Jan | 30 | True and straight with lots to offer

BE

True and straight with lots to offer

Song of Solomon 7:6-9
How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, with your delights! This stature of yours is like a palm tree, And your breasts like its clusters. I said, "I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its branches." Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine, The fragrance of your breath like apples, And the roof of your mouth like the best wine. NKJV

Our text for today undoubtedly is the most quoted text of smiling young theology students, all reformed and restless and ready for bed. The sooner they get married the better. A few years down the road with two kids under their belt and they will be longing for a rest and happy to camp out at the bottom of that palm tree after a long day at work and an even longer driver home.

Again, the Song of Songs speaks on a number of levels here and three in particular. First around Mr. and Mrs. Solomon, or Solomon and the Solomoness. Secondly, around the physical life relationship between a husband and a wife, Thirdly around the relationship between Christ and His church. Concerning the physical relationship then between a husband and a wife, bucolically speaking of course, the husbands focus should be his wife's breasts. Hers and no one else's. Listen up fella. The lifelong comfort of your wife's own arms and the delights that lay between them are the only place of your visual, thoughtful and practical comfort. No where else! Listen up lady. You had better make sure the bed of your being is open to your husband and is both welcoming and giving. Some might say that this is just ‘base’ comment. I say it is basic to the holy marriage bed and is thoroughly biblical. If you are open, welcoming and giving, then physical love is simple as is all its mutual pleasures. “Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love. For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?” Proverbs 5:15-20 NKJV

I have lived for some time in south Florida though eventually bored with the foliage, was still truck both then and now with the upright nature of the Golden Palm trees. Yes, and I am still struck now by their concrete solid standing,their straightness and their most majestic height.

 Concerning the church then, how should we walk look upon this earth? We should walk like a golden Palm tree, we should walk like a fine fashion model. Yes, we should be upright, true, high and lofty, our eyes focusing straight ahead in the far off distance and may I say, to the things of this world, we should be somewhat disdainful and very aloof. In the Song of Solomon we have already seen that the church is going to be the most special thing ‘ever!’ in all the ages to come. There is every reason then that the church militant, that is, the church alive and spirtually battling to spread the gospel of Jesus in this world right now, should be exhibiting this ‘model like’ behaviour right now. Christian, you are part of this upright Golden Palm. May solid uprightness, true dignity and worldly disdainfulness be the marks of all your working this fine expectant day.

Listen:- Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:11-12 NKJV

Pray: - Father, fear bends me out of shape. Father, unbelief undermines my straightness. Comfort me with the uprightness of Your presence and stand me upright in the experience of Your steadfast love for me. Amen and amen.

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Jan | 06 | The Torch Trust

BE

The Torch Trust

John 12:44-50
Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak." NKJV

The role of the church right now is to represent the role of its leader in heaven. The role of the church right now is to fulfil the rule of the Commander of its forces, Jesus Christ the Lord. The right of the church at this point on time, is to proclaim the orders of its General to a world gone wrong, to people in darkness and in need of help, hope and eternal happiness. The role of Jesus is being the Light of the World, being its hope and its salvation out of darkness. The rule of the church's Commander is only to follow commands given by the Father and to only speak His words. The right of the church, bought by the shed blood of the great over-comer is to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Which is, that sin has been paid for, indeed, a way of redemption has been embodied, which takes us into the light of God out of any and every darkness, the end product being, the dictate of the Divine, even the gargantuan gift of God to us, the fabulous eternal life of the Father from the Father!

God’s end game is eternal life for YOU and all who would trust in His son. That being the case, the command of the Father through His son is that we should be life and life eternal, to our families, our friends, our communities, our nations and the world. Note well, that being the life and soul of the party is one thing, and bringing that kind of life is refreshing for sure, and is dynamic, of course, but it is dependent on the continued presence and effervescence of a very fallible individual. To be the eternal life and soul of any gathering is bring the life that shines bright, never flickers and will never die!

Soon, this Jesus judge will put His black cap on, and return to earth in a different role. But not yet. And so, for us who live in the time of the utter grace of God, while it is still day, we need to work, and our work is good work, it is the best of work, and it is to bring eternal life and light, to those who are deemed to be dead and in the dark.

Whilst acknowledging that those who choose to live in darkness will always throw stones at God’s torch bearers, and will, like a mad O.C.D. air raid warden, always bark diminishment to those who shine eternal life, it is still our role, our rule and our right to bring eternal life and not to ;put that light out!'

For this year and in the years to come, a new mark on our ministry must be this “In thought and word and deed, how much life and light do I truly bring, to everyone I touch?”

Listen:- And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak." John 12:50 NKJV

Pray: -  Lord, give me the gift of a fresh new tongue this year, that speaks life and light, hope and healing, deliverance and good destiny to all my hearers and then Lord if You will, be gracious to provide power to those words and confirmation of Your goodness, with signs and wonders following. Amen o

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Dec | 09 | The Real New Man's Bones

Dream Word – BE

2 Kings 13:20-21 Then Elisha died, and they buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet. NKJV

The Real New Man’s Bones

I do believe that “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty the King of Creation” is one of the greatest hymns of praise ever written! Though the German poet who penned these astonishing lines, Joachim Neander, died of Tuberculosis aged only thirty years of age, he still speaks today and in speaking with such majesty, turns our hearts again to praise!

It was Joachim’s grandfather, a musician, who following a popular trend at that time in Germany, had changed the family name from the original ‘Neumann’ (‘New man’ in English) to the Greek form of ‘Neander.’ The poet Joachim Neander then, didn’t only take his new name from his grandfather, but inherited also some of his grandfather’s linguistic and musical talent, penning at least sixty hymns and putting them to music before his death from T.B.

In 1674, Joachim, considered now by many to be one of the first important German hymnist after the Reformation, became a teacher in a Latin school in Düsseldorf. While living there and knowing he was always inspired by the wonders of nature, he liked to go the nearby valley (the German for which is, ‘Thal or Tal’) of the Düssel. In this same beautiful ‘Tal,’ Joachim also held gatherings of informal praise services, at which he also addressed his hearers from the Bible. This same ‘Tal,’ this famous and poetic valley of vision, this same valley of prayer, praise and proclamation, was in the 19th Century renamed by the German people in Joachim’s honour, changing its name from the Düssel Tal, to the ‘Neander Tal.’

