Well our company has been long gone and as I try to straighten up, I feel stiff from lying down so long: but, I have no regrets. Those 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep left me more rested than I’ve felt in months.

As I sat my sore body down in my study, I heard this thought in the back of my mind, ‘just pretend there’s a string pulling you up into the sky’. So with out thinking, I straightened up my back and neck and aligned myself with the sky.

Suddenly I realized that was my mothers voice from my childhood. Mom’s been gone for 20 years, but her voice came back to serve me in my moment of need. How many times do we act out of our past? No doubt a lot more than we know.

Our belief systems seem to just float around in side but are they really just floating or are we on some kind of automatic pilot system that runs our lives more than we realize?

As I pondered I decided to fire up my lap-top and lay some thoughts down. I thought to myself, ‘I should talk to God for a while since I’m up early’. Now was that religious guilt or was that Godly inspiration? I wasn’t sure. Was this a part of my mothers input or was this a call past the sky to the heavens?

How free are we in our choices? Are we programmed from the past or are we freewheeling into our futures? What if Mom forgot to plant a thought or a belief into us? What if there was no Mom, or Dad or teacher to plant the seeds of our future? What would we reap? Where would our life aims be pointing us?

Of course nature and the universe have no voids. Someone or something has been programming each of us with every thought we think and every action we take. But is it accurate to the reality of life and eternity? That’s a question that comes to challenge me in a thousand different ways, in a million different flavors.

Is there really a free thinker among us? I doubt it. We’ve all been influenced by EVERYTHING. What if my input has placed me on the wrong road or leaned my ladder on the wrong wall? What if when life is over I’ve missed my destiny, my calling? What if I was deceived into wandering down the wrong path only to find I’d missed my purpose?

Purpose? "Come on don’t flatter yourself", you may say. Aren’t we just a speck of dust on the cosmic drawing board of time and space? Do we really think our few breaths and a couple million movements in time really matter in the light of eternity?

They better or else what’s the point of being here! What’s the point of living? Is it just to take up space, breath a while and leave? Are we no better than a moth that hatches in the morning and flutters throughout the millions of micro-seconds of one day only to fizzle out and die trying to escape the blackness of the night into the seemingly magic of a back porch light?

No! A thousand times no!Life without a purpose is more than pointless – it’s cruel. But the real question must be asked: Whose purpose? In the scheme of EVERYTHING don’t our lives have to fit some master plan? Shouldn’t we find a role to play? Our role? Our pre-destined role? If not a predestined plan, then everything plays out random and random eventually leads to either boredom or torment.

There’s too much rhyme and reason to everything to buy into random. Too many things fit patterns that flow together and make sense. Too many things lead to conclusions. Too many things lead to a Creator. This Creator we all seek, knowingly or unknowingly, has a purpose and plan for each of our lives. Stars don’t collide, people want to love and be loved, we want more than experiences - we want answers. We care about making sense of things. No! random doesn’t make any sense.

I want more than a Great Someone in the Great Somewhere. I want a Great SomeONE who cares about me and wants to live inside me – with me! I want a Great Someone who is greater than me. Some one who can lead me out of this not so great an ending I see happening to everything, to a happily-ever-after in more than just a fairy tale.

I want a Savior, a King, the one true God. God makes more sense than no god. Jesus is far beyond logic. He’s more than a prince charming for the ladies or a super hero for the little boys. He's the reflection of the face of the Creator. The reflection of the One who cared enough to come down here and show us purpose: His purpose. It’s more than that string my Mother told me to pretend was pulling me upward. It’s the rope from the sky that offers me an escape from a broken and confused world.

THINK ABOUT IT!