In 1856, in this same renamed valley, skeletal and seeming humanoid remains were found and given the name, ‘Homo Neanderthalensis’ or ‘Neanderthal Man.’ The famous valley of heartfelt prayer, singing praise and powerful proclamation, had now been hijacked by doubt, cynicism and deception.

Tonight, whatever you think about the bones of this late Neanderthal Man, it’s genetic linkage or lack of; its skull size, its pelvic area, its controversy and cuckoo-like disposition, let me tell you but one thing, that Joachim, the first Neanderthal, the first 'new man' of this valley of prayer, praise and proclamation, in his three-fold poetic power, gave life to his hearers and yes indeed, Joachim though being dead, still speaks today in the same life-giving manner and power in which he lived back then!  

You see, bones touched by God, always give life to others and at the last day, we shall see that it is Joachim’s bones that shall finally come together, be clothed upon in Jesus and be found in all the eons yet to come, to be still and always upright and praying, upright and praising, upright and proclaiming,

Tell me tonight then dear brother, dear sister, down in the valley, are your bones still rattling with prayer, praise and proclamation?

Listen: - Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Ezekiel 37:4-8 NKJV

Pray:-Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, Who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, Who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.

Praise to the Lord, Who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, Who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, Who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

Joachim Neander



 

Nov | 29 | Of Pussy Cats and Chewing Gum

Key Word:- BE

Title:- Of Cats & Chewing Gum

Job 18:13,14…It devours patches of his skin; The firstborn of death devours his limbs. He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, And they parade him before the king of terrors.

Probably the smallest man in the Bible, Bildad the Shuhite, is here in today’s text and with enormous poetic insensitivity, describing to poor old suffering severely Job, what the wicked can expect if they ‘cross God.’ The subtext is clear and Job obviously caught his drift. Bildad was in effect saying: “Looking at you Job, covered in festering sores and crushed like a moth, it’s obvious that you must have done something extremely wicked!” Please someone, reach out give Bildad a slap will you!

Now Bildad’s intent may not have been the most caring and instructive, but his content and description at this point in the narrative, is astonishingly wonderful! The writer, moved by God the Holy Spirit, pens for us in the most picturesque of poetic terms, the incarnation of death, the ‘King of terrors’ and its firstborn son, the devourer of limbs, ‘leprosy.’

In 2003 English born, world renowned leprosy physician Dr Paul Brand, died at his place of work in the National Leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana. A compassionate and world renowned doctor, just four of his multitude of achievements, move me to tears of thankfulness, and inspire me to life and joy.

The first is his apparent discovery of the reason why lepers go blind; they feel no pain or discomfort in their eyes and so do not blink! Brand solved this problem by surgically attaching a chewing muscle to their eyelid. Subsequently every time they chewed gum, they blinked! Thus their eyes were kept clean and they retained their vision. Brilliant or what?!

The second is the discovery of why many lepers seemed to lose their toes and fingers overnight. Observing them whilst sleeping, he discovered that rats were stealing into their sleep area and gnawing living bones and tissue, literally chewing off the extremities of fingers and toes. Of course in the absence of pain, they could not feel what was happening. Imagine that. His solution was simple and profound. His leprous patients were required to take cats with them, wherever they decided to sleep. What simple and yet wonderful innovation!

Thirdly was his dedicated life to the unwashed, unlovely and uncared for. When he was finished with them, they were clean, helped, healed, and loved. The sweet perfume of Christ was all over his patients. What a challenge.

Fourthly and finally today, his attitude to suffering and death. It was Tim Hansel that said . “while pain is unavoidable, misery is optional!” The good Doctor Paul Brand seemed to take this philosophy and apply it to his whole personal life and was by example, able to impart this philosophy to his patients.

Brilliance; innovation; hope; love; laughter; and gentle care. What will you take to your Job today?

Listen:- You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever. Psalm 30:11-12

Pray: - “One day I shall experience a sickness unto death. I shall sense my mortal frame has no more strength to fight and that my pathway is leading into the valley of the shadow. Let me not feel the despair of one who is losing a battle, or that a triumph of evil is ahead. Focus within me, O Lord, the light of your eternal Spirit. Show me again that my body, for all that it is wonderful, is but the mantle of a greater wonder, my soul. Hold me, Lord, in such awareness of your presence and your love that my parting from my body shall be but the opening of a more vivid intimacy and union with the spirit of my Saviour. He who has been the inspiration of my stumbling body shall now be the very light and substance of my soul.” (Dr Paul Brands own prayer regarding death).
 

Nov | 13 | Dealing With Hyde, BY LIFE, not Suicide

Key Word:- BE

Title:- Dealing With Hyde, BY LIFE, not Suicide

Romans 7:21-23 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members
 
Robert Louis Stevenson was born today in 1850. Among his classic works is the novel entitled, ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.’ Stevenson’s character, Dr Jekyll, is a well brought up, happy, honourable and educated man who had never the less some secret sins of which he was thoroughly ashamed. The story line is that Dr Jekyll, believing the soul to contain both good and evil, experiments with various potions, to thus separate the evil from the good. Unfortunately in this process of chemical experimentation, the alter ego, the repugnant and repulsive evil persona of Mr. Hyde is unconditionally released and eventually takes the good Doctor Jekyll over and the only way he can then eventually free himself from the evil Mr Hyde’s atrocities, is by committing suicide. It’s a happy little novel! On the release of the book, one homosexual friend of Stevenson wrote to him very upset remarking , “I doubt whether anyone has a right to scrutinize the abysmal depths of personality.”In response, Stevenson wrote “Jekyll is a dreadful thing, I own; but the only thing I feel dreadful about is that damned old business of the war in the members. This time it came out; and I hope it will stay in, in future.”

Stevenson, brought up under Scottish Calvinism, was well versed in the scriptures. Whether he was eventually converted is a matter of continued discussion. However, he was aware of a gross internal struggle within him; a war in his members, in his very being, between good and evil. That at least gives us some cause for rejoicing at the possibility of his salvation.

Before we become Christians the dual combination of the testimony of outward creation to the holiness and glory of God and the inward voice of that local county sheriff called conscience, both continue to make war against that rebellious and destructive evil within us and we at times, most definitely do feel the product of this battle's gut wrenching dives, and fully experience the slamming struggle within as it slams into the wall of sin. The battle of the witness of both conscience and creation and the darkness within us may mightily rage but friends it is all to no avail and the two witnesses shall never have the victory, until God’s blessed Holy Spirit steps into our ring and then sometimes for a lifetime, along with the dynamic duo of the witness of conscience and creation, wrestles and strives with us to both reveal the depths of the evil Hyde hidden within us and the lovely escape route of redemption that is only found in Jesus. When we through the Holy Spirit's work and revelation eventually come to Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing, when we do this, then God Almighty Himself as Victor and Conqueror, overcomes the power of sin in us by taking up residence with us, right there in the midst of our enemies and makes a table of refreshment and delight by giving us a new man beating with a new heart, totally and wholly righteous in Him, which must then become our new centre and our new inner home in which we will then reside. When we do this, when we allow the new man, the hidden man of the heart to emerge, we find this to be the new us, even THE REAL US.

We would assume then that with the presence of God Himself and the new house of the new man in us, that all would be well for the Christian. You and I know however, this it is not so. Why is that?

Well, first know this fact. The old man, the flesh, that body of evil and sin, that Hyde hidden within in, though defeated is not yet removed and being still with us, it never changes! Most us spend a lot of our lives trying to change Mr Hyde. It can never be done. He is still in us and beyond redemption! Hyde shall never get any better. Like I said, amidst the good news for the Christian is the bad news for us it that sin's foul and falling tendencies are not removed this side of the adoption, even the resurrection of our bodies. In other words we have to live with this body of death until we get to heaven, where we shall only then, at last, not only be freed from the penalty and power of sin but from its very presence within. I can’t wait for that folks! Until then though, the battle rages on.

Until heaven then, how should we live? After all, are we not the ‘much more’ generation of Romans Chapter 5? Yes we are. So troubled friend here is my message in a bottle for you today, to set afloat upon your trouble seas: Here it is O warring warrior: “There is no condemning of you, for you are in Jesus and you owe it to Him not to live as a servant to the sin nature still growling within you, but as a slave to Him who redeemed you. Know you are indeed forgiven in Him. So by faith believe it to be true and yield and offer yourself moment by moment to Jesus. Love Him, obey Him, live Him! Know that He has given you a good and righteous, sparkling new heart and that there is in you a deeper desire, a stronger current, a purer water that would always honour both Him and the real you. Reach in and touch it, taste it, let it refresh you today".  How do you do that? Well ask God the Holy Spirit to begin to clear the way for Lazarus to come forth. Allow God to begin to deal with the things that hinder internal resurrection and get Him to move the rocks, cut the chains, clear out the baggage, unplug the wells, you know what I mean! Then having dealt with both baggage and blockage let the new man live by asking God to ‘call Him forth’ in a multitude of ways, for friend, when your split and fragmented self begins to coalesce in peace and true self worth; when the fruit of such coalescence is picked and tasted and found to be refreshing by those that sit beneath your tree, then maybe you shall together experience the title deeds of Romans Chapter 7. Get out your Bible and read them and make them yours today.

Listen:- For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1

Pray: - Clear the way O God. Clear and call dear Jesus. Clear and call life amongst the warring dead.


 

Oct | 06 | Laugh, Love, Live and Leave The Rest To God

Dream Word – BE

Ecclesiastes 7:2 Better to go to the house of mourning Than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men; And the living will take it to heart. NKJV

Laugh, Love, Live and Leave The Rest To God

Once upon a time, a long time ago I worked in a Fish & Chip Shop. I worked with varicose-veined, permed and hair-dyed, hard and big-bosomed ladies, who would beat the snot out of you if you put a foot wrong! I worked at Boden’s Fish & Chip Shop before I joined the Royal Navy and it was these same buxom beauties who increased my colourful language-set so considerably, that whilst in the service of her Majesty, I did not fall short of any apt or choice word and also was so linguistically enabled, that I fully understood what the parade ground instructors were trying to sincerely communicate to me. Many nights in basic training, I remember that I was so very pleased to have in my possession, a hard copy of my birth certificate. I read if often.
Now it was one of these same ladies, over a smoke and a hot greasy cup of tea, who opened up to me and shared with me her terrors, her big and bloodshot bulbous eyes almost bursting with fear as she recounted her one haunting nightmare! Talking about it seemed to help, so she recounted to me that she had been to the doctors for help in the matter, but it didn’t help, and in fact, yes even so, she still insisted that on her death, she be placed in a glass coffin, with air holes drilled in the top of it. In addition, the lid of her coffin should have a latch fixed to it that could be opened from the inside and the location of her planting, would be far above the soil, even on top of a mountain. Yes, this tough and rough, grouchy and gruff, working class washer woman, had a crippling fear of being buried alive!

Thomas A Kempis, that long deceased Roman Catholic monk is so much respected by Protestants, that his book ‘The Imitation of Christ,’ is still standard fare in spiritual discipline classes in most modern-day seminaries. Thomas still speaks of Jesus today and his life of quiet contemplation, is still envied and pursued by many modern-day pilgrims. You would think that such a man would have by now, been made a saint by the Roman Church, but no, Thomas failed the test as soon as his body was exhumed, for you see, the folks that recommend old monks for beatification, reckoned that Thomas did not accept his fate too well, certainly not well enough to be made a saint anyhow! You see, when they exhumed his body and took the lid off, there was more than enough indication both in the coffin wood and on the corpse remains, that this poor man, was buried alive! Like many folks at that time, Thomas may have looked dead, but like many folks at that time, he revived when he was in the ground. Maybe my chip shop mentor was right to be concerned about the manner of her being laid to ‘rest?’

Most Christians, like most people who are not Christians, do not fear death, but rather fear the manner of their death. We are all dying, we all know this. However, we refuse to face the facts of our ever impending demise as well as the manner of our departure. That is, until the long night of all our days draws in and our shadows lengthen on the ground. That is, until the doctor wants us to come into his office for a chat. That is, until someone close to us is snatched away, in their prime, out of time, with all their dreams like unopened Christmas presents strewn along the road to the cemetery. So, I remind you tonight Christian friend, that unless the Lord returns in your life time, you too shall die and the Coroner shall record the cause of your death, and your watching family and friends shall recount the manner of it.

Most folks want their death to be dignified, to be swift, uncomplicated, t’wean white cotton sheets, with the family looking on. Most want to impart some final words of wisdom and then with a satisfied sigh, shuffle gently off their mortal coil with as much honour and dignity as can be mustered. However, the business of dying, is rarely that way.

Thomas, that quiet contemplative, after a life of sacrificial service, after a life of being a living signpost, closes his lids in the hope of opening them in heaven, only when he does open them, he finds that his train has not yet arrived and God help us, it has stopped at Gravesend. Nasty! Stephen beholds Christ, stood at God’s right hand and then gets a few rocks in the head to crush him into heaven. Tradition has it that Isaiah, that visionary extraordinaire, dies in a devilish and maniacal magic trick, as he gets sawn in half. I bet he didn’t accept his fate too readily either! Others are eaten alive by flame or festering fungus, hung, drawn, quartered, blown up, gassed, drowned, speared, scalped, frozen, starved, dismembered and even despaired to death.

Friends, save for that coming 'twinkling eye' moment, there are obviously NO guarantees regarding the method of our departure. Now I do not think tonight that joining EXIT is an option for anyone, never mind the Christian! No, in this strange fallen world, it is still right for us followers of Jesus to always choose life, both for ourselves and for others. This means that in the vast majority of cases the method of our departure is not our decision. Sure, our manner of death, like our life, is influenced by our choices. For example, if you play on the railroad tracks, or jump into a shark infested pool, you can somewhat guarantee the method of your departure. However, apart from that, from our human perspective, the manner of our death is pretty much a ‘crap shoot.’

The truth is that we cannot even guarantee the manner of our life dear friend, and so in the end, how can we continuous choosers of life, begin to guarantee the manner of our death? We can’t! No, the only thing we can guarantee is the attitude in which we shall approach the manner of our death. I’m throwing you a bone I know, but it’s the only one I’ve got!

So how then should we die? Well may I say that we should die in the same way in which we live! Be brave, be strong and be as courageous as you possibly can be. Look for angels along the way. Look for Jesus at the end of your road, the end of your bed, the end of your rope. Let go of that which is passing and lay hold on matters eternal. If we live like this then our attitude in the manner of our death might just well reflect some of it! I suppose tonight that I am encouraging you to live like a dying man. In other words, I am calling you to courage, calling you to strength and life, even in death and especially in the manner of your death.


Tomorrow when you get up, laugh, love, live and leave the rest to God. In this fallen world, that’s as good as it gets but even that, can be pretty good!

Listen: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. - John 10:10 NKJV

Pray: O Lord of life, let me not be robbed of it this side of heaven, amen and amen!

Sep | 21 | Seeking the 6th Sense

Key Word:- BE

Title:- Seeking The 6th Sense

Matthew 16:24,25 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it..

‘Proprioception’ has been described as “the process by which the body can vary muscle contraction in immediate response to incoming information regarding external forces by utilizing stretch receptors in the muscles to keep track of the joint position in the body” . In other words, 'proprioception' is how we know where we fit in space; or better still, it's how we know exactly where our feet are, or our fingertips, or the position of our head. If we lose our sense of 'proprioception' then we lose the sense of our bodily self. So much so that when it happens, as far as our physical 'being' is concerned, we are nowhere to be found! Oliver Sacks describes one of his patients having lost this 6th sense of ‘proprioception’ as being akin to a disembodied lady.

Just about all of us are very well aware of where we are in space. However, 'Who we are?' is a very different question. Now the sad fact, the very sad fact, is that many of us have not only lost our very own sense of self, but have never ever discovered just who we are! And may I say that this is especially true of ministers, who for so long have in a very wrong, way become all things to all men that they may please but a few! Many pastors have utterly lost themselves. So let this question burn into you today. “Who are you?”

Peer conformity is rife amongst Christians. I have seen whole sermon series constructed and preached, simply to massage 'the agreed', the 'set in stone' and 'the popular view.' Even if it's wrong! I have seen 'protection of the pulpit' as a guilt edge law (no, I have spelt it correctly) in constitutions, simply to make sure no one rocks the boat. “If you want to be part of this club, you must believe our most intricate of parameters.” People lose themselves in such cringing conformity and of those who have done so, are now sadly and simply, the sorry shell of who they should be and even of who they once were.

However in much more subtle ways, many of us have surrendered our distinctiveness to the imposed destinies of our parents or maybe, the deliberation of committees, or the desire of wives, the demands of our children and even to the social norms of a very sick church society. Many of us ceased to be, a long, long time ago.

Before I continue friends, let me assure you that I am not speaking of disrespect to parents neither am I speaking of the desertion of our loving duty to children, nor bitterness against spouses, nor rebellion in the church. I am speaking of something far, far worse. The loss of ourselves, our true selves. So let me ask you again today, who are you?

In our text today Jesus is not saying that we should cease to be ourselves. He is saying that we should cease to be our selfish selves. There is a big difference. Consider this, for it has been my delighted observation to note that when we truly become more like Christ, we become more the person He created us to be. The more truly sanctified we become, the more we are released into our true selves. If this is true, then being a Christian should be an exciting journey into amazing discoveries about our true desires and our true destinies and not the shameful and shackled constrictions of slave ship conformity that so many of us experience. I tell you today, if you do not free yourself, you will kill yourself, so let me ask you again, who are you? Believe me, once you begin to know that, things will never be the same again!

Lest you are mistaken friend, I am indeed calling for “REVOLUTION!”

Listen:- And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Acts 19:15

Pray:- Lord, break the chains that hold Your creation. Lord let me seek only Your smiling face, Lord, above all thing let me be; that You would truly delight in me.

 

Jul | 18 | Fighting For Life

Dream Word – BE

Psalm 10:14 to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless. ESV

Fighting For Life!

The telephone rings and the father begins the awkward conversation with his son. Apparently, the girl is pregnant and not a believer in God. However, she has chosen life, she has chosen to keep the baby and she won’t even be tested for Downs Syndrome; indeed, no offer or hint of a quick end to this very personal problem is even contemplated. The father is angry, disappointed ,but never the less, impressed and thankful for the fact that life has been chosen and chosen in the face of great difficulty, for the new family has no roof, no job and no prospects in the new city they have moved to. Life with all its difficulties has been chosen. Now what?

They are together. At least for today, who knows what the future will hold. Will the pressures of want, push them even closer or drive them further apart? Thinking about the question, the father believes he already knows the answer, for joy and want are only good neighbours in the movies; real life is not soft and cuddly, it is like a meat cleaver to any relationship that is birthed on the financial chopping block; it is sharp and dreadfully divisive. Surely they know this? Yet despite all its inherent difficulties, life has still been chosen. Now what?

The thought crosses the father's mind as to how much easier it would have been to get an abortion. A simple procedure, some repentance at a later date maybe, you know, when they’ve got on their feet a bit, maybe got a job, a place to live, a steady income, spent some time getting to know one another. The father is feeling guilty that such a thought should ever cross his mind, but his heart and wallet are already hurting. However, despite the pain, life has been chosen with all its difficulties, with all its baggage, with all its financial burdens, all its late nights, all its cumbersome meetings with angry future ‘in-laws;’ yes life, with all its ducking and all its diving, all its mess and bloody surviving. Life has been chosen. Good grief! Now What?

Common and confusing, culturally mixed messages don’t make choosing life easy. Society at large is living in the land of contradiction, spending millions each year on heart transplants and launching helicopters and lifeboats to rescue rich blondes and their prancing poodles who having spilled their “champers” on shiny new decks, have slipped off tall yachts around the Isle of Wight on Cowes week! Whilst at the same time, to save a few bob and a few bucks, we are pulling the plug on those wrinklies of the bed-wetting variety, that have become an ever growing burden and rancid smell on the rest of polite and hard-working society; and to mix it up just a little more, if a sad man, a bad man, a mad man, attacks a pregnant mother and the child in her womb is lost, then that same mug is in prison for manslaughter; whilst, if the mother should decide, with sterile suction and long sharp knitting needles to terminate and poke out the life of her own son or daughter in the warm, but now salt ridden waters of her womb, she shall be cosseted and caressed for doing “the wise and selfless thing!” Even the doctor who slips the head out of the sad vagina before scissor slicing the back of the babies neck with surgical shears, and in the so doing, is paid for severing the spine of the future before a cry is heard, well even that doctor is honoured and thanked. It's alright, we’ve renamed the child as ‘Feoutus, Embryo, Not yet human, Garbage, Scientific material, Saviour Sibling.’ Yes, call it anythng, but call is anything but a baby.

Society is sick and this devilish disinformation is meant to confuse the possessors of life to grotesquely, for personal comfort, societies ease and prudent and practical cost cutting, give up the same, you know, babies, children, life and future, give them up without a fight! It is a miracle then, when amidst all this confusion, amidst the lies and disarray, people still choose life! Hip hip hip HOOORAY!!!

Pastors must rejoice at such choices and one day at a time, must journey such life into He who is the light of life, the only God eternal, our Lord and lovely Saviour, Jesus the Christ. More than ever the charge of the shepherd is to grow up and engender a loving and living community of the saints that can righteously and graciously walk in truth and love, humility and mercy before the unwashed and the seemingly unashamed. God help the church and the society who are the subject of the cries and complaints of those unmarried mothers who have chosen life, and of their subsequent and fatherless little offspring, who have asked for help with life and got no help at all! For I tell you the truth, God will take up their case of life, even if we refuse to. In all practicality, the Church of God must now fight for life!

Listen: - “You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless”.. Exodus 22:22-24 ESV

Pray:- Lord, teach us how to stand with those who choose life. In Jesus name we ask it, amen.

                                                                                                         

Jun | 15 |Tweety Birds or Twitchers?

Key Word:- BE

Title:- Tweety Birds or Twitchers?

Job 41:11-14 “If you lay your hands upon him, you will long remember the battle that ensues and you will never try it again! No, it's useless to try to capture him. It is frightening even to think about it! No one dares to stir him up, let alone try to conquer him. And if no one can stand before him, who can stand before me? I owe no one anything. Everything under the heaven is mine. TLB.

One morning a bird landed on our balcony and squawked provocatively at our cat. The cat’s lips and whiskers twitched in natural and menacing response. At the right time, she would pounce and nothing would stop her.

‘If I do not do, then how can I be?’

I am of course a man of my generation, of my hemisphere, country, and culture and everything that has flowed into these four things for centuries. For example, I have an overwhelming drive from a deep seated Protestant work ethic. I have a very ingrained view of work. Indeed, I feel as a man, that I must work. Like it or not, I find purpose, status, and significance in doing my job. Not that I want to be ‘the job’ but somehow without the job, any job, something inside me, ceases to be, I get sick and slowly die. Strange but true.

‘If I do not do, then how can I be?’
Over all my years walking on this planet, my journey has taken me to many places and many jobs. My hardest times have been in periods of “unemployment”. Kind and Bible-believing Christians have often quoted the verse “If a man shall not work he shall not eat” to me at those perilous times, for indeed, that is what time it is, to a man without a job, perilous! Maybe we should rather pity the unemployed Christian man and earnestly pray for him that he would gain good and profitable employment, rather than scold him? Especially if he’s in fellowship with some of those presently employed, inappropriate text-spouting, Bible-believers!

‘If I do not do, then how can I be?’
However, over the years I have also observed there is a greater peril than not having a job and that is, working in a job you hate, simply to put food on a plate, mate. Unfortunately, I have been and have had the misfortune to rub shoulders with thousands of people like this, these ‘dead men walking,’ all dutifully pounding the streets of their daily grind and dying in the process; inwardly with constant and abusive, rapacious regret. ‘If a man shall not work he shall not eat’ has become a mockery to millions of busy, fat western men, starving inside, dutifully doing something they do not want to do. Somewhere along the way, they have lost their wild ways and the wild Jesus that went with them, and church and Christianity for many of them, has become but a dutiful and boring bondage. Maybe this is one reason that less and less men are frequenting our churches, after all, ‘where’s the beef’ and of course......

‘If I do not do, then how can I be?’

You see, it is not simply enough to do anything that comes along, neither is enough simply to be! No, you must also do what you were created to be! Do you see that?
Friend, I pray today you will start 'twitching' again, that you will begin to do what you were created to be and that in the so doing, you shall be satisfied with your prey. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
One morning a bird landed on our balcony and squawked provocatively at our cat. Her lips and whiskers twitched in natural and menacing response. At the right time, she would pounce. Nothing would stop her.

Listen:- “I will not conceal his limbs, His mighty power, or his graceful proportions.” Job 41:12

Pray:-Jesus, let me be found faithful but fearless; wild like ocean’s rocks, yet steady, steadfast, sure and as beautiful as You created me to be. I ask this in Jesus mighty name, O Lord my God of joy. Amen!

May | 26 | A Large Can of Whoooopass

Key Word:- BE

Title:- A Large Can of Whoooopass  

Psalm 139:21,22 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred;I count them my enemies.

A Friend of mine once told me he thought he should have been born in Old Testament times, because then you could really deal with your enemies instead of forgiving them, loving and praying for them. I know what he means, for New testament Christianity is very demanding on the cheeks!

Our verses today are not often spoke of in the church, whilst the following and last two verses of this psalm are often heard quoted. Here they are: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting." They are nice, but so often they are utilised well outisde of their original context.

Now friends it is in fact quite easy to see why all these verses should appear together. As the old commentator Adam Clarke puts it: "For he who hates, utterly hates, the practices of any man, is not far from hating the man himself. It is very difficult to hate the sin with all the heart and yet the sinner love." Opening a can of 'Whooopass' is a dangerous thing to do. Do you see that?

Remember that David was a man of extremities. He loved you or he hated you. It was all or nothing. There was no holding back with this man. You knew exactly where you stood with David, however I suspect it made living with him a bit of a white knuckle ride. Never the less, God seemed to love him dearly and David was at least a little aware of the problems associated with his passion. In other words he knew that you don't open a large 'can of whooopass' without getting some of it on yourself. If I might paraphrase him he says, "These passions overwhelm me. There they are, I cannot deny them and I must express them. Never the less I know what is in me, so search me and know me and remove the root of my own wickedness."

I like that. Its dangerous stuff mind you isn't it? Imagine if the church or your place of work suddenly had members and employees really expressing how they felt about things, people and issues. The volcanic eruption doesn't bear thinking about does it?! I can't help but wonder though, if it is never the less a healthier way to live?

I am sure we need to learn how to express ourselves without sinning. You will notice I did not say hurting, offending, upsetting, or rocking the boat. Nope. It does not happen like that. Emotional expression can be a wild wave to ride. So today friends, very carefully and without sinning, why not go on and express yourself. Do some wild dancing! But please weigh down your linen ephod, put some underpants on and open any 'large cans of whooopass' with the greatest of self examining care!

Listen:-Then David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. 2 Samuel 6:14

Pray:- Lord, help me to live before You in extravagant passion. Search me and show me my sin. Let me own it and then willingly forsake it today and as I twirl before You, may all my poisonous emotions drip from my fingertips and Lord my Lord, will You fill me with Your extravagant joy! In Jesus name I pray, amen.

May | 02 | Clinging To Corpses

Key Word:- BE

Title:- Clinging To Corpses

Revelation 3:18………and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

 
It is North America's only marsupial, and famous for playing dead. The small unglamorous creature with big black eyes, a pale pointy face and a hairless tail like a rat's, can become so stressed that it goes into shock and quite simply, passes out! Such action may stop predators chasing it, but unfortunately the already seemingly limp and lifeless body takes away from some car drivers, the need to swerve. This one wasn't playing dead now.

The Opposum lay at the side of the road, stiff and sodden with rain. Perched atop the poor corpse were two 5 inch babies, shivering and wretched trying to get what warmth was left from their poor dead mother. A visit to the vet, a warm box, and a surgical glove filled with hot water to act as a warm body; a little cat food, and in just a few hours the little Opossums were bright eyed and running about. They are the most freakiest looking little things. Imagine a smelly 'Clanger' drunk and with teeth. That’s what a baby Opossum looks like!

In a similar vein, I heard on the news today of 'an odious smell coming from a vehicle' left in the car park of a large food store. Investigation found the dead body of someone's mother still buckled into the passenger seat. Her daughter had been driving around with her like that for five days and had just popped in to get some provisions. It was gruesomely obvious that the poor daughter was both sad and sick.

I remember speaking to some church planters in a large American inner city. Some of that denominations dying congregations in the area have both facilities and finances that make outreach to the emerging generation a real and exciting possibility. In addition to that, many local large and successful suburban churches have personnel and resources ready to come alongside and help with a fresh attack against the gates of hell in the inner cities. Unfortunately, the tiny and shivering congregations sheltering themselves in the memories of their great and once glorious past, are either like the baby marsupials I found on the side of the road, frightened and too desperate to move, or like the sad daughter driving her mother’s corpse around, very sick indeed. They are still adamant in their loss and madness and so still clinging to the lifeless corpse of a church that was once, long ago, thriving.

Like the daughter driving around her dead mother, many of our churches are refusing to accept the facts of their demise and are still willing to live with the increasing smell of death. Soon, some group or philanthropist shall turn their remains into a neatly prepared cadaver.

Friends, it’s time to get off the corpse and bury the dead.

Listen:- I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; Deuteronomy 30:19

Pray:- Be it ever so hard, help me this day O Lord, to choose LIFE.

 

Apr | 30 | The Cotillion Of Smelly Corpses & Cleaned Up Cadavers

Dream Word – BE

Numbers 9:6 Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; NKJV

The Cotillion Of Smelly Corpses & Cleaned Up Cadavers


One afternoon whilst walking up from Brighton Beach I found an old cadaver washed up at my feet. Not a corpse mind you, not an abandoned dead body poked and pecked at by the silk white seagulls, but a well laid out old Cadaver. It’s yellowed, Glutaraldehyde stained, sandstone skin, bore the marks of its long preservation and through the barred gates of this old church building the sign read “St Andrews is no longer used for regular worship. Rather than see this beautiful Grade 1 Listed building permanently locked, the Friends are raising money for facilities in the Church, so that it may be used all year round by the community.” I noted that the friendly community consisted of the ‘Brighton & Hove (actually) Gay Men’s Chorus’ and that they would be performing in this very place of present consecration once again this May during the cities annual arts festival. The dead body smelt bad.

As Benjamin Disraeli is purported to have said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics!” Never the less, one consistent trend of church statistics in the United Kingdom, especially since the 1970's, has been the massive decline in church attendance. Excepting of course for the Pentecostal movement and some newer Evangelical churches where attendance is rising, the over-all trend is down, down and drop down dead down. Whilst the Church of England has had the amazing flexibility of being able to pound the nails into its own coffin whilst still smiling nicely and drinking lots of tea, the Baptists and the Methodists, jealous of the ignored thirty nine articled, bald headed funeral dirge, have had to let their own buildings out as carpet warehouses and Mosques. Don’t get upset, don’t get angry at me, for I am speaking statistically of course and therefore with intense, numerical hyperbole. After all, it can’t be true can it? Even if the Brighton and Hove Gay Men’s Choir are dancing with the cadaver of an old dead church, keeping it open as a quaint and queer look at a once rich Christian history now long since past, surely all these statistics regarding the death of Christ again, surely they just can’t be true?

In the U.S.A. a ‘Cotillion’ is the name of a place one attends to learn manners, and proper social behaviour in the context of dance. However, the Cotillion, this original French country dance, evolved into Royal Courtship dances and from there spawned everything that was complicated and relational in dancing, from the quadrille to the good old square dance. In the United Kingdom, this same guilty and complicated courtship dance is seen more often than not when Christians themselves start dancing with dead churches rather than leaving them. Yes, it has been my observance that it is a particularly British state of mentality to dance with dead church corpses in an attempt to bring them back to life again, and frankly, it is a particularly grotesque kind of guilt ridden desperate dance, very ungainly and quite soul destroying. It’s disgusting really isn’t it? “So then,” I ask myself, “Instead of all the desperate dancing and writhing guilt at the inability to bring the corpse back to life, why not just get out and leave that smelly old dead thing? Why not just let it disintegrate? After all, if it’s got a nice face, then I can assure you that there will be more than enough clown-face undertakers ready to turn the corpse into a dancing gay cadaver.” For the church in the West to thrive we need revival and revival begins when we choose life over death! Don’t feel guilty about doing the leaving.

To assuage some of our very British and unnecessary guilt may I suggest to some of you, that such persistent association with corpse’s has left you unclean and thoroughly unable and unqualified to celebrate! Despite the seeming negativity of our text for tonight, God gave his former unclean, corpse dancing people a full month to get clean and then they were allowed to celebrate the ‘Little Passover.’ which occurred just one month after the other famed and much missed official community event. In the same way, I tell you, that some of you have already wasted too much of your time dancing with the dead and in the so doing, you have missed the larger celebration of the main Passover. Yet even now, God has allowed you the possibility of participating in a little celebration before you too die. So, to shepherds and sheep alike may I suggest that maybe it’s time to leave the dead well alone and come and get clean? Come and choose life. Brethren, let the wild dancing begin! Be free from the shackles and smell of death. Let me say it: "Leave that dead church."

Listen: - And Moses said to them, "Stand still, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you." Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord's Passover. On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Numbers 9:8-11 NKJV.

Pray:- Lord, open my mind to understanding and let not the dead triumph, for my eyes have grown dim with grief, yes my whole insides have become but a shadow. I am appalled at this yet I remember, that those with clean hands will grow stronger. So Lord, help me let go of the both guilt and the smiling dead and then at the last, to be enabled to lay hold of life. In Jesus name I ask it, amen.


                                                                                                              

Apr | 16 | Force Out The Pharisee!

Key Word:- BE

Title:- Force Out The Pharisee!

Nehemiah 10:29
and we will not neglect the house of our God..

Religion has a momentum all of its own. God may have removed His presence, His blessing and His glory, but it makes no difference to religious momentum! The religious committees are elected, entrusted and empowered and they will do their job no matter what. I recently heard of a church of 45 people who had been in decline for over 10 years having problems recruiting folk for the 75 committees it presently had established to run this ‘vast organization.’ It is silly isn’t it? It really is.

Interestingly though, our physical body parallels this problem in that we can have been in decline for years as well and yet we still ill-treat it and live with problems that with just a little attention, a good diet, exercise and minimal medical intervention, we could eliminate and maybe even then go on to improve our overall health, effectiveness and lifespan. The same accepted and blind decline can also apply to our spiritual bodies and frankly, I find it rather amazing when I contemplate the death we so easily accommodate ourselves to in living within both the physical and spiritual realms. How easily we come to terms with creeping death. This needs to change. You know, restoration of any dilapidated house takes attention, effort, and resources, and no doubt some pain! It is the same with our physical and spiritual houses, and especially with respect to our dying local churches.

Now here is a problem for many of our local churches. When in decline and disrepair, the united repentant effort that is required to turn the situation around often calls for resources that our tired, lazy, blind and self-justifying disposition just does not have. The parts of the local body wanting to live, know that they now have a fight on their hands, even a civil war! Once this fight for life begins, two things will then undoubtedly happen. Either the religiously diseased parts, eventually die, or for some reason they depart, allowing health to slowly but surely spread. Or secondly, those seeking life will leave the relationship of death. They have to, or they too shall die with the leprous blind and they know it.

Whether outwardly forced by the religiously sick or internally moved by a spiritual survival mechanism, those with life eventually leave these dying churches allowing them a speedier ride on the back of the pale green horse. Such terminal departure might only be stopped when religious committees cease to manage death, or preferably cease to manage! This is very, very rare.

Let us get on our knees and look to Him who is the administrator of light and life and love. Things can be better. They really can. It’s worth the effort! Do you see it? Do you want it? Force out the Pharisee! It is not tolerance and love to let them stay and rule, it is death to the church, it is death to your family, it is death to you!

Listen: - therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; Deut30:19

Pray: - Lord of life, please forgive us for our laziness and love of death and mobilize us to choose life! Amen and amen!

Apr | 01 | Dancing on Your Casket!

Key Word:- BE

Title:- Dancing on Your Casket!

1 Corinthians 15:54 "Death is swallowed up in victory."
 

One critic has accused the metaphysical poet John Donne (he died March 31st in 1631) of being obsessed with death after his beloved wife Anne passed away. Maybe so, for shortly before his own demise, John obtained an urn, his own burial shroud, and an artist. Then, wrapping himself in the shroud, he posed standing atop the urn and had the artist draw a nice charcoal sketch of him doing so. This macabre piece of artwork stayed at John’s bedside throughout his final illness. Obsessed or not, in his poem, ‘Death Be Not Proud’, he pens these marvellous lines
‘Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so:’

Now John may have been an Anglican minister simply because it was a reasonable living (in those days anyway) and he may have held, shall we say, some interesting theological thoughts!, but he at the very least knew this, ‘DEATH SHALL DIE!’

Friends, everything this side of heaven dies, that is, in effect, becomes severed in relationship to us. Dreams, words, sons, daughters, wives, jobs, careers, teeth, and eventually even the flesh that holds them all together, shall dissolve and disintegrate. These are facts, and are best faced, head on. The scripture says, ‘Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men; And the living will take it to heart.’ (Ecclesiastes 7:2). In light of this text then, maybe Reverend Donne wasn’t as bananas as we might have thought after all?

My dear sojourner suffering under the fear of death, even suffering in the valley of the shadow of death, may I tell you that I agree with John Donne. “Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so:.....’DEATH SHALT DIE.’” so, if you want rest today my friend, then you must first mock death, go on! Do it! Then laugh at it and choose to lay off its proud and heavy disfiguring yoke and then, why not place across your chaffed neck, the gentle healing, loving and leading, humble yoke of the all-conquering Christ; for Death truly has been swallowed up in VICTORY! Yes it has! So, finish off the delightful deed of mocking death today then, by taking your Palm branches and standing on one leg atop your own urn of death, and wave them wildly. Why not get one of your friends to then take a picture of you, dancing like a loon atop your murky old casket once filled with gloom! And then this very morning and every morning from now on, choose to LIVE!

Listen: - so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:21-6:1

Pray: - Lord, I believe that in the future life, nothing dies. Dreams, relationships, ideas, desires, pets, and other companions, shall never die. There shall be no fear of loss, and we shall at last be free to enjoy life! But Oh My Father, O my dear Jesus, help me to LIVE in this life and to live well, without the fear of death. Amen and amen!

Mar | 09 | No Mama, No Papa, No Uncle Sam.

Key Word:- BE

Title:- No Mama, No Papa, No Uncle Sam.

Job 7:5,6 My flesh is caked with worms and dust, My skin is cracked and breaks out afresh. “My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And are spent without hope.



Paul Reuter, a lifetime member of the American Ex Prisoners of War services foundation writes in the ‘The Battling Bastards of Bataan’ website, about the horrific fate of the American soldiers that surrendered, en masse, to the Japanese forces who invaded the Bataan peninsular of the Philippines on April 3rd 1942. The brutality of the Japanese war machine at that time, is mostly documented in detail by the survivors of the horrors, who refuse to forget their own tortuous suffering and that of their fallen comrades.

The American ‘Battling Bastards’ surrendered en masse to the enemy, simply because fundamental supply shortages and endemic sickness, had left them unable to fight. Their exceptionally enfeebled condition on surrender, meant that thousands more of them would die from the brutality of death marches, death camps, and death ships. However, Reuter also writes that “the death of 1500 troops at Camp O’Donnell was caused by ‘Inanition’, a term used to describe the ‘loss of will to live’”.

Imagine if you will a state of prolonged sickness, fear, torture, thirst and hunger. Imagine if you will a state of settled and abiding utter helplessness and hopelessness. Imagine the death of the spirit that precedes the death of the body. Imagine now, the gleeful and satisfied smiles on the damned demons that delight in the perpetuating of the slow and shameful death of the image of God in man; imagine the darkness taking an almost ecstatic and perverted pleasure in diminishing that glory that even today, twinkles like lost gold, in the floundering souls of fallen men and women. Friends, demons delight in tortuous death. They always have. They always will. They delight especially in your death, O child of the Most High God.

Depression, that ‘black dog’ as Churchill called it; possession as ‘Legion ‘exhibited it; and oppression as C.S. Lewis writes about it; all force us upon a death march towards an inane ending. An emptiness of hope. A vacuous and barren despondency.
Someone reading this today, has lost all hope for their son; has lost all hope for their marriage; has lost all hope for their health; for their wholeness; for their deliverance from the bondage of a besetting sin. Some of you may even have had that demon of suicide invite you to step through his terrible door?

Concerning the devil and his demon hordes, let me tell you right now that, ‘Inanition is their Mission!’ Whenever such feelings of utter hopelessness come upon you, I tell you, that this is either an indirect demonic attack through physical disease or persistent lack of some kind, or, it is a direct demonic attack upon you, with the single purpose of torturing your heart until an inner death occurs. SEE IT FOR WHAT IT IS! INANITION IS EVIL AND NOT OF GOD! GET HELP! GET IT NOW!

Christian, if you are in desperateness reading these short paragraphs today, may I speak into your life and tell you that, “All is not lost!” Your heavenly Father has not forgotten you; No He hasn’t! It’s a lie that you are being told. He has not forgotten you! He is the Lord of life. Listen and believe me when I tell you, “All is not lost, there is yet hope and brighter days to come; all is not lost, just hang on in there, for help is coming, help from His glorious and all conquering, all delivering Son!”

It was on this day in 1945 that the American 8th Army occupied the southern tip of Bataan, as Macarthur drew ever closer to Manila, to complete the avowed return and recapture of the Philippine Islands. HE SUCCEEDED.

Listen: - “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”…….. “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:13,16,17
 
Pray: A prayer to the God of my life: I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 42:8-11

Jan | 04 | The Silent Witness

Dream Word – BE

Ecclesiastes 12:6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well. NKJV 

The Silent Witness


Recently I have been very sick. So sick that I have been as listless as a dying fish void of the last flap of its flipper. So sick, that I could do nothing but lay still and moan. So sick, that I wanted no visitors, which is good because no one came anyway. More importantly and most disturbingly for me though is the fact that not even God came to visit me in my sickness.

Some of you will say “Ah Robert, you just could not see Him, your sickness blinded you of His presence.” Maybe? Either way, His felt presence was not felt. His healing hand did not touch me. So in effect, even if He was there, He may as well not have been.

There is a deep mystery in the sometimes, seeming silence of God in the sickness of men and women. In this, God requires no defence, neither does He ask for any, for all sickness is a swirling fog of green and foul pestilent mists, that takes us regularly toward the edge of the same cold river that one day, will receive us when a final and fatal sickness will plunge us, yes each and every one of us, way, way above our necks, into its stiff rigor mortis running icy coldness. Sickness is a reminder, even a preparation for such cold passing and it regularly allows us a little sniff of what is to come. This is not a bad thing.

Such silent sicknesses challenges my faith, yet in a good way. For I emerge knowing that God is in light, God is in life, God is in the praises of His people, God is to be found in my day, God is to be sought after and rejoiced in, in the full and present measure of my health and strength. Yes, such silent sickness, is in fact a silent witness for us to live, should life once again come into these ever failing bodies of ours. I tell you what, if God doesn’t visit you in your sickness, make sure you’re banging on His door when you are well.

Listen: - My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. Psalms 22:1-2 NKJV

Pray:- You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, and fear Him, all you offspring of Israel! For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; but when He cried to Him, He heard. My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; --- All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship; all those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive. A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, they will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this. (from Psalms 22:23-31 NKJV)